Do people like Smithing as a concept

[Because]

I personally am not entirely convinced by the smithing skill as a concept.
I find it dull and grindy and then over the top and too powerful, stamina refreshing only in towns in particular I find mad. This is especially true at the speed the map changes currently, where a lot could happen while you wait, but in general it's a tedious mechanic that just makes the skill feel even grindier.

The big problem I have though is that I don't really get how it could work.
If done for profit it runs the risk of breaking an already fragile economy like it does now.
If done to craft the best gear for you and your companions it takes so long and the impact is too small if just weapons to make it worth the time invested in it. Maybe if they added armour and perhaps ranged weapons/ammo as well, but even then I have my doubts. It would either be a colossal chore to get high enough to make weapons better than you could buy, or else be uneven and a way of bypassing the normal restrictions on gear and be essential as the only way to get hold of the best gear in the game.
It feels the best use currently (other than breaking the economy, or being able to afford to increase charm by bartering an insanely priced crafted item at a loss to a lord) is that it is one of the few skills (assuming you can unlock some valuable recipes) that lets you have some control and agency in how you level up, but these all feel like an exploit rather than wanting the skill for any inherent value it has.

Lastly the notion of playing a ruler who has a nap and then gets together with his loyal companions to smelt pitchforks into javelins every time they hit a town just seems out of place with the rest of the game.

Sadly with how levelling works in that you need to raise as many skills as possible to level up so you can add focus points to the ones you want to specialise in I feel you can't ignore any skill entirely and so are almost forced to use it to get better and riding/hitting/shooting etc.

I'd rather it was replaced with an entirely different skill such as splitting out the medicine skill warband style to have one for healing and first aid and one for surgery and saving from death (or just splitting between one for yourself/companions and one for troops). You could stick Steward to cunning and Scouting to endurance, but that is a whole other topic.

 

[Roaring Mouse]

Crafting on such a personal level feels out of place to me in this game. I cant bring myself to care about it. I understand the appeal but it just feels off the way it is.

I'd prefer a way to delegate the crafting to a dedicated smith/ team of smiths that just follows my directive and produces/researches while I funnel money and supplies.

 

[hruza]

Nope I don't like it. But then the way it's implemented you can ignore it if you want to and it won't have any impact on the game. Save leveling it on companions to get XP points, but I expect leveling to be tweaked so hopefully one could ignore it completely if one wants to. Therefore I have no complains about it. It's totally optional.

 

[Bob The Mexican]

I like it, but some adjustments must be made. Currently, the only real way to level it is to craft two handed swords (on low level smelting high tier weapons works too), this must be fixed. Also, unlocking new parts must be reworked, my char has 288 smithing points and unlocking parts is a real pain in a well known place, plus it's totally random, so I craft and smelt dozens of weapons, may be even hundreds to unlock a single sword hilt and I still didn't get it. I suggest unlocking parts to relate to the type of smelted/smithed weapon, like learn new sword parts from swords, maces from maces etc

 

[Woopzilla]

Crafting on such a personal level feels out of place to me in this game. I cant bring myself to care about it. I understand the appeal but it just feels off the way it is.

I'd prefer a way to delegate the crafting to a dedicated smith/ team of smiths that just follows my directive and produces/researches while I funnel money and supplies.

Yea, I feel the same. It falls into the same category of skills that you sometimes see in other games like cooking, fishing or fletching.

I wouldn't mind it though if it weren't so incredibly grindy. If I could just craft less than a dozen items to get to a high level, then it wouldn't be so bad. It could work like reading books in Warband: you'd select a design you want and your character slowly crafts it every time you rest, granting a slow passive XP over time. That way you reduce the junk clutter ('Crafted Sword' in every shop) and it would fall in line with how most other skills work in this game. I don't think anyone could argue that the click-fest that is smithing is an engaging endeavour right now.

As it is though, it just feels like Skyrim... crafting hundreds of weapons that you have zero interest in and then suddenly, at the end, you can craft the thing you actually want.

 

[9yearsago]

Yes I would like to have a custom made weapon to my liking but why would I want to craft it myself and why do we have a skill tree for that? We should be able to order a specialized weapon from a master smith in certain towns and it should be expensive since you are getting a custom made weapon. Skill tree seems pointless to me.

 

[paladinx333]

I do like the concept. I simply don't care for the execution. Without mods it's a long grind with entirely too much waiting.

The final straw for me was the inclusion of my crappy grind related creations showing up for sale in towns. Why anyone thought that was a good idea is beyond me. If I make something unique, I want it to stay unique. I don't want to see it for sale everywhere.

It sounded like it could be cool. I tried it once and now I simply ignore it.

 

[Sigismund]

I concur. I like fact we have custom weapons exist and I hope we get custom armour. I just don't like the smithing skill, there's no way that you naturally grind it during gameplay like you do combat skills or leader skills. It just interrupts the flow of play. I'd rather smiths be NPC's that we can commisions pieces from who have their own cultural specialties, skill level, wait times etc.

