Revitalize, Enrich and add depth-to the Profession System (& save the WoW AH Economy)

[Metacrias]

MOP has been largely great, but it's screwed up professions royally and is killing the WoW AH economy as well as the specialized nature of the professions themselves.

*Cutting 3 glyphs has led to inscription being far less viable with little reward: glyphs take more effort to make yet sell in much lower numbers and for far less profit than flasks, gear, ore, etc.

*You can now level mining and herbalism without leaving Pandaria, cutting out the 'adventurous' nature of those professions that worked to bring some entrepreneurs and self-sufficient players out into the rest of Azeroth regularly.

*Gems and Enchants now scale with one's level, which will in turn reduce demand for both. Overall, these changes are reducing their viability for making profit and making it a waste of time to pursue as the near collapse in these markets' prices means you can buy whatever enchant, gem, glyph, etc. you want for very little.

*The crafting professions are suffering too;, it takes 21 days to make a 553 belt, 28 for helmet as a leatherworker (similar barriers apply to blacksmithing and tailoring). Thus, 3 weeks into 5.4 and there are no new pieces of crafted gear of real value appearing on the AH.


The economy on my realm (Emerald Dream) has seemed much slower recently, with the standard--but short-lived--post-patch boom. There is no new gear to buy, mounts are few and far between (and outrageously priced), pets are oversaturated, gems and enchants now scale so demand has declined there, and the increasing ease of leveling gathering professions (along with Sunsong Ranch, though that is something I enjoy) means that many are just gathering what they need to make that belt after 21 days! MoP was supposed to make the world more immersive, but this has had the opposite effect. The AH economy is a great innovation of WoW; a virtual marketplace that is sizable and sees considerable use - it is a game in itself, some people play primarily to play the AH, but oversights and the great profession dumb-down have seriously hurt it.

This doesn't mean that professions have to be hard to learn, but they do need to be more dynamic. Make each profession more substantial; have enchants and gems that can work similar to a minor glyph or low-tier talent that can be worn on helmets, necklaces and tinkets and which could specialize in allowing each spec to customize their abilities to emphasize particular class/spec characteristics so that players aren't as tied to a standard rotation with little variety. For example, let Spriests buy enchants that either favor high dps/high personal survivability or mid-tier dps with real off-healing and support utility and have a specialized gem socket that holds a new type of gem that doesn't scale with level and directly manipulate stats but instead gives the spec one of a small number of unique buffs that empower particular types of abilities such as increasing healing power or speeding up shadow or regeneration.

Other possible and partial solutions:

*Find new, innovative and enjoyable uses for potions, flasks, etc. (and take potions off that damn shared cd).

*Introduce ne recipes that call for ingredients from low level zones creating AH demand for those mats and incentivizing gatherers to go out and find them.

*Create NEW recipes for all gear/weapon crafting professions. Have these recipes make new gear/weapons/other goods for different level toons; this will help promote leveling (and subscriptions), allow us to avoid the repeated problem at levels 60, 70, 80 and 85 of having all the craftable gear being far weaker than the easily purchasable gear of the next expansion. Also, allow for new BOE gear recipes that make more focused, specialized alternative pieces of gear that would help emphasize particular abilities of a given spec to further heighten customization

*Expand the glyph system, but don't mimic the previous one. WoW could generally use more customization; the current talent and glyph system shows the desire for more of this so follow it through. Create many more glyphs that allow players to specialize in certain playstyles within a single spec (allow ret/pallys to become more mobile, distance dpsers as the Word of Glory glyphs currently do, but offer other glyphs that promote melee so the player can choose which style of play best suits them, for example). This will increase the utility and profitability of inscription while also spurring the whole economy by pushing players to begin buying more specialized gear that new recipes could provide. Do the same with enchants and gems; don't replace current ones however! Allow certain pieces of gear (head, necklace?) to be enchanted with glyph-like enchants that aren't focused on stat improvements, add a new type of socket and jewel with similar purpose. Increase customization, drive demand, make the game more unique and individualized while also more social!

*Use engineering, perhaps, to create many new types of items for all levels of toons. Innovate and devise new recipes for goods that provide non-game-breaking utility or novelty that are worth crafting and buying.

*Create a few new professions; pet tamer? Mount keeper? Perhaps specialized professions that require mastering other ones first, which demand many mats from different gathering professions and which sell expensive goods that won't hurt gameplay.

Other thoughts, ideas?

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Additionally, I'd like to see AH's shared across multiple realms. It would bring more competition, greater supply, more diverse demand and breathe life into a lot of dead economies on small realms while stabilizing them in high population realms.

- - - Updated - - -

Additionally, I'd like to see AH's shared across multiple realms. It would bring more competition, greater supply, more diverse demand and breathe life into a lot of dead economies on small realms while stabilizing them in high population realms.

[xskarma]

It should be easier to make good gold for beginners and casuals than it is right now, and it should be harder to exploit the system and become a shady millionaire like me than it currently is.

I think Blizz agrees with this to a certain extent, they've made several changes, even at Mists start to ensure that professions are more straightforward, and less about having gold to invest to get things done. Professions were made far simpler and cheaper to level. The fabled ore shuffle was heavily cut down upon, which was something only people with several toons and enough starter gold could do. Several professions were made easier to get most recipes, putting the emphasis on the materials used, and not the knowledge to make something with them. Apart from that there were the Spirits of Harmony at Mists start that were a HUGE block in being able to mass produce items, and using little played alts below max level to buy materials cheaply and produce things sold at a heavy mark-up.

I think that has helped allready, but I think Blizz will likely try to further ease the difference between those who have gold to invest and those who do not. The 5.4 crafting (using daily cooldowns where TIME becomes the limiting factor, and not gold or resources) is a good example of how I think Blizz will most likely proceed. Things will become relatively cheap to craft, you will just have to invest lots of time to be able to make a good profit.

[Schwert]

The only change in MoP that I don't agree with is the Herbalism/Mining changes so it can be done in just Pandaria.
Kind of felt awkward to me.

Then again there's been some solid inflation in old world materials because of it.
I make just as much if not more off certain herbs/bars than Ghost Iron now. Too bad I haven't had the time to abuse it.