Some changes to TS's I'd like to see...Follow

I know this has probably been beaten to death but I can't find any threads on it.

I like the trade skills but I find that a lot of them are fairly useless currently. All the "fun" ones cost crazy amounts of money.
60% of all primary skills are money sinks which I think is a problem, I have been trying to think of ideas to refresh them but it's not too easy (if it was it would have been done already).

So far all I can think of (only ideas):

• Add a high number of specialisations, maybe like a mini talent tree for each tradeskill where you can spend your trade skill points in up to 5 areas. This should make it so if you want a certain item you'll miss out on many more to get it meaning hopefully items would be more desirable.
• Reduce the mats cost slightly of crafted items.
• Have more rare lower level items, maybe even with a limit to the number available on the server.

In the long run I'd love to see it more profitable to craft the mats than sell them (I understand as soon as crafting is profitable again, mats cost would increase, thus my ideas above).
It seems like the skills were designed to run in tandem but many many people only run 2 gathering proffs because of the profit factor.

Let me know what you think, I'm interested to hear others PoV's.

Cheers for the comments ohmikegod.

I know there are specialisations, I'm more talking a tree than a choice of 2/3 routes (eg, leatherworkers could specialise in 2 areas at 100, then another choice at 225/300).
I do understand the economics of why mats go for 10 times the crafted items at lower levels but it's still frustrating somewhat.

I guess the problem is that all the mats sold are going to a trade skill eventually (is there anything else to do with the mats?) which is being useb to speed level (crafting/vendoring many of the same items).
It's also a shame that it makes the first 80% of trade skills pretty useless as you can't make many BoP items and you can normally find items on the AH for less than you could sell the mats for.

What about if using a crafter item for say 1 level gained you 5 levels on your trade skill?

Here are the changes that I would make to the crafting system:

First, throw away all thought about making crafting profitable. Instead of making sellable items which will never be profitable due to volume, make the crafting skill useful instead.

First of all, tie crafting to character level, like weapon skill. Give 5 points in crafting for each level. Like gaining spells, have the crafter visit the trainer every other level for new recipes. Then, make the recipes only create BoP items - and make them good enough items that they are better than 70% of the drops of the same level, and none of the quest/PvP rewards. That still gives an incentive to quest/PvP, while providing better items than you would normally get from drops.

Special recipes could still be obtained from reputation. Include recipes from all factions where reputation can be obtained. Yes, even Bloodsail pirates, Gelkis/Magram Centaurs, Booty Bay, Steamwheedle cartel, Gadgetzan, and of course, the capitol cities for each faction. Make reputation really useful.

You could also make the crafts useful by adding repair skills. Tailors could repair cloth items, Leatherworkers could repair leather and mail, and Blacksmiths could repair mail and plate. There would still be the repair guys in towns, but they would be used less.

You could even add in specialization trees (like the talent trees), because the needs of one crafter would not be the same as another. A rogue would want to make different leather items than a druid, and a warrior would want different jewelry items than a priest, for example.

Exceptions to this would be consumables, enchantments, and socketed gems.

No, you wouldn't make money by crafting, but you'd end up with great items that no one but a crafter could create.

Also, add in quests to get to the next level of crafting, to get the Journeyman (L10), Expert (L20), Artisan (L35), and Master (L50) levels.

These changes would redefine the WoW economy. Gatherers would not make money any more, except for the mats needed for Alchemy, Enchanting, and Gem cutting. This is due to the fact that the only mats required for most crafters would be for single items that they would make for themselves. Money from BoE drops would become more important.

Edited, Mar 14th 2007 10:24am by ohmikeghod

ohmikeghod

I dont think he is talking about the actual cost to buy mats, but the amount of actual mats used for a certain recipe.

And I agree 100%, certain enchants, for example, are insane with mats. Not to mention with TBC in effect old enchants are WAY to expensive(mat wise) compared to a new more powerful versions. A total review of this has to occur.

For example

Enchant Bracer - Mana Regeneration
Mana Regen 4 per 5 sec.
Enchanting (290)
16x Illusion Dust, 4x Greater Eternal Essence, 2x Essence of Water


VS

Enchant Bracer - Restore Mana Prime
6 Mana per 5 Sec.
Enchanting (335)
8x Greater Planar Essence

Have you seen the AH lately? Outland drops so many greens that would have been fabulous pre-TBC, now everyone vendors them because they don't sell. I have had about 3 out of 30 greens actually sell on the AH, and those were underpriced.


Not if the repair required fairly expensive reagents or mats that you buy from a vendor...and I think that this would encourage people to go into trades that make sense for their class.

I'd like to see more sense in the specialization as well. I wish that as an Armorsmith I had more choice in the type of armor I could make (i.e. tanking vs. dps etc) like leatherworking does. I know Armorsmithing is a spec of blacksmithing, but I wouldn't mind not being able to make high level weapons at all (which I can right now), if I could make armor that I, a holy pally, can use, instead of BoP warrior gear.

And I kind of like rep grinds when they result in good recipes, so I like the rep idea. TBC has a lot of new rep grinds, but you have to check out which ones have recipes for your trade. I've found a few factions with no smithing recipes at all!