Furniture Crafting : Completely Inaccessible

Recremen · February 2017

We've known this would be the case since it first appeared on PTS, but I'll say it here now that it's live.

Furniture crafting is really cool in theory but completely impractical to get into. You cannot realistic furnish a home with this method.

The problem centers around a few major issues, only one of which is reasonable.

Crafting furniture requires a "plan/blueprint/etc." This could have gone either way in the design, with the end result looking either more like armor crafting or more like provisioning, and I don't consider it a major loss that it ended up looking like provisioning. Yes, it's a long grind and a long search for all the recipes, but as it compares to other systems in game it's pretty reasonable. Higher drop rates for blueprints could fix any undue strain, at the very least.
The plans require enormous amounts of materials. Even simple objects require a comparatively large amount of resources. Never mind that the resources make zero sense sometimes (as a friend asked, "why am I putting runestones IN MY BREAD??"). Even worse, objects require huge amounts of material regardless of their size or aesthetic impact. You need nearly as much material to make a tiny cup as you do a large brazier. I can't see this being fixed because it would require a lot of work going back through each recipe and fixing the bad decisions.
This one is the worst aspect. Furniture crafting base materials are scarce. VERY. SCARCE. I spent many hours last night farming materials and Ra Gada motif chapters and I would up with more motif chapters (3) than certain furniture crafting materials like Decorative Wax (0). SERIOUSLY, how did anyone think that was a good idea? I can make a full set of CP 160 gear of all armor types with the crafting materials I got, but I can't even make a green-quality table? Awful! This is the part that is not only easiest to change, but which would also have the most impact. Please, make furniture materials drop from every node, and make Decorative Wax drop literally ever, because right now it doesn't.

This is holding back what should a fun and engaging system. If I need to spend hours a day farming just to make a single furniture item then I won't even have a fully furnished large home by this time next year. That is not fun or engaging, it is debilitating.

Recremen · February 2017

Other ideas to help fix the problem :

Give furniture materials from refining
Give furniture materials from hireling mails
Make furniture materials purchasable from various vendors, like for Alliance Points, Tel Var, etc.

Biro123 · February 2017

I haven't paid a lot of attention to be honest, but am I correct in thinking that furniture crafting needs crafting ability in a number of different crafts.. on the same character?

Recremen · February 2017

Biro123 wrote: »

I haven't paid a lot of attention to be honest, but am I correct in thinking that furniture crafting needs crafting ability in a number of different crafts.. on the same character?

This is correct, but that's pretty easy and I'm pretty sure represents the typical way people play, with all crafts on at least one character.

DeadlyRecluse · February 2017

The individual motif pages per item, per style for each thing is a huge roadblock. I understand the desire to promote player interaction via trading and crafting for each other, but if I want to outfit my home in, say, Altmer style, I can't just find a master altmer crafter. They don't exist, and won't for months. Instead, I have to spam zone, guildstores, etc. ad nauseum.

Preyfar · February 2017

Not only that, but this introduces two exceedingly painful grinds: it's the grind for basic blueprints, which is massively time consuming. But during this grind, you don't really get mats to make the furniture. And as you pointed out, the mat requirement for furniture is excessive. Seriously so.

This update punishes crafters. That's the blunt truth of it. There's, what, 2,000+ pieces of furniture? How many hundreds of blueprints to hunt down? I just want to be able to reasonably furniture my house with Khajiit wares, but that is proving immensely, IMMENSELY difficult with the current design.

Why can the poor Khajiit afford basic furnishing and necessities, yet I can't even get so many standard staples? No one is selling a basic Khajiit bed right now. The very basics for housing are missing from the in-game economy, and those that do exist are hidden behind a grindwall.

Shardaxx · February 2017

Aren't the blueprints available to purchase from regular vendors (blacksmith, woodworker etc) in town? I read this a while ago is this still the case?

BlackSparrow · February 2017

The drop rate on Decorative Wax in particular seems pretty egregious. They ONLY seem to spawn in containers that are food-specific ("Apple crate"; "Greens box", that sort of thing), and have a low rate for those. I farmed my thief for two hours last night, checking food boxes frequently, and only got 3 Decorative Waxes. Meanwhile, just five minutes walking between wayshrines and harvesting resource nodes got me about that much in Alchemical Resin and Mundane Runes.

This seems to be a bit better than it was on the PTS, but it's still a rough system to get into, especially since no one has the furniture-specific resources yet. A better way to roll this out may have been to roll out the resource drops in a patch a month or two ago, and let us accumulate the resources through normal gameplay before launching furniture crafting.

They're definitely aiming for long-term accumulation for both recipes and resources. As I said in the PTS threads, this still feels a little too far over the line from "challenging" to "frustrating"... but it's what we've got, so I think I've resigned to buckle down and make the best of it. XD

Gandrhulf_Harbard · February 2017

ESO needs to realise that "The Grind" isn't what keeps people playing.

