Engineering

October 1st, 2006 by Alice

What is an Engineer?
How do I become an Engineer?
How do I get the supplies I need?
What can I create?
Aren’t there two different types of Engineers?
Why are engineering items “Engineer” only?
Is there anything else I should know about Engineering?
Can I make money from Engineering?
Can I unlearn Engineering?
To recap on the Engineering basics
Further Engineering Reading & Resources
Patch Changes to Engineering

What is an Engineer?

Engineers can make ammunition, explosives, armour and contraptions that will help him and his party. If you want to make quick money from your Professions Engineering isn’t the one for you. However, higher level items created with Engineering are very useful in both PvE and PvP and as it’s quite time consuming to collect the components to create the items you may be able to sell the finished products to Engineers with less patience than yourself. Only Engineers can use most of the items created with Engineering so your market will be limited to those in the profession.

Engineering is a Primary Production Profession and therefore counts towards your 2 primary profession limit.

How do I become an Engineer?

You need to locate an Engineering Trainer who will train you as an Apprentice Engineer. Both Trainers and Suppliers {of components} can be found in the following locations:

Trainer Rank	Horde	Alliance	Neutral
Journeyman Trains you to Apprentice	Mukdrak, 26, Razor Hill, Durotar Twizwick Sprocketgrind, 25, Mulgore Thund, 23, Valley of Honor, Orgrimmar Graham Van Talen, 26, Rogues’ Quarter, Undercity	Bronk Guzzlegear, 24,Kharanso, Dun Morogh Jemma Quikswitch, 24, Tinker Town, Ironforge Deek Fizzlebizz, 27, Loch Modan Sprite Jumpsprocket, 24, Dwarven District, Stormwind	Tinkerwiz, 25, Ratchet, Barrens
Expert Trains you to Journeyman	Nogg, 35, Valley of Honor, Orgrimmar Franklin Lloyd, 33, Rogues’ Quarter, Undercity	Finbus Geargrind, 31, Darkshire, Duskwood Trixie Quikswitch, 31, Tinker Town, Ironforge Lilliam Sparkspindle, 35, Dwarven District, Stormwind
Artisan Trains you to Expert	Roxxik, 46, Valley of Honor, Orgrimmar	Springspindle Fizzlegear, 45, Tinker Town, Ironforge
Master Trains you to Artisan		Tinkmaster Overspark, 57, Tinker Town, Ironforge Master Mechanic Castpipe, 57, Tinker Town, Ironforge	Vazario Linkgrease, 40, Master Goblin Eng., Ratchet, Barrens Scooty, 30, Master Eng., Booty Bay, Stranglethorn Oglethorpe Obnoticus, 50, Master Gnome Eng., Booty Bay, Stranglethorn Buzzek Bracketswing, 55, Master Eng., Gadgetzan, Tanaris Nixx Sprocketspring, 55, Master Goblin Eng., Gadgetzan, Tanaris
Supplies Sells you stoof	Sovik, 30, Valley of Honor, Orgrimmar Knaz Blunderflame, 42, Ziatajai Ruins, Stranglethorn Jinky Twizzlefixxit, 30, Mirage Raceway, Thousand Needles Elizabeth Van Talen, 30, Rogues’ Quarter, Undercity	Jubie Gadgetspring, 55, Azshara Loslor Rudge, 10, Kharanos, Dun Morogh Herble Baubbletump, 30, Darkshire, Duskwood Gearcutter Cogspinner, 30, Tinker Town, Ironforge Billibub Cogspinner, 30, Dwarven District, Stormwind Neil Allen, 20, Menethil Harbor, Wetlands Xizzer Fizzbolt, 57, Everlook, Winterspring	Rizz Loosebolt, 31, Alterac Mountains Gagsprocket, 20, Ratchet, Barrens Namdo Bizzfizzle, 24, Gnomeregan, Dun Morogh Tink Sprocketwhistle, 24,Gnomeregan, Dun Morogh Zan Shivsprocket, 60, The Manor, Ravenholdt, Hillsbrad Foothills Mazk Snipeshot, 36, Booty Bay, Strangethorn Fradd Swiftgear, 24, Sundown Marsh, Wetlands
You will receive a 10% discount if you train in a city where you are honoured.

