How to make Crafting meaningful. my CRAFTING idea for ESO


This is my longish post with many ideas I believe would make crafting a vital part of the game, even at end game as well as adding other great features like immersion, social interaction and just plain makes sense. It's probably too late for anything to change but maybe if I get in the beta early they could implement some of these if they're good. Please read everything before commenting and I hope you enjoy, I was excited just thinking of the possibilities.


Before I talk about crafting we need to lay the foundation

- - DURABILITY - -

A lot of games have this in different variations and some people don't like it BUT it gives some needed mechanics.

1 - Gold sink. hate them if you want but without it the economy would be ruined entirely. I'd rather have a gold sink that makes sense and isn't immersion breaking. If I swing my sword 1000 times why doesn't it get more dull and lose some of its damage. (gold sinks are another topic entirely but we need them)

2 - It gives people a reason to go to town or keeps in AvA . This is where people can meet and socially engage. If everyone was in the wilderness 100% of the time you wouldn't get that feeling when you see hundreds of people running through the streets of a living city.

3 - WHERE PLAYER CRAFTERS and my idea COME IN - They are the only ones who can get your weapons and armor back to 100% durability and effectiveness. Small town NPC crafters might be able to get your stuff up to 85% and the great smiths in big cities up to 95% but if you want your stuff to be the best you've got to find a real person and hire them to fix you up. That's the whole point of playing a Massively Multiplayer Online game right, other people. (or become a crafter yourself, a reason to be a crafter? what a novel idea!)

- This creates a ton of social interaction. "LF master weapon smith to repair 3 items. 2gold tip pst" I'd much rather see this than people trolling because there's nothing better to say. Meet new people, be part of a community & make some money as a crafter it all adds to a living breathing world.


- - the nuts and bolts - -

- Each items stats are affected by its durability. IE: 10dps weapon at 85% durability = 8.5 dps

- Balance mobs and the world around players being at 90-95% so you don't feel the need to repair every time you lose 1 durability (that would be annoying) and have field kits at a lower amount like 75% crafters can use so you don't have to run back to town as often.

- The higher lvl and quality the item is the longer it lasts before losing durability but costs more to repair. IE:
lvl 2 blue rarity sword loses 1 durability every (5min play time) costs 1 copper to repair
lvl 50 yellow rarity sword loses 1 durability every (90min play time) costs 1 gold to repair

- If you die you can respawn at a wayshrine with a 1% durability loss but if you rez at your body its 5% (already confirmed by Dev's that you can rez at wayshrines or at your body. Just adding durability to that mechanic)

- AvA keeps could be upgraded with crafting stations so you can keep your weapons in tiptop shape. This gives a good fallback position and adds more reason to want to hold keeps. I can just picture my guild upgrading a keep and someone saying "Hey thanks Acolytes for the smithy" more social interaction, affecting the game and world around you = good stuff

- Each profession would only be able to repair the type of items they can make. IE:
Weapon smiths can repair - weapons (duh)
Tailors can repair - Light armor

- Each crafter has a "repair" skill that as you use it, levels up. Practice on existing items to raise you level. If you "fail" to repair the item it loses durability and if you're successful it goes up depending on your skill. A novice would take more attempts to repair something than a master. IE:
novice: +5 durability per successful repair
apprentice: +10 durability per successful repair
journeyman: +15 durability per successful repair
artisan: +20 durability per successful repair
master: +25 durability per successful repair

So if that sword is at 50% durability the novice needs at least 10 attempts to repair it fully while the master only 2. I want to feel better and see tangible rewards compared to those who are lower than me... don't you? "let me have that sword novice, I'm a Master"

- this could be a long term type of enhancement to items. Obtaining crafting items throughout the game (dungeons, mob drops, AvA player drops, Action house, stolen from npc's homes ect) crafters combine these crafting materials with an item to increase its maximum durability and effectiveness. Based off the item lvl and crafting material added. IE:
lvl 5 sword enhanced via "low lvl crafting material" = max 101% durability - 10dps weapon becomes 10.1dps (when fully repaired)
or
lvl 50 armor enhanced via "epic Daedra blood" = 110% durability - 200armor chest piece becomes 220armor

- this means that item progression isn't just go farm higher tier dungeons for item drops but involves crafters who take that awesome sword you got and makes it even MOAR AWESOMER'D!!!. AND it doesn't take away from the already established repair mechanic (mentioned above) but enhances it again as only player crafters can repair and item to its max.


lastly in closing

- - ONLY ONE CRAFTING PROFESSION - - or only one that can be maxed out, why? it takes away social interaction

- in GW2 you can have every crafting profession maxed out , I do and 6months into the game how many times has a guild mate asked for me to craft something? or anyone for that matter? 1... just 1 time since launch did it matter. Now no one needs anyone else and that sucks. It removes a huge reason to be a crafter and part of the game. I remember when guild crafters were appreciated and mattered. When the whole server knew who the best crafters were and held in the same high regard as top tier PvPers and raiders.

- IMO you should only be able to have 1 crafting profession maxed per character and if you want to switch you lose all progress from your previous one

- This adds meaning to alts. Why would you become a crafter on your alt if your main has every craft maxed... you wouldn't and that means you lose out on that experience with your new character .

- Can only repair items around your level or lower (or some mechanic like this) otherwise everyone would just have a lvl 2 character that's max'd in repair and it would take away from having max lvl players and crafters being needed like my gw2 example mentioned above.


So there you have it. How I think Crafting could not only be viable, but add to social interaction, meaningful game play mechanics, immersion and endgame.

What do you think?


ps. number crunching would of course need to be balanced to fit, but those above give a good representation of my idea.
TLDR: don't be a lazy bastard. It took me longer to write it than you will need to read it