One of the things that has garnered a fair bit of backlash in DF is the new profession system. I think the level of confusion it has generated among the player base has reached the point where a lot of us are just apathetic and we do not hear about it much anymore. Quality levels, crafting stats, work orders, most everything being BoP, sparks, you name it. I struggle to recall a game system so convoluted as the DF profession system in other games I have played.
I never thought so many players I know would just give up on it, especially after the initial hype about the system being reworked. I think it is a gargantuan missed opportunity.
How would you improve the profession system? Is it a lost cause?
10 Likes
Get rid of looted Knowledge Points and have them automatically earned for each point gained in leveling the profession.
There’ll be a hard cap so you can’t unlock EVERYTHING, but you can reset them to apply points elsewhere with a weekly CD to resets so specialists can have their area of money making.
8 Likes
Everything but not the df system. Too expensive reach max level with everything.
6 Likes
Yeah, this is what is most wayward with the system: the new professions, even if you max them, are not actually a major source of gold for you anymore, they are a net loss.
Basically, it contributed even more to the concentration of server wealth into the hands of the oligarchy who already reigned on the servers.
I think all of this was done to boost token sales. Anecdotally, at least among my friend group, a lot of players have resorted to buying tokens to get by in WoW.
6 Likes
How I would improve professions:
- After having tried out the specializations, I would like to keep them, but make it easier to obtain the specialization points
- Remove arbitrary restrictions of being able to craft components at only specific locations, e.g requiring the Shadowflame forge etc
- Try to keep professions relevant: more toys, more useful equipment, more useful items that can be sold/used, e.g adding sockets, adding enhancements
- Keep crafted gear more relevant. I’m totally fine with making it harder to craft, or requiring more materials, but keep professions relevant
- Introduce more options to customize the looks of professions
- Get rid of the elemental requirements like the motes/rousing etc, or make them easier to obtain for the picked professions
- Add specializations to Cooking
- Add specializations to Fishing
- Reintroduce daily quests for professions to help you gain those last skill points
5 Likes
On the whole, I think the UI is too cumbersome and fails to explain itself, and that really is the biggest issue.
I do not think more complex professions are a problem in and of themselves.
One thing I think is particularly important is the notion of investment. In order for what you provide to have any value, it needs to take some effort to do - and I don’t mean monetary investment. Monetary investment is something anyone with enough gold can trivially do, thus it does not solve the problem.
If anyone can do it insanely quickly in quantities that vastly outstrip demand, then it has no value and the value of the product you produce will broadly match or even fail to match the price of the materials.
So that’s my feedback on crafting.
As for gathering, they HAVE TO kill the bots, and the best way to do that is of course to ban them, but the 2nd best is to make sure that their lack of investment before they get banned hinders them enough that regular players who have invested and don’t get banned get ahead. While I understand that is frustrating for new players to the system, I genuinely think it’s for the greater good. What happened in DF was a good start, but it needs to get a little less convoluted and be more about effort and skill, not so much RNG and many ranks.
In other words, the more you use your professions and the more cleverly you use them, the faster the gathering and crafting rate. That is essential. New patches should come out with new items with new requirements that sort of “reset” this progression.
3 Likes
For me the main problem with professions has always been carrying around the mats, and then ultimately not using what I crafted. Or, the only actual point of it was a belt buckle, an extra bit of crit chance.
It would make sense to allow professions to craft BiS and be the end of the road for those who aren’t (much) invested in higher scenes. Basically the inspiration is GW2 where ascendant and legendary gear is quite complicated to craft, and the journey is gathering the requirements. (Except you can claim a few every season using a system extremely similar to the Trading Post.)
The WoW reward system otherwise negates professions entirely by rewarding higher items from higher difficulty content, but most importantly proof and ego and marvel. As such, professions for these people will always be relegated into irrelevance, included as a side game because other RPGs have it, too.
Point is, the short answer to the thread is “can’t, won’t”.
