The Next Expansion: Future Tradeskill Design
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Heartbourne on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 65 Comments Tags: Professions, burning crusade, cataclysm, crafting, inscription, jewelcrafting, the next expansion, tradeskills
Heartbourne on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 65 Comments Tags: Professions, burning crusade, cataclysm, crafting, inscription, jewelcrafting, the next expansion, tradeskills 
Blizzard has already set the bar for the next expansion. Based on Wrath and The Burning Crusade, players expect to have to level 90. Players expect either new races or a new hero class starting at a high level. Something that not many people talk about but would probably miss is a new tradeskill.Jewelcrafting was very fitting for Burning Crusade; the theme fit in well with the Naaru and the Draeni. Additionally, it added a whole new level of character customization and armor itemization. Inscription worked alright with Wrath; it used herbs as the raw materials, giving Alchemy a run for its money, and also offered some character customization.
In a new expansion, should we expect a tradeskill? What kind of role would it fill?
One of the first things to note is that a gathering profession would be hard to implement. It would require creating nodes all across all of the zones in order to scale with character level. Unless it started at a high level when you learn it, it seems unlikely that Blizzard would simply implement a new gathering profession without a crafting profession.
Supposing they did make a new crafting profession, they have three options for raw materials: ore, leather, or herbs. There are currently three professions which use ore, two that use herbs, and one that uses leather. Enchanting is unique in that it uses equipment as a resource in a sense. The fact that three professions use the products of mining may be indicative of why mining is considered to be the most lucrative gathering profession by a wide number of players.
The obvious design choice would be to choose the resource that is used least by professions to create an overall even consumption of resources. But what profession besides leatherworking could work with leather?
If we look at the Jewelcrafting and Inscription examples, each of them came with a complementary ability to convert raw materials into processed goods for crafting. But what could you do to leather to turn it into something that doesn't fall into the realm of leatherworking? And what would it create? If not leather, how could we use herbs?
A new crafting profession probably would not create armor as its main selling points. For each of the armor classes, there is a profession that creates armor for them. Inscription was reaching with the glyph idea, but its come to be accepted. Weapons are largely in the realm of Blacksmiths, and trinkets are (somewhat) in the realm of Jewelcrafting. Is it even possible with the rate that Blizzard will be coming out with expansions that they can continue to create professions for each one?
It seems that for future crafting professions, it is necessary for them to couple new professions with a new feature. With player housing being one of the most requested features, I wonder how this could be implemented. Perhaps Tauren tents could fall in the realm of player housing. It could fall under a "Tanning" profession. Its kind of hard to differentiate what would fall between these, how this would work for the Alliance, and how to create a profession around just this.
I think the solution is to give each profession the gathering ability that complements it. With more and more crafting professions and less and less gathering professions, the ratio of total players with crafting professions to players who gather more than they craft is decreasing. Having every player be able to gather materials for their craft would simplify it a lot for new players, as well as make it easier to scale professions together. Leveling through the first 350 levels of each profession could be done either by gathering or crafting, making it much easier. Additionally, theoretical new hero classes or players who drop professions for new ones could skill up easier. The profession bonuses, like Lifeblood and Toughness, have been a little inferior and less customizable than their crafting counterparts, and rolling some things together might make it easier to balance. Continuously adding professions and having characters only be able to choose two does add diversity, but it also may result in a lot of content or mechanics not being consumed or experienced by a large player base.
This sort of fits in with my idea of the convergence of crafting and gathering professions that I've expressed in the past. Engineers can now gather from gas clouds, Tailors "gather" more cloth, miners smelt, etc. Most professions can give you money by interacting with the world or by interacting with players and crafting.
Later, I'll talk about some speculation behind Woodworking. Do you expect a new profession in the patch, and what would it be, especially if its Maelstrom based?
Reader Comments (65)
siegecraft. taking raw materials from skins and wood to build large weapons of war. for skill ups make the crafter build toys and furniture for the housing. even able to build onto the players house ie new room, upper level.
my two cents. :)
2 words...
KUNG FU
it cant be woodworking it just wouldent make sense
1) some areas like the barrens dont have trees so the horde would be outta luck
2) they would have to implement nodes across all of eastern kingdoms kalmindor northrend outland and wherever the new expansion will be
and about the housing thing every one would be making houses so unless it was instanced or something it would be laggy everywhere you went
@ Patrick
I would like to point out that we're talking about World of Warcraft, not Sims 3, therefore I don't think they will make furnitures, because then they would have to make houses ...
If you want furnitures in your MMORPG game, then I suggest you go back to AdventureQuest!
