Lethal Shots

For those who don’t know, my main (my Hunter) has been an Engineer for quite a while. I have always loved the idea behind the profession, even if it hasn’t always been well implemented in game. So while the Enchanters, Jewelcrafters, Scribes, ect. all got min/maxing friendly perks, Engineers got handed, well, nothing. Our profession only perks are inferior to standard enchants, leaving little reason to use them.

Well, it looks like there are going to be some changes in 3.2 to help offset this imbalance. The blue post can be found here, but I’ll go ahead and list the highlights of the post here:

• Added a new Mind Amplification Dish attachment for helmets, allowing engineers to control other humanoid targets. Some restrictions apply: does not work in Arenas, dish sometimes reverses targets, unable to stack with other stat-improving head enchantments and makes your helmet look… stylish?

Think Gnomish Mind-Control Cap (off-hand, I can’t look up the exact name right now). This is Blizz’s attempt to bring old-world Engineering into current end-game, which I am all for. Some of that old stuff is a blast to play with. But in truth it really isn’t that great for PvE.

• Engineers can now learn to create a portable Wormhole Generator for Northrend. The Wormhole allows them to travel to different locations in Northrend, although the locations are sometimes in dangerous places.

Fun, useful, and very mage-like. But if you really want to impress me, let me use it to go to places in Azeroth and Outland too.

• Increased benefits from Hyperspeed Accelerators, Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket and Reticulated Armor Webbing glove modifications.
• Increased the passive bonuses provided by Springy Arachnoweave, Flexweave Underlay and Nitro Boosts.

Simply Blizz changing every profession to keep up with Smiths being able to equip two extra epic gems.

• Mote Extractor now has innate tracking of gas clouds while it is in your inventory.
• The Spynocular belt attachment has been changed to a Frag Belt. The Frag Belt periodically produces a Cobalt Frag Bomb that can be used from the belt every 10 minutes (never runs out!).

I’m thinking these two changes may be Blizz trying to augment Engineering’s already weak profession bonuses. At the very least it will be a new toy to play with.

• A new repair bot has been added, and his name is Jeeves. He is the ultimate gentleman robot butler, able to perform all the mundane tasks of repairing, selling and buying junk for your entire raid. Additionally, he can open bank boxes for skilled engineers (350+). Jeeves is not destroyed when used, but due to pressing engagements, can only be summoned once per hour. The schematic for this handsome robot was said to be hidden within the parts of another robot – hoping to be found by an engineer one day.
• Significantly reduced the cooldown on MOLL-E.

Wow, this is actually pretty cool. Almost as cool as the squire, which (if memory serves me right) can do everything Jeeves and MOLL-E can do, that EVERYONE can get in 3.2 from the Argent Tournament.

• The Ultrasafe Bullet Machine and Saronite Arrow Maker schematics have been simplified to create a full stack of the appropriate ammunition. No longer requires an anvil. Reduced the materials required to make this ammunition.

Interesting change. The only effect I see this having is removing the niche market at the AH of people who buy the ammo boxes and re-list the ammo itself. I do like that it no longer requires an anvil.

• A Steam-Powered Auctioneer has been added to the Dalaran Like Clockwork engineering shop, allowing access to one’s faction Auction House. The Steam-Powered Auctioneer was programmed with a superiority chip, and will only interact with Grand Master Engineers.

Now this is huge. I love this idea. Too bad there will be so much QQing from non-engineers that the idea will either be dropped or it will be opened up for use by non-engineers.

I know I didn’t go over all the changes, but to be honest the rest of them weren’t very exciting. Overall I like the direction they are going. Up until now, Blizz has only payed Engineering minor lip service in terms of min/maxing, but I’m hoping the devs have seen reason and buffed our gadgets up enough to make them worth using. Jeeves is going to be cool, but not really that big of a deal since anyone who spends some time at the Argent Tournament can get a squire. And the Engineer-only auctioneer in Dalaran? You can can forget about that ever making it live. The whining and crying from other professions will be so overwhelming that Blizz will cave. But hey, we can dream can’t we?

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of my in-game time working on professions. This is mainly because I am now working 2 alts through Outland, and I want to be able to work on their professions at the same time. Here is a quick overview of where my characters are at.

