Project Lore

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?

Click to read more ...

The bloggers of ProjectLore may be critical of World of Warcraft from time to time, but we do it with a purpose.  The main reason behind our critiquing of WoW is to help our readers envision the way we see the game, and what we think is best for it.  Being paying supporters we, and you, are entitled to our opinions and aspirations.  It would be an added bonus if some of the topics we discussed ever did reach the designers at Blizzard, but we can't honestly expect them to keep track of everything.  This is one of those things that I wish would reach them, as I believe we could all agree that it would be beneficial to all kinds of players. Repair bills sucks.  It is a safe assumption that we all hate paying them, no matter how much sense they makes.  They are included in WoW - and many other MMORPGs - as a consistent and easy way to pull money out of the hands of players.  The fee is essentially a tax, if you are fighting monsters, then you must pay.  I have no issues in paying for consequential repairs to my gear, as stated, it only makes sense that they experience wear and tear.  But there is always a fabric, material or even brand that is known for its durability.  Take cast iron or stainless steal kitchenware, those things take a beating.  Mine go from boiling temperatures to chilling waters without more than a hiss.  Yet they keep on performing.  Why can't we have something like that in WoW, a material revered for its long-lasting durability?  Perhaps we could learn to be a craftsmen so skilled, that our weapon and armor can survive the harshest conditions? There are two intuitive ways to achieve this goal.  The first would be to follow the lead of the Jewelcrafting profession and allow a max level crafter a chance at creating a more durable item.  Should the random number generator fall in their favor, then the item would be imbued with all the craftsmen skill, giving it a slower rate of decay.  This implementation would be great, but requires special durability cases for these items at best, or a re-design of the entire system at worst.  A more likely and more beneficial solution would be a salve or potion that lowers all incoming wear and tear.  The item would cover all of our armor in a protective shield, saving us money on each piece, rather than a designated few.  Our second option removes the need for special cases, although a re-design of the durability system remains a possibility.  Let me be clear, I do not mean a high max durability, I mean for the items to not take damage at the same rate as our current gear. The reduction of our repair bills would be minute if the proc on crafting was selected.  A salve or potion would be of far greater use.  Just think about all those early training runs in raids, difficult heroics, and of course, shady PUGs that they would be applicable for.  In the end, you would be saving tons of gold, making the creation and use of the items quite beneficial.  Not to mention profitable for any profession that was able to craft it. The only adverse effects I foresee would be skyrocketing prices for the the needed materials and a shift in the weight of professions.  Neither of these concerns seem to worry Blizzard that much as evidenced by The Burning Crusade's Leatherworking crafted War Drums.  Heck, now that I think about it, if they are going to implement one of them, they might as well just do both.  It would help even out the profession changes.  What do you guys think?  Do you like money?

Click to read more ...

The daily cooking quest varies from day to day. You may have seen Dr. Dorkins recently complete one for Achivementology. However, achievements are not the only benefit of doing a cooking daily quest. One of the greatest draws of the daily cooking quests are the rewards of Northern Spices. All of the best food buffs come from items that are cooked using Northern Spices. And the cooking daily quest is the only way to get them! If you are doing any serious raiding where you are required to have consumables, it can get expensive. Buying potions, elixirs or flasks, and food can really add up quickly - especially if you are progressing through new content and are subject to dying or wiping. A typical cooking daily will get you between 2 and 6 Northern Spices depending on your luck. If you have extras, you can use Dalaran Cooking Awards to buy Northern Spices in stacks of 10. However, for many players this is not enough. Thus, a market is born for Northern Spices for players who either don't bother to do the cooking dailies or who need more than they can get themselves. Depending on your server, you can get different deals on these. The typical range is 2-6g. If you can get 4 spices a day from luck and 10 more from trading in a Dalaran Cooking Award, you are looking at getting a good 40 gold. Even if you aren't raiding, there is a good profit to be made in doing your cooking dailies. Any character of level 65 and up with a cooking skill of 375 can cash in, so start early and cash in. Stock up on Chilled Meats and Rhino Meat to prepare for whatever daily might come your way - Awilo Lon'gomba and Katherine Lee await your service!

Click to read more ...