tradeskills
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The Queue: Feasting and Fishing
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Welcome back! Since yesterday's picture of Malygos was so awful, I decided to give up on his righteous beard and take a picture of his lightning breath instead. Yeah, see that up there? It hurts. It hurts a lot. Just trust me on that. Let's get into the Q&A now, eh?Goorguy asked...Why is it that tanks are always the group leaders? Why are we always expected to mark mobs? Every time I get in a group to tank for it I will always get thrown the leader. I don't really mind, but at least once I want to get in a group where someone else was willing to mark for me, instead of the other way around.
Breakfast Topic: Are you leveling your Professions?
I admit, I'm not, which is new. When BC came along, while I leveled to 70, I always stopped to mine the Fel Iron nodes. Even on my initial tramp from 1-60 on my characters, I usually stop every few levels to make sure their chosen tradeskill is up to date. But this time, on my Death Knight, I'm not stopping for a thing. It's a weird feeling. I'm conscientious about making sure my characters are well-rounded, making sure they have the skills to pay the bills, so to speak, first aid and cooking in addition to a set of well maintained trade skills, but on my Death Knight, I just can't bring myself to let up on the questing and grinding for professions, even if it means leaving piles of dead, unskinned Bog Lords in my wake. Admittedly, this may have something to do with the fact that his trade skills start at level 1 while he's level 55. In the end, I'd rather level in Hellfire Peninsula instead of picking daisies in Elwynn. Can you blame me? Still, I promise at level 80 that I will make time to level up his Inscription. While I have asked about this before, I thought I'd see if the responses were any different now that Wrath is underway. Are you taking breaks on the road to 80 to level your tradeskills? Why or why not?
The Anatomy of WoW: Seven games that inspired Blizzard
Blizzard is one of the most prestigious and succesful developers in the world for good reason -- it takes the best ideas from all over the industry (even ones that don't quite work right... yet) and refines them, forcing them to succeed in ways they never did before.Millions of people are playing World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King today, so we decided this would be the perfect time to dive into WoW's mechanics and see what other games inspired Blizzard when it was creating this monumental phenomenon. We'll look at seven critical predecessors to which Blizzard paid homage with its own design decisions. Join us and learn a bit more about why WoW is the enthralling experience it is today. Click to start >> %Gallery-36773%
Ask a Beta Tester: Tradeskills, training, and rep gains
As the beta winds down, Ask a Beta Tester becomes a little more infrequent, but as long as we have questions, we will answer. Let's start with Rob's question...Are they planning to put in recipes for green items between 350-375 to make it easier to grind up professions? Or should i just suck it up and make (obsolete) blue/purple items to level up.Many professions start with new recipes at 350 skill in Northrend, and some of them at 360. Nobody starts at 375. 360-375 is usually taken up by 'end-game' items so you won't have to grind those out to skill up before Northrend. I recommend checking Wowhead to see where your particular profession starts out.Locke asked...I know there's the Wrath Gate cinematic and so on, have you come across or know any other cinematic events like this, or was this the only one? I'm sure there has to be in game scripted events. Thanks.
8962, professionally speaking
There were a lot of profession changes in the latest LK beta build (8962). You've already seen what Inscription got, and if you're anything like me, you've salivated over the new Engineered motorcycles. But what else in this build is particularly interesting, for the other professions? Tailoring got some new flying carpets added, though I'm pretty sure the Ebonweave/Mooncloth/Spellfire are just cosmetic variants. No word yet on what they look like. Leatherworking got a ton of new BoE epics and blues. It looks like they're really trying to make it profitable to be a leatherworker, which will be nice to see. Each of the armor-crafting professions (tailoring, LW, blacksmithing) got some high-stamina frost-resist sets. Previously, similar (and similarly-named) sets were used for the Sapphiron fight in the old Naxxramas; I wonder if something similar will be going on in the new Naxx. I hope not, because kitting out your whole raid for one fight is an annoying gimmick. A few of the professions got recipes specifically to help them discover more recipes, like Northrend Alchemy Research and Northrend Inscription Research. An interesting approach to making the discovery system less frustrating. A new epic fishing pole! Still not quite as much +fishing as the Arcanite Fishing Pole, but nice for those who have trouble winning the contest, and the underwater breathing will be convenient. There are also a bunch of new enchants and elixirs, but it's just your typical +AP, +crit, +int, etc.; hardly fascinating. I'm particularly excited about all the stuff LW is getting. That skill needed some love. See MMO-Champion for full listings of all the recipes; there's just too much for me to list here.
Breakfast Topic: What profession will you be going for in Wrath?
