Sunday, April 29, 2012

The Siren Call of Engineering

I remember choosing professions back when I started playing. I was set on a draenei hunter, and after consulting with Ponder I learned that draeneis had increased skill in Jewelcrafting. He advised me to choose Mining to go with it. I was entirely new to the game and was "afraid" of the Auction House, and leveling Jewelcrafting was a tedious and time-consuming hobby.




When I leveled Naanei recently, I chose the same professions. As Naanei was my "True Draenei Experience", of course she would have to be a Jewelcrafter too. And I can wholeheartedly say that Jewelcrafting is still a real pain to level at certain skill levels! Doing it over again, and really taking the time with it, gave me many happy flashbacks to 5 years ago. :) And I realised I kind of miss mining.

Which takes me to my profession-jumping. Wrath of the Lich King launched, and I started taking raiding a bit more seriously, and with it the profession perks. I abandoned mining, which was far from optimal for a DPS-concerned hunter, and took Blacksmithing instead. Blacksmithing as a hunter never really made much sense though, I could neither make gear or weapons for myself. So right before Cataclysm launched, I abandoned it for Leatherworking. Leatherworking is huntery, right? Well, it's nice and all, providing bracer/leg enchants and it makes me able to craft gear for myself. But besides that there's not much happening really... The profession seemed a bit more "alive" in Burning Crusade, when people actually used the drums.

So now I'm thinking of changing again... To the undisputed coolest profession in-game!


Why choose Engineering?


Before I started to work on this post, I thought that changing to Engineering would possibly mean losing all DPS profession perks; I thought the crafted helms with the cogwheels was the only thing Engineers had except the fun tinkers. But then I discovered the Synapse Springs on Wowhead. I can very easily see benefits of this cooldown; I can stack it with Bestial Wrath* and A Murder of Crows, which share the same cooldown. And every 5 minutes I can use Rapid Fire with them as well. On average it will be on par with other profession perks. But on some fights it will be even better! Cooldown-stacking can be very powerful. Take Burning Tendons on Spine of Deathwing as an example; sometimes there are things that needs to be burned down really fast.

* Yes, I'm planning on playing as Beast Master in Mists. I have full confidence in that the changes to the talent system and weapon damage coefficients will result in the specs to be really close. And thus I decided on BM a while back. Of course, I won't hesitate to go SV if needed. (The (now removed) cast time of Black Arrow really put me off it.)

As I said in the key binding post; now, between expansions, is definitely the time to change things I want to change! And I have been thinking of leveling professions on my Scroll of Resurrection-boomkin; perhaps I'll level Mining to get the mats I need for Engineering. I've added Engineering to my End of Cataclysm Bucket List. The only thing I need to decide now is between Gnomish or Goblin Engineering. Any advice on this choice is most welcome. :)

Edit 1: We don't fully know what professions will bring in Mists yet. I think it's commonly assumed that things will work the same way, only with bigger numbers. Hopefully we'll know more by the time I make my switch, but I'm almost sure it won't affect my decision.

Edit 2: I finally leveled Gnomish Engineering, small update in this post.

Lae

Combined Professions (side note 1)

Ponder had an excellent idea, derived from other games. The gathering professions; skinning, mining and herbalism, should be included in the crafting professions. In that way you could still choose two (crafting) professions, but you would get one or two gathering professions along with them, depending on what you chose. Profession perks would probably have to be removed from the gathering ones. It really makes sense I think!

Blacksmithing, Engineering and Jewelcrafting would give you Mining.
Alchemy and Inscription would give you Herbalism.
Leatherworking would give you Skinning.

Picture from Wowhead: Turbo-Charged Flying Machine

Building Character (side note 2)

I keep saying I don't roleplay, but inside my head I totally do. I relate a lot to Lae, and in my head she has all my remarkably good qualities. Most of the time I'm unaware of this, but I experienced a revelation when I recently leveled my Scroll of Resurrection-boomkin (night elf) from 80 to 85. I had a good time leveling her; balance has a fun rotation and they have some nice moves in their spellbook. But I kept reacting to her voice telling me "you can't do that yet" (I tend to spam keys). The voice was so foreign to me! I've almost exclusively played draenei characters so far. Perhaps since I speak English with an accent, the fact that they do too have added to building the relation with my draenei. Playing a night elf was what it took for me to discover this. Go brain! :)

Picture from Wowhead: Flexweave Underlay

Behind the scenes (side note 3)

Kia's Brain (voice dripping with sarcasm): So, this is your new "great" idea?

