I forgot I even had a blog here. So here's the first in what I hope will be a very interesting series of blogs. if not interesting, at least i get to get various things off my chest.
I was just thinking about why I like crafting in with MMORPGs. I find that I'm always the support character, so I'm almost always the crafter and sometimes a healer. I guess I just want to be needed.
I'm a Roleplayer at heart. Who knows when, back in the days of AOL, I found Chatroom based RPs and soon after MUDs and MUSHes (I still play, actually. When I have time, that is) When I do, I'm always the healer or the Master Herbalist or something along that line. So, I guess it just carried over to my MMO-playing.
I think crafting and other tradeskills such as harvesting and such give players something else a break from killing and questing. Or, it could be just another skill the grind. There are a few games that I've found recently that have systems that are much better and much more involved than just: "Got mats, got skills, click craft x100 and level"
I like the crafting systems that are much more. How much you make and the quality of what you make are determined by the skills of the character as well as the player behind it. To me, this is good. It leaves the profit to those who are either very lucky when it comes to pressing buttons and stuff or the really skilled and dedicated.
So far I've found EQ2 - You gather the mats then you click create. But, then there are events that you have to react to. You can do much more than required to pump of the durability of the item or speed up the process. You have to get to know the crafting arts a little bit to make sure you can make it all the way to the end. I've only been playing EQ2 for about a day or so, but this seems like a cool distraction from questing.
Also there's Puzzle Pirates. Of course. everything is tied to puzzle. Last I checked (a few months ago), almost every craft had a puzzle associated with it. The better you did at the puzzle, the better quality of the work. For example, beginners may get basic labor while more experienced players may be able to land more "Vagases" and "Donkeys" to be able to get expert labor.
Well, I'm going off tangent and this is turning about to be a lot longer than I thought. Plus, I'm getting sleepy. I guess I'll rant and rave about MMO crafting later.
