This is how I see it "Crafting"

Crafting

Whats wrong with it.

What can be done to it to make it work better.

Allso putting a little role Playing into it.

So I know a lot of you out there in the MMORPG world thinks that crafting sucks. I all so from time to time think this sucks. I have been thinking more about WHY DOES IT SUCK ,and how could it be made better. Now the big thing is it does nothing for you for the most part it's just a time sink made by the MMO GODS to keep you doing some thing for just a bit longer. Some games don't even make the crafted stuff with good stats. Making every one go out and hack and slash Mobs. or go and find all the quest you can find that my drop some thing you need. Then other games that do give good stats for crafted stuff ,makes it way to hard for any one to really want to craft. Well maybe not to hard ,but a very big time sink. Time Sink = Harvesting ,pre-fab ,Crafting.

Lets look at the looting of nods. Nods are where you get all your raws from. You can't build it if you don't have stuff to build with. They can be all most any where. Some are rare so you only come across them

So now you have all the raws you need to make ten things ,BUT you can't really make what you want yet. You got to start pre-fabing every thing. Thats right now you must take all them raws and turn them in to things that you will use to make what ever it is you are wanting to make. Pre-fabing is like running around like a chicken with its head cut off. You got to go from machine to machine with all these raws turning them into pre-fab stuff. This some times can take as long as harvesting or longer.

Having all your pre-fab stuff done you can start crafting...right? Well yes in some games and no in others. Some games you need tools to craft with and with some others some thing like fuel to work all your stuff. Lets say you are rich in the game and had the money to buy all that. So now you can do what we call crafting. You start off with every things going fine. (well in some MMO's all you do is click and wait= done) You are doing good you click the little button every time it pops up and man-O-man this is turning out great..OH NO what in the heck just happen. It was all good and at the last sec. it went to shit on you. Not because you mest up. It was because it is a random thing that happens. Well 1 down 9 more to go... at the end of the day you may have five or so things made that you could use or sell. The rest is trash.

At lest thats my take on the way there are now.

Here's the things I would like to see.

All Parts of the MMORPG be made to work with each other. Including crafting with every thing. from the homes you live in to the food you eat. Every thing player made have the best stats.(WO MAN not every thing what about us raiders? well see thats getting into some thing I want to talk about on a later date. but for now lets just say. the loot want be like we have it now. Two things: Money for that trash you looted and new skills that only you can get from that quest.)Ok not every thing has the best stats but the top end stuff that is made perfect have the best stats. DO NOT make crafting be apart of the racial skill base. Like trolls only can make metal things good(its so shiny). No make it so that if you put the time in you get the skill. and for god sake don't make it where once you have learned some thing it want do a random dooms day burn on you. If I am level 50 crafter and making a level 10 thing for my alt. don't make it do some thing stupid and I loose it. That would be like a master cook forgetting that he/she needs water in a pot to boil eggs.In a lot of mmorpg's I think they forget that the game they are putting together is a mmoRPG RPG = role playing game. OH NO he is going to start talking about role playing! yep I am because thats what these games are based on. role playing

WARNING...
forgive me. unlike a lot of people I really do think I have some type of A D D . So I will start off on one thing and end on some other thing.

Trying to keep with Crafting here. OK Role playing and Crafting
There is a lot you can do with both. One thing is make sure that what you have us as players do to build up skills. work with the role playing side of things. (going to look at it from EQ2 because thats the game I know best. sorry if this hurts your feelings) so EQ2 has some very good RP things in it ,but crafting is not one of them. So I can make a CAKE. Whats up with roots going into it. OK I can see one of them having root in it ,but not ever one I make. So EQ2 does good on giving you a lot of stuff to make. You even need to buy eggs and things( or at lest the last time I made a cake I had to buy eggs ) to make cakes and things ( hmm I have said cake like a lot. may need to go eat be for I go on ). Let me stop there and come at it like this. lets look at what all you could do as a crafter from the ground up while all so thinking of role playing as well. Let me state that I have know a good bit of players that all they did was craft. and they LOVED it. Seem like most of them was all so big in to role playing as well.


