Professions essential for Cata raider?

Dcully

Just wondering if its essential to have profs for cata raiding?
Personally i cannot stand professions, they bore me to tears in any mmo ive played.

TechnoPool

not essential but can help a bit i guess if u really wanna push your char to the best it can be, and also you can make alot of $$$

Mr. CooL ICE

What exactly bored you about professions? If its gathering, then I can understand. But crafting isn't really too repetitive. It can take a while but with enough gold, you could max a crafting profession out in a few hours.

Generally, most professions gave you a buff to your character in a number of ways. Alchemy increases effectiveness of flasks, JC allows you 3 more powerful unique gems, enchanting allowed enchants on rings, etc etc, but all buffs evened out roughly the same, except for some (mainly gathering) professions which only give class/situation specific buffs.

Personally, alchemy kept a solid income of gold throughout WotLK. With the daily uncut gem transmute, I made 80-120g per day from less than a minute's work, as long as I logged in during an off night.

To answer your question; yes, professions would be essential if you want the most from your character. I haven't done much research on Cata professions, but I assume the benefits will be roughly the same as from WotLK.

Overheal

They're actually making some of the benefits a bit more even between professions. Alchemy flasks are getting a little buff to keep the advantage on par with jewelcrafting, etc. And you can already get about the same stat boost from Blacksmithing or Enchanting from the additional enchant and gem slots, as JCs do from the Dragons Eye gems. etc. and then some professions are an advantage not only in some of the gear you can make but to the raid, like engineers can drop repairbots, or solo for much longer because they always carry a mailbox and bank access.

All of the up to date summaries on professions can be found here, just scroll a little bit down:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/

Personally my next toon will be into Alchemy (because how awesome is that mount?!) and my main is dropping his mining for JC/BS.

GO_Bear

I likes me skinning for extra crittage ;>

DRakE

Dcully wrote: »

Just wondering if its essential to have profs for cata raiding?
Personally i cannot stand professions, they bore me to tears in any mmo ive played.

yes for gods sake, they're not in the game for no reason

Shougeki

GO_Bear wrote: »

I likes me skinning for extra crittage ;>

In WOTLK Jewelcrafting was so much better than skinning I dropped it. The only thing that came close was Engineering, and i couldnt be bothered. So my Rogue main was JC/LW for gems and bracer enchants (and drums early on...)

Shougeki

Overheal wrote: »

or solo for much longer because they always carry a mailbox and bank access.

This is the reason i was contemplating buying a Travellers Mamoth for leveling in cataclysm. Really not sure though.

Does anyone have an idea of what the gold level will be like. For example wotlk was a huge jump up in cash levels.

I have about 40k set aside atm for crap once i hit 85... I think i might just lay off that mount for now :P

Overheal

wait and see on the mammoth

Dcully

Reason for my asking was i have changed my main only this week to a fresh 80 mage i leveled up recently,absolutely loving the mage hence the main switch.
Only decided to lvl it up 2 weeks ago from lvl 25 so it was gonna be tight, hit 80 yesterday and didnt do any proffs as i leveled and was hoping to get away with it for a while.
Got stuck into it today however and got herbalism from 0-450 and alchemy from 0-290.
Ill probably wait till i get more gold to finish off alchemy, should be a while before im raiding anyways.

witless1

Professions are very much worthwhile and something to concentrate on at max level when you know what you want / need them for. I regularly chopped and changed my second profession but never touched Tailoring on my main (shadowpriest) because of the money generated by the spellthreads and bags. I try to cover as many professions as I can on my alts to try and generate gold. So, from your perspective you need to ask what you will be doing come 85 and what professions your class will benefit from the most. With your current setup Herbalism is a nice money maker if you are bothered to go herbing and farming. Alchemy is nice, cheaper flasks, longer durations and more powerful flasks.

For me personally alchemy wouldn't be worth it, I get my flasks from the guild bank, sure the added duration and more powerful flasks are worth it in a min maxing situation and are up there with all other professions. The one profession I have taken up and loved as a spell caster is Engineering. The rocket boost is unreal for movement fights which can kill most characters damage output. It's also a brilliant way to escape your own stupidity on fight mechanics, something I suffer from on occasion The haste enchant for hands is also really nice for spell casters. The problem is it is expensive to level up without a miner or a lot of gold to pump into the AH.