Lae (whimpers): What are you doing here, Kia's Brain?

Kia's Brain: Your own brain is struggling getting through to you. I'm here to assist.

Lae: ...

Kia's Brain: What about all the time and money you spent on leveling Blacksmithing three years ago? And Leatherworking only 1,5 years ago? What about all the epic Leatherworking recipes you bought?

Lae: Both those professions have served me well, I don't regret spending time on it. And it's only gold!

Kia's Brain: And what will your guildies say when they learn that all those expensive recipes you've gotten for free from the guild's raids will carelessly be erased when you go about your usual profession-jumping ways?

Lae: They love, well at least tolerate, me, they will understand!

Kia's Brain: We'll see about that...

Lae: Na-na-na-na-na, I'm not listening to you! I want my own sedated brain back! KIIIIAAAAA!!!



References

Wowhead Engineering
Wowhead Mail Helms that requires Engineering
WoW-Professions Engineering

12 comments:

  1. The only real benefit to a certain specialization now that they've removed ammo is which pet you want to be able to craft. My hunter is gnomish and my rogue is goblin just in case specializations become important in the future! :D

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    1. Cool, that's kind of a relief, I won't be able to go too wrong then. :-) (And I guess I can swap later anyway. ;-))

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  2. I've tried all the professions at one point or another.
    For usability and fun, engineering always felt miles ahead of the rest.
    I found the tweaks to personal gear (having a parachute is so handy - if only to take short-cuts off cliffs) and the transporters (one to Gadgetzan and one to Toshley's Station) incredibly useful.

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    1. That's exactly what I'm thinking too!

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  3. I apologize most profusely. Achloryn has mentioned that Kia's Brain is a rather snarky little bitch, and has offered to bop her with a rolled-up newspaper if she gets out of hand. I'll make her go sit in a corner.

    Brain! Both Kia's and Lae's! There is NOTHING wrong with changing professions! People do it all the time! It's just fine!

    /yanks back Brain

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    1. Thanks a lot! I was kind of surprised of how incredibly strict that brain was. And the sarcasm! Yikes. And yeah, a bit bitchy... (Shh, keep it quiet, I don't want it coming back again.)

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  4. Anonymous30/4/12 15:57

    Keep in mind that you can double up Engineering with Leatherworking if you're not married to your other profession and can supply both professions with a gathering alt.

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    1. Thanks for tip. :) I'm kind of married to Jewelcrafting I'm afraid, but I'm starting to get a good team of miner alts to keep both professions up. :) Luckily they get XP from mining!

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  5. I love a lot of the perks to engineering - the goggles, helmets, and flyer. I can't see myself giving up JC/Enc though, esp. with the new JC mounts coming out.

    I always work hard on my professions being a completist but I am really looking forward to shared mounts come Mists.

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    1. Yeah, I'm looking forward to the mounts too. :) Although I guess the mounts that require a profession to use (like Flying Carpet and Flying Machine) won't be available across characters, if they don't have the right profession.

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  6. Been a Goblin Engineer since creating my hunter in Dec. '07 - and never regretted it. Between the two it's mainly "explosives" vs "toys", and there's not really a wrong choice - though I'm waiting to see what Pandaria adds. Could totally level unspecced and choose then.

    Over time I became a schematic-collector, and two weeks ago I finally completed my collection with [Schematic: Surestrike Goggles v3.0] (very lucky find on opposite AH, since few run Sunwell now).

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    1. I guess I could do that. I'll give it some thought. I've been mapping out what it takes to level, and have included the rather expensive toys* I know I want anyway into leveling the profession, hoping to get extra points for making them.

      *Portals, Flying Machines, Jeeves (holy .... that's the most intricate recipe I've ever ever ever seen) and all the goggles.

      Lae

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