Resources in EQ2

[Mansis Fellbane]

Something that i've been wondering, and i'm sure that other have been too, is what will go into the gathering of resources? Obviously it won't be harvesters like in SWG, but what do they have planned? Will it be like EQ2 where you HAVE to go out and kill something to get resources for everything or are they planning a UO type approach where you go harvest resources. i.e. Mining a cave for ore. If anyone knows anything, i'm very curious :D

[Grei]

As far as we know, harvesting will involve going around to the various zones, looking for harvestable spots (they'll fade out or something). The higher your Adventuring level is (not your Artisan level), the more spots can be harvested for higher level (or more quantity or both).

There will also be some harvesting from corpses (bones from Skeletons come to mind, as well as hides from animals) I am guessing, but we haven't heard anything about that to confirm it.

The only other thing we know about resources at this time is that the lower quality (possibly up to average) resources will be available from NPC merchants as your reputation grows. This is to allow you to progress in Artisan skill without being dependent on resources being brought back in from Adventurers, but won't allow you to make the best possible items.

Hope this helps,

Grei

[Moonshade]

Got the following from the recent Fansite SOE Visit interview on MMORPG.com:

"For Gathering and things like that it'll be based more on your Adventuring class than your Artisan class since it's more of a role of an Adventurer than a Crafter. So the higher you go as an Adventurer the more skills and opportunities you'll have to find and acquire these resources. You might be able to see the really rare rock now because you're a good miner, stuff like that. And even if you're not interested in crafting at all, it is still profitable to gather up the items as you come across them in your adventuring. There will always be an open market for the resources, both common and rare, from Crafters who don't want to do the Adventuring and Gathering, who would rather just buy them from other players. There are some high end materials that will only be attainable by either adventuring or buying them from an adventurer."

Somewhere, I saw a listing of the actual planned gathering skills, but I can't seem to find them. Hope this helps a little.

[Coccinea_Maga]

If I remember correctly, the list of planned gathering skills are: traping, fishing, gathering, mining, and harvesting. I think there may be one more but I cannot find the post at the moment.

[HeartFang]

Got this from Shadowlord on the main site artisan forums.

"We're also adding in Trapping, so it'll be Harvesting, Gathering, Fishing, Foresting, Mining, Trapping, etc. "

From the mmorpg.com interview:
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setview/features/loadFeature/1/gameID/2/

Hopefully the harvesting will not be completely based on adventure level, or I will have to have my friends harvest for me and take away from their playing time to help me out. :(

[Homeslice513]

Got this from Shadowlord on the main site artisan forums.



Hopefully the harvesting will not be completely based on adventure level, or I will have to have my friends harvest for me and take away from their playing time to help me out. :(

To even see some of the harvestable high level resources you have to have a high adventure level from my understanding. Although as far as leveling goes you can buy or get anything you need from a NPC but to make anything of value you need to get items from the higher adventure classes whether looted or harvested.

I am hoping that artisand skills become worthwhile so that they can make decent money to buy what they need for decent items. Otherwise those in guilds and families will definitely prosper more and have a huge advantage over the solo or newbie crafters. Of course those in guilds always have an advantage but it should not be one that holds down solo merchants in my opinion.

[Grei]

I've been getting more and more of a feeling that they've lost their vision of what they want Artisan to be.

I can understand them wanting Artisans to be dependent on Adventurers, like Adventurers should be dependent on Artisans, but making it so Harvesting is based on Adventurer level is just too much. It limits the Artisans who either aren't Adventuring, or don't have Adventurer friends by quite a bit since those Artisans would have to go out and buy the resources. Even with the cash quests (which I bet alot of Adventurers will do if it generates more income than Adventuring--as seen on SWG with the survey missions and force tweaks that hurt the Artisans--as seen on SWG), it'll slow down the solo Artisan even further.

For instance, let's take a solo pure Adventurer and a solo pure Artisan.

The solo Adventurer can go out, kill things, occasionally find exceptional equipment drops that improve their gear, and make money to buy even more exceptional gear (probably from an Artisan who's got access to the exceptional resources) and furthermore will be able to harvest and sell exceptional resources.