Once found you simply request to be trained at which time you’ll be given a few schematics to start you on your way.

You can train to four levels of proficiency and each has certain prerequisites that you need to meet before you are able to progress to the next rank of proficiency. You need to be character level five or above to begin your training as an Engineer.

To Train to rank of:	Cost	Required		Create items from/to skill level
To Train to rank of:	Cost	Char Lvl	Prof Skill Lvl	Create items from/to skill level
Apprentice	10c	5	-	75
Journeyman	5s	10	50	50 - 150
Expert	50s	20	125	125 - 225
Goblin/Gnome	-	30	200	200 - 225
Artisan	5g	35	200	200 - 300
Gnomes racial bonus adds 15 point to engineering so instead of starting out at level 1, they begin at 15 and that will impact the max skill level therefore an Gnome Apprentice Engineer can make items up to skill level 90 and Artisan can make items up to 315.

How do I get the supplies I need?

Target Dummy Many you can loot from monster drops such as linen and leather, some will come from mining mineral veins {for copper, tin, gems, stone etc} and vendors also sell engineering supplies. You can trade with other players to save you the effort of collecting. However, it’s advisable to train in mining so that you can collect from mineral veins yourself while out questing.

Mining is quite a good Profession to make money with too, selling to Smiths and other Engineers alike.

Engineering can be quite a convoluted process. For example, to create a Target Dummy requires that you have a piece of Wool cloth, a Bronze bar which in turn is made from 1 Copper bar and 1 Tin bar. You will also need some Copper Bolts {made from 1 Copper Bar} and 1 Copper Modulator {to make this you will need 2 Handful of Copper Bolts, 1 Copper Bar and 2 Linen Cloth}. So it’s one of the more fiddly Trade Skills and although you can get some pretty cool items {with higher level plans} this may not be worth the considerable time and effort needed to get there. You may prefer to just trade for the individual components instead.

Other components you will need can be found as loot from monsters or will have to be bought from Engineering and General Suppliers (such as Weak Flux, Wooden Stock, Parchment).

Metals, gems and stones can be mined

Fabrics from Humanoids, skins from beasts & Fused Wire

You will also need to trade with other players for components created with other Professions such as Frost Oil (made by Alchemists) and Nightcrawlers (caught from Fishing) Dusky Belt (made by Leatherworkers).

What can I create?

Engineering Skill Once you have trained as an apprentice the Engineering icon will appear in your Skills & Abilities book {Hotkey P}. It’s best to drag this down to your action bar so it’s handy. Pressing this will activate your list of schematics learnt. You simply need all the components to follow a schematic.

There will be a number of tools of the trade you need too. A Blacksmith’s Hammer which you can buy from a Blacksmith supplier, an Arclight Spanner and to a lesser extent and for mid to higher level schematics a Gryromatic Micro-Adjuster both of which you can create yourself. These need to be in your backpack to use and you don’t equip either of them, they just need to be in your bag. A lot of the time you will need to be near an Anvil to make things. A list of Anvils can be found at the top of this page.

Once you have the required components you may begin creating. Creating items will increase your level in Engineering. Thankfully, you’ll notice that the schematics in your list are colour coded and below is a key to those colours:

Grey = Will not receive a skill point in Engineering when creating.
Green = Rarely will you gain a skill point in Engineering when creating.
Yellow = Probably gain a skill point in Engineering when creating.
Orange = Always gain a skill point in Engineering when creating.
Red = Not high enough level in Engineering to create.

You will never fail creating something {as is the case in some other games}. You will be able to create clothes, ammunition, bombs, augments for weapons and trinkets.

Here’s a full list of schematics available to all Engineers >

Aren’t there two different types of Engineers?

