DISASSEMBLY
Breaking items down into component materials — salvaging gear for parts, recycling products back into inputs — as the inverse of crafting.
- SOLO-DEV COST LOW
- TIMING REAL-TIME / TURN
- COMMON IN SURVIVAL · RPG · MMO · LOOTER-SHOOTER
Dead Space's and The Last of Us's scavenging economies feed on breaking down found junk, MMOs like World of Warcraft (disenchanting) and Final Fantasy XIV (desynthesis) use disassembly to convert loot-table overflow into crafting economies, and survival games make the recycler a standard base station. Designers add disassembly to solve loot inflation: without it, 90% of drops are vendor trash with no interesting decision, but with it every drop is at least materials, and the choice between using, selling, or salvaging an item becomes a real economic judgment. It also smooths crafting material acquisition — rare components can come from breaking rare items, linking the loot and craft systems. Key decisions: whether disassembly returns a fraction or all of crafting inputs (full refunds break the economy), whether results are deterministic or rolled, and whether a skill or station gates better yields. Pitfall: if salvage yields are strictly better than vendor prices, selling disappears and shops become meaningless — the two sinks need distinct niches.