• Santyn – My main of course, and my only level 80 character.
  • Mining: 450 – With the obscene amounts of ore I needed for Engineering, this was easy.
  • Engineering: 450 – I maxed this one a few weeks ago. Could have stopped at 440 when I got my goggles, but I really wanted to be able to craft the guns.
• Santen – My Shaman. I took Jewelcrafting on him. Cliche, I know.
  • Mining: 300 – Hit the other day while gathering mats for Jewelcrafting.
  • Jewelcrafting: 310 – Finally got to 300 last night, and then earned 10 more with some gems I had stockpiled. Profession wise, this toon is done with the old world.
• Santan – My Death Knight.
  • Skinning: 1 – I trained it, but have yet to spend any time leveling it.
  • Enchanting: 250 – Or somewhere around that. I don’t plan on this guy being a major player in the enchant market. I am leveling it mostly so he can Dis-enchant stuff for me.

I also have various other low level alts with professions at varying levels. Mostly these are gathering professions I took on them for leveling. As too secondary professions, Santyn is the only character that I have bothered to level them on. I might do it on the others later if i get bored.

Thoughts or comments, you know where.

Professions in WoW lack something. Not something really specific, but just….. something. I think the best way to describe it is usefulness. Now I know there are exceptions. Enchanting is arguably the most useful profession in the game (and Inscription is looking to come in a close second), Jewelcrafting is great for getting gems cut, Tailoring has bags to make and sell, and Alchemy is handy for Potions, Elixirs, and Flasks. But other than Enchanting, there are alternative sources. Potions can be bought or come from random drops, gems can be bought from rep vendors, and the largest bag available comes from a vendor.

And think about other profession. The biggest draw to Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, and Tailoring is the high level crafted gear. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice gear, but it is either BoP or requires the wearer to have the profession to equip it. And once you gear up to a certain point, there is no reason to keep the profession any longer. And don’t get me started on Engineering. Having maxed Santyn’s Engineering, I can speak from experience on this one. (I chose to max it because I wanted a Turbo-Charged Flying Machine, knowing that it was a bad decision gold wise.)

And in the case of potential profit, there is next to none. Gems, bags, armor kits, and scopes provide some return, but more often than not you can make better profit by selling the raw materials than the crafted item, leaving little incentive to actually craft any items. Even when leveling quest rewards are often better than anything you can craft for yourself.

Now I’m not asking for a whole revamp of the profession system, but with Wrath right around the corner Blizzard has the perfect chance to help fix some of the problems. I would love to see more versatility with crafted items, actual items that people want yet don’t have to make for themselves. I want to see a vibrant player driven economy based around crafted items, and not just at end game but throughout the whole leveling process. I know it can be done, it is just a question of whether Blizzard wants to do it.

What I envision though is not crafters chasing one recipe after another, but people working with crafters closely to create the items needed. Less simply replacing items and more upgrading items. If there is a great level 70 set, I don’t want to simply replace it. Instead, as I level I gather mats, maybe some specific ones through quests, and then seek out a crafter to upgrade the item. And not just once, but continually throughout the leveling process, 1 piece at a time. Ideally, a set gained at level 20 could be upgraded every few levels and carry clear to end game.

But I’m not saying this has to be the only option. There should still be quest rewards and random drops. I just think that my idea would add a whole new level of depth to the game, and make crafting professions more worthwhile.

I have avoided a lot of Wrath news, so I really have no idea what Blizzard is doing with professions in the expansion. I just hope that they have the same idea as me.

It took some time. It took some money. But I did it. I maxed out my Engineering. And what does hitting 375 Engineering get you? Why a shiny Turbo-Charged Flying Machine of course! Here is a few pics of me and my new mount.

Here I am parked on the ground in Shat.

Here I am hovering right above the ground. (Not much difference from parked is it?)

And lastly, here I am flying above Shat.

I figured I should do a quick update on how my switch to Mining / Engineering is going. To describe it in one word: SLOW.

I decided to hold off on leveling Engineering while I level Mining, instead of going back and forth between gathering and crafting. The way I figure it, once I have leveled Mining, I should be able to take my huge stockpile of materials and power level Engineering. So I left Engineering sitting at 125 and proceeded to work strictly on Mining. As of last night, I have leveled it up to 255.

One thing I realized is that leveling Skinning is way easier than leveling Mining. With Skinning, all I had to do was go somewhere with a lot of skin-able mobs and go on a killing spree. With Mining, I find myself circling zones, zig-zagging across them, looking for nodes. It is boring. And Slow.

But who cares. I knew what I was in for when I switched, so I will take it all in stride and keep grinding away. Hopefully by the time I go to bed tonight, I will be happily Mining in Outland. Wish me luck.

(P.S. If you know a great place/route to mine Thorium, let me know.)