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Fan Faire 2008 Tradeskill Panel

One of the "must attend" panels for me, of course, was the EQ2 Tradeskill panel, with Domino gracefully sitting in the hotseat. Not only did she give us a quick look at what is upcoming for GU48 and for the expansion, but she also answered several questions for us. (Note that screenshots have been requested, but that it may be a few days before the Community Relations folks recover and unbury enough to send them to me.)

Game Update 48

With GU48, we will see the level 1-69 crafted armor revamp that goes along with the dropped gear revamp of GU47. I am sure we'll have more details for you once it is on Test, and folks can poke at it.

Gaps in Armor (Sets) Leads to Poor Protection

In addition, various armor sets that were only partial sets in some tiers, have now been fleshed out to be full sets in the tiers for which they already exist. (Example: Dexterous leather armor starts in Tier 2 with pants, tunic and boots. After GU48, there should be dexterous pieces for every armor slot in tier 2 and above, but there would not be a set for Tier 1, because there is currently no dexterous in tier 1.) Imbued chest and leg pieces for all crafted armor sets should also be fully available at the same time.

Dahlink, You Look Mahhhvelous

Some of you may remember the not-so-distant past, when crafted chain and plate armor looks got a bit of a revamp. Apparently, it is more of a pain to get leather to take a good tint, but GU48 should finally see some color and tint changes to crafted leather and cloth armor sets as well. We were shown some images at the panel, and, yes, I'll do up as full a preview as I can, as time permits. (August 20: I have a bunch of images, such as the above, thanks to Domino. I will be working on a more complete preview over the next couple days.)

The Expansion & Tradeskills

80 Carpenter, LFG?!

If you heard rumblings about group crafting missions, it wasn't just some pipe dream, it was true!

With the release of The Shadow Odyssey expansion on Nov. 18 of this year, a new mission system will be implemented. This system will include tradeskill missions, as well as the adventuring ones. Planned rewards, on top of faction and such, will include recipes and mounts.

How It Works

The basic outline is that someone needs the help of skilled (level 50-80) crafters. In the example that we were given, it was a gnome with an out-of-control clockwork that was pretty dangerous. The clockwork in question is an epic mob, but, if you haven't learned by now how to dodge a pathing mob as a crafter, then, well, you may need to be flattened a time or two to learn the lesson!

The rest of us, however, will grab up to 5 crafty friends (count yourself, and that makes a group of 6), and have a go at making a bigger, more powerful clockwork for the silly gnome. There will be 1 recipe per crafting class, using in-class reaction arts, plus resources to gather within the instance to use on said recipes.

How Do You Get Nine in a Group of Six?

One recipe for each main crafting class means nine recipes. The maximum you can have in the group is six. (If you're masochistic and have plenty of time to spare, you may be soloing the mission, too.) At first glance, this would seem to be a problem. However, everyone has their old tier 1 reaction arts for every crafting class, slow as it may be to use tier 1 reaction arts on a high-level recipe. (Anyone who has done out-of-class Frostfell or Erollisi Day crafting knows it is possible to finish a recipe, but very slowwwwww.)

As with the adventuring missions, it is expected that players will be limited to 1 mission per available mission instance per day. The current plan is to have 3 or more mission instances. (Thus, expect to be eligible to run 3 crafting missions a day with your level 50+ crafters.)

Waitasec, Crafter Mounts?

Yep! There are expected to be several mount choices that are crafter-specific. While they will share animals (such as "horse") with mounts available to adventurers, the crafter-obtainable ones should have unique looks.

Expect more details as we get closer to the mid-November release date.

Questions and Answers

The rest of the hour was taken up with various questions and answers. I will insert the requisite disclaimer here that things like "maybe", "possibly", and she'll "look into it", really mean maybe, possibly and that she will look into it. In no way, shape or form, does that mean that what is requested will happen, nor does it mean that anything is set in stone. Quote stuff out of context as if they were fact at your own risk. :P

Provisioner Fun Recipes? - there was a request for more provisioner fun recipes, such as had been awarded in several Provisioner Mastery books from the Grandmaster questline. While it is possible that there will be some, and she wants to add more recipes to various classes, it is also likely that they will not be part of an actual Provisioner Mastery book.

Tinker Toys: There was a request for tinkered dumbfire pets that scale more fully, and to set some of the tinkered wearables as optional charm instead of taking up a gear slot. While she said she'd look into it, I got the feeling that this one was not likely, or at least not in the foreseeable future.

Harvesting: Of course there were requisite questions about harvesting. In the first of these, Domino asked if we were aware that Bristlebane (god of Mischief, among other things) was the god of harvesting. As a devout halfling follower of him, I can attest to the fact that he interferes in harvesting luck at THE worst times! All that aside, yes, there will be a harvesting achievement for adventurers, and there may be other improvements down the road. (Mum note: Any "pure" crafter who doesn't earn at least a couple levels, and some AA, from running around doing crafting quests and harvesting likely doesn't need a harvesting AA on that character anyway.)

