I was talking to an old buddy of mine that I used to play with, we lost touch and just recently started talking again, he asked me for some gold advice and the first thing I asked him was " what are your professions? ". He answered back with Herbalism, Mining, and Tailoring & Engineering at roughly 450. I then told him a couple tips but this really got me thinking, there are probably thousands of others out there with both gathering professions trying to make gold at the AH, what they don't realize is that when you're playing the AH you do not need these professions at all. While great to have for sometimes " free supplies " ( which they really aren't since you spent time gathering them ), it's not really worth it in the end
Sure it's nice to have a gatherer alt, but gathering isn't always the answer. After you get a nice amount of capital ( 5k or so ) you can then proceed to drop these professions for better professions that will bring in the gold. If you have an alt or two with a gathering profession go ahead and drop them; especially if you don't find yourself going out and farming at least a couple times a week. Gathering isn't really worth it in my opinion, you're better off utilizing the crafting professions and playing the AH if you're trying to make gold.
You ( and everyone else ) needs to get away from the gathering mindset, sure gathering professions are great for gold but once you have a nice amount of capital you can be making way more per hour playing the auction house instead of farming for x amount of hours. I know it can be a bit weird to finally drop those professions, but trust me once you get a good gold making profession you'll be making so much gold that you'll never have to gather in your life. I do know that some of you do enjoy the gathering aspect of the game and that's perfectly fine.
Need some suggestions on what to switch those gathering professions to? I'll help you out below
- Jewelcrafting thus far this expansion has been the major cash cow and with epic gems well on their way I suspect that JC will be the best profession to make gold from. I would definitely suggest this profession to someone who doesn't already have one.
- Tailoring isn't too good at the moment, I expect this to change with 4.2 & the new patterns. You're going to need 150 volatiles per week to do use your weekly dreamcloth CD though, which can get costy especially if you don't have much capital. Leg armors are profitable but not worth it in my opinion. I wouldn't suggest this to many people.
- Leatherworking is profitable in many ways. Leg armors, Pvp gear, turning in savage leather into pristine hides. Just a great overall profession to make gold from.
- Inscription is great for starters, but can be very rough and intimidating. The glyph market is often cut throat and over crowed, but the potential for profits are insane. Would suggest it to those with determination to stick it out.
- Alchemy is great for a starter profession, crafting the daily truegold can be profitable if you become a transmute spec'ed alchemist. You can also craft the Living elements transmutation for profits. Transmuting gems can also be VERY profitable. This is a great profession to pair up with JC purely for gem transmutations. I'd recommend it to anyone with low-mid capital.
- Enchanting can be very costly to level. The profits at max aren't too good, unless you have gold to craft the very high end weapon and bracer enchants. There are a couple cheap profitable enchants but not too many. Only reason I'd suggest this is so you can have a disenchanter to DE your things from the obsidian shuffle, otherwise I wouldn't suggest it.
