OFFICIAL FEEDBACK THREAD: Professions Overhaul

asterdahl

Professions Overhaul

Greetings adventurers, this thread is for providing bug reports and feedback on the upcoming overhaul to professions in Module 15: Heart of Fire. In addition, this thread is a place where you can ask questions about the upcoming changes, and I will do my best to answer them.

If you haven't already, check out the recent blog post that introduces the feature. We'll be rolling out more information in the coming weeks leading up to launch. In the past these threads have functioned as impromptu Q&A sessions, but in this case I'd like to formalize that function. With the sheer scope of the changes to professions, countless questions will no doubt emerge. In the past, large updates like this have sometimes been accompanied by exhaustive forum posts. This new format is an experiment to help surface the information that everyone wants to know about in a more digestible format.

In addition to answering questions here, there will be more information forthcoming elsewhere, including additional blog posts. Naturally once the update is on preview, a lot of information will be disseminated all at once. Please keep in mind that everything on preview is subject to change, and in particular, as I mention in the blog, a number of small but tremendously import details like costs, recipe materials, experience points, item levels, etc. are going to see changes before the update goes live.

With that out of the way, we look forward to hearing from you about your experience with the new professions system, and hope you enjoy checking it out on preview—and once it goes live with Module 15.

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Formatting Your Feedback and Bugs

For posting feedback and bugs, please follow the following format to ensure your feedback and bugs are seen clearly and processed in a timely manner, thank you!

Type: Bug/Feedback (Please only choose one)
If you are listing a bug please have this text in RED, if you are posting an opinion or feedback please use CYAN. If you are replying to another user's post, asking a question, or just engaging in general discussion, please do not color your posts, general discussion is welcome and we will read all of it, regardless of color! You can use BBCode to color your text:

<font color=cyan>This text will display in cyan.</font> <font color=red>This text will display in red.</font>

Examples:
Bug: Sometimes after I hire a new artisan they appear in my workshop twice, at the same time, I don't think I hired twins!

Feedback: It takes too long to level up a new artisan. It had to use 800 morale just to get a single new artisan to level 30.

adinosii

Nothing to look at yet.....but I have one big concern....Masterwork

Basically, a nmber of players have spent a lot of time and AD (and in some cases real $$$) on getting Masterwork. How will that factor into the new system?

Basically, currently people with Masterwork have a certain advantage, as (outside Leadership), there are not very many non-Masterwork items that can be considered profitable to make.

I guess my big question is, will people with Masterwork enjoy some advantage in the new system? If not, you will have one group of upset players....if they retain their current advantage, you will have another group of upset players.
.

brewald

During the last update of mastercraft I was very disappointed by one point:

When you achieve the lvl 4 of one profession it's work for all the professions of your toon, but only on this toon.
If you have made the choice to separate the professions on differents toons, because it was more interresting for the gameplay, you need to reinvest in lvl 4 of mastercraft for each of them.

It's a real pain and really expensive.
I'd like to see an update of this part.

ibz4ez#9773

I'll go ahead and ask the big question that's probably on most people's mind when they read "Big changes to professions": Will this affect current professions levels/XP?
If so, will there be some kind of global reset or boost given to players based on the XP they gained on the previous system?

Do you know when the expansion will hit the preview server? Can you argue with your boss to make the expansion come to the preview server sooner than whatever it is scheduled for? (Even if most things aren't ready yet) because it is much easier to bug test as sections of the expansion are added rather than all in one big chunk.) (E.g. if you added all of the professions changes to Neverwinter preview at the weekend or something that would be tres appreciated.)

adinosii

ibz4ez#9773 said:

Do you know when the expansion will hit the preview server?

Just a guess, but considering that this thread went up today, I am guessing by the end of the workday in California on Friday ... more like midnight for us Europeans, but well...

malignantmind#3340

What will happen to the currently existing profession items people have? All their craftsmen, tools... Forgehammers. Are these going to still be usable? Are they going to disappear and the forgehammer get a power rework?

lordaeolos

What happens with current professions assets? Some of us, myself included have spent tens if not hundreds of millions of AD, as well as real world money to level professions and acquire assets. I know I personally will be extremely disappointed if I have to throw everything away and start all over, in fact I would be disappointed if my previous efforts are not generously accounted for.