So if you are open to changing your second profession before you go too far see how your server is, see how your funds are and see what your playstyle is first. If movement fights cause you problems Engineering might be the way to go. If you find enchanting mats expensive on your server being able to shard your own gear is nice. If leather / ore are expensive and you are short of cash it might be good to double up on your gathering professions. If flasks turn out the way WOTLK did at the start then you could make a killing on your current combo, again, if you are bothered to go farm

TL:DR professions are an important part of how you enjoy the game. They provide a steady cash flow, decent PVE/PVP benefits and feeder material for professions on other characters.

Vicxas

Best way to make money really is herb and alchemy, i have LW and skinning, works for me

Dcully

I took your advice guys and now have herbalism maxed out and alchemy @ 515 and really enjoying both plus ive made a few thousand gold selling herbs i dont need for alchemy.

Berns

Hadda drop herbs on my main to get another "useful profession"

Now its a pain to level Alch and LW when alts are mostly still 80 Gotta druid about 83 though with near max herb & skinnin so hopefully soon

Kiith

Got Herb and Alch to max last night. Ended up spending a fair whack of gold for the last 7 or 8 levels of Alch, but at least it's done now. Now to get my Archeology up so i can start farming for my dragon alchemy mount...

Dcully

Maxed out herb and alch lastnight, didnt buy anything from ah, farmed everything myself.
Made a nice amount of gold selling potions and flasks while leveling up to 525.
Now i just wonder where to go from here?
Apart from studying the ah which i will do later are there any hints and tips i should know about?

xRodge

Dcully wrote: »

Apart from studying the ah which i will do later are there any hints and tips i should know about?

Just checking since you didn't mention it - did you remember to take an alchemy specialisation?
If not, definitely pick that up. The random procs of extra potion/flask/gems is worth a fortune.

Dcully

I did indeed mate, i went with elixir master.

Kiith

Dcully wrote: »

I did indeed mate, i went with elixir master.

Transmute master is where the money is at currently, with multiple truegold bars making people tons of money. I'm Elixir's aswell atm.

TheDoc

Just read this now, simply put , yes

If you want to raid youll need lots of gems,enchants and time to time gear to be purchased.

The easiest way to keep oyur gold reserve tipping over is through professions. Money made from raiding tbh is pretty ****e, so you need something to give you that money.

At the moment for example, you will have a high turnaround of gems and enchants as you get new gear.

You spend the most money at the start of the expansion, or at the start of new raid content.

So proffs are a must.

And in fairness, if you get into messing in hte AH, they can be seriously fun

Dcully

And in fairness, if you get into messing in hte AH, they can be seriously fun

Im now finding this to be so very true, from alchemy alone ive made about 36k gold since i hit lvl 85 and maxxed out alch/herbs and im far from a hardcore player, i usually log in for an hour or two a day at the most for now.
I usually spent 20-30 mins farming mats for flasks and selling em on ah and boy do they sell
Also making a lot from either selling my CD on truegold or making it myself and selling, they go for about 1000-1200 a piece on my server.

Inquitus

Just about to ding 85, and a cloth wearing Mage. I played in a hardcore raiding guild until TBC then quit half way to WoTLK. When TBC first came out every cloth wearing dps needed to be a tailor and get the Spellfire set, is there any such need in Cata?

Mr. CooL ICE

Inquitus wrote: »

Just about to ding 85, and a cloth wearing Mage. I played in a hardcore raiding guild until TBC then quit half way to WoTLK. When TBC first came out every cloth wearing dps needed to be a tailor and get the Spellfire set, is there any such need in Cata?

AFAIK, not true. I haven't leveled my tailor yet, but in WotLK, all epic crafted items were BoE and after a quick look on wowhead, the same is for cata

Baneblade

just maxed tailoring, there are 2 types of epics that can be bought legs and a belt, healer and dps versions.
they are boe but the mats are bop so will probably cost a bit to buy

judosean2005

Well,i just read this post now,
I have mining nd skinning which give me stamina and crit rating on my warrior.these are 2 great 'raiding Profession' and u can get quite alot of gold,in my realm Pristine Hide selling for around 700g atm each.

on my Dk i have herbalism and alchemy,this is an alt and has no raiding prospects,he gives me all the herbs(which i can sell or use). Alchemy will give me the uncut gems i need,pyrium bars i need and truegold i need.

only thing missing is enchants really.level my next 85 for that :-)

Sean

TheDoc

I guess if your into min-maxing there are certain proffesions that are essential to your class.

