Macro vs Micro Crafting/harvesting

[mutantmagnet]

When people make items or gather resources they are always the same. I propose that you allow for differences in quality of goods gathered and created.


To achieve this create two types of crafters/gathers. One type is the micro version. This type of player can inspect nodes to seperate out high quality resources from the low quality or use special techniques to make finished goods that are more special than a macro player.

A macro player doesn't do things him/herself. Instead he employs NPCs and has to manage them to such a degree a macro player can't micro at the same time. (Think of management similar to the Sims, Harvest Moon or Civilization series )

While the macro player has to deal with lower quality goods they can build more shitty products gather more resources than a micro player.


So micro players would be the specialty enterprises like Rolls-Royce, while macro players can aspire to be GM.
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To make things even more interesting incorporate a third factor that allows one set of micro players to be different from other micro players and the same goes for macro.

TO achieve this apply regional attributes.

So a micro gather in the United States would find high quality gold that is different from high quality south american gold.
A macro manufacturer from China would employ NPCs who have special techiques for crafting goods Russian NPCs wouldn't have and vice versa.

[TimTheSkeeter]

Originally Posted by mutantmagnet

So a micro gather in the United States would find high quality gold that is different from high quality south american gold.
A macro manufacturer from China would employ NPCs who have special techiques for crafting goods Russian NPCs wouldn't have and vice versa.

That sounds cool I hope they decide to do that.

[Pluro]

good thinkin ^_^

[bondcarl]

Sounds pretty good.

An idea ive always wanted to see implemented is when a player creates a piece of armour, he/she has the option to design how the armor looks. This would give each piece of armor created a more unique feel rather than every piece of that armor having the same generic design.

[Khet]

wow, that's quite a thought, though I could see it hard to pull off as a lot of people would rather go Micro instead of Macro due to the fact that you can make higher quality items which would sell for more. However, I'm sure there could be a benefit to Macro (instead of just mass-production) that would make it appealing, also.

[mutantmagnet]

Don't underestimate mass production or more importantly the ability to sell by volume.

With the right percentages this can all balance out.

For example:

If player A micros and spends 3 hours a day getting 600 high quality products that can sell on average for $1000 per unit he earns $600k.

Player B macros with 10 npcs getting 2000 units in the same time composed of 5% of high quality units, 25% medium grade selling for $600 and 70% low grade selling for $200 then she roughly comes out ahead with revenue of $680k

I have to admit though that something like this can't be balanced around prices because that is up to the player to decide prices unless there are obvious factors that create price floors/ceilings.

[F0rd]

So far as quality of items go, the best item will, by popular demand, be at least twice as much as the item below it, even if the best item is only better by a fraction of a percentage. However, higher (and especially the highest) quality items generally take a lot longer to find/produce, or at least use materials that can't normally be found (like a high quality mineral).

The original Star Wars Galaxy had a very unique crafting system, or at least one I've never experienced anything like outside of SWG, and SWG's crafting system seems to be what you're proposing, to an extent. In the original SWG, crafters would roam around looking for the highest quality of a mineral they could find, and would place extractors of the mineral they were looking for in places where it was of the highest quality. Higher quality ore meant higher quality goods, and people would pay a LOT for higher quality goods. Names of crafters became like brands, as a certain player became known for his high quality weapons and armors.

I myself was in a guild with a commando who had the best (or maybe second best, my memory is fuzzy) flamethrower in the game, and it outstripped the other flamethrowers by a good 500 damage per second on average, and the only other flamethrowers that came close existed on different servers. Now, in MO I don't think items should be nearly so important as they were in SWG, where you couldn't get by without a set of composite armor, but I do think that SWG was doing at least something right when they built the crafting system.

[osteo]

first of all in this game just because you make the best item does not mean you will make the most money from someone else. In a full loot environment you may choose not to wear your best armor unless there is a special case i think the most common item to be sold is the mid class or maybe the highend mid class cuz you could loose it if and when you die. So This idea for Micro and Macro would fit in quite well i think. good idea!!!!!!! touche.

[Shinzon]

When the servers first start; the highest quality goods avalable will be lioncloths, and bearskin hats... As the server matures, players will find better sources of materials, so now you are all wearing some leather armor, and an ancient server will have supply chains and entire guilds producing all types of armors, so now this server has chainmail, and platemail avalable for everyone on masse... It really just depends on the age of the server...

[SnowMiser]

In a full loot game like this promises to be. The "China gold farmer" isnt that much of a threat....its just a big payday for someone.

[Arxon Havenloft]

I love the idea.. Though I'd take it further even and say that no 3 of the same item crafted in a row should be exactly the same (or the odds of it happening should be very slim). There should always be a difference in strength to use, a different dexterity penalty, a different accuracy, a different swing speed, a different damage dealt, etc... Not by much mind you and only one of these things should be different and only by like a modifier of one.

[BloodofDragons]

well i'm sure they wont allow any type of micro/macro/bot/anything like that. and if they do i wont play.

if you want to macro and have bots go find some free games that are over run with bots and macros. there is plenty of them.

[WonkoZSane]

To me it would be interesting if there are relatively few recipes but the quality of the item you make depends significantly on your skill level, what ingredients you have to use and the quality of your tools. An item crafted with the same recipe using basic ingredients by a novice crafter would then pale in comparison to one created by a master craftsman with quality ingredients. Any idiot can make a wooden box but it takes a master to make a Stradivarius. The nice thing is with full loot is odds are PCs won't be selling a lot of crafted items before they become obsolete to them because with full loot you want to have backups. A lot of backups...

WZS