Vitality: There was a complaint that crafting vitality seemed to be used up more quickly, and recover more slowly, than adventuring vitality. This, however, is not the case. The issue is that crafting gets larger chunks of exp, and thus uses vitality faster, than most adventurers can burn it. I'm sure I'm wording it poorly, but the long and the short of it is that you can craft yourself out of vitality faster than you'd burn through it as an adventurer, and that any "fix" would slow down the gaining of exp in crafting, since that is how one burns vitality. Do you really want to get less crafting exp for each item so you burn vitality more slowly? Truly? If so, lemme know, and the halfling anklebiters will be happy to come visit and shush you before the devs do any such thing. ;)

Attuned Furniture, Bags and Boxes?: This request resurfaces every year or two, if not more. Folks requesting that furniture (or at least rare furniture), bags and boxes be attuned, so there's less of a resale market, and more of a consumer market direct from the crafter. It tends to get some folks hot under the collar from both sides of the argument, and I'm going to go hide in a corner while the devs say that they'll take it under consideration.

Harvesting, Again - Loams: Specifically concerning T8 rare silicate loam, with concerns on value on the broker, scarcity of the loams, etc. Domino stated that there is quite a bit of discussion going on regarding this, but at this time she can provide no details, or any estimated timeline.

Adornments - Healing Strut: There were questions specifically asked about a healing strut from tier 5 for which they'd like to see an upper-tier upgrade. At this time, Domino is busy with primary tradeskill issues, so there is no timeline at when she can take a closer look at adornments.

Flexible Recipe Search: In light of the fact that, in a multi-word item on the broker, you can, for example, search on the first and third word, or parts thereof, and find the item, a similarly flexible search in the recipe book was requested. They'll look into it and see how feasible it is.

Tinkered Toys, Revisited - Dumbfire Pets: Yep, back to asking about the level cap on tinkered dumbfire pets. While it is something she wants to look at more, she's simply not got enough time right now to commit to anything.

Themed Furniture: Citing examples such as the Void Storms quest rewards, there was a request for more themed furniture from EoF, Mara, etc. Domino said to expect more to be added over time, not necessarily with the exact same look, but along certain themes

Mastercrafted Cures and Raids: A concern was raised that mastercrafted potions are needed for specific raid cures, creating a high demand for the Tier 8 rare dust (thus making the potions expensive and hard to obtain). Domino says that they plan to address the issue, but at this time that are not sure how they will go about dealing with it.

Interdependency: There was a request for a return to more interdependency (amidst many sounds of unhappiness from most of the room). Domino stated that while she would like to add more reasons for crafters to cooperate, she doesn't want to make it an absolute requirement when crafting.

LFW: There was mention of a desire for more LFW exposure in some manner, such as adventurers get from the LFG tool. Nothing was really resolved on this one. (Mum mini-brainstorm, after the fact: something about LFW in the "Do You Know" messages on the loading screens might also be good to help raise awareness of the existence of this feature.

Broker One-Liner: There was a request for the ability to add a 1-line advertisement or such to crafted items on the broker. It was said that they can discuss it.

And the Verdict Is ...: Apparently, "Verdict" is one of those combat arts/spells which has similarly-named items for paladin and one of the cleric classes. They'll look into ways to make it more clear which one is which in recipe books.

Home Visitation: There was a request for a way to encourage more visits to player's homes. One of the options suggested by players, the ability to be able to visit other guildmate homes from a portal list, is not really feasible at this time.

Faction from Crafting Writs: At the current time, you receive faction from crafting writs based on your home city, not based on the location from which you are crafting. (Such as a Qeynos native in Kelethin earns faction with Qeynos' Ironforge Exchange, instead of with Kelethin's Tunare's Pages.) This was apparently an unintended change, and they'll look into it.

Throw the Book at Them! The animation is in-game, since it is used in the scholar crafting epic, so the request was put forward that players get a tinkered toy that allows them to throw a book at someone in an attempt to impart knowledge to some of the more thickheaded. I don't know how likely it is, but it at least earned a good chuckle.

Sadistic Bartenders! There was a request to look into doing something to Bartending for Sadists (limited charge provi recipe from Unrest). The drop rate is extremely low in comparison to the ingredients, that having this be a charged recipe is a pain. No word on how/when/if it will be handled, but it is something they'll look into.

Whoops! This didn't make it from notes to original write-up With GU48, faction on crafting writs will be increased to 300 for the rush orders, and 200 per on the (untimed) work orders.

Phew!

That was a lot to cram into a single hour, and I am sure the information above will lead to even more questions from the community. Hopefully, however, it will give you a better feel for what was brought up in the panel.

Created: 2008-08-18 08:42:23          
Last Modified By: Niami Denmother          
Last Modified on: 2008-08-20 08:51:35          

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