3.2 Professions - Rating the caster options

Hi All,
As I prepare to gear up 6-8 new lvl 80 support toons , I want to get some opinions on the current state of professions, and which ones would provide the biggest benefits for a multiboxed caster group. Specifically, I want to look at three main criteria and rate them on a scale of 1-10:

1. Benefits to caster
2. Ease of leveling the profession (speed and cost)
3. Cash potential

Note: Keep in mind, I have every profession already covered by other lvl 80 toons, so these are primarily "gravy," making stackability a little more important than normal.

Alchemy
Benefits - 7/10 -- +47 SP (Frost Wyrm) and longer duration potions is handy. Casting trinket is a good starter at 80.
Ease - 3/10 -- Picking or buying weeds is one of the more tedious and expensive ways to remediate a profession.
Cash - 7/10 -- Potions are volatile, but the new epic gem transmutes make this a worthwhile prof to consider for low-effort cash generation.
Total Score - 17/30

Blacksmithing
Benefits - 5/10 -- +46 SP or other flexibility from two extra sockets.
Ease - 2/10 -- Highly obnoxious and subject to the volatile ore market.
Cash - 4/10 -- Titansteel items and belt buckles still move, but not quickly enough to make this terribly attractive.
Total Score - 11/30

Enchanting
Benefits - 5/10 -- +46 SP ring enchants.
Ease - 3/10 -- There are some real bottlenecks in the leveling process, plus mats aren't as cheap as they used to be.
Cash - 5/10 -- ToC has given enchanting (scrolls) a bump, but it's also not the type of profession to stack well. DE isn't as valuable post-ToC, either.
Total Score - 13/30

Engineering
Benefits - 7/10 -- More haste from glove enchant is nice, and the + SP for cloak isn't awful. But I haven't seen any hard data comparing the increase versus other profs (+46 SP). Great overall utility is what props up this score.
Ease - 4/10 -- Slightly better than BS and Ench, due to sharpening stones, but still a pain for any non-Gnomes.
Cash - 2/10 -- Very few ways (that I'm aware of) to make consistent money.
Total Score - 13/30

Inscription
Benefits - 5/10 -- +46 SP to shoulder.
Ease - 3/10 -- Another painful profession to level. Much harder than Alchemy, in my experience, though you can usually sell the skillup glyphs easily.
Cash - 4/10 -- Darkmoon cards, scrolls and glyphs sell fine, but you really don't need more than one of these.
Total Score - 12/30

Jewelcrafting
Benefits - 7/10 -- +48 SP or other boosted stats from self-only epic recipes. Trinkets are also good for new 80s.
Ease - 4/10 -- Mats are obnoxious, but mitigated by stone and other combines. Draenei are closer to 5/10 due to +5 JC skill.
Cash - 8/10 -- Dragon's eyes still sell pretty well, so it would be easy to pick up a quick 500g doing this daily.
Total Score - 19-20/30

Leatherworking
Benefits - 5/10 -- +47 SP to wrists.
Ease - 4/10 -- Mats are a little easier to come by, but still not trivial.
Cash - 3/10 -- Another profession that doesn't stack well.
Total Score - 12/30

Tailoring
Benefits - 6/10 -- Lightweave seems to be the best cloak enchant by a mile, though it counteracts the Eng buff. Cheap leg armor is marginally helpful in bulk.
Ease - 8/10 -- By far the easiest profession to level. Cloth is usually cheap or easy to farm
Cash - 5/10 -- Cloth transmutes stack well, though their cooldown is relatively long. Otherwise, not much profit here.
Total Score - 19/30

Summary
For my money, it looks like Tailoring and JC are the winners, with Alchemy picking up honorable mention. However, I'd welcome some other opinions to confirm/contradict my thoughts.

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Originally Posted by accretion

Hi All,
As I prepare to gear up 6-8 new lvl 80 support toons , I want to get some opinions on the current state of professions, and which ones would provide the biggest benefits for a multiboxed caster group. Specifically, I want to look at three main criteria and rate them on a scale of 1-10:

1. Benefits to caster
2. Ease of leveling the profession (speed and cost)
3. Cash potential

Note: Keep in mind, I have every profession already covered by other lvl 80 toons, so these are primarily "gravy," making stackability a little more important than normal.

