Crafting, First Go-Round
Spent a little time playing with the Vanguard crafting system last night, and I am rather impressed. The system itself is a bit boring at the low levels I'm currently playing at, but I can see the possibilities for when things get more interesting.
One of the basic mechanics is something called "work orders"; they're basically crafting quests that give you crafting XP (yeah, did I mention that your crafting level is entirely independent of your adventuring, aka "killing stuff", level?). I discovered that I had made an error in that I'd been taking work orders for both specialties of my basic craft: I wanted to do Outfitting, which covers tailoring and leatherwork, because I wanted to be able to make bags (bag space being the #1 "thing everyone runs out of", in my experience with this kind of game). But once I hit 10th level and have to specialize, I won't be able to do leatherworking any more, so points put into those skills will be wasted. Fortunately I'm not screwed, as reallocating skill points is free. Hence, no real point in doing leatherwork work orders.
I've discovered also, the Internet being the wonderful thing that it is, that I can wear more than one toolbelt, so that if I end up needing a special tool to fix a complication (something that goes wrong during crafting, makes it harder to finish the item), I can have it rather than being forced to abandon the item and lose my raw materials.
The number one thing that impresses me about Vanguard crafting, however, is a simple one: it's profitable. When you turn in a work order, you get money--more money than the components cost you, by nearly an order of magnitude. The "utilities" for crafting--stuff like "Cleanser" and "Solvent" and "Thread"--are 5 copper for 25 charges, and you use maybe 10 charges per item; meanwhile, the rewards for the lowest-level work orders are up to 15 copper per, depending on the quality of the item. This is...well, anyone who's done crafting in pretty much any other MMORPG knows why it's fabulous, and if you haven't I doubt I can explain it to you. And crafted items are generally better than more dropped items. How rockin' is that?