WoW Profession System Update 2.0 - Serious discussion

[Deleted]

First of all, sorry if my english is not perfect,

So, i would like to hear opinions about the profession system in WoW.
Because i think it's a system that has aged horribly over the years, and well.. it's bad

Since Cata i hoped that the professions would get a complete update (much like the talents got updated totally in Pandaria), but this has not happened, and still has to happen.

So way back in the days this system was okay for a multitude of reason: You were leveling, and while you were leveling you take up you materials from nodes around the world, go back at the profession trainer do some stuff, you get better at that prof, and so on.. occasionally you create something good and useful. It wasn't like the best thing ever, but it worked---FOR THAT TIME

Mainly because the way you level up today is completly different then vanilla.
There was no Looking for Dungeon, first mount was at level 40 if i recall correctly, fast mount at 60, and mainly NO HEIRLOOMS.
It means that you could actually level up your profession at the same level of progression of your character.

Now i think that all the things i mentioned above(LFD, Mounts, heirlooms) are completly good addition (well maybe not heirlooms :/ ) to the game, but this means that the way you progress with your character and the profession is not on the same level.

THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IF YOU ARE A NEW PLAYER!!!
As a new player you can spam LFD and stay still for 80 level pretty much, im not a neww player but i recently leveled up a healer from 1 to 88 standing 80 levels in orgrimmar and doing LFD.
How can a new player level up a profession like that?
This is the first problem
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The second thing is that, it's simply old and not engaging as a system overall:
Yes, it recived small updates during the years, but not much...
If you think about it, it's clunky, and there are so many useless items that you do just to level the profession up... What's the point of that?

I my opinion the system needs to be in a place where you can level it up from 0 to 700 or whatever REGARDLESS of where you are, or what you can gather.
If i want to change my professions from Herbalism to Mining, to level it up i have to go back to the starting zones and gather minerals for no reason just to waste time... it's just... bad
Why the UI window for your profession is so small, so clunky to navigate, all the recipes are in an endless list of death
And there are just too many useless items in the professions, pieces that jsut take spaces on your bags and so on.
All of these things make no sense at this point in time.

I think Blizzard want to update the system, but does not want to "waste" time on upgrading something that somehow "do it's job", that is creating the endgame recipes and all that stuff.
I get it, but i would really like to see an all new profession system, more modern, more engaging, less frustrating, and especially more intuitive for new players.

That's it, i would like to hear now your opinions on all of that, in particular, what are the good things and bad things that this system has, and what to do to fix it.

Thank you

[yjmark]

You could never level your profession in tune with leveling yourself, even before heirlooms. You always had to hang out in a zone to gather stuff before you moved on.

But overall, I completely agree that professions are in need of a real makeover. Would be cool if they made professions more of a mini game within WoW that had its own engaging progression path. They could even make it so that you have to learn things/get better at things to progress. Not just click a button.

[Deleted]

You could never level your profession in tune with leveling yourself, even before heirlooms. You always had to hang out in a zone to gather stuff before you moved on.

But overall, I completely agree that professions are in need of a real makeover. Would be cool if they made professions more of a mini game within WoW that had its own engaging progression path. They could even make it so that you have to learn things/get better at things to progress. Not just click a button.

Yeah it's also true what you say, it wasnt never really a good system even back then, i guess back then was more or less "OK", but now it's just outdated.

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

Just because you are leveling faster then what you can raise your professions does not mean its broken, the problem is behind the screen. Leveling your character only should be faster then doing both, but just because you choose to level your character you should not be given a faster or free way to level your profession.

It always comes down to people completely skipping gathering while leveling and then whining about how much time or how hard it is to do professions. Do it right or shut up

[Deleted]

Just because you are leveling faster then what you can raise your professions does not mean its broken, the problem is behind the screen. Leveling your character only should be faster then doing both, but just because you choose to level your character you should not be given a faster or free way to level your profession.

It always comes down to people completely skipping gathering while leveling and then whining about how much time or how hard it is to do professions. Do it right or shut up

I think you didn't get the point of the discussion, it's not about us whining because we skipp gathering.... the system is not up to date to the modern leveling

[Azwing]

Just because you are leveling faster then what you can raise your professions does not mean its broken, the problem is behind the screen. Leveling your character only should be faster then doing both, but just because you choose to level your character you should not be given a faster or free way to level your profession.

It always comes down to people completely skipping gathering while leveling and then whining about how much time or how hard it is to do professions. Do it right or shut up

I don't agree with this at all. There may be a few players whining like that, but professions are really broken. I level professions as I go, even on my umpteenth alt. It's not efficient for leveling, but I enjoy playing that way. I still, quickly out-level profession levels. I end up raiding my banks or using higher level toons to farm because otherwise it would take forever to get past certain profession hurdles. The newer catch-up systems are okay, but feel gimmicky. If they're going to do it, why not just let people buy profession levels?

