Crafting

Crafting

Crafting is a key part of the economy and overall design of Camelot Unchained, as nearly all items in the game are player-created (as opposed to often being dropped by NPCs in other games) through a customizable Vox Magus crafting station.

All items will decay or break over time, giving even more significance to these "civilians". Furthermore, crafters in Camelot Unchained will have their own, dedicated class (with some fighting skills) - unlike many other games in which crafting is just "tacked on" to the class system. Still, other classes will have access to some basic crafting/repairing abilities.

Recent addition to the game is the E.A.R.S. (Engraving and Reaction System), 100% crafting focused stretch goal. Also, crafting has it`s own Foundational Principle, the 7th one: Crafting should be fun, useful and not induce carpal tunnel syndrome.

(Note: Thou building can formally be considered as a part of crafting, it will be covered in a separate chapter due to being very broad topic in itself.)

Summary

The E.A.R.S. engraving system will, besides looks and resistances, add some visual procs

• The crafting system of Camelot Unchained will cater to both full-time and casual crafting
• The Vox Magus takes the familiar MMORPG concept of a forge in a new direction
• The use of souls in crafted items, while not a unique twist, is being done in an original manner that will allow master crafters to make very rare and powerful items
• A vast number of options, combined with varying needs, means that two items will rarely be identical, and crafters can charge premium prices for well-made or very specific items

Guiding Principles of Crafting from CSE

Items will decay and break, thus giving crafters even more significance

• Crafting must support both “popcorn” crafting (simple crafting/repairing available to all players) as well as a full-time “pure” crafter class that doesn't need to engage in combat in order to play the game
• Crafting MUST create a vibrant economy that ensures a key role for the crafter class in the game’s economy
• Economic support systems must be robust enough to replace an Auction House
• Crafting is magic, and should embrace magic at its core
• Crafting should use a consistent interface for all crafting, but customize it for each Realm
• CSE has said that the use of a single interface cuts development time and resources overall, but allows them to “go to town” on the main interface
• System must be designed with a long-term view
• Crafters must be able to make a profit throughout their lifetime
• Crafting needs to prevent or at least slow down “MudFlation” through use of time and money sinks

Meaning of "Crafting is Magic"

Arthurian mage armor

• All pure crafters use magic
• Crafters can progress in their skill, just as combatants do
• With downtime and recovery time, crafters will not be able to craft 24 hours straight. This will slow progression, and prevent flood of items from well-funded crafters
• Players will use a “Vox Magus” in a similar manner that mages use their spellbooks
• Crafting should be more challenging, interesting, and visually enjoyable, as crafting can become a “performance piece” that people can watch and enjoy

Popcorn Crafting

Spellbooks

Popcorn Crafting is a basic crafting system available to all players, not just pure crafters.

• Intended to allow a greater sense of self-sufficiency for the non-crafter, so that "they don’t have to run back to town every 30 minutes to find a crafter"
• Can only be used for simpler actions that require little magic and a small time commitment
• Can engage in low-level mining, harvesting, gathering, etc.
• Can repair low-power weapons and most armor
• Can create basic arrows, repair kits, and other such items
• Can create potions (unconfirmed, proposed Stretch Goal)
• Frees up pure crafters to focus on their own special skills

Popcorn Crafting – Repairing

Daggers

• Minor damage to armor and weapons can be repaired, but heavy damage requires the help of a pure crafter
• Combatants can carry around whetstones, repair kits that allow them to do some basic work themselves
• Sitting down after a battle or two with your mates to sharpen your own weapon or repair armor adds to immersion
• Archers can fletch their own simple arrows if they have the components

Popcorn Crafting – Gathering/Harvesting

Viking armor concept

Wandering around and picking up stuff scattered throughout the world is considered a key example of Popcorn Crafting. The planned design is that players can gather or harvest from any field or plot that falls into one of the following:

• Unowned
• Owned by the player (Fighters can have their own fields, but they will be limited in size)
• Owned by an enemy Realm
• Owned by another player or entity which has granted the gathering player permission

Popcorn Crafting — Mining

Luchorpán earrings and trinkets

• Unlike fields, many mines are owned by the Realm, which then allows all members of the Realm to mine there
• Realm-owned mines also come with a limit on what can be taken out per day
• Access to mines works in a similar manner to fields
• Combatants mine slower than crafters, due to crafters’ skills and access to higher-level equipment
• Combatants can mine most minerals, but lack higher-level equipment for some minerals

Crafting for Crafters: Design Goals for Full-time Crafting

Armor will have layers, giving players the option to partially camouflage their gear

