This Friday, Grumpy decided to go off on a self-indulgent rant and editorialize for a few paragraphs.
Grumpy and his gf/business partner started off as punk crafters in a small noob town with a nice coastal area and a bustling, competitive crafter scene. When Grumpy was first able to cook up a small house deed, they hunted along the coast for over an hour to find a buildable area for their shiny, new house. Eventually, Grumpy could make bigger house deeds and the little house was replaced with a larger one, still on the coast, and they again had to hunt for an hour to find an open lot.
Grumpy had occasion last week to revisit their home town on an errand for the vast Architectural Empire. It’s a ghost town now, most having moved to a player city or Coronet, maybe the Bestine/Anchorhead area — the rest are, no doubt, chasing a holocron or 2 or 3. Grumpy told his gf cheerfully that it would be easy to find an open lot now! But neither of them found that very funny.
Grumpy came to a few realizations after pondering the state of his former hometown. (And after a few bourbons.) While the emptying of the vendor villages and make-shift townships was inevitable with the advent of Player Cities, the obliteration of crafting/profession pride and stability at the hands of the holocron was not. Surely anyone, even asshats, could forsee how the holocron chase would turn almost every player into a nomad, a jack of all trades, but not a true Master of even one. And Grumpy is glaring in Sony’s direction here.
When Grumpy first began in SWG, the entertainers in the cantinas WANTED to be there. Grumpy certainly didn’t understand why they would want that, but it was obvious that most of them found the “work” interesting. The crafters took pride in their creations and discovering how to make their products better, more effective, more durable, more unique.
Grumpy remembers combat people walking around overt, unless on an errand in unfriendly territory. And merchants wanted to be merchants. They took pride in their stores: monitoring stocking levels, hiring suppliers, assisting customers. There was no come-on to go click someone’s vendors or bait-and-switch just so Asshat325 could master Merchant and get it over with. NOW!! BEFORE THEY LOG OFF!!
Something that Architects saw weeks, months ago is now creeping into all the professions. Holo-bots that powerlevel their way to master, dump their half-ass goods on the bazaar or on their Must-Master-Merchant-vendors; they drive down finished goods prices, and drive up resource prices, only to….drop the mastery after consulting their new (and improved!) holocron. Time, not quality, service or friendly competition, is of the essence to them.
It is the natural cycle of game life that people will tire of their class or profession and will either move on to another or quit the game. Usually, new punks achieve master status and infuse the profession with fresh zeal and ambition. But this profession turnstile, artifically accelerated by the holocron/jedi chase, may only serve to destroy crafting as we have known it and wreak havoc with the game economy.
Grumpy can imagine that some day few permanent crafters will remain, thereby driving prices for critical goods (weapons, armor) through the roof. Players aren’t much affected by a turnstile in the Commando, TKM or BH, etc. professions, but for d*mn sure are by instability in weapons, armor and related industries.
Grumpy misses his noob hometown. It is a sorry sight to see such prime coastal area deserted, tumbleweeds blowing through the former streets and alleys. Sorrier still, witnessing the loss of a Crafter Nation.
The Grumpy Master Architect ©