Blizzard has introduced a major innovation to the crafting system in the Alpha of the upcoming WoW expansion Shadowlands. The craft, which has hardly changed since Classic times, is given a so-called fresh cell treatment long-awaited by many fans thanks to the so-called optional reagents.
From ugh to hui? How the craft with Shadowlands could become more interesting
The ability to create your own items through learnable trades is one of the central components of most online role-playing games. While Guild Wars 2 and Final Fantasy XIV have established a motivating system for these professions over the years, WoW fans have had to make do with dull lists and progress bars that fill up.
How has the craft system worked so far? Blizzard has made no significant changes to the crafting system since the introduction of inscription as a main and archeology as a side job. Players can unlock recipes and craft items to increase their skill level in their profession.
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WoW fulfills a long-standing fan wish, but role players are frustrated
Apart from simply collecting manufacturing materials, clicking on the "Manufacture" button and waiting for the production bar to be filled, there is still nothing left for players to do. Accordingly, fans have long been demanding an adjustment of the crafting system so that the bleak feature is more fun again.
What do the optional reagents bring? In order to fulfill exactly this wish of the WoW community, Blizzard introduces the so-called optional materials with Shadowlands. There are noises about that Wowhead According to the current alpha level, three types:
- Category I: Words of Power – increases the item level of a manufactured item (currently available in four ranks)
- Category II: guaranteed value or additional base – Guarantees a certain secondary value or an additional base on a manufactured item
- Category III: special effects – not available for all items, job-specific (e.g. increased damage against certain types of opponents, longer vial duration, etc.)
The optional reagents then work in detail as follows:
- Players can add the optional reagents to an item to craft to customize and improve the items.
- There are three different categories of optional materials, of which you can choose two per item. However, you cannot use two materials from the same category.
- There are job-specific effects that only apply to certain items: Blacksmithing effects only apply to wrist and head armor and belts. Alchemy effects only work with cloaks and enchantment effects are limited to shoulder armor.
- Inscriptionists can increase the item level of a crafted armor.
- Jewelers can add additional base slots to crafted items.
A Complete list of optional reagents available to date and their effects can be found at Wowhead. In any case, we believe that this new feature makes the craft in WoW a lot more interesting. Or what do you mean?