Ok - the general thinking here is to provide a vehicle for introducing player & economics driven crafting.
There's value in allowing crafting to me more dynamic, driven - boosting some aspects of a crafted item at the expense of others.
With the dawn of a new portal system and places to explore - there are opportunities to expand the horizons of Ayts - not just for combat but also for resources & crafting. The latter enables the former :)
The current plan system work well but it's static; producing identical items based on the mats being used - but I was thinking more along the lines of raw plans being dropped items from the new zones - these raw plans can be researched pushing the attributes of the plan into a specific direction.
The kind of directions I have in mind would allow things like better stats on the end result, while reducing the durability or reliability on the end result but there are many variations and it could lead to a new occupation for players.
The key aspect however is that the player decides which direction to push the plan - the end result would be a trade-able item that you or others could use to craft with. Player driven crafting with this kind of model would allow for a more dynamic environment in all sides of the game - allowing players to develop an edge that's more than just numbers & lvls.
Plans would degrade with use - having a limited number of prints or runs until they expired. One of the interesting aspects is that this would then allow the choice of mats that are used to vary to compensate or to enhance an attribute coming from a plan.
With a new type of plan comes new possibilities of enhancing crafting in another direction. Specifically I'm thinking about composite items - where a plan might produce a magic focus item, which can then be used to craft amps - this would open up crafter/market opportunities as well as unique items usable by players.
With this in mind the new zones could offer the supporting materials to the new system - allowing the basic ingredients to drop (maybe even the skills needed) and then a slow steady (and player driven) exploration of how the crafting system works. With the right design that included time & energy - this would also allow the devs to monitor & tweak over the following weeks to ensure an appropriate balance.
In terms of exploration - some of which have been touched upon in an earlier post - it might be interesting to have NPC outposts in the new lands - attackable by players and GH's lootable by players, allowing ad-hoc op-wars for precious resources. Which, of course, requires players to locate, prepare, attack & loot within a very narrow time frame. This in itself would help make the game more dynamic as people carefully pull together teams to tackle the objective - while calculating loot split & the risk ofc that those they are working with might renegade after the battle and run off with the riches.
This post is really a work in-progress - to push out the idea - munch over the general concept and to see if players can find some merit in the overall idea.
Look forward to hearing your feedback.
There's value in allowing crafting to me more dynamic, driven - boosting some aspects of a crafted item at the expense of others.
With the dawn of a new portal system and places to explore - there are opportunities to expand the horizons of Ayts - not just for combat but also for resources & crafting. The latter enables the former :)
The current plan system work well but it's static; producing identical items based on the mats being used - but I was thinking more along the lines of raw plans being dropped items from the new zones - these raw plans can be researched pushing the attributes of the plan into a specific direction.
The kind of directions I have in mind would allow things like better stats on the end result, while reducing the durability or reliability on the end result but there are many variations and it could lead to a new occupation for players.
The key aspect however is that the player decides which direction to push the plan - the end result would be a trade-able item that you or others could use to craft with. Player driven crafting with this kind of model would allow for a more dynamic environment in all sides of the game - allowing players to develop an edge that's more than just numbers & lvls.
Plans would degrade with use - having a limited number of prints or runs until they expired. One of the interesting aspects is that this would then allow the choice of mats that are used to vary to compensate or to enhance an attribute coming from a plan.
With a new type of plan comes new possibilities of enhancing crafting in another direction. Specifically I'm thinking about composite items - where a plan might produce a magic focus item, which can then be used to craft amps - this would open up crafter/market opportunities as well as unique items usable by players.
With this in mind the new zones could offer the supporting materials to the new system - allowing the basic ingredients to drop (maybe even the skills needed) and then a slow steady (and player driven) exploration of how the crafting system works. With the right design that included time & energy - this would also allow the devs to monitor & tweak over the following weeks to ensure an appropriate balance.
In terms of exploration - some of which have been touched upon in an earlier post - it might be interesting to have NPC outposts in the new lands - attackable by players and GH's lootable by players, allowing ad-hoc op-wars for precious resources. Which, of course, requires players to locate, prepare, attack & loot within a very narrow time frame. This in itself would help make the game more dynamic as people carefully pull together teams to tackle the objective - while calculating loot split & the risk ofc that those they are working with might renegade after the battle and run off with the riches.
This post is really a work in-progress - to push out the idea - munch over the general concept and to see if players can find some merit in the overall idea.
Look forward to hearing your feedback.