Crafting in Diablo III will be considerably different than in Diablo II. Instead of relying on the transmutation ability of the Horadric Cube, Blizzard has introduced a caravan of Artisans that will do the crafting for you at the cost of gold and salvaged materials, which can be gained by dropping unwanted items into the salvage cube located in your inventory. Below is a summary of the Artisans and their respective purposes. For additional information, including plenty of screenshots and videos, you should check out the Artisan wiki link above along with the crafting page on the official site. If you still aren't satisfied with your knowledge of this new system, be sure to check out the Crafting Sanctuary panel on the DiabloFans YouTube page.
After you complete a quest line for each Artisan, they will follow you from town to town as you battle demons. Each Artisan will have its own unique wagon that will visually level up with the Artisan at the cost of gold. After an Artisan has reached its maximum level, you can continue to hone its abilities by choosing a specialization for the Artisan. In other words, an Artisan will not be 'maxed' until you have chosen and leveled up a specialization as well. However, even if you chose to specialize an Artisan they will not lose their ability to craft items outside of that specialization.
A very nice feature of the Artisans is that it makes it so that your character doesn't have to do any of the work. You simply walk up to an Artisan, queue up a few commands, and then you can pick up the crafted items at your convenience, which means you can go kill more monsters instead of watching a bar fill up as you hit an anvil. It should also be noted that the more powerful items available through crafting will drop off of monsters in the form of recipes, and the Artisan will have to meet a level requirement in order to learn the recipe. Most crafted items will have random properties, just like most drops in Diablo, but Enchantments and Gems will have set attributes.
The first artisan introduced was the Blacksmith. This Artisan takes on the duties of repairing and crafting weapons and armor for your character, but it should be noted that his specialty is non-magical items, so he won't be able to create magical staves or a Wizard's Orb. Probably the most interesting feature about the Blacksmith is his ability to socket items. He is able to add one socket to any item which can then contain a gem. As some of you may remember, sockets will play an important role in Diablo III as they can be found on any item. The only specializations mentioned for the Blacksmith were Axesmithing and Swordsmithing, although it can be inferred that he will be able to specialize in other weapons, such as Maces and Mauls, along with crafting Armor.
The Mystic was revealed at Blizzcon 2010 and has the ability to craft caster items such as magical staves and wands. It is unknown at this time if she will be able to create magical armors, but it would fit her archetype. Along with these more visual items, the Mystic will also be able to create charms and rune stones, and can also Enchant your weapons. We do not know if Enchantments will also apply to armors, but it is at least a strong possibility. No specializations have been mentioned for the Mystic, but it can be assumed that there will be some separation between her previously mentioned abilities.
The Jeweler is the Artisan for all things, well, jewelry related. He is able to craft rings, amulets and gems for the player. The Jeweler also plays an important role in the lengthy gem leveling process, as the player can only combine gems through the Jeweler. Gems in Diablo III have fourteen separate levels, but only the first five ever drop off of monsters, leading to a ridiculous amount of level five gems required in order to gain the maximum level. As such, leveling the Jeweler is the only way to gain a level fourteen gem. As with the Mystic, we do not know what the Jeweler's specializations will be, but there will most likely be differences between his crafting abilities.
Another very interesting part of the crafting system is the wagon of each Artisan. Judging by the leveling footage from the announcement video, which can be found on the official site link above, these wagons will be among the most interesting buildings in town. Although we only have seen glimpses of the early levels of the Mystic and Jeweler wagons, the maximum level Blacksmith wagon looks amazing, with a metallic theme and many impressive looking weapons and pieces of armor on display throughout the area. For a tantalizing look at the Artisan leveling process, you have to check out the announcement video, which you can find on our wiki or the official site.
In the end, Blizzard has made it clear that although the Artisan quests are part of the main storyline, leveling, and even paying attention to, the Artisans is completely optional. So now that you know all there is to know about this new crafting system, will you engage in crafting in Diablo III?
Last week's poll about set items led to a lot of great discussion about how the community thinks sets will, or should, work in Diablo III. The leading option was that sets should be left to the end-game, but craftable sets, along with sets that scale with your character, followed closely behind. Most people agreed that something has to be changed from the system in Diablo II. If you didn't get to vote in last weeks poll, or if you would like to engage in the ongoing discussion in that thread, feel free to click the link above and share your opinion.
