To Profession or Not To Profession (except for Enchanting)

[OzPhoenix]

So my 5 Shamans are starting to level nicely now as I spend more time levelling and less time macro'ing, however, currently they have no professions whatsoever save for the following exceptions:

* First Aid on all.

* Enchanting on my main.

Both of these I figured to be gimmies - the First Aid for bandaging is exceptionally useful since typically most aren't taking hits (and I'm thinking of a way to build a "sit it out for the moment champ" macro for when 1 guy gets too much hate), and then of course Enchanting for DE'ing all that non-leather / non-mail post 40 crap that drops (pfft...like other classes have loot needs...shehshh).

This means 4 of my 5 guys have no main professions at all. Ultimately I was thinking of:

Shaman1: Tailoring, Enchanting
Shaman2: Skinning, Leatherworking
Shaman3: Mining, Jewelcrafting
Shaman4: Alchemy, Herbalism
Shaman5: ?,?

The question is:

1) Do you pro-5-boxers level professions as you go, or once you hit max-cap?

2) Do you only use gathering professions or make use of the crafting ones?

3) If you level as you go, does it slow down your levelling a great deal? (I'm interested in getting to 70 at a good, fast, but not panicked pace).

Finally,

4) If I'm building this team mostly for heroic-PVE-badge-farming, is there really any point to using crafting professions, outside of the possible exceptions of jewelcrafting and tailoring?

Interested in any answers / comments / thoughts / suggestions.

[Maz]

I have two teams.

The first team are all the same level and are leveling under their own steam. They're doing quests and doing instances. My main has mining and herbalism (which in reality means he only mines nodes he falls over) and one other has skinning which is macroed so I can do it without switching toons. Some of the others have crafting professions.

Frankly, professions with this group are a pain in the arse. I'm always having to trade stuff between them and when I do settle down to burn through the mats I've collected and skill them up, it can burn an entire evening.

My other team is being boosted. I levelled them to 8 and then took them to RFC. None of them have professions. I'm only looting blues.

Of the two approaches, I'm preferring the second one.

[OzPhoenix]

Yeah, more than anything else, I decided to skip professions because of the time it would take. I have a 70 Hunter feeding them gold (just over 3,000 so far and they're only level 33), so golds no problem. I really want to get professions, but - unless there's a massive reason to do otherwise - I was figuring I'd do that @ 70.

[Ken]

I find professions more fun to do as you're levelling, because it's more like 'a task' when you're 70. Plus it's handy to be able to use the stuff that you're making, even if it's only an occasional set of items.

I do:
character1: mining + skinning
character2: leatherworking+enchanting
character3: engineering+blacksmithing
character4: nothing

atm I don't level engineering actively, because I need the ore for blacksmithing

[Majestic_Clown]

I have done:

Level 70 Pally - Enchanting (Currently 377)
Level 67 4x Shammies = 350 Tailors so I can farm the special cloth
Level 70 Priest = Tailor

Level 63 Priest = 255 Tailor
Level 63 x4 Warlocks = 255 Tailors

I am going for full Primal Mooncloth farming.
20 Slot bags to sell in the AH, my realm never has any on the AH, so I think 250g per bag with 10 tailors in total making 20 mooncloth every cool down should be sweet

[kllrwlf]

I have and using:

Paladin - Engineering / Mining - Using the Eng Helm, Rocket Launcher, Repair Bot and Seaforium Charge.

Shaman - Enchanting / Alchemy - DE Everything making 20g min a day for nothing (DE Ogri'la Aegis once a day) and working on Ring Enchants - Alchemy making min 20g a day (Earth -> Water) and might work on Redeemer's Alchemist Stone

Mage 1 - Alchemy / Tailoring - Alchemy making min 20g a day (Earth -> Water) and might work on Sorcerer's Alchemist Stone - Wearing Spellfire Gear and might make Spellstrike Gear

Mage 2 - Tailoring / Herb - Wearing Spellfire Gear and might make Spellstrike Gear

Mage 3 - Tailoring / Skin - Wearing Spellfire Gear and might make Spellstrike Gear

All of them are at 375 except Engineering (369- working on it).

Professions take a lot of time... I remember spending 2 hours questing running instances, then another 2 hours afterwards sorting out all the mats, going to profession trainers and leveling them up. I would say, that at least 1/3 of my 17 days played to level was for my professions.

They also take a lot of gold to level ... but at the same time, if they help you at 70, then you'll kill mobs faster, which means finishing more dailies == more gold.

Only look at the BOP items for each profession and make sure that's what you want. If it's BOE, ignore it, because you can just have someone make it for you.

[Crucial]

Even if you don't level them up right away at least pick a bunch of different professions on each toon so you will get BOP patterns/designs/etc when you run instances.

[Anozireth]

I went with mining and herbalism on my main. One alt has skinning, which is fine since it's easy make an assist macro for so I never have to switch over to do it. Of course I have the requisite enchanter, and finally a jewel crafter simply for the sake of having never leveled that profession before.

I didn't take first aid on any of my guys, it's next to useless when you have 5 healers and the amount of cloth required to level it x5 is not cheap.

[Skrimshaw]

I currently only have Enchanting on one shammy and Skinning on another. However, I am currently planning on having all 4 work up leatherworking. I'm not a gatherer really, and drums of panic really look interesting to me.

[Crayonbox]

I level gathering as I level but as for other trade skills, I wait for 60 or 70 depending on the tradeskill.

for my 5 shamans the tradeskills i have set up are as follows

1: Alchemy / Mining
2: Alchemy / Skinning
3: Alchemy / Herbing
4: Alchemy / Enchanting
5: Alchemy / Jewelcrafting

I picked up alchemy on all chracters as they are going to be 58+ and I refuse to waste a 68+ character as a non alchemist that can easily turn primal earth into water. dirt into gold .

Mining, skinning, herbing as gathering is very good money.
Enchanting for the obvious DE in instances, and Jewelcrafting to make sure I can turn down my ores into gems. Or cut gems for my alts.

Of course what trade skills a person takes is always up to the person, but this is what I like doing.