Do you enjoy smithing?

[Clsy]

I always got bored after 2 minutes with this, the order thing doesn't add any fun either, whole thing is extremely repetitive, grind few months irl to craft 1 sword just doesn't make sense to me, and the player exclusive skill tree is questionable too
old gamescom version of smithy could to be much better, cash/&regional based instead of grind based so no one need to crawl through the asylum first

 

[Bjorn The Dead]

Smithing is in the game just for being in the game. It is completely disconnected from the rest of the game.

 

[110951667]

Smithing is completely ruining the Singleplayer experience, and killing any hope of the balance possibility.

Investments like getting a workshop or funding a caravan? Useless! Taxing the peasants or receiving tribute from the defeated kingdoms? Needless! I can make tons and tons of denars via crafting some 2h cleavers in a random town that sells hardwoods. And I don't even need to own a smithing workshop in that town because some random idiot NPC there will just let me use his blacksmith gears and make a great deal of fortune without paying him at least some rents or tips.

I was hoping Smithing in MB2 to provide some advanced mechanic that allows us players to modify our troops. But instead the devs just let its Smithing feature to drag MB2 down to a cheap mobile game. I do have a phone, but please don't use the mobile game design philosophy to design a singleplayer PC game, especially not the great great M&B game.

 

[Honved]

Smithing is something that should primarily be left to NPCs. Recruit or train up a Blacksmith, and you can have them upgrade weapons gradually over time, without having to pay a smith in town to do the job. The skill of the smith would limit the maximum quality that he or she could repair a weapon up to. This would go well with a weapon degradation mechanism, where in battle there's a VERY slim chance for a weapon or armor item to drop in quality by one point when hit (armor) or blocked (weapon). The odds of it happening to the player's equipment in any given battle would be low (or could be an option), but in a large army, there would likely be some damage after a major encounter. A skilled smith could keep the army's equipment up to par, repairing items over time. Ideally, an army on campaign would accrue more damage than the smith could repair in the field, so it would tend to provide one more limit to snowballing, as armies would need to rest and repair in a town or village after a while.

If the player WANTS to RP a blacksmith, I can see where having the possibility in the game isn't necessarily a total waste of development time, but it shouldn't be the primary money-maker, or anything close to it. As it stands, it's extremely unbalanced, but practically nobody would use it if it weren't so lucrative.

 

[MostBlunted]

The best thing about smithing is that it doesn´t hurt the rest of the game.

 

[Takazul]

The best thing about smithing is that it doesn´t hurt the rest of the game.

Except it does when you can abuse it to become Midas. I actually, as a self-imposed rule, only smelt things I make.

I think a really simple fix would be to make stamina regenerate MUCH MUCH more slowly; yet also regen even when you're walking around the map. Maybe up experience gains and lower smelting stamina costs to compensate. Think like 7-14 days to refresh (I use this time frame because it is a standard "mission" time).

 

[MostBlunted]

Except it does when you can abuse it to become Midas. I actually, as a self-imposed rule, only smelt things I make.

True, but it´s your decision. I mean smithing can just be complety ignored and has no impact.

 

[benchwarmer]

True, but it´s your decision. I mean smithing can just be complety ignored and has no impact.

Totally agree with this. Don't do stuff if you feel like it's cheating. I think it's better than nothing. I rather have the option.

 

[svelok]

Smithing is in the game just for being in the game. It is completely disconnected from the rest of the game.

So the thing is, the melee weapons are mostly all built on the crafting engine, under the hood. Smithing just exposes that procedural weapon system to the player.

But I agree, as it stands, smithing is just completely removed from the game loop. And most players who do take advantage of smithing use it as a way to make profit more than as a creative/customization outlet (and yeah some of which is due to how it's implemented, ie, needing to unlock parts / raise skills). The rationale that you can choose not to abuse it would also apply to literally any purely-money-generating mechanic including exploits, but nobody would advocate for deliberately adding a bunch of those to the game so it seems like a thin defense.

 

[Woopzilla]

I think a really simple fix would be to make stamina regenerate MUCH MUCH more slowly; yet also regen even when you're walking around the map. Maybe up experience gains and lower smelting stamina costs to compensate. Think like 7-14 days to refresh (I use this time frame because it is a standard "mission" time).

I agree with this line of thinking. I just find it boring to have to smith and smelt a thousands of items to finally be able to make what I want (even with the new unlock system).

But personally, I always thought it should work like reading books in Warband. You don't need to unlock parts like some mini-game, but can choose any design you want. Then whenever you rest, your character makes progress to completing the weapon you want. But the harder the design and the lower your skill, the longer it takes... so it's best to start simple until you are a competent smith.

The most unfun part is definitely the stamina system. It needs to regen while travelling and sieging, so that whenever you stop at a town, you can do a bit more smithing. Right now it forces you waste a lot of time waiting in a town.

Smitihng always did feel like an MMO skill... a grindy skill from Runescape or something.