Tangible Progress towards their goals is what keeps people playing.

Once "The Grind" gets so excessive that it stalls Tangible Progress players start looking for something else to do.

In reality all three of the suggestion made by @Recremen need to be implemented, sooner rather than later.

In MMORPGs I am a bit of a "housing nut" so I'll grind for longer than a lot of players to be able to put stuff in my house; but I have limits too. And my experience of yesterday and today is that, with current drop rates, those limits will be hit significantly before Morrowind arrives. That's a bad place to be for a company that want to retain my subscription.

One other thing I would do is make Patterns/Blueprints etc regionally appropriate. I haven't seen enough of them drop to know if they are so weighted yet.

All The Best

Korinth · February 2017

Not to mention that if you have specialized your toons like I have (I have a blacksmith/wood worker, a Clothier/Artificer, and potion/provionser), you now need to either make one of your toons your "Craft Everything" toon or power level a new toon to be a crafter of everything.

HORRIBLE idea. Why couldn't you tie furniture making to a specific craft ability. Why did they tie it to multiple?

GRIND GRIND GRIND.... for something that provides ZERO actual benefit in game.

Sorry....this is a FAIL.

Recremen · February 2017

Shardaxx wrote: »

Aren't the blueprints available to purchase from regular vendors (blacksmith, woodworker etc) in town? I read this a while ago is this still the case?

Only a few basic white-tier blueprints area available from vendors, unfortunately.

anadandy · February 2017

The thing that gets me, is the solvent and recipe proficiency requirements on top of the general crafting requirements for some items. I found a plan for a candle - a CANDLE - that required a level 3 solvent proficiency. Now my main is almost full up on the standard equipment crafting ( woodworking, etc.) but I pawned off alchemy to an alt - who is level 50 - a while ago. So no chandlery for me!

Xundiin · February 2017

Shardaxx wrote: »

Aren't the blueprints available to purchase from regular vendors (blacksmith, woodworker etc) in town? I read this a while ago is this still the case?

.1% of the available patterns can be bought this way.

TheRealPotoroo · February 2017

Shardaxx wrote: »

Aren't the blueprints available to purchase from regular vendors (blacksmith, woodworker etc) in town? I read this a while ago is this still the case?

Those ones are super basic (like crafting a rough butcher's hatchet at the blacksmith), they are few, and there is no variation between vendors of the same type. The ones that might let you make something you'd actually want to have (and I'm not talking luxury or anything, just not hideously rough and nasty), are as usual beholden to RNGesus.

BlackSparrow · February 2017

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

One other thing I would do is make Patterns/Blueprints etc regionally appropriate. I haven't seen enough of them drop to know if they are so weighted yet.

Don't have a big enough sample set to confirm either, but this might be the case. I found two Fine blueprints yesterday in the city of Daggerfall, and both were Breton. Might've just been chance, though.

It will be easier to tell once we've had more than a day to play, of course.

Preyfar · February 2017

BlackSparrow wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

One other thing I would do is make Patterns/Blueprints etc regionally appropriate. I haven't seen enough of them drop to know if they are so weighted yet.

Don't have a big enough sample set to confirm either, but this might be the case. I found two Fine blueprints yesterday in the city of Daggerfall, and both were Breton. Might've just been chance, though.

It will be easier to tell once we've had more than a day to play, of course.

This is the case. Farm in Reapers March and you get a majority Khajiit, minority High Elf. I've been farming the pages. Each zone seems to have a majority race that predominates what designs fall.

Acrolas · February 2017

Dungeon update = 3 months of grind
Homestead update = 3 months of grind
∴ Homestead = Dungeon

Gandrhulf_Harbard · February 2017

Preyfar wrote: »

BlackSparrow wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

One other thing I would do is make Patterns/Blueprints etc regionally appropriate. I haven't seen enough of them drop to know if they are so weighted yet.

Don't have a big enough sample set to confirm either, but this might be the case. I found two Fine blueprints yesterday in the city of Daggerfall, and both were Breton. Might've just been chance, though.

It will be easier to tell once we've had more than a day to play, of course.

This is the case. Farm in Reapers March and you get a majority Khajiit, minority High Elf. I've been farming the pages. Each zone seems to have a majority race that predominates what designs fall.

Off to The Rift and Eastmarch for me then. TY @Preyfar

All The Best

fr33r4ng3r · February 2017

Yeah, I'm beginning to think something is terribly wrong. I've been farming materials for around 2 straight hours and still have only 4/7 heartwood and 6/7 regulus I need to make a simple wheelbarrow. And the only reason to make the wheelbarrow is it's one of only a couple of green blueprints I've found. Hope the game is still around in 20 years because that's how long it will take me to furnish my house...

drakhan2002_ESO · February 2017

Recremen wrote: »

This is correct, but that's pretty easy and I'm pretty sure represents the typical way people play, with all crafts on at least one character.