I plan on crafting almost all of the items I can. I think that the expansion of crafting is one of the best things to happen with the Diablo series. Period.
I will do it at least once on one of my characters. If I dont find it fun I wont do it on the others. If I do well then HELLS YEAH BOYS!!! TIME TO GRIND
I think I'll max all my artisans on one character before I decide what I will do with artisans on any other characters.
As it stands I only know much of anything about the blacksmith so I'm kind of up in the air about what I will actually do once I get some info on the other artisans.
I think the first thing I'll do is find out (via websites as this one; hopefully there will be a good db site) what is craftable and what I can get out of it and decide then. My main concern about it is if it will actually be a fun endeavor, which is above all importance.
Excellent Article yet again. I am consistently surprised at the fine men and women producing such quality information and presentables on this site, even in such a news drought.
Oh, and I'll level them as I go and specialize them around my class.
I will be getting all my artisan to their fullest potential. I already somewhat know what the specialization will be for my jeweler. Emeralds galore, here I come!!
Excellent Article yet again. I am consistently surprised at the fine men and women producing such quality information and presentables on this site, even in such a news drought.
Why thank you. We try very hard. And yes, this news drought is killing us all
As far as the Artisans, I'm definitely leveling all of mine to the maxxxx. The moment I saw the fully leveled Blacksmith wagon I knew what I had to do
im sure there will be an awesome item upgrading method on each artisan at their final level and that two of my other friends will be reaching the max level on one each. One maxed per person (unless there are upgrades that only you can purchase from your max level vendor).
A very nice feature of the Artisans is that it makes it so that your character doesn't have to do any of the work. You simply walk up to an Artisan, queue up a few commands, and then you can pick up the crafted items at your convenience, which means you can go kill more monsters instead of watching a bar fill up as you hit an anvil.
Please stop regurgitating this crap. Not only is it completely inaccurate, it's not even applicable to the Diablo franchise, where crafting has never been about "watching a bar fill up as you hit an anvil." I can only assume that's how it is in WoW; it's not comparable to Diablo.
Crafting in Diablo 3 will be more arduous than it ever was in Diablo 2. "Artisans is that it makes it so that your character doesn't have to do any of the work." Wrong. Your character has to to all of the work. It's got to salvage the items, collect and track the materials, find the recipe, level up the artisan, and pay the gold. Everything you had to do to craft in Diablo 2, and then some!
I'm not saying that the Artisans are bad, only that it's inaccurate to think that they do anything that the player would have to do otherwise. They should just take on some more responsibility for tasks associated with crafting. For example, as it stands, players break down items items and keeps all the resulting materials on hand. Isn't that what a blacksmith does? If there is a blacksmith available, why is it the player's responsibility? It's stupid. Instead, the blacksmith should automatically salvage anything you sell to the Artisans and keep track of the materials. The only reason, thematically, that the blacksmith would even pay for items in the first place is to use their raw materials to forge new items. With that simple change, you go from players having to consciously perform tasks specifically for crafting to having crafting available to them as a natural consequence of playing the game.
Spoiler Alert: you'll find that leveling your Artisans will be a bit more integral to character development than you may realize.
I will definitely upgrade my artisans to max if it means that whatever weapon group I choose to use will be viable. If not, well, then only if I happen to be able to; I won't go out of my way for it.
A very nice feature of the Artisans is that it makes it so that your character doesn't have to do any of the work. You simply walk up to an Artisan, queue up a few commands, and then you can pick up the crafted items at your convenience, which means you can go kill more monsters instead of watching a bar fill up as you hit an anvil.
Please stop regurgitating this crap. Not only is it completely inaccurate, it's not even applicable to the Diablo franchise, where crafting has never been about "watching a bar fill up as you hit an anvil." I can only assume that's how it is in WoW; it's not comparable to Diablo.
Crafting in Diablo 3 will be more arduous than it ever was in Diablo 2. "Artisans is that it makes it so that your character doesn't have to do any of the work." Wrong. Your character has to to all of the work. It's got to salvage the items, collect and track the materials, find the recipe, level up the artisan, and pay the gold. Everything you had to do to craft in Diablo 2, and then some!
