In EverQuest Next, should one character be able to learn all types of crafting?

Some skills may be linked to a specific class. To use a classic example, let's say only Shamans can do Alchemy. But with the use of multi-classing, you can just make it so that you have to unlock and level up the Shaman in order to be able to do alchemy. And of course some skills could be available to all classes. Additionally, you could make it so that you have to become sufficiently skilled in one skill before moving onto another. But I don't think this would be quite as fun.

Either way, every character should somehow be able to gain access to all skills.

One of the things that made EQ cool was that different classes had different abilities. It promoted social interaction. I had to find a druid/wizard to port me, an enchanter to make jewelry, a gnome for a rebreather... If all abilities are open to everyone, we end up with a generic character base. If all abilities are open to all characters, then use specialization to create the need to seek out someone that can make something better than you can.

I feel like you should be limited to one expertise per character, but have the ability to craft BASIC components from other professions, in support of your chosen focus.

I voted yes (shouldn't have to create an alt). I voted this way because my feeling isn't based simply on the fact you can unlock all the classes.

I believe as has been stated over and over that community is the foundation of a game. Having to make splintered copies of myself to craft is not building "my character" or keeping me in my community. I've honestly never understood the limitation to begin with.. tho I guess in UO I never thought about it.


People who enjoy alts or want to have them always have that option... for people who want to log on and be one virtual avatar... that option should be supported as well. They are going to have to put the effort into the craft regardless.. it just allows/supports more personal play styles to allow it.

Oh and I should add "in my opinion."

*edited to ramble a bit more*

Needed or not.. the way I look at this is... I've never seen a game that said you could not master every craft by making alts. I've seen games that limited the amount you could master (say in Aion you can take all but only I think 2 to max.. not sure didn't play long) but as stated I've never seen it where you couldn't master them all. Forcing people to create an alt and hit X level to raise craft to Y.. is not any more dedicated than a single character putting the craft time in. My view is the alt is only there to keep you from quitting aka time spent grinding an alt simply to craft... is to keep you on the treadmill. This also in my opinion is only done because the game is not worth playing that long at max level... If the game is well done.. then they shouldn't need that gimmick.

I don't like characters being able to do everything, but if they can do it as adventurers, then they should be able to as crafters.

That said, just because you "can" do everything doesn't mean you should have time to. Everyone in reality can learn about every facet of building a house, for example... carpentry, electrician, plumber, etc, etc..
This doesn't mean they have the time to truly master all of them.

I may be able to be everything, but I'd just be a mediocre everything instead of a really good one thing.

The modern MMO caters to the lowest common denominator. In all MMOs people can be social when they want to but yet they aren't without something forces them to be more social. This is why a lot of players only solo most of the game and then join randomly created groups in which they never have say anything either. Just playing without players without any interaction is not socialization.

And, true nothing stops people from joining guilds and the such with like minded people but all the lowest common denominator features does decrease the amount of actual content. Modern MMOs simply don't have any longevity anymore because time sinks or restrictions are entirely removed and a lot is obtainable within just one month. There is a reason why so many modern MMOs are dubbed failures.

Not ever forcing people to need someone else makes the modern MMO a single player online game. Why play an MMO if you aren't even interested in ever dealing with other players.

I disagree that MMOs which support multiple play styles have a better chance of being successful. Just look at the history of the mainstream MMOs ever since WoW. The vast majority can be considered utter failures because they all tried to tap into the exact same market, by trying to appease everyone while actually not appeasing anyone. Even the lowest common denominators move from MMO to MMO, never staying for much longer than a few months because there is not enough content. There is not enough content because everything gets presented to us on a silver platter.

Yes, all of them. But only if i unlocked a corresponding class.

I don't want to create alts.

I am also of minds here, I enjoy crafting, sometimes more than adventuring. I think it is a pain to have to switch to an alt to create a build item for something I am trying to craft. That being said I love to create alts and enjoy learning different crafts with each one. So let us be able to craft all build components and master only one or two lines of crafting.

