Yet, the forums are still rife with creative new ideas for the direction of the profession, as well as glaring issues that have yet to be addressed. Today I will be summarizing some of the more ingenius and workable proposals for the future of engineering, highlighting some of the changes that Blizzard has promised to make, and bringing some much-needed attention to the problems that still plague this profession. Even if you aren't an engineer yourself, many of the suggestions for craftable goodies make for an interesting read.
Upcoming confirmed changes:
- While this particular item has not been promised for patch 2.3, Drysc has hinted at an upcoming frost grenade, although as Chris Miller points out, it will likely be a consumable and therefore not allowed in arenas.
- The craftable flying mount. Yes, I know, we've all seen the video footage, bookmarked the mats list, and had a /dance party about it, but I can't exactly leave it out of the list, now can I?
- A new field repair bot will also be worming its way in with the new patch. It can repair (being such a bot), and will be selling poison and spell reagents, bullets and arrows, and a limited supply of healing and mana potions. Blizz even recently announced that the mats required to build one have been cheapened, and Eliah did a nice little comparison for us. It will also have five charges, rather than being a one-time use.
- Jumper Cables XL, as of patch 2.3, will no longer be a trinket. As engineers everywhere can vouch, this is one step towards better trinket management.
- The innovative, space-saving mana and healing potion injectors will no longer require engineering to use. Might one actually sight *gasp* profit on the horizon?
- This one comes straight from the latest changes on the PTR. The details are hazy, and we don't have a release date, but we do have a photo! Meet rocket chicken, gyrocopter, and zeppelin!
- The adamantite arrow maker has had a mats change.
Enough technical stuff, let's move on to the wishlist! As I mentioned earlier, the profession forums are hopping with innovative concepts for engineering, and some are just too good not to post. Despite the fact that we are seeing some new things popping up, there are several changes that absolutely need to be made.
Top ideas Blizzard must incorporate or we'll make signs and hold an in-game candlelight vigil:
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Schematics: As Patrius' wish list points out, engineers have virtually no Outland faction reputation schematics. This is such a shame, considering that we're all grinding the rep for heroics and raiding anyway. Engineers should be able to benefit professionally from this just like the rest of us. It was also suggested that old-world schematic drops be moved to rep vendors, or even trainers.
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Scrapping: Like skinning, or the abilities of miners and herbalists to similarly harvest certain corpses as of The Burning Crusade, Vedon suggests engineers would be able to scrap certain mobs for various mechanical parts.
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Belt buckles: These, as described by Ratboy, would work much like a leatherworker's various kits, and place various enchants on the belts. In fact, there seems to be a running consensus on the European forums that engineering should incorporate more elements of enchanting, just as leatherworking, tailoring, and other professions do.
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Tinkering and Innovation: Logically, it seems as though an engineer should be able to learn and evolve in their trade. After all, they are the brainiacs right? One idea put forward is the tinkering skill, otherwise known as the ability to take engineered items apart, harvest some mats, and earn a chance to learn how to craft it from scratch. In addition, it has been proposed that engineers could learn to innovate, in much the same fashion that alchemists can discover.
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More things to sell to players: Suggestions included specially buffed bullets and arrows, as well as items that would attach to range weapons (much like scopes) and temporary buffs akin to mana oils. My favorite ranged addon was a silencer, which would work to reduce threat. From the EU forums, players suggested everything from a gem socketing kit to safety deposit boxes, a 24-slot box equippable only in bank slots.
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Utility belt: This would allow an engineer to equip more trinkets than normal. Another solution for storage would be the proposed trinket ring, which would be a handy addition for all level 70s, as well as an invaluable one for engineers.
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Balance: Many of the attempts to balance engineering items seem to actually throw them off negatively. They either almost never work, or almost always backfire. To help combat this, the EU compilation of ideas suggests cheapening items that have a low reliability/utility, and reducing the chances of an item to fail or backfire in relation to skill.
