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Official: Masterwork Professions Changes
cryptic39
Member, Cryptic Developer Posts: 90Cryptic Developer › Cryptic Developer
Hey everyone,
We have some news about long-awaited updates to Masterwork Professions!
For now, let’s detail some changes to existing Masterwork. Some key changes to note:
1. Masterwork Professions no longer requires players to complete quests to advance in Masterwork I-V.
- A pack of Masterworker’s Tools, containing a crafting implement previously earned by the Masterwork questlines can now be purchased at The Stronghold Artisan for 50,000 Astral Diamonds.
- These Masterworker’s tools now also have a different functional ability: Recycle: 10%.
- Players who have the requisite items to complete quests for Masterwork can trade the items (items such as the Gilded Ledger or Statue of Great King) Masterworker’s Tools or one of the Chultan Masterwork books.
2. Masterwork IV and V Recipe Books have now been renamed to “Chultan Masterwork”.
- Chultan Masterwork I and II books are now purchasable at The Artisan for 100,000 Astral Diamonds per book.
- Chultan Masterwork books will all gather in the “Chultan Masterwork” category in the Workshop interface.
- A new ore/ingot resource is now available to craft and gather for the Chultan Masterwork book.
- Chultan Wootz Ore can now be gathered with Explorer’s Chart: Omu.
3. Recipes that generate crafting resources in Masterwork I-III have been removed.
- Existing resources will still remain in inventory, and can be used on the remaining recipes.
- These resources are not required in the Chultan recipe books. Please let us know if you see any irregularities… that’s most likely a bug! You should be able to craft everything within those books.
- These recipe books can be exchanged at The Traveling Merchant for a Professions Supplement Pack.
4. The following Explorer’s Charts are no longer available for purchase:
- Explorer's Case: Bryn Shander
- Explorer's Case: Caverns
- Explorer's Case: Cold Run
- Explorer's Case: Chasm
- Explorer's Case: Lonelywood
- Explorer's Case: Icespirew
- Explorer's Case: Vellosk
5. Stronghold Temporary Structures have also been updated to grant Chultan Masterwork resources.
*As always, anything on preview is subject to change.
We’ve also gone ahead and fixed up the 6th node in the Sharandar Ruins, but the charts will no longer be purchasable until a later date.
Let us know what ya think!
----
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, 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:
This text will display in cyan.
This text will display in red.
Examples:
Bug: Profession worker levels got reduced, but also their skills, so it is impossible to craft any mastercraft item.
Feedback: The item bonuses make it difficult to justify the time investment to craft the new gear.
We have some news about long-awaited updates to Masterwork Professions!
For now, let’s detail some changes to existing Masterwork. Some key changes to note:
1. Masterwork Professions no longer requires players to complete quests to advance in Masterwork I-V.
- A pack of Masterworker’s Tools, containing a crafting implement previously earned by the Masterwork questlines can now be purchased at The Stronghold Artisan for 50,000 Astral Diamonds.
- These Masterworker’s tools now also have a different functional ability: Recycle: 10%.
- Players who have the requisite items to complete quests for Masterwork can trade the items (items such as the Gilded Ledger or Statue of Great King) Masterworker’s Tools or one of the Chultan Masterwork books.
2. Masterwork IV and V Recipe Books have now been renamed to “Chultan Masterwork”.
- Chultan Masterwork I and II books are now purchasable at The Artisan for 100,000 Astral Diamonds per book.
- Chultan Masterwork books will all gather in the “Chultan Masterwork” category in the Workshop interface.
- A new ore/ingot resource is now available to craft and gather for the Chultan Masterwork book.
- Chultan Wootz Ore can now be gathered with Explorer’s Chart: Omu.
3. Recipes that generate crafting resources in Masterwork I-III have been removed.
- Existing resources will still remain in inventory, and can be used on the remaining recipes.
- These resources are not required in the Chultan recipe books. Please let us know if you see any irregularities… that’s most likely a bug! You should be able to craft everything within those books.
- These recipe books can be exchanged at The Traveling Merchant for a Professions Supplement Pack.
4. The following Explorer’s Charts are no longer available for purchase:
- Explorer's Case: Bryn Shander
- Explorer's Case: Caverns
- Explorer's Case: Cold Run
- Explorer's Case: Chasm
- Explorer's Case: Lonelywood
- Explorer's Case: Icespirew
- Explorer's Case: Vellosk
5. Stronghold Temporary Structures have also been updated to grant Chultan Masterwork resources.
*As always, anything on preview is subject to change.
