The green “craft” tree has received a lot of criticism. In both structure and utility, this branch of the Champion Point (CP) system is by far the most unliked and controversial.

This post will discuss the problems in the tree and come up with possible fixes.

Overview
- Problems
-1) Micromanagement issues because of very situational "passive" uses.
2) “Gateway passives” and structure issues.
3) Wing Structure

-Solutions
4) Eliminate slot passives that invite micro managing.
5) Fixing Structure Issues by lowering the amount of “Gateway” passives.

Conclusion

•••

Problems

1) Micromanagement issues because of very situational "passive" uses.

Many of the slot or “active” elements in the craft tree have quite limited uses. This invites a sense of needed micromanagement of what actually has to slotted at any one particular time, even for rather mundane chores.

Professional Upkeep (1-50 CP) is a fine example of this. While powerful and deserving a spot in the green Craft tree, the passive is very situational. The player needs to be at a vendor and repairing, or this slot passive is of no use.

Meticulous Disassembly (50 CP) is another such example. Again a powerful addition to the Craft tree, but only used if the player is at a craft station and is refining. Slotting this item before refining and then taking it off afterwards seems to add an element of needless micromanagement.

Additional examples that are very situational uses is the two fishing passives Angler Instinct (25 CP) and Reel Technique (50CP). While powerful additions, the situational nature of these items makes their need to take up a slot feel pointless.

2) “Gateway passives” and structure issues.



Two early elements in the Craft tree serve as obstruction or "gateway" passives. That also has become a much talked about problem with the tree. The placement of these two elements are circled in red.

Friends in Low Places (25 CP) is a very odd one. A once per day use item invites more micromanagement because of it’s limited usage and is also a “gateway” to passives beyond it. Again a very situational slot item appearing so early into the tree, seems oddly placed. Possibly forcing players who have no use for it to spend 25 CP just to get what lies beyond.

Inspiration Boost (15-45 CP) is another example of a gateway passive. Only useful to those that have not maxed out crafting, this only forms a pointless CP point dump for more experienced players. While it’s well placed for beginning players, it should have it’s own branch that does not block progression further into the tree for the more experienced.

Many players are finding that they have to plan their route through Wanderer (15-75 CP) and Steadfast Enchantment (10-50 CP) just to get around Inspiration Boost. I have circled these passives in Cyan.
While of more universal usage, these passives hardly feel “exciting” and again leave the impression that their placement was meant to purposely “dump” CP points into them before getting into the more exciting elements beyond it.

3) Wing Structure



The Gateway passive issue leads to a larger issue with the "wings". Here circled in yellow.

The issue here is that the path through these wings seem to be dictated by emphasizing the edge of the cloak, rather than heeding to game play needs. So what happens is a series of rather expensive slot passives that players must travel through to get what lies beyond. If a player wants only a few of them, they are paying a high price to get past slot items they will never use and are "dead" as they need to have a slot to be useful. Or in other words, it feels like another pointless CP dump.

Solutions

4) Eliminate slot passives that invite micro managing.

Players should feel the need to re arrange their passives rarely. The tree’s structure and it’s many windows does not invite changing of slot items on the fly. But the rather "limited use" slot items do suggest that exact intent of micromanagement. This micromanagement does not allow for fluid game play. Instead, slot items should be reserved for passives that a player would want for the long term.

Homemaker (25 CP), Liquid Efficiency (75 CP) and Rationer (10-30CP) are fine examples of passives players may want to keep for the long term. There should be more of them to invite less "switching" of slot passives.

Here are just a few examples of new “passives” that players may want to slot over extended play time, that fit into the Craft tree.

-Heavy Sack Detection (CP scalable by detection distance) this ability would make heavy sacks “glow” to be more noticeable.

-Armor Degradation Avoidance (CP scalable by amount) if slotted armor degrades slower due to combat/death.

-Additional Motif Drop (Flat CP cost) similar to Homemaker, this has allows a chance to drop additional motifs.

More examples could include higher drop rates for antiquities and the like.

5) Fixing Structure Issues by lowering the amount of “Gateway” passives.

Putting additional paths through the “cloak” structure tree would help ease the “pain” of avoiding unwanted passives. Additionally moving Inspiration Boost (15-45 CP) lower and possibly to it’s own dead end branch, while replacing it’s position with a more attractive and universally used passive would also ease the flow up the tree.

Conclusion

The craft tree holds a lot of promise, but it misses the mark in a few key ways. An invitation to annoyingly micromanage the active slots and basic structure issues have cause many complaints and will continue to be a distraction on a rather interesting new idea for Champion Points. There are numerous balancing issues ahead for this tree, but it can be fixed.

Thank You

EDIT: I was under the impression that Rationer only worked when it was slotted and that the duration buff would be lost if taken out. Instead this is another "micromanagement" slot passive that should be adjusted so that it is something the player wants for the long term. Thank you @phantasmalD for the correction!