I'll also do it in two parts or else it's going to become hugely unwieldy. Part One therefore is the 10 main professions, Part Two will be the secondaries...
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The Basics:
Each Profession is divided into the seven different levels as it currently stands: Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, Master, Grand Master and Illustrious Grand Master. At the end of each 'phase' you are required to complete an Apprenticeship, which gives you access to the next. These quests reward you with an achievement and an item specific to your profession that 'evolves' with you. Every profession provides the student with a Storage Bag, a speciality tool or tools, a pet to accompany you (with specific abilities to help you with your profession) and a number of 'vanity' trinkets/bolt-ons to existing gear.
At Level 65 you are sent to an Alliance/Horde Capitol to visit the Azerothian Crafters Guild to begin your training in a Profession Specialisation. This training is not completed until you reach L75 and requires retraining every time you reach Maximum Level (so a retraining programme at L80, L85 and L90) to maintain your skills and abilities.
You cannot retrain a profession specialisation for 90 days. To do so requires a sizeable amount of cash and a contribution of raw materials specific to your new Specialisation to be donated to the Crafters Guild.
There is a Crafters Guild HQ in every major city (where you can pick up Secondary Professions Dailies), but specialist trainers only inhabit certain areas, forcing players to travel to learn the skills they require. Each month, the Guild sends its members a package of goods appropriate to their specific skills.
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Blacksmithing Specialisations:
- Weaponsmith: using metals and raw materials derived from Mining.
- Armoursmith: using metals and raw materials derived from Mining.
- Buckles, Bangles and Beads: slots to belts & necklaces. Universal keys for locks and chests. BRING BACK SHARPENING STONES.
[Please PLEASE PLEASE give BS-ing some love. Something more practical than just the Belt Buckle. They'd be too cool to make pets but they could make Guild Crests or summat ^^]
Engineering Specialisations:
- Goblin Engineering: Awesome already.
- Etherial Engineering (thinking portals, using pure energy for weapons)
- Gnomish Engineering: See Goblin Engineering.
[As it stands, I'd say engineering is the one profession that has the mix of Fun verses Practical sorted. Give them a choice of one extra specialisation to come in line with everyone else and think about giving mailboxes and repair bots that can be made and given to everyone. Let the Engi's keep Jeeves but give him AH access anywhere :D]
Tailoring Specialisations:
- Armoursmith: using cloth and items gleaned from Blacksmiths and Leatherworkers.
- Cloak Manufacturer: Tailors become SOLE cloak makers in game.
- Bags and Threads: Tailors provide specialist bags. Provide Spellthreads to increase stats in ALL leg items.
[I'm really not sure that tailors should be able gather more cloth than everyone else, but I understand why the ability was introduced. Perhaps if they had more things to make than just cloth-based items. I'm going to address the issues of Specialist Cloth along with specialist Transmutes in my raw Materials post, so don't start asking about what I'm thinking there just yet...]
Leatherworking Specialisations:
- Weaponsmith: using bones, scales and raw materials derived from Leatherworking.
- Armoursmith: using bones, scales and raw materials derived from Leatherworking.
- Buckles, Bangles and Beads: slots to cloaks. Pet armour (all types of pets) Leatherworkers provide extension slots for Tailoring bags.
[Leatherworking, like the BS's, needs some serious love. The introduction of PvP gear that scales with expansion is a serious step in the right direction, and if that could be applied to more patterns lower down the scale... plus, we need more vanity items. If the Darkmoon Faire has me making toys for it once a month, why can't I do that myself?]
Alchemy Specialisations:
- Commander of Liquids: chance to create additional potions, elixirs and flasks.
- Commander of Solids: chance to create additional gems via transmutes.
- Commander of Gasses: chance to create extra Volatiles from the ether.
[Alchemy's popularity is easy to grasp: three masteries, all with tangible bonuses. The Transmute bonus, when it does proc, is beyond awesome, and frankly it should be the norm across EVERY profession. I'd like to see transmuting metals like Truegold taken away from Alchemists and maybe given to the Blacksmiths, because I think that actually Alchemy gets too much to do. Maybe some fo that needs to be redistributed elsewhere...]
Inscription Specialisations:
- Scribe of Glyphs: Chance to create extra glyphs when scribing.
- Scribe of the Darkmoon: Bonus to Darkmoon Card manufacture, plus special items derived from fishing off the Darkmoon Island.
