Ahoy Mateys!
One of my favorite things in Wizard101 is crafting. I love the challenge of finding the right reagents to make something I can use in game. Pirate101 doesn't have any type of crafting, but I hope they add it in the future. It would be really cool to be able to craft not just gear and weapons to help with game play, but also ships and ship parts. And of course we can't forget about houses and housing items!
I have been thinking about it, and while any type of crafting would be cool, I have come up with some ideas that I would like to share with you all. The ideas I have would make Pirate101 crafting look much different from Wizard101 crafting. To try to make my explanations less confusing, I will break them up into categories, and explain my ideas that way. Ready? Here we go!
Reagents/Natural Resources
These would be found around the Spiral, either scattered on the ground in select areas or as drops from MOBs and bosses. Examples could be cotton, wood, metal/ore, animal hides, sand, jewels, maybe some types of plants, etc. Some things would only be available in certain areas (sand found in beach areas), and others would be strictly from battles (for example, animal hides). There could also be items that could be bought, like the jewels.
Raw Materials
While some items may use resources in their natural form, most items will require for the natural resources to be turned into raw materials. What I mean by this is wood turned into lumber, cotton into thread, metal into nails, animal hides to leather, sand into glass etc. I think you get the idea. Anyway this process will cost a certain amount of the natural resource (example: 5 cotton to make 1 thread). Also, some of these materials could be crafted further, such as the thread could be made into fabric.
Crafting Items
Once you have all your raw materials, then it would be time to craft the actual item you want to craft. This would look a lot like Wizard101 crafting. You get a "recipe" and go to a crafting area and use your materials to craft that item. Pretty straight forward. The questions is, where would these items be crafted? Well......read on to find out!
Crafting Areas
I think it would be kind of cool to have community crafting areas for specific types of items. There could be a tailor for crafting thread, cloth and clothing, a blacksmith or armory for nails and weapons, a carpentry area for ships and housing, and I am sure there are others, but that is what I have thought of so far. There could be one main spot in the Avery's Court area, or multiple places, one in each world.
Crafting Levels
This is another thing that would be different than Wizard101. Instead of having a specific quest that you need to complete to level, you could gain experience as you craft. Each item, even making natural resources into raw materials, will be counted for a specific amount of experience. There could be an experience bar that shows how much experience you need to get to the next level. More recipes and resources would be made available at different levels. I like this idea, because it will help people stock up on the materials they need for crafting larger items.
Also, as you level, you would become more efficient at crafting, so that means the cost of making raw materials could decrease as your level increases. For example, at level 1 it could cost 5 cotton to make 1 thread, but maybe at level 10 it would cost 1 cotton to make 1 thread. I think this would be a great idea, since higher level recipes will use more resources and materials.
Craftable Items
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, we could craft so many different things. Houses and furniture, clothing, and weapons could be crafted, just like in Wizard101. But then there is also the possibility of crafting ship parts and maybe even ships. The ships could be really hard to craft, like the craftable houses in Wizard101. I think it would also be cool to have a selection of craftable gear for our companions. It could help improve their stats, and maybe give them an extra ability. Not to mention that it would make the companions look more unique. *Note* I don't know if "craftable" is actually a word, but I just made it one :P
*Edited* Reader Feedback
I have had some interesting ideas submitted to me about this post via twitter, and I wanted to share them with everyone.
@OwlScarlet says
"These ideas are really interesting Autumn. Badges could change as we become better tailors/blacksmiths/carpenters."
And this is what @WizzyJess has to say about crafting companions: " I agree with you! We do need crafting, and (could be weird) maybe craft companions as well?.....Somebody, I can't remember who, mentioned a clockwork companion. That would be cool! Or maybe those armada musketeer things"
I think that these are great ideas, and they would fit nicely with the crafting style I outlined above. Thanks guys! :)
The awesome podcast Talkin' the Plank mentioned this post, and also had some great ideas about Pirate101 crafting, including crafting mini games! You can listen in here: Talkin' the Plank episode 25
*End Edit*
Anyway, that is my vision of Pirate101 crafting. I know it will probably look nothing like this when/if it is released, but I wanted to share my ideas anyway. And who knows? Maybe someone from Kingsisle will see this and some of my ideas will show up in game!
If you have any ideas about crafting in Pirate101, please comment or contact me at @ADreamwalker on Twitter and I will add your ideas to this post! :)
Anyway, thanks for reading and have fun in the Spirals! See you next time! :)
