Make crafting a puzzle game!

[HarveyMilk]

I saw someone griping about how boring cannith crafting is in another thread, and I sympathized. Personally, I never bothered to do it for longer than about a minute. It's just not for me in its current form.

And then it hit me.

Add a puzzle game alternative! Even make 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 puzzle matches, where the winner gets more crafting xp. DDO has always been about having to think and solve puzzles, rather than mind-numbing button mashing. Let's see that in the crafting!

A fun puzzle game is exactly what DDO needs. They could even leave the current system in place, nearly exactly as is, and add a puzzle game option, for more risk/reward, and I'd be all over it. Then people who don't like puzzles AT ALL are happy, and the rest of us would be happy too.

Doooo it! =D

From later in the thread:

Isn't crafting already a puzzle game?

......

But its already plenty puzzling without making it still more complicated.

No, my suggestion is not to scrap the entire thing and make it more complicated.

Here are the two real points I've sussed out of these posts.

1) Changing it would be too hard/time-consuming/distracting for developers.

This is a common argument against suggestions and not always true. In this case, because I'm not asking them to do anything but add a puzzle game alternative, no, I don't think it would be too hard. Yes, I demand fun in my games. And normally I wouldn't bother with suggestions, but there are too many things I like about DDO to stop playing.

2) A puzzle game doesn't fit

Puzzles DO fit in D&D, in fact, it's a defining characteristic. An MMORPG, by its very nature, can't recreate the true impromtu magic of D&D because there is no live DM to judge creative ideas as successes or failures with D20 rolls. So, instead, we have a combat system that breaks down at the 20th level (because of slavish adherence to D20, when 2D20 and 3D20 would REALLY help). And we have puzzles in quests, some required for completion, some required for bonus loot.

A puzzle game would certainly fit in with House C. A crafting house society game. This is how they have FUN. All work and no play... etc...

And, for the record, I have never ever played puzzle quest and never even heard of it until someone posted the name here in this thread.

More thoughtful responses and /signed pls