Crafting stations

Crafting a Nightblade weapon at a weaponsmithing station in the Winstead node in Alpha-2.

There's going to be a number of different types of selectables that you can incorporate as part of the crafting process; each of them having unique results as part of the stat block for the weapon, but also increasing the quality, predicated on the quality of the selectable that you're contributing. – Steven Sharif

Alpha-2 armor smithing station work-in-progress UI.

Crafting stations (also referred to as Crafting benches) are workstations located on freeholds or within nodes.

• Recipes have slots for required and selectable crafting materials. Adding higher rarity selectable materials increases the rarity of the crafted item. Choosing different selectable items can also result in crafted items with different statblocks and unique properties.

• Different tiers of crafting stations represent the quality of the items that can be crafted.
  • Higher tier crafting stations are unlocked with node progression.
    • City (fase 5) nodes may have one Grandmaster crafting station.
    • Metropolis (fase 6) nodes may have two Grandmaster crafting stations.
  • Players can only craft up to journeyman level on freeholds.
  • Upper-tier crafting benches within a node are accessible by its citizens.
  • Top tier crafting stations are present at all node types, however Academic nodes offer additional bonuses to crafting performed there.

• Crafting stations can pull inventory from a player's personal storage and warehouse storage from the node that the crafting station is in.

• There is no limit to the number of players that can use a crafting station at the same time.

• Crafting stations are distinct from processing stations, which are used to process raw materials into processed goods (crafting materials) at nodes or on freeholds.

Q: Can crafting stations be mobilized / moved and can they be placed anywhere in the world?

A: It depends on the crafting station. There are going to be different tiers of crafting stations that represent the quality of item you're looking to create within that specific profession. There's going to be crafting stations that can be utilized by players within their freeholds and then crafting stations that are resigned only to the development of particular nodes, within particular areas, or particular buildings... There's a wide variety of those things to make it a more dynamic experience and something that caveat how players decide to build the world and what the value of those things are. – Steven Sharif

Alcune delle seguenti informazioni non sono state confermate di recente dagli sviluppatori e potrebbero non essere nell'attuale roadmap di sviluppo.

• Legendary crafting benches are present in the Academy unique building of Metropolis (fase 6) Academic nodes.

List of crafting stations

• Armor smithing stations
• Hideworks
• Laboratories
• Ship workstations
• Smithies
• Stoneworks
• Textile mills
• Weapon smithing stations
• Woodshops

Crafting mechanics

First look at the work-in-progress Alpha-2 crafting UI by Colby Marchi.

This one is showing the base needs that we were establishing to get this system in-game and usable as soon as possible. So right now, our crafting does work in game and it's all functional and we're building out the functionality as we go to expand; and based on what we test. – Colby Marchi

The developers will be seeking testing feedback on the addition of a gameplay layer to crafting that determines the outcome based on the player's performance.

For example, if you're creating a sword, and you are crafting that sword, you will have an interface- a gameplay layer that you will see and you will begin to hammer actually that sword into an appropriate outline. And your performance there can help influence the outcome of that craft. – Steven Sharif

• It is likely that Star Wars Galaxies inspired crafting mechanics will be present in Ashes of Creation.

Without getting into too much detail I will say that it's likely that you will see some inspiration surface itself in that regard. – Steven Sharif

• Previously it was stated that repetitive skill-based crafting mechanics, such as mini-games, are not an intended part of the crafting experience.

We did discuss that type of a feature where the skill of the crafter would grant a greater window of skill-based type crafting. So the higher master level you have of crafting a certain item, the greater your potential to impact the quality of that item might be... The concern obviously that we have when going into developing this type of system is that we don't want what is a fun - for lack of a better term - mini-game to be something that becomes repetitive and makes it monotonous... If when we start to flesh out the crafting system and we take a look at that interaction of melding crafting, the actual activity of making something, there is room in the design sheet for different iterations of that particular action; and we may see something come about that can be skill oriented, but that's something that's going to require a lot of testing and different iterations from a design standpoint. – Steven Sharif

• Players are able to specialize in focused crafting branches.

Recipes

Alpha-2 Nightblade recipe.

When players are looking to create different items in the game they're going to need to go out and either purchase, or get drops of recipes, or trade with other players; and when they acquire that recipe, like I have here: it says Nightblade. I can use the recipe and I will learn a Weaponsmithing recipe for the Nightblade. So, I have a recipe book that I get to keep. Essentially I learn these recipes once. – Steven Sharif

Crafting in Ashes of Creation is recipe (blueprint, schematic) based, not RNG based.