Alchemy
Benefits - 7/10 -- +47 SP (Frost Wyrm) and longer duration potions is handy. Casting trinket is a good starter at 80.
Ease - 3/10 -- Picking or buying weeds is one of the more tedious and expensive ways to remediate a profession.
Cash - 7/10 -- Potions are volatile, but the new epic gem transmutes make this a worthwhile prof to consider for low-effort cash generation.
Total Score - 17/30

Blacksmithing
Benefits - 5/10 -- +46 SP or other flexibility from two extra sockets.
Ease - 2/10 -- Highly obnoxious and subject to the volatile ore market.
Cash - 4/10 -- Titansteel items and belt buckles still move, but not quickly enough to make this terribly attractive.
Total Score - 11/30

Enchanting
Benefits - 5/10 -- +46 SP ring enchants.
Ease - 3/10 -- There are some real bottlenecks in the leveling process, plus mats aren't as cheap as they used to be.
Cash - 5/10 -- ToC has given enchanting (scrolls) a bump, but it's also not the type of profession to stack well. DE isn't as valuable post-ToC, either.
Total Score - 13/30

Engineering
Benefits - 7/10 -- More haste from glove enchant is nice, and the + SP for cloak isn't awful. But I haven't seen any hard data comparing the increase versus other profs (+46 SP). Great overall utility is what props up this score.
Ease - 4/10 -- Slightly better than BS and Ench, due to sharpening stones, but still a pain for any non-Gnomes.
Cash - 2/10 -- Very few ways (that I'm aware of) to make consistent money.
Total Score - 13/30

Inscription
Benefits - 5/10 -- +46 SP to shoulder.
Ease - 3/10 -- Another painful profession to level. Much harder than Alchemy, in my experience, though you can usually sell the skillup glyphs easily.
Cash - 4/10 -- Darkmoon cards, scrolls and glyphs sell fine, but you really don't need more than one of these.
Total Score - 12/30

Jewelcrafting
Benefits - 7/10 -- +48 SP or other boosted stats from self-only epic recipes. Trinkets are also good for new 80s.
Ease - 4/10 -- Mats are obnoxious, but mitigated by stone and other combines. Draenei are closer to 5/10 due to +5 JC skill.
Cash - 8/10 -- Dragon's eyes still sell pretty well, so it would be easy to pick up a quick 500g doing this daily.
Total Score - 19-20/30

Leatherworking
Benefits - 5/10 -- +47 SP to wrists.
Ease - 4/10 -- Mats are a little easier to come by, but still not trivial.
Cash - 3/10 -- Another profession that doesn't stack well.
Total Score - 12/30

Tailoring
Benefits - 6/10 -- Lightweave seems to be the best cloak enchant by a mile, though it counteracts the Eng buff. Cheap leg armor is marginally helpful in bulk.
Ease - 8/10 -- By far the easiest profession to level. Cloth is usually cheap or easy to farm
Cash - 5/10 -- Cloth transmutes stack well, though their cooldown is relatively long. Otherwise, not much profit here.
Total Score - 19/30

Summary
For my money, it looks like Tailoring and JC are the winners, with Alchemy picking up honorable mention. However, I'd welcome some other opinions to confirm/contradict my thoughts.

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Lightweave was OP in 3.1 but they nerfed the ICD and proc rate so it is much more in line with other buffs
Alchemy also has a flask which once made does not require mats so as long as you remember to use it it is a permenant +47sp buff
Depending on your class make up I would recommend at least one leatherworker and one Scribe for the buffs in 3.2.2

That alchemy one is stupid. So if I use that I dont get to use my frost wyrm flask? That's the only time I worry about buffing my SP, so if its an issue then Im going to be using Frost Wyrm flasks and not that puny 47sp.

Well is for when you dont want to waste materials for flasks - i tend not to flask at all for heroics so the Flask of the North is a nice way to get the alchemy benefit (which works out to be +47sp) without having to spend gold for Flasks (Flask of the North is not Consumed when used) it is also usable in arena where Frost Wyrm is not

I would redo your list and leave out any cash/ease components. Once you have 5 level 80 toons gold isn't something you are going to have to worry about too much. For me I am going to try to figure out what gives the best buffs. Last time I looked it was JCing and ______. Never figured out that second prof. I might go engineering on all 5 just to piss people off and rid around in motorcycles.

Heh, love the idea of 5 Harley's puttin' around Dalaran. You'd be your own Hell's Angels.

Decent write up, thanks!


You can see that more or less all the buffs are pretty much the same. When JC gems used to be prismatic then JC had the edge, but now that they are certain colors they are just the same as any other profession.
I think it comes down to ease of leveling. Getting professions maxed on 5-to however many characters you have blows!. I would think that having 1 of each profession would be a good idea and then stack if you wish. Pyro-rockets, Jc dailys, Alch transmutes etc.

