Artisan Archive

The real issue with crafting is the absence of diversity in craftable items combined with the sad fact that every crafter of the same level can craft exaclty the same items. Once this information is combined with the other sad fact that there are only 6 starting professions, one instantly can see how massive overlap in people who can make items is the real cause of said items absence of demand. A simple solution to this would be,

1. Make each crafting level box have "annual certification packages". A crafter would be able to choose what set of items she would like to create from a list of packages. (after being trained by a PC, she'd need to go to the NPC trainer to purchase an Imperial Crafting Certificate of her choice. No time limit would be in place, she just couldn't make anything of that level until she bought the certificate)

2. each package would have 4-10 items of that level for that box. All packages would have different items.

3. Some packages would be available in limited quanities, so only a few players per server could get them each year.

4. "annual certification packages" would need to be renewed each game year (length of a game year should be discussed), for a small fee, at the NPC trainer. Anual certs start and end on the day the crafter purchased the certification for the level in question. This would make for nearly constant change of certs (and therefore items) available.

5. crafters couldn't get a limited certification 2 game years in a row.

An expample of how certification would work,

Engineering I - 10 possible certifications, each with 4 different schematics. Plus 5 limited issue (100 per server) certifications, each with 2 schematics.

Engineering II - 20 possible certifications, each with 6 different schematics. Plus 5 limited issue (100 per server) certifications, each with 3 schematics.

Engineering III - 30 possible certifications, each with 7 different schematics. Plus 5 limited issue (75 per server) certifications, each with 4 schematics.

Engineering IV - 40 possible certifications, each with 10 different schematics, Plus 5 limited issue (50 per server)certifications, each with 5 schematics.

Other lines would work the same way, including elite professions, so that in the end you'd be hard pressed to find any one artisan, weaponsmith, chef, etc. who is making exactly the same set of itmes... or any one marksman who has the same special abilities, if this were done to ALL classes!

NOTE:

I did post the idea about a month ago and it was subject to only one real complaint, having to keep track of and actually go and get the certifications. So, I had a really simple idea to fix the problem!

Don't recertify your expired certificates right away. Wait until several certifications come up and recertify them all at the same time. Seems logical to me. Ok, so you wont be able to make some items for a while, because you're not certified. Rather a bummer, yes. Well to get around that, maybe you could see a smuggler who could get you a stolen certification that would last for a bit! (perhaps like a factory schematic, a smuggler's cert would have charges) Or perhaps your faction would be able to offer you a faction certification, so you could make neat little things like AT-STs or X-wings, lol

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falacy wrote:

The real issue with crafting is the absence of diversity in craftable items combined with the sad fact that every crafter of the same level can craft exaclty the same items. Once this information is combined with the other sad fact that there are only 6 starting professions, one instantly can see how massive overlap in people who can make items is the real cause of said items absence of demand. A simple solution to this would be,

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I like the idea of schematic revocation, or even some system where we could choose what items we could build. Anything would be better than they way things are now.

Stars for you, good post

One of the arguments against schematic revocation maintains that Master craftsman don't want to use inferior components in the construction of their final items. Young artisans by design do not have as much experimental ability as more skilled crafters. Because of this, I can see the master crafter's point.

The solution then is to limit the extent to which basic components can be experimented upon. I mean a mouse trapis amouse trap--it doesn't get much better. Ormore precisely, a Level IV engineer should not add significantly to the design of a mouse trap over an Engineer with skill1.

Rather than haveexperimentationincrease the effects linearly as you progress in skill, certain basic items should justhave a max experimentation value, and this value is dependant on the skill of the artisan.

I like this idea! Greater diversity would give younger artisans more opportunities to contribute to the communities needs.

/cheer for your great idea!

Glad you like the idea, Platch!

Just thought I would add that it's likely many Master Artisans, etc. wouldn't bother renewing their certifications if they simply didn't have a need to. Think about how much that sort of thing would create demand for (and limit the market flooding of) lower end items, such as CDEF weapons and bone armor.

Not mention that if we were to follow my plan exactly, there would be 770 basic scematics and 70 limited edition schematics per branch of a skill tree, up to level IV. That right there is a whole lot of diversity! (of course, the devs would have to come up with many, manynew items before they could impliment this system).

This is an interesting idea. My main concern is that as a Master Artisan I may not be able to find the lower end items I need. There is no guarantee that there will be a lower level Artisan avaible at any given time or that they will be selling items at fair prices. While I really do not have a problem per se with classes being dependent wiht one another it can cause huge headaches if the class in need is not readly avaible.

While this has nothing to do with Artisan here is an example. I died last night and forgot to clone so I went to hit the local cantina to get my mind fixed. No entertainers there. I did a search and sent tells to the ones I found and no response. I waited almost 2 hours before logging for the night still unhealed.

