Guild Wars 2

I would like to address a problem that has been present since the start of GW2 and to this day I’m still surprised people accept it the way it is. because the crafting system is a complete mess.

To create one simple weapon or armorpiece you need to craft 3 separate items which each have their separate recipe to make. and these consist of 1 or multiple ingredients and these items have NO other function in the game but to craft the item in question. Unlike a bar of a certain metal which has multiple functions,

If that is the case then why doesn’t my crafting list look like something along these lines;

Craft Axe:
>Bronze
>Iron
>Steel
>Darksteel
>Platinum
>Mithril
>Orichalcum
>Ascended

Craft Sword:
>Bronze
>Iron
>Steel
>Darksteel
>Platinum
>Mithril
>Orichalcum
>Ascended

etc.

And upon clicking the Item in question You would just get the full list of required materials needed for the object you wish to create! Crafting would be some much
more enjoyable if all the inbetween steps where cut out that served no other function except being turning my crafting window into a maze/timesink

Which leaves us with the matter of the insignia’s. which also clutter up the crafting list.
Move those things into the crafting window! When selecting to create a certain type of weapon/armorpiece just insert a dropdown-list to select what type it should be.

Up till now the only items that make use of a reasonable crafting mechanic are for instance the Inventory bags, Runes and Insignia’s.

No more seperate crafting of hilts, chest paddings, glove lining, or anything like it.
1 complete item, for 1 list of ingredients.

But then how will they make use of their “discovery” system?
…which is terrible and should have been aborted well before launch. :\

No. Seriously crafting is fine , actually crafting is better than fine. Crafting needs to go back to the old system (level 1-400 style, not necessarily the levels but the ‘discovery’ element) If you can figure your way through 1-75 the rest of crafting is common sense.

If you look at the game like Anet does you will see the logic. more item = more bag space required = more revenue.

I’m betting that 20% of most player’s inventories are filled with items that will be useful one day so the more unique ingredients involved in crafting is pure profit for Anet.

Complicated is not a word I would use to describe crafting in GW2. Occasionally pointless maybe.

I will point out that for artificers, the… focus core, I believe it is, is actually used not just in crafting focuses (foci?), but also in Inquest slaying potions. So no, they aren’t just useful for one thing. And don’t tell me that just because one of the crafting professions have it, the rest don’t need to. It’s a formula, it’s more or less the same for the 7 equipment proficiencies, and it’s not that hard. I’m sorry crafting isn’t “press 1 to craft” instead.

After playing Skyrim I consider the crafting window in GW2 to be a complete joke.

Just gonna leave this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVL4st0blGU

For the tl;dw (w=watch, instead of read :P) crowd, the crafting system is needlessly complex while offering insufficient depth of play experience. It’s not as customizable as Wildstar’s, nor it is possible to craft something from scratch like FF14, which also focused on making high-quality products with increased benefits.

Rather, GW2 crafting is rather flat and static. Look up “discovery” recipes, or pay karma (or geodes or crests or…) for recipes at higher crafting level, then make components that serve little (not “no”) purpose other than to be bothersome intermediaries for predetermined stat sets.

It could have been so much better.

Muusic.2967:

If you look at the game like Anet does you will see the logic. more item = more bag space required = more revenue.

I’m betting that 20% of most player’s inventories are filled with items that will be useful one day so the more unique ingredients involved in crafting is pure profit for Anet.

Or maybe they wanted it to be, I dunno, semi-realistic? If you think they’re making significant money off of people who need more bag space for their intermediary crafting materials (which you can choose to not make until you’re going to use them), you’re delusional. Not everything in the game exists explicitly for profit; they also have to provide something people want to spend money on.

@OP

I think they already have a similar system in place to what you are talking about.

When you select a recipe a window pops up with a list of all the components. If you select the magnifying glass on the right, another window pops up with that particular recipe, and so on all the way down to the most basic ingredients. I am sure it can seem overwhelming, but before such a feature was implemented, crafting was much more complicated.

It follows a very logical pattern, and really isn’t that complicated to understand. You want to make gloves (armor). Ok you’ll need an outershell, and a liner. Add in an insignia to give it a particular set of stats. To make the liner, you’ll need X amount of Y cloth, and some thread. to make the outer shell, you’ll need X amount of Z material. Also an insignia. A piece of cloth imbued with special power. So X amount of Y cloth, and X amount of a particular material to give it it’s power, and some thread (you need the thread to sew to together…)Ok now we have all of our parts, and we put them together. I don’t get whats complicated about it….

