Professions for Money or Fun? (WoTLK)

I'm not big on those how to make gold guides. I supposes sometimes I think, like me, everyone else has been playing WoW forever. Then I get a random question and remember there are still many newer players. I'm not really going to talk about how to make money in WoW but more so what professions are good for in different aspects may if be money or something handy. I'm just going to touch on the basics. Feel free to add to if you think I missed something I'll be sure to update it :)

Gathering- Skinning, Herbalism, Mining

Lets start with the basic money makers. Starting out a character can be tough especially on the wallet. These three are easy ways to make some easy money. Mainly you will pick Skinning and one of the other two, simply because you can only track one type of node at a time. You can take Herbing and Mining both if you want to though.

People are always wanting to power level a skill for an alt, need a quick supply or simply cannot gather the materials due to profession choices. You will always make decent money off these skills. So when starting out a new character they are great for helping you get some money packed away.

The plus side is they also add some nifty rewards. Mining gives you more hit points, Skinning adds to your crit while Herbalism gives you a heal over time. These boost to the next level as you skill up higher with the professions and have a max they reach once the profession is maxed out.

Skinning-  Master of Anatomy 
Mining- Toughness
Herbalism- Lifeblood

Cooking and Fishing

Cooking is a very handy profession, who doesn't like stat food? Fishing is a great way to fuel this profession. Plus fishing has lots of cool perks. While they both have daily quests,and have titles tied to them, fishing can award pets and a mount which is a fun little perk to boot.

You can most definitely make money off selling fish and food. While they are not the most exciting professions they are laid back and ones I enjoy a lot. Every character I have can fish and cook.

Alchemy and Inscription

These two are decent money makers, I would say if you have the gathering skill (herbalism) to boost these then you can make the cash out of them. There are always people switching specs, leveling alts and so on- who need glyphs from Inscription. Alchemy is no slouch either, potions are very much in demand especially for raiders. Also they are handy to have period.

Inscription offers shoulder enchants, Tarot Cards,  and Daily CD on-  Northrend Inscription Research.

Some perks available for the prof:
-Master’s Inscription of the Axe
-Master’s Inscription of the Crag
-Master’s Inscription of the Pinnacle
-Master’s Inscription of the Storm
 

Mixology is the perk for Alchemy. Which doubles duration on all flasks and elixirs. You can also transmute materials which is always high in demand since this has a cool down. Alchemy discoveries are on a weekly cooldown,  Northrend Alchemy Research – Spell – World of Warcraft. Plus the very nifty Indestructible Alchemist’s Stone, Mercurial Alchemist’s Stone, and Mighty Alchemist’s Stone are only made by alchemist.

Enchanting and Tailoring

In my eyes these go hand in hand. They don't have to, but when you skill tailoring up you can disenchant the items for enchanting mats. Tailoring can make money but I don't see it as a big money maker honestly. You really have to sell some high priced items to make much money from it. I am sure there are those out there that do much better than I did. A Guide to Northern Cloth Scavenging is also available to tailors, handy for getting all that cloth you need.

Tailoring offers Flying Carpet mounts as well as  Lightweave Embroidery, Swordguard Embroidery and Darkglow Embroidery.  Also three cloth transmutes – Spellweave, Moonshroud, and Ebonweave.

Enchanting is a very well rounded profession. You can sell materials, disenchant items you loot, sell enchants and so on. While I never had people wanting to tip very much I did do ok selling enchants on the Auction House. Plus you can enchant things such as your rings, things you can only do as an enchanter. This is a very nice profession for anyone.

Some self enchants:
- Enchant Ring – Assault – Spell
- Enchant Ring – Greater Spellpower
- Enchant Ring – Stamina

Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting

Blacksmithing is one where it takes money to make money. You can make money off it for sure, be prepared to work it up first before you expect to make money from it. I've never dabbled much in this profession but I hear people do very well once they get it rolling. This one also has transmutes available to the profession and extra sockets available to you. Socket Gloves and Socket Bracers.

JC is nice simply because you never have to have someone cut those expensive gems for you. Plus you can use Jewelers gems and trinkets. I know some people who do very well from this, making money off gems, jewelry and cuts. Here are some JC only gems which are very nice. JC offers it's own dailies,  rare gem recipes (5 tokens), metagem recipes (8 tokens), and Dragon’s Eyes (1 token)  all which you can purchase with – Dalaran Jewelcrafter’s Token.

For both of these if you want a gathering profession mining is a good supplier for both of these.

Leatherworking

This profession goes well with skinning, not a must but you'll be buying the materials if you don't have that profession also. While making some really nice armor is a perk, you can make leg enchants, drums, and enchant your own bracers with fur lining. This one can also be a decent money maker if you put the effort into it.

Engineering

Engineering is one I think is more fun based for me. While it is possible to make money off some things it's not as big of a money maker as some of the others. I suppose you have to be more crafty selling parts and other things in the auction house. It offers a lot of handy tricks to the player who chooses this profession. It also offers unique ground and flying mounts. While the ground mount is very expensive to make you can sell it to other people who do not have engineering, to use it. Gnomish Army Knife is very handy so if you are thinking about picking up this prof, grab one!

Perks.. There really are a lot of perks, the items which you can use to do things you normally could not. Offering stuns from bombs to other mobs and players, pets, rocket boots, turning the 'bad guys' into chickens, and having the chance to rez another player. I could go on and on there are really so many nice perks to this one. I just wouldn't take it as a money maker as it takes money and effort to work up for the worth.

Some of the WoTLK items:
-Trinkets, Gnomish Lightning Generator, Noise Machine, and Sonic Booster.
- Portable mailbox and vendor,  MOLL-E and Scrapbot Construction Kit.
- Wormhole: Gadgetzan, Group portal to Gadgetzan.
- Your own butler- Jeeves - Bank Access, repairs, buying and selling.

Engineers also have access to the Dalaran Auction House (Located around the engineering trainer, where else!), you must be at least a Grand Master Engineer. I love this one with my Hunter!

Soo.. What to pick?

That's just a run down off the top of my head, I am not a profession expert and a lot has changed since I have messed around with some of them. However there are a lot of professions available to players- may they be fun, money or just something you really enjoy. Some people are big on min/maxing with the perks for their characters, really it's not going to make or break your character, a nice bonus for sure.

It's really up to you if you want to make money or just have something fun. I have some characters that just gather while others have some Profs because they are just cool to me and others have some that are handy for helping with making gear and money.

I really couldn't cover everything but maybe someone out there had some questions about which profession they wanted. I see questions all the time and this sparked an idea to get some information complied!

-kaozz