Draccus
10-28-2008, 12:33 PM
I consider myself a pretty intelligent guy. I've got a degree in engineering and years of professional experience solving complex problems and reading and writing technical documents. It took me hours of studying to understand DDOs crafting system.
After finally figuring it out, I went back and read the guides again to see why I struggled to understand them. I read the forums and was relieved to find that I'm not the only person who had trouble grasping the basics of the crafting system. The main user-written guide is a fantastic collection of the details of crafting but I think it fails to properly describe the basic crafting process.
It feels like someone asked for the instructions for how to operate an oven and was handed the recipe for making Thanksgiving dinner.
Just a few additional lines at the start of the guide would have made the entire process MUCH clearer to me. Something like this would have saved me hours:
Basic crafting steps:
1. Create your blank item, known as a "Greensteel" item. This item will be crafted at the Altar of Fecundity in Merida using ingredients gathered in the Vale of Twilight. See recipes for specifics.
2. Upgrade your item at the Altar of Invasion in The Shroud using ingredients gathered in the Shroud. This upgrade will add one effect to your item and is known as Tier I. Effects include elemental damage, AC bonuses, spell points, etc. See recipes for specifics.
3. Upgrade your item at the Altar of Subjegation in The Shroud using ingredients gathered in the Shroud. This upgrade will add one effect to your item and is known as Tier II. Effects include elemental burst damage and improvments over the bonuses you added in Tier I. Depending on the combination of bonuses you chose in Tier I and II, your item will also get a bonus effect.
4. Upgrade your item at the Altar of Devastation in The Shroud using ingredients gathered in the Shroud. This upgrade will add one effect to your item and is known as Tier III. Effects include elemental blast damage and improvments over the bonuses you added in Tier I and II. Depending on the combination of bonuses you chose in Tier I, II, and III, you may get another bonus effect on your item. Your item is now complete.
It took me forever to figure out that you can only upgrade an item one time at each altar and that you can only pick one upgrade from the list. This simple, basic process would have helped me immensely.
Or...maybe it's just me?
After finally figuring it out, I went back and read the guides again to see why I struggled to understand them. I read the forums and was relieved to find that I'm not the only person who had trouble grasping the basics of the crafting system. The main user-written guide is a fantastic collection of the details of crafting but I think it fails to properly describe the basic crafting process.
It feels like someone asked for the instructions for how to operate an oven and was handed the recipe for making Thanksgiving dinner.
Just a few additional lines at the start of the guide would have made the entire process MUCH clearer to me. Something like this would have saved me hours:
Basic crafting steps:
1. Create your blank item, known as a "Greensteel" item. This item will be crafted at the Altar of Fecundity in Merida using ingredients gathered in the Vale of Twilight. See recipes for specifics.
2. Upgrade your item at the Altar of Invasion in The Shroud using ingredients gathered in the Shroud. This upgrade will add one effect to your item and is known as Tier I. Effects include elemental damage, AC bonuses, spell points, etc. See recipes for specifics.
3. Upgrade your item at the Altar of Subjegation in The Shroud using ingredients gathered in the Shroud. This upgrade will add one effect to your item and is known as Tier II. Effects include elemental burst damage and improvments over the bonuses you added in Tier I. Depending on the combination of bonuses you chose in Tier I and II, your item will also get a bonus effect.
4. Upgrade your item at the Altar of Devastation in The Shroud using ingredients gathered in the Shroud. This upgrade will add one effect to your item and is known as Tier III. Effects include elemental blast damage and improvments over the bonuses you added in Tier I and II. Depending on the combination of bonuses you chose in Tier I, II, and III, you may get another bonus effect on your item. Your item is now complete.
It took me forever to figure out that you can only upgrade an item one time at each altar and that you can only pick one upgrade from the list. This simple, basic process would have helped me immensely.
Or...maybe it's just me?