Question about Skinning

[Armastrong]

I have a problem here (I think)
I've been skinning and skinning beast's and i'm stuck on 100 in Skinning skill,
i've even skinned lvl20 beast's and no skills receved what so ever,
and I need 125 to get to the next lvl.
Is there sumthing I might be doing wrong here?

[JediMaster]

If I am not mistaken ( I might be) with skinning you should be skinning creatures 5x lower than your skill.
If you are at 100 skin lvl 20 creatures and so on......

To get to 125 try skinning creatures at about lvl 25 this should get you there.

[Armastrong]

k. but if I remember right, I tried to skinn creature higher than lvl20 I think it was lvl22. and I got the message, U cannot skinn this creature, or U dont have enough skinning skills to skin this creature. I might be wrong (I doubt it) but i'm gona go and check for sure.

Thx :-)

[Lunaticfish]

When you have the option to skin there should be a colour grey, green, yellow, orange or red. If its red you won't be able to skin it, grey you won't get any progression from skinning it. My guess is that level 20 creatures may be green for you in which case you have a chance of going up every time you skin but sometime you don't progress for aaaaages.

My skinning is 281 so I have a problem skinning now as I am level 38 but according to the 5* theory I need to be skinning level 56 creatures (yikes!!).

[DotComm]

The max level beast you can skin is skinning level / 5. So at 120, the max level you can skin is 24. Lunatic is right, level 20 beasties are probably green to you. Try skinning ones a bit higher.

With most professions, if you harvest an orange herb or orange mining vein or make an orange item, you get a skill up. But because skinning is so easy to level up, you aren't always guaranteed a skill up from an orange beast. I'd suggest that you're just unlucky with the random number generator, and to just keep skinning until you get the last 5 points.

SB

[Falchan]

Actually, lv 20 skins for a skinner of 100 should be orange or yellow...he cannot even try to skin a lv 21...not enough skill...he would need 105 skill for a 21.

[AlCapwn]

If I am not mistaken ( I might be) with skinning you should be skinning creatures 5x lower than your skill.
If you are at 100 skin lvl 20 creatures and so on......

To get to 125 try skinning creatures at about lvl 25 this should get you there.

In theory that should be the case. But I'm currently killing lvl17-20 mobs with my lvl18 DE Rogue and my skinning is well over 100 (I think its currently at 130).

[Leonavice]

Skinning is special and different from mining or herbing. For skinning to increase in skill, you can skin anything that is orange to green. The difference here is that skinning is accumulative and you have to accumulate these "skinning points" to raise 1 level in skinning

For example, let's say you want to get from skinning 120 to 121. Assuming that you need 5 "skinning points", and 1 orange skinning gives you 5, yellow gives you 3 and green gives you 1. Skinning something orange gets you to 121 straightaway. You need to skin 2 yellow things however, to get pass that 5 skinning points threshold. You have to skin 5 greens to get a skill increase here. Or, you could skin 1 yellow and 2 greens to get it.

[ArchAngelofDeath]

Skinning is special and different from mining or herbing. For skinning to increase in skill, you can skin anything that is orange to green. The difference here is that skinning is accumulative and you have to accumulate these "skinning points" to raise 1 level in skinning

For example, let's say you want to get from skinning 120 to 121. Assuming that you need 5 "skinning points", and 1 orange skinning gives you 5, yellow gives you 3 and green gives you 1. Skinning something orange gets you to 121 straightaway. You need to skin 2 yellow things however, to get pass that 5 skinning points threshold. You have to skin 5 greens to get a skill increase here. Or, you could skin 1 yellow and 2 greens to get it.


Actually your thinking is close but not quite precise. It is possible to skin one single yellow and get a skillup point. The skillup process is more along these lines:


Say you are skinning an orange mob, when you "skin" it a random number say 1-100 is rolled. For an orange item to give you a skillup point, lets just say you can roll any number 1-100 and get the skillup point. (Hence orange=guaranteed skill up point)

Now for a yellow, when you skin it, you may have to have the random roll be greater than say 20 for example. So there is a pretty good chance you will get a skillup point, but not guaranteed.

For a green you may have to have the random number be greater than 85. Again, it is still possible to skin a green mob but it's much less likely to get the skillup point.

Finally for a grey mob, you would have to roll a 101 on a 1-100 roll. Therefore, you get no skill ups from grey mobs.



This IMO is a better idea of how the skillups work for skinning. It is not like fishing which is more like the idea of "accumulation of skill point" that you described. Fishing skill does indeed depend on accumulation of a certain number of catches per skill point based on the level you are currently sitting on. Skinning is a much more random process and therefore skills up faster.

