Engineering in 3.1 and Professions for PvE/PvP
Posted by 
Heartbourne on Monday, March 23, 2009 - 19 Comments Tags: 3.1, Patch, content patch, engineering, profession
Heartbourne on Monday, March 23, 2009 - 19 Comments Tags: 3.1, Patch, content patch, engineering, profession 
Wrath of the Lich King sought to even out the playing field of PvE and PvP benefits that players receive from knowing a profession. It was nigh required to have a leatherworker's drums in the endgame of Burning Crusade, and Engineers found many a trick to "exploit" in battlegrounds. Many professions, like Blacksmithing, Engineering, and Tailoring, had several BoP items that were some of the best gear you could get, making these professions a huge boon to some classes that put them way ahead of characters that didn't pick the "right" profession.Blizzard evened this out with a whole host of abilities for the professions. They made sure every profession provided a benefit to both PvE and PvP gameplay in a way that was useful to every class. These changes were applied in patch 3.0.2, and many of these benefits are available to both low-level characters and high-level ones. If you are a little rusty on who gets what, take a moment to review:
| Profession | Main Gameplay Benefits |
| Alchemy | Mixology (PvE), Endless Healing Potion (PvP) |
| Blacksmithing | Socket Bracer, Socket Gloves |
| Enchanting | Enchant Rings (Stamina, Spellpower, AP) |
| Engineering | Hand enhancements (Rockets, Haste) |
| Leatherworking | Leg Enchancements (Resists, AP, Stam) |
| Tailoring | Leg and Cloak Enchancements (Spellpower, Holy Damage, Melee Haste) |
| Jewelcrafting | Special Gems, Trinkets (Resilience, Strength, MP5) |
| Inscription | Shoulder Enchants (AP, Spell Power, Dodge) |
| Herbalism | Lifeblood |
| Mining | Toughness |
| Skinning | Master of Anatomy |
Engineering didn't get as much love in terms of PvE/PvP viability. The engineering benefit was the ability to add "gadgets" to your gear that essentially enchant your gear with different abilities. Most of these did not positively effect endgame PvE or PvP gameplay. For example, you couldn't get your cloak enchanted if you wanted Flexweave Underlay. And forget about your Icewalker enchant if you plan on using Nitro Boosts.
In 3.1, Engineers get a little bonus that provides them with a comparable bonus to other professions. Blue poster Zarhym recently rounded up the changes in 3.1 for engineers:
- Added a new Reticulated Armor Webbing engineering enchant that increases the armor on plate gloves.
- Added a new Springy Arachnoweave engineering enchant that grants passive spell power in addition to turning your cloak into a parachute.
- Flexweave Underlay now grants passive agility in addition to its normal effect.
- Nitro Boosts now grant passive critical strike rating in addition to their speed boost.
The list may not be conclusive and is subject to change over the course of the public testing process.
Its still not enough to sell me. I'm eyeing replacing herbalism with something a little more effective (maybe skinning?) for that extra boost for my rogue DPS.
Reader Comments (19)
The inscription stuff makes me want to give my Boomkin Inscription, but I hate gathering herbs and I can't afford the AH prices :(
oh and I forgot to mention, yeah, the skinning will help. it increases your crit rating which is awesome.
As an end game Prot warrior I use.
Armor Plated Combat Shotgun
Armored Titanium Goggles
Gnomish Army Knife
Sonic Booster x2 for Sta
And working on
Mekgineer's Chopper
And for cash
Saronite Arrow Maker
Ultrasafe Bullet Machine
I like Eng.
FYI for anyone reading...
Inscription's bonus glyph slot was removed before beta ended.
Glad to see flexweave get +agi buff. I always forget that I can't have both whenever I upgrade cloaks and invariably end up replacing my parachute with +agi without thinking.
I have died some horrible splatting deaths following some drops from high places as a result... But hey! I had good agi whild doin' it :D
Our ever watchful readers caught another mistake. Fixed.
450 goblin engineer here.I've been an engineer on my main since vanilla.It's only value for me as a hunter are the bullets/arrows.And they plan to phase out ammunition in the future.So when that happens, I am so gone from this godawful profession!
The tinkers are useless.I have the haste on my "doing dailies" outfit.You know what I use it for?I pop it when I use Viper.That's it.
No way in hell would I raid with those crappy tinkers even the "improved" versions in 3.1.They are far below even BC enchants in terms of usefulness.
The limited usefulness of the nitroboosts in PvP has been nerfed and will be removed in 3.1.
Hell, they're even making our copter a boss drop that requires no engineering to fly!
Ulduar:Vast city of the Titans, literally jam-packed with fantastic technology and machines.Makes Gnomeregan look like a Stone Age hovel in comparison.
New recipes for every profession...except engineering?!WTF!?