I can understand requiring some leveling if new recipes are actually better, and remain consistently profitable with each mod release. But if the new recipes end up being roughly equal to the current rewards, then those of us who spent the many hours/AD/Zen reaching max profession levels also need to level the new stuff.. then you will hear a pretty substantial buzz of angry players. (which also happen to be some of the most involved in game as well as the biggest spenders. )

I'm both excited (hoping the changes will be worth my playing time), as well as very nervous based on past reworks gone wrong. crossing my fingers here.

mdarkangel#4696

I'm looking forward to this update. One suggestion I would like to make.

A Professions Workshop Outlet for the Stronghold.

It would be nice if we had access from more than just one area.

As it is now, we can access professions anywhere. Unless I missed something in the blog, it appears that may change.

Looks like I'll be spending most of my weekend on the Preview Shard instead of the Xbox.

nunya#5309

mdarkangel#4696 said:

It would be nice if we had access from more than just one area.

As it is now, we can access professions anywhere. Unless I missed something in the blog, it appears that may change.

Definitely this. Currently, I park all my characters in the Grand Emporium because it keeps the loading time low on my laptop. If we have to go to this workshop to do professions, that's not going to be very convenient when you're out questing. If this workshop de-instances like the Stronghold does, that's going to make life a lot tougher for people like me who have alts that primarily do professions, invoking, and salvage.

hawkblaze1954#5209

Will i still be able to make gem crates???

asterdahl

adinosii said:

Nothing to look at yet.....but I have one big concern....Masterwork

Basically, a nmber of players have spent a lot of time and AD (and in some cases real $$$) on getting Masterwork. How will that factor into the new system?

Basically, currently people with Masterwork have a certain advantage, as (outside Leadership), there are not very many non-Masterwork items that can be considered profitable to make.

I guess my big question is, will people with Masterwork enjoy some advantage in the new system? If not, you will have one group of upset players....if they retain their current advantage, you will have another group of upset players.
.

Masterwork will continue to be a part of professions. Though almost all of the standard recipes will be completely gutted and replaced, those recipes earned via recipe books, such as masterwork and Chultan recipes will remain largely similar to what they are now.

That being said, though the recipes will remain similar the manner of interacting with them will be updated to match the rest of the system. You will slot a single artisan and a single tool, and those recipes will have a difficulty rating that determines their success rate; however, you will also now be able to create high-quality versions of those items with a higher item level and superior stats.

P.S. I will be responding to questions largely in the order they are received, and though I may not respond to every post in a single reply, I will return to those questions asked earlier.

childofsirius

I hope you are planing to expand (greatly) the size of our bags for inventory assets and resources. Adding hundreds of new inventory assets means we need a place to put them!

cilginordek

What will happen to Forgehammer of Gond under new system?

draconislupus

Two questions.

1. Will there be a feature, VIP or regular, to go straight to the workshop? Because let's face it Protectors Enclave has the worst load time of any zone and then adding yet another load screen after that is going to suck

2. And once again what is going to happen to the hundreds of epic assets and tools that we already have spent time and AD to get? In some cases real money.

alphastream

While I care about prior investment and getting to and from the place, my big worry is this:

Is this going to be fun and rewarding?

Too often, "engagement" is grind. I would like to spend less time on Professions than I did before. I would like the leveling/advancement to be meaningful and rewarding, and I would like the interface to be simple and efficient. Map travel is not a big deal if I can then be really efficient (run my tasks for 5 days, thus saving a ton of time and get back to play the game). Map travel is a big deal if I have to do it 10 times a day to see if my inventory filled up or some rare task came up. The interface is a big deal if, as now, I have to press tons and tons of buttons to get something done, taking up lots of time.

