I don't play a lot of MMOs that have crafting systems that work quite like TESOs, but I hope that they don't all have such terrible EXP systems.
For the most part, earning EXP in the crafting system (at least as far as Smithing, Clothes crafting and woodworking go) is best earned through deconstructing items, particularly if they were crafted by another player.
Crafting items earns you some experience, but it's minimal in comparison.
However, that's not to say you couldn't level up through crafting (at least at the lowest crafting levels).
I was reasonably close to levelling up my blacksmithing, but ran out of found items to deconstruct (blacksmithing covers weapons (bar staves and bows) and heavy armour). So I decided to see if I could level up (which I need to be able to put in a perk to start crafting with the next tier of material) through crafting.
I ran a little experiment to see how much experience I get though through crafting with the different materials, and the different amounts of material I can use (higher amounts produce higher leveled items).
Here's the results;
Blacksmithing
EXP per Material
3 Iron - axe - 32390->32438 - +48
4 Steel - axe - 32438->32696 - +68
5 Orichalc - axe - 32696->33141 - +445
6 Dwarven - axe - 33141->33787 - +645
10 Dwarven - axe - 33787->34665 - +878
48/3 = 16 XP (per Ingot)
68/4 = 17 XP (per Ingot)
445/5 = 89 XP (per Ingot)
645/6 = 107.5 XP (per Ingot)
878/10 = 87.8 XP (per Ingot)
EXP - 34665/43420 = 8755
8775/878 = 10 (9.97) = 100 Dwarven
8775/645 = 14 (13.6) = 84 Dwarven
8775/445 = 20 (19.7) = 100 Orichalc
8775/68 = 130 (129.04) = 520 Steel
8775/48 = 183 (182.2) = 549 Iron
From the first section you can see me using different materials on the same weapon, a single-handed axe.
The axe, like all items, has a minimum number of materials required to craft it at it's lowest level.
That increases throughout the tiers.
At Iron level, I need a minimum of 3. At Steel it's 4, Orichalc 5, Dwarven 6, and so on and so forth.
I did also test out a Dwarven Axe at the maximum number of materials possible, 10.
As you can see, I earn more experience for using higher levels.
Below that is the EXP per ingot used. It's clear that even though I have to use more ingots at higher levels, I still earn more EXP per ingot used.
Underneath this you can see how many axes I would have to craft, and the amount of ingots therefore required, for me to level up.
As expected, I need more crafts for lower leveled materials.
However, as you'll notice, there's a bit of a peculiarity between the amount of Ingots I'd need if I were to use 10 Dwarven a go, compared to 6.
Despite needing more individual crafts to level up at 6, I'd be used fewer ingots than if I crafted 10 for a smaller amount of axes.
Also, I earn more EXP per Ingot of Orichalcum, when using the minimum, than if I use the highest amount of Dwarven.
Hence the fact it takes 100 ingots of Orichalcum(5) and Dwarven(10) to level up from where I was.
So this led me to test out the amount of EXP earnt per Ingot within a tier;
EXP per Ingot.
878/10 = 87.8 XP (per Dwarven)
645/6 = 107.5 XP (per Dwarven)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
3 Iron - axe - 32390->32438 - +48
4 Iron - axe - 34665->34760 - +95
5 Iron - axe - 34760->34887 - +127
6 Iron - axe - 34887->35036 - +149
7 Iron - axe - 35036->35215 - +179
8 Iron - axe - 35215->35418 - +203
9 Iron - axe - 35621->35849 - +228
48/3 = 16 (per Iron)
95/4 = 23.75 (per Iron)
127/5 = 25.4 (per Iron)
149/6 = 24.83 (per Iron)
179/7 = 25.57 (per Iron)
203/8 = 25.38 (per Iron)
228/9 = 25.33 (per Iron)
As you can see, with the Dwarven Ingots, I happen to earn more EXP per ingot when I use a lower amount of materials.
Should I use more materials the amount of EXP I earn per ingot is lower. Therefore it's less efficient to use more ingots.
I tested this out again with Iron axes, using each of the varying amounts of material I can use.
Overall, as following the above pattern, I earn more EXP for using more materials.
But again, it's a different story if I consider how efficient this is.
Ultimately 3 Iron Ingots gives the lowest amount of total EXP and is the least efficient (unlike the Dwarven Ingots).
But, with the other amounts, I pretty much never earn more, nor less, EXP per Ingot when using more materials.
It's stuck at roughly 25 XP per Ingot.
In total, what this means is that you will earn more EXP for crafting with a higher levelled material.
But, I earn less EXP for using more materials.
To me, that's completely counterintuitive. Surely I should gain more EXP for using higher levelled materials and more of them, as I am ultimately crafting a higher levelled item. Furthermore, I'm using more materials per craft, and materials are fairly rare to gather (requiring you to find a considerable amount of raw ore to then smelt into usable ingots).
Finally, let's see how this difference in EXP affects the amount of EXP I can get in a full stack of materials.
Full Stack Crafting
1 full stack Dwarven Ingots = 100.
10 Dwarven - axe - 100/10 = 10 crafts per stack - 878 XP per craft - 8780 XP per stack - Remaining Ingots = 0
6 Dwarven - axe - 100/6 = 16 crafts per stack - 645 XP per craft - 10320 XP per stack - Remaining Ingots = 4
Difference = +1540 XP (plus 4 Ingots)
So, even when mass smithing is taken into consideration, I earn 1540+ XP for using 4 fewer Ingots per craft.
And on top of that, I retain 4 extra Ingots, which means if I had more than 100 total, I could craft even more.
Is it just me or is this system really bizarre? I understand that the XP system for crafting isn't focussed on actual crafting, more so on deconstructing. But even so, should crafting be that backwards? Should it be more efficient to use the lowest amount of material in a tier, or that using the highest amount of material in a tier is equally efficient as using the lowest amount in the below tier?
Poll