Welcome
to the 1,332nd
edition
of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily
MMOG news and commentary
newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

Depending on the
title, crafting systems in MMOGs can either be equally as complex as
standard character advancement mechanics or as simple as pressing a
button and calling it a day. World
of Warcraft
would certainly fall
into the latter category, but for all the surface level ease of use
crafting in that game still involves a hefty time investment on the
part of the player with only a select few trades reaping any kind of
rewards for their efforts. In the most recent update on the details
surrounding Cataclysm, Blizzard outlined some of the upcoming changes
to crafting in the expansion which we’ll take a closer look
at today in Loading... Cataclysmic Crafting Changes

cellspacing="0" width="100%">

The Pulse

You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result
is the Ten Ton Pulse ( href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).

Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
    of Warcraft
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aoc">Age
    of Conan
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest
    II href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aoc">

  4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/vanguard">Vanguard:
    Saga of Heroes
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve">EVE
    Online

Biggest
movers today
:

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/140">City
    of Heroes (UP 11 to #12)
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth">Fallen
    Earth (UP 11 to #15)
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars:
    The Old Republic (UP 8 to #14)
size="-1">Recent Releases
  • size="-1">2/16
    - href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
    2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
  • size="-1">2/16
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81479"> LotRO:
    Oath of the
    Rangers (content update)
  • size="-1">4/5
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/83086">Pocket
    Legends (iMMOG - release date) size="-1"> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004">

  • size="-1">5/1
    - href="http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/game_updates/issue_17/issue_17_overview.html?utm_source=COHemail&utm_medium=US&utm_campaign=banner">City
    of Heroes - Issue 17: Dark Mirror
    (content
    update)
  • size="-1">5/11
    - Age
    of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer
    size="-1">
    (expansion)


size="-1">Upcoming
Releases

  • size="-1">May
    18,
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve">EVE
    Online: Tyrannis (expansion)
  • size="-1">May
    27,
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2422">Craft
    of Gods (release)
  • size="-1">June
    30,
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB
    (US - July 2 in EU)
  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">Q2 2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801">Mytheon
  • size="-1">TBA
    2010
    - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079">Final
    Fantasy XIV size="-1">




size="-1">Upcoming
Events

  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">6/15 -
    6/17 - href="http://www.e3expo.com/">E3
    Expo
  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">6/25 -
    6/27 - href="http://www.lfgexpo.com/">Looking
    for Group
    Expo
  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">7/22 -
    7/25 - href="http://www.comic-con.org/">Comic-Con
    International
  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">8/5 -
    8/8 - href="http://events.station.sony.com/fanfaire/">SOE
    Fan Faire 2010
  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">9/3 -
    9/6 - href="http://www.dragoncon.org/">DragonCon
  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;">10/22 -
    10/23 - href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y">BlizzCon
  • size="-1"> style="font-weight: bold;"> 3/24
    -
    3/26 (2011)- href="http://fanfest.eveonline.com/">CCP
    FanFest




Loading... Daily

Like nearly all other
aspects of the metagame in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
of Warcraft
,
crafting professions have
become less about being an individualist pursuit and more about
following a set path of uniformity. As much as people may enjoy poking
fun at things like vanity pet collections, the sad fact of the matter
is that without those types of non-stat enhancing items available the
endgame is little more than a critical mass all attempting to become
robotic clones of one another. (Sounds suspiciously similar to suburban
America, doesn't it?)

But as a core gameplay mechanic
crafting has continually fallen into
the trap of only being considered to have value if you follow a
list of accepted norms for producing the largest benefit for your
combat class. Meanwhile, the overall state of crafting in the game
boils down to having some professions that create stat-enhancing items
absolutely everyone wants or needs, some that seemingly should benefit
everyone
but don't, and some that are lucky to have a single desirable
utility item to sell to other players. As a result, only a select few
professions will ever see a return on the countless hours or piles of
gold that a player must invest to hit the skill cap.

