The Joy of Poking My Eye Out. Repeatedly. (Crafting)Follow

So! This is my list of crafting gripes and complaints. Feel free to ignore if you're not interested.

The Talisman trainers are called "Hedge Wizards". Since EVERY OTHER trainer for crafting is called by their actual skill names instead of something cute and totally unrelated, I don't see why this one has to be!

There are no merchants in the IC that sell materials for talisman making.

There is no good way of making my way from the Tier 3 warcamps to the places where I can buy the starting materials I need since I didn't really start talisman stuff until I was level 19 and T1 crafting materials end at level 8 or 9.

Cultivating takes FOREVER, and if that system doesn't define "grinding", There's no blunt object I could beat you with long enough to prove it.

Crafting requires bag space that is simply not available - even at level 22, and since there's no easy way to get to/from the IC without taking a 30 minute break from "playing the game", it's ridiculous to even try.

There are no talisman making drops from the PQ's anywhere that I've found, though there are cultivating and apothecary drops.

Talisman making feels like it was added 20 minutes after launch. Someone obviously didn't put much thought into it other then "Yeah, we should do a second crafting skill." It makes me want to cry. Seriously.

I'm a hard core crafter. I can't remember a game with a crafting system that made cry. Thank you WAR for being retarded enough to be the first!! =( *cries*

Well, the problem is that I have to carry seeds and the other materials with me while I'm doing this. And since I have some scavenged materials with mostly merchant bought stuff, it takes up even more slots. So I try to do focusing periods where I head to the IC and get my stuff, then sit there and craft - since doing otherwise gets me stuck standing at a mailbox for 45 minutes. Either way, I'm screwed.

I wouldn't mind elitist crafting, I've done it in many games. But for a game that said "We don't want grinding, or a recipe based system" they've dropped the ball seriously bad.

I'd have to say, I thought the crafting system was stupidly easy. I have Scavenging at 196, Apothecary at 200, and cultivating at 200 on an alt.

I was a litte disapointed it took me less than a week to cap 2 crafts.

I know there are 3 guys in my guild that are about to hit 200 talisman making (180+ atm).

A couple of things that helped for those finding it hard:

1. My guild setup an informal "crafting partners" system before release. Basically, I would supply a fellow crafter (talisman maker) with curios, gold cores, and lots of green items, in return, he'd supply me with seeds. I grew the seeds to make mats for my apothecary, we both skilled up pretty fast. He also gives me talismans as I need them.

2. We spent the last few days of OB getting the crafting system all worked out, so we hit the ground running at release. Starting your craft when you create your character makes a huge diference to your progression. As Tovin has noticed it gets hard to find the lower rank mats you need if you've already gone past those areas.
As a side note, I did point this out in my crafting 101 post a day or 2 before release.

3. Plan ahead. If your going to need crafting mats that at rank 100 later on, don't sell them to the NPC for some cash when you start getting them. Store them in your bank til your ready for them. Will save you hours of farming/begging/AH camping later on.

For those wondering if crafting is worth the effort, it is. Assuming you have a friend with which to share/swap mats, most of them are easy to come by. Our Talisman makers are starting to make +15 stat talismans, and I can make pots that heal up to 2250 HP, or 3000 HP over time. Add to that the +80 stat potions, the snaring / damaging potions, and the 2500+ shielding pots for up to 30 secs, and it really helps with alot of things.

Bear in mind as well, that I'm only using the 175 rank mats atm, theres still better things to come.

I'd like to see some more storage space, but I don't know that I'd limit it to seeds!

Both my characters banks are 100% full of crafting mats + potions, plus a few items of set gear I can't bring myself to part with since I have the whole set.

My main characters bags have 1 complete bag of more crafting mats, 1 bag of potions, 1 bag of gear (I have 2 complete gear sets, 1 for PvE questing and 1 for PvP for when scenarios are poping).

Even with the extra bags from my rank, that only leaves me with 2 empty bags, and they fill up quick. I have to keep all the curios and crappy green items I get til I can meet up with my crafting buddy, or spend 10mins with the mailbox once every 30-45mins.

I'm fast approaching rank 40 (where I'll get another bag), and I can see myself having a 3rd set of gear for PvP shortly, meaning more of my space taken up. :(

Btw, if you haven't downloaded the ClosetGoblin addon yet, do it! Its so handy for swapping gear on the fly.