This question reeks of "we've already decided" to me.

I enjoy crafting, but I really don't have an opinion here. I voted for the second choice because it seemed the most logical.

I agree. It is unfortunate that MMOs have all turned into single player online experiences. There is no interdependency to be had if everyone can do everything. With nothing ever forcing you to be social, many simply will not be social. If not forcing to be social actually worked I wouldn't care but many modern MMOs clearly show that community and social interaction is pretty much non-existent.

Community used to be the main strength of the MMO genre and it no longer is. You just can't expect a community to magically be healthy if nothing is being done to facilitate it. I feel that Sony is just expecting EQN to have the same community as EQ used to have without doing anything to achieve this. There have been a few polls so far which have something to do with community and the decision on those polls have all been against actually facilitating a healthy community. What is next for EQN, dropped loot being better than anything a crafter can create so you are never forced to actually talk a crafter? After all soloing should be possible and nobody should ever be forced to interact with anyone.

You guys all need to get it through your heads, this is a different game then EQ or EQ2, it needs different rules. If I went to Landmark made a castle got it approved and sent it to EQ Next and I purchased my castle pattern, and I was a tailor, how could I make my castle? That would be insane. If I buy a pattern I should be able to make it. If I had to give that pattern to some one else to make for me I would be very upset.

Loosen up, the game is suppose to be fun. You are introducing a whole new concept here roll with it. Drop the ideas of the past and move in your new direction. Here is what you have.

Players in EQN Landmark Build/Construct houses furniture and all kinds of stuff for EQ Next a lot of which goes on the market place for other players to buy the patterns for crafting. Those players go out and get the supplies to craft those items and they need to be able to craft those items.

I would latterly harvest materials to build items in Landmark then Build the items and have them transferred to EQ Next. Then in EQ Next I would then have to go out and again harvest all the materials to craft the same items in EQ Next.

Are you telling me that after buying the pattern, and harvesting the materials, then I would have to find a crafter who could craft the item, I created in the first place and harvested the materials twice to make? And I would probably have to pay this player to make the item that I originally created, in Landmark. Are you guys insane?

I understand your wanting to stay with the old tried and true. But it is a new world relax and roll with it.

You could have some abilities that are easier for some players but everyone should be able to craft any pattern they buy. Azari

I voted:

Yes. If I can unlock all adventure classes on one character, then I should be able to unlock all crafting types.

Although a more accurate sentiment would be:

Yes. In the immersive world that I am looking for in a "next gen" mmorpg, why on earth would anyone be limited to only one "skill" outside of mass murdering the indigenous wildlife of the world they inhabit.

Bongo

I think we should be able to do everything. The only problem I foresee is when you are exploring with a group everyone will want to harvest everything. Being locked into one trade limits that problem. Maybe you could fix that with making some tool required to harvest that you can only carry one at a time. (only being able to harvest one type of material at a time)

I understand the desire to have crafting be "unlimited." Having everyone being able to craft everything is lame. God mode crafting is not an interesting game. It strips the interdependence needed for deep game play that is a core aspect in community building. Although EQN will allow all roles on one character, you won't be able to fill all roles simultaneously.

I think crafting should follow a similar philosophy. Sure, allow a crafter to learn all trades, but require specialization in crafting to separate out top tier crafters. Maybe it could work on a skill point system, where you have a set amount of points to allocate. You could choose to go broad and focus on many trades, or specialize and master only a couple. Give the option to "re-spec" to a different trade for specialization, and maybe if you choose to return to your original trade your "learning curve" can be greatly reduced.

This kind of a system can provide the options folks want, while still preserving some degree of interdependence. Interdependence- it's the glue that holds MMOs together over the long run.

No, it should be one crafting profession: Per Account. However, that has its flaws as well and eventually becomes a waste of time. That is why I voted for "Let one person be all."

If you let everyone be all crafter professions, it will just make sure that your game is an anti-social mess. Of course then they will just make 7 accounts, so then it would just be a waste of time.

