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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsProfession 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, Blacksmithing, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring, Enchanting, Items, Jewelcrafting, Wrath of the Lich King, Inscription
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
GG Nov 7th 2008 4:53PM
GOOD!
The more BoE epics, the better! I prefer just grinding my gold and paying someone else for the time to make and/or raid for gear.
I'm a grind who#$... what can I say.
Ron Nov 7th 2008 4:57PM
Hmmm My mage won't get good items from tailoring anymore???? OK well its time to make all my 70s a Blacksmith.
Then at least I can make sockets on my gear. This is pathetic! The tailoring gear was some of the most fun to get and use in the game. Big Big Mistake!!! It seems to be another attack on non Raiders to me. I thought Blizzard already learned that was not an optimal choice. Now you WILL See some crazy professions on everyone. I have question for all of you. Why would you not do Blacksmithing now?? Sockets seem to almost make that path OP.
What nonsense!!!!!
Doeg Nov 7th 2008 4:58PM
I took engineering in WoW 1.0 because it was, according to Blizzard, good for PvP. Then in TBC they banned the more useful items in Arena, and nerfed others to boot (pun intended).
In TBC I dropped my 375 mining for tailoring because of FSW, after I had invested a lot of time skilling it up. For my class and spec, tailoring (for the specialized 3-piece set) was pretty much a TBC raiding requirement.
So now I’ll have tailoring, which will be nerfed, and engineering which is already nerfed and will be expensive to skill up without mining.
Fortunately I have an alt that was in good position to jump into herbalist-inscription on the ‘ground floor’. I’ve banked 5000g already from inscription, and if the JC trend in TBC is repeated, inscription will be the darling profession of WotLK. Won’t get fooled again! (I hope.)
This design model for professions is, IMO, just another change that shafts older toons. But I’m used to that, so, “Whatever”.
In reality, this new design weakens professions like tailoring, leatherworking, and blacksmithing, which produce end products that are not essential, and typically not as good as instance / raid drops. But professions like JC, enchanting, and inscription will be stronger because everyone *needs* gems, enchants, and glyphs. So, for balance, will there will be a lot of enchanting scrolls, gems, and glyphs dropping from bosses? I’m not counting on it...
Personally, I’d just rather there be no limit to the number of professions one toon can take. Problem solved.
Ron Nov 7th 2008 5:00PM
Never mind just checked out blacksmithing more and it stinks too. You can only socket 2 items and only one socket per item.
Wow professions now a joke!!!
firm Nov 7th 2008 5:05PM
BoP = CRAP imo.
Make more stuff BoE so the economy flows more. I miss the old days of searching for gear on the AH, and farming away for items.
Hard8 Nov 7th 2008 5:12PM
I currently have ENG & Tailoring on my tank..(I know)
Kept looking at the wraith BS gear hoping to find something BOP to finally make me pick up Blacksmithing on my tank...why bother now?
I can just buy it
i also keep hoping they make the hog ENG only, dont want one if everyone else has one, which they will
Why should anyone bother leveling any crafting now?
I guess I'll just enjoy my Flying carpet and leave it at that.
Thank you Blizzard for going LCD on this... AGAIN
Why not just make 1 class, race, model gear set for everyone and be done with it already
I take pride in all the trouble, gold sink, & time it takes to level crafting up to finally be able to sport an awesome epic I made and cant sell...why is that a bad thing to the market in general?
If you want that BOP level that profession. This BOE crafting business is just more welfare epic IMO
/spit
Candina@WH Nov 7th 2008 5:18PM
'Production' professions are useless.
'Production' professions do not produce gear that is useful to the crafter while you are leveling. (gear is usually 5+ levels lower than the level required to grind the mats). Crafted Greens and Blues are inferior to drop Greens and Blues of the same level requirement.
Now, at end game, there is no crafted gear that is superior to Raid (hard), Arena(easier), or Badge Loot (easiest) gear.
Bags have some utility. Sockets have some utility. Mechano-hog is cool. Pots and Elixers? buy them. Instriptions and Enchants? Same.