(And for the record I in no way meant any harshness or meaness in my post, i was just trying to give my picture of how skinning works to the OP, I didnt want to sound critical of your post Leonavice. Thnx)

[rgirty]

I leveled up skinning from 0 to 125 in about an hour...it seems very very easy however not very profitable as all i really gathered was light and medium leather. What beasts do i need to kill/skin to start turning any kind of profit? Alliance side btw.

[Falchan]

Simple lesson of life - nothing easily obtainable is valuable (unless, of course, the demand is insanely high, witness the copper craze). In most cases, leather gathering is not terribly profitable...exceptions being the rarer skinning drops (such as shadowcat hide - it's difficult to get, and as such valuable), and devilsaur hides (also difficult, because they are giant T-rexes with mega HP).

In short, don't expect to get rich with skinning. THe cash you get from skinning mostly offsets the fact that beasts generally do not drop cash when you kill them...anyone without skinning gets bubkus, you at least get a tiny patch of their flesh to peddle...yay!

[rgirty]

I have been doing skinning and enchanting. Enchanting simply to DE greens i don't need/want. I'm going to setup an alt to do DE and use my main for mining/skinning. I notice a lot of opportunities to mine in my travels and it just seems like free money!

[Armastrong]

Well I've got it over the 100 barrier, it seems that guest accounts have cap of 100 in skills :-/ sry if I didint mention it earlyer.
now i'm a full member of WoW :-)
thx for all the responses

[Duffless]

I leveled up skinning from 0 to 125 in about an hour...it seems very very easy however not very profitable as all i really gathered was light and medium leather. What beasts do i need to kill/skin to start turning any kind of profit? Alliance side btw.

I recently reached 240 skinning and started getting heavy leathers from some enemies level 28+... I went to the AH and put in 10 heavy leathers and they bought out for 1.8g within a short span of time. I think that is good cash.

Plus, medium leathers go for pretty good too (at that part of the game).

[Falchan]

Well I've got it over the 100 barrier, it seems that guest accounts have cap of 100 in skills :-/ sry if I didint mention it earlyer.
now i'm a full member of WoW :-)
thx for all the responses

Whoah...didn;t see that one coming! Good to know!

[Duchel]

I recently reached 240 skinning and started getting heavy leathers from some enemies level 28+... I went to the AH and put in 10 heavy leathers and they bought out for 1.8g within a short span of time. I think that is good cash.

Plus, medium leathers go for pretty good too (at that part of the game).

Wierd, I just bought 50 Heavy Leather for only a little more (2g).

[rgirty]

Duffless, i discovered just what you were saying, while waiting for some party members in the wetlands i skinned several beasts there yielding medium and heavy leather which is decent $.

[Duffless]

Wierd, I just bought 50 Heavy Leather for only a little more (2g).

Its nice to know i'm on a server where my skinning pays good ^_^

[Algamonn]

I recently reached 240 skinning and started getting heavy leathers from some enemies level 28+... I went to the AH and put in 10 heavy leathers and they bought out for 1.8g within a short span of time. I think that is good cash.

Plus, medium leathers go for pretty good too (at that part of the game).

I am way over 200 skinning now - I am level 30 - and I pick up either medium leather or heavy leather for any mob I kill level 28 plus.

This - along with the hides I pick up - enable me to post at least 1g worth of material in the AH every time I log out - just from normal questing / travelling, not even farming or grinding.

Blimey though - you will never get 1.8g on my server for 10 Heavy Leather - thats the problem with crowded realms - they go for more like 70s !!

[Bullvye]

Skinning is a nice skill because it costs very little and always makes a profit while you are leveling. Truely, all it costs is bag space and time, plus a few silver to train the different levels and buy a knife. Heavy leather should make you a tidy profit because of Thorium Brotherhood rep. But it does not have any huge money makers. It just provides a useful STEADY source of income since you are going to be killing beasties anyway.

-Bullvye

[HunterXel]

Sorry to start this topic up all over again.. I just started skinning, and leveling up on my skinning as well. Do they sell better skinning knives, or is just the one that I have fine? I wasn't sure if I should be upgrading my skinning knife or not? Also, if I sell my hides that I skin to a merchant is that the best place to sell them off? I'm just a level 9 Nelf - Hunter, and a newbie to WoW. I'm still having a hard time understanding some of the acronyms, but I'm trying.

Thanks,
HunterXel

[dorn]

Sorry to start this topic up all over again.. I just started skinning, and leveling up on my skinning as well. Do they sell better skinning knives, or is just the one that I have fine? I wasn't sure if I should be upgrading my skinning knife or not? Also, if I sell my hides that I skin to a merchant is that the best place to sell them off? I'm just a level 9 Nelf - