crafting-mechanics
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Final Fantasy XIV launches birds and hunt balances in patch 2.35
Another wave of beast tribe daily quests has flown in to Final Fantasy XIV, and this time around players will need to get crafty. Patch 2.35 ushers in Ixali daily quests, but these quests are focused on crafting items and turning in crafted pieces for benefits rather than simply hacking through enemy legions. The new quests also make use of special crafting facilities and help level your crafting classes faster, an excellent boost to adventurers who haven't picked up a craft beforehand. The patch also introduces major revisions to the game's hunt mechanics. All hunt bills have had their rewards increased significantly, while B-rank marks have been given a dramatically shortened respawn timer and no inherent rewards for killing them. This is balanced by the addition of extra rewards to unique weekly bills, which are now assigned to players individually rather than server-wide. Check the patch notes for the full details; the patch also makes minor Frontline adjustments and Chocobo Stable improvements.
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's eternal crafting problem
I haven't had the chance to really dive into the new crafting system in Star Trek Online just yet, but I can tell it's certainly a valid effort to revitalize the crafting system for the third time in the game's lifespan, this time with an even more fundamental teardown. Memory Alpha is gone now, along with the exploration clusters that used to provide oh-so-many spots to analyze in the hopes of getting more materials. Back at the start of this year, the column took a look at the state of Star Trek Online's crafting and asked whether there really is a future left for it. After all, crafting as a source of items was up against the fleet stores and reputation items. Could you make something better than those systems without replacing those systems? Would it even be worth it? What could be done to clean up crafting? We've gotten our answer about what will be done, but is it a net benefit for the game as a whole?
Star Trek Online introduces Research & Development packs
The next major Star Trek Online update is all about new stuff for the crafting system. That means that you're going to need lots of materials, and the designers are making sure that there are even more ways to get them. If you don't want to just harvest, you can also try your luck with the new Research & Development Material Packs. How do you get the packs? For starters, you can grab these packs as a bonus for PvE queue content. Normal packs contain 20 materials and are awarded from normal queue missions, while Advanced packs contain 25 and are awarded (predictably) from Elite queues. Advanced packs also contain rare materials based on the nature of the particular mission, letting you focus in your efforts if you need something specific. Players can also purchase additional packs from the in-game store for 300 Zen each or 1000 Zen for four. Read the full article for more details on how you can pick up extra packs without harvesting.
Star Trek Online details the rewards of a new crafting system
Star Trek Online has been focused on crafting in a big way for its Season 9.5 update, but thus far we've heard little about what the new crafts will actually produce. I mean, what could convince you to play? Other than, say, heavy cannons with an extra-wide firing arc. Or projectiles that leave behind damage fields. Or all sorts of new rewards with bonus effects that can be accessed only through the updated crafting system by dedicated captains. There are also new traits unlocked via the crafting system, allowing such bonuses as increased ship performance upon use of skills or creating nigh-invulnerable shields for a moment when healing. And if that alone isn't enough, you can pick up unique modifiers on items that can be obtained only through crafting, such as cooldown reduction on Science consoles or free Beam Overloads on beam weapons. Read the full blog for all of the fascinating bonuses unlocked by masters of the new crafting system soon to hit a live server near you.
A look at WildStar's crafting mechanics
As WildStar nears its ambiguous-but-soon release date, questions have to be asked, aside from "when is this game releasing, anyway?" Like crafting-related questions. Why haven't we heard more about crafting yet? What are the mechanics? Is this another example of a game wherein crafting is just a matter of assembling a pile of materials and clicking a button? The answer to that last one is a pretty firm no. As it happens, there's a lot going on under the hood of WildStar's crafting mechanics, enough to intrigue dedicated crafters of many styles. We had a chance recently to sit down with system designer Phillip Chan to talk in-depth about the game's crafting mechanics and how the team is working to keep crafting relevant through the whole game, from start to finish. The goals were to create crafting mechanics that rewarded players for taking part, gave room for custom creations and specialized crafters, and to make the whole thing feel fun. The net result? Not just clicking a button and going off to make a sandwich.
