How important is it to you in an MMO?

When I made the first set of Adamant armor for me and my friend Brad when we competed RuneScape As a high school student, the sense of success I feel is something I’m not sure I’ve recreated in a game since. It was a struggle as someone who had very little time to play (had to share a computer with my brother at the time) to grind through enough to be able to create this armor, and finally make it. It’s an achievement that fascinates me. in my early days as an MMO.

I’ve spent the summer making Law Runes and running resources to create armor for new players when I find them. When Lord of the Rings Online came out and I moved my MMO time to Middle-earth, I also tried crafting there, being the former GM Woodworker Mines of Moria was released (a feat for someone who was starting to hate resource crushing at the time).

However, by far, and crafting is one of the least interactive things with mechanics in a game for me. I tried it in NIGHT, before and after the industry changed and I didn’t like it very much. Lord of the Rings Online Crafting gets pretty boring as it’s almost exactly the same since its launch in 2007. Even games like New world can’t keep my interest, except for paranormal cooking, and crafting is essential to a few quests in the MMO.

It makes me wonder what has changed. Is it better to record my time spent in game, at least for me, for story completion and quest honing than crafting a new item? Part of that might have to do with the fact that friends and clan members always max out quickly, making it easier to find the top tier stuff. From an economic point of view, I have never been a real decent trader, so making money from the Auction House through handcrafted goods has never been a priority.

I don’t know, I guess I haven’t found something that really appeals to me since those early days. I feel much more accomplished now when I finish a story I skipped or cleared the quest list. Or finally beat the raid I was stuck in. Craftsmanship hasn’t intrigued me since those early days.

It makes me wonder how important crafting is to your casual MMO player. Is that a feature you’re really interested in as an MMO, or just another mechanic you’ll interact with if you have time? Or are you like me and mostly ignore it unless the MMO forces it on you (enter New world)? Let us know in the comments section.

Featured images via FibroJedi