Before demanding a revamp for crafting plz consider that any revamp from anet can be done one way – from bad to worse. Look at traits. Or leveling. Plz don’t “fix” another part of the game.

I love the crafting system. Especially for the cook it’s pretty close to reality.
I agree however on the annoying random farm-drops for recipes, rather than implementing them in the discovery system.

I don’t care for crafting. Most of the reason why I hate the fact that crafting is the only way to reliably obtain ascended weapons and armor. However, I wouldn’t say it’s complicated.

It actually makes some sense. Items, like a sword, are made up of parts. Each part is first forged and then the parts are put together to form the final item. It’s a fantasy game so you have magic. This too is a part that must be made (Inscription).

Just be thankful that each trade can make their own inscription. They could’ve easily made ‘Scribe’ it’s own trade.

Theyd kitten more people off by changing it now then theyd please if they did change it. That said crafting is fine. It only starts to become a clutter once you get a lot of recipes and even then the search function exists.

Anyone remember ff14 before they nuked the entire game? Yeah they redid the entire crafting system because it was overly complicated/confusing.

Compared to how it was when the game was launched Anet has made several improvements to hos crafting works.

And as the OP suggested about listining all weapons of different quality… isn’t it exactly the way it is. If you go to the page of Axes you will see all Axes you know how to make…

Travis the Terrible.4739:

Theyd kitten more people off by changing it now then theyd please if they did change it. That said crafting is fine. It only starts to become a clutter once you get a lot of recipes and even then the search function exists.

Anyone remember ff14 before they nuked the entire game? Yeah they redid the entire crafting system because it was overly complicated/confusing.

actually the crafting system is virtually the same. They juggled where you get what abilities, and reduced the amount of items/mid items required. They added a recipe book as well.
They revealed all the data/secrets, and removed some hidden limitations. they also incentived playing the minigame well by giving you more exp the higher you could get quality.

essentially they cleaned it up, but the overal goal, focus and gameplay is very similar. They didnt change it much because its actually one of the things the game did really well. They actually evolved the system rather than creating a new one.

They sort of had a system like you suggest briefly, back when they added the ability to use materials directly from storage. I forget why they removed it though.

I like the crafting system.

While I might not have discovered everything I did manage to get 500,500,500,500,500,500,400,400 in the end. Some things are a bit strange (read cooking system as it is quite dependant and has long prereqs… but all other porffesions are easier then I would expect from an MMO

I ‘m happy I can craft almost everything I need up to 400 without recipes (except for legendaries) and I noticed quite some recipe’s scattered around karma vendors, which tend to be fun… Anybody for a wooden sword and a wooden dagger?

But in the end it is interesting enough to master, buit not more difficult then you should expect requireing refined mats (would be nice if refining tab would be on top) and 3 components made from it. (4 for ascended) and that’s about it. Ascended has recipe sheets anyways.

Like it. Do not change it. It will not serve any purpose, and I’ll add 1 remark: NPE. If they change it you’ll get a NPE crafting system. THAT’S SCARY!

I don’t mind the logic GW crafting system… the only thing I really miss is some animation… if I’m working on weaponsmith I woud love if an anvil pops up the moment I open the crafting menu (near a designated place ofc) and my character starts hammering a piece of metal… or just hitting the anvil, as long as it feels “real”.

Ok and a little revamp on those menus will ya?

segman.3560:

Before demanding a revamp for crafting plz consider that any revamp from anet can be done one way – from bad to worse. Look at traits. Or leveling. Plz don’t “fix” another part of the game.

Ok?

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

If they change it you’ll get a NPE crafting system. THAT’S SCARY!

As much as I loathe this game’s crafting system… I am as much saddened that you’re right.
/cry

Crafting to 400 was enough to put me off. I got 4 crafts to 400 and just stopped. I found the process of leveling crafting to be tedious and boring. Ascended crafting is a whole different animal. Not only is it tedious and boring, I’m not a fan of using a third party site or a spreadsheet to track whether I’ve got all of the copious quantities of near a score different mats to make one piece.

I think it probably made more sense when people were “discovering” the discoveries while “learning” to crafting items.

We’ve forgotten the whole learning aspect of, “Okay, so if you combine a small handle, a mace head, and an insignia to make a mace, then I bet if I put a hilt, a blade, and an insignia together I could make a sword.” Building smaller components and then assembling them in patterns probably made more discoveries possible and made discovering the logic behind the patterns easier.

Now we just follow some crafting guide that says, “Make 84 steel ingots, 23 wooden planks, 4 small hilts, 3 large shafts, etc.”