Haha Thumbleweed, you reminded me of some things I experienced in the past (and up to now) here in Ryzom - thanks for that :-)
But back to topic (more or less):
I'm one of those people who like crafting but don't really like digging and I can second that leveling with loot is hard (esp. because hunting non-agros is something not done too much - except for ploderos)
I know a lot of crafters that are happy to craft something for you if you deliver the materials, some will even take alternative mats and take some from their own stock instead to make a good item for you. (like you give armor mats and get some good jewels)
On the other hand: the prime roots can be dangerous in some areas so some harvesters might pay you with part of the mats if you protect them from harm (mobs and players)
This is mostly how it works inside guilds but it can be done across them as well.
You want the sup zun amber? You'll have to go in the roots and dig for it and maybe take some protection with you. Or you could ask you favorite harvester "want to dig sup zun next season change? I'll protect you if you give me a small share"
You want the sup yelk moss? You'll have to fight Yelkoo often enough to collect the amount needed.
Or you could ask you favorite fighters "If you get me this amount of yelk moss I can give you something I crafted in exchange"
This is the way I've got all my gear up to now... since 2004.
In some cases you might even be able to buy the items with dappers - but to be sincere I doubt this possibility regarding HQ mats.
But back to the PvP aspect:
If you hear of an OP fight you can always barter with the defenders/attackers (or both depending on your alignment) that you help them defend/attack their op for a slight contribution of some kind.
I said barter because the amount will depend on the fact if they your help or not AND how known your skills are. So it might be a set of jewels or just one single sup zun amber it all depends on your "real" fame ;-)
Same goes for protection in the PvP roots now that the servers are merged since a while it is obvious that there are more marauders (or just people from an opposing faction) that are attacking there - so the harvesters might want protection from them as well as the mobs and thus making it possible for you to get a share even while practicing your favorite thing in the game.
Yes you're depending on the harvesters to get the mats and the crafters to build something nice.
But the harvester is depending on you as well to dig the mats and the crafter on you to deliver some nice loot (plans, crystals)
I won't say that the balance is perfect just that the basic concept IS balanced even between PvP and PvE lovers...
Something that might be a good idea though would be to enable the setting of needed faction/civ points for items in the normal merchant:
the one putting it into the merchant could say "you have to either pay base + 10k dappers or base + 1 karavan point (base = what the player gets from the merchant)
But back to topic (more or less):
I'm one of those people who like crafting but don't really like digging and I can second that leveling with loot is hard (esp. because hunting non-agros is something not done too much - except for ploderos)
I know a lot of crafters that are happy to craft something for you if you deliver the materials, some will even take alternative mats and take some from their own stock instead to make a good item for you. (like you give armor mats and get some good jewels)
On the other hand: the prime roots can be dangerous in some areas so some harvesters might pay you with part of the mats if you protect them from harm (mobs and players)
This is mostly how it works inside guilds but it can be done across them as well.
You want the sup zun amber? You'll have to go in the roots and dig for it and maybe take some protection with you. Or you could ask you favorite harvester "want to dig sup zun next season change? I'll protect you if you give me a small share"
You want the sup yelk moss? You'll have to fight Yelkoo often enough to collect the amount needed.
Or you could ask you favorite fighters "If you get me this amount of yelk moss I can give you something I crafted in exchange"
This is the way I've got all my gear up to now... since 2004.
In some cases you might even be able to buy the items with dappers - but to be sincere I doubt this possibility regarding HQ mats.
But back to the PvP aspect:
If you hear of an OP fight you can always barter with the defenders/attackers (or both depending on your alignment) that you help them defend/attack their op for a slight contribution of some kind.
I said barter because the amount will depend on the fact if they your help or not AND how known your skills are. So it might be a set of jewels or just one single sup zun amber it all depends on your "real" fame ;-)
Same goes for protection in the PvP roots now that the servers are merged since a while it is obvious that there are more marauders (or just people from an opposing faction) that are attacking there - so the harvesters might want protection from them as well as the mobs and thus making it possible for you to get a share even while practicing your favorite thing in the game.
Yes you're depending on the harvesters to get the mats and the crafters to build something nice.
But the harvester is depending on you as well to dig the mats and the crafter on you to deliver some nice loot (plans, crystals)
I won't say that the balance is perfect just that the basic concept IS balanced even between PvP and PvE lovers...
Something that might be a good idea though would be to enable the setting of needed faction/civ points for items in the normal merchant:
the one putting it into the merchant could say "you have to either pay base + 10k dappers or base + 1 karavan point (base = what the player gets from the merchant)
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