Instead, crafting should be so hard to master and so expensive like SWGs there is no way any one person can afford more then one crafting profession, crafted gear should also be the best gear. Resource gathering should also be dangerous, resources should be randomly generated. Equipment and such should also decay.

Limit the amount of crafts you can specialize in at a time. With the choice to respec.

By letting all players gain access to everything you will create a system were everyone knows everything. This will kill of any form of trading since you as a player allready got access to it. Sure you will still have trading since not everyone want to learn everything or have the time to do so. But that will then show in the player economy were materials that are anoying to farm but easy to find, will have very strange prices.
I.e look at the price of copper in WoW which has sky rocketed since no one actually farm it anymore.

By limiting the amount of crafts a player can know at one time (Of course the ability to change specialization should be there) you will get a better player economy and you'll create community interaction as players will seek out good blacksmiths or alchemists to purchase their wares.
Depending on how advanced the crafting system is you can even get reknown as a good crafter depending on the quality of goods you produce. A good example of this was the old Star Wars Galaxies crafting system that had different quality of the same material which could produce different quality components which could create a weapon with specific stats.
I.e Wood with a high strenght stat could produce a bow with high durability, while wood with a high agility could produce a bow with higher rate of fire.

The farm is being bet on the concept of one character being able to multiclass, with the focus taken away from alts. If the devs truly believe in that, then they've already decided to do the same with crafting. If they don't truly believe in the one-character-can-do-it-all concept, then they're in quite the pickle.

I'd like to see interdependency between crafters, the same way I'd like to see interdependency between adventurers. Yes, I like being able to solo when my friends aren't online. And oftentimes my solo activity has been to craft. But I'd rather be meeting new people, making new friends and building community than having to solo in the first place. If they can find a way to have crafting bring people together, while hewing to their guiding philosophy, I'm sold.

One of the greatest crafting experiences I've ever had was in the first 6 months after EQ2 was released. It was because crafting *required* interdependency because you couldn't do everything on one character. You were required to participate in the virtual economy - choose a profession, figure out what you needed but couldn't make yourself, locate others that could make those items, establish relationships and business agreements, etc. It was the pinnacle of what cooperative multi-player games should be.

These games are supposed to be multi-player, not single player, and if a single player can do everything on their own, it undermines the community aspect of the game and makes the game feel empty and lonely. Everyone goes into their own bubble and does their own thing. I think this aspect of the game should try to somewhat mirror the real world, where it's highly improbable that a single person will be a MASTER of multiple crafts. If you've spent 30 years of your life as a machinist, it's unlikely that you're also a ninja software developer and a lawyer at the same time.

Allowing EVERYONE to do EVERYTHING removes the "hero" aspect of crafting in an MMO, where a person can choose to do something and focus ALL their time and energy on doing that and doing it VERY, VERY well - to the point that people seek you out for that skill because you are one of a few who have dedicated that level of effort to be able to make that rare item. If everyone can do it, it trivializes the experience.

Yeah, but players will just make several characters. Instead it should be a fortune to master one profession to its fullest extent. If its easy then someone will just become all crafters.

Crafters should sacrifice combat ability when they need to go out and harvest and such, otherwise they can't mine and do other things without damaging ore or getting lower quality materials, this encourages grouping up with others, especially in more dangerous zones. Mining and such also should create noise that attracts special kinds of monsters.


I don't like the fact that one person can do everything, I don't mind it much with Multi-classing as long as we have to commit to what we pick. If I choose to be a warrior, I shouldn't just be able to switch to ranger and be amazing at it. It should be the same with crafting, I will be poor with it unless I spend a fortune and master it fully.

I choose "Yes. If I can unlock all adventure classes on one character, then I should be able to unlock all crafting types." I have rolled over and accepted defeat from SOE. We will not see EQ I again, the market wont allow

for it. I'd love to see race restricted crafting (and classes.) Much like gnomes were in EQ I with tinkering.