I'm not saying that the Artisans are bad, only that it's inaccurate to think that they do anything that the player would have to do otherwise. They should just take on some more responsibility for tasks associated with crafting. For example, as it stands, players break down items items and keeps all the resulting materials on hand. Isn't that what a blacksmith does? If there is a blacksmith available, why is it the player's responsibility? It's stupid. Instead, the blacksmith should automatically salvage anything you sell to the Artisans and keep track of the materials. The only reason, thematically, that the blacksmith would even pay for items in the first place is to use their raw materials to forge new items. With that simple change, you go from players having to consciously perform tasks specifically for crafting to having crafting available to them as a natural consequence of playing the game.
Spoiler Alert: you'll find that leveling your Artisans will be a bit more integral to character development than you may realize.
This is all speculation. You don't know what it's going to be like. You haven't played the game yet.
"We didn't want the player to spend a ton of time banging on an anvil, when they should be out killin' things. So instead, artisans will do the crafting for you." The info in the article clearly reflects what was said in 2010:
Please stop regurgitating this crap. Not only is it completely inaccurate, it's not even applicable to the Diablo franchise, where crafting has never been about "watching a bar fill up as you hit an anvil." I can only assume that's how it is in WoW; it's not comparable to Diablo.
Crafting in Diablo has also never been all that fleshed out. Sure, there was the Horadric cube and runewords, but really that doesn't feel like "crafting." Most actual crafting systems involve your character having to sit in a certain area, so thats where the comparison comes from.
Crafting in Diablo 3 will be more arduous than it ever was in Diablo 2. "Artisans is that it makes it so that your character doesn't have to do any of the work." Wrong. Your character has to to all of the work. It's got to salvage the items, collect and track the materials, find the recipe, level up the artisan, and pay the gold. Everything you had to do to craft in Diablo 2, and then some!
I honestly doubt that anything will be as hard to find as runes were in D2 (if duping didn't exist). Not to mention that salvaging items involves all the "work" of dropping something you don't want or can't use into a salvage cube. And materials don't take up inventory space. All you have to do is basically a few extra clicks in your normal stop in town. After all, you'll have to visit the Blacksmith to repair anyways.
For example, as it stands, players break down items items and keeps all the resulting materials on hand. Isn't that what a blacksmith does? If there is a blacksmith available, why is it the player's responsibility? It's stupid. Instead, the blacksmith should automatically salvage anything you sell to the Artisans and keep track of the materials. The only reason, thematically, that the blacksmith would even pay for items in the first place is to use their raw materials to forge new items. With that simple change, you go from players having to consciously perform tasks specifically for crafting to having crafting available to them as a natural consequence of playing the game.
Well for one that would make it so that you could get gold and materials out of one item, which would kind of defeat the purpose of the desicion to salvage or not. Also, a large reason for allowing the player to salvage is so that you can free up inventory space outside of town.
I plan on crafting almost all of the items I can. I think that the expansion of crafting is one of the best things to happen with the Diablo series. Period.
Agreed. With the shared stash, why wouldn't you want to craft items!?! Especially for different character builds.
"We didn't want the player to spend a ton of time banging on an anvil, when they should be out killin' things. So instead, artisans will do the crafting for you." The info in the article clearly reflects what was said in 2010:
I'm aware of where it comes from; it doesn't change the fact that the description is inaccurate and doesn't apply to the Diablo series. When Jay says, "We didn't want the player to spend a ton of time banging on an anvil", he's only saying that they didn't make the Dialbo 3 crafting system like WoW. I suppose it's a good thing, ya know, to realize that an ARPG is not a MMORPG.
The point is that the Artisans do not do the crafting for you. Here's all the tasks related to crafting in Diablo 3 (keyword being tasks):
1) Salvaging items
2) Collecting and storing raw materials
3) Finding recipes
4) Collecting gold
5) Transmuting raw materials
Players salvage items; players collect and store the raw materials; players find the recipes; players collect the gold; players transmute raw materials (for clarity, they go to the Artisan, they chose the recipe, they press the button). The blacksmith doesn't actually do (i.e. "perform a task") anything to craft.
Not to mention that salvaging items involves all the "work" of dropping something you don't want or can't use into a salvage cube. And materials don't take up inventory space. All you have to do is basically a few extra clicks in your normal stop in town. After all, you'll have to visit the Blacksmith to repair anyways.
