The future of crafting in ESO?

Troneon

With the latest info that was datamined from the latest PTS patch a few things to do with crafting are cropping up as well as the super high material costs for VR16 gear, it is starting to shape up to possible crafting ingredients being sold in the crown store....what makes you think this you say? Well here is another item that was found...

Mercenary Style Item: Laurel This plant is used as an ingredient for crafting in the Mercenary style. It represents the laurels, or credit, that mercenaries never get after a victory.

Akaviri Style Item: Goldscale This greenish mineral is an ingredient for crafting in the Akaviri style.

Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m42h7ANa7b-b1EMD_7Ii1BX_ME-O9v-FEergeA4UH2g/htmlview?sle=true#gid=1379337279

A crafting ingredient being sold in the crown store starts off a trend that is not going to be very good for crafting in ESO in my opinion, it opens the door to lots of other ways crafting could be integrated within the crown store when already crafters are being shafted with nirn changes, motifs being sold in crowns and many other things lacking with crafting like set bonuses etc etc.

So this is mainly a topic to discuss the future of crafting in ESO, where it is heading, how you think it should head and what you think they are doing wrong or right with crafting, what you think they should change.

My own opinion is crafting should stay out of the crown store, should take time, effort and in game resources to achieve and not something someone can "skip" with real money which is where I think ZOS is heading and may possibly even go as far as to make it easier to get end game gear with real money through the crown store....

If this happens, ESO will just be another trashy cash shop game which it already is in danger of becoming.

That's just my personal opinion. What is yours? Keep it civil...

Thymos

You realize that was found from datamining? Datamining comes up with lots of stuff that might not even make it into the live or even the test servers. When they do their internal testing, they may put it into the crown store to be able to generate the items for testing, also.

Troneon

Thymos wrote: »

You realize that was found from datamining? Datamining comes up with lots of stuff that might not even make it into the live or even the test servers.

Obviously but thanks for stating the obvious for others that did not know, what it does show though is that at one point or another they have started work on it, which means it made it through design processes and marketing discussions internally within ZOS to make it into PTS patch to be data mined...either way it has crossed their minds and may be heading in that direction.

MCMancub

Personally, I would be surprised if they ever sold any part of their DLC's (crafting materials, motifs, costumes/pets found only in those respective areas) separate in the crown store. That would allow players to pick and choose what they wanted from the DLC by buying things individually. It doesn't seem like a good business decision, and I would be blown away if they implemented this.

Thymos

@Troneon read my edit.

I added that they add stuff to the crown store for internal testing purposes to generate the items for the people testing on their own private testing server.

EDIT: Plus the PTS tends to get a version straight from their own internal testing server.

Slurg

While it's too early to say exactly what their intentions are for data-mined items, past history would indicate that they do intend to put more "cosmetic" items in the Crown Store, and these items would seem to be in line with that as they affect only the appearance of the crafted armor, not the traits or level.

I'd rather they keep that just inside the game too, but think it's likely to end up in the crown store since they can sell it as an item that only affects appearance. Master crafters still have to put all the other effort in like research to make good sets.

And I would be surprised if they didn't put the DLC items in the store separately at some point. They won't want to pass up money from people who want to skip playing the DLC and just buy the motifs/pets/costumes etc. outright. Lots more money to be made that way.

Lynx7386

Don't worry, crafting in eso has a very promising future in the morgue.

Akavir_Sentinel

There are all kinds of items that I have found through data mining that were either considered once, or might be considered in the future, maybe never implemented, or are no longer part of the game. I've found crafting materials to craft dropped sets like Silks Of The Sun, I've found player crafted jewelry such as Ring Of Shalidor's Curse, Daedric artifact weapons, Mercenery Contracts that are no longer part of the game, etc....

NewBlacksmurf

Akaviri Style Item: Goldscale

From oblivion this excites me

OzJohnD

Datamining = bored ?

Troneon

Even if it is just datamined info and never going to happen, what do people think about having crafting ingredients and the possibility of being able to get things quicker like end game gear etc by throwing real money at the crown store?

Pallmor

They're just providing items for your convenience--and reasonably priced, no less, a virtual STEAL really.

Of course, you could always farm them in the super-vet version of the Bloodsoaked Dungeon, where you get a 0.000017% drop chance from looting the final boss.

starlizard70ub17_ESO

I have no doubt any future motifs will be in the craft store, maybe not right away but after a month or two of release. As for VR15+ mats in the crown store, I could see that as the begining of P2W, give it 6 months or so.

Sausage

Possibly, full scale Crown store and F2P is only a matter of time. Why you ask because one people buy simple horse they get 15 bucks, no middle man either, all goes directly to Zen, and thats equal to bargain deal of a full game. Not to mention F2P is best possible way to harm other competitors.

ZOS_Julien

Thread moved on Crafting section.

Austacker

Sausage wrote: »

Possibly, full scale Crown store and F2P is only a matter of time.

That will be the day I stop playing.

I quit Neverwinter on Xbox one because it's a cynical cash grab. I played WoW for the better part of a decade even with a sub because it respected the ingame market integrity.

Pure asthetics on the Crown store is fine, but the fact they have almost zero world pet/mount drops makes you feel like you're punished for not buying your cool asthetics from the Crown store. Don't like that model.

XP boosts are a concern all round because it has in game impact on other players, the Champion point system has already been shown to be unbalanced.

Motif packs simply allow people to skip the in game RNG gating to compete head to head in the game economy with those who 'earned' their patterns.

Then you have the XP 'boost' for Sub members. I understand that those who are paying want a return, but this is basically a 'pay to win' model in itself.

Yes, ESO is sitting very close to the Pay to Win border at the moment, which is why I'm extremely gun shy on buying anything from the Crown store and won't sub as I know if they cross that line and become another P2W game, I'll quit it very shortly afterwards.

It's not even a question of cost in itself (I subbed to WoW for over 8 years) but the principle.

I know ZOS need to turn a profit, especially now they've gone B2P. But it's finding that balance between regular income and just trashing the game's integrity for profit that's a very dangerous line in the sand that once crossed, will forever doom the game.

The crafting writs in this game right now are not rewarding at all. Woodworking/Blacksmithing/Clothing. I don't even bother with them anymore, they're not well thought out and offer next to no real incentive to do.

Coupled with that you have the current ingame market economy structure which is confusing, convoluted and more of a chore to work around than a simple server wide AH model (like WoW does).

I think that impacts me more coming from that background as I've seen multiple models and I actually enjoy playing the 'economy game' in MMOs.

ESO honestly doesn't do this well at all IMHO.

So for me the crafting aspect of this game boils down to personal development only. I can turn a profit from it, but don't really feel the incentive to do so. In general, it's more rewarding and profitable to sell the components of crafting to other players than actually sell the finished product of crafting in itself.

Even when you do sell at a profit, what's there to spend the gold on anyway? Consumables, repairs, bank/inventory space?

Boring.

All the 'cool stuff' like pets, mounts, costumes etc are locked off in the Crown store anyway. There's no transmute market in this game and you get enough skillpoints in ESO that you can max every profession in the game anyway on one character and basically become 100% self sufficient.

So apart from making your own stuff, what's the point of crafting in ESO?

Really, none.