Please Don’t Label Masterwork an Endgame for Professions

Today I want to quickly chip in with something related to the Masterwork system that has annoyed me for quite some time now. And that’s the fact that the devs keep labeling it as “endgame for professions.”

[su_quote cite=”asterdahl” url=”http://forum.arcgames.com/neverwinter/discussion/comment/12945886/#Comment_12945886″]Masterwork professions are meant to be an endgame for professions […][/su_quote]

I don’t want to bash Masterwork in general. It is what it is: Highly difficult, cost and time intensive recipes that can be insanely profitable. If you’re one of those guys that like to completely overpay for the slightest of upgrades, there you go. Masterwork has never been perfect, but it has worked given this intention. I don’t think too many players ever bought into the Stronghold Weapons or PVE armor, but PVP Rings were seen best-in-slot and quite a moneymaker for some.

Endgame for the elite

Nonetheless it has little do with professions, at least how its endgame should look like. I already did a piece about professions a while ago where I described how the system should incorporate more exploratory factors, among other things. Of course Masterwork features none of that, because it’s no endgame for professions, but an endgame for the elite build on professions.

You could say that I’m merely arguing about semantics. That’s fair. Could “endgame” mean that you are actually able to craft highly coveted items? Of course! In fact Masterwork is the only source of sellable gear, which makes it an unique feature. But professions should be for everyone. Not only do an insane amount of time and AD gate Masterwork recipes, it also requires an active high-level guild to advance. Right now Masterwork has more to do with leveling your guild than leveling your professions. You need to perform guild tasks to unlock them and you have to continuously perform even more guild tasks to get the resources for the recipes. Shouldn’t professions work as an independent system?

Not everyone can participate

The argument the devs threw into the ring has always been that “everyone can participate” by farming Masterwork nodes and sell or contribute resources. But it’s quite the opposite in terms of professions. Masterwork nodes just add another grind mechanic and players participate in market activities, not professions. It’s not that they go out and progress themselves, which to me would be a core principle of participation.

Neither does Masterwork extend professions, nor does it add cool features. And most importantly it offers nothing for those that are actually interested in a deep and immersive profession system. I’m not gonna say it’s as misleading as saying that the Foundry is one of the core features of the game, but Masterwork is indeed an economic system for those interested in making profit or hunting the absolute bis of the bis.

Professions still need an overhaul

I think it’s an important distinction to make. The devs shouldn’t have an excuse to not work on professions because they “delivered Masterworks”. Professions and Masterwork target a completely different audience and although they seem connected, are different systems. So could we please stop labeling Masterwork an endgame for professions? Because quite frankly it’s not.


What’s your opinions on Masterwork vs. Professions? Share your thoughts in the comments below or leave a message in the corresponding thread on our message board.

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j0Shi

j0Shi plays the Neverwinter MMORPG since the open BETA in 2013 and is a regular contributor to the blog and the whole UN:Project. Originally a Guardian Fighter, he has built up ALTs of all classes and plays on BIS/near-BIS level.

11 thoughts on “Please Don’t Label Masterwork an Endgame for Professions

  • April 20, 2017 at 5:04 am
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    j0Shi you need to write an article about low level players / casual players getting scammed by masterworkers on ps4 ( its the least experience platform) end up paying millions for outdated gear etc. end up quiting after finding out . if you want details of incidents let me know il be happy to fill you in

    • April 20, 2017 at 7:51 am
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      This is NW-Uncensored, so you can either make a topic in the forum, or post it here.
      The forum gets more attention, and you are allowed to name & shame, so go for it…

    • April 20, 2017 at 8:07 am
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      Its kinda funny read all this talking about low level buying item for millions. 🙂 Git gud, casual.
      When people are morons willing to pay millions for useless things they are either stupid or drunken. In both cases there is no help…

      • April 20, 2017 at 8:17 am
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        I will start a thread in the forums , but long story short my point isnt about the being a moron , when you are in a popular guild your automatically looked at as you know your shit so when you use that to manipulate the player who is asking you for advice cause he looks up to you in a way seeing you maxed out in a maxed out guildhall he trusts you or believe you. When you tell him a rose gold ring is best in slot and nothing in the game can par up with it lol , you can call him smart for getting away with a trade but that’s not the point here it’s about making the community grow with less scam artists with less toxicity .