At Blizzcon, Jay also talked about how they wanted to improve the crafting system of Diablo 2. So to improve the system from Diablo 2, they added a dedicated NPC to do the crafting, and yet somehow it's more involved than it was before? That doesn't make any sense.
Well for one that would make it so that you could get gold and materials out of one item, which would kind of defeat the purpose of the desicion to salvage or not. Also, a large reason for allowing the player to salvage is so that you can free up inventory space outside of town.
Correct; easily made equivalent by increasing the price of using the materials. Jay Wilson has already stated that salvage is designed for items not worth selling in the first place. Nevertheless, the choice between salvaging an item and selling it isn't necessary to make the game better. Without salvage, it's basically equivalent to the choice between selling the item and just dropping it. Players already have enough options for items: discard, sell, equip, save for later, transfer to another character, or trade. Salvaging is just one more option that really doesn't add a lot of value.
Finally, the game is about killing demons, right? That's pretty much the point that justifies the Artisan and salvaging system. The more focus placed on having players make decisions over all the items that are constantly dropping, the less focus that's placed on killing demons.
The point is that the Artisans do not do the crafting for you. Here's all the tasks related to crafting in Diablo 3 (keyword being tasks):
1) Salvaging items
2) Collecting and storing raw materials
Which involves choosing between salvaging and selling an item, and I guess putting it in your stash. Theres even designated inventory slots for materials.
3) Finding recipes
Which will be (presumably) easier than finding runes in D2.
4) Collecting gold
Which you would do anyways, and to have a good gold economy you need gold sinks
5) Transmuting raw materials
What? If you mean bringing them to the Artisan then thats not hard. Otherwise I don't know what you're talking about.
Players salvage items; players collect and store the raw materials; players find the recipes; players collect the gold; players transmute raw materials (for clarity, they go to the Artisan, they chose the recipe, they press the button). The blacksmith doesn't actually do (i.e. "perform a task") anything to craft.
In pretty much any game with a real crafting system (aka not D2, lets be real), the worst part of it is collecting materials and crafting (obviously). In D3, you collect salvage by simply dropping an item into a box right next to your inventory, which is easy, and the crafting part (as in the part that actually takes time as the item is made) is done by the Artisan. As in, if you want to make an item and it takes 30 seconds to make after you bring all the materials to the crafting area you don't actually have to sit there for those 30 seconds. So sure, compared to D2's not-actually-crafting crafting system you might end up having to spend more time/gold. But the only hard part of D3's system is probably going to be finding recipes and coming up with the gold. The first one will be (again) easier than finding runes, and the second is neccessary (along with other gold sinks) to have gold actually be useful.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Diablo III will be considerably different than in 
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011As it stands I only know much of anything about the blacksmith so I'm kind of up in the air about what I will actually do once I get some info on the other artisans.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011I feel you man, in Diablo 3 I will definitely be an achievement whore. So maxing all 3 artisans will be one of my many goals in the game!
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011I think the first thing I'll do is find out (via websites as this one; hopefully there will be a good db site) what is craftable and what I can get out of it and decide then. My main concern about it is if it will actually be a fun endeavor, which is above all importance.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011Oh, and I'll level them as I go and specialize them around my class.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011As far as the Artisans, I'm definitely leveling all of mine to the maxxxx. The moment I saw the fully leveled Blacksmith wagon I knew what I had to do
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011Please stop regurgitating this crap. Not only is it completely inaccurate, it's not even applicable to the Diablo franchise, where crafting has never been about "watching a bar fill up as you hit an anvil." I can only assume that's how it is in WoW; it's not comparable to Diablo.
Crafting in Diablo 3 will be more arduous than it ever was in Diablo 2. "Artisans is that it makes it so that your character doesn't have to do any of the work." Wrong. Your character has to to all of the work. It's got to salvage the items, collect and track the materials, find the recipe, level up the artisan, and pay the gold. Everything you had to do to craft in Diablo 2, and then some!