"Commodity" Professions will only be valuable as long as people are gullible enough to take "Production" profressions.
This imbalance will eventually cripple the economy, and Blizz will have to react to fix it, either by having GMs buy stuff off the AH (inject gold), or by creating demand (Crafted items that are worth a damn).
Herb/Skinner
Mine/Skinner
Herb/Mine
Are all that matters.
Illyrria Nov 7th 2008 5:24PM
This was an absolute HORRIBLE idea.. and pushing me towards not liking the game more and more.
People took those professions because they WANTED to.. wether it be to make money, or for the weapons. No one forced me to become a BS for Lionheart, I Chose to. Now the Blacksmithing I've been working on forever, is pretty much useless. An extra socket on yer gear is NOT an equivelant exchange to Stormherald/Lionheart/Etc. These weapons were a reason for BS's to max out there profession and something to look forward too when you did. What's the point now? really? No one is gonna go out and level BS'n from 0 to 400 for an extra socket, when you can go LW and get the armor patches.
Blizz is ruining the game by handing everything to everyone without no effort.. And you can tell now, by the time everyone gets well into WotLK.. everyone is gonna look exactly the same.. Same Gear(be it 10man "raids", or BoE raid epics, or PvP welfare epics that look the exact same as the raid stuff), Same glyphs (there really is only 1 "set" of glyphs per class that people choose), Same Enchants, etc.. The people who actually want something to show, are gonna be the exact same as the "nub" standing beside him in boughten gear.
Onouris Nov 7th 2008 5:25PM
A few things to consider:
First, while a lot of people are going to be pretty unhappy about this move, those of you who think it's safe to drop a profession and just buy everything may be disappointed. After all, if everyone takes that attitude, there won't be any crafters out there to make these BOE's.
Second, the crafter-only bonuses are not all bad. For Blacksmiths, the ability to add sockets is really killer. Yes, one gem in isolation isn't much of a stat increase. But with 3-4 extra sockets, that can add up to quite a bit of stacking that won't come at the expense of another stat. I can gem for whatever I want in those slots without gimping other stats or being super-selective about my gear.
Third, while the new BOE's are not quite on the same level as the crafter-only items from BC, many of them are still really great for new 80's or beginning raiding. For example, on the BS side, the Titansteel Bonecrusher and Titansteel Guardian are both very nice items for entering Naxx.
As an Enhancement Shaman who ground out BS solely for the craftable mace - one of the few weapons really suited for that spec - I was initially disappointed with this change. I thought about switching to leatherworking and skinning. Now I feel that it's going to work out in the long run. It's still much easier to find Enhancement suitable armor than weapons, and it's still going to be more efficient on the average to make my own BOE weapons than to buy them off the AH for what other people think their time is worth.
I still feel that it should be possible to do both, to continue with the upgradeable weapons while increasing the ability of crafters to seel their wares. BC had entirely too much BOP stuff. Wrath may have too little. To be honest, I'm more disappointed that there isn't such a big jump from BC to Wrath gear-wise. Reports from beta have been that T6 or Sunwell geared folk are keeping the same gear halfway through Naxx. My shaman started life as an alt so he's only in Kara gear, but having checked the loot tables I don't see him changing most slots until about 76-78. Part of having new content is having new gear - I don't want to be wearing the same stuff all the time!
Also, I'm just going to throw this out there - I find the new Northrend armor models to be impossibly dull. Also, it looks like most armor just reuses the same 4 basic models. BC may have been clowns on parade but at least it was colorful and varied.
Coik Nov 7th 2008 5:28PM
With all the people swearing up and down that they're dropping their crafting skills, I think this is actually a cleverly designed gold sink...all the new herbalists, miners and skinners will be putting their stuff up the AH, but it'll never sell because there's no one left to make anything with it. Heh.
