I really like this concept, especially number 1.
@Zouls I don´t think that adding a slider for heat and a 2nd item slot (fuel,ore,essence) would be too much extra work.
But as @Zouls already said:
Is pretty naive, I´m pretty sure a wiki page with all combinations would be online within 5 minutes after launch.
gw2 is not much better at this point. in the beginning a have leveled my twinks with crafting, i gave them 8 professions and maxed them out to 400 and they got lvl 80 in 1 day (today this is even more ridiculous with the foliants). but while we are not talking about that, i thinks the discovery mechanic was useless too. once you tried every combination you had no need to ever craft this item agin … i never ever used a copper part again after i left that tier behind me and copper or iron or even mythril was totaly useless a long time. than, some day ascanded materials come into the game and they needed so huge amounts of lower materials that it was ridiculous (i’m sure you know what i’m talking about) … i don’t think this is a good example in any kind.
EIDT:
i think @Havok40k likes to say that it should be “skill” based in some kind. eg. you need to press the “use ingrediant” at a special time that depends on the material / metal / temperature you are melting. if you use it wrong you only get trash. like a real weapon smith does it in his forge.
Now Boundless progression system is quite different so it could probably work.
Also @Zouls does not argue that we should have the same system but that he would like some kind of research where you discover how to make stuff by messing around with materials. Meaning that people cannot make everything at the start but what you can craft is not necesarily tied to level.
I agree with you about GW2’s crafting system, then again I guess it’s made to be extremely simple for the sake of the game being mostly catered to casuals like me. I don’t know how hard it is to find out the recipes for the new legendaries though.
That would be something I’d wish for but sadly I don’t think we’ll get it any time soon if at all. It’s just so much more work and I also think there are a lot less people who enjoy such a crafting system.
Wow, great feedback! Sorry I kinda had to let this one stew for a while before getting to replies, I’m not feeling too swell lately and decided to get some rest. I think for the most part, @Zouls captured everybody’s thoughts fairly well, so I’ll respond to his post primarily.
Allow me to counter this with “exhibit A”
I really don’t want to discredit our dev team’s ability to introduce complex mechanics into the gameplay, and while my concept may be over the top, it is still just a concept and not a fully worked out device. as @Vastar put it, step 2 may indeed be too much, but it could lead to other ideas or fun mechanics.
Quite true, external resources would make this a joke in no time. At the very least, you would have that mad scramble in the early days to document every possible outcome and effect much like we had when crafting was first implemented. (those damn heal/ember blocks took far to long to figure out!)
Thank you for your fair consideration, and while I’m not asking for 1000 weapon types, I am effectively asking for 1000 weapon outcomes so that is a fair comparison, though I think this may result in far less effort modeling and rendering than 1000 actual different weapons.
That’s actually not something I had in mind, though I could possibly see it done in a manner similar to Gears of War’s action reload system. Not sure that this would really add any meaningful gameplay in this sense, however.
Now, let me ask you guys a question. If you were to use a system like this, would you feel that you are actually “learning” the profession? Do you think that this system could be more fun than the typical “use 2 ingots and a stick to craft a sword” style of crafting? Since that was the goal behind this concept, let me know how you imagine it would be received if it was a real thing.
First, let me say that your presentation was fantastic. Very eloquent. I too like parts of the idea, and to answer the question above. I would like something more intricate than the current “4 sticks + stone = infinite stone hammer”. However, I’m hopeful the current system is just a placeholder for more advanced mechanics involving skills and infrastructure.
Part of the fun of building is trying to get everything you need together in the “best” configuration. You need a base. place to do your crafting, and store your goods. Portals will give you the means to avoid the “its just too far away from home to keep exploring” effect. So I like the idea of a more involved crafting system.
However, again there is the question of playability and tedium. As already mentioned most of the “secrets” will be documented and helper videos made within days if not hours of release, so the system would need to be more than just for the sake of “discovery”. As you say certain recipes might give certain nifty results, but there needs to be a way to keep the “knowledge” (skill) in-game or it just becomes an exercise in finding the right website.