We’ve also gone ahead and fixed up the 6th node in the Sharandar Ruins, but the charts will no longer be purchasable until a later date.
Let us know what ya think!
----
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, 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:
This text will display in cyan.
This text will display in red.
Examples:
Bug: Profession worker levels got reduced, but also their skills, so it is impossible to craft any mastercraft item.
Feedback: The item bonuses make it difficult to justify the time investment to craft the new gear.
Miku V.
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Comments
all equipment time resources enchantments devalue in the game over time if not new players can never catch up
and then there is a great divide balancing content/ vs time invested etc .,.
do you think if they introduce brand new crafting some player want to go thru hundreds of days/ quests maps ( a trial by fire essentially and be forced to do thru all the hamster other crafters did in a bad system and experience their "pain " cause its "unfair" LOL and all this just to be able to start the new and improved professions .. which is a new ad sink/ zen cow for cryptic lol i think not
Old report with old picture.
- I did not go out of my way to test every single tool but I believe only some the MW tools are affected. As shown in the image below I can't equip any of the tools from MW1 & MW2 quests while the ones from credits in chult work.
As for the new stuff:
- This is probably the old code of Mailsmithing + Platesmithing when merged into Armorsmithing acting up again as usual. I can buy infinite Armorsmithing recipes for a true AD sink. I had all MW unlocked but even after getting scammed the 1st time on purpose the artisan should learn some restraint and stop scamming me after buying 1
- All other mats of this tier require 970 focus while this one which is new requires 9750 focus.
- In the Tannery SH structure the Lion Fur requires Alum but this material is going away with the old charts. Also as explained below if we follow the pattern then it should have been 30 alum and not 40. Alum is not cheap
- The pricing in the SH structures in general is inconsistent and extremely high. The most common pattern I see is that it was tried to be balanced around crafting at a 50% success rate with 0% dab hands & 0% recycle. So when buying 5 items of X is as if I tried to craft 10 of those X items and failed half the time. If this ridiculous price point is intended then for consistency here is a break down:
1. Goldsmith
- Brilliant bead => Buy 5 or try to craft 4 => Mats for buying 5 = Mats for trying to craft 20 => 25% crafting rate
- Fanged Ornament => Buy 5 or try to craft 2 => Mats for buying 5 = Mats for trying to craft 10 => 50% crafting rate
- Feathered Ornament => Buy 5 or try to craft 2 => Mats for buying 5 = Mats for trying to craft 10 => 50% crafting rate
2. Tenterground
- Chultan Silk Thread => Buy 5 or try to craft 4 => Mats for buying 5 = Mats for trying to craft 20 => 25% crafting rate
- Chultan Silk => Looks like a copy/paste error since the price is same as Chultan Silk Thread
- Jute Macrame => Looks like a copy/paste error since the price is same as Chultan Silk Thread
3. Bloomery
- Chultan Wootz Ingot => Buy 5 or try to craft 5 => Mats for buying 5 = Mats for trying to craft 25 => 20% crafting rate
- Obsidian Shard => Buy 5 or try to craft 4 => Actually the price of this one makes no sense we need 15x the amount of red rouge but just 2x obsidian.
- Hardened Bronzewood => Buy 5 or try to craft 2 => Mats for buying 5 = Mats for trying to craft 10 => 50% crafting rate
4. Tannery
- Lion Fur => Buy 5 or try to craft 2 => Mats for buying 5 = Mats for trying to craft 10 => 50% crafting rate
Note: Lion Fur uses Alum which is in a removed chart. Also the amount of alum should have been 30 since 6*5=30 and not 40 if we follow the pattern of the other 3 requirements.
- Lacquered Dinosaur Leather => Buy 5 or try to craft 2 => Mats for buying 5 = Mats for trying to craft 10 => 50% crafting rate
5. Atelier
No materials to buy.
Of the 11 materials: 5 are at 50% craft rate, 2 are at 25% craft rate, 1 is at 20% craft rate, and 3 make no sense.
- These changes feel as awful as when the SH structures were introduced and when legendary tools were added to a lockbox and dropped like candy. Getting all the old MW recipes for 1,400,000 AD is hilariously sad for anyone that unlocked this before. Still not as bad as when legendary tools went from basically 100,000,000 AD each to < 500,000 but still sad.
