Battle for Azeroth has lots of new crafted items, but doesn’t overhaul the system

I’ll be honest, after Legion I have a hard time getting excited for crafted items in WoW. The expansion killed my interest in crafting to the point where I don’t think I bothered to get any of my characters to max level with a single profession. Not even my long-term blacksmith, who has always hit max level in every single expansion and even crafted the epic 2-handed axe  in Warlords of Draenor.

I’m hopeful that Battle for Azeroth can arrest the decline of professions, and so let’s take a look at a few datamined items that we’ll be able to craft in the upcoming expansion. With First Aid a memory, what’s in store for the other professions? Thankfully, Wowhead has once again datamined a bunch of stuff, and with the usual caveats about it being datamined and subject to change, we can take a look at a few things.

For starters, various professions are getting recipes to craft Champion Equipment, so if you like the follower minigame from Warlords and Legion, you’ll have a new option for improving them. As an example, blacksmiths can craft the Magnetic Mining Pick and Platinum Whetstone, Alchemists can craft the Potion of Herb Tracking, and Tailors can create the Rough-hooked Tidespray Linen. Even Inscription gets in on it. I have to say I won’t miss having to pick a specific Order Hall choice to spend Resources just to get equipment — getting to make your own based on your professions seems like a better alternative to me and it makes the professions more useful. The equipment is bind on pickup, so you can’t just make a wave of alts grind this stuff out for your main.

Similarly, the wrist slot enchants coming with Battle for Azeroth are now enchanter-only, which I don’t like as a change. Enchanting isn’t Inscription levels of Why? yet, but a change like this won’t help it.

I am excited for crafted PVP weapons and armor, some of which have been datamined. So far the Honorable Combatant gear seems reasonable, considering the item squash of the expansion — it won’t be your endgame gear, but will be useful for a while. I’m not as excited to see the return of the Legion blacksmithing tiers where you learn how to make X item for less materials — I get why it exists, but it feels tedious and takes away what should be a cool moment of learning a new thing. I’ll try and give it a chance, but it basically made me stop leveling in Legion so I was hoping it would be removed in Battle for Azeroth.

There are also some new Battle Potions alchemists can craft, with one for each primary stat — each adds 900 in Agility, Strength, or Intellect and 1100 in Stamina for 25 seconds. I’m a sucker for boost potions like these, so I’m excited to see their return even if it was practically a given that we’d get something like this.

There are also other neat things to look at, like tailoring-specific cloak enchants and a Great Sea Ray mount you can gain through fishing, so head over to Wowhead and take a look at what’s out there. Does this excite you for crafting, or are you still a little burned after Legion and waiting to see how it all shakes out?