I'm not saying that the Artisans are bad, only that it's inaccurate to think that they do anything that the player would have to do otherwise. They should just take on some more responsibility for tasks associated with crafting. For example, as it stands, players break down items items and keeps all the resulting materials on hand. Isn't that what a blacksmith does? If there is a blacksmith available, why is it the player's responsibility? It's stupid. Instead, the blacksmith should automatically salvage anything you sell to the Artisans and keep track of the materials. The only reason, thematically, that the blacksmith would even pay for items in the first place is to use their raw materials to forge new items. With that simple change, you go from players having to consciously perform tasks specifically for crafting to having crafting available to them as a natural consequence of playing the game.
Spoiler Alert: you'll find that leveling your Artisans will be a bit more integral to character development than you may realize.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011This is all speculation. You don't know what it's going to be like. You haven't played the game yet.
"We didn't want the player to spend a ton of time banging on an anvil, when they should be out killin' things. So instead, artisans will do the crafting for you." The info in the article clearly reflects what was said in 2010:
Yes it's more in-depth than D2 or D1, and that's a GREAT thing. Crafting was almost void in both games.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011I honestly doubt that anything will be as hard to find as runes were in D2 (if duping didn't exist). Not to mention that salvaging items involves all the "work" of dropping something you don't want or can't use into a salvage cube. And materials don't take up inventory space. All you have to do is basically a few extra clicks in your normal stop in town. After all, you'll have to visit the Blacksmith to repair anyways.
Well for one that would make it so that you could get gold and materials out of one item, which would kind of defeat the purpose of the desicion to salvage or not. Also, a large reason for allowing the player to salvage is so that you can free up inventory space outside of town.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011I'm aware of where it comes from; it doesn't change the fact that the description is inaccurate and doesn't apply to the Diablo series. When Jay says, "We didn't want the player to spend a ton of time banging on an anvil", he's only saying that they didn't make the Dialbo 3 crafting system like WoW. I suppose it's a good thing, ya know, to realize that an ARPG is not a MMORPG.
The point is that the Artisans do not do the crafting for you. Here's all the tasks related to crafting in Diablo 3 (keyword being tasks):
1) Salvaging items
2) Collecting and storing raw materials
3) Finding recipes
4) Collecting gold
5) Transmuting raw materials
Players salvage items; players collect and store the raw materials; players find the recipes; players collect the gold; players transmute raw materials (for clarity, they go to the Artisan, they chose the recipe, they press the button). The blacksmith doesn't actually do (i.e. "perform a task") anything to craft.
At Blizzcon, Jay also talked about how they wanted to improve the crafting system of Diablo 2. So to improve the system from Diablo 2, they added a dedicated NPC to do the crafting, and yet somehow it's more involved than it was before? That doesn't make any sense.
Correct; easily made equivalent by increasing the price of using the materials. Jay Wilson has already stated that salvage is designed for items not worth selling in the first place. Nevertheless, the choice between salvaging an item and selling it isn't necessary to make the game better. Without salvage, it's basically equivalent to the choice between selling the item and just dropping it. Players already have enough options for items: discard, sell, equip, save for later, transfer to another character, or trade. Salvaging is just one more option that really doesn't add a lot of value.
Finally, the game is about killing demons, right? That's pretty much the point that justifies the Artisan and salvaging system. The more focus placed on having players make decisions over all the items that are constantly dropping, the less focus that's placed on killing demons.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Apr 5, 2011Which involves choosing between salvaging and selling an item, and I guess putting it in your stash. Theres even designated inventory slots for materials.
Which will be (presumably) easier than finding runes in D2.
Which you would do anyways, and to have a good gold economy you need gold sinks
What? If you mean bringing them to the Artisan then thats not hard. Otherwise I don't know what you're talking about.
In pretty much any game with a real crafting system (aka not D2, lets be real), the worst part of it is collecting materials and crafting (obviously). In D3, you collect salvage by simply dropping an item into a box right next to your inventory, which is easy, and the crafting part (as in the part that actually takes time as the item is made) is done by the Artisan. As in, if you want to make an item and it takes 30 seconds to make after you bring all the materials to the crafting area you don't actually have to sit there for those 30 seconds. So sure, compared to D2's not-actually-crafting crafting system you might end up having to spend more time/gold. But the only hard part of D3's system is probably going to be finding recipes and coming up with the gold. The first one will be (again) easier than finding runes, and the second is neccessary (along with other gold sinks) to have gold actually be useful.