BeyondInsanity
Recruit
I have been experimenting with the new smithing system in 1.6.0 beta and I like the new changes and the orders system. A good start. However, there are few essential problems with smithing and I would like to address them and suggest some changes.
The biggest problem currently is the unlocking components grind. There are so many orders that would be easy to make but even after smithing in 140-150, I have barely any components (tier I) even though I have done several orders and some free builds. Furthermore, the unlocks are so random and it does not make sense that I get tier V to unlock at smithing lvl 25. It would also make a lot of sense that when you are smelting items it would reveal components of that weapon type and not a random type.
Also, currently, there are a lot of orders that you do not have any components at the start, for example, throwing axes/throwing knives, two-handed blunt weapons/Pikes etc.
My suggestion for the future is to rework the smithing workshops to a separate from other workshops where the shop would be upgradable. For example, let the player buy a smithing workshop after getting a minimum of 50 in smithing perk and the first smithing workshop would be Tier I. It would unlock at least 1 component for each category at first and in time it would produce more unlocks ("research rate") in tier I groups. After getting your smithing perk to e.g., to 100 you can buy an upgrade to your workshop to tier II, which would once again unlock at least 1 component in tier II categories and similarly reveal in time more. And this would continue to the last tier, similarly, upgrades, of course, getting more expensive.
I was also thinking that if you have a smithing companion and would assign it to the governor spot (where the workshop is located) it would increase this “research rate” by some percentage and perhaps do crafting orders automatically (that the perk lvl allows), giving a small cut to you. These workshops should of course be limited so that you do not get the unlocks too fast.
Oh, and one quick suggestion as well, could you add crafting stamina (for the main hero) to the UI in the campaign map, there is currently a lot of space in the Extend/Shrink Map Bar at the bottom of the right corner. It would help a lot so I do not have to guess when it is full again.
Hope this suggestion was clear enough to follow.
The biggest problem currently is the unlocking components grind. There are so many orders that would be easy to make but even after smithing in 140-150, I have barely any components (tier I) even though I have done several orders and some free builds. Furthermore, the unlocks are so random and it does not make sense that I get tier V to unlock at smithing lvl 25. It would also make a lot of sense that when you are smelting items it would reveal components of that weapon type and not a random type.
Also, currently, there are a lot of orders that you do not have any components at the start, for example, throwing axes/throwing knives, two-handed blunt weapons/Pikes etc.
My suggestion for the future is to rework the smithing workshops to a separate from other workshops where the shop would be upgradable. For example, let the player buy a smithing workshop after getting a minimum of 50 in smithing perk and the first smithing workshop would be Tier I. It would unlock at least 1 component for each category at first and in time it would produce more unlocks ("research rate") in tier I groups. After getting your smithing perk to e.g., to 100 you can buy an upgrade to your workshop to tier II, which would once again unlock at least 1 component in tier II categories and similarly reveal in time more. And this would continue to the last tier, similarly, upgrades, of course, getting more expensive.
I was also thinking that if you have a smithing companion and would assign it to the governor spot (where the workshop is located) it would increase this “research rate” by some percentage and perhaps do crafting orders automatically (that the perk lvl allows), giving a small cut to you. These workshops should of course be limited so that you do not get the unlocks too fast.
Oh, and one quick suggestion as well, could you add crafting stamina (for the main hero) to the UI in the campaign map, there is currently a lot of space in the Extend/Shrink Map Bar at the bottom of the right corner. It would help a lot so I do not have to guess when it is full again.
Hope this suggestion was clear enough to follow.