For example, on my
Leatherworker I haven't even bothered
getting the last 4 points in the trade to hit the cap, even though the
only potentially useful armors that can be created require a max skill
level. The reason why it would be pointless is the simple fact that it
will take me either weeks to farm all of the mats for a chance
at
gaining those points, or else an investment of thousands of gold per
point on mats purchased in the auction house. In the meantime a player
can invest far less time running daily heroic dungeons and obtain gear
that would render high-end craftable armors useless. That, plus I
learned with The Burning Crusade that those last few points will simply
be knocked out in seconds for next to zero cost once the next expansion
hits
anyway, so there really is no viable reason to invest so heavily before
that point for that particular trade.

Needless to say, many aspects
of crafting in WoW are in major need of a
facelift. While I'd personally just like to see each
profession given more items that are worth the mats it takes to create
them, I realize that's crazy talk this late into the game.
But the folks at Blizzard obviously understand that href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/84328">crafting
needs at
least some
kind of attention in Cataclysm,
and have begun revealing
some of the details on what's in store.

While a number of the proposed
changes are seemingly for the better, a
quick scan over the list has me shaking my head in dismay at plenty of
others. A notable example here would be the removal of specialties for
certain trades such as Blacksmithing or Tailoring. Mind you this is a
change that needed to happen years ago, but from the sound of things
the switch will also boil down to even more trades that have to spend
an insane amount of time rep farming to obtain the handful of patterns
that are worth having. I'll pass on that one, thanks.

Another thing that stuck out
like a sore thumb is, "New
unique material used by nearly all high-level recipes will be created
by alchemists on a one-day cooldown." href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest
II

went there
at launch and trust me, it's nothing but bad news to allow a
single trade to essentially control the market value of items produced
by all other trades. Alchemy is one of the few trades that already
benefits from producing something that is considered essential at the
end-game by all
classes, but this will simply insure that my
Leatherworker has even less reason to continue on towards the increased
skill cap in Cataclysm.

There are plenty of other
examples from the list of proposed changes
that I could cite here, but I'd love to hear what you have to
say. So hop on the nearest tram, zeppelin, griffon, bat, or sparkle
pony and head on over to the Loading... forums and let us know
what you think about the latest details on crafting in Cataclysm.


Shayalyn's
Epic Thread of
the Day



From our href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51273">GW2:
News & Articles Forum



href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51273">Guild
Wars 2 Dynamic Events Details Revealed



Consider this thread from our new href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=721">Guild
Wars community forum
a teaser--there's plenty more to come where this highly-anticipated
game is concerned. Get the latest news and join the conversation (and
the community) href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=51273">here.



==============================

Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread




"Wow. I
really cannot wait for this game. I had high hopes before, but after
reading this, I just can't wait. I hope the game will produce results,
and it's not just more feature "ideas" rather than actual features in
the game. Only time will tell. Any word on a release date?
"



- gigabeard

==============================



Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=32559">Tell
us!


New
and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer

6 new Ten Ton Hammer
articles today! 45 Ten Ton Hammer
features
in May! 516
in 2010!

PREVIEWS



Fallen Earth: Blood Sports PvP
Impressions


title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth/previews/blood-sports"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth/previews/blood-sports">http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth/previews/blood-sports



Last Friday, title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth" target="_blank">Fallen
Earth

players were treated to one of the most comprehensive and feature rich
updates since the game’s launch in the form of title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/84071"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/84071" target="_blank">Blood
Sports. Most prominent among the
included features are the update’s namesake arena-style PvP
matches that are available to all players level 5 and up. Resident
clone Reuben “Sardu” Waters recently spent some
time both with the Fallen Earth
team as well as in-game to see how the wasteland smackdown action
stacks up.



