I'm always interested in crafting, and have explored several of the craft skills pretty intensely in my 10 days of playing. I'm big on cooking in games. Here are some thoughts, observations and feedback on the existing systems, as well as some suggestions. (I'll try to break this into
- General. There's a lot of things right with the crafting system, but a few things that just baffle me.
- Tools. There are several tools in game currently and are required in-game to perform certain actions (butchering, skinning, burying). I feel these actions could be better integrated into the crafting system, though.
- Chef's Knife. I'd like to see a chef's knife required in inventory to do certain cooking skills (slice, dice, chop). The various chop recipes would check for this tool in inventory (without expending it).
- Paring Knife. Similar to the chef's knife, but required for Peel and Clean recipes. (new recipes) These prepare ingredients for cooking.
- Whittling Knife. A knife to be used for both Fletching and Carpentry tasks. Used for fine detail and shaping wood.
- Axe. Used for felling trees. (see harvesting).
- Tool Sets. I'd like to see a couple of types of sets which act as multiple knives. These would function normally to conserve inventory space. I'd have these available behind the 2nd level of faction. Advanced versions of these tools could add bonuses to certain skills.
- Utility knife set. These would function as a Butchering knife, a Skinning knife and a Whittling knife (above).
- Kitchen knife set. This would function as both a Chef's knife and a Paring knife.
- Outdoorsman's tool set. This would function as an Axe, Saw or Shovel.
- Recipe prices. The prices for acquiring new recipes are rather crippling. The recipes should be grouped into related 'categories' which are purchased / learned. Each category should include all recipes for making the same type of item with various ingredients. For instance, a Fried Fish category could include recipes for Fried Clownfish, Fried Grapefish, Fried Perch, and any other. Instead of requiring 3 recipes purchases (with possibly 3 faction requirements) at a combined cost of X, the Fried Fish category would include only cost Y. I'd suggest that Y be very close to the average of a single recipe. Favor is (and should be) a limiting factor on what recipes are available. As it it, favor and cost both factor into recipe availability.
- Skill availability. Currently, all crafting skills are available to every character. This makes everyone capable of learning everything, reducing dependence between characters. A restriction of any nature would encourage player-to-player trading.
- Crafting time. The system of a one-push-to-complete makes crafting overly simple, and doesn't take appropriate time for the work. More skills need to take longer to complete. I can craft 10 pieces of venison jerky faster than I can eat 1. Why? Eating the jerky has a timer, cooking has no time. Gardening is implemented wonderfully, requiring growth period, then watering, then fertilizing (if needed), then pick/harvest the final product. Each phase had a timer, and then a user action before the final product is complete. More skills need to incorporate these timers (and user actions) so that the crafting doesn't become trivialized.
- Tools. There are several tools in game currently and are required in-game to perform certain actions (butchering, skinning, burying). I feel these actions could be better integrated into the crafting system, though.
- Harvesting. There are many issues with the various supporting systems (Harvest, Skinning, Butchering). In rough categories, here is some feedback.
- Harvesting Experience. Experience for this skill is rather paltry, making it very difficult to level. I was stuck running around in the Serbule area for a very long time trying to level Harvesting skill. I was capable of fighting and running favor tasks in the second zone long before I could harvest any of resources there. Experience is balanced by the availability of the resources, and even with less than 100 people online, the opportunity to Harvest is severely limited. Suggestion: either increase the Harvest resource spawns by 200%, or increase experience by 50% on harvesting.
- Butchering Skinning Experience. The opportunity to use these skills occurs much more frequently than the Harvest skill. But the success ratio hurts the various dependent crafting skills. A character who is late in acquiring a skinning knife or butchering knife will be spending an awful lot of time pursuing rats in order to improve this skill. So much, in fact, I'm considering a last name of Ratskinner, should that option ever become available.
- Forestry. I'm sorry. Wood found on the ground is dead. It is useful only for firewood. Wood intended for any types of crafting is harvested from living trees of the proper type and age, then it is treated (dried), squared, shaped and split (or sawed) into usable planks. I'd suggest a tree (which could be planted like gardening) and tended over a very long period (maybe even hours). Forestry could become it's own skill, a subset of Foraging or Gardening. A tree would be an in-world object much like a squash or potato, with a couple of interactions.
- Identify. Determine what type of tree this is. Oak, Maple, Cedar, Orange, Apple, etc.
- Check Health. Checks the tree for bugs or diseases, and cures these. (Perhaps requiring an ingredient (bone meal or strange dirt). This could occur once per stage.
- Stages. The tree would grow through several stages, each taking some time. Seedlings to Saplings to Young Tree to Mature Tree to Ancient Tree. This is simply displayed in the description.
- Fell. When a tree reaches Mature Tree stage, it can be felled, producing a single log like the current Forage. Ancient Trees can also be harvested, with different harvested results, like Oak Heartwood Logs or a a 25% chance of 3 regular logs. Felling a tree requires an Axe in the inventory.
- Pick. Mature fruit trees could generate 1 fruit per action (optionally 1+(1 per 10 Forestry skill) fruits). (This would help improve the availability of foraged fruits), and allow the introduction of other fruit types (pears, cherries, limes, lemons, etc).