I've never met a crafting system that I liked, even in MMOs that I otherwise love. As such, I'm not the best person to judge The Elder Scrolls Online's variant of the system - it being an MMO that I didn't particularly care for. You collect resources, you make some things, you pretend like there is meaning in a cold and indifferent universe of uncaring mathematical variables. All pretty much the norm, so far as I can tell.
While my own stubbornness comes from a distinct disinterest in collecting iron, I will admit that the game is doing some clever things with the crafting model. Tying specific set bonuses to special buildings should help place the crafting in-world more than most MMOs, rather than it being an extraneous layer completely removed from everything but the gathering of resources.
I do wonder about how well these so-called social features will work for content hungry MMO players. If there's one thing that wikis can ensure, it's that you'll never need to talk to another player if you're just looking for information. And the idea of specialisation depends largely on how the trading system will work. In the right circumstances, tailoring your crafting style in a particular direction could be a boon for guilds and other small groups.
The Elder Scrolls Online dev says the 'metaverse' is sinking because it ignored 20 years of games doing the exact same thing: 'It's not new, and they should stop treating it like it's new'
The Elder Scrolls Online has made nearly $2 billion in its lifetime, 9 years after the big comeback that doubled its player count overnight