Harvesting

Harvesting is from the ground. nods and trees.love the way Vanguard does it tree looting. Tree falls down. looks great and it keeps the role playing in the game. looting the rest of the nods seem to be a lot like the rest of the games out there. OK so I may have lost some of you by now. With all this RP stuff. but stay with me. because you will see RP will be good for you to. look at the way you harvest now. running around the world looking for stuff. Like logs in a desert. RP says a log should be found in a area where trees are. ore and rocks need to be mine. I think all games like to put lots of hills in the games. use them. Pick a place and let us do all the work. What I am getting at ,is that when we go out to harvest. You should only have to look around you to see where you need to go. Hmmm I need wood. Look around to finds where the woods are and go there to get what you need. Need rock to build my house. Go to the hills. Herbs could be farmed. Thats the big thing now. Right? To own your on place. Have a home in the game. and lots of people want that and they hate RP. so why not give us farms? You could all ways have NPC farms that you can loot from.


Pre-Fab

Pre-fabing is there way of eating the time away. So thats what they want let them Cake. Role play it in to the game. You want us to kill time so in-sted of making us just hit the same button over and over. make it in to a show. First ask us how many we want to make. set the number low so you don't have people setting it to 1,000 make Some thing like 1 ,5 ,10 ,15 and maybe 20. because as we all know this is not just a time sink. Its when we are building a lot of skill points. If the toon is a low level character then make him/her do things to test what they are making. Make them stick a finger in the pot of hot water ,grab the hot end of the metal they are working with. run a finger down the side of the wood they are working with. you could do a lot with it. and as they build in skill they will stop doing some things and maybe start doing others. Like smelling the food cooking or doing a line of sight on the metal part of the pre-fab sword they are making to make sure that it is straight. and yes make us push more buttons. This is all so the place where if you must put in a random boom. Then do it here in the pr-fab stage.


Crafting

Crafting is where you want to be any way. It where you finally get what you been wanting all this time. So make it FUN and you can do that by adding RP into it as all thing when you add RP into it. RP makes it fun. stream lines it and make every one happy. First off RP or no RP STOP making it a random thing for it to go BOOM in your face or not. thats not cool. Look at it from the players side. You have looked for months for the one rare raw. You find it you Pre-Fab it and now you the master crafter that you are. You put it together. just to have it blow up in your face. and you have done nothing wrong. It was just a random thing that happens from time to time no mater your skill level.
Now lets talk some about crafting. Once again make it a show. Make it fun for role player and the non-role player. Little thing can add to the fun and if you got to make some thing random make it the show part.
The first time you make any thing be it food ,armor or a weapon. every time you make some thing new. That you have never made before should be a big deal. Let us see it. don't make it where it just goes into a bag/box or what ever it is that your toon uses. Have the toon hold it up or out are what ever so all can see. now you don't have have to keep doing it. The first time is good. but make it special for the player the first time he or she make it.
Lots of times crafting (putting all your pre-fab stuff together) takes as long as the pre-fab part. This is not right. Most things should at max take only half as long. You have every thing you need. OK Cooking on the other hand the pre-fab part should take less time. With armor or weapons the crafting part should take less time.

Heres some more things that should be apart of crafting world


Pet training (yes I played SWG) are what ever you would want to call it. I mean where do all the pets come from. how come that horse lets you ride it. Who trained that bird thing to let you get on it.

Jobs yes I said it. looking at it from the way EVE does there out of game training. what if you was to be able to get a job at what ever it was you do. Now I am not talking BIG money. just a little. and your toon can only work for a few hours. but he/she does gain a little skill for it. and you make a little money. This could be great for low level players.
Taking a job would be some thing you did so that you make a little money and a little skill. This would all happen after you logged out of the game.

Menders This is some thing like having a job but it's when you in game. You could fix all types of things. This would be one thing that cooks (unless you could think of a way) would not be apart of. I would have it set for a price so that it would not get out of hand. The only thing I would have you be able to do is maybe do a NO-CHARGE for some one. Say like when your in a group and your tank has been banged up bad.

Map makers. So we all know that the maps we get in-game suck. What is Some toons could make new maps in-game out of where they have been. Give intel of what areas was like . levels of mobs ,where harvest able nods are. Maybe that town you never was told about. Lots of good things could come from some thing like this.


And I know theres more ,but I am hitting a wall...