Professions have been screwed up for a long time.

They've always been grindy, with a lot of waste. Think of making X number of Blah Blah cloaks, just to disenchant for mats so you can put +X enchant on a spare shield 15 times. That grind is okay when it's current, but older stuff is just a headache. But, Blizz has never really revisited the whole system and how fundamentally broken it is. They tweak around the edges, but I think the problem is bigger than that.

I also think Blizz doesn't want too much power in professions. They don't seem to like it when players have the ability to control access to gear, or control parts of the economy. Understandable, to an extent, but it also neuters professions like Inscription and Jewelcrafting (and others).

I agree that professions need a major overhaul. I've always enjoyed professions, but I think they've ended up in a really bad spot. And, with the introduction of garrisons, they've really thrown a whole new batch of bandaids on an old system.

[JemiS]

If only there was a way around this with the new expansion...

Oh wait, there is.

[cFortyfive]

A serious discussion would require a somewhat reasonable introduction post.
Professions are nearly worthless at the moment and every "new player" can build everything they want with garrison resources as soon as they hit 90.

[clevin]

I've not thought deeply about this, but if someone was starting their first character ever or was re-rolling on a new server and want to not have stuff sent from a high level on another server I'd tell them to take two gathering professions (this assumes they aren't a boosted 90, but starting at 1). Take, say, Skinning and either Herbalism or Mining. Use those to make gold as you level so you have a cushion for repairs, the odd time you want to buy something, etc. At 100, do profession in your garrison, leveling crafting only if you find it to be worth it on your server.

[lionhammer]

I am definitely not a big fan of this tier of professions. I can't really make ANYTHING with most of the toons i have because of how limited we are with these cooldowns. To make anything worthwhile via BS/Eng you need 100 of the CD item. Thats legitimately a week to make 1 thing.

[Ferocity]

I don't deny that state of professions in WoD is far beyond broken, but it concerns their usefulness and not anything else.

Leveling professions in WoW was always easymode, it was given to you on silver platter.

Think of making X number of Blah Blah cloaks, just to disenchant for mats so you can put +X enchant on a spare shield 15 times. That grind is okay when it's current, but older stuff is just a headache.

Most of "headache" stuff was removed (enchanting rods, expansion break point "walls", etc.). Professions in WoW are much easier to level than before.

[ComputerNerd]

Just because you are leveling faster then what you can raise your professions does not mean its broken, the problem is behind the screen. Leveling your character only should be faster then doing both, but just because you choose to level your character you should not be given a faster or free way to level your profession.

It always comes down to people completely skipping gathering while leveling and then whining about how much time or how hard it is to do professions. Do it right or shut up

It is broken.
Gear aimed at levelling players is very rarely going to be crafted during levelling, and therefore rarely affordable for levelling players.
Sure, it should be faster not working on professions but it shouldn't simply be a bad choice to combine with levelling your character.
Material requirements or availability should be adjusted such that at the appropriate level you can realistically be crafting gear that your character, or others of a similar level can be using.

The catchups should only benefit higher level characters, but the lack of skill requirements screw over low level players.
You are playing through 90 levels of content with gathering/crafting you are better off ignoring.

[Deleted]

Balancing proffesions is an extremely hard task to do, though.

I agree, with the sentiment of levling them has become extremely stagnant and well, flatout uninteresting.

But i also consider that it's extremely hard to balance proffesions, and always has been.

Back in TBC and Wrath, it was standard run of the mill to just re-roll proffesions to get maximum benefit out of it when you raided (or well, i did at least) - Just because the power of the rewards would flucuate so freaking much in different ways.

And i mean, it's kind of the same today, except now, it's more gated behind daily CD's and proffesion requirement.

Which, in all honesty, feels very dull. I want to be able to do cool stuff with my Proffesions, or at least feel like i'm not burning precious resources on doing cool stuff.

Take for example inscription ; I could technically do the gambling cards - awesome - BUT, they require my daily mat, which is hard to come by and also ties into my upgrade path of my Darkmoon Faire trinket - Which sucks immensely.

Imo, there shouldn't be this trade off in proffesions, at least when it comes to fun things - And there shouldn't be this huge idea of just gating things behind dailys, because, that honestly sucks.

At the end of the day, i feel that the system overall, has catered to the idea of that you are just to log in now and then, get your reward, and leave.

Which, feels awfully a lot like farmville, except WORSE, because of the amount of RNG WoW has in it.

[Deleted]

SO i was not the only one thinking profession are going down the toilet every expansion..., okay what do you guys suggest to make them cool and entertaining