I’m thinking Engineering on a main might still be a good investment, since you get so much utility.
I feel stressed about this, too.
There are so many nodes, but stopping everything you’re doing in order to swoop around, detect where the node is (extra difficult with the added elavation of the Dragon Isles), perhaps dig into a cave to find it, and then get back to what you were doing is just so messy.
I’m seriously considering switching to two utility-based crafting professions on my main (like Eng and Alch or something) and then go with 2 gathering professions on an alt which I literally don’t do anything else with.
1 Like
Also let’s not forget all the different ranks of materials that now clutter the inventory. They graciously gave us an extra bag but then increased the amount of different mats by 4x.
And the fact that we have 3 different crafting attributes in inspiration, resourcefulness and crafting speed while the only one that seems to matter is inspiration. The rest are pretty much just useless.
1 Like
The problem right now is the tipping - some players are putting in orders for epic gear and only offering 50g - these order get mostly ignored because you are gated to 10 orders per day. This gating of 10 orders per day is one big obstacles. If it was increased to a 50 or more then players may consider picking up the chancers/low tippers.
If this was region it would be worse.
Professions CAN be a meaningful endgame, especially when combined with open world pvp/pve. It just didn’t work out this time, so far.
This really depends on the profession. LW for example has empty public orders 24/7 and if something appears for 1G it gets sniped within 5 seconds.
The point of the profession rewamp was to turn it into another endgame pillar. Something players can really dig into and get good stuff out, rather than the little side thing to gear alts we have had in the past.
Is it perfect? No not at all. They might have overshot a bit on the complexity, and work orders for sure need some help. But the foundation is there for some great, and i would say they did pretty well for a first attempt. The people who went in hard on profession are making milions while also being able to produce BiS gear for many classes.
1 Like
I am not sure about other professions so you may be correct.
Any Jewel Crafting order between 4-15k gets snatched up.
I can tell you that as of this morning there are about 50 orders for Jewel Crafting - Elemental Larion Neck - just sitting there with tips of 50g and 10g - betcha those are also the same players lamenting on the forums that the system is not working. People are not picking up those low ones even if they are getting skill for it due to the 10 craft per day time gate - Remove or up this and it may possibly paint a different picture.
Edit : I can confirm though that consumable craft orders are dead. I can find none for my alchemist and Enchanting is a strange one as I cannot put in orders for gear enchantments - not sure if this is a bug.
Blizz reduced the weekly quests order req from 5 to 3 for a reason, and we still need alts or guildmates to create dummy orders to fill them.
The 20 order limit/regen rate, the progression rate of specializations, artisans mettle etc…
Blizzard made enormous guesses about the balancing of professions to allow “young” crafters to get a slice of the cake, give meaningful rewards to artisans and to reward those who engage in higher difficulty or specialized content.
It’s just that looking at the situation today, their numbers might have been off. Personally I think it’s impossible to combat inflation in a crafting system without items being lost/destroyed in for example world PVP, since the supply will inevitably trump demand eventually. But that’s a pointless discussion to have in this game.
1 Like
I mean, they did that actually. You can craft gear up to highest endgame, with the right mats and specializations.
It was never said it would be as easy or easier than doing M+ or raiding.
Edit: Also, Crafting Orders are a feature ESPECIALLY FOR the players that don’t have the time or interest to level crafting.
Arnt those UP to three sockets, not explicitly 3 sockets?
The intention is that you focus on one or two specialisations, and be the “best” at those.
I don’t think it’s a good system. But that’s what they wanted.
The intention was to drive interaction between players, using Trade Chat to sell your Crafts and hunt for buyers.
I will say, Trade chat is alot busier than it used to be.
There was a bit of exploiting at the start of the Expansion which put alot of people ahead. Blizz seemed to remove the exploit, but as far as I’m aware did nothing about the exploiters.
However, by now if you had done all of Artisan Quests, you should have started to catch up.
Other than the Knowledge, there’s not much hidden behind renown that you need. The Recipes are mostly Toys and don’t really help with your levelling. Anything else is hidden behind Artisan Rep, which well… got exploited.
Overall, I agree with your feelings. As an Enchanter it feels horrible that I can do Max level Weapon Enchants, but I can barely do Rank 2 ring enchants. As a Tailor, I need to find another Tailor to make the Cloth, so I can make a Bag.
