There are many types of WoW players, and for us Tanks, Blacksmithing has always been a classic way to gear up and feel powerful. But right now, Blacksmithing is struggling — and honestly, it’s becoming more of a gold sink with handy-capped and self restricting mat sources…than a rewarding profession.
The Problems:
Talent Tree Confusion: The pathways in the talent tree aren’t clear, especially when trying to target specific armor recipes. There’s no real inspiration or direction for Tanks to push into Blacksmithing.
Excessive Costs & Mats: The cost and volume of materials required is absurd. Many talents beyond 100 points require crafting orders to level, but these don’t get filled due to the submitter not supplying the mats. Personally, I’ve used 8 Sanctified Alloy (worth over 8,000g) just to gain a single skill point — with zero benefit or resale value.
‘Artisan’s Acuity’ Issue: This system needs a serious nerf or complete removal from the most sought-after recipes. It adds RNG and feels punishing, especially for those investing in Blacksmithing for specific roles like Tanking.
Dead Pro Gear Market: Toolboxes, profession tools, and gear are just not selling anymore. The auction house is proof — it’s flooded with unsold listings. That should tell you something about the current market situation.
Armor Buff in 2025: Recent armor stat buffs with new gameplay zones have made crafted gear nearly obsolete. Blacksmith-made items are falling behind fast.
Suggested Solutions:
Reduce Mat Requirements: Especially reduce mats that are only gained through crafting (like Artisan’s Mettle equivalents).
More Tank-Relevant Upgrades: Give Blacksmiths access to meaningful, up-to-date specs and itemization — think socketed items, defensive procs, or set bonuses that Tanks would chase.
Improve Skill Progression: After 100 points, let more meaningful recipes grant skill points again — especially those tied to actual crafting goals instead of just orders.
Make BS-Exclusive Gear Worthwhile: Add amazing gear that only Blacksmiths can craft and use, encouraging more Tanks to pick it up and level it seriously.
Reduce Soulbound Limitations: Open up trading and selling of more crafted gear. If I make something great, let me share it or profit from it!
TL;DR: Blacksmithing needs a rework that makes it fun, profitable, and relevant, especially for Tanks. Give us a reason to care about crafting again!
A lot of this speaks to not knowing how the system works. There’s not a single item that you cannot craft for profit from the past two expansions with the work order system, provided someone wants to buy that item, thanks to work orders. You basically always want at least one crafted piece of plate gear at 675 item level, it not several for non-raiders. The pieces have never been both more relevant, nor more accessible to profit off of, than this expansion.
As for this, no. Character classes are not professions. There is no reason why a tank should be required to play a blacksmith or be weaker than those who do.
None of the issues you raise in ‘The Problems:’ are unique to Blacksmithing. Scope and scale of those issues can be heightened with BS (i.e. Sanctified Alloy), but the underlying issues are not unique or specific to BS. Nor are any of them unique to Tanking. Nor do they directly affect Tank performance. The only issue you raise that is tied to survivability (armor) is not an issue with the new Season gear. A 645/658/675 crafted item has the same amount of armor as a 645/658/675 dropped item.
Similarly, your Suggested Solutions are not tied specifically to BS or to Tanking except the BS unique gear, last truly seen in TBC.
What you seem to be seeking is more of a fantasy that Blizzard never really had, and has done away with the parts that they did.
Would it be nice to see some unique symbioses between crafting professions, classes, and roles? Yes.
But other than a wistful desire, you did not make a case for it.
Edit:
And let me point out that three of the six classes that can tank wear Leather. And only one of those three uses BS crafted weapons in their tank spec. Pushing a link between Tanks and BS would necessarily require a buff of DH, Druid, and Monk tanks to offset that link. Given how difficult it is for Blizzard to balance right now without class-profession pairings, your idea would make that even more challenging.
I’m not sure how much more clear they could make this. You have a circle labeled belts, for example. If you want to make belts, you try to get to that circle. The circle has arrows showing you where you start and where you end (at the belts circle). You don’t need any other skill.
Sanctified Alloy rank 2 (because why would you use rank 3 on a patron order) is 215 g. And even when it was higher, you realize you could just NOT do that order right? You could instead wait for an order that has the sanctified alloy given, STEAL that with resourcefulness, and sell it on the AH. The system will keep trying to give you orders daily until you find one you like.
I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you are saying here. My blacksmiths each have almost 2k acuity. If I wanted to, I could trade those for material bags (gold). What exactly is the problem?
Huh? I’m again a bit puzzled as to what you mean here. My paladin here is not raiding or doing m+, hence, I have no access to mythic gear. But I can do an +11 delve. Which gives me gilded crests. And that’s 675 gear I can craft. Slowly, yes, but “obsolete”? The majority of players aren’t doing things that can yield mythic gear. But they can do delves. My blacksmiths are very busy.
This is a server based product, so I can’t make comments about your server. But the fact that it is filled… actually indicates the opposite to what you are saying.
Like… what? I sell epic items all the time? I’m sorry, I’m not trying to downplay your suggestions here I am genuinely puzzled as to what you could mean.
My prot pally has been a jewelcrafter/miner since I made her in TBC. I don’t see a particularly compelling reason as to why she should ditch her professions of almost 18 years and take up blacksmithing to be optimal.
someone didn’t play during shadowlands, i see.
quick refresh on how selling crafted gear works: you spend 100k buying the mats. you post it on the ah for 150k. someone comes along and posts another copy for 149999. someone else posts theirs for 149998. 4 days later, all three of you are still grimly reposting your epic, still undercutting each other madly, and the price has dropped to 75k. it will take you three weeks to sell the item, for roughly 40% of the amount it cost you to make it.
meanwhile, chuffington chuffsfanleigh the third, absolute noob, rocks up in the AH, swipes his credit card at the wow token machine at the door, leaves dressed head to toe in mythic gear (bought for 40k a piece!) jumps straight into a +15 and proceeds to badly wipe the group. irate players flood the forums demanding blizz delete boe epics.
I think crafting is server dependent. You aren’t getting more than a couple thousand tip this late in the game, even for 675 stuff. Early on, yeah if you could make certain weapons R5 early, you could get 5-10k tips. Now there are too many BS able to do R5 for most stuff.
I don’t think I’ve made money with BS, but I don’t think I’ve lost money either. I don’t spam trade though…
