Patch 3.0.2 guide to the new Gathering Profession Abilities
by Robin Torres 
Oct 16th 2008 at 1:00PM
The new gathering profession abilities were undocumented in the patch notes, but they are definitely live in Patch 3.0.2. I was very pleased to discover that my Herbalist Druid has a new self heal and that my Skinner Rogue and Miner Paladin also had some unexpected goodies. Over the summer, Blizzard experimented with some abilities for all of the professions, but all that are live in the patch are the ones for the gathering professions. At least Mixology is trainable, and other ones may be available, though undocumented in the patch notes. This will be covered in a later post.
Each ability can be found in your Spellbook under the General Skills tab. They have 6 ranks, with 5 being the maximum you are able to achieve before Wrath of the Lich King. The first rank is acquired with Journeyman or the skill of 75 and scales with your profession's rank. So, for example, a Master Herbalist will have Rank 5 of Lifeblood. Details for each ability are after the break.
Each ability can be found in your Spellbook under the General Skills tab. They have 6 ranks, with 5 being the maximum you are able to achieve before Wrath of the Lich King. The first rank is acquired with Journeyman or the skill of 75 and scales with your profession's rank. So, for example, a Master Herbalist will have Rank 5 of Lifeblood. Details for each ability are after the break.
Herbalism: "Lifeblood uses your skill in Herbalism to absorb energy and nutrients from the earth."
Lifeblood is an instant heal over time spell that is self-only and mana free. The cooldown is 3 minutes. Lifeblood is useable in all forms including Shadow, Cat and Bear, but is unaffected by healing bonuses. The amount of healing over five seconds for each rank is as follows:
- Rank 1: 300
- Rank 2: 480
- Rank 3: 720
- Rank 4: 900
- Rank 5: 1200
- Rank 6: 2000 (not available until the expansion)
Toughness is a passive ability that increases your maximum health. This ability is unaffected by any other bonuses. The increase in health for each rank is:
- Rank 1: 30
- Rank 2: 50
- Rank 3: 70
- Rank 4: 100
- Rank 5: 300
- Rank 6: 500 (not available until the expansion)
Master of Anatomy is a passive ability that increases your Critical Strike Rating. This ability is also unaffected by any other bonuses. The increase in critical strike rating for each rank is:
- Rank 1: 3
- Rank 2: 6
- Rank 3: 9
- Rank 4: 12
- Rank 5: 15
- Rank 6: 25 (not available until the expansion)
Patch 3.0.2 "Echoes of Doom" has landed and WoW Insider has you covered. From patch notes to talent guides for every class to fixing your addons to 5 easy achievements you can snag right now. Make sure to check out the latest news.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
basketboy Oct 16th 2008 1:05PM
i shouldnt have abandoned my skinning after all :(
Prauche Oct 16th 2008 1:05PM
Meh, herbalists heal for 1200 over 5 seconds, but miners get all of 300 health? Pays to be a picker......
Harmun Oct 16th 2008 1:33PM
Why do gorillas have big nostrils?
-Big fingers.
tekkfu Oct 16th 2008 9:39PM
I have herb and Skinning on my druid. Its a great heal in cat and bear form. Gives me two dot heals when sh&% hit the fan.
I was thinking of switching to inscription but besides the fast cash,no other reason right now to switch. No more extra Major slot anymore ,so its lame till shoulder enchants come out for inscription.
Nice buff to gathering prof bizz txs
Xtian Oct 16th 2008 4:21PM
I was pretty disappointed in the number of HP that miners got. I guess as a tank the 300 health is better than the 1200 healing/3 min, since you're constantly being healed to full, so you're getting a lot of mileage out of that extra health (same with PvP and dying/getting res'd pretty often). But for most PvE non-tanks, the herbalism is better.
Darthregis Oct 16th 2008 5:59PM
I see that herbalism buff as a bit of an emergency button should the need arise.
I think it's great they're adding profession related buffs, even if they're relatively "minor".
mistergrok Oct 16th 2008 1:13PM
I was able to train Mixology from the alchemy trainer at HH.
Robin Torres Oct 16th 2008 1:28PM
Thank you! I've edited the post and will write those up later. Seems all the profession abilities are in, but the crafting ones must be trained.
keith Oct 16th 2008 1:20PM
I tried lifeblood with my draenai last night, and their racial HOT (i've forgotten it's name, blessing of the naaru?) overwrote lifeblood, so that's a tad dissapointing.
NeSuKuN Oct 16th 2008 1:21PM
Didn't BS get armor too? I'm not BS but I've read about it somewhere
Harmun Oct 16th 2008 1:35PM
All the non-gathering bonuses were in beta for a while, but have not (yet) made it to live. I'm holding out that my engineering will be more than a bike and scope money in the expansion, because my mining bonus is underwhelming.
Kjeldor Oct 16th 2008 1:22PM
miner's definitely got the shaft here. 300 extra HP at level 70 is laughable, when you are a warrior running around with 10k+ hp.
Id rank them with the skinning one being the best, followed by herbalism. Mining is a distant third.
Tinious Oct 16th 2008 1:27PM
Not sure how much economy planning blizz does, but maybe part of the plan is to push more people into skinning and less into mining.... I know in my realm there's lots of miners and few skinners...
gundamxzero Oct 16th 2008 1:36PM
Its 300 you never had before, why would you complain about something that is a bonus?
Stormsinger Oct 16th 2008 1:44PM
300 health = 30 Stam (less if you assume BoK). I'd happily take a passive 30 Stam? That's like 2 epic socketed gems. I don't think my tank will be retraining (very happy with JC/LW thanks), but this isn't a negligible buff.
G Oct 16th 2008 1:45PM
I see what you did there.
injasour Oct 16th 2008 1:57PM
30 Stamina >>> 300 HP, actually. Many classes have talents to increase stamina by a certain %, then there's BoK as you mentioned, and for my bear 300 hp is about 19-20 stam before BoK. This is why bears would use a Heavy Knothide Leather kit (+10 stam) over +150 health enchant.
That's also why there was so much qq about Blood Pact's change from stamina to health.
300 free health is great, but it's pretty weak compared to the other 2, in my opinion.
JDM Oct 16th 2008 2:48PM
Since when did stam kits get modified in bear form? +150hp enchant should be better than +10 stam kit on a druid.
injasour Oct 16th 2008 3:13PM
@JDM-At least since I have ever played one. Personally observed and every gear guide for bears makes this point. Though +armor is not multiplied, +Stam always is.
+6 Stats is better anyway, though.
Legather Oct 17th 2008 4:47AM
True enough, it's an extra 300 hp we didn't have before. But when you compare that against the benefits of picking up another crafting profession (as was the impetus to giving bonuses to gathering professions), it could be considered pretty weak.
Extra health is always good, it's just not 'OMG I'm so glad I drop mining after all' good.