| Every new player in World of Warcraft must answer | | | | would be to pick two money-making professions. Most |
| a few questions, and among these is "what is the best | | | | professions can eventually be used to make money, |
| profession in Warcraft?" | | | | but for a lower level player the profit-making |
| It would be ridiculous to say that one profession is the | | | | opportunities are few and far between. It makes a lot |
| absolute best and to tell every new player to choose | | | | more sense to pick two of the "gathering" type |
| that one all the time; it would be untrue and no one | | | | professions, which are Mining, Skinning and Herbalism. |
| would believe me. However, if you can tell me what | | | | Of these three, I would suggest strongly that Skinning |
| you want out of a profession and what sort of playing | | | | be one of these, and there are two main reasons |
| style you have, then I can give you a pretty good idea | | | | why: |
| about what Warcraft profession will work best for | | | | First, players can "track" gathering nodes like ores and |
| you, or at least that character. | | | | herbs, but only one at a time. Skinning is not tracked, |
| The first thing to ask is what you want out of your | | | | unless you are a Hunter tracking beasts. So if you |
| profession. Is it the items that you can make? Is it to | | | | happen to pick both Mining and Herbalism, you will |
| make money? Is it because your guild needs someone | | | | probably be missing out on one or the other depending |
| with that profession? All of these are legitimate | | | | on which one you are tracking. |
| reasons for picking a profession; sometimes these | | | | Second, if you are questing, then you will constantly be |
| reasons are at odds with each other, and other times | | | | killing beasts. You may as well be making the extra |
| they are not. And since you can only have two | | | | money from skinning them, and leveling in Skinning is |
| professions per character, you want to make a choice | | | | automatic. In the early levels it is best to just sell the |
| that makes sense. Of course, you can overcome this | | | | Light Leather to vendors as the Auction House prices |
| to some degree by creating new characters to pick | | | | are not much higher, but Medium Leather and up sell |
| up other professions, but this takes playing time away | | | | quite well. |
| from your main character, and that might not be to | | | | As for which to pick between Mining and Herbalism, |
| your liking. | | | | there are good arguments for each one. Herb "nodes" |
| If you are picking a profession for the items you can | | | | are all over the place, and are usually easy to spot, |
| make, then your second profession should be a | | | | whereas Mining nodes tend to be at the edges of |
| gathering profession that supports the primary one. For | | | | maps and on rocky outcrops that don't get a lot of |
| instance, I had a level 70 Hunter that I was trying to | | | | traffic. Questing does not tend to put you on top of |
| gear up, and the best head gear I could find was one | | | | ores very frequently. On the other hand, metal bars of |
| that Engineers could make...but the item itself is | | | | every type are often in great demand and sell quickly |
| Soulbound once you make it, so only Engineers could | | | | for good money. (Although with the advent of |
| use the item. | | | | Inscription even lower level herbs are selling for a lot of |
| So once I chose to go into Engineering, I had to level up | | | | money, especially as the rich players want to level up |
| in order to make the item I wanted. Since the main | | | | quickly). So picking between the two is really going to |
| materials for Engineers are metals, it made sense for | | | | boil down to personal choice based on minor things: |
| my other profession to by Mining. Luckily I was already | | | | which item sells better on your server (remember, this |
| fully leveled in Mining, but had I not been I would have | | | | can change!); which racial bonuses your character has, |
| gladly switched to that and started leveling on that as | | | | and what you personally like. |
| well. My only other option would have been to buy the | | | | (For the record, I personally like Mining better than |
| material to level my Engineering, and that can be really | | | | Herbalism, but this is purely because I like metals and |
| expensive (more on this below). | | | | no other reason). |
| Other pairs of professions that work well together are | | | | At the beginning of this article I mentioned that for |
| Jewelcrafting or Blacksmithing with Mining, | | | | players who pick a profession for the services or |
| Leatherworking with Skinning, and Alchemy with | | | | items should pair that profession with a gathering |
| Herbalism. These combinations allow you to gather | | | | profession that will get most of your raw materials for |
| much of your materials instead of having to pay for | | | | free. This is actually a simplification, as it actually makes |
| them. | | | | more sense to have a profession that makes the |
| If you enjoy Raiding a lot rather than questing, you | | | | most money the fastest. That way you can gather |
| might want to pick up Enchanting. not only is this good | | | | materials and sell them, and use the proceeds to buy |
| for buffing your friends' items, it can be useful to | | | | your raw materials. So if metal bars are in short supply |
| disenchant some of the drops from the non-boss | | | | on your server you will probably make more money |
| mobs. Lots of times I have been on a raid and my | | | | Mining than with Herbalism or Skinning; even if you |
| bags would be full of Green items that were hardly | | | | needed herbs for Alchemy you can get more faster |
| worth carrying. Being able to disenchant them into | | | | buy selling metal bars and buying herbs. |
| stackable items meant that I would have come out | | | | Once you pick your professions there is a little more |
| with more items to sell in the Auction House. | | | | info you need: how to level quickly in your professions, |
| Fortunately in these cases we usually had someone | | | | and how to make decent money (or really good |
| who could disenchant for us, and the resulting reagents | | | | money!) These are both outside the scope of this |
| were used to Enchant guild members' items. | | | | article, but I do cover them in some detail on my blog. |
| (Disenchanting is a valuable asset for Bank toons, as | | | | And a final word: you can change your professions |
| they can sometimes make more money than by | | | | any time you want, either one at a time or both, so |
| simply selling the lower level Green items.) | | | | don't worry about making a "bad" choice. If the worst |
| For lower level players there isn't much requirement | | | | thing that happens is that you find out you don't like a |
| for specific items because you should be working | | | | particular profession, then that alone is valuable |
| through the levels fast enough that any given item will | | | | information. And if you want more than two |
| be useful for a short amount of time. As a result you | | | | professions? Just start another character! |
| will likely want to pick at least one profession with the | | | | And no matter what, have fun! |
| sole purpose of making money -- and even better | | | | |