- As of this moment in preview it feels like all my pre-chult mats are useless and something probably should be done for the people that have hundreds of these charts and thousands of these materials. Since these materials are deprecated it's safe to assume that there will be no future use for them and therefore no value going forward.
- Since we are doing such a big disruption to MW this is a good moment to review some of old recipe for the MW resources. As an example the absurd prices in the goldsmith show that Brilliant Beads require a lot of materials and are used a ton. The special chult materials like Batiri Prism/Lion Hides/Allosaur Fangs are generally in short supply since those zones have low populations atm but are used in high quantities in the goldsmith materials.
- The prices of the materials on the SH temporary structures even as the previous bug report says I assume a 50% craft rate for all it's absurdly high. Previously mats where bought at practically 100% craft rate and we were paying guild marks and coffers resources for the convenience of buying old MW materials. Now I'm paying guild marks + coffer resources for a 50% craft rate at best when I can currently craft at around 80% success rate and have dab hand to possibly double my output or recycle to possibly save me resources in case of failure. The pendulum swung too hard the other way this time.
If you wanted to replace MW 1-V recipes and resources, why didn't you just do that instead of creating higher tiers as if they build off the lower ones?
None of my characters have advanced enough in SKT to access Lonelywood or Cold Run, so the Explorer cases have been just sitting in inventory waiting for MW II/III to be finished. This 2xGM week was to be the week the MW vendors made the materials to complete these quests ...
Thank you in advance for your response.
From my understanding MW1-3 recipes use legacy items by design so here are the Chultan Masterwork recipes that still use deprecated items:
1. Alchemy
- 6 distilled items use effervescent water (cold run chart)
- Workman's Incense uses red alder bark (lonelywood chart)
2. Leatherworking
- Lion Fur uses Alum (Chasm chart)
3. Tailoring
- Chultan Silk Thread uses effervescent water (cold run chart)
Having spent so much AD and time to get all professions to masterwork 5 all I needed to do was wait and spent barely nothing to get it. This is a slap to the face to all mastercrafters who have grinded for so long to get to this position.
You might want to think about how you're going to compensate the dedicated players for this.
Yule (Barb): 72k : Siren (TR): 78k : Torun (DC): 73k : Siren OP (OP): 76k : Siren SW (SW): 78k : Modern (F): 80k : Cherry1 (CW) : 68k Siren HR (HR): 78k
Do you realize how much grind and ad it takes to get mastercraft 5? Now you are basically giving it away? What about the ones who grinded their HAMSTER off for this before? No compensation at all?
How about let us unlock mastercraft 6 and 7 recipes as compensation?
I don’t know but this seems very unfair to those who grinded and spent so much ad to unlock mastercraft 5 before.
My only concerns are with the 294k guild marks I invested in maps Thursday when the double hit is if I can exchange them. I mean I can obviously take the hit and I won't be upset not having to grind out 245 maps in older areas. Had I known this was coming I would have invested all of those marks in the hundreds of Sharandar maps I purchased. It is about my only concern with the changes other than the bugs being worked out.
And to those complaining all how it's a slap in the face and a punch in the nads to have MW be easier to grind: Stop crying. No one forced you to spend zen and astral diamonds, y'all did that of your own wallet's whimpering and volition. I can't imagine anyone who's completed masterwork didn't have at least an inkling in the back of their minds that this would happen eventually, especially after recent reworks of other features. This "I guess my hard work was for nothing" sort of argument is pathetic and doesn't work in the real world, so to think it'll work in a game is hilarious at best and pitiful at worst.
Edit, October 13: The ONLY way I could even see a justification for those of you crying about how your hard work is for nothing is if you logged on after the changes were implemented and received two notices that a) your level 20 professions with masterwork unlocked were reset to zero and b) the crafted workshop items you had laying in your inventory were removed.
Considering the leveling overhaul didn't have anybody reset to level 1, I doubt the above will happen either. If you're that mad about it, please go away and play a different game.
Not sure what is it with this game, but it too often feels like the devs pick out the 3rd or 4th best option probably simply because it's faster or more convenient to implement. Same for the devaluation of Masterworks and attached resources. You can't tell me there wouldn't have been a way to keep old levels somewhat relevant and resources intact and still make it easier for new players to get to the latest MW tiers.
