A player's case for specialist-only Blacksmithing recipes, and crafters worth seeking out

In a 28 October forum proposal, Caeldeth names four Blacksmithing specialization routes, Armorsmith, Swordsmith, Axesmith and Macesmith, and argues that they have long felt lackluster at their best and pointless at their worst. Their fix is to make each route produce something no one else can. Armorsmiths would get new armor only they can make; Swordsmiths, Axesmiths and Macesmiths would each get weapons limited to their own path. Caeldeth also wants the differences to make thematic sense: an Armorsmith could improve an existing piece of armor, such as a belt, while weapon specialists could craft a unique sharpening stone or whetstone better than any other option. The same principle, they write, should reach other professions, pointing to the Transmutation, Potion and Elixir specializations Alchemy had in The Burning Crusade.

The reasoning is as much social as mechanical. Caeldeth describes being able to do something better than anyone else in your profession as both a fun roleplay hook and a powerful economic tool. They tie it to Forever's move away from separate realms: on what they call a megaserver, specialist-only items would be scarce enough that players would seek out particular crafters and add them as friends.

This is one player's request, not a description of Forever's current recipes or any announced change. We haven't checked which specialization recipes exist in the launch client, and the thread had no replies when we read it.