Engineering takes a twist when you reach level 30 and have an engineering skill level of 200. At this level of proficiency you reach a fork in the road and you can take one of two routes. Either you concentrate your further training in the art of Goblin Engineering or you go for Gnome Engineering. It doesn’t matter which race you are however. Once you’ve chosen which, you can not create {but you can use} any of the items available to the other discipline. This choice is given to you via the Manual of Engineering Disciplines, along with two quests. Accept one quest for Goblin {in Gadgetzan} or the other for Gnome {in Booty Bay} Engineering.

Gnome Engineering

The Gnomes as a race tend to excel in the design of items intended to manipulate and control the world around them. While they maintain a cursory understanding of explosives and weaponry, Gnome engineering focuses instead on items that quite literally try to make life easier and more accessible. In a word, gadgets.

Here’s a complete list of Gnome schematics.

Goblin Engineering

As a race that finds itself as neutral in almost every conflict, Goblins have taken great steps to turn science into profit. They embrace the practical applications of engineering, as evident in their radical designs of explosives, firearms, and machinery. Goblin engineering only maintains a passing interest in engineering theory; their inventions usually don’t have the issue of not working, but rather working too well. In a word Bombs.

Here’s a complete list of Goblin schematics.

Membership to your Specialist Engineering

You will need to complete your chosen quest first to prove your competence before being granted membership to the discipline. Your membership card will last for 2 weeks (that’s 14 days played not 14 real world days) and renewal costs 2 gold {you get a free gift on renewal!}. This will give you continued access to new schematics in your chosen branch. Your existing plans aren’t affected if your membership lapses.

Gnomish and Goblin-made items can be used by any Engineer, as long as their engineering skill is a high enough level.

Why are engineering items “Engineer” Only?

A great many items created with Engineering can be used by Engineers only, however there are a few that can be used by anyone who meets the level requirement. Guns, ammunition, EZ-Throw Dynamite, Mechanical Squirrels and Scopes and Spyglasses.

Below is an explanation from Blizzard’s Lead Professions Designer on a couple of issues that were raised during the beta regarding Engineering’s usability.

World Flavor: If every raid started with every player throwing a bomb or using a flamethrower and every player wore silly looking goggles instead of a helmet, we would be moving away from a swords and sorcery world that has technological flavor and to a technological world with a fantasy flavor and that is not our intent. This is one of the main reasons why engineering items are engineer only and also why we don’t make engineering a secondary skill instead of a profession.

Game Flavor: If different professions operate differently, the game will appeal to a wider variety of folks. Certainly there are people who think engineering is the worst skill ever as you cannot sell many of the items, and other players think it’s the best skill ever as you can make all kinds of cool stuff that’s unique to you. This seems like a plus in that we have some people who are engineers and wouldn’t take anything else and others who you couldn’t force to take engineering, thus creating a diverse community.

Fantasy Lore: Engineers don’t make devices that are easy to use, in fact often times they can only barely figure out what they had in mind when they were making something. Certainly if a non-engineer ever figured out how to use an engineering device the engineer that made the device would be ostracized by the community (or at least be mocked mercilessly).

Current Issues: It is agreed that if engineering is better than the other professions, then many players will feel forced to take up a skill that they may or may not enjoy so they can maximize the power of their character. To this end we have been changing the items that seem to be too powerful. In the upcoming patch, bombs now only do a “Sleep” effect instead of a “Stun” so they will be less effective in PvP (and in PvE to some extent) and the Gnomish Net-o-Matic has a much greater fail rate than it used to. As we identify areas where Engineering feels too powerful, we will modify it to bring it in to line with the other professions. Certainly it’s going to be a judgment call on whether making a cool piece of armor or making a lot of cash selling gathered items is equivalent to making some bombs, but we will do our best to balance things out.

