Crafting/Harvesting Crisis

[gralen]

Below is an exchange from our guild forums. One member had suggested that we have two primary crafters on each branch:

Haha - 2 primary crafters for each branch ? That means 50% of us need to become primary crafters and forage mats for about 8 hours a day.

My current estimate for getting from lvl 120 to 150 for my own tiny puny branch of pikes alone is:

3600 shells, 2700 bark, 2700 fiber = 9000 mats

At a good rate of let's say 5 mats per minute on the average that is 30 hours of straight foraging without time for a break or prospecting in the mix

Muahahah, insanity is near ... i can hear it creeping around the corner ... *cackles and continues digging*

You've hit the nail on the head, 9,000 mats for ONE crafter to gain 30 levels on just one branch (120 to 150). Now, hvy armor has six branches, medium and light both have five, jewelry has six, melee has what eight? Let's not even throw ranged (including ammo) or shields into the mix.

To get ONE primary crafter in each of those branches (one person doing gloves, one for boots and so forth) we're talking 297,000 mats to make the same 120 to 150 skill increase. That's 41.25 man DAYS using Urog's 5 mat per minute calculation.

Does anyone else see a horrendous problem with that situation? If people think the lack of gear is bad now . . . .

[nihir]

Wow, now that the math is done out, I can definitly see it being a problem. This really needs to be addressed somehow... maybe give more mats when foraging?

[dpkdpk]

How did they arrive at the 9000 mat/30 levels calculation? Can we see the breakdown?

[xasher]

I think you best get to work....what the heck are you wasting time on this forum for?

All i see from what you said is the fact that people will be playing the game a long time before they max out their characters.

I once read that to level one skill like master levelling dagger would take a player who plays 20 hrs a week 6 months to complete. It was that which drew me to the game.

I think it's awesome that we wont see uber characters in the game for at least a year or so.

*xasher dodges that bottle that was just thrown*

[eschiava]

Below is an exchange from our guild forums. One member had suggested that we have two primary crafters on each branch:



You've hit the nail on the head, 9,000 mats for ONE crafter to gain 30 levels on just one branch (120 to 150). Now, hvy armor has six branches, medium and light both have five, jewelry has six, melee has what eight? Let's not even throw ranged (including ammo) or shields into the mix.

To get ONE primary crafter in each of those branches (one person doing gloves, one for boots and so forth) we're talking 297,000 mats to make the same 120 to 150 skill increase. That's 41.25 man DAYS using Urog's 5 mat per minute calculation.

Does anyone else see a horrendous problem with that situation? If people think the lack of gear is bad now . . . .

Sounds to me like I should drop crafting and concentrate on foraging because foragers are going to be in HIGH demand! A crafters need for large quantities of high q mats will be one of the major building blocks of Ryzom's future economy.

Miy

[jesder]

Wow, now that the math is done out, I can definitly see it being a problem. This really needs to be addressed somehow... maybe give more mats when foraging?

I dont think that number is real. I am going to guess and say that a true number would be at least 5% higher. That is just to figure in the unlikely events of degraded items. And the time estimate to get the mats is most likely way off as well. It fails to account for travel time, sources only last so long and you have to travel to and from them. There is also those times when the source just wont agree with you and you pull less than max qty (unless you are exploiting the system).

So I think that this is an optimistic number.

[lyrah68]

Suggestions on helping the crafting/harvesting crisis...

More nodes closer together...NO agro mobs near the nodes for up to the Q50 choice mats, only mobs that are agro are the LEVEL of the grade of the mat (excellent should have a FEW wandering agros that you can two step around OR bring a fighter friend for whom you are crafting).

BUT I spent a WEEK to go from 58 to almost 60 forager...it is taking me longer to map mats (and on excellent nodes just putting..."don't know what it is...it wasn't here when I got here...come back later"), and longer to gain levels...at 1000xp per node than it was in NOOB land gaining 350xp per unit.

How is that possible you ask...in Fyros noobland...I knew where EVERY node was...which is saying something....since there was a node just about every 5 to 10 meters or so.

It NEEDS to be possible to harvest a FULL load, get to a stable and barf it out QUICKLY. OR make it so you could protect your packer easier. As it stands they are 100K of KILL ME NOW!!! and I REFUSE to put mine in danger of death, so...my packer is a 100k BANK vault.

I am still able to gain levels in crafting relatively quickly, I just forage all I can...and then buy the rest, but NO I don't sell those...so I can understand..if you are trying to craft AND level at same time...for a LARGE group...you are in for a frustrating time.

PLEASE make it possible to find the mat nodes. I think fixing the tracking to pop up the node locs...ON the map. And eventually (before Q150 is possible for CERTAIN) even do that with knoweldge (float cursor over the green spot on the compass and see "choice node Sha Amber" and the one next to it "Excellent node Motega wood" etc). I would say the skill should be like ALL other foraging skills, COST sp, and be progressive. (scroll over a supreme node and get "unable to determine this node, skill too low" or somthing of that sort).

How about a skill to LIMIT the BOTTOM grade of a material. Prospecting for Choice to supreme materials sound good to YOU??? After you can harvest Choice...WHY would you EVER forage anything lower????

I remember nights of CHOKING on basic nodes plopped down in the middle or surrounding the ONE node location for a specific amber I needed...took an HOUR to get FOUR units of that ONE amber (not picking up more than 200 units of BASIC of that amber).

Think about it, you are basically a field geologist...don't they eventually KNOW where the GOOD rocks are? Can't they tell by what is growing around the spot and the basic soil what grade they are going to find when they dig? YES they can and do. Would they dig up the junk or walk past it? They DO walk past the junk.

(I am an amateur semi precious stone rock hound, an interest I got while visiting my Rock hound granny when I was young. You learn FAST, and it is more addictive than this game is even. Which is to say VERY addictive.)

Something needs to be done on BOTH ends of the crafting...make it possible to do more of it...and make our products last long enough for our customers to outgrow the armor...BUT not pass it down to their younger player friends.

That way WE can give them what they need, but not have things cost 5 million daps (like EQ where everything inflated into insanity).

[stygeon]

Regardless of whether that is close or half what it should be ...

The game and your character were not meant to be finished in the matter of 2 months. If you manage it then good job ... obviously you have nothing better to do with your life.

On the other hand we as a society want it all now and want it yesterday. I'm glad to see that this once it isnt going to happen. Honestly I would prefer it did take a year to get characters to level 250 but that isnt going to happen ...

Flame away but that is not a crisis ... that is a great dev team keeping the game from being overrun by leeters in the first month of play.

[nihir]

The problem with people saying that it would take 6 months to master the skill is, IT IS ONE SKILL! "Yes! 6 months after release I can finally make good light vests. Only 4 more light items to go at 6 months a piece!" Yes, it should take a while to master something. But mastering a single skill shouldn't take THAT long. I can understand it taking 3-4 weeks for someone who plays 40 hours a week to master a single skill, which means that after a couple years, you can have every skill mastered. 4 weeks a skill * 30 skills (just a guess, not sure how many there are) is 120 weeks, a bit more than 2 years.

[babaloui]

I can see the good and the bad in this. The beauty of it is that people will be forced to depend on the/a community. This will also become huge in Guild vs Guild. I really like the idea that no one person or even 2 or 3 can become uber like so many other games where the person who sat in front of the game for 20 out of 24 hours a day dominated the game and resources. Ryzom has taken that out of the equation. Now the other problem is, you really must depend on a community and for that you need a population base. Right now the population seems spread thin to me. I cant get out of Tryker, nor can I get mid level armor but I understand that should be remedied in time-assuming the population doesnt dwindle further.