Crafting Changes

Original Link (now dead) - http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?page_id=242

Crafting Changes

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posted on 18-May-2004

Over the last several months, we have received increasing complaints regarding crafting money macros. These macros could be seen clapping their hands outside shops in many towns.

In the April event, we made changes to eliminate the usefulness of two of the most popular macroed craft items: applesauce and potions. However, new macros have sprung up in their wake. Recently the number of macroing characters – and complaints about these macros – has increased dramatically. In addition, we recently had an incident in which one player's use of multiple macroing characters on multiple accounts actually destabilized one of our game servers.

It has become clear that further action is necessary, particularly as we prepare to open the new world Verdantine. In the past, we have identified and fixed macroed tradeskill interactions as they were discovered. Unfortunately, the cycle of macro – nerf – find new macro could go on for much longer. Any changes to vendor buy/sell rates could introduce a new problem.

We have decided after much discussion to solve this issue with a larger change. Starting with the June event, it will no longer be possible to sell any crafted items to vendors. This affects all crafted items. Potions, arrowheads, food – it will no longer be possible to sell any of these items to vendors. This is true even if the item was not originally crafted by a player. For example, ordinary arrows can be crafted by players; therefore no arrows – player-crafted or otherwise – are sellable.

It is important to note that this we made this as a sweeping global change to ensure that we didn't miss anything. It is possible that specific cases will turn up that will require us to make some items sellable again. In addition, we are continuing to look for alternate solutions to the issue.

While this is a major change, we believe that it will not impact the majority of our players. Crafted items, for the most part, are created for use in the field or for trading to other players. Players who craft items for these purposes should not see any difference.

However, we do see that this can create an obstacle for new tradeskill characters, particularly those who may not have a patron to supply them at low levels. These are the type of characters we are likely to see on Verdantine. If these characters cannot sell the fruits of their labor, it will be difficult for them to purchase new raw goods for crafting.

To assist these characters, in the June event we will begin introducing new NPCs similar to the Glenden Wood pacifists. These NPCs will provide pyreal and experience rewards to characters for handing in specific crafted goods. These rewards will be on a timer so that they cannot be macroed.

The first of these NPCs will be targeted for new and low-level crafters, but we are committed to introducing new NPCs for higher-level characters in the coming months. In addition, we have increased the two lowest-level rewards on the Glenden Wood pacifists.

The team strongly believes that eliminating these money macros is in the best interests of the long-term value of the game, particularly for the opening of Verdantine. We believe that this change is the best way to eliminate these macros without impacting the majority of our players, but we want to ensure that new crafters still have opportunities for advancement.