And let's be clear: MW has long been broken because new stuff was added vertically which made it progressively harder to keep up for newer folks. This absolutely had to stop. But taking away ADs that players have stored in their banks in the form of MW resources and Explorer's Charts was uncalled for. Yeah sure, MMOs evolve and stuff gets nerfed and whatnot all the time, but this is not the smoothest of experiences for those heavily invested in MW or Explorer's Charts.
And of course it's absolutely hilarious to announce this in the midst of a Stronghold week with an upcoming x2 Professions. You know, THE event sequence to stock up on Explorer's Charts, farm, and profit. It's staggering how little administrative oversight and/or understanding of ingame implications the dev team seems to possess. It's either ignorance or indifference, both equally bad. So you literally could not announce this two days earlier? I would absolutely be thrilled had I turned in my Guild Marks on Thursday for Explorer's Charts that are now discontinued.
There should be a way to:
I was surprised by this post btw. I came looking here to figure out why my masterwork armorsmithing III only allows the creation of an alembic when I'm being asked to create armor. Guess that won't matter much longer.
I was warned by players about the amount of time and astral diamonds it would take and I was immediately turned off from ever doing any of this.
These new changes are nice and I will probably start doing a little crafting and work towards mastercrafting, something that I definitely would not have done without these changes. However even with that I feel that the people who have put in the time and effort previously should get something pretty damn special.
Completing mastercraft 5 on any single profession is one hell of an achievement and it should be recognized.
Even if its just some sort of vanity item like an amazing title, some fashion and a pet.
As someone who really enjoys the MW element of the game here are my comments;
Context and Rationale - I think it would be helpful to provide a bit more context about the changes - what is the rationale? (presuming allowing more people to access, redundant recipes?), how does this relate to the rewards and progression CDP (summary points on return on investment and professions comes to mind - whilst also balancing this with the fact its a MMO and things always change). Providing this alongside implementing changes may help bring existing MW'ers with you.
Couple of points
Essence of Focus (MW1 Alchemy) - this has been taken out and is no longer needed for Distilled Philospher's Focus. This was a major use for the green and blue professions supplements for MW's to make the +1 version of MW goods. It is kind of redundant now? Offering green and blue supplements in exchange for recipes has little practical use now (unless they are purple quality). Also consider how this links in to current events such as Gond - one of the benefits of Gond was the green profession supplements.
Clarity - it would be good to explain the Travelling Merchant exchange for recipes in a bit more detail and consider/change the rewards offered.
Complexity - personally i like the complexity of MW and the tons of materials needed. Changes that 'dumb down' Masterworking would personally be a negative but i may be in a minority. Many of us have being asking for more professions bag space - i guess we should be careful for what we ask for! Or how it is implemented.
Recognising Effort - I would echo previous comments on providing those at MW5 some recognition even if this is title etc. You could get flavourful and provide an additional 3% focus to those workshops that are already established in the market?
Thanks,
Efnis
(And the Imaginary Friends)
Again: I support the changes as well, but you gotta think there would have been a much more elegant way to implement them.
In other hand I don't like these changes due that highly smash in game economy.
Up to these changes, in order to unlock masterwork you needed to fully lv up your regular proffesion.
Even before these changes regular( non masterwork) where more less useless. But now, players can bypass them anyways.
So question, why you guys even bothering to keep it anyways?
Other thing, the quest line was good thing is that, players where spending either time or AD in order to unlock it and progress through MW ranks. It served as good AD sink.
How good you would ask.
As example to buy MW 3 jewelcraftin recipes from stronghold vendor, require you to obtain 20 gold ingnots.
The current price for x20 of them stand 1.39kk ad as cheapest. ( at moment I am posting this comment).
Now player will spend 50k and get recipes.
When comes crafting for obtaining MW 4 recipes. Lets say for Artificing. You need obtain, [Fartouched Orb], [Fartouched Pact Blade][Brightsilver Holy Symbol].
Each of them cost over 1.2kk ad. And [Brightsilver Holy Symbol] cost 1.7kk at the moment I am posting this coment.
Yet again, player will spend 100k and thats it..
Now quick reminder, the reason why changes where done in Wondrous Bazzar. It was for sake to make more AD sink. Yet this proffesion changes goes against AD sinking.