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Multi-tool: This would replace the several tools engineers must carry around in order to craft (and perhaps consume them to make).
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Allowing more engineered items into arenas. After all, didn't many of you sign up because of the pvp benefits?
Now that we've covered the basic changes that should take priority in any attempt developers might make to fix the engineering profession, let's discuss the fun and zany!
- More flying mounts! Gyrocopter, jet pack, rocket car, and more!
- Mini fel reaver and mini fel cannon pets (as well as upgrades to the dragonlings and chickens of old).
- Cloning device; distract your enemies with multiple images of your handsome mug running around raising all sorts of heck!
- Remote-controlled charges; set it, do the sneaky sneaky, and watch the show.
- Lazorz! From pets with lazorz for eyes to ray guns, we demand more lazorz!
- Goblin portable stove. Feel the need to have your own BBQ in the middle of Skettis (why, whatever for...)? Too sophisticated for those silly fires? Pop out your portable stove and roast up some fish-ayz!
- Grappling hook, ala Batman. Uber handy when one trips into Un'goro (come on, we've all done it).
- Pogo boots. Jumpz! Alternatively, ejector shoes, the footwear that throws you way into the air in an attempt to avoid danger. How thoughtful!
- Chew toy, for the lovable little mongrels that chase yee.
- Cannons and catapults; the ranged aoe that sometimes always targets properly.
- Trick chests to lay out and trick mail to send. Turn your friends into leprechauns and, dare I suggest, your begging peers into particularly slimy oozes.
- Unstable teleportation modulator. I'll let you work that one out for yourselves!
- Transmogrification device. Handy random costumes for you and your pals.
- Ultra family-friendly fembot! No minds in the gutter here; just try to resist her botty charms.
- Hang glider or steerable parachute cloak. Don't just fall slowly like your friends. Now you can glide to new peaks from which you can mock your peers and ponder how you will e'er get down with this wretched cooldown.
- Portable mini-forge and anvil! Now you can smelt and craft in the wilderness, or Orgrimmar.
Hopefully now that engineering is finally getting some developer attention and lurv, we'll start to see some of these wonderful suggestions materialize. Although we have some new goodies already in our sights, there is still a lot that is wrong with engineering. Many items never work, cannot be used in arenas, and cost way too much to make. Most items cannot be sold, or cannot be sold at a profit.
Perhaps most importantly, the underlying concepts of the profession are no longer living up to an RP analysis. The brainy, silly, tinkering gnomes and goblins with wacky concepts simply should be able to invent, to scrap for parts, to learn by disassembling objects, etc. The other professions, as of The Burning Crusade, evolved in some way, leaving engineering, the most creative and evolutionarily-prone profession, in the dust.
What suggestions and ideas do you have for the future of engineering? Are you worried that it could swing in the overpowered direction? What are the most important changes you feel need to happen? Feel free to elaborate on the ideas above, add your own, or link to your favorites.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-26-2007 @ 2:15PM
Stoneblade said...
Man, you'd think that with so much innovation going onward and upward, for 375+ skill, they'd add in some nifty mid-level stuff like a land mount, also. I, myself, have pined for a goblin shredder of my very own, ever since I first laid eyes on the technological terror.
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10-26-2007 @ 2:15PM
Charlie Taylor said...
Wow, all of these sound like great ideas. If I didn't need my primalstrike set so much for it's AP bonus I'd switch in a heartbeat if engineering had these things. Screw DPS meters, this is a game, and I want to have fun!
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10-26-2007 @ 2:22PM
Mike said...
Give me belt buckles and a jet pack and I'll be a very happy engineer.
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10-26-2007 @ 2:32PM
Urthona said...
Give me a BOE Gnomish Jetski.
(And I know Fatigue will affect the damn thing. It's mechanical, if it goes too far, it will run out of fuel, and you have to swim to shore.)