For my time/money Inscription is cake to lvl. JC is pretty easy also its just the 250-300 range that sucks but if you have a miner which you should its cake and very cheap to raise. I got all the gems I needed for 250-300 prospecting 5 stacks of thorium.

Also, I dont know if any one else watched the blizzcon panels, but they said that they want to give you the choice what buff you wanted from professions, i.e. Miners could choose SP buff instead of just stam buff.

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Originally Posted by Whowantstoknow

Well is for when you dont want to waste materials for flasks - i tend not to flask at all for heroics so the Flask of the North is a nice way to get the alchemy benefit (which works out to be +47sp) without having to spend gold for Flasks (Flask of the North is not Consumed when used) it is also usable in arena where Frost Wyrm is not

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Well I understand, but what I am saying is: If Im bothering to look through my alchemists bags to flask, its for Frost Wyrm. If Im doing easy heroics then there is no reason to bother. It's a lazy thing, I would rather Alchemists just get +47 SP passively.

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Originally Posted by Multibocks

Well I understand, but what I am saying is: If Im bothering to look through my alchemists bags to flask, its for Frost Wyrm. If Im doing easy heroics then there is no reason to bother. It's a lazy thing, I would rather Alchemists just get +47 SP passively.

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Or use smartbuff?

Smartbuff can click inventory items? Didnt know that.

Good people contribute with info like this.

But i gotta disagree on some points, money making with eg. bs and enchanting is HUGE especialy when combined.

Engineering is prettymuch a musthave for pvp when boxing shamans.

and alchemy having 7 on benefits is missleading imo. Should be a PvP and PvE benifit splittup ;)

Other that that a good writeup

I do not personally use smart buff but yes it has support for Flasks and food - not sure how Flask of the North would work as sometimes when you click it it will buff 47sp and other times 80ap.

-Just seen that there is a reply on curse explaining how to add Flask of the North to the supported flasks

I got all professions covered on my toons and apart from jc and enchanting most are hardly worth the effort in terms of making money (even more so since the latest patch and the ease in acquiring pretty decent gear through emblems of conquest which makes it a lot harder selling profession based crafted gear).

In terms of usefulness I would vote for Inscription but I am biased since I hate the Hodir rep grind with a passion.

I like to pick my professions based more on the buffs. JC and Inscription are two of my favorites for the shoulder and rings.

I make right around 1k+ gold every day from my 7 alchs :)
Something always procs, than my jc's cur cardinals into something good, and i can sell cuts for +/- 200g a pop

You get a boost to your Flask of the Frostwyrm if you're an alchemist with the recipe. Double duration (2h) and it gives you 172sp (+47 over the normal 125.)


Also, I think alchemy is the easiest profession to level (at least a 9 out of 10). Usually 2 herbs = 1 skillup. You never need "rare" herbs (like gems in BS/JC) and you don't need a billion leather/ore/cloth per skillup. If you have an herbalist, I doubt it would take more than 3 or 4 hours to get enough herbs to go from 1 to 450.

Alchemy also gives you
[item=47499]Flask of the North[/item]
and its cheap to level, i leveled 5 alchemists in 4 days, it was just shy of 9.5k g for all 5, all the way to 450.

Thanks for the feedback, especially on the Alchemy section. It's been awhile since I've leveled Alchemy (I have 2 @ 450 and 1 @ 375), but it was much more painful than Tailoring for me. Basically, I can roll into any instance and farm stacks of cloth in minutes (or just buy it in massive quantities), whereas buying weeds for 4-5 toons to level up Alchemy seemed unlikely, due to a short supply of affordable paths. 3-4 hours of Herbing (per toon) to hit 450 seems a bit low, though I haven't tried lately. I may do a test run to see. But I like the idea of adding a few more daily xmutes to my rotation.

Also a good point about PvP vs. PvE benefits. My purposes are mainly PvE, but I think it's fair to make a distinction. Keep the ideas/suggestions coming!

I have avoided Alchemy for PvE because I didn't think that the herb gathering HOT would be useful enough.

I took skinning on my 4 slaves, because you can skill them up all at once - if you simultaneously skin a single beast, you get 4 skillups (but only one piece of leather ;) ) - me being lazy.

I think it would be really nice to include the gathering professions in the OP for completeness. Also, if you have time, to confirm the name of the item that provides the bonus (eg Alchemy = Flask Of The North), but that is just me being lazy again.

Thanks for the info!

imo JC/BS pwns everything hands down.

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Originally Posted by EaTCarbS

imo JC/BS pwns everything hands down.

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Say more, please. Is it due to flexibility? Money-making potential? Etc.