Breakfast Topic: Are you leveling your Professions?
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Nov 20th 2008 at 8:00AM
I admit, I'm not, which is new. When BC came along, while I leveled to 70, I always stopped to mine the Fel Iron nodes. Even on my initial tramp from 1-60 on my characters, I usually stop every few levels to make sure their chosen tradeskill is up to date. But this time, on my Death Knight, I'm not stopping for a thing. It's a weird feeling. I'm conscientious about making sure my characters are well-rounded, making sure they have the skills to pay the bills, so to speak, first aid and cooking in addition to a set of well maintained trade skills, but on my Death Knight, I just can't bring myself to let up on the questing and grinding for professions, even if it means leaving piles of dead, unskinned Bog Lords in my wake.
Admittedly, this may have something to do with the fact that his trade skills start at level 1 while he's level 55. In the end, I'd rather level in Hellfire Peninsula instead of picking daisies in Elwynn. Can you blame me? Still, I promise at level 80 that I will make time to level up his Inscription.
While I have asked about this before, I thought I'd see if the responses were any different now that Wrath is underway. Are you taking breaks on the road to 80 to level your tradeskills? Why or why not?
Filed under: Herbalism, Wrath of the Lich King, Leveling, Jewelcrafting, Breakfast Topics, Analysis / Opinion, Items, First Aid, Enchanting, Tailoring, Leatherworking, Engineering, Cooking, Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Skinning, Mining, Fishing, Inscription
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Tom Luongo Nov 20th 2008 8:06AM
I spent 5 hours on Saturday powerlevelling both blacksmithing and jewelcrafting on my 70 DK. to 375. I farmed the mats for during September. Now I'm working the JC dailies on my 2 JC's and levelling at a steady pace, enjoying the sights as I go.
Ta,
Greblegorn Nov 20th 2008 8:09AM
My skinning was maxxed within hours of beginning play in Howling Fjord. LW is currently 20 points shy of being maxxed. I can't pass up fields of free leather, either on the worgs of Venegeance Landing or the Nerubian bugs at Warsong Hold.
Falcio Nov 20th 2008 8:10AM
Skinner/Leatherworker here.
I'd have to force myself not to skin something these days.
I find myself taking a little bit of time adding some rested experience to get my Leatherworking up. I was close to getting rid of it, but after getting to 400 and getting my item "enchants", I thought I'd do better with it.
The fact that I don't have to garner rep to get the money-making armor kits is so great.
Jeff Nov 20th 2008 8:21AM
It's good to be a skinner in Wrath. So many beasts, so many people not skinning them, so much profit on the AH...
h8rain Nov 20th 2008 9:11AM
Jeff:
You are so right. I have probably skinned more of other people's kills, then I have killed myself. Wednesday night/morning I was already at like 415. If I had known the "Realm First" was still in place I would have gone for it, but I thought they removed it. Oh well, not like it really "matters".
The +90 bracers is awesome (only on my gear /sad, that would be great if sellable), and while I have not sold any armor kits yet (I have been giving them to guildies, since they are "free"), I expect LW to be much more profitable this expansion.
FryedGuy Nov 21st 2008 8:43PM
I started my DK at the beginning of this week and haven't looked back. He's currently 64 and hasn't touched the professions yet, but I'll prolly go back and power level them before I hit Northrend.
Simon Nov 20th 2008 8:17AM
For all my characters, it's not something that I'm going to be that fussed about due to the sheer numbers of people levelling through Northrend.
I.e. I don't want to hunt around for mineral and herb nodes with loads of others doing the exact same thing - I'm happy to wait until 80 to do this.
Of course with tailoring and LWing (if I have to kill skinnable creatures as part of a q) it's another story but otherwise, I'd rather enjoy the storyline, the new content etc. !
timmy! Nov 20th 2008 8:18AM
I picked up inscription and since we have to discover a lot of our glyphs I've leveled inscription so I can start doing the research.
William Nov 20th 2008 8:19AM
I've kept up with skinning and first aid just fine. Skinning's already maxed at level 74, and first aid is almost there.
I had mining as my second profession before Wrath, but it was at like 13, so I dropped it and started working on herbalism, using a guide I found online to show where to go to get it done quickly. This was a few days before Wrath, and the extra day of downtime before just the release kept me from catching up my herbalism. I decided I'd wait until after I hit 80 to go back and catch up.
