MMORPG crafting

 Like miniature painting, crafting is one of those things I can't stand out of the gate. It has to be relatively good for me to want to put any effort forth to level a craft.

Now then, as many may know I am currently playing FFXIV in which crafting is no longer hyper-realistic thanks to the 1.19 patch, but still rather annoying. While you are crafting you have to watch progress, durability, and quality which isn't over hard itself, but each have their own chance of failure that is out of your control. I can deal with a chance of failure, there has to be some chance. however there is other factors, factors completely out of your control, and these factors more or less drive me straight away from crafting anything.

In addition to the above you have to deal with the craft can start sparking, which lowers your chance for success, and the element you are using can become unstable. These factors are entirely out of your control, and really the only way to really deal with them is to simply wait, but while you are waiting, your durability takes more and more damage with no way to repair it. There is nothing more annoying to me then get a levequest to craft an item my level, with me using level appropriate gear, and fail literally every craft because these two factors take the craft out of my control.

"But it makes crafting feel like it's important" or "It makes crafting feel like an accomplishment." you might say.

You're wrong. It doesn't make me feel anymore accomplished I managed to craft a thing. I don't want to be crafting in the first place. I want to be out killing mobs, hunting the biggest targets possible, putting my abilities up against either another person or NPC. I don't want to be stuck in town or some outpost in the middle of nowhere crafting junk I won't actually use.

Of course this isn't to say I dislike all crafting systems. EQ2 had a great system, which played like a true mini game. Of course I never got to high level in that either, but managed to get much higher level then in most of my other MMOs. In that game your craft still felt just as important as in FFXIV, FFXI, ect but it was actually fun to counter various things hurting your craft along the way. It didn't leave nearly as much to chance as FFXIV or even Aion manastone enchantments.

I wish more companies would take that route instead of either the lazy WoW/Rift crafting route, or the stupidly over complex FFXIV/Aion route. The player should feel like he is, freakish concept I know, playing a game. A game where literally nothing is important as you play shouldn't go out of it's way to cause you frustrations.