I was an enchanter/tailor long before BoP weapons, armor or any sort of profession benefit was a flare in a dev's synapse. I don't care one whit about the benefits...the fact that all the bags my guildies use has my tag and they come to me to improve their gear is reason enough for me to level them to 450, 3,868, or whatever the cap is.
Whyisretgimped Nov 7th 2008 5:45PM
So Blacksmithing will again be absolutely useless...
Clarick Nov 7th 2008 6:26PM
I love to read all these comments by people who have no real idea whats going to happen screaming "Doom! Doom is coming!"
I would think that Blizzard pays people who deal with economies in RL to help them figure out how to get the economy right for EVERYONE playing. I am happy that they are doing this because now I can make these items for guildmates or alts or who would like them.
If this makes you want to quit the game then you weren't having fun in the first place so just leave
braun Nov 7th 2008 9:14PM
Fair guess some ppl will be swapping their professions from 70-80
as new recipes come to light. I wish LW's could sell armor kits to others though.. looks like only they can apply em to their own armor
unfortunately for non-LW's. Adding many BOE gear though is a major
plus! .. and who knows what changes they'll make in future patches ..
Steve Nov 8th 2008 12:38AM
I really don't care for this idea. Most people will select a crafting profession based on the reward they stand to achieve. Isn't that obvious? If you remove the reward, there is no reason to keep the profession. It sounds like they don't want blacksmiths, leatherworkers or tailors, because all the other professions have some great stuff, still. Are they naive, or am I? Maybe I should just roll every toon as a enchanter/jewelcrafter/inscriber so I don't get outdated in the next xpac.
More Gold Nov 8th 2008 12:43AM
I think in wrath there is going to be some huge gold sinks so blizzard is adding as many ways for people to be able to make gold as they can.
I really like the idea of selling my crafting made epics it seems silly to put all that much effort into making a armor set only once, for yourself and never make any more. Then after you make the set for your self how long is it after that before you replace it ?
I like the idea of making gold off all my hard work doesnt anyone else ?
FoxOfWar Nov 8th 2008 3:06PM
As a warrior who recently leveled up to be an Armorsmith, I very much do not like this change. Had I known, I would not have bothered.
Really, what is so bad about getting some good piece of armor for all the trouble you go through? Now all I'm getting is some sockets for my items. Sure, it's nice, but also one more moneysink... doesn't even NEARLY cover HALF the costs it took to level blacksmithing, let alone spec Armorsmith. If you cannot get anything special just-for-you out of blacksmith specialisations(or tailoring/skinning) for even start-level raiding, then what's the point? I want a goddamn refund for the 1k+ gold I spent on getting my Armosmith skill up to 360, instead of keeping to Herbalism (along with my Alchemy).
I love the idea of professions(other than Engineering, natch) having items that only they can use, and that are actually of some use for some time during raiding... and not items that I make when I'm 76, wear until 80 and replace on first corresponding drop on Naxx.
At least Alchemy gets to keep the stones. *sigh*
jaubourg Nov 8th 2008 10:37PM
Since I cannot post on the US forums (european - french - account), I'll put my comment out here. BTW, kudos to you guys, at WoW Insider I came to love your site so much I have to check it every 2 hours or so ;)
I've been a skinner/leatherworker since I started my blood-elf hunter.
BoP items at 375 were lacklusters for my class (not quite on par with T4 items whereas tailors had these overpowered T5-levelled sets - save for the lack of stamina which caused mages to play it the non-flying carpet way).
Raid recipes were nice (awesome when it comes to Sunwell, but, being on a server that started with TBC, we didn't see much of it - tries on Mu'ru as I write). Yet I'm sick of the air department of the Elemental Plateau. See that's the biggest thing I have against those recipes : farm, farm & farm again until your eyes bleed (for leatherworker, you almost HAVE to be skinner so forget about engineering and farming Primal Airs from clouds at light-speed with no kill involved). So, I raid 4 nights a week and I have to farm like crazy for these BoP items ? Even if they were the best of the best - which they are not until Sunwell when it's too late - it's not worth it.