That's my big ask: make this quick, fun, efficient. In, out, done. I have a game I want to play. I already spend too much time on non-game stuff (refining, auctioning, etc.). I don't need another inefficient subsystem. Thank you!!!

sangrine

I have a request.
Please make it possible to produce influence from professions.
I think I speak for most players when I say that farming stronghold influence is no longer a fun activity.
Please give us additional ways to obtain influence (and/or other resources too) for our strongholds.

wylonus

Adinosii, that what Stronghold was for "Surplus Supplies" was made for outdated non-master crafts. they are not needed for auction house. only few craftables for the quest lines are needed, or unless request by players if they cant find or unable to craft if not building up ranks.

we have 2 serious and badly planned designs on Leadership's and Black Ice's lack of "other" access tool items, and no one would willing to pay up with real cash.
first of all, profession doesnt help you to "Win" the game. Not even close! it became most 'abandoned' due to too many needed items. some came from lockbox packs or on zen market that hardly sold since nerfed.

i make short list, but i cant add all other items, way too much for forum to list it all, but just few that really stand out the most.
1. Elemental fragments and United Elemental, these take very long time and very easy to run out of it by crafting quest demands for other needs.
2. Dragon Eggs, not often getting them. drop rates are too low and saw few lockboxes packs few often, and then no one using them to make, these seem to be "novelities"
3. resource tab for raws are getting crowded and cluttered, need specific tabs for Black Ices, Chultian materials, so we need one for common resources tab and other for elite resources tab.

osu0148#5585

With new recipes coming, will there be new charts/mats to farm?

asterdahl

brewald said:

During the last update of mastercraft I was very disappointed by one point:

When you achieve the lvl 4 of one profession it's work for all the professions of your toon, but only on this toon.
If you have made the choice to separate the professions on differents toons, because it was more interresting for the gameplay, you need to reinvest in lvl 4 of mastercraft for each of them.

It's a real pain and really expensive.
I'd like to see an update of this part.

While I won't say we'll never make masterwork account wide, we currently have no plans to do so.

ibz4ez#9773 said:

I'll go ahead and ask the big question that's probably on most people's mind when they read "Big changes to professions": Will this affect current professions levels/XP?
If so, will there be some kind of global reset or boost given to players based on the XP they gained on the previous system?

Do you know when the expansion will hit the preview server? Can you argue with your boss to make the expansion come to the preview server sooner than whatever it is scheduled for? (Even if most things aren't ready yet) because it is much easier to bug test as sections of the expansion are added rather than all in one big chunk.) (E.g. if you added all of the professions changes to Neverwinter preview at the weekend or something that would be tres appreciated.)

The new professions system will be adjusted to span levels 1 through 70, the same as character levels. This should make professions easier to follow along, a level 65 recipe will make gear around player level 65, for example. Please note that this does not mean professions will take significantly longer to level up, the experience points granted from recipes has been seriously adjusted, the goal is that leveling professions is comparable or faster, and significantly less tedious.

Every existing player's professions levels will be adjusted to the new scale. For example, if you are currently level 25 in a profession, your profession will now be level 70. Every level on the current ladder will be mapped to the appropriate level on the new ladder.

As far as when preview will be updated, stay tuned, it won't be much longer.

manjusriyamantak said:

If we have Leadership rank 25, what will we have in this newly described “Gathering” profession?

If we have a (purple/epic) Hero in the current system, what will we have in the new system, and how will it work in the new system?

If we have (say) a purple/epic Philosopher’s Stone, what will we have in the new system, and how will it work in the new system?

If we have (say) Masterwork Rank V in Alchemy, what will we have in the reworked version of Alchemy? Will we still be able to make Luminescent Potions?

If we have a (Mythic) Forgehammer of Gond, what will we have in the new system, and how will it work in the new system?

Your leadership level will convert directly to an equivalent level in gathering. Level 25 leadership for instance, will be converted to level 70 gathering (the maximum level.)

Assets are a bit different, the asset landscape is changing tremendously, you will have far fewer artisans under your employ, as you will only be assigning a single artisan to each task, and those artisans will have significantly more impact, with their own array of stats and skills.

