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Why aren't you capitalising on the crafting system?
lillihenny
Member Posts: 36 Arc User
It's been a fair while since the crafting system was introduced and only a handful of things have been added since the system's inception. Initially I thought this was going to be something Cryptic would regularly expand over time but instead I feel the pace at which additions have been made to be rather neglectful. It's a good system. A lot of work must have gone into it. So why not give it a little more attention? The crafting system could and should be a gold mine for Cryptic!
The Starship Trait system was a brilliant idea for spurring players to buy ships they might otherwise have skipped, so it occurs to me if Cryptic also bundled bound craftable weapons/consoles etc with new ships it would give the crafting system a well needed kick, add new trinkets for the players to covet and increase ship sales by another factor.
The Starship Trait system was a brilliant idea for spurring players to buy ships they might otherwise have skipped, so it occurs to me if Cryptic also bundled bound craftable weapons/consoles etc with new ships it would give the crafting system a well needed kick, add new trinkets for the players to covet and increase ship sales by another factor.
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Also, let us choose the mods we want, and stop with the RNG. Most of the time, it rewards gear we don't want.
It should also allow us to reverse engineer gear we don't want back into materials. Example: It takes 3 of item A and 4 of item B to make Beam X, if we reverse engineer Beam X, we get 2 of item A and 2 of item B and a 20% chance of getting a schematic for an improved version of Beam X.
This way, it encourages crafting to make better and better gear.
No, it isn't.
It could be with changes but yeah were pretty much being mugged with the current crafting/upgrade systems
I've done all of the crafting classes in SWTOR and made many tens of millions selling crafted gear.
That's a rose-colored view of it. Some mats can be gathered in small quantities, but for anything except green items you need a second set of mats from running the equivalent of DOFF missions except using your companions. To craft anything purple you need mats from critical results in those mat missions. So if you want to craft a purple lightsaber hilt you might run 20 missions to get the crit to get the special mats. And endgame crafting does require raid mats.
Until DOFFing was broken for the Admiralty, gathering non-purple mats was fairly painless in STO, with less micromanagement than in SWTOR.
I don't even mind the cost to upgrade, but when you go trying to upgrade the rarity, costs get pretty hefty. On consoles, not so bad, but on things like ship weapons or especially shields or warp cores it's insane. I would suggest that once the item hits mark XIV the cost per try should be reduced at that point, or the percentage toward rarity needs to be increased considerably.
360 degree Omni Beams are craftable and have been for some time.
In the beginning of a given new system, the use of it peaks and close to everyone plays it because it's new and exciting.
So in the beginning, it gets a lot of attention and additions.
Over time, the "new-and-exciting" drops off. People realize that a given system is not really something they are interested in, and they go back to whatever they did before or whatever is now new and exciting.
So naturally, now the metrics say that interest for the system is going down. This may not be true however, it may simply mean that peoples initial interest of the system has normalized, but in Cryptics eyes people have lost interest for the system.
Let's take a look at some of the systems introduced, that got serious attention in the beginning, but have literally been abandoned since them:
Sure, occasionally, new things are added, but they are basically "copy-paste" variants of whatever is already in there. There are no upgrades and no polishing going on.
But hey, you say... The Events keep popping up? They are old stuff that keeps reappearing again and again?
And yes... However, they aren't getting attention. The metrics say that Events are popular, because everyone plays them over and over.
However, this may not be entirely true. Thing is: Theres a HUGE dilithium and mark boost to be earned as well as the special reward.
I challenge Cryptic to add an Event that has that Dil amount an a special reward, and a side running element, that pr play takes longer (say for example a mission that takes 2½ hours to complete and is really difficult) but yields the same rewards.
I promise you, the event won't be as popular as the mission.
People may play the event, but not as frequently as they would if the alternative was not there.
Of cause, there was also this one podcast, where a Dev stated, that within the STO team, different systems have "system owners", Meaning that the Dev who started a project also finishes it and no one else is involved.