To many of us engineers, Ulduar was the last chance for Blizzard to redeem themselves in our eyes.They not only failed miserably, they continue to beat the dead horse they themselves killed!
i have to say that i really enjoyed being an Armorsmith and having one of the best chest pieces in the game that was BoP back during BC. Some occasionally found this unfair, and to those who did i chewed out saying that they had every opportunity i did to learn BS and then spend the hours and gold leveling it up on their own and reap the same benefits i had.
Now don't get me wrong if one type of profession is overboard on being OP then sure evening things out is understandable. But never forget diversification is a very very nice little attribute about wow that was the reason i started playing. It was the reason you used to need a pally tank for ZA, and the reason you needed Crowd control for even SWP. Professions all had their different benefits and it's be nice to keep it different, but as expansions and patches come out, blizz tries their best to please everyone and sometimes it comes out as a mess. @_@
Yea I was recently a Leatherworker but after I got the patch I really didn't see a point in staying. Yes it was nice not having to pay the 200g they go for on my server but nothing was special that I can't just pay for later. So I switched over to Inscription because the nice shoulder enchant and plus just the amazing gold I recieve for all the Nobles cards. There is deffinetally more of an off balance with some proffesions other then just enginnering.
i'm a tailor, and i'd love to see the Northrend Cloth Scavenging passive ability "proc" a little bit more often. Ok i get a good amount of cloth from clearing naxx, get about 2 stacks per quarter if i'm lucky, but still...when i'm doing my dailies or whatever, I'd like that little bit extra for my time.
Also, the price of frostweave is rediculous, and always has been since launch. So why don't Blizz improve this passive ability, or just make frostweave drop more often?
In PVE the main use engineering has for me is occassionally during a wipe - a run back or jumper cables can be handy, or a repair bot I can drop when we're deep inside an instance. Otherwise as a pseudogathering profession collecting motes is mildly handy. There was one other mild benefit, being able to port over to gadget or blade's edge (not that there's much call for either anymore).
In PVP it's pretty much semi useless. Nitro boosts were apparently deemed too good for what they did, so now they've been nerfed into uselessness. 2 seconds of burst speed doesnt' cut it and doesnt make giving up a runspeed enchant or a hit/crit enchant worthwhile. The cloth belt we had last xpac was a great piece of equipment, a bit spotty on how useful it was but sometimes very handy. Not worth equipping something 10 levels below me for the benefit though in pvp. The "World enlarger" is occassionally benefical. The combat pets may've scaled and had reduced cooldowns but they're still not really worth equipping over my same level epic gear.
The spellpower enchant to back is a nice theoretical alternative to tailored embroidery, however I can slowfall by myself and doubt many plate would want the spellpower effect..
The goggles were good but since I'm arcane my mana pool is constantly stressed so I switch my level 72 goggles in favor of level 80 tier piece.
As to the mechano hog - I have one, and can mass manufacture them, but have only ever made 3. One for a friend, one for myself, and one for a stranger who tipped me 150G. I dont make money on engineering from bullets/arrows since they're nerfing the need for ammo anymore. And eternals aren't especially high demand anymore so not making much money off the profession.
I am happy for the spellpower to enchant back since i"m not a big fan of haste, it having been nerfed into pseudo uselessness.
Jewelcrafting is sort of the same thing too - the trinkets are "nice in theory" but fall far short of the epic gear out of naxx. The personal gems are a nice touch though.
@Cotytto
Are you serious?!?!?! The copter is going to be a boss drop and NOT require engineering to fly...WTF?!?!?! I want Flying Carpets then! The copter is really the only reason I stick with engineering. If this is true, then color me pissed (or pissed on, I suppose).
Engineering...the red-headed step-child of WoW.
They are not getting rid of consumable ammo in 3.1, it will now stack in 1000's so I will still sell 10 stacks of 200 Saronite Arrow's for 100g on the AH after unpacking the Saronite Arrow Maker (15 x Saronite bars 20g).
MMM, tasty Haste for my Mutilate spec!
Personally, Engineering isn't about maxing everything out. People who wanna roll an engineer should be whacky crazy people with the urge to do insane things that others who have their head stuck so far into DPS and such can only dream of.
I personally don't play WoW for the reasons of maxing everything. I could care less. I play the game for fun, which is reallywhat games are made for. Sure I won't have the absolute highest DPS but I can guarantee I'll have the most fun.
I myself will stick with engineering for two reasons
-The copter that doas not require engineering is a freaky bowser-like floating head. the roflecopter still beats its sorry lack of jets any day
-Moll-e/gnomish army knife
Tailoring is a joke right now. The cloak threads are worthless and every caster i have asked says that just a straight out enchant is better then the emroidery. Even MaxDPS.com has the haste over the thread by a long shot. The fact is that until they release new patterns worth a dam, Tailoring is a joke.