WildStar crafting is getting some big changes on the PTR as well, streamlining, removing some patterns, etc.. but, one of the changes I haven’t seen talked about yet.. is to the tutorial that pops up when you first pick up a new tradeskill.
Now, the first time you go to craft an item, you’ll get a 6 ‘page’ pop up tutorial, that covers power cores, over charging, under charging, failure, and pretty much everything you need to know to craft something.
Power Cores:
The overall quantity of power cores has been greatly reduced (no more multiple variants of the same type of core – don’t worry.. all your old cores will get converted to the new core for that item level as part of the Drop 6 upgrade). This tutorial page explains how power core power level relates to item level, and that you can’t ‘overpower’ your item, by using a level 50 core, in a level 10 item schematic.
Next up, is the individual sockets on the crafting board:
Here, we get told that the socket determines which stats will end up on the final item, and that some sockets can be swapped, without a penalty.
Socket Charging:
This is our over/under charging page… Overcharging means higher stats… but that comes with the risk of higher failure. Undercharging, lower stats, but safer! (who wants safe.. OVERCHARGE ALL THE THINGS!). I’ve yet to run into an instance where undercharging was needed, I suppose if you’re doing some of the “Craft X of Y item” quests, undercharging might not be bad, as it would ensure no failures (and therefor, wasted mats) while cranking out the required crafts for the quests.
Assault vs Support Power:
New for Drop 6, and, this is the crafting change I really dig the most so far.. you can now specify whether you want the final item to be more Assault-y, or more Support-y, by adjusting this slider. Previously, it’s been more random (at least, I’ve never found a way to guarantee one or the other primary stat came out on top), which meant crafting multiple items to hope RNG gave you the primary stat you wanted.. now.. it’s PROTOSTAR easy… just flip the slider!
The last two pages of the tutorial are all about failure, how to fail, and what happens if you do fail:
Failure comes from overcharging beyond a certain percent. On live currently, I never overcharge beyond a 5% failure chance. I figure that gets me my slight boost, without too big of a risk of losing all my mats. One of the Signature account benefits post-Drop 6/F2P conversion is -15% Overcharge failure rate.. Which should mean Signature Account crafters should be able to overcharge by 15%, and still be at a 0% failure rate.. which means, slightly more powerful gear being available from Signature crafters.
So, don’t be this guy:
Don’t overcharge too high, fail, and lose all your mats.. no one wants to be this guy.
Also, I do need to say “Good Job” to Carbine on this particular tutorial change.. it’s very well done, and I think it explains how to craft, overcharge, and fail, quickly enough that people will understand.
