Crafting/Blacksmith System?

So what do you guys think about a "money sink" such as crafting/Blacksmith?

I think a crafting option would be great so you can get "set" items in a sense which takes the random roll out of it (but not the values of those variable bonuses. From my perspective, with rune words and other things D2 allowed you to have a "less" random system of upgrading loot. You had some control over it. With PoE, however, its all completely random in the sense if you reroll the stats you have no idea what your getting and in what range... Also You dont have runewords or sockets to give you set bonuses of your choice. So with a completely random currency/item upgrade system, it seems that in order to bring contrast to that system, you should have something that allows planned or "set" upgrades.

This could be accomplished with recipes that you pick up where you could exchange say 3-5 orb of chance and a Siege Axe for a Blue version of the Siege Axe but with set properties, where upon crafting it would just roll the random item values of each set property. It would also randomize the number of sockets on the item. This would also be done with Rare items as well. Or maybe to make the system less convoluted, maybe just rare items?

So basically you spend a few orbs for a guaranteed upgrade, instead of just rolling and rolling and hoping for an upgrade. This could give you things to shoot for and doesnt seem like its outside of the capacity of the game or even the loot mechanics of the game.

The items dont have to be SUPER strong or top tier quality. It would be easy to have a WIDE array of item patterns that you might find while leveling/questing. I do think one way to make this successful is make patterns drop for a few lvls higher then the player so they are useful. For instance in a mob lvl 43 area, it would drop lvl 43-45ish patterns...

You could even add a "leveling" componant to it where the higher the level of the blacksmith, or w.e, the higher chances you have to roll the "higher end numbers" on the scale and also chances at improving the quality of the item.

You can do this with armor as well, which would be very cool.

I Think the item should also have some sort of "personal" aspect to it so it should at the very least say who it was crafted by... To allow kinda "bragging" rights.

I dont think crafting like this needs to be introduced in low levels but mid level gaming so either in Cruel OR higher... This allows low lvl players to learn the game but addresses the desire for mid level players to feel like they are "bettering" their character. It just gives one more avenue for loot, and like I said, wouldnt be the BEST items for that level since the Devs would control which bonuses to apply.

This would be an easy way to introduce (stolen from WoW BUT still a potentially valid add to this game) "tier" sets... So creating an "end game" set property armor set that might be better than some of the magic/rare items but not as good as unique items or the better versions of rare items. Obviously it wouldnt be accessible to everyone since drop chances are low, but it adds to the community, just as uniques do, allows players to trade/and shoot for specific items...I think it will help strengthen the economy...

Thoughts?

Honestly, I think this has become such a trope in online RPG's lately that working away from it might actually benefit the game more than using it. As fun as it was talking to NPC's and watching them crap out items (it wasn't), I think I'd rather find upgrades from killing baddies! :D

In every RPG/ARPG game i've played. crafting was just a gold sink. You never could make anything good.

I much prefer the orb crafting system we have where you can take a GOOD white item and make it great with the right orbs.

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Scruff260 wrote:

Honestly, I think this has become such a trope in online RPG's lately that working away from it might actually benefit the game more than using it. As fun as it was talking to NPC's and watching them crap out items (it wasn't), I think I'd rather find upgrades from killing baddies! :D

Fair enough. Ive always enjoyed having other "things" to do such as crafting. I have always been disappointed however with 1) how easy it was to lvl and 2) how hard it was to get any sort of good gear from it. The only game that implemented this well was runescape (which isnt an ARPG).

I still think that more options and other "side tasks" really help bring out the game more. When you think of ver successful games, they usually are not highly linear and give the player options on how they want to play.

I could easily see the blacksmith in PoE being 1) VERY hard to level. 2) Having his own quests to obtain certain things, making it more of an option to dive into his sub set adventure and taking a break from the story, and 3) offering worthwhile potential loot.

The problem in most games is that crafting/BS is always too easy to level and therefore you cant get good gear from it since anyone can do it easily.

I think having high requirements to make gear makes it much more fun and enables good loot to be able to be dropped. I could even see the Devs using a "new" currency item used solely for crafting Items, say a "blacksmiths hammer" for instance may be needed for end game pattern and maybe it only drops in "Maps" of certain difficulty.

Thus it puts gear/skill restrictions on people who cannot play those maps who DO still level their blacksmith...

Anytime you give players options on what to do and how to play, they get to play and do what they want to do more!