Crafting is a strange subset of MMO play, when you think about it. For some folks, it's incredibly important; for the rest, chances are they hardly think about it. It's typically lacking the sort of interaction and feedback we get from combat, is a huge money and time sink, and usually offers less reward for more effort than raiding or other forms of loot acquisition.
Still, crafting is beloved by many for various reasons. It can be a great way to make money (depending on what you make and the market demand), it involves creation instead of destruction, and a crafty crafter can use his or her talents to help friends and benefit guilds. While most MMOs include crafting, it's rare to see a title rise above the bare minimum to fashion an engaging, intricate and beneficial system.
For you crafters in the Massively audience, which MMO would you say has the best crafting -- and what makes it so special? Is it the number of recipes or the randomness of the results? Have you found a game that hits that sweet spot of crafting perfection that made you stand up and cheer to the embarrassment of everyone else in the room?
Reader Comments (104)
Posted: Aug 2nd 2010 4:21PM corpusc said
APB and Second Life are the only REAL crafting systems i've seen.
everything else is just resource gathering and combine button pushing busywork for people who don't like being actually creative and actually really crafting unique items (they rather go thru the mundane robotic motions of producing items from a pre-made list (inherently small) of possible items).
everything else is just resource gathering and combine button pushing busywork for people who don't like being actually creative and actually really crafting unique items (they rather go thru the mundane robotic motions of producing items from a pre-made list (inherently small) of possible items).
Posted: Aug 2nd 2010 11:09PM JoolaPrime said
I know it hasn't been released yet but I'm very much looking forward to the crafting process in FFXIV.
Being able to pick a crafting class as your main class and level it up without combat sounds very intriguing.
Being able to pick a crafting class as your main class and level it up without combat sounds very intriguing.
Posted: Aug 3rd 2010 11:50PM IIoWoII said
People are probably going to downrate me for this but...
I think runescape has the best crafting system.
There I've said it.
I think runescape has the best crafting system.
There I've said it.
Posted: Aug 5th 2010 9:09PM (Unverified) said
@94
Hah I remember Aircartman in Flurry, SWG too. Used to be a doctor in pre-CU SWG- I pride myself in making one of the best meds on the server even though I run a small enterprise only.
Really, SWG takes the cake when it comes to crafting that is rewarding.
Hah I remember Aircartman in Flurry, SWG too. Used to be a doctor in pre-CU SWG- I pride myself in making one of the best meds on the server even though I run a small enterprise only.
Really, SWG takes the cake when it comes to crafting that is rewarding.







