Don't know what you all think, but what is happening to the crafters?

Here on the Europe shard the Smith near the graveyard in Britt used to be swarming with Smiths, Tinkers and Tailors on a daily basis. You could have a laugh at the chit chat, buy better weapons, armour, gagets, house furniture and add-ons all made by crafters of various skill levels. Novices to Legendary crafters worked shoulder to shoulder making, repairing or even if they were lucky enhancing some looted weapon or armour.

But for the past months nothing. The forge lays bare. You are lucky if you see another Smith while picking up your BoD's. I have a Legendary Smith and a GM Tailor, I cannot remember the last time that I made or repaired goods for another player other than myself.

Is the problem that too many good weapons and armour are droped by slain monsters or too many arti's and rare goods are about?

I miss the long pleasant nights warming myself with the heat from the forge, jokes passed among friends waiting for the next player needing a better sword or a replacement shield. Haggling over the price of a new suit of Val Plate Armour.

I wonder ...... is it worth the effort nowadays? Lonely days digging in the mountains for that special ore......sore fingers from the sewing of a new suit of Horned Armour.

Where are all the Crafters? Where are all the Customers?

Scammers killed the trade at Brit Smiths. Too many people lost things, so repair deeds were introduced. The crafters are all at home and the customers buy repair deeds off their vendors.

But the biggest money spinner for mine, and my husband's, smiths lately are bone machete and dragon barding.

Same here, my Smith gets requests for repair deeds, usually by people I already know, and the only thing that really sold on the vendor are the exceptional dragon barding deeds... yet those have declined since the introduction of the Charger of the Fallen..

Does seem pretty quiet now at most of the forges.

i spend alot of time on my tailor at luna (on sonoma) so if somoene comesasking me where to get a repair i'll usually make them a deed (required they bring me the blanks for one) i never really saw brit smithy filled with people on any shard i played on *shrug* brit always seems to be deserted when i go there

Yes. The Forges used to be crowded enough that if you wanted to smelt some ore, you had to kinda aim really good. I mostly mine/d in Delucia and that forge was always full. Now there is rarely anyone there. People would be working on their skills and we would all celebrate when one or the other finally crossed the line to GM. Older Smiths would hand out a few of their extra bods to the new smiths and the adventurers knew to come there for repairs and items needed in a rush. It was a fine experience for socializing.

When Heartwood first opened, I found that to be the case at the forges there. Many of us were trying for recipes and we got to talking like it used to be at the forges. That is something that has gone by the way, alas.. never to return, I fear.

i think most smiths and tailors work from home nowadays only going to town smiths or tailors for very short times, it is sad really that the community is growing smaller

I have both a smith and a tailor and I rarely use the guy. I have not used my smith for anything in years. My reason for wanting a smith was to make me some uber plate armor and not spend a fortune (this was back when armor still took away from dex and warriors had no use for int) but things have changed and you have to be lucky or spend a fortune to be ablle to find plate to wear. I do miss the britain smith shop though it was a great place to socialize with fellow smiths and trade ore spots and what not. As my tailor I rarely use that skill as well, really sad.

You can also thank people like an old friend of who would take the names of repsectable smiths/tailors, buy some stuff of there, and would go to the Brit smith shop and offer to repair and then run off with peoples stuff: Vanq weps, fortification and invul armor etc....

your preaching to the choir jomo, its sad that the only thing that sells nowadays is enhanced monster treasure ( still my best selling items ) or the best, sorted out runic items ( but that process is so random with too many wasted/worthless items made that its almost not worth the effort ). art'ies have seen to that. and i thought that when OU went to item biased playing ( verses skill biased ) that crafters would become more involved in the game, silly me for thinking that.

Everybody has their own smith/tailor/tink/carpenter now so yes, the old days of depending on a dedicated crafter are over. Personally, Inscribe and Alchy are the only two crafts I don't have GM'd on my mule.
Enhancing, repairs and BODs are all crafters are good for nowadays. Enhancing is best done by either a close trusted friend or yourself since there is absolutely no way to prove that the tailor honestly didn't just break your 100 luck 18%LRC tunic.
The new crafted items that aren't artifacts (ie: mischief maker, scrappers, Magi pendant) are useless and not worth the resources needed to make them.
Metal armor is useless so the only things smith's make that are worth squat are valorite runic weapons.
Personally I don't think crafters should be making the best items in the game anyways since their playstyle involves 0 risk so I think things are pretty balanced right now. They can make some decent stuff but nothing too too overpowering. The artifact quality items they can make now require high risk ingredients and should facilitate trade since crafters are unable to obtain these ingredients themselves" but then again, everybody has a mule so they just do it themselves.
True crafters are for RP nowadays, nothing more.

I have a crafter on each of my accounts. I make anything I need. I think most people do the same. The ease of GMing skills (especially Powerhour) really did away with crafters as a viable playstyle.

Would you really hand your Artifact to a crafter for repair? Repair deeds were really needed.

I too miss the good old days hanging around the Haven smithy shop. My Alchemist, Tinker, and Smith all GMed there and made a lot of friends. Sold most of what I made while training too.