1) Summary of Responses to Date
Deathwings
Mid-liner/crafter
Mystic code research
Invisible armor
Fellgrave
Front liner
Local area telekenesis + shadow control
haperry
Mid-liner
fire => heat magecraft
Mu
Mid-liner/crafter
ninja (invisible) OR crafter (modular mystic codes)
trick weapons
shout27
mid-liner (agility type)
necromancy / healing / nerve interference?
Ihklan
Front-liner (strength type)
heavy equipment
Impulse-type reinforcement?
(well-suited to join DDA?)
Wing101
Front-liner (balanced)
Average One; high-speed elemental Alteration
burningclaw
Mid-liner/crafter
Mystic codes
Dark Schneider
Front-liner (heavy tank)
Eyemancy (perception of motion vectors) + reinforcement
No Such Entity
ninja (speed demon)
poison, reinforce expert
not enough nerves for the Front Line. (otherwise good match for fuumanin?)
Hardcore Heathen
Crafter (armor to start)
Researcher (Wonderous Items) after Mystic Code Patch. REALLY ambitious. Mass production of Crest-like functions?
Connection of Senses; to others, and to database
Lufio
Mid-line spear/range player
Potion/drug mixing
Wood element + growth magic
(Tuxedo Mask, only more feminine)
Prince Charon
Mid-liner/crafter… maybe front-liner
fencing-type fighter
Hunt for Jedi-like magecraft style
lethum
rear-liner / mid-liner
agility-type
ranged elemental magecraft, end-goal of a rail-gun
(Doesn't know anything about the second most popular sport in the world)
Abendroth
City Player (doesn't think game would end on Clear)
Support player for those who DO think game end on clear
Focus on enhancement magecraft for others => Mystic Codes
Inclined to Gemcraft (storage and transference of prana)
cjonbloodletter
Mid-liner/crafter
Precision weapons
crafting focus: bombs / landmines (Emiya-style heroism???)
2) Interesting Statistics + Remarks
Front-Liner (4)
Fellgrave
Ihklan
Wing101
Dark Schneider
Mid-Liner (5)
haperry
shout27
No Such Entity
Lufio
lethum
Mid-liner/crafter (5)
Deathwings
Mu
burningclaw
Prince Charon
cjonbloodletter
Pure Crafter (2)
Hardcore Heathen
Abendroth
So a total of 4 Front-Liners; 5 Mid-Liners, and 5 people split between the Mid-Line and the Front Line; and 2 who would stay in Safe Zones as much as possible... but who would also spend their time making tools for people who did leave.
4/16 on the Front Line... that's 25%, higher than in canon. Of course, that's discounting, like, the 2 guys who said "sit in Safe Zones and Craft"; guys who made clearers' gear were actually considered "Front Liners" the way Kirito tallied people, too.
(5+5)/16 guys who split pure Mid-Line with also some crafting... 63% of the population.
Nobody's really voted to [Retire] and just sit around drinking [Fake Coffee] all day long. ...That might be sampling bias because everyone that thought they would do that, just decided not to post.
There was a lot of enthusiasm for Mystic Codes, or to be more precise, more like, "Enchanted Items." Also a lot of people that are aiming at invisibility as a magecraft goal.
Nobody mentioned much about Bounded Fields
or the [Minecraft] patch to build stuff, but that might be because they haven't really featured in the story much, so people just didn't think about it.
Likewise, nobody really said much about Familiars, except shout27, who wants to be a necromancer.
...Well, for all the people who want to automate stuff, creating a familiar that's smart enough to take an order "go do that stuff", might be the answer to go with.
3) Direct Responses
Hardcore Heathen said:
Wait, is crafting skill cap even tied to level? If not, then I would be level 1.
This is something I mentioned only in passing during Griselda's narration of what Grimlock was getting up to: basically, no. Skills rank up based on how often you use them only, without regard to level. But... you get an equipment bonus for most kinds of crafting, and better gear will usually have Ability Score requirements above five, so there's an
implicit level requirement for skills.
...By the time that would be an issue for your build, the XP reward for spell and item development would probably be able to carry you.
Hardcore Heathen said:
I would basically sit on my ass and research tiny things that make stuff more convenient - think macros, only spells.
This is like the definition of a Mystic Code.
Or a Crest, if it's something you add to someone's body, rather than a tool. Well... putting it in someone's body would be way harder. Wait...maybe a Mystic Code that's inscribed with a tattoo? It could operate like a Mystic Code (insert prana, pull trigger), but it wouldn't be as traumatic to add (or have the other passive benefits) that a Crest has.
Well, [Tattooing] can be one of those Skills that was a purely aesthetic skill to sink money into Avatar customization... but combine that with some Formalcraft and you've actually got something, huh?
Prince Charon said:
BTW, do you have a chart where we can roll up our [Elements], circuits, et cetra, or should we just assume that we're the [Main Characters] of our own stories...
I
could, if that's what people want.
Everyone is the Protagonist of their own life. That's like a tautology... so if you want to take a normal element in a crazy direction, go nuts. Or, if you want a rare element, then also go nuts.
Abendroth said:
Figuring out how to put spells into items would definitely be a goal. One idea I just thought of is that a reinforced item could be used as an inefficient Prana battery. ... It's a bit Final Fantasy-esque, but I can imagine people wearing belts or armbands with slots in them, and they plug in stones or something with their preferred combination of buffs, heals and energy storage. Creating a spell capable of handling IF-THEN statements or similar would be a goal for later.
"Efficient Prana batteries" is like the basis of Gemcraft, which sure, is available by the fifth floor, even if that's only because Liz mentioned it as an aside... regarding an Item Shop on the 2nd Floor, so we can go ahead and say Gemcraft was introduced on the second floor.
...I guess if you carved a Mystic Code onto one, you could fill it with prana and automatically fire off the spell using the prana stored inside? That is starting to really sound quite a bit like Materia.
Be careful how you use healing magic, though. Creating spare flesh inside your body with a spell that's beyond your ability to control sounds like a pretty good way to give yourself cancer. (The poorly created flesh metastasizes...?)
4) Closing the Post
It's been interesting, so please keep posting!