Edit: Update! My “final” word on Atlantica Online is here:
Atlantica Online: Review and Summary
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Article four of my Atlantica Online coverage. I wrote earlier that crafting is kind of bizarre, in that you actually have to win combat to generate crafting work. It turns out that if you’re at least level 30, you can learn an action called “Autocraft” which allows you to plop down in place and hammer out whatever it is you’re crafting. This is more like the WoW crafting, except that in true Atlantica fashion, you can do it anywhere. It’s like slipping on an old comfortable set of slippers if you’re used to WoW’s crafting.
I’m a bit baffled as to why they wait until that late in the game to give players this ability, but I’m happy that the option is there. I didn’t even reach the quest NPC that teaches this until I was level 42, but I’ve spent time completing all quests and exploring a little, so I may be a bit behind the typical pacing. I still might go out and kill stuff to complete my crafting, since I like the combat, but it’s nice to be able to just sit in a corner of town and craft away.
At the same time, I kind of liked the design decision to make combat the key to crafting. It was a nice change of pace, and while it didn’t make sense, it did get people out in the world killing stuff instead of puttering around in towns. Ultimately, I like that there is the option to do either, since I love giving players options. Now, if only crafting in Atlantica Online incorporated a Puzzle Pirates type of puzzle minigame to create the high end stuff (making skill more important than grind), I’d be very happy. Considering the huge number of different types of items to make, I’m not sure that’s possible (unless a minigame applied to several different crafting classes), but it would make the game more interesting, certainly. Perhaps the whole “crafting and alternate progression” concept is another post, though…
Crafting has always been an interesting facet in MMO’s. I flip flop on crafting, some games I craft, some I don’t – but it is usally out of need. (Guild needs an alchemist, any volunteers?)
My best memory of crafting, oddly enough, was DAOC before guild housing. I fondly remember me, and about 6 other crafters sitting in Gna Faste night after night, clicking, building, and talking. The crafting itself sucked, but we made our own little ‘Crafters Corner’ there, and the discussions we had, the jokes, etc., made the bad crafting system good. Guess that goes back to meta-thinking where people really do create the good in MMO.
A couple side thoughts, the second I am particularly interested in on your opinion:
1) Love the idea of crafting ‘games’ where with an appropriate amount of skill you can craft better items. Definitely better than watching a skill attempt bar fill up and be told ‘success’ or ‘failure’. Sort of a game within the game. Fun is good.
2) I always wondered how you can fully integrate crafting as a core leveling component. Not just to level the ‘craft’. For example, if I build 200 generic daggers that have no value and sell for less than it costs to build them, thats definitely no fun. If I did it in an environment with a mini game, that could be kinda fun (at bare minimum more fun than the previous), but why not grant player level XP for crafting? Obviously it would have to be a shadow of the XP for typical questing and whatnot, but it could prove to be a nice break in typical MMO action and still build your character. Thoughts on that Grandmaster Tesh? If games can make combat a key to crafting, why not the reverse?
One of these days I’ve got to do a whole post on crafting systems and game economies. Or a series of posts. There’s a lot there to dig into, and I think you’re asking the right questions.
Thanks for the comment, Chris. Some rumination from the Grandmaster (of what, exactly? My own little corner of the web? Is that like “King of the 8th North 7-11″? All hail the Slurpee master!):
1. Puzzle Pirates has a skill-based crafting system. Of course, the whole game is built around puzzle minigames, but regarding the crafting, there are three levels of labor, and the “best” items require highly skilled labor. It’s an awesome game, with a nicely modeled economy. I wish more MMO worlds went that route. It’s very satisfying and profitable to be a high level crafter.
2. I agree, crafting should be more integrated into the game at large. We’ve seen just a little of this with WoW’s bonuses for Skinning (Crit boost) and such. A guy who does blacksmithing all day should have a strength and endurance boost.
I’d even take a different tack, though, and work with a non-level system. Conceptually, granting XP for crafting is a nice middle ground, but to my mind, a skill-based core progression model would be more amenable to various “progression tracks” all contributing to the core skills. That blacksmith might craft for the first several “game hours” of his character’s life, and when he picks up his homemade sledge, he can cave in skulls with more Hammer skill, Strength and Endurance than his neighbor, Bridget the Baker, could without similar training. She, on the other hand, would have better Wisdom and Alchemy or something, having dealt with recipes and improvisation. (Which runs another tangent; improv and freeform crafting… which could be a lot of fun.) The local engineer would have greater Dexterity and Intelligence, and so on. The trick would be balancing the progression tracks so that players could do whatever they wanted and make roughly equivalent progress per time/effort (with skill modifiers, of course) spent.
In other words, if a crafting system requires effort (at least as much as mob grinding), it should contribute to character development. I think that crafting should require skill and effort, so it makes sense to build character progress around it, as well as any other mechanic, like combat or even politics. (Manage a successful raid or broker a peace treaty, get a Wisdom or Charisma boost, that sort of thing.)
I like some good Zen mindless combat now and then, but MMOs excel at creating interesting immersive worlds. Deeper character customization and progress mechanics would make the game that much better, if handled well.