 

[FizCap]

feel like the early game should just be nerfed so its not a money making machine, as your character progresses then smithing should become profitable. Didn't you have to be an apprentice as a blacksmith for like decades to even become good at it, doesn't make sense your character can do it in 2 weeks

 

[Spulor]

I would like it to work kind of the opposite as it is right now. You have all parts fully unlocked from the beginning and for example you try to smith a endgame sword with eagle head pommel and you will get a metal stick with deformed chicken head. With your progress it will become more like the weapon you actually want to craft and it would be awesome to finally see that shiny blade you made.

But to be realistic

+stamina reg while moving
+NPC Smiths to order from
+reasonable item prices

and I guess it would be ok.

 

[benchwarmer]

I agree with this line of thinking. I just find it boring to have to smith and smelt a thousands of items to finally be able to make what I want (even with the new unlock system).

But personally, I always thought it should work like reading books in Warband. You don't need to unlock parts like some mini-game, but can choose any design you want. Then whenever you rest, your character makes progress to completing the weapon you want. But the harder the design and the lower your skill, the longer it takes... so it's best to start simple until you are a competent smith.

The most unfun part is definitely the stamina system. It needs to regen while travelling and sieging, so that whenever you stop at a town, you can do a bit more smithing. Right now it forces you waste a lot of time waiting in a town.

Smitihng always did feel like an MMO skill... a grindy skill from Runescape or something.

This sounds good to me on gaining smithing skills in different way. (Either way really don't matter to me).
I do not like the current stamina gain system also. Nothing worse than wasting time in town for no apparent reason.

 

[RozBritanicus]

I can't stand smithing its boring and un-balances the economics of game because i can make 10 two handed swords word 10,000 to 30,000 gold each then sell them . What would have been better is Master weapon and armour smiths you can create the armour you want the smith tells you haow much and how long we still could have used the weapon parts for selection. This way there would always be money going in cities and not coming out. They could even split part by culture and the smith say i got that part but i know a smith in (city) who as the part your looking for bring it to me. This way there would something to work towards without the really boring part.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

Aahhh two truths:

The best thing about smithing is that it doesn´t hurt the rest of the game.

Yes, it can be ignored. Long Glaive is too strong already, no need to try and craft better. Money is easy to get through battle, no reason to try ot smith for money.

Smithing is completely ruining the Singleplayer experience, and killing any hope of the balance possibility.

This is many players opinion, even after nerfs. However again I would say you can make money through war easily and it causes the same problem of passive income seeming meaningless by comparison.

I don't smith because I think it's boring and waiting for stamina is a waste of CAMPAIGN TIME, you can spend that time pursuing your goals and make plenty of money in the mean time. While you were waiting he was thinging the thing! DOn't wait, thing some things!

I look at smithing as a DOUBLE NOOB TRAP:
Trap 1: "I can make so much money EZ" yes, you can sit in town and make some money without fighting but WHY? While fighting battles you also progress your goals and gain skills for your clan. Not to mention any excess money beyond "enough" offers no advantage at all in this game, while gaining skills and martial tempo does.

Trap2: "I get skills so I gets more skills" People like getting the extra attributes from the smithing perks... but what is the point in getting Spending attributes to be able to get perks for other attributes if NONE of these perks in the attributes are as good as ones on other attributes you could have raised instead?

Some players just don't comprehend the value of campaign time and can't weigh the effects of perks to understand why "more" isn't better then "just better perks".

 

[LuciusDomitiusAurelianus]

I like it. You autists need to stop having it removed lol.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

True, but it´s your decision. I mean smithing can just be complety ignored and has no impact.

Totally agree with this. Don't do stuff if you feel like it's cheating. I think it's better than nothing. I rather have the option.

Just because you don't use it doesn't mean it doesn't affect the game. You'll always be thinking of how much easier it is to make money smithing in the early game instead of grinding looters, or running trade routes or whatever. If an exploit like that exists, it takes extra willpower not to use it, making the grinding that much more annoying because now you're only doing it for roleplay purposes.

I actually enjoy smithing, but only because it breaks the economy so much. The weapons it makes are only good if you max out the sliders. I think the entire stamina system needs to be removed, instead just make it a way for making custom player / companion weapons that get sold for less than regular weapons. The stamina system is insanely stupid, it feels like a sleazy mobile game where you have to wait 3 hours to get anything done.

 

[Csatádi]

Smithing wasn't created to be fun, but as a grinding process. I sent many feedbacks to TW, some of them about smithing. The devs liked and implemented some and disliked others. You might send yours in the feedback section, so the devs could see them. I think the system definitely could be changed to be more fun.
Anyway I liked most of the crafting orders, and sometimes making recipes to my needs, but not the grinding process.
Luckily we got cheat codes if we want to skip most of the grind. We can unlock all recipes, give us smithing xp, or get items directly from the premade list.

 

[Senko]

I like smithing. It's very comfy and one of the only things to do in the game besides battle lol

 

[Antaeus]

I don't remember ever having smithed anything.

The lack of it hasn't ruined my game. On the flipside, I'm sure those who enjoy it don't have their game ruined either.

Big *shrug*