coyotecraft
Sponsor
Alchemy. Synthesis. Fusion. Trading. Whatever you choose to call it.
Ultimately it's a system of exchange. How you make those exchanges can be a bit arbitrary. What difference does it make if you're bartering with an npc or mixing things in a cauldron? The barriers to completing an exchange will characterize your system.
Item Farming
Harvest points. Monster Drops. How abundant are the materials? What makes something rare or hard to obtain. What are the limitations? Inventory space, Item stacks.
Can you save time and sacrifice money to buy materials instead?
Recipes
Considering the usefulness of the resulting product - Is there a reason to repeat a quest/mixture? Is there even a reason to complete the exchange in the first place? Maybe just to proceed to the next quest/mixture.
Location
Where do the exchanges take place? More padding for playtime.
From left to right in order of convenience:
Anywhere(menu). Save Points. Workshops(towns). Static NPCs. Variable NPCs (random appearance, day/night or other time restrictions, or other requirements.)
Ultimately it's a system of exchange. How you make those exchanges can be a bit arbitrary. What difference does it make if you're bartering with an npc or mixing things in a cauldron? The barriers to completing an exchange will characterize your system.
Item Farming
Harvest points. Monster Drops. How abundant are the materials? What makes something rare or hard to obtain. What are the limitations? Inventory space, Item stacks.
Can you save time and sacrifice money to buy materials instead?
Recipes
Considering the usefulness of the resulting product - Is there a reason to repeat a quest/mixture? Is there even a reason to complete the exchange in the first place? Maybe just to proceed to the next quest/mixture.
Location
Where do the exchanges take place? More padding for playtime.
From left to right in order of convenience:
Anywhere(menu). Save Points. Workshops(towns). Static NPCs. Variable NPCs (random appearance, day/night or other time restrictions, or other requirements.)