by Jeff Woleslagle on Mar 30, 2009
Welcome to the 1,046rd Edition of Loading...
In this issue, we take a good hard look at how decent MMO crafting systems have evolved, or really haven't evolved at all. Is simplest best, or does a binder full of stats and spreadsheets a true crafter make? Links to an EVE Online The Mittani "guide" to infiltrating a hostile alliance, the final GDC '09 exclusive blog from WAR's Paul Barnett, and three other new and original articles in today's Loading... Getting Crafty!
The Pulse
First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Hammer Pulse (What is Pulse?). Here's the top 5 MMORPGs today:
World of Warcraft EverQuest 2 Warhammer Online (UP 1) Age of Conan Vanguard: Saga of HeroesHere are the biggest movers in the Top 20 today:
Guild Wars (UP 6 to #19) Lineage 2 (down 3 to #17) Earthrise (UP 2 to #14)Loading... Daily
Loading... the e-peen enhancement email that's not spam.
GDC 2009 is in the books, and as I look over the coverage on other websites I'm pretty glad we kept our distance. The highlight of the show was probably a first-ever reveal of The Secret World, Funcom's fantasy horror MMORPG set in the present day, but TSW coverage is under a Eurobargo until the second week of April. Discounting future coverage of TSO, the most interesting tidbit I found was about crafting - yes, crafting - in Fallen Earth.
Crafting has the distinction of being the one non-combat system that just about every MMO worth thinking about has in place. Like player housing, it's close to indispensable, but in a conciliatory way: players notice its absence or mediocrity but tend to forget about it entirely when it's well done. I have heard plenty of you say, "I'll never play a game that doesn't have decent crafting," but I've never once heard any of you say, "Oh man, crafting really pushed that game over the top, you absolutely have to check out the crafting in game XYZ."
Gathering and crafting are also the least iterated-upon system in MMO gaming; good crafting simply hasn't changed much. It's always skill-based - learning comes by repetition - you can always get through the novice levels with a relatively small investment of time and treasure by selling your finished goods to buy or gather raw materials at a meager profit. Crafters should always be able to make slightly better stuff than you can buy, and eventually (in most games at mastery levels with rare ingredients) make better stuff than you can loot or quest for. Usually there's set recipes to follow. Open-ended crafting (crafting in Warhammer Online, for example) is confusing in that games utilizing such a system typically don't do a good job teaching you how to make a better product, plus the puzzling variety of ingredients and reagents just clogs up your inventory with very little upside.
Some games have tried to spice up crafting and, in my opinion, failed miserably. Vanguard was one, with its combat-based gathering and crafting that bordered on the absurd. Apparently Telon had its share of tree-spiking environmentalist radicals because my first attempt at gathering wood left me with 3/4 health, wondering how a tree kicked my ass harder than a typical baddie my level. Crippling interdependency within LotRO's crafting professions remains a hot topic (i.e. you depend on another player crafter's finished good to make your finished good in many instances), and in a recent Loading Live dev chat (I'll get it posted early this week, promise!) Exec. Producer Jeffrey Steefel stated that ironing out this growing wrinkle was definitely on the radar for the Turbine team.
What's your opinion on crafting? Is simplest best, or do you enjoy needing a spreadsheet and planogram to climb the tradeskill ladder? Share your thoughts in the Loading... forum, or feel free to email me.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day5 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 122 in March! 382 in 2009!
New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Sins of a Solar Spymaster #5: How to Infiltrate a Hostile AllianceHot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
Warhammer Online: Paul Barnett's GDC Blog # 2 - WAR Pants Beginner's Look at Darkfall - Or, How to Get Ganked Vanguard: State of the Game World of Warcraft Comic: Gooob & Begud - "May Cause Leakage" Exclusive Game Update Q&A with Aion's Brian Knox from GDC 2009 Exclusive Interview with EverQuest 2's Ryan Favale EVE Online New Player Experience Revamp How can Champions Online integrate Playable Villains? Exclusive Gatheryn GDC '09 Interview - Creating an Advanced Casual MMOG geeked: "Naivety"Real World News
Bobcat walks into bar, attacks patrons [Link courtesy of Matt N!]Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team