Back to my initial point, it can be a useful middle ground for world dwellers: craft BiS equivalent matching the content where it’s from. Slightly better for quests.
(So you get orbs, shards, and so from dungeon and raid bosses, which you can use to craft items. The concept was always there - Thunderfury, Ragnaros mace, Val’anyr, Shadowmourne…)
D3 attempted to cover a few slots with crafted items.
One question, though.
Do you want professions to be a continuous effort (like alchemy) or a one-time dump (gear)?
I would like the system to have more for sale on AH
Some proper high quality modelled fisherman’s overalls to match with my hat, other than that… nothing.
I have already mentioned in other posts .
A big issue is the lvling experience that a new player now doesn’t have with professions.
The professions at 1-69 now and 1-79 next expansion are worthless in lvling zone of a new character.
Professions used to be a nice Rpg element while now is more like a Work and an endless grind that you also need the Highest difficulty in order to have the most of use
7 Likes
Adhere to the KISS principle.
They’ve made the current system way too bloated and convoluted to appeal to the general playerbase.
4 Likes
They should make the system more simplistic and more intuitive regarding ways of getting points. And I would trim these trees since some of them are way too large, looking at you BS which is kinda BS (So to say) to level.
2 Likes
Fishing and Cooking go Account Wide.
Bring back Profession quests like in Legion, the only reason I disliked them at the time was that they sent you to dungeons (some even to an optional boss in Vault of Wardens). With Follower dungeons this is no longer an issue.
I’d have factions like Thorium Brotherhood again (although without the handing over expensive materials like in days of yore).
I wouldn’t have daily / weekly cooldowns that force you into long term commitments unless there was a pretty good catch up system.
A massive Account Wide Reagents bank with sections for each expansion.
6 Likes
Make multiboxing illegal. Make Blizz hire some people to actively hunt down multiboxers and botters and instantly apply permanent bans that include hardware checks.
6 Likes
Remove the specialization from the leveling path.
It used to be you could level 1-[whereever] primarily with trainer bought recipies. In DF, for the first time ever, I have professions not yet maxed out bc I cba figuring out how to a: obtain a recipie that isn’t grey (my inscriptor) and/or b: where to get the materials to craft expensive (and useless) items just for the skill-up
I don’t hate the specizialition system, but I hate that it effectively prevents me from leveling my professions (which, honestly, is the thing I care about)
2 Likes
Oh, another thing:
Make gathering professions account-wide and not count as primary professions.
4 Likes
Professions were just fine for 18 years since 1.0.
Dragonflight overhaul ruined it.
No need to overthink it, just bring back the old system (peak was during MOP with countless of useless but fun recipes).
There is a reason why the prof system never drastically changed.
2 Likes
I’d have it so everyone could gather mats at a basic level. No skill points or leveling involved.
But you could choose to specialise in a gathering profession which would get more materials each time. Maybe even have some rare materials only be available this way.
This would have points and leveling like other professions. and would use a profession slot.
As for materials remove the ranks and streamline the different types.
Each expansion should have 1 general ore, herb, leather, cloth. Maybe with 1 rare version which could be added later. More like what we used to have.
We don’t need 8 types of leather. We don’t need fairy wings, pixie dust, 6 different teeth nor a whole bunch of bag fillers.
4 Likes
I hate how gathering feels bad when you have low skill and therefore know that you get fewer materials than other people though.
Since I play a lot of alts and also switch mains sometimes between seasons, I wish that I could always farm some herbs when I have nothing else to do without being at a disadvantage.
2 Likes
I was in a cave and at some point in 1 mining spot all the bots have somehow stucked (Quite amazing to see 40+ at least bots trying to fly but getting stuck) .
I was like Wtf…are they going to raid that mining spot 
At the end they could easily do something but they won’t so no matter what you do for them is money 
. At least some games that i played Recently Final Fantasy-Lineage are years ahead of Wow.
2 Likes