With Wrath's release inching closer and closer, we've had a flood of profession information coming in. The latest Blizzcast gave up some insight into the future of professions, and we've seen rumors and recipe lists for quite a few professions. Even gathering professions aren't immune to the fun, with some nice little innate bonuses being granting to mining, skinning and herbalism. So, with Wrath coming, it's the perfect time to take inventory of your tradeskills and decide which way you're going to go. Will you drop Leatherworking now that you don't need the drums for raiding? Will you head over to Inscription so you can trick out your own spells and skills? Will you go strictly gathering for the buffs and for selling off raw materials to everyone trying to level their professions? In short, what profession will be your primary pursuit in Wrath of the Lich King?%Poll-18376%
Tradeskill links coming in Wrath
Another fun little addition for tradeskills and crafters straight from the Beta realms is the ability to peruse the recipes that someone else knows. It works very simply, too. The crafter links his tradeskill like it were an item. You click on that link and a regular tradeskill window pops open, minus the option to craft, create or enchant what you're looking at. You can see all of their recipes and the materials required for them.This seems like it's going to be especially useful for the tradeskills that have a large variety of things that people need. Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, et cetera. It would be much easier to link a guildmate the list of what I can do rather than look up everything they need myself. "Can you do Savagery? Vitality? Spell damage to bracers? MP5 to chest? Strength to gloves?" Maybe! Here, check and see! Linking your recipe book over the Trade channel should help sell enchants and inscriptions as well, hopefully replacing the endless spam of three paragraph advertisement macros. Okay, so maybe those macros will never go away, but we can hope can't we? By the way, you can click on the image to the right to make it bigger, in case you can't see it very well as it is.
Breakfast Topic: What do you want out of crafting?
The Burning Crusade did quite a bit to make tradeskills useful. While some were more powerful than others, almost all of them got something pretty nice, even the gathering skills. Tailors and Blacksmiths got a bit of an edge in gearing up for higher content, Leatherworking drums are one of the single most desired crafted items around for raids, Engineers got fantastic goggles and a pretty cool mount, Herbalists can pick powerful consumables, et cetera, et cetera. This is a major step up from life in vanilla WoW, where any tradeskills except Herbalism, Alchemy and Enchanting were almost entirely worthless.Still, though, it kind of feels like crafting in WoW is... empty. The tradeskills are useful now, but I'm a strange fellow. The tradeskills need heart. They need flavor. I like my tradeskills having a larger effect on how you play. Leatherworking is actually a good example of this, from a conceptual point of view. I love the idea of drums having an active effect on things. It isn't just a passive stat increase that you equip or cram in your mouth. It's something you need to be conscious of, something you need to actively use. I don't really know how you could do this for all tradeskills, but I'd love to see more of it. No, those crappy nets don't count.Another thing I'd like to see expanded from The Burning Crusade is location-specific crafting. Making my Spellcloth, Primal Mooncloth and Shadowcloth every few days seemed like an adventure, if a tedious one. Spellcloth was especially fun! You had to arm and prepare yourself before you hit the 'create' button until your gear was good. Fishing before The Burning Crusade was not nearly as useful as it is now, but I liked time of day and season having an effect on things. Stocking up on Grilled Squid in the appropriate season and using it to negotiate deals with rogues and hunters was great fun, I think. I'd like to see that come back in some form in Wrath, though maybe not as extreme.What would you like to see out of crafting in Wrath? Are you hoping for something more dynamic, or are you a (wo)man of simple pleasures and all you need is a great big sword to be happy?
AoC developers get specific about coming fixes and features
A little developer communication can go a long way. Today we see two substantial communications from the Age of Conan developers. Twicer has posted a hefty account of what's coming next in the ongoing drive to patch up the game. In the spotlight are tradeskills, resource playfields and massive PvP. Not all of what's here will be welcome - rare resource drops, for example, are actually working as intended and not bugged - but Funcom do seem to be keeping the player base more in the loop, which is a positive step.Meanwhile, Gaute Godager has issued a new letter to the players, expanding upon (and revising) what he said last time. We learn the he new PvP changes are expected to come out in early August, and the DX10 part of the engine is now scheduled for this fall, with a preview at Leipzig in August. To our surprise, buddy keys are scheduled to be activated next week (at long last) in apparent contradiction of Ellingsen's denial that a trial program is coming any time soon.
