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Before posting this article on the ryzom.com forums I would really appreciated some feedback... just to weed out the worst errors/misunderstandings etc.

Thanks!

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Some thoughts on crafting in teams

Historically here on Earth crafts as woodcarving, weaving, jewelry making, armouring etc. has been skills passed on from master to apprentice. The apprentice learning from the guidance of a master with many years of experience, the master benefitting from having a skilled assistant to help in his own creations.

For the homins of Atys crafting is a tough individual struggle – every single crafter having to learn the skills of his trade without ever benefitting from working with a more experienced colleague or master. In this regard the crafting skill in Ryzom stands alone compared to the skills of fighting, magic and foraging, since these skills allow players to work together in teams.

Through teamwork players will typically find that they gain experience faster compaired to going solo. This is especially true for the least experienced players in a group, who will benefit greatly from the increased XP-haul their more experienced teammates are able to produce. Thus teamwork is a great way for the experienced to help new players gain a foothold in the game. In addition teamwork is one of the things that make for an interesting gameexperience as well as great opportunities for socializing and RP if you are so inclined.

Only the crafters have to go it alone...

Workshops as the places for teamwork

What we need in the game is an option for the crafters to allow them to cooperate. I see no need to modify the crafting skill as such, nor is there any reason to hinder the crafters out there who would still prefer to work on their own.

My suggestion would be to introduce workshops to the game. These should be located in the cities (the forge in Pyr being one obvious candidate), since being a home to craftmen is what cities are all about.

By entering a workshop two players should be allowed to perform crafting actions together. One would act as master, choosing the actual crafting action, spending materials and gaining the finished product as usual. The other player would act as the assistant, his skill in the relevant craft providing a bonus to the succesrate of the master. Both would share XP for the action, just like a forager and careplanner.

Obviously if a master of skill level 250 and an apprentice of skill level 50 are crafting together, the master should gain a larger bonus to his succesrate by making q100 items, than if he choose to make q250 items. The later being too complicated for the assistant for him to be of much help in the process.

Other possible benefits of workshops

- Adjusting item stats:
Entering a workshop (and thus having acces to specialied tools, a workbench, heating sources, proper lighting etc.) should provide any crafter (not only teams) with some bonuses, compared to crafting in a dark, damp and dangerous corner of the prime roots for instance.

As it is now, the stats of an item (durability, lightness etc.) is determined solely by the raw materials it is made from.

My suggestions would be to allow crafters working in a workshop to affect these item stats in a limited way, for instance by sacrificing some durability for increased lightness, sacrificing some cold protection for fire protection etc. This would make an option for a more varied and interesting crafting gameplay, without forcing any crafters to seek up a workshop.

- Creating another dapper zink
The use of workshops could require a fee in dappers, the amount depending on the attempted quality of the item being crafted. Since workshops might be particular popular for high-end crafters trying to counter too many item degrades by working in pairs, a healthy dapper fee for high-end items might help drain some of those superfluous dappers out of the economy.

- Wokshops as social meeting places
As it is now, byers and sellers of items make posts on the forums when searching for a deal. By having workshops you now have an ingame location where one could count on many crafters of varying levels to hang out (read: grind). A buyer looking for a special item could then go to the workshop and ask there for a potential seller.

In addition crafters of different levels would have a location to search each other out for helping each other in the crafting actions. Masters could apply for apprentices, friendships could be formed, rivalries between masters cried out to the public... All sorts of great opportunities for socializing and RP would be found.