If the community wants to participate in the direction of engineering, then talking about specifics on what items are too powerful and why they are too powerful is certainly useful feedback that gets listened to. It may be hard to believe from the position of someone posting on the boards, but many of the developers do visit the boards on a regular basis and feedback therein does get listened to.

Requires Engineering to Use: For many people the fact that most engineering items require engineering skill to use means that to maximize their character they must be an engineer as they can easily buy the products of the other production professions. To some extent it’s what makes engineering interesting, but it‘s also a hindrance and we are going to try and address that issue. Each of the professions will have at least a few items that are Bind on Acquire or that require the profession to use. For example in the future, alchemists are going to be able to make an alchemist specific trinket. This trinket will require alchemy to equip, will be bind on acquire and will give the wearer a bonus to the effect of any potion they drink. We are not going to go overboard on Bind on Acquire items for the other professions, but there should be enough there to make each of the production professions a compelling choice, even for those who are only worried about maximizing their character power.

Is there anything else I should know about Engineering?

Fused Wire - This isn’t readily available but comes from a couple of sources. The first are mechanical mobs as listed and the other is looted from Target Dummies after they’ve expired.

Level Requirements - A lot of engineering items come with a character level requirement for use. As with any game items you don’t want level 5 characters using advance weaponry because of the cheese factor so familiar level restrictions will apply, a couple of examples are:

Thorium Rifle - level 47
Mithril Gryo-Shot - level 44
Accurate Scope - level 20
Flash Bomb - level 27

Cloth Wearers - All the armour type gear the Engineer can make are cloth so that means your Mage, Priest and Warlocks can take full advantage of the profession.

Can I make money from Engineering?

Your wares can be targetted at a very small market, however you do have a number of money-making options:

Sell Guns, ammunition, EZ-Throw Dynamite, Mechanical Squirrels and Scopes and Spyglasses to any other player.
Sell high level Engineering items to other Engineers who can’ t be bothered collecting the materials to make them for themselves
Sell materials to other Engineers
Sell specialised Engineering items to Engineers who learnt the other specialisation (Goblin/Gnome)

Can I unlearn Engineering?

You can unlearn professions for free any number of times. Go to your skills panel (press K). Click on the Profession you wish to unlearn and a small icon will appear next to it and clicking on this will unlearn the skill. Be aware you will lose all associated recipes and support skills too and if you wish you hadn’t unlearnt it (eek!) you will have to start your training again at Apprentice level and work you way up again. Click the image on the right for a fully captioned shot. Use this feature with caution, Blizzard will not undo a mistake of this nature.

Do not unlearn Engineering if you wish to take the other specialisation (Gnome or Goblin) because that choice has been locked down with your character. If you unlearn Engineering and start over again when you reach the appropriate level you will only be able to take your original specialisation again.

To recap on the Engineering basics:

Training in Engineering, to any level costs money
Schematics cost money
Following a schematic will never fail.
Schematics come in grades. Grey = trivial, green = average, yellow = above average and orange the hardest.
Following trivial schematics will not improve your skill level in Engineering.
At Expert level you must choose one of two Disciplines {either Goblin or Gnome}.
Most items can not be used by non-engineers, apart from Scopes and Explosives.
There is a chance that items will fail and worse explode causing you damage when using them.
Items created by Goblin or Gnome engineers can be used by any engineer as long as they are the correct level
Once trained in an area of specialty (Gnome or Goblin) you can not change, even if you unlearn Engineering and begin from scratch.
Membership to your specialist engineering discipline lasts for 14 play days, not 14 real world days
You can destroy your membership card at any time and purchase a new one (if you’re trying to get a particular free gift such as Lil’ Smoky)

Further Engineering Reading & Resources

		List of all Engineering Schematics
		Engineering Quests
		List of Engineering Trainers
		List of Engineering Suppliers

		Professions Forum
		Profession UIs/Mods
		WWN Data

Patch Changes to Engineering

Patch 1.9.3 (10 February 2006)

The Engineering schematic for the Tranquil Mechanical Yeti now requires a Cured Rugged Hide rather than Ice Thistle E’ko so that both Horde and Alliance Engineers can make the recipe.

