It's really about spicing up how the current plan system works.
You do have scope for playing with the stats on the end result by playing with the mats - but currently the plans are static with no variation apart from Quality which affects only the number of mats required.
OP plans aren't really any major change - the only difference is the use of an OP mat which limits the global availability of the number of items in the game- the end result is as predictable as all other plans.
The tools add a little spice but not much - and it's luck rather than skill.
By introducing variable op plans - which can affect stats, quality, number of mats needed, quantity of the output, etc and skill/effort driven - you provide more of an incentive for players to interact with the game, provide a time & resource sink - and with the plans being tradable items, you provide something that might help stimulate the economy. Later, allowing the OP plans to go the same route and by giving stats to OP mats, could provide more interesting combinations of OP mats - what would happen if you could combine bramble with some other op material...
Research - in the context of plans - providing a vehicle for adjusting the plan before you apply materials to the equation. As mentioned above - this could affect the number of materials, the type of slots currently being used and thereby expanding the leading edge of crafting.
Imagine being able to explore new lands and to find the seeds of crafting plans - the building blocks of what makes a plan - and then having to find, forage, kill, explore to find the components that then allow you to push a plan in a specific direction through a new occupation. As you lvl the occupation, gathering what's required and learning how to nudge the output of a plan in certain ways - balancing out quantity, quality, stats - and then sharing, trading or building out the item and seeing how the rich variation of the mats affect the stats of the end result.
It does increase the complexity - but it also allows for the crafting side to be expanded - in a way that boosts it as a profession - rather than an adjunct to forage. One of the problems with crafting & mats - as it currently stands is that when you have an optimal mix for an item - you're done. By allowing the front-end of the process, the plans to play a factor - you introduce some variation that's more unpredictable. Each time you'll need to re-examine how to achieve a more optimal result when you apply mats to the plan.
My thinking is to provide a way - time, effort, energy, imagination. I'm not looking for a change for the sake of change - but to find a way to introduce more spice into the activity. The ideas themselves are quite young and not fully formed - but more presented as a seed - with this type of approach how do you think it could be changed, adjusted to make crafting more dynamic?
You do have scope for playing with the stats on the end result by playing with the mats - but currently the plans are static with no variation apart from Quality which affects only the number of mats required.
OP plans aren't really any major change - the only difference is the use of an OP mat which limits the global availability of the number of items in the game- the end result is as predictable as all other plans.
The tools add a little spice but not much - and it's luck rather than skill.
By introducing variable op plans - which can affect stats, quality, number of mats needed, quantity of the output, etc and skill/effort driven - you provide more of an incentive for players to interact with the game, provide a time & resource sink - and with the plans being tradable items, you provide something that might help stimulate the economy. Later, allowing the OP plans to go the same route and by giving stats to OP mats, could provide more interesting combinations of OP mats - what would happen if you could combine bramble with some other op material...
Research - in the context of plans - providing a vehicle for adjusting the plan before you apply materials to the equation. As mentioned above - this could affect the number of materials, the type of slots currently being used and thereby expanding the leading edge of crafting.
Imagine being able to explore new lands and to find the seeds of crafting plans - the building blocks of what makes a plan - and then having to find, forage, kill, explore to find the components that then allow you to push a plan in a specific direction through a new occupation. As you lvl the occupation, gathering what's required and learning how to nudge the output of a plan in certain ways - balancing out quantity, quality, stats - and then sharing, trading or building out the item and seeing how the rich variation of the mats affect the stats of the end result.
It does increase the complexity - but it also allows for the crafting side to be expanded - in a way that boosts it as a profession - rather than an adjunct to forage. One of the problems with crafting & mats - as it currently stands is that when you have an optimal mix for an item - you're done. By allowing the front-end of the process, the plans to play a factor - you introduce some variation that's more unpredictable. Each time you'll need to re-examine how to achieve a more optimal result when you apply mats to the plan.
My thinking is to provide a way - time, effort, energy, imagination. I'm not looking for a change for the sake of change - but to find a way to introduce more spice into the activity. The ideas themselves are quite young and not fully formed - but more presented as a seed - with this type of approach how do you think it could be changed, adjusted to make crafting more dynamic?