I understand Blizz reduced the requirement to unlock the final specialization, but it’s still not enough. I’m at 65 inscription and literally have NO items that provide a skill up (not knowledge points) other than a few epic items (requiring sparks) that NO ONE wants. So I cannot get to 75 (and unlock the final spec) without waiting for 4 months of DMF to pickup 3 pts each month. I understand and see the value in the concept of meaningful choice, but to allow someone to pick 2 specializations (I’m very efficient at making mats and vantus runes!) that then prevents them from even progressing just seems stupid and makes me simply give up on crafting. It’s no loner about working on crafting, it’s about a gotcha that you didn’t know ahead of time what would work and now we’re going to hold you hostage.
I agree it is poor design, but you admit you have orange crafts that could provide you skill points.
Also, when you reach Valued rank with Artisan’s Consortium you gain access to the Chef’s Splendid Rolling Pin which will push you over that 75 mark for the third specialization.
You have options other than DMF even though they are less than ideal.
I think you’re missing the point. The 2 orange crafts require sparks, so they’re dependent on crafting orders, and no one wants either of those 2 items (staff and off-hand) I’ve asked in guild, posted in trade, watched public orders, not one order ever!
I have the Rolling Pin recipe, but with it being BoP, it’s not like I can make a bunch to sell on the AH. I’m yet again waiting on orders that simply aren’t there. Most everyone has their crafting tools already. Again, I’ve asked in guild, trade chat, and watched for public orders…nothing.
Blizz incentivized completing orders with quests and rewards, but did nothing to encourage actually placing orders. The only orders I ever see for Inscription are Treatises and I can’t get enough skill to unlock them.
At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I’ll try again.
The crafting system does not care if you make a profit leveling to 100.
The crafting system does not care if you level to 100 today, or ten years from now.
The crafting system does not care if you level to 100 by creating things for yourself or others.
The crafting system does not care how rare (i.e. Sparks) the materials are for each craft to gain skill.
The crafting system does not care if the items created to get to 100 are useful.
The crafting system does not care which specialization trees you select during your leveling process.
The crafting system only cares if there are viable methods of gaining skill until you get to 100.
The crafts can be green, yellow, or orange skill.
It can take minutes to months to gather the necessary materials for each craft and skill up.
Even if you have all grey crafts right now, there are crafting patterns you can learn that will give you skill once you learn them (i.e. renown recipes or by applying KP).
The crafting system (leveling to 100 aspect) is not dependent on the crafting order system.
You have orange skill crafts. You can gather, or purchase, the materials to make those crafts, including Sparks. Therefore, you have viable methods of continuing to gain skill.
Your desire to make things that are useful for other players, or that you can sell at a profit, or that use the crafting order system are all nice to haves and wants in crafting; they are not requirements of and by the crafting system. These are human considerations that Blizzard’s developers should have tried harder to account for, but they are not required to level our crafting professions to 100.
Blizzard intended the crafting order system to be part of gaining craft skill points. They failed horribly, but they also left methods for every crafting profession to skill up without crafting orders.
There are many things Blizzard could have done to make the crafting system better; they didn’t. Blizzard should have given more thought on how the interrelationships within crafting were going to play out once DF became live; they didn’t.
But the leveling portion of the crafting system is working as designed, not desired or intended by Blizzard, but as designed, for every profession.
Edit:
Our dislike, and yes I dislike very much how Blizzard designed the leveling aspect of professions, does not mean the system, or an individual professions’ leveling, is broken.
Make Rolling pins and vendor them or craft them for alts, it is only way to 100 if no craft orders, thats what most scribes did.
And tbh, when you get to 100, you wont see the difference anyway.
Your options aren’t going to be gold positive, so you have to decide if you actually want to skill up to 100 or not. If so, bite the bullet and just make stuff. You have multiple options
- You can actually just use one spark and craft a throwaway item using the cheapest items, then you recraft it over and over again. Each recraft isn’t guaranteed to skill up, but it can and there are optional reagents you can add to increase the chance to skill up. You can vendor the item after you are finished recrafting it all those times.
- Chef’s Splendid Rolling Pin - just vendor them, other profs do this type of thing
- Scribe’s Resplendent Quill - Just vendor them. If you don’t have this tab unlocked, then you are guaranteed to have the next item’s tab unlocked, so you pick one of #3 and #4
- Alchemist’s Brilliant Mixing Rod - Just vendor them
- Any of the dragon riding item crafts will get you to 75 so you can unlock the last specialization and do something different
Its pretty rough out there. Im at 75. Not willing to blow 12 runed writhebark on rolling pins thay i will just vendor. I did unlock the treatise stufd and its been nice to at least fill work orders even if i dont get skill ups.
I will keep recrafting my staff as i get more infusions, maybe make one for an alt. Keep trolling for profession tool orders. Maybe i could market myself with the drake customizations, but no one seems to care much.
The reality is you dont need to be 100 for any reason, but i agree its annoying to languish in the 70s
You need to get to valued (or w.e revered is) to make chefs rolling pins. There is no tree requirement, no mettle cost, and they give yellow skill ups until 95.
I have now 4 toons with 2 professions maxed each. Inscription is expensive but casually doable (and far cheaper than the 500k I spent week 3 to do it), but you do not need a tree unlocked to level like some of the other professions (Leatherworking being the biggest offender)