In Battle for Azeroth, professions can only go up to rank 100 – but multiple times. What that means, we explain here.
With Battle for Azeroth, professions in World of Warcraft are revised once again. Dataminers had discovered some time ago that professions are only available up to rank 100 – currently they go up to rank 800.
With each new expansion, the hurdle for new players increases when they want to take up professions. While it is possible without any problem to craft items from Legion even with a profession at rank 1, this is not the case with other expansions. For example, if someone wants to tailor a nice robe from Pandaria for transmog, they must first raise their tailoring to rank 600 – a high barrier for newcomers.
Professions get different paths
With Battle for Azeroth, professions are divided into different branches. There is no longer the classic blacksmithing from ranks 1-800, but different paths, each up to rank 100. For example:
- Blacksmithing “Classic” (100)
- Blacksmithing “The Burning Crusade” (100)
- Blacksmithing “Wrath of the Lich King” (100)
- and so on …
So, if someone wants to learn the recipes from “The Burning Crusade,” they visit the corresponding teacher and learn this “path.” Crafted items from Burning Crusade then increase the rank for this path and unlock new recipes, without having to first (as is currently the case) complete the 300 skill points of the “Classic” version.
Easier for new players, more order for everyone
The reason for this is easy to see: who currently enters the game may not want to be overwhelmed with hundreds of recipes from past expansions that are of no use (apart from transmog) to the player.
Hazzikostas said in the livestream that at the time of classic World of Warcraft, they simply did not expect the game to exist for so many years and that they would bring seven expansions. Therefore, it was time to revise the profession system once again.
With the transition to this system, professions are at least easier to manage in the future, as developers can simply add a new path for each expansion. Whether professions will actually regain relevance, as demanded by some players, is another matter.
Please keep in mind that this is still information from the alpha of Battle for Azeroth. It may change before the release.
What do you think of this change to the profession system? Are the paths good and sensible? Or is it simply part of leveling a profession in WoW up to rank 800?
What else changes with Battle for Azeroth, we reveal in our large overview!
