Crafting Groups

[Umby]

Hey guys, I just wanted to see what you all thought about this idea for encouraging more players (at least on this forum) to level up their craft.

We all know that some types of crafters rely on other crafters for the material they need (a prevelant fact for Armor and Weapon crafters). However, it can get tough to find certain crafters at a high enough level to make the things you need (so far as my experience as been). I believe he main issue isn't necessarily finding a certain type of crafter (specifically Refiners/Alchemists) so much as the crafters aren't there to be found or aren't leveled high enough. Once again, this is just from my personal experience. I mic'd a server for an Refiner once, and all who replied (6+ players) said they weren't at a level where they could craft an item I needed. I then sought out an Alchemist for a later project, where a similar thing happened.

I also noticed that armors, weapons, and accessories were always to be found in player shops/auction, but things like remedies, potions, and crystals were harder to track down without talking to the appropriate crafter.

The crafting thread we currently have is aimed at alleviating that by providing a list of contacts so that players may seek out their services, but even then we run into availability/activity problems and this still doesn't solve the issue that certain types of crafting are neglected more than others. So I was thinking perhaps some crafters need a real incentive for leveling up their craft and being more abundant/available in crafting. That's where I thought up a possible venture:


Crafting Businesses/Groups

Introduction

What if crafters had a designated group that they could work with? They select/join their team and whatever services they need, they need look no further than their group for most materials. Think of a guild, only more limited in members - maybe 1 of each type of crafter (including the separate branches for each craft) in each group. Each member would have to meet certain requirements to join/remain in the group, encouraging them to level up their craft and remain active.



The Business / Incentive For Leveling

"So, why start/join a group?"

In general a group could be started simply to have a close-knit set of individuals who know where they can get crafting materials from. However, my idea is that groups could treat this like a business. While generally being able to provide their services at their own will (i.e. taking requests and allowing buyers to provide materials for said requests), crafters in a group would regularly make items for general sale/auction. What this accomplishes:

- The group gains money to fund its lower level crafters to level up
- Lesser seen items are put out on the market, such as materials for other crafters (i.e. JJoo's Remedy from Alchemists or Strong Magic Crystals from Refiners)
- When said items are made available for auction, they're less likely to be sold at ridiculous prices (Cloak Kits shouldn't have an instant buy price of 6 mil when it only takes close to 2 mil to make, assuming you bought the materials from a player)
- The group gains an incentive for being active, and therefore can take on more requests with materials from group crafters being provided

In summary a group can make Ely by crafting collectively and influence lower level crafters to level up in order to get in on the deal. As a sub-function of the group, it could take on low-level crafters and fund them/help them farm for materials to fill in a specific slot on their group. Talent development in a sense.



Selecting Members

For this we can make full use of the current crafting thread (or combine it with the crafting group thread, if the community so approves of this idea). We could treat all the users listed there as a "free agent pool." When a group is made by someone, he/she can recruit only 1-2 of each type of crafter (including the different branches of each craft). The leader of the group can remove any of its members at any time if they fail to keep up with their activity requirements, from whence he can go back to the the free agent pool and select a replacement. If the "talent development" idea sounds good, a group would be limited to the amount of low-level crafters it can have. It's a good idea to list the prominent active low-level crafters to know they're eager to level up or perhaps a reliable player has an alt that they intend to level up with soon.



Activity

Simple. A group sets its own quota(s) that members must keep up with to stay in the group. Ideally it'd be weekly/bi-weekly/semi-weekly. If a group leader decides to invest in lower leveled crafters, it might work out in making a competitive crafter pool so group members have an incentive not to be replaced.



That's the general direction of the idea. The main goal isn't to find crafters so much as it is to produce a wider variety of crafters, put more of their respective items on the market/auction, make it easier and potentially cheaper to find the materials for their crafting requests, and promote crafting activity.


Thoughts? Comments? Add-ons?

[xdgr]

...
this is why I think the crafting thread should be updated, but I don't think there's any possibility for that.

I've always thought of crafting groups as a shaky idea, since a group would really just be centered around refiners and alchemists anyway.

[LilPhenyl]

Originally Posted by xdgr

...
this is why I think the crafting thread should be updated, but I don't think there's any possibility for that.

