Profession epics go BoE in Wrath
by Eliah Hecht 
Nov 7th 2008 at 3:30PM
Specifically, Verimonde said that "There will not be a Stormherald type weapon 'high level crafter only,'" although there are, for instance, several BoE epic smithed weapons in Wrath. In his second post he explains the reasoning a little more: Blizzard didn't like that many people were picking professions based on what would make them the most powerful, as opposed to what they enjoyed.
One reason often given in favor of BoP gear from professions is that it gives players a reason to level an expensive crafting profession in the first place. If all crafter gear is BoE, you can take two lucrative gathering professions and simply buy the gear you want on the AH. In Wrath, all professions will have crafter-only perks; they just won't be epic items. For instance:
- Blacksmiths can add sockets to their items.
- Leatherworkers get "furs" - exclusive bracer enchants.
- Tailors get enchantments called Embroideries for their cloaks (and flying carpets).
- Enchanters get ring enchants (like in BC).
- Scribes get shoulder enchants, better than the faction-bought ones, as well as caster-oriented off-hands.
- Alchemists get increased effect and duration on flasks and elixirs, as well as Alchemist's Stones.
- Jewelcrafters get BoP gems and trinkets (as in BC).
- Engineers seem to be keeping their traditional arsenal of engineer-only items, including goggles.
Aside from the Alchemy perk, these all work out to be remarkably similar: a few extra stat points, one way or another. Which makes me think that I'm pretty unlikely to bother picking up new crafting professions on new characters. I'll level my 375 tailoring up to 450, but without the big rewards at the end, it doesn't seem worth it to go all the way from 0.
Filed under: Alchemy, Wrath of the Lich King, Jewelcrafting, Items, Enchanting, Tailoring, Leatherworking, Engineering, Blacksmithing, Inscription
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Kitchen Nov 7th 2008 3:36PM
I think that's a good move. the way it worked tbc if you wanted to get into a semi established kara guild, especially as a caster, it was almost required to be a tailor for the different cloth sets.
breaklance Nov 7th 2008 11:51PM
sadly your right. my warlock is my alt so i wanted his profs to be usefull to all my toons so i had him be herb/alch and not having frozenshadoweave/spellstrike meant no matter what gear i got him(as hes my alt so hes decked in full kara/gruuls/mags epics) he still gets laughed out when i've tried to pug him into t5 raids since Echoes.
Todd Nov 7th 2008 3:36PM
Really? REALLY? Blizzard didn't consider that people would be picking professions based on what great epic BoP items could be made? Wow... just wow.
Gnosh Nov 7th 2008 3:50PM
I guess you didn't read any of the article. It specifically states that yes, blizzard noticed that, and no, they didn't like it. So it's gone.
Robert M Nov 7th 2008 4:04PM
Todd,
What really bothers me about their rationale though is that they act like they arent encouraging certain classes to take certain professions, but they are still doing so in different ways.
Skinners (a great profession for hunters and rogues) are gettting crit rating. If you are a tank or certain kind of healer, drit rating is of little use to you.
Miners (a great profession to couple with smiths, so subsequently plate wearers) is going to give a health boost. Though health is universally appreciated, it sounds like a tank stat that you dont want to pass up.
Even though inscription offers great shoulder enchants, tell me when a shaman or warrior is going to make an cute little off hander.
They seem to be on 2 very different sides of the fence depending on who's post you read on professions.
Todd Nov 7th 2008 4:17PM
Blizzard HAS stated that they expect certain classes to go with certain professions. They don't expect, or really intend (prefer?), mages to pick Blacksmithing or Leatherworking. Instead they expect professions like enchanting, tailoring, alchemy, (skinning?) to be picked. Sure, these fit for a caster class. Now to go back and claim that they didn't expect people to pick professions based on BoP crafted items, as a means to boost the class... that's just naive. Naive and odd, seeing as how the developers angled this kind of selection from the beginning.
Todd Nov 7th 2008 4:19PM
@Gnosh
Hush, you! My initial comment was sarcastic. I'm also pointing out that, duh, Blizzard didn't think this would be the case? What?
Jim Nov 7th 2008 3:38PM
Really irritated by this; I was looking forward to more upgrades for the Lionheart Executioner and the rest of the specialist weapons.