More tradeskill love and rewards in Wrath
To coincide with the earlier good news about factions (which is, apparently, bad news to some) we have a little more good news regarding reputation. As I am sure some people (Engineers) are painfully aware, representation was... uh, lacking for certain tradeskills in TBC factions.I actually enjoy grinding reputation simply because it gives me something simple and straightforward to do when I want to do something.... well, simple and straightforward. As much as I don't mind doing it, there still needs to be a sense of reward from it besides moving that little bar on the bottom of my screen upwards. I didn't grind out Kurenai simply because it wasn't rewarding. I got a Talbuk easier via Halaani PvP. I was lucky (or unlucky, depending on your view) as an enchanter, though. Our representation on faction vendors was quite high, and that only improved as The Burning Crusade progressed and the old AQ40 enchants made a comeback. I felt bad for my Engineering buddies that didn't really have much motivation to earn rep with anybody at all due to a complete lack of rewards.The good news is that at the WWI's Raids and Dungeons panel, it was mentioned that a goal of theirs to be sure more tradeskills will be rewarded via factions, spread the love further, and just plain have more recipes. Again, as an Enchanter I had more than enough recipes to grind out all over Outland, but other tradeskills didn't quite receive that much love. It'll be nice to see my friends feel rewarded for their work in Wrath like I did throughout the leveling and gearing process in The Burning Crusade.
State of the Tradeskills in EverQuest 2
Earlier this week, EverQuest 2 crafting designer Domino laid out a fantastic 'state of the tradeskills' document on the official forums. The lengthy post delves into crafting changes going all the way back to Game Update 36, just after Neriak and the Arasai were added to the game. Some of those old notes will definitely bring back fond memories - and some interesting links as well! Domino linked to, for example, an interview with Gnobrin about Neriak house items, a Rise of Kunark faction guide for crafters, and of course her developer diaries from the days of Kunark's testing.Domino also offers up EQ2 players an advance look of what's coming for crafters in GU 45, and out into the future. We've already discussed crafting changes in the next patch, so what's out beyond that? The addition of imbues to lower level armor sets. Most lower level sets are currently not able to be imbued. The addition of 'missing' equipment to lower levels, filling holes in crafter's repetoires. Revisiting mastercrafted jewelry, and hex doll stats. Revisting cloth and leather crafted armor appearances. And, of course, more quests! From the maybe list: big changes to adornments - if time permits. Make sure to check out the full post to enjoy this great retrospective.
Player vs. Everything: Maxed out and bored
Congratulations! You've hit level 70 (or whatever max level is in your favorite game), and you're officially a badass. For many players, this is a goal they've been striving towards for months -- even years in some cases. The feeling of having that first max level character is immensely invigorating. It's like putting the finishing touches on a long-term project or getting to the last page of a monstrous novel. What an accomplishment! However, after basking in the glow of your newly maxed out character for a few days, you quickly realize you have a small problem: What do you do with yourself now? The answer to that question is going to depend heavily on what game you play. For most people, it's going to be PvP, raiding, or a nice mix of both. You'll probably continue collecting gear for your character or working on your skills. Depending on the game, you might be able to work on some sort of alternate advancement or achievement system for your character -- maybe even hunt down some unique titles. All of this is pretty standard fare for endgame content. Sooner or later, you'll probably get a little bored of it. Don't fret, though! There's a whole host of other interesting things you can do to keep yourself entertained at maximum level that go beyond the planned content. Read on for a few suggestions.
Insider Trader: Tradeskills for noobs
You've entered Azeroth with a brand spanking new character and you're trying to find your footing in the world. Perhaps this is even your first MMO entirely, and while looking for guidance, you're overwhelmed at the sheer volume of information available. Sound like you? While our very own WoW Rookie column has a wealth of information specifically tailored to new players, this week's Insider Trader is going to go in-depth and personal with your profession choices to help make sure that you get the job you want. Whether you are looking for a challenge, thinking ahead to your future, or looking to maximize your profit, you'll find the advice you need to make an informed decision. Have you already chosen, and are regretting it? Never fear, I'll walk you through backing out of the deal and finding something that really suits you.Make sure not to skip the comments section, as input and personal experience will help you learn about the different outcomes you might face.
Why have a bank alt?
So Zach posted one of my favorite recent articles about making sure your bank toon looks stylish while it's taking care of your business, and I was amazed when I read the comments to see that a few people were wondering what the whole point of a bank alt was at all. I have to admit that I was once like them. Why should I give up one of my precious character spaces for some dude who will just sit around Thunder Bluff or Ironforge and do nothing but store stuff that I should just be using or auctioning anyway? Of course, now that I have a bank alt, I'm pretty happy with the concept. If you're someone who hasn't made one yet, I'll tell you why I think you'd be happy with one too after the break.