- Scribe of the Ancients: Able to fashion rare trinkets from combining items found via Archaeology.
[Scribes are woefully underused, and too much of what they do is tied to a system of milling that is mind-numbingly repetitive. As a result, I think they need some alternative avenues to pursue, and glyphs need to be far easier to produce. Watch now as Blizzard scrap the glyph system ^^ The whole Darkmoon Card thing needs to be better thought out, and not just limited to trinkets. Plus, we REALLY need to find something useful to do with Archaeology.]
Jewelcrafting Specialisations:
- Accomplished Lapidarist: Chance to cut better quality stones.
- Accomplished Jeweller: Chance to create jewellery (neck & finger) with an additional slot/better stats.
- Amulets and Wards: Chance to create additional trinkets/better quality items using items found via Archaeology.
[Yes, I suggested body piercings. I also think that no-one really cares about necklaces and rings once you've maxxed out and that's so wrong. Blizzard have proved with the PvP gear it's possible to update patterns to reflect current iLevels, let's see it happen with rings and necklaces that AREN'T linked to BG's. Agaian, JC-ing has a great way to utilise Archaeology items: combine that green quality dig find with a special Ward from a JC-er = Nice Epic item. Is it REALLY that hard?]
Enchanting Specialisations:
- Enchanting 101: Chance to produce a second scroll when enchanting an item/creating a scroll.
- Wands and Wings: Wand production, head enchants. YES HEAD ENCHANTS. Chance to create second item when making first.
- Oils and Hexes: Special oils for +skills, not just magic users! Hexes to give + to damage, healing, major stats.
[Enchanting suffers from it's reliance on materials gained from levelling. Maybe it's time to add back some of those items that have been taken away [I'm looking at you, Large Fangs!] to help redress some of the balance and to keep some stability in the market. So, if you want a scroll with agility, you'll need something that's fast to enchant with too. Want Haste? Get some Volatile Air, that sort of thing. Stop taking out materials that give advantage to crafters!]
- Master of the Land Beast: Extra skins, superior quality items from anything on the Earth.
- Master of the Sea Beast: Extra skins, superior quality items from anything in the Sea.
- Master of the Flying Beast: Extra skins, superior quality items from Birds and Dragons and anything else wot flies.
Professionalism: Critical strike increased. Chance to 'adopt' animals whose parents you mindlessly slaughter in your quest for skinning domination ^^
[The gathering professions need more balls, frankly. You gave us XP for gathering, which is good. Now make it about not just gathering skins, how about extras? We get Bloated Stomachs from mobs: how about bones? How about sharp teeth that can be used to make weapons? Make us want to specialise in gathering certain types of skin, so that a Rogue can put items to some uses and Druids can use others. The three strands of Leatherworking were great, back in the day. Maybe it's time to start looking back to specialisations based on class and spec...?.]
Mining Specialisations:
- Raw Materials: Bonus ore gathers when mining from nodes.
- Metallurgy and Alloys: Bonus items when manufacturing bars or alloys.
- Precious Stones: Bonus gem gathers when mining from nodes.
Professionalism: Stamina Increased. Chance to uncover prehistoric creatures trapped underground for thousands of years who will adopt you as their God. (I'm sensing you're not taking this entirely seriously ^^)
[See above re: Skinning. Might be nice, as well as having a pet you can mine, to have larger stones that could be cut down by the JC's into multiples of the same stone. REALLY should bring back uses for stone as well, would be great to see this re-introduced into the Outland/Northrend/Cataclysm nodes.]
Herbalism Specialisations:
- Finding Flora: Bonus flower gathers when picking nodes.
- Practicing Pharmacognosy: Bonus healing items to use in First Aid.
- Green-Fingered Gardener: Bonus edible items to use in Cookery.
Professionalism: Haste buff. GIEF TRIFFID PET FROM GATHERING HERBS KKTHXBAIBAI. It can eat critters the same way the Crate does... :D
[I think Herbalism has the best deal of the three gathering professions, and really the benefits you get from it ought to be translated across all of them...]
Part Two will follow...:D
1 Responses:
Wow, really thought out. Like a lot of this, think it could do with some tinkering though. You seem to have taken away my Flying Carpet from Tailoring and my self-enchanting ring enchants. :-(
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