The life of a lumberjack.
Soloeus
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I am a crafter. I have played MMO's since 1999. My main pleasure in MMO's isn't grinding mobs or quests. It isn't trading with other players or killing them.
My favorite part is this: Taking a nice stroll through hostile territory to gather supplies and make things. To provide hospitality to others in need, and give them things they will be grateful to use and have. I enjoy seeing my name on items being bought and sold, and used in battle. I like making siege engines, ships, and watch towers. I like building weapons, armor and even food. This is my drive, and what I play to do. I like supporting my comrades more than fighting beside them.
In many MMO's, crafting is something you can do. A road you may walk, a journey you make take on its own merit. And as you advance in this, it is your primary field of activity. In ESO, it feels the exact opposite. In ESO, crafting isn't a primary journey. It is just something everyone does on the side of whatever else they are doing. The life of a lumberjack is a hard one.
The good part, is there are multiple required crafts to hone:
Armor/Weapons/Enchanting/Alchemy/Food. These 5 staples can not only be used together, but one can literally make their own, well... all 5, and most people probably do. That leads us to the bad part. Players who define their primary role and purpose as a crafter are only able to excel by doing all the things they wouldn't do in other games. Doing the things they perhaps enjoy less. Grinding mobs for crap to deconstruct because it gives significantly less exp than what you can make.
The other bad part is in Provisioning you cannot have a Food and Drink active at the same time, which is one of the worst nerfs I could possibly think of. I didn't even know this until I used ZAM's buff display. Alchemy Ingredients and some Clothing Ingredients contain worms which invites a new form of trolling: Take the cotton and leave the 2 worms which causes the "Cotton" to be picked by a player only to discover worms for their effort.
Edit: And sometimes an alchemy or clothing node might be on the screen and when you harvest it, you actually get nothing; confirmed with mods that tell you the loot drops and being attentive to my inventory.
So, please, Zenimax; consider this in future design plans, that while your basic and easy crafting system enables anyone to master this journey with minimal effort, it also has a few silly little quirks that if addressed could improve things 10 fold. I, for one, am glad to see so many people at the workbenches in the game.
Now, if only we could get those worms out of our cotton and have the benefits of ale with my bread.
Edited by Soloeus on May 1, 2014 3:49PM My favorite part is this: Taking a nice stroll through hostile territory to gather supplies and make things. To provide hospitality to others in need, and give them things they will be grateful to use and have. I enjoy seeing my name on items being bought and sold, and used in battle. I like making siege engines, ships, and watch towers. I like building weapons, armor and even food. This is my drive, and what I play to do. I like supporting my comrades more than fighting beside them.
In many MMO's, crafting is something you can do. A road you may walk, a journey you make take on its own merit. And as you advance in this, it is your primary field of activity. In ESO, it feels the exact opposite. In ESO, crafting isn't a primary journey. It is just something everyone does on the side of whatever else they are doing. The life of a lumberjack is a hard one.
The good part, is there are multiple required crafts to hone:
Armor/Weapons/Enchanting/Alchemy/Food. These 5 staples can not only be used together, but one can literally make their own, well... all 5, and most people probably do. That leads us to the bad part. Players who define their primary role and purpose as a crafter are only able to excel by doing all the things they wouldn't do in other games. Doing the things they perhaps enjoy less. Grinding mobs for crap to deconstruct because it gives significantly less exp than what you can make.
The other bad part is in Provisioning you cannot have a Food and Drink active at the same time, which is one of the worst nerfs I could possibly think of. I didn't even know this until I used ZAM's buff display. Alchemy Ingredients and some Clothing Ingredients contain worms which invites a new form of trolling: Take the cotton and leave the 2 worms which causes the "Cotton" to be picked by a player only to discover worms for their effort.
Edit: And sometimes an alchemy or clothing node might be on the screen and when you harvest it, you actually get nothing; confirmed with mods that tell you the loot drops and being attentive to my inventory.
So, please, Zenimax; consider this in future design plans, that while your basic and easy crafting system enables anyone to master this journey with minimal effort, it also has a few silly little quirks that if addressed could improve things 10 fold. I, for one, am glad to see so many people at the workbenches in the game.
Now, if only we could get those worms out of our cotton and have the benefits of ale with my bread.
Within; Without.
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