Saturday, May 2, 2015

World of Warcraft: Productivity and Quality of Life Changes for Professions (Professions Overhaul Part 2)

Professions in World of Warcraft have often stuck out as a point worth improving. Even as far back as early Cataclysm when I actively made a lot of criticism on the state of the game at multiple angles, I considered professions to be a bit on the boring side and felt they could have improved gameplay so to speak. However, this article will not go into any suggestions on how to make professions more fun to actually do. Instead, as part of what I consider to be a series of articles on improving WoW professions, this article will cover the general quality of the professions largely through their productivity, which is an important point of consideration when choosing professions for characters.

My previous article, which suggests re-implemented perks for professions, falls under the above point of general quality and consistency, thus making this article something of a follow-up. In this article, I will offer suggestions to improve professions on the aforementioned productivity in order to improve the overall quality of the profession. I will also offer quality of life changes if they're relevant. Some professions may not need either of these changes and in those cases, especially when considering the previous article on profession perks. In those cases I will explain why the professions aren't in need of improvements in productivity, though if you wish to contest those points (or any of the suggestions for that matter), I check the comments regularly. Also, given that patch 6.2 is on the horizon, some of these suggestions may already be changes implemented on the PTR.

With that said, here are the suggestions:

Alchemy

While 6.1 added some transmutations and trinket recipes, there's a bit more of additional room in terms of consumables. For instance, there's a number of potions and elixirs with unique effects that could be crafted with Warlords of Draenor materials. Given that there's a few potion and elixir recipes like this, the suggestion would fall in line with previous implementations. There could also be new types of potions and elixirs. Such potions/elixirs include:
  • A Potion of Luck/Treasure Finding that gives Warlords of Draenor-appropriate loot and only works in Draenor.
  • Elixir of Dream Vision.
  • Elixirs that allow for the tracking of certain enemy types.
    • In the same vein, a potion or elixir that allows for the tracking of treasures would be a great addition since Draenor is full of treasures (even though there's addons that accomplish this quite well).
  • Shrouding Potion.
  • Flask Cauldrons (technically not a potion but it's a consumable that would increase Alchemy productivity).
This list isn't that long, but a few of these consumables would likely be highly desirable, not to mention Alchemy's productivity isn't that bad to begin with, but needed just a little sprucing up both in terms of how interesting the recipe repertoire for Warlords of Draenor currently is and adding some potential money spinners.

Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Jewelcrafting, and Tailoring


These professions all share a reasonably decent level of productivity through their craftable equipment and, in the case of Jewelcrafting, gems. While there could be some room for improvement such as the return of belt buckles, spell threads, leg armor, and more consistent gem sockets, these professions are in a decent spot compared to other professions.

Enchanting

Enchanting is in a weird spot at the moment as it has only four equipment slot enchants, but they are more expensive due to the materials required. This means enchanting's overall revenue may not necessarily have changed much when it comes to selling equipment enchants. However, the addition of Enchanting Illusions adds a possibility for Enchanters to make money in a different way. While this is currently exclusive to a level 2 or higher Enchanter's Study with a follower assigned to it, Enchanters could also learn to create Enchanting Illusions that can be applied to Enchanting Vellum. Enchanting Illusions as a whole may need to require a little more material to create, however, since 5 Draenic Dust for an Enchanting Illusion isn't exactly a lot. In addition, there could be Enchanting Illusions for armors that add a (faint) glow or other visual effect to them, allowing players to customize their equipment visuals more than Transmogrification currently does.

Engineering

A few years ago, Engineering was perceived as a money sink since it took a lot of money or materials to level up and the profession had little productivity, but instead had many perks that the character benefited from. While Engineers can make a little money through mounts, pets, devices, scopes, and guns, the productivity is still a little weak, especially if one were to assume the perks from my previous article were implemented. With that said, letting Engineers sell the craftable (Draenor) goggles by removing the Engineering requirement from them would help them make a little money. While (other) crafting professions can make more pieces, Engineers would have the advantage of making helmets of all armor types and would at least be somewhat competitive in terms of selling crafted gear.

In addition, Engineering backfires, especially on belt tinkers, can be frustrating when they happen at the wrong time. While some can be beneficial, the beneficial backfires can be converted into more devices (if applicable). The ones that aren't, however, should never happen once the player reaches a high enough Engineering level since by that point, it seems logical that the character has all the kinks worked out.

Herbalism, Mining

These two gathering professions aren't quite as productive due to the Herb Garden and Mine in the Garrison, which provide a modest amount of materials at level 3 and thus driving the cost of materials down. To reward Herbalists and Miners, they could be the only ones able to harvest Primal Spirit from herb and ore nodes, including those in the Herb Garden and Mine.

However, the productivity of these professions can be improved beyond making a suggestion such as rewarding Herbalists and Miners with more material than the average Garrison manager. Back in Wrath of the Lich King, Miners were the sole source of a high-tier material: Titansteel, which was on a daily cooldown. Similar daily cooldowns could be added now, though they would need to produce a decent amount of materials since many professions would likely need to use them.

The quality of life of these two professions would be improved somewhat with the addition of the previously suggested perks, so there's no need for quality of life suggestions here.

Inscription

When Inscription was initially implemented, glyphs were consumable items that needed to be constantly crafted since players didn't permanently learn them. However, this was changed for what could arguably be quality of life purposes, such as reducing the frustration of constantly having to shop for glyphs. Unfortunately, while Scribes can craft some equipment and lottery tickets, they seem to have weak potential for productivity due to the limited types of equipment they can craft and decreased number of craftable consumables compared to back in Wrath of the Lich King.

However, Warlords of Draenor introduced Augment Runes, an item that can only be obtained in raids (of LFR or higher) at the moment but are a consumable similar to flasks in that they provide stats for an hour. Scribes could potentially be able to craft Augment Runes, allowing them to be able to enter a potentially lucrative industry, though I personally think Augment Runes should provide a buff besides a stat boost, such as a chance to deal extra damage or healing or the like.

Skinning

Skinning, much like its gathering profession siblings has its productivity effectively reduced due to the Garrison, specifically the Barn. While the Barn is an optional building, it can yield an enormous amount of Leather or Fur at level 3 with large work orders to the point it's more efficient to trap animals for the Barn than kill, loot, and skin them. However, Skinning could be changed to benefit from the Barn trapping design by allowing Skinners to earn extra materials as if they skinned the beast normally when it's trapped. In addition, Skinners can now gather both Leather and Fur from (Draenor) creatures when skinning them, allowing them to utilize both markets and making it more efficient to take up Skinning compared to just trap farming for the Barn.

Final Statements

These suggestions, as mentioned above, are made in the interest of bring profession production a little more in line with each other, thus making them more equally desirable to take up. Ideally, these changes would also happen alongside the re-implementation of profession perks. However, even without the perks in mind, a lot of these changes would work well by themselves.

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