• Recipes that are obtained must be committed to a player's recipe book (by right-clicking on the recipe item). This "consumes" the recipe item and unlocks the ability to craft the item in question.
  • Artisans must have the required artisan certification to learn recipes at that level (or lower).
  • Recipes can be traded or sold prior to them being committed into a player's recipe book.
  • In most cases learned recipes are permanently added to a character's recipe book, but in certain unique cases there will be a "charge count" where learned recipes will disappear from the recipe book after a number of uses.
  • Once a recipe is learned, it cannot be shared with other characters, including alts.

• Recipes have slots for required and selectable crafting materials. Adding higher rarity selectable materials increases the rarity of the crafted item. Choosing different selectable materials can also result in crafted items with different statblocks and unique properties.

These are the things we want to explore on [the] crafting side, where we introduce maybe new stat lines, or a different proportion or ratios of stats at certain tiers; and when you craft these items using better materials, the rarity of the item increases. For demonstration purposes we're using legendary, but basically when you use a higher tier than the recipe is intended for- so we could technically build this item with common copper and zinc fragments, then that would produce an uncommon item. But, since we're showcasing this at legendary tier, you can move up the tiers and have the stats increase. – Mike Han

• Recipes have differing rarities and may be locationally dependent.

• Recipes may have an XP component, where crafting that recipe multiple times can level up the recipe and unlock better results.

Something unique in our crafting system [is] where we want to have recipe XP of some sort; and then those sub-recipes could [be] earned by leveling up your recipe, which means that you have to craft the Nightblade multiple times to level it up to have a better result. The sub-recipe could be from a vendor recipe or world drops like we said earlier, but the idea is one type of item can have potential to be multiple different outcomes. – Mike Han

• While selectable materials offer a wide degree of customization, crafting results must lie broadly within the realms of the recipe's definition; and so cannot be arbitrarily customized.

Q: Will players have the ability to innovate within the crafting system creating unique items or designs? If so, how much customization can players expect when it comes to crafting their own gear or items?

A: There are statically defined an array of results that can come out of a particular recipe; and your ability to unlock those results is predicated on what composition of resources you contribute to crafting that particular weapon type; and so in that sense, yes crafters will have the ability to uniquely create certain types of the recipes results, based on how they're contributing resources to it. The result has to have a corresponding recipe definition; and so in that sense it isn't completely customizable to the point where the player gets to uniquely create these particular items, but rather they are discovering what creations are possible with each recipe type. – Steven Sharif

Molds

Using a mold to craft a weapon at a weapon smithing station.

Molds are a type of crafting material in Ashes of Creation.

Crafted items

Crafting UI. Alpha-1 immagine dello schermo. Credito immagine: Guild:Overlord

Crafted items (also referred to as Completed items, Finished goods, or Final products) are items produced by crafter artisans using crafting stations.

• Completed items can be accessed by players in warehouses at any node regardless of citizenship or housing ownership.
• Crafted gear is considered best-in-slot in Ashes of Creation.
  • Previously it was stated that crafted items will be on-par with boss dropped items.
  • Crafters will be able to assign different skills/abilities and stats on gear.
    • Master crafters will be able to influence several (but not all) stats on their crafted items.

Crafted gear in the game is the best gear... One thing that I'm not a fan of is that you develop a crafting system in a game and you've spent a lot of time making this from a material and resource perspective. All the tables that you can receive, all the connectivity in the economy and how crafting is associated with the game; and then you undermine the crafting entirely by presenting a separate route of gear acquisition that is on-par with the crafting efforts. So here you have these people who are acquiring all of the resources getting, all the recipes, leveling up their professions and then everything they make is less or equal to anything you could just have chosen the easier path of and gone down the questing and received the best gear. So what we do focus on is that crafters make the best shit. Excuse me, the best things. – Steven Sharif

• The rarity of crafted items will be commensurate with the effort required to gather, process and craft the items.
  • Stats on crafted items will vary based on the item's rarity.
  • Gear appearance is influenced by the rarity of the crafted item.

That plays into our crafting system in and of itself. The idea is for those stats to be variables that can be dictated based on the mastery level of the particular crafter; and the higher they become a master of those professions, whether it be for armor or for weapons or for accessories, they're going to have some agency and put their mark on essentially what items they're introducing into the economy. – Steven Sharif

• Crafters are able to influence what their crafted items will look like.
  • At the moment, harnessing corruption to warp items into demonic or decayed things is not on the cards.
  • A crafter's name is embedded in the items they craft.

We believe that every item that exists in the world should in some way reflect its creator. As such, there will be extreme versatility in our crafting system – giving crafters the ability to create unique items that represent their strengths and weaknesses.

