While crafting is certainly viable as a mechanic to boost leveling, there have been some serious complains about its viability once you have hit level 400 for fun and profit. For the latter, I cannot help you, as the free market ensures that anyone’s easy way to moneymaking will be used by most until it no longer functions. The former, however, is what I would like to explore today, a way to make crafting in the endgame both interesting and viable for producing nifty stuff, namely…
Bejeweled Inscriptions
Crafting currently faces a bit of a problem dealing with some of the more exotic stat spreads. It’s tempting to give them a way to respec any gear in the game, but that might cut into gem sales just a tiny bit. But what if the two were combined together in a simple recipe?
Primary stat rare crafting component + secondary gem + secondary gem + fine transmutation stone
Would combine together into a Bejeweled Inscription with that stat spread. When used like a transmutation stone, it would take an item and give it the relevant primary and secondary statistics, replacing whatever spread it used previously. These recipes would provide a solid revenue stream for Anet and crafters alike, since it is far more reasonable to hunt down a desired skin and buy a Bejeweled stat spread than purchase a second armor set for the stats to transmute.
Single Piece Armor Sets
Similar to the gloves and helms from GW1, the armor crafters could feature a number of legendary equipment pieces independent of any set, meant to be comined with others. Examples might include…
Heavy: exotic pauldrons, helms, and gloves.
Medium: non-duster tunics of all shapes and sizes, gloves and masks.
Light: the incredible invention of pants, as well as masks, gloves, and scarves/cloaks.
Back items: capes, cloaks, scarves, packs
Some might include special race items (back items designed as charr tail decorations, for example). In addition, all character creation armor should be included in these sets.
Imbue Legendary Auras
While some legendary items were certainly given more love than others, the system itself is far more interesting from a technical perspective. The ability to adjust footfalls, motion trails, and armor coloration presents an interesting opportunity for making everything legendary.
When Ascended quality items are rolled out for everyone, perhaps crafters should gain the ability to turn any weapon in the game into a legendary piece of equipment. Assign each piece a possible aura or two based on the already existing animations and their relevant skin. For instance, a Destroyer weapon might gain a flame aura for all its motion blurs, while a Steamblade would gain a smoke aura. Combine this system with a way to upgrade items in quality (paying a relative price, of course), and it will easy allow the Ascension of the crafting system to a new tier of gameplay.
The Craftsman’s Quest
Allow master craftsman to embark on a journey of masterful skill and wondrous discovery. Players receive these quests from the various Crafting NPCs, listening to their tales of mystical items and choosing to pursue their legend. Each quest involves far more than simple gathering and clicking. The Black Citadel wasn’t built in a day, and neither will the most magnificent items forged by mortal hands. Each quest semi-randomly selects from several different objectives, including…
-Forging a significant number of goods, or creating Gifts.
-Visiting places of power and using them to make recipes.
-Tempering your creations by slaying certain foes or completing certain tasks.
-Completing certain meta events.
For example, a quest for a flame related object such as the Spark or Volcanus could have you build a cage to contain the essence of fire, go kill the Flame Elemental in Metrica Province, then refine that flame over time. Burn down one of every harvestable tree in Tyria, sacrifice a hundred steam creatures, and go kick Rhendak the Crazed in the pants a bit, and you’d have a blazing heart of pure fire. Forge a hammer from bloodstone imbued with magical energy, create a jeweled anvil from the heartstone of a mighty beast, and temper everything with the oil extracted from the kidneys of a dragon champion. Take the whole mess to the place of power within Mount Maelstrom, and you forge the item of power within the beating heart of the volcano. Volcanus is yours.
Crafting quests might be limited to keep people from farming them, likely through once-per-week or X-times-per-month limitations to keep things balanced.
By using locations, events, and enemies already in the game crafting quests minimize the work necessary for Anet while providing plenty of exploration, adventure, and heroics in search of shiny objects. It also provides a better sense of lore and significance for what we are doing, making the forging of a great object more than simply the collection of wealth.