The Tradesman's Inn

Interesting survey below, if it pans out we will be very well off though very busy.

The intersting bit is the 6% of people who want to be a crafter.

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs.cfm?isapi_re....yst yles&bhcp=1

Yeah ... I saw that. I didn't expect a lot of crafters but I expected more than 6%.

1K or so folks on DF right now, 6% is 60 so presumably there's a lot of folks there that aren't here ....

I'm certain that number will change as prices sky rocket. 8-)

Now all we need is to get that group on here then things can really start happening.

Thought it was a very good read as well and certainly provides some useful & interesting results..

About the low (6%) figure for crafter-types...

I'd expect this won't be quite the same ingame once Launch comes and others start playing.

I'd argue that perhaps people who frequent forums like the DFO ones (especially before a game's release) are rather 'hardcore' and 'elite'.. and for a game like DF, where FFA PVP is a central feature I'd imagine many PVPers are die-hard fans.

There also wasn't an option for multiple choices :( I put explorer as my option but would of liked to choose all options as I'm a great believer in enjoying as many aspects of a game I'm paying for as I can. ;)

I'm sure your right Celestine.

It's a well known fact that any forum crowd are only a small percentage of the actual players in any game, they are also the most vocal and in the case of DF most violent ;)

will be interesting, Getting those crafters to back each other up is what will be the trick hehe in EVE Online "most" kept the status Quo, an didn't try an crash the markets. MOST markets are set by the crafting community an held that way by shear force of will lol. Many who jsut undercut deliberately by huge margins to play the market are often times bought out by taking a instant loss they make things settle back down.

Getting this lot to do same will be a task an a half.

You guys seem to be on the right track regarding this forum.

Instead of being competitors foremost, then helping each other out will benefit us all in the long haul. If we are to settle on a price on items, then everyone gets a piece of the cake, and if there's a 6% playerbase playing crafters, then there'll be plenty to go around

Welcome Enceladus! That was the hope and intent of the forum/DMA. I think we'll see traffic picking up around here very soon now that the NDA is gone and release draws near. I'm looking forward to the information that will hopefully be shared.

Been away for a while ... made a conscious decision not to post, didn't trust myself on leaks.

Demand for merchants is still a bit vague. Demand for clan crafters will be strong but merchant types
remains to be seen.

There's no good mechanism for trading yet other than local/race/alliance channels. You can make trades
and I managed to skill up weaponsmith relatively well via sales. The real problems right now are

• World drop rate:
  This needs to be toned down. Right now arrows/armor/weapons drop too frequently. Alchemists will be golden.
  
• Crafted versus world drops:
  This is getting better. For a while world drops were actually better than crafted.
  
• Crafting skill up rate:
  This was too slow and was going to result in a glut of items in the market as folks skilled up. Recently increased too early to say.
  
• Trade mechanism:
  No real mechanism at the moment. Building relationships with other groups/players will be important if you're not clanned.
  
• Subsidiary gold costs
  Not for crafting but for skilling. All skills like spells, melee etc cost gold. Early on folks tend to horde their gold to spend on skills since those can't be looted

None of them are terrible problems and all are getting better or are presumed to get better. As it stands now the first weeks of crafting as you get through the low/med level stuff is going to be harder than it really ought to be. As you make med/high/higher end gear the difference in quality will make it more in demand.

To some extent it's a predictable side effect of making the game not be gear-centric. The differences in gear is nuanced enough that people don't clamor for the next glitzy item.

All in all I'm optimistic, crafting is certainly not gobs-o-fun but it should be a playable option for those inclined.

Thorsen Belthize

Belthize, any thoughts on people being self sufficent crafters and fighters?

I guess it's hard to tell as people havent managed to max out characters but my biggest concern so far has been that most people could have a viable PvP character that can also craft / gather so making pure craftrers not so desirable.

On the other side of the coin, as a pure crafter, can you get enough skills to defend yourself or make a quick get away?