[MUD-Dev] Playing catch-up with levels

[Harrok]

Michael Hartman said:

> It sounds like DAoC's crafting system. You can sit somewhere
> making armor and whether or not your skill goes up is totally
> random. You might make 10 shields and get nothing, then later make
> 3 shields and raise 3 points.

> People easily forget about "good runs" and only seem to recall the
> bad runs. It is an absolutely miserable and painful system.

> Virtually every crafter I knew wished it would just be a set # of
> items to raise a skill point. Then they wouldn't have to feel like
> they were getting hosed.

I agree completely that the DAOC crafting system is miserable and
painful, but I must say that I'm not sure it's the random skill
increases that are the problem -- after all, it's exactly the same
slot-machine/Skinner box system that is used in an endless array of
MUDs/MMORPGs for loot drops.

I think the problem, if I may say so, is that (a) the crafting
process, at least at low levels, simply involves buying goods from
merchants and combining them. In contrast, at least with some crafts
in EQ there was the initial challenge of hunting down animals and
killing them for the skins/silk/whatever. I would add to that (b) at
least in my experience, the market for low to mid-level crafted
goods in DAOC was simply not liquid, again in contrast to the
buoyant trade markets in Faymart and the EC tunnel.

So in summary: I don't think it's the random skill increases that
make the DAOC crafting system a pain -- they would be acceptable if
they were part of a system that required more effort to get
ingredients and a genuine, effective market for selling products.

Cheers
Bill
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