During the October 2022 Ashes of Creation Livestream, Steven Sharif the Creative Director mentioned that the crafting system might have some sort of mini-game in it. In over two decades of MMORPG gameplay only two games have really stood out for their crafting systems; Eve Online and Final Fantasy 14. FFXIV is without a doubt the more complicated of the two systems, with at this time 24 different buttons on your hotbar for crafting. The problem is, that in FFXIV you can simply create a macro that 100% ensures you HQ each and every craft. Where is the game in that? The other is Eve Online, which isn’t a crafting system but more a Manufacturing and Logistics system, which I believe is the gold standard of production and more MMORPGs should model it.
What do you think? Is simple 1 button push crafting enough? Do you want mini-games? Do mini-games belong in MMORPGs? Or would you prefer a more logistics/manufacturing approach?