• "Pure" crafters use the Vox Magus, a magic focused crafting station with lots of customization and power options that the crafters use to make their items
• Treat the “pure” crafter as a mage: A crafter has stats, crafting points, and downtime
• Crafters are split into three sub-classes, though each can access all three. They are: Takers (they take from the land), Shapers (they shape the raw materials) and Makers (they make the finished item)
• Ensure that the system does not require macro-ing to succeed
• Crafters should not have to create 10,000 arrows to see their skill tick up one tiny bit
• Use downtime + crafting time to remove the need to make 10K arrows
• Reward the player for crafting without the penalty of inducing carpal tunnel syndrome
• Crafters should have stat progression similar to combatants
• Crafting an item is not automatic; each item takes time and drains resources
• Prevent rapid-fire crafting of items by guilds, and helps slow down the supply of any crafted item
• Allow the crafter to control almost every aspect of the final item
• Integrate the blueprint system from building with crafting
• If crafters can be treated more like the architect than the laborer, crafting will be less drudgery and more fun
• Allow the Realm to buy items from players
• Sets a floor for the item, and guarantee that low-level crafters can still make money
• Encourage Realm pride, as crafters’ contributions are apparent and rewarded
• Still under consideration by CSE/Mark Jacobs: Should there be special “crafting stats,” or should we just reuse current stats?

Souls in Crafting

• Crafters can use bits of their own (or captured) souls in crafting an item
• Like combatants’ soul shards that are captured in battle, soul shards are limited in duration and number
• Crafters can only use a certain number of shards at any one time
• This limits the amount of powerful items one crafter can create
• Souls can grant additional power to items, and can also make those items more resistant to wear, breaking, etc.
• Captured souls can act as a beacon to the soul’s owner in RvR
• Souls can be used to power spells that are engraved in very select items
• The cliché “Fireball Wand” would be considered a very powerful item, rare and expensive

The Depths

Little information has been released regarding The Depths, but it will include plenty of valuable resources guarded by monsters , finding secret crafting techniques and setting traps , RvR, building, destruction, forges and mines etc.

The E.A.R.S. (Engraving and Reaction System)

The E.A.R.S.(Engraving and Reaction System) is 100% crafting focused stretch goal which"...Allows for Crafters to have greater control of what they can engrave into items, especially armor and weapons" and also " For our combatants this system will reallylight up, so that when an item is struck by an attack that the item’s protection has been enhanced against, the runes on the item will visibly activate."

Developer Quotes

Swords and armor "live" (Alpha tests)

File:A6ab0372-2376-4800-8c91-5cf3cd5a83f0.jpg

Mage armor, including wearable enchanted scrolls

Andrew Meggs (from the Foundational Principle #13, "Chaos Goes Boing!"): We want players to be able to craft items that we didn’t exactly and precisely plan out in advance, that aren’t exactly what someone else would make.

Mark Jacobs: Crafting is going to be very time consumptive if you want to be great at it. I'm not too worried about crafter bots.

Question: Can crafters differentiate their armor/weapons from other crafters either through design or branding?

Mark Jacobs: Absolutely. Crafter's marks are confirmed for the game and we are working on a system to add more than just stats to different items.

Aylwynn asked: Will Camelot Unchained feature hooded cloaks?

Renée Machyousky: Yes. You are going to sleep like a babe now, aren’t you Aylwynn?!

Mark Jacobs: Not all items made by crafters will be alike and there is going to be the chance of a critical success or critical failure as well.

Mark Jacobs: Stat gain from weapons will play a role but not as significant as in other games. I want to give crafters something else to create on the item besides the usual +s.

Question: Will crafters have any fighing skill?

Answer: Mark also mentioned previously that they would be able to put up defenses to protect themselves while mining. That could mean traps, shields, turrets, etc. He probably isn't sure exactly, but having someway to protect themselves so they aren't completely fresh meat is in his mind.

Mark Jacobs: Correct.

Mark Jacobs: I didn't say that crafters can't do anything, if they choose, in combat but simply that they suck at normal combat. That's the whole point of making a crafter class. They can stay in town if they want; they can go to the frontlines (and should) but if you expect them to go toe-to-to with a tank, that isn't going to happen.

Question: You are going for player driven economy, player driven world and story- sounds a little like EVE to me.. should we expect EVE like need for alts?

Mark Jacobs: If you mean alts for crafters, yes. If you mean alts for like buffbots, no. Crafting will be a slower process than most other MMORPGs and you will have to want to be a high level crafter in order to succeed.

Question: If leveling is horizontal, will gear be also? Will there be requirements through leveling placed on gear to avoid "twinking" if it's not horizontal?

Mark Jacobs: Unless I was willing to go with a ton of BoP/BoE items (which I'm not), I think that there will be some twinking. OTOH, because items will be created more slowly than in traditional MMORPGs and we will have item decay and eventual breakage, it will be less of a problem (I hope).

