It went from something that was easy to work through and intuitive, to a bloated system of non-intuitive variables and systems on top of systems design. I’m not saying that professions didn’t need a tweak, but whoever did the tweaking added as much UI fluff as the engine could handle.
I think that players who really enjoy the crafting aspect of the game are engaging the new UI enough to learn the layout, but as far as I can tell, the rest of us don’t really touch it. The only useful thing I see are the slots to put the profession equipment vs having them take up bag space. We need a UI Lite version.
Editted for Type-0
177 Likes
Oh yeah, professions are something I am skipping this expansion.
Cooking included.
It’s a mess of sub systems, cross professions w/specific sub paths, to get to… what? A boost that gives you a slight edge in stats.
Oh and work orders. A random WQ will give me a much better item than a work order.
76 Likes
Before professions were kind straight forward breadcrumbs that led to mandatory raids to get regents, but now they’re just weird one way free fall with no room for error, if you make a bad choice you’re stuck what that forever because of something about meaningful choices andwhatnot AND you have to jump through hoops controlled by other players.
56 Likes
You leave the massive, blocks everything, not annoying at all UI alone 
17 Likes
I absolutely love the new professions.
And I don’t really agree that it is THAT complicated. Even if you just pick random talents in the prof tree, it will still be somewhat useful.
The more effort you put into it, the more you get, and that is how it should be.
I never want us to return to the world of useless and boring professions.
19 Likes
I agree… I tried to do it but ended up just taking the stuff that benefits me like less failure on battle rez and longer phial duration. Trying to actually craft things is just silly for the majority.
15 Likes
Like I said before DF the profession system is just a poor take on FF14 which is not fun for some people. There are many parts professions that I do like but there are also many parts that could have been cut out.
6 Likes
Honestly doing LFR on an alt made me realize that a fair chunk of wow players could 100% never figure out the crafting system
12 Likes
This is unfortunately something WoW devs are known for. They start off with a cool idea, and keep “improving” on it until it becomes a big complicated mess.
- Garrisons
- Goblin starting experience
- Artifact/Azerite power
- BfA
- DF professions
They need someone who’s entire job is to keep an eye on their projects and say,
“Ok, that’s far enough. Any more would just ruin it!”
Having great ideas is one thing, but the real talent lays in knowing when to stop adding more good ideas to something.
71 Likes
True. They miscalculated.
9 Likes
If you didn’t figure it out yet – the way professions play currently is to make up for not having the artificial bloat in gear. Legion artifacts, or BfA azerite gear … we didn’t want any of that but the comeuppance had to be somewhere so it was placed in professions.
Devs still want to keep us subbed so all they did was turn their efforts from gear progression metric to professions.
A broken system (like Legion weapons and azerite gear) is still a broken system (like professions) - it’s just a different iteration.
17 Likes
I have been a crafter since the beginning. I have seen lots of change and have adjusted to make it work out. The current changes just aren’t worth it to me.
Let those who can work through this new program at it. If it turns out great, well good, but if it only works for a few then maybe reconsider returning to the previous rendition.
26 Likes
The old professions were useless and too simplistic. They went way overboard and made the new one way too involved and complicated with too many cross-dependencies and systems on systems. There is a happy medium out there, they are no closer to finding it than before they started because they went so far overboard.
35 Likes
I am pretty casual and haven’t found any problems with the new professions. A much better implementation of ranked output than before.
And the Specializations aren’t very difficult to follow. Want to make leather, specialize in leathermaking. Want to make weapons, specialize in weaponsmithing, and so on. If you’re not worried about competing for creating gear over ilevel 400 (I haven’t seen any world quests offer this level of gear) than just fill in one specialization at a time.
4 Likes
They are not too complicated. The bottlenecks were not thought out by the designers. Alternative ways to raise skill from 50 to 100 would be ideal. The drip fed knowledge point system virtually assures burnout.
If anything make crafting special items far more complex. Put skill in crafting too. It’s not as if people who don’t have a mind for such couldn’t ask other people for help.
11 Likes
People don’t like the new prof system because they aren’t making millions of gold a month, (like they thought.) I too think this change in crafting system is long overdue!! (My only dislike: I am still limited to 2. I use alts to feed my main for stuff I need, (Rather than uy ore for alloy for ex.) But its not the same, considerign the legion legendary system has returned for bottle essence, I rarely have desire to play an alt for (not fear,) not wanting to miss out or post poning a spark drop for myself. (Especially considering public orders no longer need to supply sparks or chaos. $$$$$ I’m charging 50k a spark)
1 Like
I do think the system is a bit obtuse in particular the Skill point part of crafting. I also wish the trees were organized in a better way. Some of them seem like the devs ran out of ideas but needed the points to stretch out prog.
5 Likes
I’m OK with the new professions for the most part, but I do have a few issues with it.
-
It is not very intuitive. There are many ways people can misplace knowledge points unless they study the entire profession tree and plan it out in advance.
-
If you do misplace knowledge points, there is no way to fix it.
-
Due to knowledge points, it is hard for late comers to catch up. Also, knowledge points make it very time-consuming to maintain an alt crafter, unlike previous expansions.
-
Many good recipes are rare drops.
21 Likes
I actually like the way professions have changed. It was so simple leveling up professions in the past, I am glad they changed it the way they did.
2 Likes
DF professions are the new gold sink.