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Dropping skinning for herbing?Follow

#1 Apr 22 2008 at 11:43 AM Rating: Decent
My lvl 70 druid has lw and skinning maxxed out at 375. I have my epic flight form as well. It's been a long minute since I've crafted anything for myself thats BOP besides Boots of Natural Grace. My druid tanks with a raiding guild and end up using a good amount of flasks/elixirs. I've been toying with the idea of just dropping skinning and picking up herbing since I spend a ton buying mats or the consumables themselves since I seldom go skinning anymore unless its for the SSO daily...any thoughts would be appreciated!
#2 Apr 22 2008 at 11:57 AM Rating: Good
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1,264 posts
I'm in the very same boat and I've thought about doing the very same thing many times. What keeps me from dropping skinning is I don't want to have to buy mats for the times when I do craft something.

If I did a cost/benefit analysis, I'd probably be better off picking up herbing since, like you, I do buy mats (or pots) for raiding consumables.

I have considered stocking up on leathers, then dropping skinning. But, I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. Part of it is I've been a skinner/LW ever since I first learned professions. I have a sentimental attachment, as well as a kind of role-playing attachment. I don't play on a RP server, but I always like the idea of a hunter being a skinner/LW...it just seems appropriate.

The other aspect for me is that I like to be self-sufficient. I don't like to bother people asking them to craft things for me. I'm sure some people are happy to do it for me, but I just don't like making a habit of it. So, if I were to pick up herbing without taking alchemy, it would put me in a position of being dependent on someone else to craft for me.

Anyway, I feel your pain. I don't have an answer one way or the other unfortunately, since I've been struggling with the same issue for quite some time.
#3 Apr 23 2008 at 4:41 AM Rating: Decent
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107 posts
I would say - talk to your guild members first.

What does the guild need you to have as skills. Are you the only LW and skinner, or the only high-level one? Do you have up and coming alts in the guild who may need Belts of Natural Power and other BoE.

If you have a high level alch/herber in your guild, the chances are that they are collecting mroe herbs than they can use, and can probably supply you with what you need in terms of flasks and elixirs.

Investigate you server economy. Does leather sell for good cash, but herbs don't or vice versa? That may influence your decision.

LW is a good skill to have, if only for the Drums. I read that a top end raiding guild requires all its raiders to have LW just for the Drums of War and Drums of Panic.

I am a lvl 70 druid and do alch/herbs, although I looked at skinning/LW when I hit Outland. I obviously lose out on a couple of BoP LW items that would be of use to a feral druid, but there are plenty of drops/badge rewards that are as good or better than the items I have missed out on.

As a generalization, I would say that it is easier to sell high-level alch produts than high-level LW products. Why? Simply because there are more of them, there are less mats involved in making them, and ALL classes need pots and elixirs. Thus, I would consider alch/herbs to be a more 'universally useful' skill.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Thranathiril
#4 Apr 23 2008 at 9:14 AM Rating: Good
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1,264 posts
Follow up:

Last night I decided I'd do it. Our 25-man raid didn't happen, so I decided I'd spend the evening leveling herbing instead. I dropped skinning and headed to Teldrassil to start leveling herbing. In about 4.5 hours last night, I made it to 223. There are a couple slow spots where it's harder to find herbs and I made the mistake of going into Ashenvale, where apparently herbs are not very plentiful. I hopped on WoW again this morning and in about 2 hours I made it up to 315 herbing. Now that I'm in Outland, the points will come fast. Herbs seem to be everywhere and I can incorporate herbing into my daily rounds.

A nice bonus was the Fel Lotus that appeared in my second Outland picking. :-)

Just thought I'd post a follow up to my original reply. If nothing else, it's been fun having a new goal to pursue. Now, I just need to level my alchemist up to 50 so I can hit the 375 cap. At least all the herbs I picked should help.
#5 Apr 23 2008 at 9:20 AM Rating: Excellent
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4,574 posts
Here’s something else to think about. Leveling skinning is extremely fast and easy. I have two horde characters over level 60. I decided to redo their professions. My level 62 orc hunter leveled his skinning from 1 to 250 last night. I could have taken it to 300 but I stopped to watch a movie. Just keep moving up to harder to skin creatures as your skill goes up. Divide your skinning skill by five to figure out the highest level creatures you can skin.

So if you want to give flower picking a try go for it. If it doesn’t work out for you it won’t take you very long to level your skinning back up.

#6 Apr 23 2008 at 10:01 AM Rating: Decent
I actually have the Belt of Natural Power already. I am definitely planning on keeping LW if not for the simple reason that I dropped way too much time and gold to lvl it. Our guild has designated crafters for each profession and almost all of the mains have their professions capped. Therefore, if I couldnt provide skins, someone else can. I guess I am just worried w/ the "what-if" scenario of when expansion comes out and god help us Blizz decides to add 100 more lvls to cap LW then I'll be SOL and have to buy all the leathers I'll need. Add to that the tug between the idea of skinning where I might be able to use it at some point, or herbing where I regularly get elixir masters to whip up several stacks of consumables.
#7 Apr 23 2008 at 1:02 PM Rating: Good
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1,264 posts
Quote:
So if you want to give flower picking a try go for it. If it doesn’t work out for you it won’t take you very long to level your skinning back up.


This is what pushed my decision to try out herbing. A couple of friends in my guild said the same exact thing when I asked. So, if I ever do absolutely need skinning again, I can always spend a couple hours and level it. I'd venture a guess I could level it much quicker than herbing, if I ever decide to pick it back up.
#8 May 07 2008 at 3:35 PM Rating: Decent
Plus, with leatherworking, you can still buy up cheap scraps or knothide leather whenever you want to craft something - without having to buy the overpriced (at least on my server) heavy knothide.
#9 May 08 2008 at 11:34 AM Rating: Decent
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307 posts
High end LW patterns seem to use anything BUT leather these days. You don't need skinning to farm primals and nethers and vortexes.

Our guilmaster just did the same thing for the same reason. He was burning through flasks and elixirs and felt it was more efficient to farm the mats himself.
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