Is Leatherworking worth it?Follow

As a general rule, dropped items will always be better than what can be made via trade skills. I’ve read this from more than one official source over the last year and a half. Production skills like leatherworking and blacksmithing were set up to fill in some gaps between drops, but that’s about it.

That having been said, it really depends on your gaming style. If you do a lot of raiding or a lot of PvP they you will most likely be able to get much better items than you can craft. If not, then you may be able to make items that you’ll use for a fair amount of time before something better comes along.

My advice for production skills has always been to only pursue them if you enjoy the craft for its own sake. Some people, myself included, simply enjoy making things. Some I make items for myself or my alts, sometimes for friends and on occasion I even make items to sell. But if your only reason for picking up a production profession is to make money or to make your own gear then I would not recommend doing so. Take two gathering professions and buy the items you need with the money you make.

Alchemy and enchanting are kind of exceptions to this rule. If you like using potions then alchemy will be useful to you for the life of your character. I never remember to use potions, so it’s kind of pointless for me. *grins* And if you can afford the time and expense of enchanting, it can be very rewarding, financially speaking, at higher levels.

I recently created a Tauren Druid and went with Leatherworking and Skinning.
Most of the armor i've been wearing i made myself.
By the time i hit 21/22 i could make...

http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?witem=4253

And atm i can make +16 Armor kits. +24 soon.
Leatherworking is at 142 and Skinning at 191.
Having Mining\Blacksmithing and Alchemy\Herbalism with other characters i find this more rewarding as you can skin almost any beast and get leather.
Including harmless Deer that run around in packs of 6/7 and beasts that other people have killed.
And seeing as i'm so nice i've made n given lots of items to lower level players for free to help them out.
To me it's cetainly been worth it.
Hope this helps.

My wife and I have just started playing the game. I chose Skinning/Leatherworking and she chose Enchanting. Right now everything that we are wearing are items that have droped off of mobs rather than crafted stuff.
We do plan on leveling up our skills and producing items to sell at auction. And we are aware of the idea that they will be somewhat inferior to items that the game most generously drops at random off of mobs. And that at lvl 40 we will each be switching into Chainmail armor on top of that.
To answer you question directly.
We are making just a bit more money combined between the two of us to get skilled up in our skill professions. The components for her Enchanting are expensive and not at all easy to come by like the skins that I aquire off of dead mobs.
We are having fun with it and will make money off of it .. but that Yacht and Summer home will probably be a long time comming!

Me like to makey *drool* little pieces of stuff glued together *drool* tis so fun making things with superglue *drool* Oh ya and if you cant get my stuff off then gg cause I don't think glue dissolvent has been invented yet *snicker* *smirk*

I kept my LW'ing up at a high level the entire time I levelled my hunter. I make plenty of money from the process. I did most of my levelling through grinding and skinning beasts. Here is what I do:

Take a few quests and grind everything you can on the way. Try to grind beasts so that you can skin them all (I avoid and hate spiders). I have never bought leather from the AH. I skinned it all. Only do things in the game that will advance your leatherworking or your character level.

Because most of your character levelling will come from grinding, you will get some nice drops that will be useless to you. Sell it all. Get bigger bags. Save everything you can and sell it all. I get some purple items from drops and I sell them immediately. Occasionally, I will get a drop that will suite my character well for his level. I wear those. Everything else I wear is made by me. I look at the AH and there isn't much out there that is better than I can make. It is trivial. Just keep your leatherworking skill as high as possible and you will be able to make things that will suite your level.

I did by a few top of the line weapons from all of the vendor crap I sell.

Also, people say that your LW'ing items will not make you money at the AH. That's strange because I make several gold every day from this. I make items to level my leatherworking skill. It may cost me to level my skill but it costs nothing to sell it. If I use 14 heavy leather, 2 heavy silken thread, and 3 wilvine, that I found grinding trolls to level, then I sell the item for 2.5 gold at the AH, I make 2.5 gold minus the cost of the thread plus, I levelled up my LW'ing at the same time. To me, that is pure profit.

Now, I have 300 skinning and 280 LW'ing. I kill and skin beasts 2 levels higher than me and I cannot spend the gold I make. It is gauranteed that I will have epic mount money by the time I am 60. I sell my vendor trash every hour or so and that gives me several gold. I go to the AH and there isn't anything decent for me to spend my money on. So, I just keep on trucking.

The key points are:

You do not need the super duper 100+ gold items at the AH. Way over rated. Just upgrade your weapons if you don't find them in the process of grinding.

Sell everything you find. Bear Gall Bladders are actually worth a lot of money.

Everything you do must be centered around upping your LW'ing skill. If you cannot get to the next LW'ing skill level without levelling your character, go quest and (most importantly) grind skinnable beasts, fill your packs with leather in order to level your character. As soon as you level go back to leveling your LW'ing.

I gained 3 levels just grinding turtles for their scales. I also gained several levels grinding Scorpids for their scales. Then, I levelled by grinding elite dragonkin for their scales and I found a couple of purples that brought me over 300 gold just for those.

Anyone who says that LW'ing won't get you the money you need or the gear you need to play the game effectively is wrong because I am doing it entirely solo without struggle at all.

although maybe not as a low lvl