Even making “doing” a requirement in-game to retain the recipe, won’t work with it documented on the net.
Sliders on furnace to control heat, adding effects like quenching in oil, water, or essences… recipes that also require ordered steps. All could add depth or tedium. Depending upon how the system is implemented.
However, If it also involved a skill system (higher levels = more durability, better damage, better chance of success for volatile combos, etc.) that does give a means of representing a “profession”, one simply wouldn’t invest in the levels if there weren’t benefits. And if there were enough skills, there would be too many for anyone to collect them all even with infinite xp, Thus leading to specialization… and it wouldn’t necessarily mean that you can only get a “Duraspark spear of concussion” by making it yourself. You should be able to buy them. But crafting would be cheaper after the investment in the profession.
However, xp and skills may not be in your vision of a sandbox… To me “sandbox” simply means that everything in the world is collectable, has some use, and can be shaped by the players.
my opinion about your idea, but i call myself a “hard-core gamer” and i like the challange (i also enjoy playing “enless legands” / “endless space”). maybe your idea is too “hard-core” for the casual steam-gamer out there … 
has nothing to do with being too hardcore for a certain gamer type, but rather too hardcore for a certain game, or i guess its kinda both, certain games pull a certain crowd to them, which is why Repop and SWG has such a niche audience.
i quite liked the idea of SWG and The repopulation but to craft one thing you need to go through 50 steps split over 10 crafting professions, which i would really like to avoid.
This just seems a bit too complicated for me, the way i would like to see it, which i suggested somewhere else. is somewhat what we have now just with crafting forges, you would have a journal with basic recipes, you could mix things and when you make it it goes into your journal, forexample you put a stick and 3 iron in a special grid and you make ‘‘iron axe’’ now you can go to your journal and it has saved how to make an iron axe. This however have the same problem as i mentioned with yours, it would just turn into having a guide open at all times, unless ofc you do like Divinity original sin, i absolutely loved crafting in that game.you could combine two items to make a new one, if you tried to combine two you werent high enough level you were told that this is a combination but you cant just make it yet. the reason i didnt use wiki for that game, was because there was lore books all around the game hinting how to make items, which was awesome, something like ‘‘Lockpicks are too expensive to get and makes people suspicious, so i learned how to make my own using nails, it took me a while but finally i could beat them into a decent shape which could be used as lockpicks’’. which hints that in the game you can use nails and a hammer to beat them into shape.
An addition to this the idea was also that while you could make an iron axe, you could only make an iron axe. I would love for every tier to have expanded recipes that has to drop, so while you can make an iron axe you might find ‘‘Burning one-hand axe recipe’’ which when you activate lets you learn how to make a burning axe by forging and ember stone into it while crafting it, do the same thing for every weapon type and armor type, it could be done in two ways, either the recipes had levels so you might not now how to make iron ember axe but you can make a mithril ember axe, or it could be leveled up, meaning that the first time you activate the recipe you learn how to make ember axe, the next you activate of it would allow you to do steel, then mithril, then onyx or whatever. combining this with making them relatively rare it would allow for specialization of crafters, forexample one might decide to get all the axe enhancements so he can make a high tier axe with any enhancement, while some might focus on daggers, some might focus on staffs, some might focus on the fire enhancement from all weapons. etc etc
Examples could be
Fire dmg
Ice dmg
Lightning dmg
Poison dmg
Earth dmg
Bleeding effect
Increased durability
Shadow dmg
Lifesteal
However while your idea seems slightly too complicated havok i like the idea behind it, as you mentioned there is a fine balance, some games almost use crafting like vendors, just instead of gold you pay with materials to get an item, it can be done right and it can be done horribly.
Hi guys,
This is a great thread, with some great ideas, and it’s definitely got me thinking about things.
We’re definitely thinking in the same direction as you – a lot of the key objectives are the same even if the details aren’t.
I’m going to go back over our plans and see if I can inject some of your ideas in.
Keep your thoughts and ideas coming.
Thanks!
Ollie.
