As part of our massive preview of Neverwinter’s “Heart of Fire” update, we’ll be going over the new Workshop system in this piece. The rework of the old Professions is a massive thing and we’ll definitely have more advanced tips and info in the future. But to start off, let’s just go over the basics of the system. How will recipes work in Module 15? Where do resources come from? What do you still need, what can you discard? So many stuff, let’s get going!

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Workshop and Recipe Structure

Before we touch on the many changes of the new Workshop system, I’d like to mention the aspects that are still very similar and will look familiar. There is an extensive intro quest line by the way that will walk you through the system. The game is actually doing a decent job of porting its players over. That shouldn’t go unnoticed.

The Professions UI has slightly changed, but ultimately you will still browse between different professions that have different recipes.

Those recipes require exactly one Craftsman (now called Artisans) and one Tool to complete. You can’t slot multiple ones like in the old system.

The devs merged some professions were it made sense. Mailsmithing and Platesmithing have been combined to Armorsmithing for example.

Leadership is no longer and will be replaced with a new “Gathering” profession that holds all recipes that produce raw materials for all the other Professions.

You can still rush recipes for ADs, but the structure slightly changed. A certain amount per day is free, and you have to pay for more.

Professions now have 70 levels and no longer 25. Professions at level 25 will automatically turn to level 70. Also players with any Profession level 25 will get Gathering level 70 for free.

Most of the Leadership stuff will move to Jewelcrafting (RP crafting etc.).

As you can see the general structure of getting some sort of resources and turn them into a product is still intact. But pretty much everything else has changed. First of all, the raw percentage system that determined the quality of the result has been reworked into Proficiency and Focus. All Artisans and Tools feature those two stats and the addition of them against the requirements of a recipe will lead to a success percentage (Proficiency) and a chance to get a high-quality version of the reward (Focus). In the picture on the left you see a Masterwork product that has a 56% chance to get crafted and a 0% of a high-quality result. It’s basically just a slight rework of the old percentage system. So it shouldn’t be too hard to get familiar to it.

What you’ll also notice is that all recipes will cost Gold, the so-called “Commission”. It makes the otherwise useless resource an integral and very important part of the system.

Artisans

Since Artisans now feature stats, they obviously take a more prominent role in the Workshop system. You can only have 32 at any time and besides Proficiency and Focus all of them have special skills that give bonuses in certain areas. Artisans just like the Professions level as you complete recipes with them and advance their stats. There are common, rare, and epics and higher quality ones feature more stats and better bonuses. The difference is noticeable. So long-term you will be looking to fill out your 32 slots with epic ones that ideally also have the right “Special Skill” for your needs.

Artisans unlike old Craftsmen can no longer be traded or bought from the Auction House. You recruit them at your Workshop desk. Players will randomly get applications from Artisans that they can accept or reject (happy RNG!). We’ll go over which ones you’ll be looking for in a future article, but for now just know that Craftsmen are no longer items that you can specifically buy or trade. There will however be a ZEN item that will create applications out of thin air.

New Assets vs. Old Assets

Most Professions feature new assets, but players do not have to start from scratch. All the stuff that’s outdated can be converted into new toys. So you do not have to get rid of anything if you don’t want to. On the contrary, it might make sense to stock up on profession items to get a head start in the new system. We’ll cover the exchange system and process in a future article. The same by the way applies to resources. Many old ones will no longer be used, but you can trade them in or sell them for Gold, which as mentioned will be a fairly important resource for completing recipes.

High-Quality Items and Batch Completions

So now you have leveled your Profession, recruited some Artisans and exchanged Tools. I’ve already mentioned high-quality or “+1” results above. Those exist for every recipe and range from extra stats for gear to more refining points on “Black Opals +1”. For lower level recipes it’s relatively easy to always get enough Focus for the high-quality result. It’s not quite the same for some of the higher level stuff.

One major improvement of the system is the ability to batch order products. You can just let your Artisans complete tasks as long as they have the resources or Gold to do so, and your so-called “Delivery Box” isn’t full. All products from Professions now land in a new special inventory that you have to empty regularly to be able to continue with the crafting. Both the available slots for the tasks and in the Delivery Box depend on your Workshop level. Yes, you can not only level your Professions and Artisans, but also the Workshop itself. Upgrading means delivering certain resources and trading in a massive amount of crafted items to a new “commission vendor“. Getting all the way to level 4 is a major commitment and probably only worth for your main character(s).

I personally like the Delivery Box approach. You can set up your tasks over night for example and then collect what your Artisans produced in the morning. Players have been asking for batch completions for-effing-ever and we’re finally there! That’s major!

Masterworks

On last thing most players will probably inquire about: Masterwork recipes have fully been ported over to the new system. The recipes and all resources are unchanged, but obviously do no longer have a Tier 2 and Tier 3 result, but just a high-quality one. The devs promised that all gear from Masterwork will receive an item level bump. This is not entirely finished on preview, but I think MW1 sets are supposed to be 520, MW2 560 and MW3 600. That’s gear sets and rings, Artifact stuff is not likely getting a boost as well.

Overall I think leveling Masterworks will get a tad easier with the new system, but no guarantees. Going with my gut feeling here. But you don’t have to fear that your investment into Masterworks is going to vanish in Module 15. If anything, it’ll be quite the opposite. Even the most basic Masterwork Tools for example come with nice Proficiency and Focus values!

Conclusion

Phew, I’m sure that’s a lot to digest for now. The good news is: The core functionality of getting resources and turning them into a product using Artisans and Tools stays the same and comes with some nice quality of life improvements. The UI has useful gimmicks like a search and filter function and players are going to love the Delivery Box and its batch completion system. On the other hand it’s probably going to take a while to figure out Proficiency and Focus and what combination of Artisans and Tools work best. We’ll make sure to give you guys a more in-depth look into that during the next weeks. So stay tuned!

This is our basic introduction into the new Workshop system! Do you like what you read? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit our message board!

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