What Is The Best Crafting ProfessionFollow

I'm not sure any of the crafting professions make as much money as gathering now that its so easy to get welfare epics from arena/pvp. You can make some good money jewelcrafting if you're willing to spend the money to get all the cuts

The best crafting moneymaker is probably Alchemy, but it still won't make you much. Crafting to make gold is a sucker's game. If you want to craft, do it for making stuff for yourself, not to sell. Still, I wouldn't suggest any crafting trade skill for a first or only character. You will end up dirt poor, because it's so hard to level by farming - you just can't get enough of the proper materials without buying some on the AH.


Absolutely true, but in order to make Enchanting pay off, you have to treat it as a gathering trade skill, not a crafting skill.

The problem with crafting professions is that in order to really make gold, you should farm your mats intead of buying them off the AH, and farming is slow. That means that at best, crafters who purchase their mats have a profit margin that is way low (certainly less than 30%) - quite often, there is a loss involved, because making the stuff to level means that you have to sell for lower than the cost of mats. Furthermore, crafters who farm have a very low gold/hour made.

If you are going to craft, do it for yourself, your friends, or your guild. Don't go into crafting expecting to become rich. Oftentimes, it will be the exact opposite. Many crafters do not make the gold back that they had to spend to level their chosen crafting profession.

Gathering = Moneymaking (I consider Enchanting a Gathering skill).

Crafting = having fun stuff, but not making too much money (in general).

For making money, and if this is your first/main toon, then it is recommended to get 2 gathering professions. Sell the stuff you gather, and you'll make good money.

Once you get your epic mount (lvl 60), then you should decide if you want to start crafting. It'll be much easier to gather mats once you have your epic mount. Plus, you should have plenty of money by then too.

If you are just starting out, a crafting profession will not be a great source of income. I've only been playing a month, but from what I've seen, the low level craft markets are saturated, and stuff sells slowly, at a discount. I've usually been able to buy stuff for less than the value of the materials.

If you must craft, stick to something you can use. Don't expect to craft better gear than you are finding in loot, but you can expect to fill in gaps that you haven't found.

Exceptions:

Jewelers will be able to craft rings and necklace items much earlier than you can find them. But these rings and necklaces are not that expensive at the auction house.

Engineers make many engineer-only items, and these provide capabilities your character may lack.

With alchemy, you can make your own consumables. I have not found it to be worthwhile yet, the potions are cheap on the auction house, and the mats scarce enough that the auction house is a more reliable option, but YMMV.

Enchanting, called a service profession, not a crafting profession, can be a good choice. It allows you to disenchant - destroy green or better items and create enchanting materials. These can be worth more than the base item. It you are a cloth caster, enchant allows you to make wands. A wand is very handy - a magic attack that cost you no mana; and even though it is a ranged weapon, it appears to have no minimum range. The vendors only sell high level wands, and wands are scarce in the auction houses I've looked on (just a couple of servers), so if you want a wand for a newbie clothie, you either want to know or want to be an enchanter.

Do not consider your choice to be cast in concrete. it only cost 10c or less to retrain your primary profession (each) so unless you have a lot invested in one or both, just use then loose until you feel you need to train one up to a high level.

Also, if the issue is that you want an income, gathering is a much better way to go, and learning what sells at the auction house is even better. (If you are on the demo, then by all means consider crafting, but that is really a different question.)

...and since he is just starting out, this has what sort of relevance? You're looking at the gold problem from level 70, when you should be looking back to when you were first starting out.

Low-level jewelcrafting is a money loser, when compared to its companion gathering skill, mining. Sure, when you get it leveled to 375, it can be a money-maker, but don't expect it to be until you get way up there. Wait until you get to at least L58 and can get to the outlands and have enough gold to power-level before choosing a crafting profession.