New Professions – A Design Proposal (Part 1)

Neverwinter’s profession system is boring and for the most part even broken. It is a browser-like setup that was built around the idea to also access it on mobile phones and browsers. But with the shutdown of the gateway this option is obviously gone. Additionally there are also a lot of profession tasks that need rework. For example, it’s impossible to supply a leveling character with gear because you level way faster than your professions and get better gear from drops anyway. Then some Leadership tasks that saw their Rough Astral Diamonds stripped were never compensated with added loot or a lower task time. These are just two examples of existing issues that need fixing.

What professions does Neverwinter have?

We have nine different primary professions in Neverwinter and various secondary professions like Black Ice Shaping and event ones. It’s way too much. I mean I like diversity but this is bonkers. Usually there are two different approaches for professions in MMORPGs. Either you go with few professions that sort of cover several classes or you have lots of professions, probably even a lot more than classes. In that case, the profession system should be a deep experience with it’s own quests and progression. It basically becomes a class system only for professions.

In all honesty I don’t see Neverwinter to be the latter example. So I’d say we cut down on primary professions:

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Leadership and Alchemy stay as they are. Jewelcrafting and Artificing get fused into one profession called Enchanter. It makes no sense to me that Tailoring is only useful for a Control Wizard, the only class wearing cloth armor, so we also combine Leatherworking and Tailoring and call it Garment Maker. The three smithing professions are a natural fit as well and are now called Blacksmith.

Whats in each profession now?

  • Leadership basically helps the player with general progression. XP, refinement items, gold, basic profession resources and enchantments.
  • Alchemist stays similar to what we have. The profession provides buff potions, healing pots and dye. But I would also add new options like the Potion of Appearance Change. It’s basically a low grade variant from the buyable Appearance Change Token of the Zen Market. It changes the appearance but not the gender and comes in two different variants: The Unstable Appearance Change Potion randomizes the look of the character and the regular Appearance Change Potion will let you decide how you will end up.
  • Enchanter infuses magical powers into existing items and sometimes need supplies from Garment Makers and Blacksmiths. It produces Rings, (Artifact)Belts, (Artifact)Cloaks and (Artifact)Weapons. The profession can only produce weapons for the CWs, SWs and DCs on its own. For all other things it needs special ingredients from other professions.
  • Garment Maker does the same as Leatherworking and Tailoring. It provides armor for the classes TR, SW, HR and CW. But we change a few bits. I’d like to add transmutes for these classes so we can bring back some old and cool looking pieces of armor. It should also produce a few fashion items and bags. Especially newer players are in dire need of bag space. We have six slots for bags but only get four free bags. So we should be able to craft some smaller bags with 8, 12 or 18 slots. 20 slot bags are earned via Tiamat as rare drop and 24 + 36 Slot bags can be bought on the ZEN market. I think it’s not a big deal for Cryptic/PWE because they still hand out the two biggest bags.
  • Blacksmith produces armor for GWF, GF, OP and DC. Additionally they produce weapons for GWF, HR, TR and OP. That means the profession covers four classes all the time. Just like the Garment Maker it should also have recipes for transmutes and supply the Enchanter.

That is the end of the first part of my design proposal. What do you think? Is cutting down/fusing the right call for the profession system? Share your thoughts in the comments below or visit the corresponding thread on our message board! You might also check out j0Shi’s proposals on how to save professions! In the next part I’ll explain how professions can be further improved. Not going to spoil a lot, but will say it has something to do with fish!

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6 thoughts on “New Professions – A Design Proposal (Part 1)

  • May 8, 2017 at 7:18 am
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    Nah… Wouldn’t work like that. You gotta have equal status for all classes.

    I’d say, Alchemy, Black Ice Shaping, Leadership, Jewelcrafting + Artificing + Weaponsmithing, Leatherworking + Mailsmithing + Platesmithing + Tailoring.

  • May 8, 2017 at 7:20 am
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    “It makes no sense for me that Tailoring is only useful for an CW.”

    They aren’t done with classes just yet. Future classes like Bards or whatever might use Tailoring.

  • May 8, 2017 at 7:37 am
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    I like tour vision for this, pretty good

  • May 8, 2017 at 9:34 am
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    I agree with your proposal idea, however I am sure they use the current setup as another gate to mastercraft. Was a bit disappointed that black ice and leadership were left out of the 11b adds that most profession s got. Maybe a black ice mirror Ball for those festive nights in the guild, and how about a bartender or serving wenches from leadership?

  • May 8, 2017 at 9:54 am
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    I like the idea, but how would we compensate crafters that have maxed out some and not all of their professions already? For instance i have maxed jewelcrafting and level 1 artificing, what would my enchanting level be? I’m not sure if people would want to invest even more time and money into their professions, especially if they are currently doing mastercrafts

    • May 8, 2017 at 12:39 pm
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      We could either go with half your level as Enchanter (0-1 in one and max in another levels them out) or you basically set the new level to the max. level of one of the professions.

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