PC Make Crafted Items better than Looted

[Kalen]

Name me a crafting game anywhere in which you don’t have to gather materials for the crafting. You like the term “looting” because it rhymes with “shooting”. But let’s be honest. In any game that involves crafting, part of the crafting is gathering mats and some gathering is going to be easier and some is going to be harder but it is not a simple is there more gathering or more crafting. They are connected. 
 

The real problem is that as you gather resources you have a good chance of finding the very item you want to craft or that you just crafted and that item could be better Than what you can make which takes the wind out of your sales. 
 

If 98% of everything found in containers was brown with only a 2% chance of finding something better, then orange, yellow, green, and blue would be the domain of crafting With very little chance that anything found would one-up what you made. 
 

The devs have moved in this direction and hopefully they will continue shifting. 
 

Is anyone saying you shouldn't have to gather materials to craft?

The problem is while out gathering (since you dont like looting) you will eventually find an item better than anything you can craft.   So far, from my experience, it doesn't even take that long to do so.   

 

[meganoth]

Is anyone saying you shouldn't have to gather materials to craft?

The problem is while out gathering (since you dont like looting) you will eventually find an item better than anything you can craft.   So far, from my experience, it doesn't even take that long to do so.   

In my SP game and for my main weapons it would have been 50/50. My q6 stone spear I could not have crafted, but I could have crafted a better hunting rifle than I found yet if I didn't have bought it from the trader (which seemed like a good idea at the time because I didn't have a workbench yet). If I want to substitute my stone spear with an iron spear I might have the parts already to build a q4 or q5 which definitely is better than anything I find at the moment.

This is a balancing thing, in A17 you did not need to craft your equipment, in A18 it was somewhat better, especially in MP. In A19 crafting got a further boost with the stone age since you don't immediately find excellent guns in your chests on day 1. Instead I often find gun parts in weapon safes right now.

If your comment was about q6 items not being craftable: You will find items that are better than your q6 stone thingy. And tier3 q6 items are an endgame carrot that is probably still found too early in the game right now. Just think how much material crafting them would need so that you can't craft them before you are say lvl 80 or 100. The fact is, in this game you can hoard crafting materials in absurd masses if you want. You would need a new material Unobtainium and if you can find Unobtainium at the same speed you can find tier3 q6 items you need at least as many for the recipe as there are tier3 q6 items halfed.

 

[Roland]

Is anyone saying you shouldn't have to gather materials to craft?

The problem is while out gathering (since you dont like looting) you will eventually find an item better than anything you can craft.   So far, from my experience, it doesn't even take that long to do so.   

You literally repeated what I posted...

So....agreed. Great insight. 

 

[Kalen]

You literally repeated what I posted...

So....agreed. Great insight. 

I'm sorry.... I just thought you mention the needing to gather as a counter point to something someone else said.   So yeah, we need to gather.... back at ya with the great insight.

You said the item you find "could be better".   I'm just pointing out that eventually it "will be better".   So not exactly the same thing you said.... but sure, subtle differences are easy to miss.

 

[Jarod_Silverstar]

Okay, skimmed most of the thread so somebody else has probably suggested this, but....

Right now, crafting and looting do not work well together because they produce the same items. What really needs to happen is that COMPLETE items become very rare loot and parts for crafting becomes more common. Add this to perk system and reading additional schematics on an item increase the quality level of a crafted item. The perk tiers work the same as now, for each level bought you craft the next tier up on the item. Schematics would be similar in that each one you read increases your tier level and the benefits stack so that if you bought two levels and found a schematic, you can make a tier 3 item. However, the stacking stops at tier 5. But tier 6 items if they can be crafted would require extra knowledge, maybe by buying up to tier 4 and also reading 4 schematics to unlock.

This then leaves you with a reason to loot; getting parts and schematics, and a reason to craft; putting together the parts to make items. The quality of items created depends both on the skill/knowledge you in crafting the item and the number of parts used in the crafting.

Add to this a return of item degradation, and I think you have decent system that encourages both looting and crafting to progress in the game.

Of course - just realized this would not fit with the all the work the Pimps have done with a leveled loot system if complete items become rare, so it is probably not likely to happen. Maybe they can keep it on the back burner for the next game....

 

[JCrook1028]

That's fair.  But explain to me this.  How can you craft a simple level 1 9mm pistol with out looting the parts first?  Where do you get the ammo with out looting? How can you craft a cooking pot without learning to make a forge or looting the schem?  Is everything on an equal basis? 

1. By buying them

2. by finding a usable one