What ways of crafting could/should/should-not exist in this game?
This is thought of as collection of any thinkable crafting mechanics, that already exist or might be worth thinking of. If other things arise in a discussion I will expand it.
1. Artesian progress This means the merchants/craftsmen can be upgraded. Like now, the building upgrades, but maybe also through other things like straight forward leveling, or through quests like “bring me that legendary cooking pot”.
2. Blueprints Blueprints might not only be found or bought, but maybe also “made” when e.g. a number of items is brought to a merchant for study. (related to 1.)
3. Crafting
Direct crafting of a base version of an item
4. Upgrading
Impropving an item to have better stats. (related to 16.)
5. Enchanting
Adding various “magic” effects to an item. Either randomized or fully/partially controllable depending on pricing. (related to 14.)
6. Gems
Adding certain gems or similar into limited number of slots. (related to 12.)
7. Runes Managing what skills can be used through limited slots on the item. Maybe those runes could also be crafted/enchanted/improved themselves. (related to 12.)
8. Engraving Personalization of an item that improves certain stats (like Diablo II act 5) or has unique effects. Maybe irreversible.
9. Gem-/Spell-/Runewords (like runewords from Diablo II)
10. Tainting The item may get improved after a bossfight, e.g. dragonforged items in Dragons Dogma 1
11. Fusing Creating more powerful items from less powerful ones (I remember that from some JRPGs like Dragon Quest, but cant remember wich one) This could also work in a way that e.g. certain enchantments are improved by sacrifizing another item with the same enchatment. (related to 16.)
12. Meta Crafting that means crafting of crafting materials or sub-components (e.g. combining gems to a single one of higher quality, or enchanting of socket materials like jewels in Diablo II) I.e. before crafting/improving the actual item, the component is crafted/enchanted/prepared.
13. Craftability This would be the ability of an item to be improved by other crafting methods. E.g. adding one rune slot, or one gem slot, change the maximum allowed upgrades or active enchantments.
14. Anti-crafting the possibility to remove certain things from items, such as enchantments, gems, runes. This is a key component when the crafting system is supposed to interact with “Loot & Kill” items, that means items that origin from the crucible as example with preexisting enchantments or similar.
15. Base Material Properties If crafting an item allows for different base materials, (e.g. a Claymore could be crafted from copper, iron, or silver… fully partially or even mixable ) each of those could come with different material related properties. E.g. Iron, higher base attack, silver, elemental penetration, or copper, higher focus gain. (Not fully comparable, but a mechanic like this is used in oxygen not included). That might also give an initiative to farm “outdated” crafting materials later in the game. (related to 3.)
16. RNG improvement Often you craft some item and either the base stats or the stat from the gem are on the low end of the randomized span. There could be a way to “re-roll” this, or retroactively nuge the dice to a higher number, instead of throwing the item away.
17. Skin crafting Sometimes you find some gear (especially helmets) that you personally percieve ugly, or visually does not fit to the build. This method would be a way to transfer the skin of one item to another. This would greatly remove the formation of “clone armys” that often evolve in games when there is only a handful of engame gear.
18. Leveling The item itself gains XP, e.g. gems in path of exile
If something is missing, tell me and I might add it here later on.
Some links to related topics: How do you prefer to obtain items? , Thoughts on gear and crafting , Runes/Gems, Crafting, and Grinnich , You Shall Not Craft!