I do not want finding subconpondents to be a major timesink. I have limited play time as it is hehehe. So how could we address that?

Well, if factory schematics will work the same way, there would be a better market for "factory bundles" basically a schematic for a certain amount of units and a set of resources to create it. This would allow crafters to hang on to a set of sub-components and produce them at will without the need to go back and recertify for lower skill level schematics.

I look at it this way, a factory schematic for 1000 components and a couple stacks of resources will take up a LOT less space than 1000 units (or even 40 factory crates)

Plus lower level crafters could be selling these at a profit, and freeing up high level people to keep their certs.

I can see one problem arising from this. Constantly being asked if you can make something that you can't make. As a Novice Tailor (recently certified) I am frequently queried by those in need of fashionable duds for many of the high end items. I have to, regretfully, tell these people that I can't make the requested items yet. By limiting the types of items we make to "packages", there is no way for a consumer to know what any crafter can make. This would lead to huge amounts of time wasted by all parties involved. It's already hard enough for someone to know what level of items a given artisan can make. Yes, diversity is good but overspecialization could lead to a weakened economy on the grounds that certain items may not be crafted at all and the "limited" items going for unheard of prices.

The good may outweigh the bad...after all, that's what the Rebellion is all about, right?

I think Squidbush had a great idea to deal with your issue,Jasarina. Good work, Squid! Making a good factory schematic only takes a couple of minutes and if you think you may need an item in the future that you may choose to not be certified for, you could may want to make a scematic for it. Admittedly, this would create far more depth of forethought to the game.

You've madetwo really good points, Gweezle, and the first of which I really can't say I have an answer for. As a novice Droid Engineer, I rarely wear the tag due to the constant steam of questions about what I can make. I mean, sure it's nice to be helpful and talkative, but there does come a point where you'd like to get on with what you were doing! About the only thing I can think of that might work is if our bio came up when people examined us and we took a few minutes to list the items we craft (or are willing to craft) in the bio area.

You're other point, about limited items being sold for outragous prices, all I can say is, what's wrong with that? It would only be sensible that the special items themselves be a pain in the butt to craft to some degree, such as requiring a certain type of resource, etc. and the sheer act of crafting them should be duely rewarded, no? One thing the devs could do to reduce heart ache over the prices people would set for these limited items would be to make all of them optional items, ie. optional components in other combinations, or simply elite versions of other items, like an Elite CDEF; you wont really NEED it, but you'll want it!

Over specialisation this is, yes, but it will allow for a moreengaging experience further down the road. As a Master Artisan, I can honestly say the only thing I make that anyone wants are some of the master electronics, and even that is only from time to time. Seems silly to me that we would spend so much time learning how make things that people wont need or want. With a little creative thinking, I'm sure the devs could rectify this while implimenting a system simlar to that which has been suggested here.

Im sorry but this is not a good idea at all. I have talked to many other people in game about ths and I get a response from other crafters that gos like this are they nuts i'll quit . This is not just from 1 or 2 poeple its from all I have talked to in game at this point its at 30 or so. If sony put up a pole on this im sure it would show most would not want this at all. I being one of them. but keep up the ideas thuo ya never know when one of them mit be a good one. see ya and be well

If you limit the number of a particular package that can be made, you'll end up with a consortium on monopolists (some PA likely) that will corner the market on those package and screw the consumers. It's how a market works when there's a scarce resource (which these schematic packages would be)

The only way to avoid that would be to either not have a limit on the number of each package available, or to force a rotation, meaning that if I buy package A one year, I can't buy it again for 3 years.

But this would cause unnecessary and annoying complexity to the system.

I think a better choice is to simply expand the number of things in the line, and add in more spcific component requirements. Currently only highlevel elite profession items require specific components (like pholokite extrusive ore, or duralloy steel). Double the number of things that can be made, but make all the new items require some specific resource (like Kelsh copper). This will force specialization, which will help prevent overload of a specific item.

Cenlbrian, really? Are you certain you explained the idea fluently, correctly, and were able to respond to questions and concerns about the idea in an explicitly informned manner? It is a simple, yet involved idea, so I can see the people you were talking to respoding based more so on your 'seeding' them with your dislike of the idea, rather than their own personal asertation of the value of the idea. No offence intented.

To quote another:

"The only way to avoid that would be to either not have a limit on the number of each package available, or to force a rotation, meaning that if I buy package A one year, I can't buy it again for 3 years."

This is exactly why I suggested in the original post that no one person could obtain a limited certification 2 years in a row. Furthermore, there would not be any way to track the availablity of limited issue certs. When a limited cert ran out, it would again become available after random number of minutes, between 60 and 6000. This would help rid any PA monopoly issue thatmay arise.