Age of Conan sneaks a peek at some (selectively) stylish crafting
Age of Conan is already unchained according to its subtitle, but players are still restrained in certain ways. You can't just craft an item with your chosen stats and have it look like whatever you want, can you? Of course not! At least, not until the major crafting revision goes live, and the latest game director's letter shows off how players will be able to do exactly that. The letter previews the new crafting interface, which along with ingredients allows players to select a style for the crafted product. New styles are unlocked via completing missions and certain achievements. The system also allows for adding new visuals as endgame drops or from the cash store, giving players more flexible options about how to look. Take a loot at the full letter for more details, as well as discussion about the next major content update and the possibility of porting elements over from The Secret World.
The Nexus Telegraph: A speculative look at WildStar crafting
Sometimes my plans coincide perfectly with real-world events. Last time I wrote this column, I planned to talk about crafting, and then on Friday WildStar gave us a look at some of what we can expect in the system. Admittedly, we don't yet know how the whole circuit board system plays into crafting or what "one of two systems" means, but we can speculate, can't we? Before anyone asks, let me say that no, I had no forewarning or advance preview. I'm just pleased that everything came together by coincidence. So right now we know that the circuit board interface is the basis of one of the crafting systems in the game, and we know how the circuit boards in general work. That's enough to make some reasonable guesses. Let's start by guessing at a system in which you sidestep the entire process of finding the best stats on the best items by just making it from scratch.
Land and Hand: Crafting and gathering in Final Fantasy XIV's relaunch
When I was playing Final Fantasy XIV's pre-launch beta, it was gathering that made me realize I was in real trouble with this game. Normally I consider gathering to be a necessary evil, a part of the game that exists and only occasionally overlaps with what I like to do. But the first time I started chopping away as a Botanist, I knew that something special was going on here. Of course, gathering and crafting also needed an overhaul. The former was a frequently luck-based minigame that could be intensely frustrating to decipher with few skills that seemed to do much, and the latter was obtuse even if you ignore the fact that you didn't have a recipe book. So the relaunch had the unenviable task of reworking both systems while at the same time retaining what made them such a breath of fresh air. If you liked Final Fantasy XIV's crafting or gathering before, I'm happy to say you still will -- and odds are good you'll like both even more because the new systems in place are solid improvements of what came before.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The crafts of heroes
I want to give major props to Cryptic Studios for Champions Online at launch because the studio did something that most superhero MMOs don't even try to do: Crafting was in the game at launch, and while you can say that it was absolutely terrible, it wins respect for existing no matter what else happened afterward. I didn't play around with the crafting at launch, but I can still respect that it was there. Of course, even if I had liked it, it clearly was disliked enough for the game to completely redo its crafting system later. And from what I saw, it was not well loved. But the crafting systems for DC Universe Online and City of Heroes are both not received with open arms either. Don't get me started on the half-hearted effort Marvel Heroes has for a crafting system, which makes The Secret World look downright deep. (Although that could be revamped for release.) So what's the deal here? Superhero MMOs are often ahead of the curve in a lot of areas, so why can't we get a superhero game with a proper crafting system?
The Mog Log: What crafters can do in Final Fantasy XIV
A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with one of our fellow writers about MMO design. This, as you might imagine, is actually a fairly common topic of discussion amongst Massively staff members. (It's beaten out slightly by talk of cats and horrible puns, but still.) Said writer was lamenting the fact that we haven't seen a game in years that allows players to really focus on a non-combat role and level up without having to march out and kill things. "Yes, we have," I countered. "Final Fantasy XIV lets you do that." "Well, yeah, but you have to kill stuff to get materials and get money to start with, right?" "No, you can just craft the whole way through." And as I said it, I realized that one of the real shames of the game's launch was that everything the crafting and gathering systems do correctly wound up being overshadowed by other issues. There's a reason I started calling the game a sandpark when I was writing my first impressions, because the devotion to non-combat gameplay options is almost peerless among more modern games. And it's worth some tribute.
