Each profession will find that the changes due to LU24 will impact them a bit differently, so I'll try to list out the main changes by class. Please check out the bold, red items for things that are currently hot topics that may/may not make it to the live servers. I'd rather folks be warned in advance rather than caught by surprise.
Currently on Test, your old artisan advanced books will no longer have recipes in them, and you will need to obtain new rare books. BUT I've just had news that since everyone but furniture lovers and newbie crafters will outgrow everything in these in hours flat, there WILL be a vendor alternative for the level 2-9 rare books. So consider this both good and bad news in one. :) (Update: it looks like these books will cost 1 silver and change, so it shouldn't be a great hardship on folks.)
Foods/Drinks - a few food harvests were removed from the harvest tables, and you can now vendor those items. Your trusty recipes will have changed quite a bit, including durations, stats, etc. Anything you already made won't change, only new stuff that is made after LU24 goes live. You'll find you've got statless food and drink of various durations, as well as some 2-stat drinks and 2-stat foods of varying durations. Stockpile your tubers for many recipes in the tier, and a little bit of the tier 2 loam to use in one of the drinks. Craft items on the stove to pristine level in order to receive a yield of 2.
Furniture - Nothing really new here other than changing over to no-subs. You may find yourself using a bit more in the way of hides and ore, but not really anything major to report here.
Woodworking - you'll now be making all the ammo (thrown weapons and arrows) instead of just arrows. These will all yield 25 on a pristine. Other than that and the no-subs bit, not much will have changed other than receiving your imbue recipes in the same level that you get the base item recipe.
Below is a breakdown of the loam/dust naming scheme:
You're going to be getting some new sets of chain and plate armor that are more tailored towards specific classes that can wear them (priests, tanks, scouts). However, even the current base sets are being "tuned" to be more in-line with what the devs consider to be balanced. Anything made before the 14th will NOT change, so if you're particularly attatched to the stats on some rare set, get it made before the 14th.
Expect to see your imbues at the same level as you get the recipes for the base sets (the generic stuff not really tuned to either class, that you have right now). The totally new sets won't get imbues.While you have lost your three thrown weapons in each tier, flails, voulges and other new weapons have been added. Watch for your imbue spells to appear at the same time as you receive the base recipe. Stats on pretty much all crafted gear other than tier 7 have changed, so be braced for it. If you're really attatched to the stats on a specific item, be sure to get it made before the revamp hits - all changes are only on items made after the LU hits the live servers.
The good news - Tier 6 rares are finally all in and working, other than an anchoring issue with one. It has been worth the wait in my book. Reeeaaaalllyyy would have liked them sooner, but at least there are some really sweet items in there. One of the table lamps is a VERY good light source, too. Head over to the furniture gallery section of the site, and be sure to have a drool cloth handy!
The neutral news (no, I'm not stalling, really) - you may scratch your head over the way some of the recipes changed, but it balances out in the end (you'll need ore in your rugs, for example ...). You'll be using a wider variety of rares in tier 6, too, so I hope you've eyed the recipe names and started stockpiling!
Now, some folks are going to scream that it is the end of the world. Others are going to say "Well, Beghn said back in February that he wanted to do this ...", others won't really care, one way or another. Some of you may remember when a couple end tables had the rent status reduction on them lowered. They were part of the furniture we call "racial", for lack of a better term, that was removed from furniture vendors after launch, and added to carpenter recipes. Some of the items used a solid bit of extra fuel, and had status reductions that were a bit high for their nonrare status. A good example would be the halasian bearskin rug, or the paladin brazier. (For a list of items that have been confirmed to have changed status, click here.) When folks made an outcry about the change to the end tables, he said he wanted to change it for the other items too.
And then there was silence. Many probably hoped he'd forgotten that comment, but those hopes were in vain.
It looks like a lot of this stuff has had status lowered to be more in line with the tier the item is in, and that the change is retroactive to existing pieces of furniture, too. Again, things on Test can change daily, if not more often. Time will tell, but you have been forwarned that this is going to happen. For those whom this will hit really hard because you have stacks and stacks of bearskin rugs, or other silliness like that, pay a couple week's worth of rent BEFORE the 14th, before your status items drop in value.
I'll just crawl into this gorgeous new ironwood king bed and hide under the covers. Someone tell me when the fur is done flying, k? And find a way to import a ton of chocolate for me ...
On the downside of the changes, you'll have a few less recipes per tier to work with, once you get rid of all those inedible refines and ever-present interims. On the upside, one combine, and you have something marketable. TWO somethings if you finish the item to pristine! And if you miss pristine quality, you'll still have something that has the same name and stacks! Say goodbye to nuts, grains and spices. (They'll be vendorable if you still have some in inventory, but as mentioned elsewhere, they'll have more value if you turn them into food before the 14th.) You'll have a few less things to pull off the food nodes now, which means you should be getting more of what you really need. You'll still use dough, but a lot of the rest of the frufru you used to have to mug the vendor for (milk, cream, sugar, yeast, etc.) are things of the past. Save some of that freed-up bag space for the roots of the tier you are working in, as, like Sam Gamgee, Beghn seems to really like his taters! Once in the while some other odd item may make it into a food item as well, such as loam in a couple of drinks. You'll start each tier with low duration, statless food and drink and slowly build up to higher duration and/or stat foods and drinks.
But, I'm sad to say, the powers that be seem to think that chocolate is NOT a necessary part of life, and have removed all traces of it from recipes. Please excuse me while I go into massive withdrawal over in the corner. Someone please film the protest by throngs of upset chocoholics around the world, and tell me when it's safe to come out of my fetal position, k?
I know some of these sound like I'm braced for the worst - other than the chocolate-thing, though, most of them were things that we really had gotten warned about and/or very strong hints about in the past. However, I think I spent too long on the SoE forums again, and the constant screaming, wailing and bemoaning that anything and everying is the "death of tradeskills" has me flinching over the thought of the trolls crawling out from under their rocks and inciting even the most well-behaved crafter into a frenzy.
As with anything in changes of this scope, you can't please everyone, and there's enough here that everyone is going to be alternately pleased or dismayed, depending on which segment they're looking at, as well as the mood of the day. If this last statement has you sort of confused, don't worry - my brain is full, and misery loves company. :P