 

[Apothnesko]

I have to admit, when I first saw that we had smithing I was pretty stoked. And then I tried it out and was utterly floored with mouth agape. The VERY first mod I downloaded was the Smith Forever mod. Now having devoted hours upon hours to smithing I find it utterly horrible in its application. The grind to unlock components is a slog and ridiculous unless you are actually forging something. Which for some unthinkable reason, adds your creation to an item list for tournament rewards and in shops. Now it is just used to get any straggling skill points facilitated by a shoddy leveling system.

TL;DR I love the concept just hate the implementation. Now i think i would rather commission pieces...meh.

 

[Nickname]

Yes I would like to have a custom made weapon to my liking but why would I want to craft it myself and why do we have a skill tree for that? We should be able to order a specialized weapon from a master smith in certain towns and it should be expensive since you are getting a custom made weapon. Skill tree seems pointless to me.

+1
Smithing isn't something a lord would do. But of course a lord would have his own blacksmith, who would make custom weapons and armor.

 

[Sarissofoi]

It should be in game but in form of player paying a smith to do weapon for him.
Sort of gold sink where player pay a gold for custom weapons.
Definitely not as a player skill.
Its grind when RNG not favor you but get few lucky parts and you can level it up fast to 275. Also weapon pricing is broken and you can make easily a weapon that sells for dozens thousands of gold.
Totally unbalanced.

 

[NikitaOnline17]

I hope the idea of having custom weapons remains in some way but I would definitely change how crafting is done a bit.
- should it really be a skill that the player or a follower learns? When it was announced I had kinda assumed you'd be ordering custom weapons from blacksmiths or something.
- if there are going to be part unlocks then it should really be something you gain xp and then choose which part you unlock. RNG part unlocks are irritating if you don't get what you want. I have a 300+ smith on 1.3 with two other smelt/refiners that still hardly have any tier V sword pieces.
- I'd like to see a limited amount of tempering/improving, and it should be very expensive. For example upgrading a normal sword you buy to fine/etc
- having to wait in towns absolutely has to go. At the least it should be any time you're stationary. Or in the case of ordering a sword you order, and come back in a month.

 

[Maximum997]

Okay we have some problems with smitihng:
1) It separated from other game. As a trader you can kill looters, upgrade your troops, grow riding and scouting during your trade runs.
2) Random is just a fkn joke. In that play i grinded 220 smithing and i still cant craft that only one weapon that i want.
3) It has almost no purpose at first levels. Profit from making low tier swords is piteful. All t1-t4 weapons are just a cheep crap that you can buy in shop.

 

[Maximum997]

Also weapon pricing is broken and you can make easily a weapon that sells for dozens thousands of gold.

Becouse cost depends only on damage. Thats all. Only damage matters. Nothing else.

Full t5 sword from thamaskene steel
71 cut
42 pierce
6000 cost

Another t4-t1 sword
116 cut
41 pierce
42000 cost

Another sword one t4 part + all t1.
151 cut damage
68000 cost.

 

[E.M.Baguette]

It needs a lot of balancing, but I love smithing

 

[Kipsta]

It's 100% a companion skill, I wouldn't waste a single point of my main character on this like every other utility skill.

 

[G3n3sis88]

I love the idea of becoming a great smith, but at the moment as others mentioned before it feels quite grindy and for me some kind of flat. It's just waiting for stamina... refining ... wating for stamina ... smelting ... waiting for stamina... forging.... and so on. The fighting skills are gained in very natural way, you fight with the kind of weapons, if you do well you earn points accordingly. What I think, smithing needs such a natural and enjoyable mechanic too!!! Imagine how adorable would it be to enter your own smithy and do animated smithing as kind of different mini challenges / games. This could be much more satisfying then right now. Maybe the difficulty of the mini games could depend on the one hand on your already gained skill points and on the other hand the difficulty your desired weapon has (Please not too easy - if you tryin to forge a weapon way out of your skill you should fail - but maybe you got a good chance for getting a good weapon slightly above you skill level with some effort). Maybe also some kind of mini games for smelting and refining, animated and using the beautiful designed smithies in the cities. Depending on how well you do in the challanges you earn skill and materials.
I really appreaciate the way you can choose parts and work out own designs, but the learing of designs feels some kind of random. If you smelt a hammer you get the design for a golden hand protection?!?
Okay this needs perhaps some rework too, but doesn't feel as important as the whole smithing concept to me. Please keep up the amazing work. Really enjoy your until now.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

I think crafting should be separate form leveling up, just a fun activity that could have some use for making special custom weapons and armors, but not grindy or inflating your level. Have special parts be rare rewards from battles and you just put em together into what you want. FUN.

 

[Because]

I think crafting should be separate form leveling up, just a fun activity that could have some use for making special custom weapons and armors, but not grindy or inflating your level. Have special parts be rare rewards from battles and you just put em together into what you want. FUN.

Have to admit the above seems like a great suggestion for it rather than a skill in itself. I guess it is having it as a skill that is the issue rather than smithing itself. You could keep smelting and refining in place in that case to break unwanted items down for parts to then build ones you wanted if you really wanted to create a specific thing.

 

[Rhyuus]

I like it, it is rewarding if you can get the most effective and best looking weapons in the game this way, but

• at the moment it's too time consuming to level it up and
• it should be possible to craft armor * as well (even the textile materials for it are already in the game and i heared they plan to add plate armor for the late game)
• *Edit: shields, bows, arrows,...