Tools are in a similar situation, with only a single tool being assigned to a task, and most professions using only a single type of tool, with the exception of gathering. That said, there will be much more granularity with tools and for the most part, they will be obtained in game, with the primary source being crafting itself. Blacksmiths as well as artificers and a few other professions will now be able to make tools. Tools will have their own required levels and provide better and better stats.

So what does that mean for how assets convert over to the new system? Well, because for instance, one single epic artisan in the old system does not come close to being as valuable as a single epic artisan in the new system, you will be able to exchange your existing assets for a currency. That currency will allow you to purchase a comparable amount of assets in the new system, redistributing them however you please.

Though we briefly considered converting each item at a specific ratio into an item in the new system, ultimately with all the changes going on, we opted to allow you to convert them yourself. If you've decided you'd like to focus more on artificing now, feel free to use the currency obtained by trading in your jewelcrafting assets on artificing assets.

The same exchange process will be available for any materials that are no longer used in the professions system, this extends primarily to non-masterwork materials. You will now be able to convert those materials into most of the materials used in new non-masterwork recipes.

In regards to the Forgehammer and legendary tools, those will be exempt from the standard conversion process, and instead convert 1:1 into an equally valuable tool of your choice in the new system.

asterdahl

mdarkangel#4696 said:

As it is now, we can access professions anywhere. Unless I missed something in the blog, it appears that may change.



Looks like I'll be spending most of my weekend on the Preview Shard instead of the Xbox.

Upon reaching certain milestones in the professions quest series, you will unlock a remote recipe book and a sending stone which allow you to view recipes and place orders/craft items and empty the delivery box remotely. Anyone with professions already maxed out will be able to reach these milestones very easily.

Though crafting (rushing) an item instantly will cost a bit more morale remotely, and emptying the delivery box remotely will cost a small amount of morale, you'll be able to do so from anywhere if you can't be bothered to return to the shop. Morale replenishes at the start of each day and can be recharged for astral diamonds.

The only tasks that cannot be done remotely at all are hiring and firing artisans and adventurers, upgrading the workshop and assigning gathering tasks. However, whatever gathering tasks you have assigned can be set to continue indefinitely so long as your delivery box does not fill up completely.

childofsirius said:

I hope you are planing to expand (greatly) the size of our bags for inventory assets and resources. Adding hundreds of new inventory assets means we need a place to put them!

Tools in the new system will stack, and artisans are no longer located in your asset bag, but are instead managed separately from the master's desk in your workshop. You will employ significantly less artisans, and you will unlock the ability to employ more as you upgrade your workshop.

miko#6029

<font color=cyan>I am excited about the profession's overhaul. I am also concerned about leadership being merged with gathering. What's going to happened to the people that have leadership already maxed? I truly dont want to lose my current progress, as leadership was the slowest for me to level up. Also, what about all the hundred of assets I currently own at epic level. I did took the time to have every toon I own with their own set of epic assets so they can fill all 9 slots. Are they going to be converted into hires? If not, will they be worth anything? I dont want to lose all the time, AD, Zen and effort that was put into acquiring them.

As for new recipes, I think we really needed those. How do you think Mastercraft will be affected? We have put a lot of time, AD and effort into it and it will be nice if they don't diminish what we currently get from it.

One thing I will want to see, is profession levels being unlock account wide, the same as with CR in mod 14. For example, we reached Alchemy Mastercraft 2 in our main toon, then all toons in the account will be Alchemy Mastercraft 2 level, as long as they follow a set of requirements. Maybe the toon would be required to be level 70 for the profession level to be unlock, so people dont abuse the system by making new toons just to unlock extra profession slots. This will make it a reward for playing the game and putting the effort required to get the highest profession levels.

There are so many more questions I have. I am just concern that people like me that have put real time, effort and resources into working the profession's module to its max, might be short changed when the upgrade comes through, by the devs forgetting to repay us for the assets we have already accumulated, now that hires will be the norm.

Thank you in advance for responding. </font>

agilesto

Little question: What will happen to the Black Ice profession? Will we still be able to empower old items like drow, dragonfligh or eleven stuff? Asking for collection, if I should rush it now or if it's still possible later.

vortican

This master craftsman is tentatively positive and engaged for this overhaul. It reads like the plan is fair and will introduce new life into professions. Of course, my concern is purely selfish and it will be interesting to see what happens with the market. If these modifications somehow depress prices, for example, it will all be for naught.