The elimination of "character uniqueness" is WOW is starting to worry me. These specialized BOP weapons, if you could use them, really delivered a sense of achievement, despite their often ludicrous materials costs.
Vlatch Nov 7th 2008 4:05PM
"Specialist Weapons"?! These became a joke about 2 months after the x-pac hit. The materials' costs were high to be sure, but the reward just wasn't worth it. In the end, b-smiths in particular had recipes sitting in their craftables list with nothing to do with them.
I think this is a good move that won't make us anymore generic than we already are/will be.
Lemons Nov 7th 2008 3:39PM
This is good news for every warrior who didn't roll blacksmithing. They were probably kicking themselves as soon as they saw Stormherald.
Plus if blacksmiths can create some awesome dagger or something I won't be kicking myself.
Lichbane Nov 7th 2008 3:52PM
"Engineers seem to be keeping their traditional arsenal of engineer-only items, including goggles."
DAMN! That would have been the icing on the cake.
Radiophonic Nov 7th 2008 3:48PM
WTB escape artist buff for being REALLY good with mechanical things. :P
doogan Nov 7th 2008 3:41PM
Do people actually enjoy professions?
Fletch Nov 7th 2008 3:58PM
It's a fair point. I'm not sure I know of anyone that picked a profession for enjoyment. In my mind there are two reasons for choosing a profession - the BoP items you can make for your character, and the gold it brings to your pocket. Since a lot of the crafted items are now becoming BoE there is no longer any reason to pick a profession for the BoP items (though it may be cheaper to craft them for yourself rather than buy them), and so the only reason is the gold it will generate. I suppose with this change Blacksmithing might now have more scope for making money - the only spanner Blizzard has thrown in the works is that the market will likely be flooded by the epic BoE drops from Naxx. I guess it will depend on how good the crafted epics will be in relation to the Naxx BoE epics as to whether you are likely to make any money from them.
stonehead Nov 7th 2008 4:00PM
Exactly what I was thinking!
Like it's this incredibly rewarding experience to stand in front of an anvil and watch my guy swing a hammer at nothing for a few seconds, until a green item pops up in my bags that is not worth what it cost to make it. Awesome!
here is a thought Nov 7th 2008 4:10PM
about as many as enjoy their IRL jobs....
Chris Rock's "Jobs Versus Careers" comes to mind
Robert M Nov 7th 2008 4:43PM
I actually do, and not for the gold that it puts in my pocket.
I think that ultimately it serves my neurosis. I level and search for every recipe of every profession I can get my hands on. it provides little real benefit, but I'm abkle to sleep at night :)
I do wish that the late recipes that were able to be sold had recipes that were BoE and not BoP. Alot of the sunwell recipes that had haste on them might have been more beneficial to the entire server. Besides any (so most) of the gear that I make gets sent to the enchanter for mats.
Worcester Nov 7th 2008 6:56PM
Engineers enjoy their profession.
Why? Because we know we won't make any money at it anyway, so there's no point in trying. We (or at least I) do it for the fun. It's currently one of the few truly unique professions out there. In fact, it's more of a dual-class, since almost all of the items require Engineering.
Wrath seems like a good thing for Engineers, since we'll be able to do more item-enhancement as opposed to creating duplicate items, like Rocket Boots, Parachute Cloaks, etc. These will be nice to put on PvP gear for us "casual" battlegrounders.
I actually think the idea of the Motorcycle being useable by everyone to be annoying. Engineers will spend a ton of money to get the skill up high enough to create the bike, but we won't make most of that back. Players wanting the bike will likely take the cheap way out and provide the mats and a measly tip. I'd rather just be the only kid on the block with a new bike!
ash Nov 7th 2008 6:45PM
I picked engineering for "fun", but then I also picked a pally for "fun". Both those propositions haven't always worked out so great.
Alaecar Nov 7th 2008 10:36PM
I personally picked up Alchemy for fun, and I really just enjoyed it. I never really sold any pots on the auction house or anything. I just liked being able to supply my guild with potions and elixirs whenever we needed them, and I loved the whole concept of the alchemist turning "lead" into gold with all the transmutations.
On the other hand, I did end up dropping Herbalism on my alchemist to pick up Jewelcrafting specifically for the BoP gems and trinkets that it had so that I could minimax my character.