Gift of Hedone: Crafting - How will it work?
Hello you lovely deviants,
Buckle up, as this is going to be a long one.
Crafting is going to probably be the most important mechanic of the game as this is ultimately what is going to effect your stats. So im going to do my best to articulate how it will work - but this post will not explain how you will unlock access to new armor/weapons - just how it will function once you have the necessary items.
Armor and Weapon Blueprints - Base Blueprints
These are the base blueprints to crafting new gear. For example, you may get a blueprint that is for a Silver Sword, or an Iron Garter Belt.
These blueprints will be then categorised by Regions/Tiers - so the first area you would find Tier 1 Blueprints, the second Area Tier 2 blueprints etc.
These base Blueprints would only have the Armor stat (for Armor Blueprints) or Damage stat (for Weapon Blueprints) when you first unlock them. What i mean by that is you could in theory craft these blueprints, but you will roll damage and armor, nothing else.
Base Blueprint Crafting Levels
Gear is broken into Tiers, and will have set ranges depending on the Tier the gear is. Tier 1 gear will range from level 1 to 20, Tier 2 Gear level 20 - 40 etc. Meaning that a Tier 1 bit of gear will have acap of level 20.
However, within those tiers - gear crafted at a higher level will have a naturally higher base stat. What i mean by this is if you craft a level 1 Tier 1 Weapon that has say 20 damage, and you level that to level 5. And i now does 30 damage. If you were to craft a new level 5 bit of gear, the base stat on that would be for example 35.
The reason for this is to incentivise you to craft new versions of that weapon instead of just crafting it once at level 1, leveling it up to level 20 and calling it a day. A brand new level 20 crafted weapon would have a much higher base stat then a weapon crafted at level 1, that was leveled up to 20.
The concept is that as a blacksmith you become better and better at crafting that weapon.
Armor and Weapon Crafting Materials
Each Regions base blueprints will use Monster Essence and the region specific materials to craft. For example, a region one iron sword would require iron ore, which can be found in Region One. Where as the Region two Silver Sword would require Silver Ore, which can be found in Region Two.
And similar to how you will craft newer high level versions of that bit of gear, so will the resource requirements increase. For example a level 1 iron sword may only require 1 x Iron Ore, and 50 monster essence. Where as a level 10 sword would be 5 x Iron Ore, and 200 essence. These are arbitrary numbers just as a point of reference - I will need to trial and test what feels right.
Additionally, once you get to the second/ upper half of the Tiers levels (i.e Tier 1 gear that ranges level 1 - 20, the upper would be level 10+, or a Tier 2 gear that ranges from 20 - 40, the upper is 30+) The resource requirements would introduce new higher quality resources. SO instead of just iron ore, you may need iron ore + monster bone for example.
Stat Blueprints
This is the part I'm most excited about - so as i mentioned before, you would first unlock the Base/foundation gear blueprint which would only have Armor and Damage. However in each new area you would need to find and unlock the regions "Stat Blueprint"
What i mean by this is that in that new region you first unlock the "Crit Chance" Blueprint, and now you can potentially roll Crit Chance on your weapons, you would then unlock "Faith" and you could then roll "Faith" on your gear when crafting.
As mentioned these would be Region/Tier based - so in the first region you would unlock the Stat blueprints for Tier 1 gear, in the second region, you would unlock the it for Tier 2 etc.
The idea is that with new gear, and region specific "crafting knowledge" you need to learn how to better craft and hone your blacksmithing skills.
So when you go to craft a bit of gear, it will show you all the available stats you can potentially roll.
I also plan to make it so you will have some control over which stats to unlock first.
Rolling Stats on gear - How Many Stats can you roll?
This is something I need to figure out, but what i mean by this is that a Tier 1 gear may only have 2 stat slots to roll (excluding the base damage, and armor which will always be there)
So you may roll, a weapon that has (damage, faith, and crit chance)
So a Tier 2 weapon may have 3 stat slots to roll, then Tier 3, 4 stat slots etc.
"Couldn't I just unlock the stats I want to use, thus guaranteeing I get those rolls?"
Yes and no, when you unlock a new stat, it will be the only option to roll, so technically yes, you would see it on your gear - however, particular gear will have "base Stats" then "Bonus Stats" -For example Crit Chance may only roll on the weapon and helmet. So that way you cant exploit it and get all your gear to roll crit chance. But, later on in the game you will probably be able to break things as "Bonus Stats" will be the other slots where you will be able to roll non Base Stats to other gear.
For example, Taking the helmet example - Slot 1 will always be reserved for the "Armor Stat" then slot 2 and 3 would be "Base Stats" so these would always roll the assigned stats for that gear (will different ranges and amounts of course - more in next section) - then Bonus Stats - so if the base stat is Crit Chance and Constitution, the bonus may roll Faith, or CritPower etc.
Rolling Stats - Bonus Stats chance
So this will be more obvious with higher gear, but essentially where base stats are guaranteed, bonus stats will have a deprecating chance, so the first bonus stat on a Tier 2 bit of gear may have a 50% chance to appear, and that may be the only bonus slot. Where as a Tier 3 bit of gear may have 2 bonus slots, where the first is a 70% chance to appear, and the second is a 35% chance, then a Tier 4 may have 3 bonus slots, where the first is 100% chance, second is a 66% chance, and the third is a 33% chance.
So higher tier gear will ultimately give you some pretty strong and interesting builds. And im keen to see how you break builds haha.
Additionally if you roll say Faith on a bit of gear as a bonus stat, it wont roll again on the next bonus stat (i.e all your bonus stats on one bit of gear aren't going to be 4 slots of faith or crit chance)
Rolling Stats on gear - Ranges
When you go to craft a bit of gear, you will not just craft the same bit of gear, that's the same level every time with 100 damage. This will have a range for example of 30% - so if you can craft a weapon which a max damage of 100, it may craft with something between 70 - 100.
And this range is something I can set at a stat or gear level, so some may have a range of 30%, more sought after stats (I may need to do a poll about which stats you think are the most important) may have a higher range.
So to summarise the process:
You get the base blueprint
you collect the relevant materials to craft the gear
you unlock the stat blueprints
you craft the gear
you craft the gear again (because you are a higher level, you want different stats rolled, better stats etc)
You unlock better gear and repeat the cycle, improving your stats, refining your builds etc.
Im hoping this all makes sense, but please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, feedback etc. But i will do a separate post about rewards and how you would unlock the base blueprints, and stat blueprints - so if its questions regarding that, please hold off as I will answer that in due time :)