I know something big regarding community projects is coming in November, so I might be getting ahead of myself, but I had an idea about how many things could tie in together.
Donating resources to projects doesnt feel very good right now.
It feels bad to donate something that you could use in crafting or sell etc. There is a little bit of currency reward for doing so, but not enough to be interesting. And it still ties you to a one-dimensional use of those items.
Of course the main driving factor is to progress the community projects, like upgrading Trebuchets etc. but the opportunity cost or "rss cost" or whatever you want to call it simply doesnt feel good.
I know everything is new, fresh and we are figuring it out, Flux included. Thats why im posting this feedback.
So here are my ideas. I wont talk about balance, obviously the numbers would have to be figured out.
Give progress to community projects from crafting items and doing actions with skills over cap
Crafting
If crafting something would progress the meter on community project, you wouldnt have to make the hard choice of using the materials, or donating them. It just feels bad. You will still have to decide how to use them for crafting, or selling/trading to someone else for their craft, but you wouldnt be "wasting" them per se.
And there is another aspect to this, which I feel like isnt (yet) being addressed and also feels quite bad - many stats have caps, but the gear can give bonus greatly over the cap.
I dont think increasing the cap (maybe in some cases) would be the solution, nor lowering the bonuses items give, then the gear progression would feel worse. And hunting for min-maxed sets for a specific stat for specific situation would not be very appealing.
I think a lot more interesting would be to actually utilize those stats in another way. You have a pretty unique situation here that most games like this couldnt really do, it wouldn make much sense. But here it can.
Lets say you have 25% cap on Craftsmanship. If your gear gives you +50% or +100% Craftsmanship, anything that goes over the cap would increase the progress you get from the crafted item contributing towards community projects.
Skills
Skills, and their leveling can be in similar boat.
You max out Blacksmithing to a 100 and then what? Crafting XP no longer matters (for that skill), so Crafting Experience stat (and gear that gives it) is less interesting.
Of course there are other crafting skills and more might come in the future, but again, Crafting Experience has a cap, so crafting with skill over 100% cap can give greater contribution to community projects from that action. Crafting with maxed skill can also give more progression.
Gathering
Gathering stats are the same way, you can have way more on your gear than the cap is, so if you are gathering with skills over cap, more can go towards project progress.
Contribute by playing the game
I think contributing to community projects by actually "playing" the game, rather than with arbitrary "loot dumping" can be a lot more interesting and engaging to the community. It would be to me anyway.
But maybe there should be a balance between the two, if you dont have anything to craft, or if you dont want to spend your energy on gathering, then the direct resource donation might still be preferable option to you.
Im just putting ideas down, the specifics would have to be figured out, but i think it would make the "game loop" more engaging if i could contribute to the community by playing.
One example of combining these two progression systems could be:
We would have an option to build specific buildings in our village. We would need to donate certain amount of resources to build them.
When they are built, they open up a new game mechanic, or provide bonus etc. And there might also be additional projects to research something further etc. And this research might again be fueled by resource donations - or by player actions. Crafting, gathering, venturing etc.
And this is just few areas that exist now, you can expand upon this idea in many ways going forward, but the point is to include broader aspects of the game into the progression system, so player contribution comes from what they would be naturally doing.
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