The solo Artisan has to go on quests to earn money to buy resources to make levelling items which won't necessarily sell that well. Sure they gain access to additional resources, but it's already been stated that those resources won't be as good as what can be harvested by Adventurers. So the solo Artisan's day will be spent between doing quests for cash and making stuff to level. Maybe eventually said Artisan will be able to make something that will be in demand, but without access to the exceptional resources, they're limited.

So what it boils down to is that it'll no longer be possible to solo as an Artisan since you'll need to either Adventure to gain your resources, or you'll need to have lots of friends donate resources. And there's no real income for the Artisan either, unless they get the exceptional resources.

Guess we'll have to see how it goes, but I'm really not getting warm fuzzies about the crafting system's supply and economics. I'm sure the actual crafting process is still going to be revolutionary, but the rest of it will totally destroy the desire to be Artisans.

Grei

[HeartFang]

To even see some of the harvestable high level resources you have to have a high adventure level from my understanding. Although as far as leveling goes you can buy or get anything you need from a NPC but to make anything of value you need to get items from the higher adventure classes whether looted or harvested.

Having the artisan dependent on the adventurers for the high level resouces is nice for the interdependency between artisan and adventurer, but artisans are already dependent on adventurers for the dropped components to the higher end items and probably some of the lower end items. There is too much dependence on adventurers here. We can make items for them, but they won't be high quality if we don't get items from them. They can get the same quality items from the adventuring. There isn't enough dependence on artisans in my opinion.

The artisans are going to be restricted by what adventurers are selling and wanting for the nicer component items too much. They aren't restricted on what they can get by artisans at all, other than them not having boots of an item that is dropped as a cloak and a scale. That just doesn't seem like enough need for artisans to make it really worth while for most adventurers to gather resources and keep the dropped components to keep the prices down enough for artisans to make the exceptional and top-end gear that they will be wanting. With the component prices so high, the artisans will have to increase the price of the final good to a point that the adventurers may not want, or be able, to pay for it.

A lot of people will want to have "the best" items. This will not be possible with the adventurers controlling how many artisans are able to make items. Especially with the prices being so high that most people will just take the lesser expensive dropped item that may not be as great, but will save them the cash they need to get their next set of upgrades.


I am hoping that artisand skills become worthwhile so that they can make decent money to buy what they need for decent items. Otherwise those in guilds and families will definitely prosper more and have a huge advantage over the solo or newbie crafters. Of course those in guilds always have an advantage but it should not be one that holds down solo merchants in my opinion.

Whole heartedly agree with this.

The guilds will have an advantage if they want to have those higher end items. They will be giving the artisans the components and then the artisans will be able to give them some nice items. This will help the guilds artisans level faster, and maybe prosper easier by getting to the higher end gear quicker.

I can see the adventurers giving components to the artisan to make a trivial item for them with no payment by either side happening a lot. This will be where it will be tough for a non-guilded artisan to make it. They will not have the money to get up to the higher level items to make them trivial and the lower level, late starters will be the ones that will be giving them the components for items that may not give any exp.

Hopefully the devs change this system around a little. Maybe make it your artisan level is what is used for resources, but the higher level ones may be in dangerous zones that will need a body guard of high level adventurers to allow you to get them. This would keep te interdependency between them and allow the artisans a slightly easier time. Also making the guilded artisans not have such a clear advantage by allowing the solo artisans to get some items.

Sorry for my long winded post. Never typed so much as I have in these past few days. Just so psyched for the game to come out and start making items for people. :D

[Drucilla]

I like the interdependancy idea between adventurer and artisan but I'm usually WAY too optimistic on how well it will work. :)

I also hope the solo artisan or 'small guild' artisan gets the same advantages as any large guild. Who wants to do another stomach event? /shudder

[Mansis Fellbane]

Thanks guys, good info. I think it'll be interesting to see what it's gonna be like at launch.

[Grei]

I see I forgot to mention something last night in my rant. I really, truly, honestly hope that they don't try to make the Artisans the moneysinks in EQ2 like they did in SWG. Artisans aren't always the ones with the money in a game _until_ they hit the top levels, so making them the moneysink just hurts anyone who's trying to level up or make a living as they level up.

Oh well, I think that's enough doom and gloom from me for a few days. I'd hate to go all negative without any real information. ;)

Grei