Not true at all. I for one have my equipment crafting spread out on several different toons - one is a woodworker, one is a blacksmith, one is a clothier. It's been that way since beta. While all of these toons also are level 50 in all crafts at this point in time due to deconstruction, they certainly do not have any skill points invested into those other crafts.

Callous2208 · February 2017

Bought the orc large home with gold, feeling super proud. Realized it will take me 6 months of endless grind to even craft the basics to furnish it. Don't feel so good anymore.

Katahdin · February 2017

Preyfar wrote: »

BlackSparrow wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

One other thing I would do is make Patterns/Blueprints etc regionally appropriate. I haven't seen enough of them drop to know if they are so weighted yet.

Don't have a big enough sample set to confirm either, but this might be the case. I found two Fine blueprints yesterday in the city of Daggerfall, and both were Breton. Might've just been chance, though.

It will be easier to tell once we've had more than a day to play, of course.

This is the case. Farm in Reapers March and you get a majority Khajiit, minority High Elf. I've been farming the pages. Each zone seems to have a majority race that predominates what designs fall.

ZOS logic: let's make the Nord zone drop Kajiit (AD race) items

Callous2208 · February 2017

Katahdin wrote: »

Preyfar wrote: »

BlackSparrow wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

One other thing I would do is make Patterns/Blueprints etc regionally appropriate. I haven't seen enough of them drop to know if they are so weighted yet.

Don't have a big enough sample set to confirm either, but this might be the case. I found two Fine blueprints yesterday in the city of Daggerfall, and both were Breton. Might've just been chance, though.

It will be easier to tell once we've had more than a day to play, of course.

This is the case. Farm in Reapers March and you get a majority Khajiit, minority High Elf. I've been farming the pages. Each zone seems to have a majority race that predominates what designs fall.

ZOS logic: let's make the Nord zone drop Kajiit (AD race) items

He said Reapers, not Rift.

Loves_guars · February 2017

I agree

We have worked a lot to become master crafters , in top of that, the last months crafted gear have become obsolete. I thought that this was going to reward crafters, but it feels more like another slap in the face.

What they could do at least, is raise the master writs drop rate considerable and add the furniture materials to surveys and refining. It's not like we are going to get things for free anyway.

Preyfar · February 2017

Katahdin wrote: »

ZOS logic: let's make the Nord zone drop Kajiit (AD race) items

This one thinks you may have had too much moonsugar. Reaper's March is nestled against the warm sands of Elsweyr, and is indeed Khajiit land... at least, last this one checked. We do share the border with our knifey-eared "friends" to the west, however. But rest assured, Five-Claws, if it's Nordic blueprints you seek travel to the fur-chilling lands of Eastmarch or the Rift. You'll find what you seek there.

BlackSparrow · February 2017

drakhan2002_ESO wrote: »

Recremen wrote: »

This is correct, but that's pretty easy and I'm pretty sure represents the typical way people play, with all crafts on at least one character.

Not true at all. I for one have my equipment crafting spread out on several different toons - one is a woodworker, one is a blacksmith, one is a clothier. It's been that way since beta. While all of these toons also are level 50 in all crafts at this point in time due to deconstruction, they certainly do not have any skill points invested into those other crafts.

Agreed. Since launch, I've had Smithing and Clothier on one character (for convenience and to save motifs), but the other four crafts have each gone to a different character. All but the Enchanter have now mastered their individual craft.

This has been a very popular method of crafting since early in the game. When we were all first leveling, skill points were at a premium, so it made a lot of sense to spread crafting across multiple characters. I remember when "crafting alts" were considered risky and hard to level.

Because of this update, I've basically started training my Master Woodworker in the other crafts, just so I can make some of these more complicated recipes. It's a pain. I've had to respec her just to free up some skill points for it.

Baratan · February 2017

There's also a hidden level requirement on furniture recipes. I have one my crafter char, level 47 and he's being told his level is too low to read the recipe, even though no level requirement is listed on the item.

Gandrhulf_Harbard · February 2017

Preyfar wrote: »

This is the case. Farm in Reapers March and you get a majority Khajiit, minority High Elf. I've been farming the pages. Each zone seems to have a majority race that predominates what designs fall.

LOL.

Just got into Stormcrag Crypt in Eastmarch. First drop was Redgard Work Cart.

All The Best

c0rp · February 2017

CASH SHOP. It is never going to go away, and it will always dictate game mechanics like this. Crafting furniture is supposed to be ridiculous else no one would buy it with real money.

IronCrystal · February 2017

I don't know the design behind what spawns where, but I laughed when you mentioned you couldn't find Decorative Wax.

I've been stealing in Orsinium for like 2 hours and found over 100 of them.

Loralai_907 · February 2017

I didn't have too much trouble during my limited time last night. I found about 20 plans, 33 decorative wax, and during my mat farming I found 4-25 of the other various new mats needed for furniture crafting. Granted most of the plans I found were not super interesting, like a hatchet, but its a start.