Pathfinder Online developer blog outlines the path of production
Everything comes from somewhere. That's one of the axioms underpinning Pathfinder Online -- almost every single object that players see will have been produced by a player. In the most recent development blog, the process for gathering and producing items is outlined, and it bears all of the detailed hallmarks of the game's other systems. This isn't a game in which players grab a pickaxe and swing at the nearest rock face for ore; instead, you construct a camp and start up an entire mining operation.
The game has a basic three-tiered structure to its non-combat operation, starting with harvesting the resource, moving on to processing and refining the items in question, and finishing with crafting a usable item. And as an outgrowth of the game's open systems, these elements work in multiple directions. Starting a camp to harvest resources, for example, can generate a lot of commotion and attract hostile monsters, necessitating that players deal with the fallout or find someone else willing to do so. No one can accuse the designers of making crafting activities a secondary goal with this degree of detail involved.
