This is an early look at the main proposal for Cannith Crafting. As such there isn't much in the way of specific numbers and comparisons, but is more focused on the overall general design of the system. That also means that there are things that could change from what has been discussed due to technical limitations, balance, or any number of reasons. But we did want to include players in an early look and discussion so that themes/directions could be adjusted before it is all in place and only minor changes can be made.
We realize this is a major system with a lot of viewpoints and that it carries a lot of importance with a lot of people. One main consideration for us, is that all three forms of loot (Named, CC, Random) must be useful and work together. We are not looking to make Cannith just plain better than Random loot for example. That is important and was the basis taken when we redesigned the effect system, random loot, and named item direction.
Being a big involved system it is tricky to balance how much information on the page, how easy it is to read and follow, but I'll do my best.
New Cannith Crafting Summary:
- Existing Crafting experience will carry over to the new system
- Existing Essences will be exchangable to the new system
- Cannith Crafting will be as powerful as normal Random Loot
- Marks of House Cannith will allow a 3rd effect slot on Cannith items
- There will be some effects unique to both Cannith Crafting and Random loot
- Ammo and Runestones that are currently craftable will still exist in the new system
- Cannith items will stil have options for Bound and Unbound
- Cannith Crafting will be streamlined to improve the crafting experience
- We may adjust the Cannith Leveling Curve
- We know Deconstructing is one of the most time consuming aspects of CC and will look into ways to reduce this, but I do not have answers as to how this will work yet.
Experience and Essences will carry over
All experience in Cannith Crafting will carry over when we update the system. The one thing that is being considered is we may combine the schools down to a single crafting school, in which case we would combine all of a player's existing experience into that one school.
We are also going to be reducing the number of Essences. Either 1 for each school for a total of 3, or just a single Essence. There will not be lesser and greater either. This is to reduce bloat in the system and simply a part of the crafting process that we feel does not need to be as complicated. As a side note, having a single essence could allow for us to simply have a Remover instead of a Prefix or Suffix Remover, simplifying that part of the process.
Existing essences will be able to be exchanged for the new one(s). And there will be exchange recipes of differing sizes so hopefully it is only minorly inconvenient one time.
Power of Cannith Crafting
Random Loot has a normal range of effect powers that can drop at a given minimum level. Then there is an extra lucky range of slightly more power. This is marked by having Masterful Craftsmanship on the item which indicates at least one of your effects is at the maximum of the normal range or slightly higher.
The plan is to have Cannith Crafting be the top of the normal random loot range. It is important to us to have a system where Cannith Crafted, Random, and Named Loot is all usable by players. We do not want a system where Cannith overshadows Random loot making it not a true consideration to be used. By holding onto the Masterful Craftsmanship lucky power ranges on Random Loot, it should help Random Loot continue to have a use.
Random Loot chests can go as high as level 40. Cannith Crafting is currently planned to top out at Level 33 Loot. There will be increasingly better Minimum Level 30 shards to be crafted (the recipe an item will state what loot level it represents).
Although Cannith will follow the slot restrictions of effects that Random Loot has, a player does get to choose which effects go on the slots of the item. This is a big advantage of random loot where you have to luck out in the RNG to get all of the effects you want at the powers you want. The system will still have a Prefix and Suffix. If a Mark of House Cannith is used, it will have a 3rd extra effect just like Random Loot.
Cannith will also have some effects that are not found in Random Loot where as Random Loot will also retain some effects, like Vorpal, which aren't craftable in Cannith Crafting. This will further giving both Cannith and Random loot purpose in outfitting a character.
Finally, there is a chance that some of the clickies that no longer drop in Random Loot could be added to Cannith in some form.
How will it Work
The current plan is that a blank item will have the minimum level crafted onto the item. Then effect shards will be crafted on which will automatically get their power set to the right amount for the minimum level. No longer will you need Strength +1 and Strength +3 shards, just a Strength shard and the power will be set for you. This is a cleaner system as there is no advantage to the player to putting on a lower powered effect at a given ML, and it reduces ways a player may mess up an item.
The + Enhancement value will also be directly tied into the minimum level and there will no longer be Shards of Potential.
Combined with the fewer number of Essences, this system should be much more streamlined to use.
Deconstructing is very time consuming and clunky at this point in time. We know this. The problem is what the crafting system is capable of doing. We don't know to what amount we can alleviate this pain, but it is something we will be looking into as we move forward with updating Cannith Crafting.
Leveling
Cannith has trraitionally been an extreme grind. The question now is how much of that should be reduced? We have the capability to reduce the grind in two ways: the XP per level of Cannith Crafting Schools, and the amount of XP gained by crafting.
Since we will also be adding in new levels of Cannith Crafting for new higher end recipes, it is likely also a good time to reduce the leveling curve. Existing crafters will hold onto all of their XP, therefore they will have head start on players new to crafting. And, depending on how the curves are adjusted, may find themselves with even higher levels of crafting than they had before the update. Meaning they may be able to craft some of the new higher level recipes upon logging in.
Other Considerations
Why not allow Cannith to put effects in any slot? In the new loot system, Named Items main advantages are that they don't have to follow the slot restriction for effects and get the Quality bonus type for effects. If Cannith also ignores the slot restrictions it takes a way a big aspect of what makes Named Loot special and goes a long way to making Random Loot useless.
