Gem and Blacksmith Ideas

[MintChipMadness]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first contribution to the forums and I wanted to throw out some ideas. My guild mates and I were talking about socketing gems and repair skills and I wanted to let everyone know what we came up with. First, We felt that socketing gems should not be part of blacksmithing but instead be something that a jeweler does. It requires special tools and knowledge to work with the small gems and sockets. A blacksmith really doesn't make sense. They are really for pounding big pieces of metal and not for intricate gem work. One person said they would break the gem . The jeweler (or include with gem cutter) would create the socket and socket the gem. When the gem is put in the piece of metal or leather, the jeweler would be the primary skill and the leather working for (LA) or blacksmithing for (MA and hopefully HA soon) as the secondary skill needed. You could even just use armor making for the secondary skill as well.

The second idea is I thought the repair armor and repair weapons skills should just be taken out and both rolled into blacksmithing. A competent blacksmith should be able to repair weapons and armor easily. This has two positive effects. First, it will let blacksmiths concentrate on one skill and second, it will take out two skills that take a ridiculous amount of time to train.

Well those are our thoughts. Please let me know what you think.

Thank you

[Cirerey]

This is a sensible post.

Tasks that could be accomplished in jewelry skill would include gem cutting (Improves q of gems), enchanted gem cutting (improves q of enchanted gems - advanced skill), making gem settings out of various metals, setting gems into settings. Making ornamental (non-armor) jewelry like rings, bracelets and necklaces (amulets) in both enchanted and non-enchanted versions. Creation of jeweled amulets or parts thereof. Creating gem encrusted weapons. An entirely new crafting path that would take quite some time to implement but might well be worth it.

As far as rolling the repair skills into the underlying craft skills it is a good idea, but what to do with the existing skills players have invested in becomes an issue.

[Bonifarzia]

Concerning the usefulness of gem cutting: Don't forget the gourmet food for kran
About weapon repair: There have been discussions in the past whether this implies a complex service by a crafter or simply some polishing and sharpening to maintain the weapon. The latter could also be related to the skill of using the weapon. Last time some axe/dagger/sword making skills where eliminated, they were as well converted to another/new skill in some way.

[Chessire]

It sounds like a great idea indeed.
Adding enchanted gems to armor and weapons would make jewellers a very valuable profession. Perhaps the recipes for engraving gems and gem sockets could be moved once gem cutting is implemented.

[MintChipMadness]

Thank you for the feedback. I am glad there is agreement on the gem idea as well as additional ideas for it that sound great. I brought up the repair armor and weapons idea because I felt like they are just stagnant skills. Another player told me they were easier to train in the past but at this point the bar barely moves even at low levels (under 10). With the amount one person uses it, it would take forever to gain high skill even if you are repairing for players. At this point it is easier to just buy a brand new weapon or armor set instead of repairing. A blacksmith could use their skills to repair the weapons and armor which would allow players to get good repairs for a price. If those skills are just for sharpening instead of real repairs then it should definitely be much easier to learn.

[Eonwind]

I think separating the magic gems setting into the armour from the armor-making skill would excessively complicate the magic armor crafting, it would require a blacksmith + armor making + gem cutting skill. It seems to me too much effort, however I like the idea of improving the gems quality.
I tried many times to collect good ideas and a list of worthy final products for the gem cutting skill but for now no task was completed.

[tman]

First: I totally agree that the repair skills should be gone.  It makes no sense that someone who is a skilled blacksmith would be unable to repair weapons, or a skilled armor maker would be unable to repair worn armor.  If you can make something from scratch, you can surely sharpen or repair it when it gets damaged.

Second: I don't know anything really about armor making (so feel free to ignore everything I say about it), but I do like the idea of some "gem" or "jeweler" skill which would cover gem cutting, jewelry crafting, and possibly the ability to appraise other peoples' jewelry and magic armor to determine their value and effect?  I think the jeweler skill would cover fitting a gem into some kind of mount, and the armor making skill would cover the placement of this into an actual piece of armor.  A jeweler skill would also open the door for custom jewelry, for character decoration and/or for enchanting.

[Eatuck]

Thank you for your feedback Eonwind. I was thinking that making it more difficult for one person to make a full set of 300q socketed armor would be a good thing. It would make that socketed armor much more rare (expensive) because it is so hard to make.  It also makes more trade possibilities for the gem cutter (or jeweler) in the future. It kind of goes against the original idea a little bit but a jeweler could be completely independent from the armor maker. The jeweler would cut the gem, create the setting, and mount the gem in the setting. Then the armor maker puts the completed setting in the piece of armor or weapon. This makes it so it would be a pain for one person to do alone but easier for multiple people to do together (roleplay opportunites as well as trades working together). A player could just concentrate on gem cutting/Jeweler and be able to make rings, necklaces, gems, settings, etc.

FYI - I created a new account (was MintChipMadness) with my character name Eatuck.

[Wolferz]

Combining weapon and armor repair into blacksmithing would be good. As to using blacksmithing and armormaking skill to embed gems, it seems like it allows blacksmiths to do crafting that is kind of out of their field. I would expect a jewelry skill to be used in the process, and it would prolly use another skill to reflect what the jewelry was being used for...so in this case armor crafting.

Yes, this would mean another skill needed to make enchanted armor, but this is not a bad thing as the jewelry skill will be implemented for other reasons and used for other things as well.

I also feel that giving blacksmithing the ability to embed gems makes it....well, to much of a "do anything" skill. Maybe crafting skills are supposed to have a wider reach of ability then I realize *shrugs* 
This is just how I feel about it...the current system works as it is for enchanting, but wep and armor repair skill changes would be a larger priority.

[Cirerey]

Putting gem setting into a jewelry skill would make enchanted armor more difficult to create. However if this pushes us to interact and trade instead of standing silently around a forge it would be a good thing IMHO. 

[Eonwind]

In my opinion a requirement of blacksmith + armor making + gem cutting is too much for an enchanted chain mail armor, but maybe a special armor may require an harder process to craft it.