RAWR: Crafting Introduction

The Firefall crafting system is by far one of the more unique ones that have existed within gaming, although it is certainly not the first to try to give meaningful depth to the process of resource gathering and item creation while trying to maintain enough simplicity to be accessible from the start. It borrows heavily from the crafting system found in Star Wars Galaxies and throws in a healthy helping of EVE Online. So if you have played either of those games the system will be more familar to you. For everyone else lets cover some quick basics.

1. QUALITY = QUALITY

The first thing to remember with Firefall is that all resources are not equal, they have there own properties, they are varied and they will periodically change their stats but all of them have one stat that they will specialize in called its Affinity. We cover this in more detail with our Resources Guide. Ultimately all resources have a defining stat called Quality which is the value of the stat that specific resource is known to have an affinity for. Unlike other crafting systems, from game franchises like Fallout or Minecraft, the items created will also have a Quality value and this is derived directly from the resources and components you used to create it. So just because you create a Shotgun II you will not always find that it is better than Shotgun I. This can seem confusing at first but as long as you remember that quality in means quality out you will be fine.

2. COMPONENTS AND SUB-COMPONENTS

Most items you make within Firefall will not simply accept resources and produce a final product. The vast majority will need you to peice together several components to produce the item you want. While you may not see much point to this process during initial crafting stage the system really doesn't come into full realization until stage 2 and onwards when you will be able to finely control the stats on items. For example, a Plasma Cannon has many features that define how it works. From splash damage to damage per round and clip size you will be able to manipulate these features through the quality of the components you use to create that weapon. Since resource qualities change and because everyone has freedom to customize the item being created you will find that it is very rare to find two items within Firefall with identical features and stats. You may find this concept a little daunting, if so you can read more about this in our Crafting UI Guide.

3. MORE POWER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER

In many games there is one simple rule to tell if an item is better or worse than the one you have. If it does more of anything, then it is better. But in Firefall power has a cost. This comes in the form of battleframe constraints which are defined as Power, Mass and CPU. These constraints function as a pool of points, as you equip items they draw points from various pools. If an item requires more Mass, Power or CPU cores than you have remaining on that battleframe then the item cannot be equipped. Typically a high quality item is very demanding so players may find they can equip a high quality item only if they take Stock quality gear for everything else. Sometimes that extra 10DPS on the weapon you made is not justified if it requires an additional 100 points of Power which you can only afford by removing an ability or using poorer quality armor plating. Keep this in mind when crafting.

4. A PLAYER-RUN ECONOMY

While you can purchase basic equipment from NPC vendors and exchange tokens for more unique items the bulk of what you purchase will need to be provided by other players, this is what is called a Player-run Economy. To begin with lets examine why the developers made this design choice. MMOs thrive on having active communities. This requires interaction of meaningful kinds beyond duels and the occasionally random Tiki-torch party that happens in Copocobana. When players need to interact with each other they natually build up associations, this can then lead to friendships and that ultimately leads to more enjoyment for the player. A player-run economy is the perfect way to encourage interaction because crafting is always easier when you have a strong network of associates or friends who can keep you well informed and supplied. In addition to this Red 5 has been smart enough to cause resources to shift qualities and to ensure that players have enough control over their crafted items to ensure they are usually unique, these two factors make it very hard for anyone (or any group) to create a monopoly on specific items which can happen so easily in other games. But at its core, you will find that a player-run economy does wonders for the community spirit you will find in Firefall.

5. DURABILITY AND ITEM BREAKAGE

It is always important to be able to maintain the chain of supply and demand at a steady pace. The developers at Red5 went back and forth with the idea of adding item decay to the game but after much consideration is was decided that the game and the community would benefit more from causing items to slowly wear down and eventually break entirely. The item decay systems comes in two parts, the first is Durability and the second is the Repair pool. As the durability drops it will eventually start to impact the performance of the item as it gets to critical levels. You can then repair the item at any Battleframe garage (currently for no cost) and it will transfer points from the items repair pool into the durability pool. Because the repair pool has only a limited size you will eventually find that the item cannot be repaired. Also note that looted gear from NPC drops, ammo crates and other rewards has no repair pool at all. This is one of the core advantages of using crafted gear since it will last you much longer. Decay will occour slowly as an item is used however there will be a loss of 100 points from the durability pool every time a player dies and needs to respawn. They will not incur the penality if they are revived by another player.

6. CRAFTING REQUIRES REAL EXPERIENCE

EXP points have always been the best way to express progression within games when it comes to raw numbers. It is hard to define how 'experienced' a character is based upon their actions or performance and award a level based upon that. But Firefall crafting isn't simply progressed through by unlocking crafting tiers, it also takes real experience and understanding to get good at it. So if you want to genuinely level-up your crafting skill, check out our other guides. Starting with the Resources Guide.