3 Things
1) Why can't they make a profession that you have to be a certain level to do? DK are only available when you reach lvl 55 and they come out at lvl 58; have a new profession work the same way. Doing that negates the need to go back and add nodes all over the entire WoW World; you can focus it in a couple high level areas in Kalimdor and EK, a handful of areas in Outland, and add a focus things in Northrend. Or if this is going to be water focused, the nodes can be underwater.
2) Dramatic Chipmunk had a very interesting idea. While everyone else is regurgetating the idea of woodworking and/or lumberjack, DC had something completely different. "Grown" mats don't need to be limited to cooking and tailoring, they can be incorporated into new recipes for all the crafting professions.
3) The idea of Woodworking/lumberjack is a good one too (yes I know I just bagged on everyone for repeating it, but it is a good idea). =) I know nothing of programming so I do not have a clue what would be involved to go back and add "tree nodes" all over the existing landscape, but utilizing my 1st point could minimize that requirement. And just like there is cross over w/mats already between professions, the wood gathered could be incorporated into new receipies for the existing crafts too.
my 1.5 cents (its a tough economy)
Woodworking does sound like a useful prof....plus it COULD add another gathering prof...If you think about it certain weapons have yet to become craftable...
I.E
-Bows
-Crossbows
-Staves
-Wands (enchanting barely touched on this going up to Mystic wands only)
And Woodworking could really add to that...another plus is something us hunters (and maybe even warriors and rogues could enjoy) is different arrows...Sure engineering makes great arrows but really its not something that fits the profession so well...with woodworking you could learn to craft powerful arrows that could even give small buffs like +range, elemental dmg, debuff procs (similar to those of bows like Hurricane)....for warriors there could be broadhead arrows which add a small def or armor rating (for as long as you carry them) rogues could benefit from crit arrows....
For wands you could even make some that are as epic as the Titansteel Destroyer is ( a weapon that can REALLY last even for the most hard core of raiders depending on luck) these wands would naturally work as stat sticks but even work in terms of their own dmg more than most wands do now (which noone really uses for dmg even in OOM situations)
Our druids, paladin and DK friends wouldn't be left out either...You can learn to make handles for your weapons which could make your weapon lighter (haste rating), Thicker (more armor)....These could work on a different scale as enchants and could be counted as a type of customization to add a little more freedom to your gameplay
IMHO done right woodworking could become a major part of the game and would definately fit well with player housing...though i think it would have been a better fit for Wrath (if it is something being considered at the Blizz HQ) especially with backgrounds like the Howling Fjord and Grizzly hills which are (very obviously in the Grizzly hills zone) major wood resources...
Woodworking won't happen. Either the houses would have to be instanced (which would involve its own set of major problems), or not have them instanced and encounter lag issues.
we could have it like fishin but u fish out orbs and "magic" since it might be the maelstrum
instanced player housing, blizzard has been thinking of implementing for a long time, if they do implement it; crafting furniture would be a valid profession.
They could also take the head of a boss you killed and turn it into an ornament to hang on your wall
how about a profession that allows you to use all those teeth and bones most mobs leave behind (non-humanoid mobs that is) and craft different things from them like armors , special trinkets or so?or aven regents for other professions.
sry i meant fangs *blushing*
woodworking is a great idea, but i also like the mount idea, but i think it would kinda ruin the whole rare mount thing and ruin the whole reality wow has left, like crafting living creatures?idk, brewing is a great idea but i think it should be a secondary, like cookings counter part.
Prostitution.
No, seriously.
There's been mistresses and ladies of the night in WoW for ages. (Well, the WoW universe, not so much WoW itself.)
Even the Succubus. Do you lot actually know what a Succubus is meant to do? Look up on it.
o_O
skinng(Enchanting{Enchanted Leather} Tailoring {To make stuff xMORE} and LW{Eveyronthing} Fyi
But i would put in a ElementBinding Profession Like If u pick up a stack of Copper ore or herbs or Leather depending on its level You can Extract The elemtns so like Copper Silverleaf and Ruined Leather could drop like Element of Ruined Fire or Ruined Water Working up into Elements of Fire(already existing) and even maybe new elements in expantion like The motes thing you Use motes and eternals to make Items that you and forge into Spells/Armor Like U could turn 3Ruined Fire into a chance to Hurl a fireball doing 10-50 Dmg at a target also maybe adding in a Chacne to Drop "Rare" One like a mix like Lightning {Wind and Water} And having a 24hour cooldown to mix and match to make better Items
well.....since the next expansion is water based. i guess. why not make the new profession related to it.
for example: it could use pearls from clams, scales, etc. to make trinkets, librams, totems, etc.
