04-21-2011, 08:33 AM
Was writing this as Eru was writing his response but to add my own views and such here is my rant on the topic.
I can see your concerns when looking at the skill gains in a short term manner. However the truth is, the easier skill gains are, the less value items have for those who wish to craft. This is something I want to avoid as making crafting skills easy typically results in a non-existent economy. Right now it is rough, for most players (even though some people already have vanqs and invul armor) but it helps balance a shard in the long term as far as an economy is concerned.
Oh and keep in mind that while mining might be a bit slow to gain, you can always make a new character to mine up higher ores. Having a chance to craft platemail doesn't require GM smith either, so you really don't need to worry about GMing it to have armor, as you have a chance of crafting plate once you hit 75 smithy (less for pieces besides the chest). There are two players who will be able to craft armors by the end of the weekend. GM smithy is mostly for special weapons. As with most crafts, GMing them only unlocks the top items of their crafting range and you don't need GM for the skill to be useful. Also remember you can always make a mule character with harvest skills so you can get better ores quickly.
Having craft skills at a difficult level makes players work together and focus on a single craft, which helps build a community and a proper economy. I have played and staffed on enough shards to know that this is always the case when it comes to well rounded shards. If this shard was purely for pvp it would be a different case but thats not what Ive been aiming for.
Also keep in mind that it only takes about 2-3 days to be fully prepared for pvp, skill wise. The mercenary camp and the newbie dungeon offer quests that can give you skill boosts and you can also buy skill boosts with nickels inside the casino, so technically you could be ready in a day and a half.
Honestly, if skills were easier, they might as well just be given out completely. There needs to be a point to GMing crafts and a goal for players to reach. There are several people with over 1k skill points (equivalent to 10 GM skills), a couple players in the 2k range and one player about to hit 3k skill points. It really all comes down to how well you spend your time and how efficient you are while playing and macroing.
I can see your concerns when looking at the skill gains in a short term manner. However the truth is, the easier skill gains are, the less value items have for those who wish to craft. This is something I want to avoid as making crafting skills easy typically results in a non-existent economy. Right now it is rough, for most players (even though some people already have vanqs and invul armor) but it helps balance a shard in the long term as far as an economy is concerned.
Oh and keep in mind that while mining might be a bit slow to gain, you can always make a new character to mine up higher ores. Having a chance to craft platemail doesn't require GM smith either, so you really don't need to worry about GMing it to have armor, as you have a chance of crafting plate once you hit 75 smithy (less for pieces besides the chest). There are two players who will be able to craft armors by the end of the weekend. GM smithy is mostly for special weapons. As with most crafts, GMing them only unlocks the top items of their crafting range and you don't need GM for the skill to be useful. Also remember you can always make a mule character with harvest skills so you can get better ores quickly.
Having craft skills at a difficult level makes players work together and focus on a single craft, which helps build a community and a proper economy. I have played and staffed on enough shards to know that this is always the case when it comes to well rounded shards. If this shard was purely for pvp it would be a different case but thats not what Ive been aiming for.
Also keep in mind that it only takes about 2-3 days to be fully prepared for pvp, skill wise. The mercenary camp and the newbie dungeon offer quests that can give you skill boosts and you can also buy skill boosts with nickels inside the casino, so technically you could be ready in a day and a half.
Honestly, if skills were easier, they might as well just be given out completely. There needs to be a point to GMing crafts and a goal for players to reach. There are several people with over 1k skill points (equivalent to 10 GM skills), a couple players in the 2k range and one player about to hit 3k skill points. It really all comes down to how well you spend your time and how efficient you are while playing and macroing.