Oh, this is going to be so fun. Building a small workshop and a little farm, maintaining the basic needs of life. Building a nice hearth, smitty and woodshop. Craft some nice explorer stuff and then start exploring strange new worlds to gather rare materials (and experiences) through the portals.
On return from the expeditions a nice ale, some good prepared food and locking away all the found goodies I can carry in my warehouse for new crafting experimentations.
Love it!
That’s fantastic! Just made my day! 
I really like this concept, but even so it seems like a lot of work for the devs and if it was implemented I wouldn’t expect to see it until 1,0 or later. Nevertheless I do hope that this system will be implemented because it makes end game items much more interesting and more build specific. I would like to add something it would be nice if there were tiers of quality of materials as well as tiers of materials and finally different materials could have different properties so that once a player got to a higher tier they didn’t just abandon all inferior material. For example steel armor could have a low protection against piercing attacks but had a high protection against heat attacks whist copper armor could have a high protection against piercing attacks but have a low protection against heat. Just a suggestion, I really hope this concept becomes a reality. 
The lack of interesting crafting had actually caused me to write this game off, sorry. But now it looks like you’re doing something interesting and I’m going to have to have a look. Regarding your points specifically, my thoughts are:
1 - I like the idea that how resources are processed makes a difference and is not just a time sink. I think this is a core requirement for a crafting system that is worth a damn and not just a time/resource sink.
2 - More meaningful decisions in the crafting process is great but I think it’s important to include downsides as well as advantages - I don’t want everything to be just about the raw numbers.
3 - The idea is good but implementing it in a way where the best course of action isn’t just “google for it” will be challenging.
You have my interest if you can make a crafting system that is meaningful, interesting and optional. But if you can make a system where player knowledge and skill is more important than time and effort then you’re in SWG/Firefall Beta’s league and have my attention (insert Leo pic from DU meme) 
Hey thanks I’m glad you found this suggestion meaningful! I personally feel much the same about boring crafting mechanics bringing down an otherwise good game, and hope that the dev’s consider some of the same principles that you mentioned. As for your concern about people just Googling recipes, I think the best course of action would be to have some sort of in game journal where players can refer to recipes or discover ones they have not tried. While I’m not a developer and I’m not involved in the process (beyond forum posts such as this one!) I have seen the dev’s study heavily the forums for ideas and feedback such as this. Don’t write this game off so easily! Let the dev’s know what you like, dislike and would like to see here on the forums and they will see it! If you particularly like an idea you see here, Liking 
and commenting 
on it is a great way to indicate that a suggestion has wide support from the community.
I am new to the game and am looking forward to see what is to come. One thing I am missing right now is a storage container or 8. It is almost to risky to go down in the world without being able to put things in containers so if you die( which I do a lot) you don’t lose everything.
Soon, there will be first versions of containers to use for us.
Something for people who are afraid of loosing things:
Just put one of your blocks (stone and timber maybe more) inside your home base.
If you die, teleport home and use infinite block mode, so you recover everything pretty fast.
Hey, newcomer lurking from way before Oort became Boundless =)
I’m not THAT fan of crafting in MMOs, especially because 99% of them are mindless levels or ressource grind. But i wont recap why/how they are, this thread nailed it.
Instead, i’ll explain the idea i just had :
Zero : idea is only about item stats.
Zero and a half : No system of EXP/LVL needed. (And i hope there wont be any).
First, as the op says, we need some “parameters” in which we can influence stats obtained (& no RNG : same parameters == same item). Whatever the number and type of parameters (enchanting, refining, …), the number of possibilities of those parameters are what i’ll call the “Parameter Spectrum”.
Hard to understand ? Example : You can refine a weapon with 2 choices : A or B. At the same time, you can enchant the same weapon with 2 choices : 1 or 2. The Parameter Spectrum is : A1, A2, B1, B2. Right ?
Second, for each value of the Parameter Spectrum, an “Efficiency” is attributed. Picking A2 will be more rewarding than B2. Or B1 may focus Attack bonus when A1 focus Defense.
