f13.net forums - Crowfall aka Play2Crush aka Shadowbane II aka Nostalgia Online

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
July 01, 2025, 04:44:56 PM

we're back, baby

Today was the largest pledge day since day 4, watch that delicious SC money roll in.

New stretch goal: private island in the Caribbean.

I hate Chris Roberts so much.

Quote from: Rasix on March 11, 2015, 05:48:19 PM

New stretch goal: private island in the Caribbean.

With no extradition treaty.

They hit their 12,000 backer goal this morning.

Quote from: Draegan on March 11, 2015, 03:43:14 PM

To be fair, there are some playable chunks of the game.

We don't do fair.

(Though the SC hate is actually amusing at this point.)

Crafting FAQ (and equipment decay), part 2.
Also, no Auction House.

Quote

Crafting FAQ Part 2!

How do players get access to advanced crafting?
Our system is very freeform! Each of the Archetypes in Crowfall has an initial package of skills, and some of the Archetypes have specific crafting skills in their package. For example, the Forgemaster starting skill package has some initial blacksmithing skill and recipes. As the character progresses and engages in Campaigns they will discover Discipline Runestones such as Weaponsmith, or Armorsmith. As you pick up new Disciplines, that opens up new skills and new recipes.

I have to take a specific Archetype if I want to craft?!
Generally, no. Most of the crafting-oriented Discipline Runestones can be used by any Archetype, though each character is limited as to how many Disciplines they can use (we’re currently planning on 3, max.) We see crafters as a full-time playstyle! They fill a valuable role as much as a tank or damage dealer does. In addition to being able to enjoy the “meta-game” of inter-World trading between Worlds, Crafters also have a specific niche role -- every faction/guild will need to recruit them to turn resources into valuable equipment within the Campaigns.

Won’t this encourage a lot of people to make alternate characters for crafting (alts)?
Probably not -- we want to encourage players to only play a single character within a campaign, so we’re putting design rules in place to encourage that. An upshot of this design is that the best “crafters” won’t generally be alternate characters, because it’s not a very effective strategy. Recruiting proficient and dedicated Crafters will be one key ingredient to waging a successful Campaign. The same can be said of those who choose to specialize in scouting, raiding or sieging. Players (and Guilds) will need to make smart strategic choices about skill specialization -- and even team composition -- before entering a campaign.

Is there interdependence between the crafting types?
Most recipes that create equipment require components from each of the crafting styles. Each guild should encourage their members to take a spread of crafting Disciplines, to cover all the component styles.

What does increasing a specific crafting skill do?
Every recipe requires a specific crafting skill (such as Blacksmithing for metal crafts, or Woodworking for wood crafts). Raising this skill will decrease the amount of crafting failures, and potentially increase the quality of the end piece of equipment. That said, we are trying to reduce the amount of randomness (RNG) in the system, so finding the right balance here will require some iteration.

The crafting skill also acts as a soft gate rather than a hard gate normally seen in crafting systems. In most games, a crafter wouldn’t see upper end recipes until they hit a certain skill amount, grinding out thousands of needless items to get to that point. In Crowfall, each crafter starts with the same set of key recipes -- the challenge is going to be getting their hands on upper-end resources they can craft with them. If they can get these resources, they CAN craft the item -- but the chances of success are very low. Based on their skill, it becomes a judgment call for the crafter as to when they should start attempting to craft more difficult items.

How do you plan to prevent “I only want the best!” Syndrome?
Part of the reason that other games suffer from this is because items are largely permanent – once you gain a particular weapon, you usually don’t give it up (or lose it) until you find a better weapon. This cycle could take months, or years. Crowfall’s design means that items will turn-over much more frequently. Decay and item loss will factor heavily into Crowfall’s economy, so gear that isn't “the best” might be acceptable for a night where the player expects multiple deaths storming the castle. We also see this as a way for the crafters to gain a reputation as one who only sells a certain quality of item. The crafter who really wants to be known for their crafts might craft the same item multiple times and only sell those which they are proud of – and salvage those which don’t meet the quality mark.

What do the crafters do with all their rejects?
Since there is no vendor with an endless supply of coins to buy items, crafters can salvage any items they don’t want to get some of the resources back.

How fast does equipment decay?
Equipment will take small amounts decay from use in combat and large amounts of decay when the player is killed in combat. Crafters will be able to repair equipment which will lower its max durability each time it is repaired.

Is there any way to mass produce items?
Some games (most notably Star Wars: Galaxies) provided the ability for crafters to essentially turn a crafted item into a blueprint that will consume it but allow the crafter to produce a limited amount of copies of that item. We’re considering a similar system, where players can craft a particular item to use a “template” and then order their Thrall Blacksmiths to manufacture that item in larger quantities.

How do I sell items to other players? Is there an auction house?
Currently, we don’t plan on offering an auction house. Instead, we are going to have “shopkeeper” Thralls that can be slotted into buildings to sell items. These thralls can be set up within certain structures, both in Campaign Worlds (to service a guild or faction) and in Kingdoms (to foster trade for use in the Eternal Kingdoms, or Campaigns with less strict import restrictions. We also expect that some players will open up their personal Kingdoms as “marketplaces” for other players to come and sell their goods, and take a cut out of every transaction that occurs.

