Jewelcraft coming

[Xanthippe]

This will come with the Burning Legion expansion.  Sockets! and stuff.  There's also a cool little socketing demo thingie on the second page.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/jewelcrafting.html

Jewelcrafters learn the art of creating beautiful jewelry and trinkets from metals and rare gems. By processing the raw ore mined from the various deposits and mineral veins, jewelcrafters can extract gems from the ore which they can then use for their craft. Although miners sometimes find gems while gathering ore, jewelcrafters mostly rely on their prospecting skills to get more of the precious stones.

Jewelcrafters work with gems in many different ways. If a jewelcrafter uses gems to create jewelry, he usually only needs the raw, uncut stones for his work. These rings, amulets, and trinkets function just like those that can already be found in the game, with a few notable exceptions. For example, jewelcrafters can learn to create gemmed figurines that they can carry in their trinket slots. While these figurines all provide passive benefits, they can also be used to provide the player with a short buff – just enough to give you that little damage boost or maybe that quick burst of extra healing power you may need in a tricky situation. These figurines will bind when picked up, so only jewelcrafters will be able to use their powers.

Another way jewelcrafters can use gems is by cutting them, preparing them to be used in socketed items. Gems come in many different colors and shapes. Different types of gems have different basic properties, and a gem's cut also determines the effect this gem will have. Jewelcrafters can learn several types of cuts for each kind of gem: the Azure Moonstone, for example, can be cut into a lustrous, stormy, solid, or sparkling Azure Moonstone, and each one of these cuts offers different bonuses when used in a socketable item. Placing cut gems into an item's sockets will add the bonuses of these gems to those of the item, allowing players to customize their equipment to better suit their individual play style or the different roles their class can fulfill.

At higher levels, socketed items and specially cut gems become an important part of an adventurer's "bag of tricks". Both armor and weapons can have sockets. Some socketed items can be found in dungeons, but the expansion will also introduce a lot of new recipes for all the professions, including many recipes that let leatherworkers, blacksmiths, and tailors create socketed items. Socketed items can be of uncommon, rare, or even epic quality. An item's sockets can also have a specific color; if you put a gem of a matching color in each socket, the item will reward you with a special stat bonus beyond the gems' regular effects. However, you can also put gems of a different color in these slots if you would rather have a specific gem's effect instead of the added bonus.

[Merusk]

I saw this preview when they posted it last week, and it looks spiffy.  It's more similar to the EQ LDON-socketed item system than the Diablo one, IMO, but uses colors instead of "Slot x" so it's more intuitive.   

Being able to mix and match to tweak items without overpowering them is great, as is being able to replace old gems with new upgrades as you find them.

The one thing the preview doesn't make clearis if Gem Prospecting is a new gathering skill, or if it's part of Jewelcrafting the way Disenchanting is part of Enchanting.  If it's part of Jewelcrafting; I wonder if you process ore to get gems, or if we'll be seeing new nodes (Or simply competing with miners for the same nodes.)

[Rhonstet]

At higher levels, socketed items and specially cut gems become an important part of an adventurer's "bag of tricks". Both armor and weapons can have sockets. Some socketed items can be found in dungeons, but the expansion will also introduce a lot of new recipes for all the professions, including many recipes that let leatherworkers, blacksmiths, and tailors create socketed items.

Awesome.  The crafter classes have needed more variety in their creations for ages.  Allowing the older crafters to create the item, then letting the newer jewlers set the special properties with gems or whatnot, might give crafters a broader focus and shift some emphasis away from hunting the uber drops.

[pxib]

...might give crafters a broader focus and shift some emphasis away from hunting the uber drops.

Nah, it'll just be an excuse to make more uber drops. Socketed crafter items will still be wildly inferior to socketed raid drops. Sorry tailors, leatherworkers, and blacksmiths... jewelcrafting, like enchanting, will not make your items sell.

[Chenghiz]

It'd be nice if they made like AoC and just made raid drops non-socketed.

[Xanthippe]

Question - does anyone know whether the mats for jewelcraft will come from mining or drops or both or what?

[Merusk]

Question - does anyone know whether the mats for jewelcraft will come from mining or drops or both or what?

The one thing the preview doesn't make clearis if Gem Prospecting is a new gathering skill, or if it's part of Jewelcrafting the way Disenchanting is part of Enchanting.  If it's part of Jewelcrafting; I wonder if you process ore to get gems, or if we'll be seeing new nodes (Or simply competing with miners for the same nodes.)

Rereading the preview just now it seems to indicate you'll be competing with miners  for nodes (or buying ore), and "processing" that ore the same way Enchanters DE stuff for mats.

By processing the raw ore mined from the various deposits and mineral veins, jewelcrafters can extract gems from the ore which they can then use for their craft. Although miners sometimes find gems while gathering ore, jewelcrafters mostly rely on their prospecting skills to get more of the precious stones.

I was kind of hoping for a new gathering skill or new nodes.  Competition for Thorium and Mithril nodes is already harsh due to smithing's insane requirements. (Eng. is easily doable with just a few shots on a few nodes) Adding another profession is going to really shoot those prices up.

[SurfD]

Interesting, i am planning on leveling a jewler bot once expantion hits, so i should probably stock up on raw ore in addition to the one alt i have who is already almost full of assorted gems