Suggestion made on GW2 wiki - feel free to discuss pros/cons

Koeril

Koeril

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Found out that the only real way to make a suggestion to ANet is via the wiki and so I went through the arduous process and got one made. Feel free to discuss it because, the more attention it gets, the better. Constructive criticism is very welcome, even if opposed - I can take it. :D
 
A well stated and fair suggestion. We'll see how they respond. Thanks for linking us in.
 
One of the reasons they have the cost the way it is for switching is to make it cost prohibitive for people to max out all the professions and then use them all. The ability to make anything/everything you need negates the need or desire for a player driven economy (which if this idea were implemented would definitely have far reaching ramifications to an already high-flux environment that is the early GW2. That they have saved progress at all is a risk as-is).
 
Well argued case Koeril. And Elder Arkon I can also see your point, but I believe even if you can max out eight by using 4 'toons it would have much the same effects on the economy. And I believe there may still be a great number such as myself are somewhat ambivalent and laid back about crafting still uncertain what route to take as yet. The only thing that keeps me pushing Huntsman is to max it for the guild. Dropping or lessening the 40 silver penalty would encourage crafting without damaging the player economy. There will always be a market for Consumables, material,elite gear, and minis, no matter whether there is 40 silver or not.
 
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Elader Arkon said:
One of the reasons they have the cost the way it is for switching is to make it cost prohibitive for people to max out all the professions and then use them all. The ability to make anything/everything you need negates the need or desire for a player driven economy (which if this idea were implemented would definitely have far reaching ramifications to an already high-flux environment that is the early GW2. That they have saved progress at all is a risk as-is).
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While I understand what you are saying, and agree, they've done nothing to keep people from avoiding the cost by having 4 characters spread across all 8 professions. By doing this, people still have all 8 professions at their disposal without even the need to do more than change a character rather than change their currently active crafting profession. All the fee is doing now is "punishing" those who choose to do this on one character as opposed to four.
 
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Great thoughts and points, but I think you're wrong! :) Here's why:

First - you make a good point about swapping the toons, but consider the alternative. Would you like to have all on the same toon? Of course you would...hence that suggestion. You, and everybody else. Making it sort of a pain is a good thing, and it really does have an impact. Consider that demand is the same in both scenarios - only so many people want great swords, foodstuffs, etc. Now consider having 4x as much supply....because that's exactly what you'd have when the only barrier to 400 crafting is a small bit of time and money. 4x as many people making greatswords, foodstuffs, etc. 4x as many people fighting over the same supply of materials you are currently pooling from. So more crafters (supply)? Lower sale price. More people fighting over materials? Higher cost to craft. Much more people simply crafting something for themselves? Zero demand.

Obviously "4x", and "Zero" are not accurate, but I'm mainly trying to illustrate that creating some form of annoyance actually has a vast effect on the market. Under the current circumstances...very, very few people will actively craft on 4 characters, and even those people will be slowed down a bit. This simple game mechanic has a lot of impact.

Second thing I'll throw out there that hasn't been mentioned: karma recipes. Leveling crafting isn't enough...as you stated in your post, plenty of people will be 400. Even with level 80 crafts, there will be floods of people who can craft a discoverable recipe. These margins will be very small. The money-making with high level items will not be about having 400 level crafting. Not at all. It will be about acquiring the expensive ingredients in the most efficient manner possible.

Even with easy Heart quest karma recipes, you can see how we are severely limiting the field here. Only people with four level 80s will have access to all the best recipes...and that's just the basic stuff. What about a karma recipe that many people might not have? How about a very expensive one...that means you completed a huge amount of quests? What about one that you really have to earn...say, by crafting every single other item, or by killing a number of foes in PvP, or by completing all the max titles?

Summary: we definitely need some mechanic in the game that artificially limits the field of people crafting. If we didn't have this, there would be zero margin, and hence, no reason to craft.

Alternate suggestion: I'd propose something that meets both your intention (convenience) while still artificially limiting the field. Maybe still require a second character for crafts 3-4, still require you earn it all, but allow them to "stand in" or something like that. I dunno.
 
Excellent post and point of view, thank you. I was hoping you would post after reading your various TP threads. Another thing I hadn't considered is that having those additional character will also draw people into the game for longer and probably yield greater revenue on expansions for ANet.
 
Koeril said:
Excellent post and point of view, thank you. I was hoping you would post after reading your various TP threads. Another thing I hadn't considered is that having those additional character will also draw people into the game for longer and probably yield greater revenue on expansions for ANet.
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I think if you're playing the game, it won't matter how many characters you have when it comes to expansions. You'll only need to buy 1 copy of the expansion.

I also agree with your initial post. There really would be no difference between having all skills on 1 character or over 4 characters. If a person wants to do all crafting, they will. I don't believe removing the price to change skills would matter because there will always be people that have the best recipes and that are willing to farm the mats to make items. This will make sure there is always a market, IMO.
 
The nice thing about crafting across four characters is that you get 20 levels worth of experience for each one, to supplement the rest of their leveling. If you craft entirely on one character, you'll end up with the equivalent of all 80 levels of exp on that one alone. That doesn't really have anything to do with the cost of changing between them, but it is something related I've been thinking about.

I've got all eight crafts going on four characters, but realistically, the hassle of switching between them to craft is very minor compared to the real restriction on leveling 8 crafts, which is materials. With all the material overlap between crafts, you have to make specific choices about which ones to level, or spend a great deal of time farming. And some mats, namely the ones that are provided by drops, are much harder to farm than the ones found in nodes.

This week I started farming nodes to pay for the droppable mats off the TP. Find the right spot, and you can rake in a couple hundred copper mats in a fairly short time across five characters, but farming jute is an entirely different matter.

So, wandering back to the actual topic, I get the idea of trying to limit how many crafts people can level, because it encourages community, rather than isolated self-dependence. At this point, though, it's not really that difficult to craft across four toons, so I don't see the incentive to pay the switching fee, unless you are solely doing it for a completionist kind of achievement. The easy access to shared mat storage and shared bank means there's no hassle of trying to mail things back and forth between characters.

Koeril, I don't see how having multiple toons for crafting will draw anyone into the game any longer than if they just crafted on all four. You can totally make three crafting alts and take them right to the crafting station after emerging from the tutorial. At that point, they never need to go out into the world again. With your main able to do all of the gathering and drop items right to collectible storage, you are playing multiple characters in name only.
 
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