The following will provide what is currently implemented for artisan crafting with the Blacksmith in Diablo III Beta:
Crafting materials in Normal:
- Common Scrap – Disenchanted from common items. Chance to drop as mob loot
- Subtle Essence – Disenchanted from Magical items. Small chance from Common items.
- Rare Tooth – Disenchanted from Rare items. Small chance from Magical items.
- Petrified Bark – Disenchanted from Legendary items. Small chance from Rare items
Items can be disenchanted using the Nephalem Cube which is unlocked in Act I as part of a quest.
The Blacksmith artisan is unlocked from a chain quest in Act I. He will allow you to repair the durability on your equipment, which erodes with use, at the cost of gold.
He also is able to craft weapons and armor. Each player’s account shares the Blacksmith’s crafting recipes and levels. Your Blacksmith’s recipes and levels is kept separate from other players’ Blacksmiths.
The Blacksmith is able to obtain more crafting recipes in the following ways:
- Item ‘Page of Training’ has a chance to drop as loot. 5x ‘Page of Training’ can combine in to a 1x ‘Tome of Training’. A Tome of Training is one ingredient required to have an artisan obtain more crafting recipes. The ‘Tome of Training’ can be used on any one of the three artisans: Blacksmith, Jeweler, Mystic.
- Random recipes will drop as loot.
The Blacksmith is able to craft items using a combination of crafting materials and gold. The Blacksmith must have learned the recipe in order to craft the item. Based on the information available at the Diablo III Community Site there will be crafting items and crafting materials available for each level of difficulty. Some Legendary and Set items will even be crafted through the Blacksmith. It is unknown whether these craftable high tier items are only obtained through crafting or if they can also be dropped as loot.
Personal Analysis:
In general, the Artisan Crafting system seems like it will take a great deal of time and commitment to level up. A dedicated guild will designate a single account to handle one or more of their Artisan crafting responsibilities to filter Page/Tomes of Training and crafting materials to the higher leveled artisan. A solo player will find that it will take many, many, many (x3 or more!) times longer to skill up their own artisan for personal use.
Given the amount of time and dedication it would take for a single player to craft their own set and legendary armor, it is feasible that a dedicated and organized crafting guild can make excellent money by being the initial provider of top tier crafted gear. A crafted guild could feasibly weigh guild participation based on the amount and quality of crafted materials and tomes a player provides to their designated artisan accounts. Points can be traded for set pieces while extra materials go towards the guild coffers.
Note: This content is from experience playing the Beta release of Diablo III. Actual implementation is subject to change before and after full release.
