Changing exp yields from crafting

[Stranzini]

Har har! We non-fighters who are annoyed at how often our axes and shovels break would be quite amused to see what would happen if those katanas and dwarven war axes had a similar chance to break over an ogre's head! *chuckles*

[Faldred]

Dorganath - 1/12/2006  3:14 AM    The system which balanced realism with a lack of frustration was that where the items would not break but degrade.  Repair kits would be available, each with different costs depending on how much repair was needed and what, exactly you were repairing (in terms of materials).

   In the context of crafting, did this idea consider that the repair process (or at least the manufacture of repair kits) be part of the crafting discipline?  I.e., someone who can make an iron sword should be reasonably capable of repairing one, but a rogue using an iron dagger probably isn't capable of repairing it, even with a "kit".    Along this line... perhaps two levels of "kits" can be made: 1) a "maintenance kit" that anyone can use to help keep their items in good repair, as long as they're not too degraded, and 2) a "repair kit" that would require certain levels of crafting skill in the appropriate craft to apply to an item, for items that have degraded beyond simple maintenance skills.  Each type would be a consumable item, meaning that more would have to be made/purchased on a periodic basis.  This would also probably help with the desired economic effects.    More durable materials may need less care or wear out less often, but would likely be more costly to maintain when the need arises.    The way I see it, the benefits of this approach are:    

Adds realism in that items have to be cared for, and can be damaged or otherwise degraded
Avoids a "glut" in items from crafting, as durable (non-consumable) goods crafters will probably spend less time making new items, and more time making maintenance and repair kits
Helps the economy additionally by introducing some type of recurring cost to keep a "gold glut" manageable
[/list]   Possible drawbacks:

Complex to script/server lag?
Might be a hardship on new characters -- gold is often a problem, and for realism, hickory/copper/leather are probably less durable materials
[/list]

[Dorganath]

We more or less decided against weapon/armor/item repair as a craft for one simple reason. One of the primary motivators behind a degradation system is to remove gold from the economy. By having it be a craft, wewouldn't remove gold; we wouldonly shift it to those who do repair work....which ultimately does nothing for the economic issues we would be trying to address.
  Repair/maintenance kits were defined and is probably the direction things will go if/when this type of system is implemented. It's important, for obvious reasons, to allow people to repair and maintain their items while "in the field". Maintenance kits would be cheaper and do lessfor the item. Repair kits would be able to fully fix an item, but would be far more costly.
  Repair/maintenance systems are still being discussed.I would guess they will not make it into this current version of Layonara. Whether they make it into the next version is still uncertain.
  Thanks for your comments.