I've always thought of crafting groups as a shaky idea, since a group would really just be centered around refiners and alchemists anyway.

But the alchemists/refiners would have a purpose for all their goods as apposed to just selling them to random folks and/or not crafting at all. So it keeps everyone in business, and refiners/alchemists will be able to have reliable people to make weapons/armors for them as well. Nothing goes to waste! YAY!

Thanks to this, I am thinking about leveling my alchemy craft. Maybe if it gets high enough (in 50000 years) I can be able to make myself lemonades. :<

I think you(Umby) should make a giant TL;DR version of all you just said, as most people don't like text walls. So chop out what you can and leave the bare minimum. I believe it should be a "Craft 'n' Chant" group so people can have their little craft circle AND have reliable 97%~99% success rate folks on hand for enchanting the newly made goods. It'll make everything a hella-lot easier.

[xdgr]

well obviously.

same can't be said for weapon crafters, armor acc and the likes though. why would you need a group if it's really just two people making the mats? is that really any difference from just adding that one alchemist into their bl, or just asking anyone in their guild to craft something? what.

[Umby]

In that case, can you think of any possible incentives for a weapon/acc. crafter to be in a group? The whole basis of my idea was to creative an incentive for all individuals involved, so suggestions would be appreciated.

[xdgr]

welp, it's why I said the crafting thread should be updated again to eliminate this kind of problem. I've been thinking about asking mana about starting a clean thread too, to get rid of those who are inactive and for those who didn't queet to post them in.

it's really all just a matter of asking people, buddying them, then if they need a craft, you refer them to someone you know and vice versa (unless they're jerks that keep to themselves). because sometimes it's better to ask "do you know anyone who has this" than to server mic in a time where people who don't know you can care less and when chatboxes are spammed at the speed of light because of idiots that think latale is twitter

just a general rule of sum not just for you, but for everyone else out there ...

[Umby]

The purpose of this idea is to pretty much encompass all of that while at the same time trying to encourage people to get better at crafting. I understand well that it's easy to find good crafters if you have good contacts, but I wanted emphasis on getting a wider variety of crafters so that people like Alchemists and Refiners become easier to find regardless of your contacts. I'm sure I know 6 weapon crafters and including me, 3 armor crafters by now, but I only have one high level alchemist and one high level refiner on my buddy list right now, the latter two I found simply by chance.

[xdgr]

and so you ask them if they also know any other refiners or alchemists as well, you just branch your searches out...

the community crafting thread is still pretty reliable, even if it hasn't been updated lately. guess there's not enough people bumping the thread then, but it's always a good start to find people there.

if it works out for you fine then you should just go for it, I probably have the wrong idea about what this group is for anyway, since to me it just looks like a separate bl for people who want to extend their crafting options, -shrug-

[Cinner]

I find this entire group thing a thinly veiled attempt to find more refiners and alchemists that you can use to make your weapons and armor. Like xdgr said, just use the community crafting thread, join a guild, ask around.

[Esper]

Forgot to reply to this.

If we're trying to create groups based on each, that's quite a few members.

Battle, Tech, Accessory x2, Armor x2, Refining x2, Alchemy x2.

Looking at our current ggftw members' craft, the chances of completing that specific group is near impossible.

Out of my whole buddy list, I am the only level 40 dura Accessory craft (Deco). I don't see many players that know an Accessory crafter. Everyone else on my BL is either just at level 3x or still increasing their craft level to 40 as an Alchemist. :x

As xdgr suggested, it's just to just update the Community Crafting Thread.
Of course, Maestro4k will have to give up the right to that thread as it belongs to her. It would be rude to just take it from her.

[Umby]

Originally Posted by Fish

I find this entire group thing a thinly veiled attempt to find more refiners and alchemists that you can use to make your weapons and armor. Like xdgr said, just use the community crafting thread, join a guild, ask around.

I wouldn't call it veiled. Of course that was the initial premise, but my thought was that to encourage refiners/alchemists to craft, I'd have to generally encourage all different types of crafters to craft while supporting each other. I thought a group would provide an incentive for that.

However, it seems more people are in favor of updating the community thread so, yeah.