But thats not all. THe main reason why players now more active with MW is that they all aim to weapon sets. They don't care about Jewelcrafting or armours.
There for only specific MW materials remain viable, while rest obviously become irrelevant.
Other thing, less materials being burned due failure in crafting, more remain in AH. There for very quickly we get same outcome as where in mod 15 when proffesion system went overhaul.
In less than 5 months, AH where overflood with materials to point it was cheaper buy from AH then bother to craft on your own. This simply discourage players even try crafting at all.
But also need remind that MW is highly bound to strongholds. You can't buy Explorer charts without donating to stronghold chest.
Lot of game elements are tied together. But I assume you haven't forget that.
So while I due respect and I don't want be rude. I ask simple question.
Why repeating same mistake? haven't you all learned anything through these years?
p.s I already met in game players who trying sell off as much MW stuffs they can, to get rid of possible waste.
“The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.
Gustave Le Bon.
==================================================
If that's really a worry them buy them only at the reduced rate, I'll lose some GMs, but 80% is better than 0%.
- I think that this is fantastic for new players or players that have not yet gotten into masterwork. It opens up the possibility to craft your own weapons and gear by putting in some AD and then just the time and effort. That's what every crafting system should try to be.
- For veteran mastercrafters this in fairly annoying, but most will have at least made back the value of their investment. If I had just hit MC5 last week I would be in a different situation. Some people will find themselves in this situation (I know a few personally) but they will be a minority.
- The people really hurt by this are those in the middle of questing. People who have been saving lacquered ebony or cashmere to buy out recipes, people who have nearly finished their Chult commissions. Not only do they lose out on all the progress they made and materials they farmed, but they have to pay AD on top of that. It's extremely unfair and makes a mockery of the months they have invested in crafting.
- The trade in for old recipes is beyond insulting. For recipes that cost millions of AD or weeks and months of grinding guild marks, farming charts and crafting you get a random assortment of supplements. Supplements that aren't even used to make essence of calm or focus any more. These items held very little value before and even less now, but this is the pat on the back for all your efforts in the past?
- I think using masterwork as an AD sink is a good thing, but it doesn't go far enough. We desperately need more AD sinks in the game, but I will be able to buy out Sharandar recipes for the price of a set of masterwork weapons. This is a one-time purchase and will not make a lasting impact on the Zen exchange.
- The removal of quests is really infuriating. It might not have been ideal how it worked before, but talking to NPCs and crafting special items for them felt like you were going on your own crafting adventure. Now you just hand over money to one dude and that's it. There's no sense of play or discovery or interaction there. Just give this dude your money.
- Charts for the resources removed are just useless now. We are in the middle of double guild marks and guild discount. This is THE time people stock up on charts and they will now be totally irrelevant. We can still farm them but cannot craft any of the materials from them. Will there be a chart exchange vendor where we can get something of equivalent guild mark value?
- This line is the most worrying to me: "Certain High Quality resources that have been removed from the recipe books can now be exchanged for new resources." What constitutes 'high quality'? Is gold wire high quality? What about gold ingots or gold nuggets? Will I have to craft one into the other before it is exchangeable? Will I even be able to do that after the patch goes live? Do all my stacks of sal ammoniac and lacquer branches and native silver that I have spent 100s of hours getting guild marks and farming (and yes, even buying stronghold chests of power for Zen to get even more guild marks) just become useless and worthless?
- The changes on a whole I think are positive, more people having access to crafting is a good thing. Just don't alienate loyal players while you entice new ones. You can implement this in a way that veterans get a fair shake while making crafting accessible to the wider player base. The time and effort invested in masterwork is really not equivalent to any other grind in the game. The worst thing about the changes currently on preview is that it shows there is no regard for players' time, and my time is the most valuable resource I have.
Bugs
- Omu charts are 3000 gm while Soshenstar River charts are 1500
- Alkali and tincal have been reduced in price to 1000 gm but other equivalent items like red rouge, potash and coke are still 2000gm
- Most potions and supplements (distilled philosopher's, crafted rank 1&2, workman's incense) still require items from charts that are being removed.
- The addition of Chultan Wootz Ore to Omu charts will lower the drop rate of obsidian, there should be a change in recipes requiring obsidian (and other drops from the Omu charts) to reflect this.
instead of making the resources (manticore felt) to complete the quests easier to obtain by improving the ridiculous low drop rate you completely remove the quests.