I don’t really think the Spec/Talent lock outs are necessary. I don’t mind having to level up, I don’t make the Stats, I don’t mind the Gear… but the specialisations and the lock outs are what have ruined the system.
At least you can gain knowledge and actually use your professons, I have had a nasty bug for the past couple of days which is making it so any knowledge granting items I use does not give me any knowledge, and the GM ticket I raised has a 9 day wait time.
My progress is halted completely.
I agree. The new system is terrible.
I’ve gone Alchemy since BFA. In DF it is pretty stupid. Refine herbs? Discovering recipes?
Also all these little items you should be getting to craft “optimally” such as that spark of ingenuity and that dragon knowledge thing. What are these? The game does an horrendous job of explaining all this. Having a NPC with a “tell me about…” text option is not good enough.
I am considering just dropping Alchemy all together. Seems like a lot to make some potions.
And a feign death potion? Really? Come on Blizzard! Surely you can do something more interesting than that? I remember years ago you could make potions that would turn you spectral and even change your gender.
Alchemy is literally the same boring stuff you make, but triple the effort. At least in SL it was simple. Get herbs, make potions/flasks.
I have bought almost all expansions except for WoD and this is the first time it seriously crossed my mind to drop my crafting profession (blacksmithing) and pick up another gathering one. The reason why I don’t do it is because I still have hope that Blizzard will fix this somehow.
It is not new that crafting professions are not useful. I’m a solo/outdoor/role player and I still get higher gear from outdoor activities than what I can craft. I’m at level 65 blacksmithing now. A few days ago I was able to craft an ilevel 372 pants. I was happy with it as it was an upgrade. The next day I got ilvl 382 legguards as a random drop from some game activity. The game showers me with gear higher than what I can actually craft. All the recipes that give skill points are epic / need expensive mats and getting those is slow as I don’t want to buy them on the AH.
Right now the only meaningful item I use from blacksmithing is the shovel.
As for crafting orders, I have not received any, I think people only put up orders for high-end items. That is fine, I’m just not able to complete the Artisan Consortium quest this way and get rep with them.
I was also considering putting up orders for other professions but what I would have needed was easier to get on the AH. (They weren’t BoP.)
1 Like
Oh, and don’t get me started on picking those herbs which stun you for 1 second 3 times. The frost ones.
I don’t care if there is some talent tree option that makes you more “efficient” in gathering these herbs.
This is a bad system.
I was going to drop Alchemy too. Then I discovered a little niche that alot of players are not aware of. Alchemists can make potions of Perception, Deftness and Finesse and they soulbound. The potions have helped my gathering alts a great deal in finding extra herbs or ore as well as skill points up to 3 points from Herbs and Ore Deposits. Its just not widely, or at least I am guessing its not widely known since there are no orders for these, but I am getting a alot of guild orders as I have told my guild about it.
But this, this is such a pain… why would any player sell something on AH for less than what its worth? I honestly dont understand that (there might be back end mechanic that affect this) but looking purely at an ore (lets go with Copper). It sells out of backpack for 3s per item and someone will list it on AH for 1,5s. If you wanted to make the money…just vendor it for double the price?
I cant speak for the participating part of professions. But i do like that i can simply put a work order out for an item, provide the materials, pay 5k, and moments later someone has crafted me a 389 item.
Thats pretty cool.
Below vendor price (actually a bit above, given 5% cut and relists) is entirely stupid.
Above that, people might craft in hopes of selling it - and then fail. Or just to skill up. Or prices have changed and it was worth to craft before, and now it’s trying to free up space.
The value of an item is really arbitrary. Will I make 10000 gold extra by having a better robe? Will I earn 200 gold extra by drinking that potion during the boss fight? Etc. Then again, it might be a binary investment to access content either by gatekeeping (be enchanted, gemmed, well fed, flasked, or get replaced) or by enabling a win (gear checks).
Maybe mats are too expensive.
You will never have relevant power progression from crafting or world content as long as game will have quadrizilion difficulty levels of dungeons and raids. There simply isnt room for it. They cant gave you any better or faster gear in crafting becouse it would made raids and dungeons absolote. Crafting only works if end game isnt acessible so profession actualy become meaingfull way to help you to get into end game. Just like it was back in classic versions.
But you all wanted to have acessible end game so dont complain.