In Diablo 3, the artisan system in its current state is too expensive to be useful. The blacksmith and jewel crafter both suck up too much of a player’s precious gold to be utilized to their full potential. Blizzard has realized this, and has set up several great changes to arrive in the next big patch. Both artisans will be much more useful for players of all levels.
The blacksmith is currently incredibly useless. It costs players an arm and a leg to level him up to the point where he can create useful items, and then it costs too much to make each item, which only has a random chance to be useful to your class. The rare items the blacksmith create have 4 random properties on them, and may or may not be useful to your class (or any other class for that matter). For a random chance at items, the price to craft them is much too high currently. Blizzard is changing the blacksmith in two major ways. Firstly, leveling him up will cost less gold total. This will help entice players to level the blacksmith as they are leveling. Players who are already at the endgame stage should be able to level up the blacksmith with little effort. The second big change involves making the items he crafts cost less. These two chances combine to make the blacksmith a viable source of gear for players.
The Jewel crafter is also in need of some work. Currently he costs too much to level as well as too much to combine gems. In the new patch, Blizzard plans to lower the cost of leveling him, as well as lower the cost and amount of gems necessary to get the next level gem. This will make leveling up gems through the jewel crafter a real possibility. As he stands right now, most players do not bother upgrading chipped, flawed, or etc. gems because it’s simply not worth the high cost.
Blizzard plans to use these changes to make the artisan system in Diablo 3 much more viable. This is great news, because players are really seeking these changes.