Upgrading items

Enchanting is not an artisan profession in its own right. Scribes create scrolls that can be utilized by different professions to create enchantments relating to that profession.

• Enchantment scrolls can be sold on the open market.

• Enchanting does not increase an item's level requirement.

You don't really push a particular item's level requirement or the identity of that item. You can enhance it, you can add enchantments to it, but it's still the item it is. – Steven Sharif

Repairing items

Blacksmithing concept art.

For example: if you have an iron sword and then the sword gets damaged from use, you have to use more iron to repair it; and what that does is... make sure that there's significant sinks in the game for base materials so that you are creating a scarcity and demand that's present on the creation of higher goods as well as supplying the necessary decay components for the world. – Steven Sharif

Item repair will cost crafting materials.

• 0% durability will unequip items, increasing its repair cost.
• Damaged gear can be reforged at a player stall using a portion of the materials that were necessary to craft the item.
• There may be additional constraints for repairing "very unique items", such as having a crafter and recipe to effectuate repairs. This is subject to testing.
• There is no limit to the number of times an item can be repaired.

There will be ways to repair destructible structures (such as walls and gates) and also repair (or re-craft) siege weapons that were damaged during sieges.

• This is a long term design goal that was not present during Alpha-1.

There's a lot of ancillary activities that can be had during sieges... It's obviously strategy and tactics and raid-versus-raid components, but also you want to have individual contributions where players can do things during the siege to aid in the greater effort so to speak; and it doesn't require you having 50 people by your side to effectuate that influence over something. So repairs are great ways to do that. Repairs for walls, repairs for gates, being able to spawn and essentially craft the designs for specific types of siege weapons to provide those to the team. – Steven Sharif

Crafting professions

• Arcane Engineering
• Armor smithing
• Carpentry
• Jewel cutting
• Leatherworking
• Scribing
• Tailoring
• Weapon smithing

Artisan progression

I giocatori dovranno scegliere, per ogni personaggio, una carriera nell'albero delle abilità dell'artigianato. All'interno di ognuna delle tre classi madri (Raccolta, Elaborazione e Crafting) sono presenti diverse professioni. Un personaggio può arrivare ad un livello di maestria in soltanto una di queste tre classi principali.

• È possibile padroneggiare più professioni (non tutte) all'interno di una singola classe madre, ma sarà un'impresa lunga che necessiterà molte risorse.
  • Un giocatore può diventare esperto una professione soltanto se ha raggiunto il livello massimo della classe madre.
  • Basandosi sul testing, potrebbe essere deciso di limitare i certificati di padroneggiamento ad un numero limitato.

L'estrazione è una classe madre dell'artigianato, come la lavorazione e la produzione. All'interno di ognuna sono presenti diverse professioni. Potrai padroneggiare soltanto una di queste classi madre; ma potrai utilizzare il tuo tempo per padroneggiare ogni singola professione all'interno della classe. – Steven Sharif

Diventare un Produttore professionista, o un Lavoratore o un Estrattore dovrebbe essere un significativo investimento di tempo e risorse; per questo motivo dovrebbe anche essere qualcosa che una volta raggiunto è come se le persone nel server sappiano chi sei. – Steven Sharif

La progressione dell'artigianato all'intero dell'albero delle abilità avviene basandosi sull'esperienza (ripetizione di incarichi) e sul raggiungimento di determinati obiettivi all'interno di una specialità.

• I giocatori possono dedicarsi a qualsiasi professione come novizi prima di deciderne una specifica.
• Scegliere un percorso specifico all'interno dell'albero delle abilità permette al giocatore di specializzarsi in determinate aree. Questo incoraggia l'interazione tra giocatori, arricchendo l'esperienza nell'artigianato.

• Il raggiungere un livello di maestria non riguarda soltanto la creazione di oggetti; garantisce molti privilegi, tra cui titoli, accesso ad oggetti, sconti, e missioni.

I giocatori avranno l'opportunità di dilettarsi in qualsiasi professione ad un livello principiante e questo gli darà la possibilità di capire cosa riguarda una determinata professione e di poi scegliere che direzione vogliono prendere per padroneggiarne una in particolare. – Steven Sharif

Quando ci riferiamo al non essere esperto di tutto non significa che non sarai professionista nella tua delle tre classi di artigianato, che sono, come sapete, produzione, lavorazione ed estrazione. Sarai professionista di una di queste, ma non delle altre due. – Steven Sharif

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See also

• Workstations
• Crafting
• Classi artigiane