Patch 1.9.0 (3 January 2005)

Engineers with skill 250 or greater, who have completed Umi Rumplesnicker’s ‘Are We There Yeti?’ quest line, should seek her out again in Everlook.

Patch 1.8.0 (11 October 2005)

Gnomish Mind Control Cap is now subject to diminishing returns in the Charm category.

Patch 1.7.0 (13 September 2005)

Catseye Goggles have had their stealth detection increased somewhat.
The Gnomish Death Ray now only can be cast if the target is within 20 yards. Previously you could cast this on players outside that range, even though the spell immediately failed.
Only spells and abilities that target enemy units will cancel the World Enlarger effect.

Patch 1.5.0 (7 June 2005)

New Engineering firework recipe added.
Two new transporter recipes have been added, with one for gnomish and one for goblin engineers. Gnomish engineers can get their recipe from Gadgetzan, Goblin engineers from Everlook.
Both types of the engineer made Jumper Cables now share a cooldown. It was never intended to allow a player to use jumper cables XL and jumper cables within the same period of time.
Solid Dynamite was inadvertently broken in the 1.4 patch to require harder materials than it should. This has been fixed.
Jumper Cables no longer have a chance to break when they fail.

Patch 1.4.0 (19 April 2005)

A significant number of additional engineering devices have been added to the world both as new recipes on vendors and as drops on monsters in the higher level (50+) dungeons and in raids.
Bombs now cause a disorient effect when they go off, this was not working correctly previously.
Some Blasting Powder icons Changed.
Flame Deflector and Frost Deflector now do an elemental damage absorb
rather than a resistance increase.
Minor Recombobulator now restores health and mana as well as removing
polymorph effects.
Target Dummies now generate an initial taunt pulse so creatures will attack them for the first 5 seconds after they are dropped.
Gnomish Death Ray damage increased slightly and cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
The level of the Mechanical Dragonlings, Battlechicken, and Bombs dropped by the Goblin Bomb Dropper now scale with your engineering skill, so they will be always useful against enemies. Their damage and health has remained the same.

Patch 1.2.0 (17 December 2004)

Gnomish Death Ray ingredients have been changed.

Patch 1.1.0 (7 November 2004)

Engineering is now complete, there are engineering recipes that require up to 300 engineering skill.
The ingredients required to make some gnomish engineering items were changed.
Catseye Ultra Goggles reduced in effectiveness.

Beta Patch 0.11.0 (28 September 2004)

All equipped items made from professions have had their stats tweaked to make them more desirable.

Beta Patch 0.10.0 (19 September 2004)

The level requirements for the Gnome and Goblin engineering quests have been adjusted downward.
A number of engineering devices did not have the correct bind type set and are now bind on equip or bind on acquire.
The Gnomish engineering Net-o-Matic will now fail more often and in a new way as well.
A number of engineering items had tools/anvil required to create them (fixing bugs).

Beta Patch 0.9.0 (15 August 2004)

Goblin and Gnomish engineering recipes and trainers are now in the game for engineers above skill 200, but be warned as their devices do not always work as intended. You can only choose one or the other and may need to search to find the trainer.
Engineering devices have been categorized much more nicely. Your recipes will be easier to sort through now.
Recipes that were marked as blue/rare that make green/uncommon items were changed to green/uncommon.
Bombs made by engineering now have a short cast time and a smaller area of effect.
Green lens changed so it gives Stamina and then a random stat as well.
Explosive Shell pulled from engineering.

Beta Patch 0.8.0 - 7th July 2004

Heart of Fire are easier to find in this patch.
New recipes added up to skill 250.
Goblin Rocket Boots have been temporarily removed and will reappear once the Goblin Engineering Line is added.
Engineering may have a slower skill-up rate than it did previously.
The Mechanical Squirrel has a new mechanical graphic and requires malachite to make.

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