Now let's think a little about the so-called advantages of professions now that they intend to remove BoP in favor of inevitably minor BoE items. The main advantage of them all is basically to scale with stuff as you progress in raid content : that is, if you change of itemization, you'll be able to add your "advantage" on your new stuff (which is far better than easily upgradable BoP items).
- Blacksmiths : does not remove the opportunity for an enchant, makes you dependant on another crafter, one item concerned IIUC, bracers are changed often.
- Leatherworkers : removes the opportunity for an enchant, prone to be a hell of a farm again (if they're like the trousers dps patch - *8* primal airs for christ sake), bracers are changed often.
- Tailors : adds an enchant were it was NOT possible before, they played it the Mongoose way again (physical dps version is only usable by melees, thank you for a de-facto nerf of hunters, Blizzard), cloaks are NOT changed often.
- Enchanters : adds enchant to *2* items that are not enchantable otherwise, rings are NOT changed often.
- Scribes : better shoulders enchant prone to be just a bit better than reputation ones, shoulders are changed regularly, caster-oriented off-hands won't last past the first dungeon and why would I care anyway.
- Alchemists : duration is a non-issue, effect is prone to be marginally better than without being alchemist, sorry but "meh", maybe if you take pally and druid buffs into account but it would be very specific to talents and how they scale with caracteristics
- Jewelcrafters : *1* gem (ahem), trinket prone to be marginally better than in-game ones and/or require insane farm.
- Engineers : head will go away quite quickly (until they add a new one 7 patches later).
So in the end, given you have to take into account the need for a gathering profession for some of those, and given Blizzard comes to its senses (FOR ONCE) and removes the melee limitation to the tailoring cloak enchant, I'll probably go for Enchanter/Tailor :
- No need for a gathering profession (the fools even made it so it would be easier for tailors to get cloth - wth ? - and, given the apparent focus on haste in wotlk, AP on a cloak is better than the pitifull critical strike rating you'd get with skinning)
- 3 enchants where it is not possible otherwise, on items you don't change often : instant gain, less farm.
- I can make bags (and make thousands of gold at the AH because : 1) everybody needs bags. 2) I don't care about the caster items and would direct all my reserve of cloth into making those bags).
But really, Blizzard, I think it would be time to stop bragging about how careful you are with balancing the game and all. You've been throwing so many random changes into the game these days that you cannot decently pretend you have any idea how it will even out. I'm afraid you're doing to crafts what you did with ret pallies.
If you really wanted to make things interesting and fair, you'd merge all production crafts with their associated gathering profession, so that everybody is on par with tailors and enchanters who have a huge advantage as of today (which you make even worse by making it possible for tailors to loot more cloth). If you keep two profession slots, you have a winner and people would really take professions for fun.
Oh yes, and also :
- Please, stop the air/fire/water/earth non-sense you've been throwing at our throat since level 60 HL and actually have production professions based on raw material from corresponding gathering profession. Most of the HL leatherworking crafts have marginal requirements in leather which, as far as I'm concerned, is quite insulting given skinning is just marginally useful to other professions.
- Quit the cooldowns. You already make it a pain in the ass for crafters to achieve top level in their profession (asking for insane farming after insane farming after insane farming), but since it doesn't seem to be enough, some have to wait an insane number of WEEKS to get a specific craft (tailors come to mind). I know an MMO is all about keeping the players as long as possible, but that's pushing it a little too far.
In the end, I still can't tell if you think all players are casuals who will be happy with sub-par epics payed with boring dailies or if you think everybody has 43 alts with every possible profession.
My 2 cents, though and good luck for you and the future of the game.
Chrys Sep 1st 2009 3:47AM
I am max Alch/Eng and i just wanted to input that yes I picked each of them because they are a lot of fun :) and also they have great synergy with the 3.2 changes giving eng 25% bonus to healing injectors and alchemists stones giving 40% (which does stack) if youre willing to take the hit on your item slot item level wise (alch stone is item level 200) youll get some sweet heals/mana out of it for questing around/grinding in a tough spot.