Dragon trinkets

Question: With items not being lost on death and materials being salvageable from crafts, the sum total of material wealth will increase over time. How do you plan to prevent market bloat?

Mark Jacobs: Item decay is one way, another way is the fact that players will be spending money to repair/have things repaired after the mean, nasty other realms burn it down to the ground. :)

One of the things to keep in mind is that by eliminating PvE, raids, etc. players will be generated less wealth & slower than they do in a game like WoW for example because the results of RvR will be a lot less predictable.

Renée Machyousky: Since there won’t be gear drops in our game , all the gear must come from our crafters. They will have the ability to make really powerful, diverse and unique items. Those looking for a WoW (or even DAoC) style system where item bonuses are the key to success (and for the popularity of certain items) will find that this won’t be the case. Gear from our crafters will be useful, though not crucial, in helping the wearer. Mark has spoken about avoiding some of the typical MMO tropes when it comes to gear. He points out that gear is generally used by designers as a carrot to keep players playing (and paying). We won’t rely on such things in Camelot Unchained.

Question: Will any items in the game be bind on pick-up or bind on equip?

Renée Machyousky: Bind on pick-up does not make good sense for our game given that all but the starter gear will be crafted, rather than dropped. Materials for crafting will not likely be BoP (bind on pick-up) as they will be a resource that can be traded/sold. Bind on equip may be used for some items, yet it is not meant to be a major part of the game’s item system.

Crafting and Community

Question: Ranches/farms for producing Realm support items (food as a necessary component to build structures?? Need to feed the builders…), leathers, wood??? Can I make my own property with a blacksmith shop on it…. Ahhh the possibilities… How much can I expect to do as a crafter, I am fine not being a direct part of the battles if I can contribute to the overall war.

Renée Machyousky:Yessity, yes, yes and let me just say…yes. We absolutely want our Crafters making their own special places to craft and being able to generate basic items from their land. As a Crafter you will be contributing majorly to the battle. In, fact battle would hardly be possible without you.

Mark Jacobs (taken from the Foundational Principle #9, "Forced socialization was good, then bad. Is it time for a comeback?"): In terms of the crafting system, we want to build this interdependency not through creating a chain of required players (gatherers -> refiners -> builders) because that could lead to its own problems if one link in the chain is damaged/broken, but rather to set up crafting goals and tasks that both encourage and reward group cooperation.

At the same time, that system cannot prevent players from completing some of those actions if the requisite number of players are either not available or are simply unwilling to help their fellow crafters when requested. We will also create interdependency between the crafters and the non-crafters through the use of objectives that will require the help of non-crafters to secure, such as the special crafting stations in various structures scattered throughout the world, rare and precious metal deposits, etc.

Along with the whole “no gear drop from PvE NPCs” principle, the same RvR-players who can go out into the wild and secure these objectives will also need the crafters to fulfill their gear and item needs as well as their help in building and fortifying structures. This interdependency is certainly a fine example of how forced socialization and grouping can work in a modern MMORPG in a manner that doesn’t seem strained and/or forced but flows a bit more naturally from both the IP’s perspective and the game’s design and principles.

Gallery

Vines

An early look on Arthurian Knight armor (Alpha tests)

Images

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  In CU, crafting is magic

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  Armor pieces

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  Arthurian Knight gear

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  Arthurian Knight armor

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  Arthurian Knight gear

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  Arthurian/Stormrider armor concept & 3D

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  Arthurian shield

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  Arthurian Knight armor

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  Arthurian armor

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  Tuathan shield

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  Tuathan shields

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  Tuathan armor

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  Viking gear

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  Viking axe

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  Viking shield

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  Swords

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  Viking Walker/Stalker gear

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  Hamadryad Walker/Stalker armor

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  Walkers/Stalkers armor

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  Tuathan armor

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  Tuathan armor

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  Tuathan gear

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  Tuathan camouflage gear

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  Banshee armor

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  Plans

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  Helbound weapons

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  Helbound weapons

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  Helbound gear

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  Helbound gear

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  Helbound weapons

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  Helbound armor

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  Viking armor

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  Viking armor

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  Gargoyle armor

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  Gargoyle Bards playing music

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  Gargoyle armor

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  Gargoyle Bards playing music

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  Magical trinkets in action

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  Trinkets & talismans

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  Trinkets & talismans

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  Trinkets and talismans

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  Trinkets & talismans

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  Viking armor

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  Viking mage armor

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  Arthurian mage armor

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  Mage armor

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  Mage armor

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  Spear & arrowheads

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  Valkyrian spear

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  Dvergr armor concept

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  Barrels, crates...

Videos and Sources

http://camelotunchained.com/v2/bsc-design-docs/crafting/

Kickstarter Crafting Presentation

BSC Crafting Presentation

Crafting Q

Crafting Q

Crafting Q