Mod Deluxe and the team have been working on a range of new crafting stations intended to streamline the process of creating new gear. Each new "bench" has a much more obvious gameplay purpose.
Introducing...
The Armour Bench
The Blacksmiths Bench
The Mystic Forge, and...
The Fletching Bench (again!)
Initially, we funnelled crafting recipes into the Smithing Anvil for anything to do with metal progression. Unfortunately, that made it difficult to manage from a design AND a UX perspective. We saw the consistent player feedback around how difficult it has become to navigate and filter through the information currently packed into a single bench.
The player feedback was very clear that navigating and filtering the information was difficult when everything was packed into a single bench.
Splitting the crafting responsibilities across multiple specialisations allows progression to be clearer to understand, and allows players to not be piling onto each station to try and get crafting. The restructuring is future-proofing for us to have a cleaner foundation for future expansions and progression systems.
BenchWhat It MakesBlacksmith BenchTools, One-handed (1H) Weapons, Two-handed (2H) Weapons, Shields, Crossbow Limbs, Quest Items, (CLASSIFIED)Fletching BenchShortbows, Longbows, Crossbows, Arrows, Bolts, (CLASSIFIED) and miscellaneous Ranged ephemera.Mystic ForgeStaves, (CLASSIFIED), more powerful Capes and Ascension Cores - you'll see what they do soon enough...Armour BenchHead Armour, Body Armour, Leg Armour (All Styles: Melee, Magic + Ranged), Cape Slot Equipment (Capes + Other)
The Mystic Forge in particular is setting us up for some really cool progression rewards in the future - but we won't talk about those just yet. Soon™️. You'll find out about Ascension Cores and our plans for those in the near future.
The Fletching Bench returns with a new facelift, a new mesh and an overall art pass to better represent its purpose and gives it a distinct silhouette within the crafting table ecosystem.
All in all, while we are ADDING buildable furniture, our hope is that these changes make it easier for players to understand where things are found, how they're made and makes it easier for each archetype to have their own dedicated space.
You know the usual - follow our socials (Twitter, BSky, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok!) and join the Discord. As always, we love seeing your comments and feedback, and we're very excited to share more news with you soon.
Until then, be good, and we'll see you in Ashenfall!