1. Summary


1.1 Professions in ESO

Right now we have 6 Crafting Professions:

- Alchemy
- Blacksmithing
- Clothing
- Enchanting
- Provisioning
- Woodworking

I'll be talking more about the Blacksmithing, Clothing and Woodworking. The reason I am specifically mentioning Blacksmithing, Clothing and Woodworking is because of the identical crafting process with these three professions (Also I am not very familiar /experienced with the other 3 professions). They all share the same 5 "activities", which all show up as separate tabs in the crafting window every time a player interacts with the appopriate crafting station:

- Item Creation
- Item Improvement
- Deconstruction
- Refinement
- Research

2. Expanding / Improvement Potential


2.1 Blacksmithing

By now everyone is used to running around exploring (mostly around mountains), for the all kinds of mining nodes. Going back to crafting station refining all the ore, and crafting items in whatever way you want etc. I have to say the concept is great, however it feels somewhat very basic and easy. If Crafting is letting us to create items as powerful as if we were doing Trials, it needs to be made harder. A great way for that is to intruduce professions tied to Blacksmithing - such as Mining etc.

For now I've got only 1 complain about Blacksmithing itself, and I'd like to direct you to this topic:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/121362/master-crafter-new-perk-for-crafting


2.1.1 Mining

I was really surprised when I Beta tested ESO. Mostly because I didn't expect to be mining without actually having to buy a pickaxe, or without even having to learn "how to mine". It's not that I hate the existing system, but it feels like it's severely lacking, this is how I would like to see it changed:

- Mining Profession has been added
- Mining Trainers are now scattered around the Zones (in short caves). Guards are now giving you directions
- You can mine as long as you have Pickaxe in your inventory (You can buy it from any mining trainer)
- You can level it while mining nodes. However it stops leveling at max level for that ore (Example: Iron is currently level 1-14. If your Mining is at level 14, it stops progressing from mining Iron)
- Smithing profession is added as well
- Refining ore is now leveling your Smithing. Your Mining trainer can teach you how to refine any material (as long as your Smithing level is high enough).
- New Achievements have been added associated with Mining and Smithing.


2.2 Woodworking

The concept is fine as it is. However it should get some improvements, I'm thinking in a similar way as Blacksmithing (above). About the Woodworking itself I'd like it to be tied more to Player Housing (when it finally gets implemented).

So I'm directing you to this awesome topic:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/136476/housing-system-a-vision/p1


2.2.1 Woodcutting

- Woodcutting Profession has been added
- Woodcutting Trainers are now scattered around the Zones (at lumbermills, sorry Bosmers you are out of this)
- You can cut wood as long as you have appropriate Axe in your Inventory (You can buy it from any Woodcutting trainer)
- You can level it while cutting wood. However it stops leveling at max level for that wood. (Example: Sanded Maple is currently level 1-14. If your Woodcutting is at level 14, it stops progressing from cutting Sanded Maple
- New Achievements have been added associated with Woodcutting


2.3 Clothing

It's not good, it really isn't. Some designes are just weird at best. I don't get it why the need to put Light and Medium Armor into same profession? Also it's kinda hard navigating through the UI to get to the Medium Armor when crafting.
I mean there are 15 items in this profession, which you can craft (Compared to only 6 at Woodworking station and 14 at Blacksmithing station, which is split into 7:7 between Apparel and Weapon category anyway. So my proposal is to just add a whole new profession for Medium Armor lovers.


2.3.1 Leatherworking

- Leatherworking Profession has been added
- Leatherworking Stations have been added
- Medium Armor apparel has been moved from Clothing to Leatherworking Station
- There are now new NPCs associated with this profession
- Crafting Writs are now associated with this profession

2.3.1.1 Skinning

Because every master Leatherworker needs to master the "art" of Skinning!
Seriously though, to me not including skinning as a profession right from the launch was a big surprise. I consider it even worse than mining where you get that "mining animation" out of nowhere, at least you get some animation!! What happens right now? You kill an animal, the said animal drops it's skin in your face? I mean come on, you can do better than that!!

- Skinning Profession has been added
- Skinning Trainers are now scattered around the Zones (at Hunting Grounds)
- You can skin animals as long as you have appropriate Skinning Dagger in your Inventory (You can buy it from any Skinning trainer)
- You can level it while skinning animals. It keeps leveling based on the level of the animals you are skinning (Example: If your Skinning level is 10, and you are skinning a level 9 animal, you won't be progressing it.)
- New Achievements have been added associated with Skinning

3. That's it! Share your thoughts!

I would like to say this didn't just come out of my head, it took me some time analyzing what all these changes would do to ESO. I've come to a conclusion that perhaps ESO really needs to expand it's profession system. Yes I know this would require some big overhaul of the existing system, but I've come to think it would be worth it in the end.

Big Thanks to everyone who spent their time reading through all of this. Let me know what you think!