Making/Money: Newbs at Auction
... And we're not talking about selling accounts on eBay. One of the most frustrating aspects of being a new player in an established game, to my mind, is the cost of start-up crafting materials. Hit up any public market area, auction house, trade square or similar as a newbie and you will see what I mean. Even low-level items of any use (i.e. not vendor trash) are sold for seemingly absurd amounts given the time that would be required at early levels in order to generate the money. It can make the start of a new character infuriating and the game too taxing (pun fully intended) to continue. Why does this happen? What makes these things so costly? Why can't we all just get along...? (Oh wait, that's another column entirely)
Breakfast Topic: Flying Mounts and Professions
The Engineering flying machine has been out for a while now, and it's been a pretty big hit. It's a nice classic piece of Warcraft tradition and lore and good unique reward for someone with enough gumption to craft what may seem like hundreds of Adamantite Rifles on their way to 375 Engineering. Of course, something that shiny is going to attract admirers and tons of people who want one for themselves. The issue crops up every few weeks on the general forums or the suggestion boards: Someone wants a crafted flying mount of their own without switching professions. If they got themselves up to 375 in their chosen skill and want to spend another thousand gold or so on expensive trade skill items for a flying mount, why shouldn't they? It'd be a great way to show pride in your trade skilling prowess and give one more way to shed that plain old Wyvern or Gryphon and set yourself apart from the crowd. You could go with, say a nice flying carpet for the tailors, maybe a flying mortar and pestle for the alchemists. Now, I tend to agree that it's probably good enough that Engineers are unique in getting a flying mount in the same way that, for example, Leatherworkers get drums or Blacksmiths get weapons and armor. But then again, I also have to say that Engineers already get some pretty awesome goggles for a unique reward anyway, and a flying carpet would be pretty sweet. So what do you think? How about a leather-winged glider for Leatherworkers? Or do you think that it's enough that the Engineers have a mount that's taken from previous lore and people should stop asking for silly stuff that's never appeared in Warcraft before?
New PTR daily quest points to new alchemy or jewelcrafting possibilities
Tipster Aikiwoce points out something intriguing on the PTR for alchemists and jewelcrafters. We've already said some things about Razorthorn Rise and the the new daily quest from the unlocking of the Harbor Phase of the Sunwell dailies that sends you there, but here's a bit more information for you. It is given by an NPC named Mar'nah, an alchemist who needs the roots from the quest to "get started" on her efforts to assist the offensive. Another NPC standing next to her, a Draenei named Shaani who is marked as a jewelcrafting supplier but currently has nothing to sell, says that she believes that once Mar'nah's laboratory is complete, they "will be able create gems that were thought to be lost to time." What exactly could this mean? Let's talk about it after the break.
As the Worlds Turn: Hey, mom! Look at what I made!
You've toiled. You've trudged great distances. You've sought out the wisdom of the land's greatest craftsmen in pursuit of perfection in your art. Hours of work have culminated into this precise moment. You have finally done it. You have crafted a hat. Not merely any hat: a red hat. You equip it to your character to see how splendid you look in a finely crafted red hat. You quickly put your helmet back on and sell the hat to the nearest vendor for a paltry handful of copper coins. What was the point? The desire to craft is easy to understand. The millions of MMO players out there have many different goals but there is one goal that they often share: the desire to be special and unique. I'm not referring to a warm and fuzzy after-school kind of special, either. I'm talking about the coolest gear, the most impressive weapon and the super rare mount. Crafting systems often lead players to believe that they can make cool gear and look different. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy as it sounds.
Preparing for 2.3: Pre-patch farming, part 1
Although your time to farm before the release of the patch is quickly dwindling, hopefully everyone will be able to spend some quality time over the weekend preparing for next Tuesday. It's always difficult to accurately predict what will be big sellers, especially since the economy on one server may be radically different than another. With this in mind, I've decided to simply provide a list of all the items that will be used in new trade recipes or for obtaining the new reputation rewards.
Rise of Kunark interview with Scott Hartsman
We almost missed this one, but Massively's own Michael Zenke put together a terrific interview with Everquest II Senior Producer Scott Hartsman about Rise of Kunark, the upcoming expansion, which features lizard-men called Sarnaks. You know any game that features lizardmen already has a lot going for it, and from what we saw in Dan's walkthrough, lizardmen are just the beginning..Zenke and Harsman talk about developing the game (this is the first expansion that's had almost a full year for development), and the ambitious schedule for all of EQ2's development-- Hartsman says that the advent of WoW was a kick in the pants for all MMO developers, and that it set the bar not just for competition, but for survival. They also cover what there is to find in Kunark-- Hartsman especially loves the storyline on the war between the Sarnak and the Spirroc (parrotmen, apparently-- what will they think of next?!), and the updated tradeskills, which should offer lots of interesting items for crafters and consumers alike.Definitely a must-read if you're interested in the new expansion (or if you have fond memories of Kunark in the original Everquest).