it could follow along enchanting too. using enchanting mats with recipes.
just a thought
let engi's make bows.. i mean like srsly.. if i can make a helicopter.. i should be able to make a bow :(
woodworking/carpentry to make Housing for players
The player housing would be kool but its proposes a lot of problems. First where would the houses be? Are they gonna like make a new zone that is just a giant neighborhood with thousands of houses because thats just plain silly. Second wat would be in the house? i mean would it just be for aesthetic purposes and not really have any function other than a place for players to hang out because that sounds pointless and the houses would never be used. Third is that they would make a profession to build stuff for the houses which is a very narrow niche, almost all proffs have utilities that affect several aspects of the game and have a variety of uses what would be other uses of that proff other than houses.
I happened to mention the idea of woodwork/carpentry in one of the blogs on 23rd (Next playable Class one...?!?)... nice to see the 'seed' bearing fruit... :P LOL
Seriously, though... what other materials in the game are under used, for another profession to be able to be based on them...?
Housing doesn't really have a great deal of practicality, as all existing professions have a degree of consumability built into them; unless the buildings created by said profession are 'perishable' then surely land masses would become devoid of space rather quickly...?
.... just a side thought - is there a quick way to track our own posts, to follow up on discussions...?
Fuzzy, it may work out with trees around azeroth.
You're saying
"some areas like the barrens dont have trees" but there're trees in the Barrens. Near WC. But there's so many trees there, that it would look silly if they were all cut down... It would probably look silly in many areas.
What if we had runecrafting that would use leather and would be able to apply to armor much like enchanting but would have more of an on use effect. Much like the glove enhancements that engineering has now.
Here is a thought for a new profession…Witch Craft?
Witch craft has a strong present in the game, especially within the Horde (since I don’t play Alliance, I can not speak for that side). While leveling we come across various witch doctors and voodoo specialist of the Trollish nature that assign us a serious of task to complete. Since the NPCs are already there, witch craft seems it would be easy to implement as a new profession.
Implementation for Blizzard would not require a lot of programming since the main components of Witch Craft consist largely of animal parts and blood. All of those eyeballs, talons, hooves, dirty tails, fur scraps, bones, and scales already exist in the game can now could be put to good use. Other components would be various animal and demon blood, pearls, raw meats, scraps of leather, some herbs, and human bones. The main idea is that you would not be required to have a gathering profession to supply mats for Witch Craft; it would be self-sufficient.
Witch Crafters would be able to create the following items:
Talismans: trinkets or necklaces that provide various protections, increase in stats, or give shape-shifting powers (turn into a snake to slip pass guards unnoticed) to the wearer.
Voodoo Dolls: The Voodoo doll is used to represent the spirit of a specific person or creature. Witch Crafters would be able to summon a spirit and ask it for assistance, control the actions of other creatures or players, cast dots, or bring people back from the dead.
Magic Powders: Magic powders would provide some of the same benefits as potions and enchantments. Powders could be used on armors and weapons for either temporary or permanent buffs. Some magic powders might be used as bombs, smoke screens, to slow down your opponent, or turn them into some sort of minor animal such as a snake.
Back from the Dead: At high levels, Witch crafting would grant the user to come back to life as a Wraith with specific dark powers for a period of 2 minutes after death. This little trick would be handy during a raid.
Witch crafting would utilize several of the abilities of existing profession such as Alchemy and Engineering but provide a new twist to the environment. It would be seen as an acceptable profession for the Horde, unfortunately the Alliance might frown upon those who choose to practice it. Alliance players would have to practice their craft in secret, losing reputation if caught performing acts of Witchcraft near the capital cities. Just as Druids have Moonglade, practitioners of Witchcraft could have a place to go to learn more about their craft which would make it plausible for Alliance players to learn.
i agree....when i started playing WoW....i took up mining and blacksmithing.....but as i lvled and needed money,...i found selling the raw materials i gathered 4 my blacksmithing....i could make much more money thn if i sold my blacksmithing products....thus i neglected my blacksmithing and it fell behind as the nodes i gathered were too high lvl 4 me to craft.....and now blizz has screwed lvling up mining in place 4 more profit...before 3.1 a single node could give you 3-4 points.....but now yield only 1......i hav also found sskinning OP because they can lvl quite easily....thy just have to kill something which u do plenty of while lvling.....also...us miners have to scan the area 4 our nodes...skinners just c a dead body and go to work.....now i kno im being hypocritical(my shaman uses skinning and lw which r both maxed out).....but does any1 else agree?
Woodworking needs to be added, along with a wood gathering/lumberjack profession.....personally, I think it should have been in the game a long time ago.