My continued involvement in Neverwinter is at stake, for I am only able to persist if I am able to maintain my empire and sustain millions in income by crafting many, many pairs of pants.

rifter1969

@asterdahl Thanks for explaining this. And I saw you called out the Forgehammer. But if I infer from your comment about it, the Forgehammer will not play such a pivotal role in the new profession system, and appears to be defunk now, is that correct?

akpuls#9220

Hello. What about Astral Diamonds, Gems, Gold and Surplus crates. Will be still possible of making them or if not is there any replacement?

alphastream

asterdahl said:

Every existing player's professions levels will be adjusted to the new scale. For example, if you are currently level 25 in a profession, your profession will now be level 70.

Thank you for walking through a lot of those conversion items. We really appreciate that.

Can you take a step back and, at the high level, tell us what the goals of the new system are? What are the changes trying to achieve?

Thanks!

ecrana#2080

• Is the personal workshop an account-wide feature or will every toon have their own workshop?

• In the announcement it states that you can upgrade your workshop for more delivery slots. I've spent a lot of time unlocking 9 profession slots on multiple characters.
How is that going to be reflected in the new system?
Will that translate to more delivery slots in the new system?

asterdahl said:

...and those recipes will have a difficulty rating that determines their success rate...

• I'm cherrypicking your words for that quote. It sounds like more RNG is being introduced into professions? Is that a correct observation? Do you feel the community is going to be excited for more RNG to be introduced when in most cases RNG seems to punish players more often than not (see lockboxes, hunt lures in M12/13, mastercrafting, upgrading gear/enchants, etc)

• The announcement also stated the following:
"assign adventurers to gather raw materials and raw refinement stones via the gathering profession, which leadership has been reworked in to"
• Was leadership intentionally removed because it was the main generator of AD/RP for anyone that wasn't doing mastercrafting? Because it sure sounds like removing leadership was definitely top of mind since just creating a gathering profession on it's own would have done the job.

akpuls#9220

ecrana#2080 said:

• The announcement also stated the following:
"assign adventurers to gather raw materials and raw refinement stones via the gathering profession, which leadership has been reworked in to"
• Was leadership intentionally removed because it was the main generator of AD/RP for anyone that wasn't doing mastercrafting? Because it sure sounds like removing leadership was definitely top of mind since just creating a gathering profession on it's own would have done the job.

Yeah, I have level 25 leadership on 14 characters and I'm making with it millions of ADs. It's only one of my income in this game. So if thay change this it's besically game over for me because I need for my character progression millions of ADs.

gromovnipljesak#8234

ecrana#2080 said:

• Is the personal workshop an account-wide feature or will every toon have their own workshop?

• In the announcement it states that you can upgrade your workshop for more delivery slots. I've spent a lot of time unlocking 9 profession slots on multiple characters.
How is that going to be reflected in the new system?
Will that translate to more delivery slots in the new system?

asterdahl said:

...and those recipes will have a difficulty rating that determines their success rate...

• I'm cherrypicking your words for that quote. It sounds like more RNG is being introduced into professions? Is that a correct observation? Do you feel the community is going to be excited for more RNG to be introduced when in most cases RNG seems to punish players more often than not (see lockboxes, hunt lures in M12/13, mastercrafting, upgrading gear/enchants, etc)

• The announcement also stated the following:
"assign adventurers to gather raw materials and raw refinement stones via the gathering profession, which leadership has been reworked in to"
• Was leadership intentionally removed because it was the main generator of AD/RP for anyone that wasn't doing mastercrafting? Because it sure sounds like removing leadership was definitely top of mind since just creating a gathering profession on it's own would have done the job.

I believe that the difficulty now will be obtaining high level assets that will increase the quality. So now you'll be able to make higher level items if you have higher level assets which will be the RNG part - getting them.

Or at least I HAMSTER hope so.