If a dev that owns a system (like the original STF's) leaves Cryptic, it effectively means that the system is abandoned, until someone builds up the courage to take it over, and that almost never happens.
This may not be true any longer though, since the team has increased since that pod-cast.
No, we can't craft rep or lockbox or lobi or feapisode beams, just generics. To repeat: "Some of us want our ship beams to stay just one color."
Withering disruptors do not match a crafted disruptor 360. The ancient and crafted APs do not match herald beams.
So add the ability to craft more special weapon types?
I just use phasers/disruptors/romulan plasma depending on faction.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
You make some good points. Although I've never played SWTOR, so I can't comment on it's crafting system. Obtaining materials in STO isn't all that bad really and with the addition of the assignments at the research lab, gaining Very rare mats is slightly easier. And to be honest you don't have to run STF's to get the mats, there's always the exchange and most of them are reasonably priced. I would like to be able to break down items that I don't want for additional mats though, that's a good idea.
The idea of choosing our own mods has been a requested feature ever since the new crafting system was first mentioned. Hell they've removed the need to use Powered alien artifacts to craft high end consoles, but left the duty officer mission in place that awards the Strange alien artifacts. Maybe they could be factored back into the crafting system some how, because atm they're useless. But I do like the idea of reverse engineering certain items that would enable us craft additional items of the same type. I'll also agree that the RNG is horrible. it's one thing to have to wait god knows how long to get the item in the first place, but then to be handed modifiers that are useless, just stops short of kicking players in the giggle berries. Not to mention that the possibility of having a item that's taken a lot of time and resources to craft then to upgrade, could potentially be ruined the second you hit epic quality. Because cryptic thought it a good idea to integrate the damn Rng system they seem to be so fond of.
Personally I know what I want to craft and what mods I want on those items, so if I'm going to craft then I want the ability to craft those items straight off the bat. I've got no problem leveling up the schools in order to craft such items, it's just the random nature of the results that are granted.
The thing with SWTOR though is when you "just get the mats and craft" will the finished crafted product end up competing with anything on the CC store? with STO if mats are made easier to get and then you just "get the mats and craft" will that gear then end up competing with the other gear in STO? other gear that usually has a requirement that you pay some Dil in order to be able to get it? most of that other gear that needs Dil you can just grind for the Dil or you'll convert real money into Dil, which is what i'm thinking PWE is hoping for.
Just compare any piece of gear or any ship that has a zen/dil/lobi price tag on it vs a piece of gear/ship that can be bought with credits or are from a mission reward. Same concept as those things but its just crafted gear vs dil/lobi gear. They cant make crafted gear too easy to make or too good because that might conflict with their dil/lobi gear.
While everything you say is true, there is one more thing: people just finish the stuff associated with said formerly new stuff. They crafted everything they themselves need. They have outfitted their ships and boffs with all the Nukara/Dyson/whatever gear they want. Sure, you can do it some more, maybe sell stuff to earn cash, but not everybody wants to play as a crafter and salesman. So I guess the drop is unavoidable unless more and more stuff enters the rep/crafting/whatever system.
But then these would be neverending. And I guess the feeling of a dozen parts where you can reach higher and higher levels would not be that welcome.
It is, of course, in parts very annoying to new players who want players to team up with for certain marks or suchlike, but I think the "finished it" part plays a part, too.
There should be things that everyone can't craft for themselves. A reason for player X to craft item A's for sale, while buying items B through Z from others. The boff training manuals are a step in the right direction, but its not enough.
I think they want Omni beams of all the rep and lock box weapons...my guess is someone probably wants a Herald Omni...
As for SWTOR, crafting gear is comparable to gear that you buy off the market. The gear you get from the cartel store is COSMETIC only. And they have no stats. Which is why crafted gear already has an edge on that. Second, crafting gear builds up your crafting school which allows you to graft better and better gear. The gear you get from flashpoints, can be outclassed very quickly. So crafting is another outlet as well. Plus crafting gear can net you unique looking gear as well. As for the stats of cartel market gear, just add the mods that you want and boom, new gear with stats. But for those that want to make gear rather than trying to find it, or buy it, just craft it.
