The only way long crafting times make sense is if the game introduces automation. Without that, dramatically reduce them.
It also makes sense if a significant portion of the playerbase enjoy the machine-tending minigame and if the timers provide real meaningful economic and play style variety.
This doesnāt appear to be the case, but it is another way it could make sense.
Right. It doesnāt appear to be the case.
I love that post. It really turned me around on the issue.
I fully approve of the implementation of crafting times. Itās a classic mechanic and vs. some other tactics Iāve seen to keep servers from being flooded with crafted items (and not to forget mega-instant-leveling) itās one of the most logical / best.
With that said, all it took was Jamesā response to my post to turn me 180 on the issue. Even though a massive percentage of the outcry through the years is really just @Dhusk 
They should just delete that ā ā ā ā (the timers) and see if it helps.
1 Like
Quick update, all. Still two and a half more days before I can play the game. Have fun!
EDIT: /s
Iām not trying to solve this issue, just saying that I agree itās a big hinderance to some, along with a few observations. I do think there are some issues that take priority over this one, but this topic is about crafting.
The reason Iām not trying to solve it is I think the current leveling system would prevent any time changes from producing a good outcome for the entire community.
If crafting times were eased up a bit, it would also apply to players that could change the economy with one round of mass crafting. That would effect NPs & casual players by lowering the value of their items on the market, even further. This scenario inevitably happens in most game economies, at some point.
I know they have their philosophy about it & reasons, which is cool. Iām pretty sure James mentioned tinkering with the machines a few times though. I have no idea what changes they were considering.
1 Like
To be clear, I do not consider crafting timers to be the biggest issue with the game - just one of many issues and one Iām particularly passionate about (obviously).
The NPE and a lack of meaningful endgame content (a lot of which was promised/discussed/etc are far bigger problems that need solved.
EDIT: BRB - somebody just bought out my entire shop stands of diamonds and rubies!
1 Like
Iām not arguing against this, but just an observation.
Removing timers will dramatically reduce the demand for gems and moderately reduce the demand for a handful of metals, since it would reduce the number of machine setups and fully coiled machines required by all players.
Basically, one set of machines would be enough for almost everything. If you do a lot of bulk manufacturing of a variety of goods or colored goods, it might be beneficial to have one machine for each color?
Then, as people reduce their machine count, they will supply the market with their downsized machines and coils, so new players would likely be able to easily get them for very very cheap (assuming they can find a portal network/mall and figure out how to use the shop finder.
Anyway, so then the reduction in gem demand would reduce the cost of gems, reducing the cost of gem-based tools.
Another interesting effect would be that nearly every manufactured good would effectively have the cost of the sum of the materials used to craft it, since there would be basically no friction for āI donāt feel like crafting thisā. Actually, if you consider the XP gained from crafting, most manufactured goods would be impossible to sell at-cost since you can just buy the materials for the same value and get XP. The only exception might be colored goods, but even then, someone could undercut a colored concrete shop by opening a colored sand shop since the two items are just a handful of clicks different from each other.
That would flatten the market quite a bit. Itās possible that this would increase demand of machines since non-crafters would suddenly start crafting more, so maybe gem market would balance from that? Hard to say, since that would depend on how many players donāt craft their own stuff in the current system.
Another interesting thing about this would be to see what would happen to forged items. With no timers, the main āI donāt want to do thatā for most players will be forging. Does this change the demand of forged goods? Would people who like crafting shift over to forging despite it being an RNG nightmare? I donāt have an opinion on that. Who knows.
Again, not criticizing the idea or baiting for responses to attack, justā¦ thinking through the full effects of a change like this.
It would certainly cause a major disruption to the entire market, but it wouldnāt be the first time we had a major disruption, so the question is if the new market and new gameplay would be better overall or not.
LOL I was trying to ignore this thread, tbh thereās 50+ posts I never read. But it got funny.
Yeah I legit feel like youāve started ā¦ well more than half of the threads on this topic. But honestly every time, they fill up with people supporting the idea.
Justifying or explaining the mechanic and itās various assumed purposes, or the reasons that other studios might use it is a certain kind of fun, but if they really donāt feel itās a crucial time gate (as directly stated by James) then it would obviously be a very popular change.
Just do it.
1 Like
I might come back to any of those points after I re-process. Plenty of valid points. Still my guess is itās all a moot point. Timers, if removed in one update, will be restored to confusion and outcry in the next update, possibly a rush patch.
Not for any of those reasons 
The first youtube video of someone cracking out a thousand levels in under 5 minutes, imagine the screams.
EDIT:
1 Like
I imagine youād have to adjust crafting XP a bit to account but, honestly, levels are really easy to come by through other means. I get a level every 15 minutes or so mining.
btw - if ever anyone wanted to actually talk through some of these things Iām always happy to hop in a Boundless Discord voice channel and civilly discuss.
1 Like
R.I.P. crafting as a āprofessionā, really. I feel.
But if it really adds to engagement and retention thatās fine, they have to clarify that an MMO isnāt necessarily an RPG all the time.
Maybe the people who like voxel building donāt like to ābe craftersā as much. Nothing morally wrong with that. I would think both personally ( as a developer who may have some attachment) and as a business decision, itās worth a shot. At least when looked at as āversus failing out of the marketā.
There is a lot more to this, to be done right, than just setting all of the timers to zero. Without a team I imagine itās super low priority. But on a list of things to try, Iāve been fully convinced that this would be worth exploring.
1 Like
Facts /10chars
Iām confused about why you canāt civilly discuss on the discussion forums that you posted a discussion thread about them on.
You always know where to find me 
Lol I love that you took the time to explain making a pizza to a chefā¦. I do appreciate the time though hehehe.
A game should be something you can pickup when you have time IRL to play- Iām similar to @CaptAmerica1611 sometimes logging in to build something is not possible due to crafting times- eg I wanna make filagree - I have no issue for the process but the times are the joke.
Blockquote @Rydralain
While your suggestion is true itās also not.
If the player take the time to build up spark, materials and has the setup - the factory is already in place which means the wholesaler does not exist as such.
If you are only relying on the pizza lol to be made you only require the labour to put together the product and wait for the final process to be completed. Majority of the time spent in getting the product to this stage is where the time should be spent.
This is exactly how crafting in Boundless works.
Pizza :
- Mix dough ingredients
- Wait for proofing
- Shape dough, add topings
- Wait for baking
Iron Bar:
- Insert coal into compactor
- Wait for coal to compress
- Take compact coal and iron ore to furnace
- Wait for baking
Right, so if your Boundless factory has a flow and good ratio of machines for what youāre working on, you wonāt have āIām waiting 3 days for coalā, just like the RL wholesale manufacturer likely has a specific product they are already making and you can just order it JIT.
I think in boundless you need to consider the time to acquire the raw ingredients as well in your equation, where as IRL the massive population and industrialized global agriculture economy makes that much less of a consideration.