Hebdap Nov 20th 2008 9:26AM
I'll be taking my DK down to Elwynn to begin some herbalism too. Which guide do you use?
William Nov 20th 2008 9:33AM
I used this one:
http://wow.thenoobschool.com/wow-herbalism-guide-1-375
Started at Elwynn, but then went to Westfall instead of the Barrens. Ran a circle around the edge of Westfall until about 120 (staying at the top of the cliffs along the coast), then ran up and down the coast on the beach to get Stranglekelp until 130, then continued the guide at Stonetalon.
William Nov 20th 2008 11:07AM
I liked the NE starting area for herbalism (once you get out of the 1-6 area I mean). Took my Draeni there and went crazy. Gatherer is a sweet addon too, if you don't have it yet.
Fridr Nov 20th 2008 8:20AM
Of course?
Some leatherworking lv78 items are too yummy to pass and the self-emboss-items are nice.
Going to get rid of skinning though once LW is maxed as I've always wanted to try out Jewelcrafting :>
DK... I might get a crazy idea some night to get level her professions. It's not the most important thing right now.
therandomguy Nov 20th 2008 8:19AM
I'm in the same position as you, I just can't bring myself to stop and go level proffs. Like you, I will when I'm 80, although I'll be mining/BS :).
JPN Nov 20th 2008 8:20AM
How can you not level skinning when you max it out a few hours after you hit Northrend?
Skinning really needs an overhaul. At the least, I wish they'd make it more interactive and interesting. Maybe an Operation-type thing where you have to steadily "skin" an area, or a rhythm-type thing where you have to click certain spots in a timed way or something. It's a bit of a waste, because you don't really have to "find" a node so you don't get that discovery fun aspect of it. Fishing is boring but at least the timing aspect gives you something to do. Or give us the ability to find something cool under the skin we remove, something that gives you a buff or whatever. It's dull. At least herbalism and mining have nodes you can track and find. It's just a means to an end for leatherworkers, and with no other benefits, it's like we only have one profession that does anything for us.
/rant
Kraas Nov 20th 2008 8:41AM
Personally, I prefer skinning to be quick and easy. Finding mineral nodes and leveling fishing is frustrating enough, they don't need to change skinning to make it harder/more time consuming.
FenSat Nov 20th 2008 9:28AM
I'd prefer skinning to be left as is. I definitely wouldn't want it to come to resemble anything like mining or even herbalism, which can be exercises in frustration at times.
On another note, does anyone else feel that cloth drops far too infrequently? I'm trying to level up tailoring on my main as I go, and it seems that, even with the ability that supposedly rewards more cloth from mobs, I'm seeing a lot less drop in comparison to Netherweave. I had hoped that higher level mobs would be more prone to dropping more cloth, but being on the cusp of 76 now, I'm just not seeing it.
stevens.ce Nov 20th 2008 10:59AM
[/tin foil hat on]
LOL, I think that increased cloth drop talent is just another gold sink - my hunter and my priest have both been leveling at the same speed in the same place, and I don't think i've seen more than one or two pieces of cloth difference between them
[/tin foil hat off]
and i completely agree on the quantity of cloth drops - way low right now. Of course, I spent a lot of time between alts shuttling around 2000 pieces of netherweave before my lock leveled up, so I guess too much can be a bad thing too.
Tishina Nov 20th 2008 3:26PM
An operation window? srlsy? LAWL. Enjoy the fact that you can always get leather. Mining...yeah we run around looking for nodes all right, along with a bunch of other people racing to beat us to them. I can't go out and kill a field of ore nodes. I run around hoping to get lucky. QQ!!!!
And yes, I definitely am lvling my jewel crafting as I go. Have you seen the price of cobalt ore? I see a node i'm crossing rivers, parting mobs with my psychic scream and praying I drop aggro on most of them by the time I hit my node. lol, bit it a couple times this way, but well worth it. JCing got some nice recipes this time around...
DigitalMonitor Nov 20th 2008 8:21AM
My main has skinning and herbalism, and they are both maxed. Admittedly, these are probably the easiest professions to max, but I'm also making a boat load of gold with people who are power leveling their professions.