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10-26-2007 @ 2:39PM
Argent said...
beltbuckles and portable anvils/forges really strike me more as smithing items than engineering.
that said, i've been yearning for a goblin rocket car mount since the first time i've seen one in 1000 needles. part pod racer, part chariot from 'ben-hur' -- i'd do damn near anything to have one.
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10-26-2007 @ 2:41PM
Orinn said...
You forgot Upgrades to the Oldies.
Where is my upgraded Dragonling?
My flash bombs dont work past 60
My reflectors are now useless
Forget about my MC cap
So many of my old toys no longer work past 60, and there is no way to upgrade or craft new ones.
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10-26-2007 @ 2:45PM
Erika said...
I like the portable anvil/forge and the cloning device. A lot of them are good ideas but besides the mounts and stuff i am really wanting the cables to be like the extractor. Since they don't provide anything like the +stam with the rocket launcher.
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10-26-2007 @ 3:01PM
Lori said...
An assortment of mechanical buffing and protection pets. Like a mechanical Imp that can be set to follow another player, MT for example, to always be in range and provide a stamina buff to that player for a period of time. Same idea for protection only the mechanical pet takes aggro and damage from a healer for example.
And make lower level versions available.
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10-26-2007 @ 3:02PM
Scott said...
Heh. I just got to 375/375 ten minutes ago. Ground out the last 10 points just to make an Ornate Khorium Rifle for my wife since she has a bad cold. Hopefully more pew pew == less achoo!
Sadly, I don't what else I'm going to do with it. :( Poor Engineers.
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10-26-2007 @ 3:07PM
Hooper said...
@! YES! If they would just let me have my own normal level 40 land mount be a Shredder I would never use my engineered flying mount because i'd be shreddin.
Plus then the level 60 upgrade could be the Super Shredder! TMNT2!
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10-26-2007 @ 3:14PM
Salty said...
I've been engineer since I created my first toon. I could never give it up for several reasons: explosives and teleporters.
All the new patch changes are going in the right direction.
When 2.1 was in the works, Blizz had a post that got all of us hopeful that we would be getting love "Engineering will the first profession to be looked at". And in 2.1 there were some very minor changes that were helpful, but not revolutionary and certainly not dramatic enough to say that "2.1 buffed engineering" which was what it was supposed to be. They added the new epic craftable gun, the primal nether hats, adamantite shells and blasting powder got cheaper, frost grenades were introduced in 2.1 (maybe correct that in the list above) and a fused wiring recipe was added that nobody will ever use because it's still cheaper to make 20 or 30 target dummies for 5-10 wirings.
But 2.3 is added some awesome things, my own running list is as follows:
- Flying mounts
- Arrow maker and similar bullet maker
- Injectors have no engineering requirement
- Jumper cables are no longer trinkets
- The new field repair bot was introduced and then its mats were nerfed during PTR and given charges
- Gas clouds have been changed in Zangar to produce water (harder to farm than air)
- Gas clouds have been added to Nagrand, and produce motes of air
I wish it didn't create a consumable item, but rather a device that can craft the arrows/bullets anywhere. As long as I have the mats in my bag, I can right-click the item to produce a stack.
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10-26-2007 @ 3:34PM
nein89 said...
Lots of great ideas here. My top three priorities would be:
1. Goblin Shredder. Combat pet, non-combat pet, mount, whatever. I just want a shredder. Of course, the ideal would be...combat mount! Let me hop in my shredder and trade my class abilities for some nice, saw-based melee attacks. Kinda like the Arcano-Scorp quest in Shadowmoon. Also dogfights with our gyrocopters. Pretty please?
2. Upgrades to old items. Lots of our old engineering items are fantastic, except that they just...stop working. Mind control caps, reflectors, so on. Shortening cooldowns to make this stuff usable in the arena would also help a lot.
3. This one would be enough fun that it will never happen, but I'll toss it out there anyway. Item transmogrifier! Toss in your tuxedo, toss in your T5, and bam! Tuxedo with T5 stats. Yes, I really want to be able to wear my tuxedo to raids and in the arena.