If you want an image of the result, here is my beautifully-painted graph :
Until now, nothing new, it’s simply what OP said : Sliders with variable results.
Counter argument was : In one week, everyone will know the best recipes, the best sweets spots. And it’s true.
Some vocabulary so i can explain better : EPS[X] = Y
where X is ONE value of the horizontal axis of our EPS. X is a precise value of parameters. And the Efficiency is Y : the more the better. So, the efficiency Y is corresponding to the results of our precise parameter value X.
Let’s say George has a Efficiency Y of 92 at the Parameter Spectrum X of 15 : George : EPS[15] = 92
But he is rather unskilled with a Parameter Spectrum of 20 : he only reach 22 : George : EPS[20] = 22
Hope i’m clear, but developers should understand in an instant.
Forth : Yea there’s one. TRADE SECRETS. For me, this aspect is even more important than craft, in itself. The progression you can obtain by cooperating is so much more rewarding than seeing “Congrats, you crafted an Uberesque Three-handed sword of the marksman !”
So yeah, Trade Secrets. How could that happen when everyone has it own EPS to follow ? Simple : You can “teach”, give “tips” to others : influencing their EPS in a good way. I recommend only upping in a restraint zone, not the whole EPS at a time :
George (EPS[50] = 100) decide to teach Julie (EPS[50] = 20). George didnt gain anything, but Julie now has EPS[50] = 30. Julie’s EPS[49] and EPS[51] improved a bit, too. But Julie’s EPS[80] didnt change.
Get the idea ? Now i will throw in my personal “recommendations” and “set of rule”, as i’d enjoy it more that way. I’m not a HardCap guy, more a “improve until infinity, but at exponential cost/difficulty”
Fifth : You can teach even if you have a bit less Efficiency than your student : You will (both?) grow stronger (“Even the best doesn’t know all the best tips”). Obviously, if teacher is at 1Eff and student at 100Eff, nothing happens. Fine-tuning necessary.
This means** No Hard Cap**. But high cost of teaching, since at a moment you will be ahead of everyone. AND, the best with this system is than it is actually worthwhile to take some apprentices (Feed’em so they’ll feed you later on) and to go toward others
Six: Capacity of teaching shouldn’t be limited by time but by “Craft completed at a specific Parameter” : Obtain 1 consumable point of teaching restricted for EPS[50], every 5 craft done with EPS[50]. Kinda grindy, but better than time.
Seven: Growing our EPS by teaching should also factor a “neighbors bonus” factor : Someone having high EPS[45] and high EPS[55] will learn a lot faster for EPS[50] but will learn at a normal rate for EPS[90].
Eight: A system to avoid closed duos/trios/quadros… something like “The more the same person taught you, the less you will learn from him”. For this to be dynamic : Efficiency learned = others factors * (Total Eff gained by teaching / Total Eff gained with this very person). It will go down naturally as you meet others ppl.
Nine: If you really farm a lot, your weapons may become OP : Let it be. BUT : Drastically improves resources cost after a cap. Let’s say your natural EPS[X] is -before any teaching made- between 30% and 70% efficiency. You train until 100% efficiency (cap reached). After this point, every % in overkill will increase resource cost. (If you reach a 150% efficiency, resources may cost up to 500% of what it would be normally).
For this system to not be detrimental for the user, allow him to “scale” his effort: Between 100% and his current level.
Ten: Heck, special growing resource could exist and be required for higher levels : A gemstone able to store defeated giants levels. Then : For every 1 % of overkill (overcraft??), you need one more level in your gemstone.
Example: for a 160% Eff craft (means 60% overcraft), defeating one Giant lv60, or 3 Giants lv20 would be required.
Benefits of this whole set of rules :
And about the “this is way too complex” :
If you squeeze all “training” features altogether, each player having his own immovable EPS to discover wont be that much harder than what OP said.
Add trainings, and efforts required are “considerable”. But doable, you just have to take the time.
TL;DR Random idea about Craft i had
Actually a really good idea. Maybe a bit complicated explained but I’m not sure I could do it better^
