I would like to suggest that we consider making a change to the approach to crafting professions, mainly as it currently would relate to flexibility in writing. I feel it would be good to revert to a mechanic wherein characters no longer need to turn to a player-owned character for particular crafting needs. As crafted items were prior to the change, as far as I can remember (forgive me, it's been a long time), the character earning a particular item would pay only as many rupees as would be necessary to procure any constituent materials, as well as any master ore that would be necessary. Requiring an additional price to be paid for the act of crafting the desired item may be a new addition. That much, I can't quite recall. In any case, I feel like it might be best to simply relegate crafting professions to the same role as any other profession, which would make them more or less labels to gain additional rupees per quest or dungeon. Crafting would no longer have a true function in allowing players to gain certain items any differently than anyone else. That would leave the specifics of how each character comes upon a particular item up to the writer's imagination; obviously, it wouldn't make sense for a character with no background in smithing to forge his own sword, but the writer could just as easily have him find another character who would be capable of performing the task. This would lend itself to more flexibility with quests involving, say, then tracking down of a venerated, old smith who might have gone off to live in the Lost Woods some years ago, or some other journey to earn a desired item which would be more up to the writer's tastes. It would also remove the need for there to already be a character of a particular crafting level in order for any player characters to acquire certain weapons or items they might desire. I suspect, of course, that such a change would require an additional mechanic to govern cost increases for more and more heavily-upgraded items such that coming upon more powerful weapons is not a simple, linear process.
There's several reasons why I'm against this idea, and I'll go through your points one by one. This is incorrect. There was always a Crafting profession, but it functioned differently. This is it below: Additionally, the materials were much more limited and generally more expensive. Ex. Master Ore did not exist as a treasure until quite a while after the current system was in place. As you can imagine, this created a lot of potential balance issues both in terms of OP and UPness, while also severely limiting the crafter because you only had a max of 3 materials, if you sunk the roop into it. This is not actually a rule, it is what some crafters due to see a return for their efforts and the money they have sunk into it. But there is nothing stating they are required to, a crafter can make someone an item for free(barring the cost of materials) if they so choose. The main issue with this is that it creates a big window of imbalance. Crafting as a system allows for a lot of really powerful items to be made, especially with Botany, and usually for fairly cheap too. You can also get a lot of items for a lot cheaper. Having to purchase a certain number of levels to make certain items acts as a sort of balancer to this system, and so it requires an investment to be able to see these cheap returns, and this is also why most crafters charge a (very) small fee for their items. To change this is to basically say "Just remove the crafting system and its materials entirely". It is not as simple as just allowing anyone to make crafted items without having to purchase any levels. This idea goes against the very philosophy of roleplaying and the site. Roleplaying is about encouraging players to interact with one another, to cover another's flaws with their strengths. The crafting system does just that. You want a crafted item? Go meet with a player who can craft it, actually interact with them. By just saying anyone can make it, you're removing this element entirely and subjugating it to NPCs. I do agree if you want some standard item, like a basic sword, it should be perfectly fine to go to an NPC, but treasures are a different story. Again, this goes back to the balance issue I mentioned. And sure, you could argue with this "Well you can still find another PC who is a smith and RP with them that way," but at that point it's the same thing basically. You're just arguing it should be cheaper then, which I don't agree with. But I don't think this is an issue, for the reasons I stated above about balance and character interactions. Plus, if you have an issue with there not being an appropriate level crafter, you can work towards it yourself. And yes, that requires an investment, but the entire system is about give and take. You choose what to spend your rupees on, and lose out on something else in return, that is how a healthily designed system works. You get a lot out of crafting by investing in it, so it's not like you're wasting your rupees or anything, generally. And if you feel like you do, that's fine, but obviously many other members feel like it's a worthy investment considering how many people have bought crafting levels(Specifically Clooby and Guy, too, who have the highest leveled crafters on the site, but lots of other players have lower leveled ones too). It would not be that easy. So as an example, let's talk about the most standard strong weapon on the site. Goron Iron + Splinter Crystal, which also requires Master Ore. This is probably one of the strongest weapons you can make on the site with reason, if not the strongest. This requires 100(Goron Iron 40r, Splinter Crystal 30r, Master Ore 30r) rupees to buy(assuming weaponsmith lv 10), and requires a minimum of weaponsmith level 10. It can be slightly more expensive if purchased at an earlier level, but 10 is the minimum level to craft it so for simplicity sakes let's assume that. To reach level 10, it requires 570 rupees. Quite an investment, right? To make one weapon, it's 670 rupees? Except you can make as many of those as you want for 100r per, which is about a quest and a half, assuming no professions. And virtually any other weapon imaginable that doesn't have pretty much every material in it or goron iron + master ore(which by itself is 70r). Of note, master ore is only required to combine materials with goron iron and mirror silver. So this gives a goron iron/splinter crystal treasure a total net worth of 670r, in terms of investment. If the system prices were to be adjusted, they would have to be upwards of 150r per treasure to match this, and that is accounting for the fact that you have put no investment into the system and can only make one copy with that cost. And this is an extreme example. Most good weapons are much, much cheaper, and outfitter/especially botanist make items that are far cheaper, but just as good, if not arguably better(And I would argue so in botanist's case). Especially botanist, which is incredibly versatile and probably one of the best investments on the site in terms of return and what you can do with it. In short, I don't think the system should be changed. These are items that require an investment to make, but the payoff for investing in it is massive, and you can make some money back by charging a fee for your services if you choose. You also get a small amount of bonus rupees from it, which is not significant, but will add up certainly. The reason not everyone invests in the system is because they choose to prioritize other treasures for their characters, which is fine. But again, HC's treasure system is give and take- when you choose something you're, at least temporarily, giving something else up in return.
Yeah, nevermind this. We talked the concept through at some length in the shoutbox, and chances are high that a system of properly-scaled costs would be much more trouble (for the players) than would be justified by any improvements I could even argue might be made.
