I started to play NW during Alpha 2 in 2019. At that time, crafting was very restricted, as well as not set up well. I posted a ton of content in the forums about this.
Since then, I have mostly just chimed in with the unhappy crafters, mostly because I had no ideas to offer. I have had a few ideas lately though, and while they might not be great, maybe one or 2 will seed an update we all want.
1) Gathering, Refining and Crafting Gear - After counting all the T5 gear sets for crafting, gathering, and refining, I think it’s around 40 sets in total. That is just dumb. Really think we should have 1 single crafting set for each tier that has Gathering Luck on it. Ditto for Refining (additional items) and Crafting (Gear Score) Making the total number of sets 15 total, 3 sets per tier. And let us dye them, please.
2) Perks and RNG - I am not sure what is worse. The horrendous # of mats needed to get to max level, or the gambling aspect of perk RNG. I have NEVER played a game as a crafter where you did not know what you would craft when you try to make something. That is crazy.
Way too many perks. Highly urge merge perks into bucket sets and being able to choose which bucket to choose from when crafting. 2 Crafting type Examples:
1) Harvesting Luck - 1 per tier, works for any gathering skill line, on any tool. Total of 5. This also ties into the Gear change.
2) Refining Quantity - 1 per tier, works for any refining line. Total of 5. This also ties into the Gear change.
Crafting BiS End Game gear should be hard, no question. Instead of the RNG to make it hard, it should be EXPENSIVE or take a very long time to achieve. At least then, we can make our own gear AND craft to sell it. Personally, I think this is a win for the economy, and I do not think it’s going to impact the economy much. More on this in a minute.
Improvements to this could come in the form of:
- Rewards from a new back-end skill reward system (discussed further down)
- Milestones based on Aptitude Level (discussed further down)
3) Leveling XP (1-200 only) really needs some balancing. Some lines do not gain XP as fast as others. This has been acknowledged in the most recent dev video, thank goodness. It’s still way harder than it should be to level in general, at least from a “the literal tonnage of mats needed”. I would rather gain XP slower and need way less mats.
Example: I am happy where my gathering skills are (200 except for logging, which is one of the lines that needs to be balanced), and in the 120-150 range for all refining). But crafting, yeesh I am barely 100 in all but Weaponsmithing. It’s the actual crafting lines that really need work.
Just hit 60 and I should be out doing chest runs, dungeon runs, etc. Instead, I am gathering. And will be doing this for MONTHS to come, due to the sheer need for gathering all those mats. And meanwhile, my company wonders what I am doing (sort of, many of us are trying to level one or more tradeskills).
4)Tradeskill Rewards
Crafters who go all the way with all gathering, refining, and crafting lines should be rewarded for this effort. These are the crafters who really should be able to choose 3 perks when crafting gear, bags, weapons etc. Not all players are going to put in the time to do this. It’s a niche playstyle after all.
Highly urge an overhaul to the crafting system that rewards players based on total gained Aptitude on all lines (1 perk guarantee if all lines have gotten to Aptitude 1, 2 perk guarantee of all Aptitude Lines have achieved level 35, and 3 perks guaranteed after level 75.
Or
Create a new backend skill reward system based on all skill line progress (1 perk guarantee when all gathering/refining/crafting skills reach 75, 2 guarantee perk if all gathering/refining/crafting skills reach 150, and 3 perks guarantee if all gathering/refining/crafting skills reach 200.