It would be super if this could also make actual pants for the undead, but that's a longstanding concern unrelated to engineering. I just want a solution to come from...somewhere.
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10-26-2007 @ 3:51PM
Todd said...
Belt Buckle? There are currently NO enchantments or augments of any kind for the waist equipment slot. Blizzard cannot put in a Belt Buckle augment without addressing this same issue with Enchanting, Tailoring, and Leatherworking. Seems only fair, since this is the only equipment slot without any added affects, outside of gems (already equipment specific).
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10-26-2007 @ 3:51PM
Todd said...
Belt Buckle? There are currently NO enchantments or augments of any kind for the waist equipment slot. Blizzard cannot put in a Belt Buckle augment without addressing this same issue with Enchanting, Tailoring, and Leatherworking. Seems only fair, since this is the only equipment slot without any added affects, outside of gems (already equipment specific).
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10-26-2007 @ 4:02PM
Badger said...
When I saw the words 'Rocket Chicken,' I had to fight not to burst into a fit of hysterical laughter (at work). That is so undeniably awesome.
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10-26-2007 @ 4:08PM
Gimmlette said...
As a guildie saved a few too many times by Goblin Jumper Cables, the fact that this will be no longer a trinket makes a lot of us happy, happy. We like the built in "will it or won't it" factor.
I agree with all the "demands". It never occurred to me that Engineers don't learn new things as they continue to make things. I just assumed, like my alchemy skills, they got something randomly the more Adamantite bullets they made. What a rip!
I am all in favor of a Transmorgrifier. I want it to work with anything but have the potential to create something totally unusable. So, if I want to put dreaming glory and my bracers in the machine, I get a nice buff to the bracers but which attracts any insect within an 80 yard radius. Crossing healing pots and invisibility gives you a whopping dose of healing ONLY if you're invisible otherwise it's a slow poison. Crossing my epic ram mount with a shield gives me a wooley shield whose only function is to increase warmth. Every patch could contain new transmorgrified items on a random table and the machine would tell you if it can handle what you are about to combine. "Are you sure you want to stick your epic weapon in here?"
I can see it now, "Transmorgrifying your weapons by the AH bridge in IF! 2 g per item. No refunds."
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10-26-2007 @ 4:36PM
ThorinII said...
@13 & 14 (double shot)
No offence, but this isn't about the other profs, this is about engineering. The other profs have their luv, we need ours now.
Why must there always be someone complaining????
Anyway, Make your own landmount at 40! YES! It could be rocket skates, bike, motor bike, mechanostrider, shredder, rocket car, rocket skate board, the list has endless potential.
AND make them BOE so we can sell them on AH or make them for alts!!
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10-26-2007 @ 4:50PM
Ted said...
Re: the chew toy, there is already a similar item, the flash bomb! You get the recipe from Ganklethorn Vale, but like so many other cool engineering toys, doesn't work past 60. WTF Blizz? How hard can it be to slap a "Super" in front of the name and call it a day?
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10-26-2007 @ 4:56PM
Paul said...
The whole idea of things having a chance to fail or backfire sounded great from a quirky-realistic point of view, but it just makes things so undesirable that it's not worth it. Blizz should just remove that facet of engineering, and that alone would make things more desirable, and i still don't think it would be overpowered.
If the jumper cables worked 100% of the time, being able to rez isn't really that overpowered when you consider it's just saving you a corpse run, and you're forgoing another profession that could be making you money otherwise.
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10-26-2007 @ 5:07PM
Todd said...
@ThorinII
I'm not complaining. I'm stating a fact. Blizzard has yet to allow any enchants or augments for the waist equipment slot. The first opportunity to do so won't be one sided with one profession. If any way to augment waist equipment will happen, out side of gems which are equipment specific anyways, then this will be across the board with the other professions that allow for augments and enchants.
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