I just read the most recent S4 update notes and it looks like only weapons can be masterworked (MW). I originally thought that all armor and rings could be MW too, but that does not seem to be the case, and I’m not sure why.
It seems they are severely limiting the end game Pit grind and gear tinkering by only allowing MW on your 2H, 1H, or OH weapons.
I guess all gear slots can still seek the ideal 3x greater affixes on desires stats and 2x desired tempering books, but I was also hoping to MW all slots. Maybe that’s too much?
My initial thought is if I’m a Necro with a 2H weapon and I get the lucky 3x MW ideal stat, I’m now done with that system after just one item on that character?
Barb on the other hand would be in this end game loop for much longer to MW at least 4 weapon slots.
Keep in mind you need an Ancestral Item fully tempered (with 2 tempered affixes) before you can begin Masterworking on that item. As Indian said this applies to all items though. I started by upgrading my helmet first on the PTR just to test it out.
I’m actually still thinking my OP is correct per the below quote:
“ Masterworking improves the overall strength of all affixes on your weapon, and at every 4th tier, massively upgrades one of your equipped affixes. The affix that receives the bonus will turn Blue. If the same affix is improved again, it will change to Yellow, and in rare cases, it will turn Orange if improved a third time.
If you hit the max level of Masterworking on a given weapon and you’re unsatisfied with the improvements on your weapon, you can reset and begin the process again.”
Can tell you for a fact that what we get in the PTR is not always the same as what goes live.
Based on that wording, they’ve changed it (and i’m not surprised) to only apply to weapons. This would mean that instead of having to masterwork something like 13 items (which to many of the player base would seem like a chore, as even getting 1 of the items would be a grind for them), this is a good change.
It’s probably also to combat the out of control damage that you would see from people with everything at 12/12 masterworking.
The downside of only allowing us to apply it to weapons, is that Barbs will once again rule the world with their 4 different weapons equipped all set to 12/12 when most will only have 1 weapon.
Probably an oversight. They likely noticed that most people on PTR started with their weapon first, and some may have maxed their weapon then gave up. And also noticed that people that did get 12/12 on all their gear likely were doing way more damage than they expected.
They likely didn’t think about how barb would be OP compared to other classes as part of the change to make it weapon only. Having it limited to n items would mean that they would have to remove it from weapons and maybe just put it on amulet and rings or something; that’s likely less appealing to the masses.
I reckon we’ll see this change, maybe mid-season, or there’ll be a patch where ‘only 1 masterworked item can be equipped at a time’ or something.
This is what I was gonna say.
Though It’s posible that the armor and rings hadn’t been Tempered in the screenshot, and that’s why they’re not eligible? (that’s a requirement, right?)
Ah, everyone was complaining over crafting costs and Blizzard has fixed it. You can only masterwork weapons (if true) and you now save on crafting material by not having to masterwork anything else. I love it.