        • April 20, 2017 at 8:29 am
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          Hmm, trusting geared randoms… Lolz. Being blind lamb doesnt count as intelligence, sorry. PC has scammers as well, its nothing new and always will exist. In every MMO. Smart people check things before buying, read sites like this one to keep up with news. Unsmart dont do that at all.

          • April 20, 2017 at 8:38 am
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            Exactly my point , to make a post that would go viral and spread awareness regarding stuff like this. It won’t help them all but it sure will reach a lot of them out there .

    • April 21, 2017 at 4:54 am
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      Hey, you can always get in touch with us / j0Shi using the contact form or admin@nwo-uncensored.com. If you’re able to provide some intel, we’d be happy to work on an article.

  • April 20, 2017 at 8:09 am
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    I really appreciate these kinds of posts. They are intelligently written and make great points, but aren’t outrageous hate pieces. Nice job acknowledging what devs deal with while pointing out potentially better approaches. Thanks!

    On Masterwork, I agree that it is largely a separate system because of that Guild unlock component. The funny thing is that you can make AD without ever unlocking them, but most players can’t because they can’t find any information on the MW professions and what resources/crafted items go into them. The wiki is 90% incomplete and thus only those doing them can participate. Had the process been more transparent, such as by anyone seeing the recipes, then everyone could participate and the initial barrier to entry would be lower.

    • April 21, 2017 at 4:59 am
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      Thanks, passing on the praise.

  • April 20, 2017 at 3:09 pm
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    I think the Professions in general need a complete overhaul. I’ve been playing off and on since OB, and the one aspect of the game that has never really engaged me has been ‘crafting’. This is primarily because the stuff you can make early on is nearly useless to anyone except, maybe a 1-10 alt. Certainly, by the time you’ve made anything usable it’s rubbish compared to what drops or can be bought for gold from vendors. What I do like about it is the use of tools and craftsmen to frame the whole thing as a series of activities and tasks, rather than just having the player directly banging things out on an anvil/workbench etc. In an ideal world, NW’s crafting would take a leaf out of the EverQuest and WoW books here in terms of making usable, valuable, worthwhile items, while retaining the current rational and framework, IMO, this would make the professions not only a worthwhile activity, but also something really fun and cool too.

  • April 22, 2017 at 4:37 am
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    I disagree masterworks is for anyone ,you do NOT need to get guildmarks to do it: do a dungeon get AD and buy the base resources from someone that doesnt mind grinding the collection of resources.I made 30 million AD since masterworks started…how much of that was via guildmarks :almost none (my guild doesnt even have the explorers boon),i didnt grind anything,i bought base resources on AH in small amounts crafted items and sold them.Next mod it gets easier in some ways you dont have to craft the base items as you can buy them with guild marks without the need for explorers maps and so will be a lot eiser for people to progress thru mastercrafting.I would also like to point out that from the start masterworks was always intended as a way to boost guild ranks,there was a lot of complaints that there wasnt anything worth buying with GM so people stopped donating to the coffers ,masterworks proffesions solved that ,so its hard and takes time to get there thats the whole point ,everyone could do the old proffesions easily and many were botting them so there was very little value in it.Also the DEVs always said it wasnt ever going to be easy to complete Thats why it is end game proffesions ,its hard and takes time to complete and costs a lot of resources etc and if it was easy and everyone could finish it easily then it would NOT be end game.EVERYONE can participate …if you donate to your guild coffer to help level it up then you are going to have guildmarks and explorers maps etc are something to use them for that will earn you AD.The problem with people like you is that you want everything handed to you on a plate,you dont want to work on something for months to get a payback from it ,you want all 10 toons BIS everymod so you can do endgame dungeons etc?The game is a lot fairer now than it ever was before mastercrafting ,think back to grinding MC for weapon shards to craft the BIS weapon and OH or were you one who was too lazy for that and bought the pieces on the AH?If you dont want grind to be BIS and want to have a constant AD income do mastercrafting,if youre too lazy for that even then buy the gear on AH and stop complaining.

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