| Couple of notes for clarity, although we're not ready to reveal too much of harvesting and crafting as that awaits E3 and also there will definitely be a lot of tuning during beta.
I agree totally that players don't want to run through hoops and a major hassle to gather components and then to craft them into useful items. Our goal is to make harvesting and crafting fun and involve a class system distinct to that sphere of gameplay. Harvesting, for example, will involve a full skill system and use items to enhance your ability to harvest higher quality components, very much the same as adventuring (where what class you are, what items you’ve equipped yourself with, and where your skills are at/what level you are is key). It will also involve contested rolls, just like adventuring -- we're not trying to over-complicate here; rather, we're trying to make crafting more involved and fun as opposed to a boring click fest as we've seen in previous MMOGs.
We're also re-thinking how one switches between one sphere and another -- we agree that having to run back to an outpost is probably too tedious and are re-working our thinking here a bit (again, beta will help a great deal -- the balance between too easy and mindless vs. too complicated and tedious we are determined to find through beta test feedback). The bottom line I think is that MMOGs *have* to break out of mindless clicking to create end products and to skill up -- we are determined to make it both challenging and fun.
Also, in most cases, harvesters will not be in danger of being attacked, so the idea of constantly convincing or hiring adventurers to escort you isn't really accurate (although rare spawns of very useful harvestable components will likely be found in dangerous areas).
Bear with us on this stuff please -- consider our goals moreso than the details (or lack of details) we've released. Again, we want to make harvesting and crafting as involved and as fun as adventuring for people who enjoy this type of gameplay. There are separate classes, skills, and items for the crafting sphere, as well as a completely different experience pool. And for those who simply don't care for harvesting & crafting, you can just adventure -- we're trying to appeal to *more* types of gamers here, not make crafting/harvesting a hassle for the more adventure oriented gamer.
Lastly, I think the artisan in EQ 2 was abandoned because that's all he could do: harvest & craft. With our multi-sphere system you can participate in either aspect of gameplay, or just focus on one.
Bottom line: we're going to try to make each sphere just as fun as the other (by introducing risk vs. reward in each sphere, classes, and items that make you a more effective craftsman), but if during beta this doesn't pan out, the design easily accommodates making harvesting/crafting secondary (yet still essential in the sense that the adventurer will need and want the products that harvesting/crafting yield).
Anyway, your skepticism and concerns are heard and we share them internally, yet at the same time feel giving this a solid try is worth the effort in order to attract more types of gamers and to bring this genre forward.
thanks for listening,
-Brad |