Final Fantasy XI "Trial of the
Magians" Tour and June Update Preview


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxi/features/trial-of-the-magians-tour">http://www.tentonhammer.com/ffxi/features/trial-of-the-magians-tour



Though
Final Fantasy 14 is on the horizon, Square Enix has a solid plan in
place for new Final Fantasy XI content, and to underscore this point,
Devin Casadey, FFXI Community Manager for North America, took Ten Ton
Hammer on a quick tour of the latest and greatest features to hit this
fan favorite fantasy MMORPG. Devin also hinted at some of the
incredible loot and level changes coming in the next update slated for
next month in this Final Fantasy XI "Trial of the Magians" tour and
June Update Preview, only at Ten Ton Hammer!



INTERVIEWS



Aika Class Interview Series
Part 3 - The Dual Gunner


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/84345">http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/84345



Mega
gaming portal gPotato has recently brought another massive PvP game to
our shores. Aika features 1000 vs. 100 battles, 100's of quests and 6
unique classes. Ten Ton Hammer sat down with Christina Kelly, Community
Manager from Gala-Net, Inc., to discuss those classes in a six part
interview series. After a bit of an extended break, we resume this
series with a look at the third class, the Dual Gunner. Join us this
week as we look at the final "female only" class in our series. Llike
her predecessors, she is no powderpuff.



EDITORIALS



Lore Based Possibilities for
Star Trek Online


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/lore_based_possibilities">http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/lore_based_possibilities



With
many TV series, movies, books, games, and comics to draw upon, the Star
Trek IP is a rich source of lore that is almost second to none. Sadly,
STO hasn’t taken full advantage of that lore, so your pals at
Ten Ton
Hammer are here to look at some lore-based possibilities that would
enhance STO’s gameplay.

WoW:
Generalizations and the Stress of Grinding Endlessly


title="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/the-stress-of-grinding"
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/the-stress-of-grinding">http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/editorials/the-stress-of-grinding

There is a lot of
generalizations in the World of Warcraft community these days. Many
players are developing rather pessimistic views about their fellow
players and the community in general. What's causing this strange
outlook? Is it because WoW is really full of bad players or
is there something else at work here? Find out in our latest editorial
here at WoW - Ten Ton Hammer.



FEATURES & GUIDES



StarCraft II - How to Assault
Choke Points and Wall-ins


href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/assaults">http://www.tentonhammer.com/starcraft2/guides/assaults



Because
most Terran players are cowards, you'll see them hiding their base
behind a wall of Supply Depots. Even some Protoss have adapted a
similar strategy that only allows one Zergling at a time to enter,
causing a traffic jam that resembles a busy interstate at rush hour.
Dealing with these types of choke points and walls requires some
special tactics and discipline, and we've got the ticket to send the
turtlers packing!


Today's
Hottest Articles, Guides, and Features

  1. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/giveaways/eve-tyrannis">EVE
    Online
    : Tyrannis Launch Day
    Prize Giveaway
  2. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/fallenearth/previews/blood-sports">Fallen
    Earth
    : Blood Sports PvP
    Impressions
  3. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/aoc/rise-of-the-godslayer/preview">Age
    of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer
    Expansion
    - Launch Day
    Preview
  4. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tsw/interviews/vip">Ragnar
    Tornquist Answers Ten Ton Hammer Reader Questions for The
    Secret World
  5. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eve/guides/ships/osprey">Flying
    The Osprey Cruiser In EVE
    Online

  6. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/interviews/fallen-earth-downsizing">(Prairie)
    Chicken Little Be Damned - An Exclusive Fallen
    Earth
    Interview
  7. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/nvidia/3d_vision">Nvidia
    3D Vision Review
  8. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/podcasts/live/6/transcript">Ten
    Ton Hammer Live Ep. 6 Transcript - David Georgeson on EverQuest
    II
  9. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/rift/interviews/intro-scott-hartsman">Rift:
    Planes of Telara Intro Q&A with Trion's Scott Hartsman
  10. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/ptr/335/overview">WoW:
    PTR Patch 3.3.5 - A New Instance and a New Way to Chat

Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

- Reuben "Sardu" Waters
and
the Ten Ton Hammer team


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Reuben "Sardu" Waters has been writing professionally about the MMOG industry for eight years, and is the current Editor-in-Chief and Director of Development for Ten Ton Hammer.

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