Friday, November 20, 2009

Wasted Opportunity

If you're an enchanter, you're probably familiar with Enchanting Rods. Sometimes they are difficult to acquire, but if you ask me, they are a very well thought out item. In order for an enchanter to advance in the profession, he needs to get one of these rods. But even before he can do that, a miner has to mine the ore for the rod, the ore then has to be smelted, and a blacksmith has to create the rod. Only then the Enchanter gets to progress to the next level. This encourages trade and cooperation between players, like any MMO with a market should.

However, let's take a look at the other professions. The same miners we just mentioned require mining picks, and Blacksmith require Blacksmith Hammers. It seems ill thought out and very oversimplified that the rest of these profession items are bought from vendors.
Let's take mining for example. There could be different levels of Mining Picks, crafted by Engineers. The reagents for the first one might use some special items dropped by certain mobs. The following versions could use smelted bars. The possibilities are endless. And profession items like there aren't the only ones. What about Alchemy Vials and Tailoring threads.
And why limit this just to professions, what about food/drink that players sometimes buy.
Blizzard missed a big opportunity by trivializing a chunk of the professions.

I said I wouldn't speculate, but I did. Click the picture for link.

5 comments:

  1. On the plus side engineers can now make BS hammers that can be used for mining and a mining pick that can be used for skinning. A couple of my characters have them, they save a valuable bag slot :)

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  2. The first mining pick/etc would have to be vendor-purchased, just like the first enchanting rod is. It wouldn't be fair to expect a level 2 newbie to have to look so hard to get an item necessary to get their profession beyond level 1. After that, they could be profession crafted, I agree.

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  3. Whitewolf here...

    You've gained a reader. I don't venture out as much as I should onto the interweb to find new pages to follow but your postings in the JMTC forums led me here. And you're now appropriately listed in my Tuesday morning reading list.

    I feel exactly as you do in regards to crafters' tools....well-executed with enchanting and overlooked with all the others. A few years back, when playing my first characters, part of the charm/frustration of enchanting was having to pause in the grinding process and beg/borrow/steal and connive in order to find the mats and a BS to craft my next rod. (And back then, we had to keep all the lower ones on hand...the right tool for the right job.)

    Nowadays, with 2k and a full AH, anyone can stand in a major city and change professions as easy as a stripper on the catwalk can change outfits for the next set. I know I'm in the minority, but I always felt that profession progression should have been tied into spending Exp points as much as gold to learn patterns.

    Anyhow, I'm off to the Dabo tables now...

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  4. I'd been thinking this exact same thing earlier today. Why are Enchanting, Jewelcrafting and Inscription so popular? Because they affect EVERY class in the game.

    Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Engineering and Leatherworking are extremely limited in comparison. While Blizzard thought introducing buffs was the answer, I think cross-pollination would have been preferable.

    For example:

    Alchemists can help produce chemicals/reagents necessary for the production of special alloys for engineering parts and devices. They could also craft special dyes and protectives necessary for another gear crafter's recipes.

    Engineering could easily be adapted to host any number of profession-necessary modifications. Maybe they craft beakers or burners for rare Alchemist potions, or they help craft those special metal alloys mentioned above.

    Tailoring and leatherworking should be used to help craft armor padding, thread, and... yeah, not so sure about those two.

    While some professions exist to buff the player, some professions could exist to buff other professions.

    Too many players would likely complain though, were they too reliant on other professions.

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  5. There are a few examples of this cross-reliance. Like the iron buckle crafted by blacksmiths but used by leatherworkers and tailors. Blizzard have also tried to broaden the use of professions in recent expansions by adding things like leg armors kits and belt buckles that all classes need.
    I do agree that it would be better to have higher level tools for the gathering professions. My full epic level 80 leatherworker still uses a white skinning knife worth less than 1 silver. Maybe an improved expensive skinning knife should be available that would allow me to skin northrend beasts, or even give some other buff like reduced cast time on skinning or increased chance to get arctic furs.
    I suppose it gets complicated when you take into account the other items that work as skinning knives. Finkle's Skinner or the Gnomish Army Knife

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