This is the second of 2 articles discussing my thoughts on playing the crafting aspect of Diablo 3. I previously discussed stats on items, crafting and selling items based on what players will want at certain transition points in the game. http://www.diablo3artisans.com/ have a Barbarian build page, which also discusses the levels at which we will see these choke points. Whilst I have little information to go on I thought I would share what I have, and some assumptions I am making at this early stage of the game. Marcko had something to say on item crafting and wanted stats back in March.
Level 1 to 30 is going to be in Normal.
Desirable stats will be those that increase DPS (Strenght / Dexterity / Intelligence and +damage / Attack speed, Magic Find and Gold Find. Experience will always be a bonus to those wishing to level faster.
Weapons with high DPS will always be desirable, with those at the top 1-2% of the range accompanied by relevant stats selling for a premium.
Level 30 to 45 players will be venturing into Nightmare difficulty.
The same main stats will apply here for increasing DPS as will the desirability of high DPS weapons. What will likely change is the desirability of Vitality and Orb Health bonuses. I don't predict Nightmare as having much in the way of resistance based fights. This is mainly due to Resistances on gear affixes coming in at level 31, 38 and 45, making for a total of 3 possible affixes for each resistance, vs 10 for levels 45-60. If resistance only appears in Nightmare it can't be deamed nessescary for Nightmare (you would have to complete the game to gear for it...dosen't work.
Along with the desire for Vitality I would also expect to see self healing abilities on gear really rocket in value. Those High DPS weapons we saw in Normal sellling for a premium will now be worth considerably more with the Vampiric affix. 1 to 3% of damage done converted to life.
Level 45 to 60 players will be venturing into Hell difficulty.
This is where I expect to see more emphasis on resistances coming in, with a view to end game level 60s in Inferno. These are the levels where players will farm/craft/buy the gear that will keep them alive in the first runs though Inferno. If all you stack at this point is vitality the chances are you will feel very squishy, the 20-30% resitance and damage reduction items you were able to aquire in Nightmare now come into play, as you progress these go up to 60% by the time you are ready for inferno. I for see people having to carry a piece or each resistance either in bags or in the bank ready to equip when mobs known to do that kind of damage come into view. Beware the unwary adventurer that jumps into the fray with the fire breathing skelltons of the deeps (made this up!)without equipping his fire res piece (or whatever is the appropriate piece). It also prompts the question as to how the resistances will work. Can I get to 100%? Then again would I want to..as I would be gimped on everything else? If I have 100% fire res the mobs will still deal a mixture including physical? Are there Diminishing returns? I don;t see anything such as "unique equipped" preventing stacking the heck out of a resistance, but for the above reasons I can't imagine peopl wanting/needed more than one or 2 peices of each equipped at one time, given top end is 60%, so 2 pieces neting 120% reduction.
Level 60 Inferno End Game
Experience on a piece of gear at this level will be have become completely worthless, fortunately we won't see that after level 55 items. What this means is players seeking to replace all those pieces they bought from us previously that had it. Woot! The other thing we notice is a number of stats with multiple lvl 60+ item affixes. What this means for us as crafters will be a larger range of stats from which people will be choosing, Affixes exist for item levels 60, 61,62 and 63, which is likely to relate to mob levels. Bosses being level 63 will presumably be the only mobs capable of dropping the level 63 affixes, rare spawns 62, and trash mobs 61. There are also a number of level 70, these could be for Legendary items or possibly just place holders for future expansions? The other question is what will end game crafting entail?
My views on Crafting
WoW is a good example (feel free to argue) of a redundant end game crafting system. The cost to craft end game epics is such that only the very first few created are profitable, the only time I see these done are within guilds to improve the overall raid group performance. To buy Essence of Destruction and all the other mats required to craft a BoE Dragon Soul level epic costs more than all but a select few are willing to pay for the Item (End game raiding guilds pushing for server firsts are your liekly buyers with gold from guild banks). With multiple other items to fill the availible slots, and the price astronomical, they barely make the crafting cost on the open market, let alone a decent level of profit. If someone has money to burn gearing an alt that isn't raiding you might get a sale to help them bump their iLvl, but thats about it. The real money I see in WoW is in high turnover items...enchants/gems/consumables...where one can make a good 50 to 100% profit margin, vs making a Mekineers chopper or a curent raid tier belt for 16000 and selling it for 16500 on AH. In Diablo 3 the system is such that crafting materials will be consumed in massive numbers creating junk items, and this will set the price of the prefect items in the AH. I craft 100 pieces of armor costing 3000 gold each making the one perfect one cost 300000, so I'll sell it for 600000, and becuase it is the best one on the AH and there aren't 100 exactly the same going for 3000g each I'll hopefully make a profit.
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