Thoughts on Crafting?

In my first playthough, crafting was something I rarely did. I felt that anything I could spend time crafting would quickly be outclassed by some random loot, and I only vaguely understood about the six augment tiles. However I was very interested in the craftsman challenge, and the moment I hit level 50 I started a file.

I have to say that I am a big fan of the nuance it adds to the gameplay loop, gathering materials and repairing gear is a welcome and peaceful shift from swarms of powerful monsters and deep lore from time to time, and combining your most powerful materials into one overpowered item feels very rewarding.

However, everyone I've heard bring up the crafting system as a whole sees it as grindy and unfun, so it seems there's certainly some differing opinions on it lol.

What are your thoughts?

 

Just wait until level 50. :)
Grinding materials will become living Tartarus.

Imo crafting and material gathering is the worst theing they have ever added to the game and after playing IC to level 40ish I never want to do it again.

 

I like the crafting system a lot, its been a ton of fun. But when it gets grindy, always remember. A game doesn't have to be fun to be good, this can be applied to practically everything. Grinding isn't fun, but bearing the fruits of your tiring labor is. The grind doesn't compare to runescape, for example, so its not like its unbearable, and the reward is you become this mystical feared being known as "el crafto", casual players fear you, lazy veterans envy you

 

Forgive me if this was changed, but last time I checked it took 16.7 stacks of royal bug blood to go from level 90 to 100 in Woodworking, and another 7 to go from level 100 to 103 with xp bombs. If 16.7 stacks with bombs is not unbearable, I don't know what is. And keep in mind that unlike gathering xp, there are no other ways besides bombs to get extra crafting xp (again last time I checked, I know that Hunted mode still only gives gathering xp and bonus crafting xp ID doesn't exist still).

Also unlike gathering levels, they make you feel like you're wasting your time and resources by requiring you to craft tons of useless items you'll never want or use just to create the single item you actually want. Which is extremely disheartening when you find a legendary after 5 minutes in a nearby loot chest. Imagine how much worse Minecraft would be if you had to craft 10 wooden swords before you could craft a stone one, or 100 iron swords before a diamond one. They also create this friction of your combat level being high enough to use the equipment, but your crafting level won't allow you to make it, which is extremely frustrating and annoying by disrupting the core gameplay loop.

While I do like how ingredients interact in the crafting system, a lot of ingredients are straight up useless or are missing niches, and most crafted items feel inferior to regular items. Like how skill points aren't static in crafted items but are in regular items, and regular items (besides mythics) are just way, WAY easier to obtain. Plus regular items don't have durability, and crafted items don't have Major IDs or even spell cost IDs. If we're gonna spend extra effort and time to get crafted items, at least make them have less RNG than regular items and give the player more control over them like your attack speed or even just your level/base health and damage. Hence why crafting doesn't feel like you are truly making your own custom items.

 

Crafted items not only have access to stats that are rare or unobtainable on some gear (like loot bonus) but also outscale fableds and legendaries in terms of stats, because they have to- to compete with unique id items they would have to have better stats, and properly built gear does.

I feel its difficulty is completely valid, its a slog grind, but these type of grinds aren't bad. The fact that its this hard seperates the dedicated from the non- making it so that crafted items will always be valuable, as there will always be someone who doesn't want to actually make the effort of getting the stats themselves and will just buy it off the auction.

Its also an achievement, getting to the top of crafting tiers. Personally I really like low leveled drops. for example-



Glimmering coin is a level 26 crafting material- though it is virtually useless until crafting level 80-100, because the durability penalty is so high, stacking them up on armor at lvl even 50 will make the durability 0-30, to get the full effectiveness of the coin, you must level up your crafting, and you are rewarded with the most cost efficient looting equipment in the game

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The mob grind you have to do inbetween ore grinding gives you a nice (even if long) mixup in the process

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I WILL admit though, I use a guide to make my life a ton easier https://forums.wynncraft.com/thread...ls-and-ingredients-you-need-completed.267977/
If I had to do this without a guide, I would understand being frustrated, as one might not understand the most efficient way to get to the top. I've had fun routing which areas spawn the most of certain mobs that drop favorable loot for crafting

 

Here's an example of the use of crafteds! This is a very low level weapon, and was made with bad quality ingredients, very easy to get, and while its not AS good as the only legendary of the same level, 1: I didn't use good ingredients, and 2: There is no lvl 38 dagger that does wind damage, not to mention this dagger does more damage than the legendary- even if it doesn't have life steal xp bonus and all that jazz

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With the new archetypes, builds want to lean even heavier on a max of 3 elements, as their archetype's damage will depend on them, Crafting makes it so that you can fit any element into your build at any level, no need to wait for a good legendary 20 levels higher than you that you'll immediately replace.

 

I forgot about Loot Quality, though even then I feel that just being better than Fables isn't enough to justify their other downsides. Especially since you can do plenty of damage already with legendaries, so it feels more so broken than balanced. I'd rather have crafteds be easier to obtain than have higher damage than Fables.

There are still plenty of other examples of useless, low-leveled ingredients. All the wools just give 2%-3% of an elemental defense, including Wooly Armor. Forest Web outclasses Bat Ear in every way, yet has the same rarity and is 13 crafting levels below Bat Ear. Any ingredients with only pure soul point are useless (though that's a bit unfair bc of soul points themselves). Though then again, these examples in particular are pretty low level anyway, so it's not the biggest of deals.

I've seen that guide before too; that's where I got those stats from earlier from. Here's where I agree to disagree; I just hate grinding. I personally think it's just a filler mechanic that doesn't add anything to the experience, and I would rather be rewarded through challenging combat or puzzles. Not all grinding is created equal, but generally that's how I feel. And since professions are designed for people who love grinding, I understand why you think otherwise. I don't want to ruin proffer's fun or hard work or anything; all I wanted out of crafting was to make my own custom items and test out Wynncraft's item mechanics and systems with as much hassle as it takes to obtain regular items.

So those are the main reasons why I just never liked professions. Not saying you can't enjoy them, but hopefully you understand better why I don't.

 

Nono they are meant to do more damage than fabled! Fabled are meant to have unique properties- like galloping spurs, enabling you to attack while on a horse, or infernal impulse, which changes the warriors charge so that it heals allies and yourself but does no damage. The tradeoff for crafteds is that they are unable to have the unique properties that fableds have, but have better stats overall, or more tailored stats.

If you don't like grinding, thats perfectly fair! Grinding isn't for everyone, but do understand, wynncraft at its core is an mmorpg, mmo's are made around grinding. if this grind is too much for you, thats reasonable, though the solution isn't to reduce the grind required, for you I would suggest finding another money making method, and then just buying the gear you want on the market, or commission someone to craft it.

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And yeah I understand wholly, grinding isn't fun. period. for those who don't value the reward as much or don't enjoy grinding just to grind (like I) It would be miserable, but thats the name of the game in this case.

 

crafting is stupid

 

easy to level one in just a few days without much prep,
I don't use it very much but it is a good stimulant for the ingredient and material economy

 

crafting system is WAY more fun and less grindy than gathering lmao

 

i love crafting

 

I still have no idea how to do it. I feel like it isnt explained well in the tutorial of wynn. i guess i gotta binge youtube videos on how to do it

 

Crafted items defo need changes.

Its mostly garbage items and then you get things like vim veins.
Gathering early on also takes far longer than crafting things, so you spend ages gathering to craft 2-5 items and back to grinding a whole new tier of materials for 2 things.

Imo the changes need to be buffs to weak ingredients and gather xp buff since its so slow