Also, there are still a bunch of items that are unupgradable that they need to make paths for by hand, and they have yet to do them.
If there was some truly amazing craftable gear, markedly better than what you could get from other sources, I'm sure crafting would be more popular. But as it is the few dedicated crafters in game can supply the needs of the community through the exchange, so there is little incentive for people less interested in crafting to take the time to do it themselves.
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Yes, that was my point. If I am using non-vanilla weapons like Herald beams, either start adding 360 beams to the lock boxes or let me craft them the same way I craft plain AP 360s now. Or add a "unify beam colors" option to ships.
If you're asking where are the wide arc torpedoes for the basic types, they instead want to push the plasma bombs instead. I too am underimpressed with this. It woudn't hurt them to instead have basic torp launchers toss our favorites at so slightly a wider arc as 120 degrees.
I will agree that it would be nice to have a way of unifing the beam color you are using as not all weapon type, such as some rep weapons allow you to use all the same type on a ship. But also i wish that we could either craft hanger-pets via the crafting system, or even just alter the existing ones by using a project that you need said ship an a catalyst from the reputation you want to have the weapons of the hanger-pet turned into ones of the reputation's type. Though i would rather see the reputations each have a hanger-pet either of a unique design for that faction, or that is a modified version of one of the factions using similar weapons an designs of the reputations (such as the Nukara an new romulan reps have).
Some people have bought Assault Cruiser Refits specifically for it's wide angle Quantum. I imagine Cryptic was looking at that and wondering how many people would pitch a fit over them making something they paid $25 bucks for easily available through crafting and, inevitably, the exchange (and Quantum is most popular basic type of torpedo so...). I imagine they figured it wasn't worth the headache so... mediocre new plasma torp...
I didnt need an explanation of how SWTORs stuff works, i know about all the stuff that you said. What i was trying to get YOU to think about was how SWTORs system works and how STOs system works and how crafting in each game can be seen as competing with other gear that is obtained within that same game. SWTOR crafted, vendor gear and instance dropped gear doesnt compete with cartel coin gear, STO crafted gear and vendor drops DO have the potential to compete with Dil purchased gear. And since Dil can be grinded for AND purchased with real money do you see how that could be a problem for PWE? crafted gear, gear drops, mission rewarded gear (and ships) will always have to be worse than the other gear and ships that can be obtained with Dil, Zen and Lobi. Because if crafted gear becomes equal to or better than Dil/Lobi gear then that might cut into their profits. If they add more stuff that isnt as good as Dil/lobi gear one could say "whats the point?".
SWTOR can make their crafted gear as easy to make or as powerful as they need to, so long as it isnt better than drops from raids. STO is a little different cause they cant make crafted gear so good or so easy to make that people wont want to use Dil/lobi gear. Of course thats just a theory...their reasons for not doing enough crafting might be that they dont have time for it or that developing it would cut into other projects.
EDIT: actually you know what? come to think of it SWTOR might have a few things in common with STOs crafting and gearing system and how Dil (and therefore real money) is all kinda interwoven. CC gear is mostly cosmetic, but so is some crafted gear. Though the crafted cosmetic gear or orange shells usually arent as flashy as CC gear and weapon shells. BUT what would happen if they start introducing crafted gear/weapon shells that looked or sounded better than CC gear and weapon shells? what would happen if they introduced a rotary assault cannon that sounded badass and can be crafted with 8 pieces of salvaged metal, 2 pieces of blue quality missioning materials, and 4 pieces of vendor ingredients? you see how a change like that to the crafting system could affect the cartel market? is that why they havent added a bunch of stuff to SWTOR or STOs crafting system? stuff that wont interfere with CC, Dil, or Lobi purchases?
You can add that to the reason I suggest 120 degree craftable wide-arc torps, instead of the 180 that the Sov gets. It wouldn't be unfair to the Sovereign if the result is they can have two torps (one Sov, one crafted). Think of an assault cruiser that can have a theoretical 300 degrees of torp firing capability.