I've grown to hate the auction house, so I don't care anymore. It opens the door for people to make a profit by transport, which is a good thing.

Damn, i was hoping to delegate all crafting duties to an alt. Oh well, that's probably better for the game anyways.

Global AH has drawbacks, but each area should have one to avoid the need to search 500 player vendors.

Comparison Shopping 2 Crush

Just get rid of shopping vendors altogether - that will force people to talk to other people in order to buy/sell/trade items. SOCIAL INTERACTION.

I'm only half-kidding. It would drive people fucking bonkers, but if you really want "diplomacy/trade/strategy," you remove the ability for people to get shit easily.

I was a huge proponent of the global AH until I saw what it did in a game with absolutely no real barriers. D3 sealed the deal for me.

Real trade doesn't work that way, which is fine. People will create the best marketplaces and get a cut. Others will set up other ones and do the same charging less. Almost like (gasp) Medieval cities back in the day. It'll create economy pvp which I enjoy.

Yeah, I could see instead of wasting time learning to craft, it would be worthwhile to just spend your time finding the best crafters and reselling their products to people who can't be bothered with doing the hunting themselves.

Quote from: Tmon on March 12, 2015, 02:13:28 PM

Essentially yes, you can become a trader of sorts. Or you can create your own market city inside your personal kingdom that attracts shoppers and the merchants pay you a cut, if you have the savvy.

Quote from: Paelos on March 12, 2015, 02:05:31 PM

Almost like (gasp) Medieval cities back in the day.

The Auction House would just kill the kind of crafting profession (which includes the shopkeeper profession) that these guys are trying to do. They are going for Ultima Onine, SWG, Shadowbane models, which -in that departments- were amazing in my opinion. And yes I know SWG had some centralized auction house, but all the good deals and trade until I played happened face to face. This, as everything else, will turn away millios of players, but probably seal the deal for about that 100k figure which includes me.

If goes like EvE, then you end up spending more time hunting down equipment to fight than actual fighting.

Maybe for some, I thought it was a boring as hell logistics sim.

Eve was boring, but that is kind of what I liked about it. Boring isn't the opposite of fun, it's the opposite of exciting.

I am a fan of these decisions.

Quote from: tazelbain on March 12, 2015, 03:19:57 PM

If goes like EvE, then you end up spending more time hunting down equipment to fight than actual fighting.

Yeah, this was my first thought. Not a fan of these decisions. But I'm not looking to find a new MMO-home, so the game probably just isn't for me.

It's even more interesting if people can attack and kill you while you are going around equipment hunting/shopping. Logistics should be less spreadsheety and more "physical" in this game compared to EVE, which means even more chances to PvP.

What if, the best shop for armours is in enemy territory? Or camped, or things like that? For the kind of players this game is being made for, this stuff is amazing.

Have you even played Open PVP games before? It's all "bow to us or burn". The "the best shop for armours is in enemy territory" is a serf of the enemy or his shop burns. So if he is selling to you its the dregs with a huge mark up. You guys always imagine its going to be some libertarian paradise but these always turn out to be despotic paradises. Non-crafters always have the upper hand because crafters have no way to punish non-crafters the way non-crafters can punish crafters.

Quote from: tazelbain on March 12, 2015, 04:41:03 PM

The "the best shop for armours is in enemy territory" is a serf of the enemy or his shop burns.

You know I have played all the possible open PvP games. But yes, I concede on the point you make. Mine, and theirs (the authors) is probably more wishful thinking than anything.

Still, while I agree that it's probably not gonna happen, I believe that it's by going for ideas like these that there's a SLIGHT chance to eventually come up with something new especially in the field of open PvP games.

I don't think you can burn a guy's shop though. I think the point of these things is to grab materials and then craft them in safety.

Unless it's in the Permanent kingdom you can totally burn a guy's shop. The question is what's in that permanent kingdom.

Quote from: Merusk on March 12, 2015, 06:16:43 PM

Unless it's in the Permanent kingdom you can totally burn a guy's shop. The question is what's in that permanent kingdom.

Permanent kingdom armor will only be useful for permanent kingdom orgrimmar bank style preening and maybe importation into the more liberal campaigns, but even there I think the devs said you can take 1 or 2 sets in, not 30. The crafting and shop action should be in the campaigns, if that does not change.

That's what I thought, but only based off Raph's endless musings the last 2 decades and SB's premise.

So what Tazelbain said is exactly how it will work.

New stretch goal for 13k backers is one month of VIP access for everyone. That's a pretty cool goal actually. I like things that are nice perks that don't overpromise on the design.

Quote from: Paelos on March 13, 2015, 06:11:52 AM

New stretch goal for 13k backers is one month of VIP access for everyone. That's a pretty cool goal actually. I like things that are nice perks that don't overpromise on the design.

Smart too, give people a sample of the vip and they'll make their three characters and want to keep training them.

It's essentially the same thing as giving you a month of a sub when you buy the box.

Quote from: tazelbain on March 12, 2015, 04:41:03 PM

Or in other words, it'll be like actual feudalism, which is really just the actual result of libertarian fantasies.