But these sort of players arnt picking professions based on their profit value, but for the buffs and crafts they can bring to raids

jeawan

Dcully wrote: »

I took your advice guys and now have herbalism maxed out and alchemy @ 515 and really enjoying both plus ive made a few thousand gold selling herbs i dont need for alchemy.

How long did it take you to level herbs/alch ? i am thinking of dropping skinning and Leatherworking have it maxed and kinda disappointed with the end patterns you can craft.

Nehaxak

jeawan wrote: »

How long did it take you to level herbs/alch ? i am thinking of dropping skinning and Leatherworking have it maxed and kinda disappointed with the end patterns you can craft.

I dropped Mining on my Druid and took up Alchemy. Maxed it out in a day or so and never bought any herbs from the AH either. Was fairly easy to level up, herb'ing so much easier now that you can fly everywhere.
Only issue was Goldthorn at one stage but herb'ing around Arithi highlands for an hour sorted that out.

Levelling Herbalism and Alchemy together is a good choice. Herbalism is very easy to level.

Dustaz

TheDoc wrote: »

I guess if your into min-maxing there are certain proffesions that are essential to your class.

But these sort of players arnt picking professions based on their profit value, but for the buffs and crafts they can bring to raids

Theyre all pretty much the same. Like for example, the extra stats you get from JC only gems is roughly equivalent to the ring enchants which is roughly equivalent to the extra BS slots etc etc. Theres differences but theyre not massive anymore.

Overheal

Dustaz wrote: »

Theyre all pretty much the same. Like for example, the extra stats you get from JC only gems is roughly equivalent to the ring enchants which is roughly equivalent to the extra BS slots etc etc. Theres differences but theyre not massive anymore.

Whats the verdict on the Engineer Cogs? they seem pretty beastly: like an apology

Shougeki

Dustaz wrote: »

Theyre all pretty much the same. Like for example, the extra stats you get from JC only gems is roughly equivalent to the ring enchants which is roughly equivalent to the extra BS slots etc etc. Theres differences but theyre not massive anymore.

Well for Rogues, Agility is by far the best stat. this makes Leatherworking with its 130 Ag bonus the best by far.

After that all the other crafting professions are roughly the same, weighing in at about 80ish agility, with the exception fo Engineering, which apparantley is porr.

And all the collecting profs are lower down again.

But thats just for us rogues....

xRodge

Funnily enough, engineering provides one of the better bonuses now - at least from a spellcaster point of view. So it's no longer the pvp only profession. An overview (shamelessly taken from EJ) of what each profession gives to casters is:

Engineering: Since patch 4.0.1, tinkers now stack with normal enchants. Synapse Springs tinker to gloves provides 480 Int for 12 seconds with a 60 second CD. This averages to a 96 Int bonus. Engineering also provides further perks such as [Flexweave Underlay]. [Nitro Boosts] and Grounded Plasma Shield have a chance to fail and cause serious averse effects, and are not reliable in a raid.
Leatherworking: 130 Int to bracers in place of 65 haste or crit, giving an estimated 100 Int bonus.
Jewelcrafting: 3 [Brilliant Chimera's Eye] in place of [Brilliant Inferno Ruby] gives 81 Int.
Blacksmithing: Extra sockets into wrists and gloves provides 2 additional Brilliant Inferno Ruby's, providing an 80 Int bonus.
Alchemy: Mixology, combined with [Flask of the Draconic Mind] provides an 80 Int bonus.
Enchanting: 40 Int to each ring provides an 80 Int bonus.
Inscription: 130 Int/25 haste shoulder enchant is an 80 Int bonus over the regular enchant.
Tailoring: Lightweave Embroidery gives 580 Int for 15 seconds on a 45 second ICD. This averages to 193.3 Int, which replaces the normal 50 Int enchant, providing only a 143.3 Int bonus. Tailoring currently gives the greatest DPS increase of all the professions.
Herbalism: Lifeblood is now a DPS cooldown providing 480 haste for 20 seconds on a 2 minute CD. This averages to an 80 haste bonus.
Skinning: 80 crit.
Mining: Stam, useless from a DPS perspective.


While no professions are essential to raid, having professions will help boost your character a bit. And anyone who's ever been in a raid where you wipe with the boss at 0.1% health or seen the time you kill the boss with only 1 or 2 people left alive - they'll know that every little bit can make a difference.

I've spent a fortune on my main (lock) and now have 525 enchanting and tailoring - all for a bit of extra intellect