Hello!

As hinted on our Facebook page last week, let's talk about crafting this week! Today we have two questions:

1. Is each crafting discipline profitable and unique enough in its own right to happily labor in its name or will one be required to labor in  (in addition to the player's main focus) lesser crafting paths as means to an end?
2. What can you tell us about the crafting system itself - is crafting  gameplay such that it discourages or prevents macroing of crafting skills?

Here's what our developers had to say:
All crafting skills in Earthrise are designed to be equally important and deal with designing and manufacturing of weaponry, armor, devices and other operated high-tech equipment that directly enhances a player's chance of survival in a very competitive massive multiplayer game. Item crafting goes through multiple stages - refining material into components, building modules and then constructing the final item. While few crafters can cover the whole development chain of an item, it is possible, but many crafters will find that it is better to specialize rather than try to be a 'master of all trades'. Part of the fun (and challenge) of massive multiplayer games that involve crafting is finding ways to work together to make items of the highest quality possible. Players will be encouraged to cooperate and specialize in designing specific parts, acting as contractors to final item manufacturers who will have to juggle between inventory parts supply and demand, and also make sure their expenses still make the final item profitable.

Macroing is a very important issue for us which we want to minimize as much as possible. When it comes to all elements of Earthrise we want to make things in ways that encourage people - not machines to play! As we design our crafting system, we take into account player choices that are not easily automated by machines. One of those factors is the smart choice of crafting ingredients from a vast choice of parts with different quality rating; a personal choice that players have to make on their own instead of having it automatically executed. We hope our crafting community finds these choices and others that need to be made to survive as a crafter challenging, fun, and involving as they help create quality goods for themselves and other players to use.

Several related discussions you may enjoy:
http://forums.play-earthrise.com/index.php?topic=3756.0 (macros)
http://forums.play-earthrise.com/index.php?topic=2912.0 (Craftsman mastery poll)
http://forums.play-earthrise.com/index.php?topic=4271.0 (crafting, quality)
http://forums.play-earthrise.com/index.php?topic=561.0 (crafting)

Please enjoy, and feel free to discuss below.
~ m.

I'm glad that the crafting system encourages interaction and specialization. Games where everyone can do everything themselves really just makes crafting a boring, mandatory means to an end. Crafters will not only have to manage monetary and resource capital but also social capital, and their reputation is something that is key to this. Players will have a much greater incentive to do the right thing. This is, of course, from an endgame perspective. I wouldn't want to deal in high-end items with a low-skilled character because of the fact that they might be a scoundrel's alt. But if someone has put in the time and money to get their crafting to the cap, they're less likely to risk their reputation.

I am especially glad to hear that varying quality levels of components will be available for creating the same parts.  That was a major part of what made SWG's system so special, and I am thrilled to see that ER looks like it will be carrying the torch forward.   I expect to see guilds that specialize in crafting particular types of items, and of course some that will try to do everything.  Either way, I think this is a fabulous mechanic.

Good info!  While I certainly find this stuff very encouraging, I read a little more into the question than maybe I was supposed to.  Personally, I'm not terribly concerned with macros being able to craft the higher quality items where choice of materials is necessary to achieve the desired quality.  The scripting of such crafting is inherently complicated by this kind of a system anyway.  I'm more concerned with the ability to use macros, in conjunction with low "grind" quality components, to advance in crafting skill level while afk.  In this case, a smart choice of component quality is unnecessary, making scripting [I think] considerably easier.  I'm curious what system/design, if any, they have in mind to prevent macro-grinding of crafting skills, or if I'm just the only one with this kind of concern...

Honestly, if it were up to me, the game wouldn't support scripting/macro'ing of any kind whatsoever, but that's another discussion altogether.  The potential for abuse/exploitation outweighs the benefits, imho.  Just my thoughts...

My hope is that what has been described here will do away with that mentality.  Some of my greatest times in EVE were spent doing industry related jobs with a group of other people.  Everyone knew what job they had to perform and worked together to achieve our goals like a well-oiled machine.  I've also encountered people who want to be the official guild crafter, but that's always been in games where crafting is simpler and relies on others only for raw resources.  I think we'll see more co-dependence in Earthrise in order to create good quality equipment.  After all, from what they seem to be telling us, you will not have time to become proficient in all fields of crafting, thus relying on others to supply you with individual parts to be put together into a final product. 

All in all, this news excites me.  I can't wait to get my hands dirty and start producing and selling equipment (hopefully with the ability to brand it in some way...)

Great QOTW I've been dying for more information on crafting and the economy for a while now.


Couldn't agree more. glade ER is aiming towards a similar principle.I love the fact that the crafting in ER is so diverse and that specialization is encouraged in order to produce the best components.The importance of good logistics will add so much more to the game its fantastic.

Would love to know on how they deal with transporting the finished goods to market though. I just hope the mechs cargo bays will be sufficient in size to accommodate players desires to be merchant transporters as a viable career and don't automate this process.

Regards
Ironfield

A question popped up with the mention of specializing in the 3 stages in manufacturing. Will there be seperate skills that handle those stages or will there need to be 3 people in the same tree specializing in each? IE p1 does component manufacturing of pistols, p2 handles module creation for pistols, p3 handles final assembly. repeat for rocket launchers, robots, etc.

Another thing that comes to mind is how stats will affect crafting each of these stages. I'll have to go dig up what was said on stats and whether it might affect crafting.

Why would you say diminishing returns? Its simply the idea of jack of all trades, master of none. You have to split your xp, either you can specialize and make some great stuff in one area or diversify and make a mediocre product from start to finish. With time and enough xp you can master all the aspects.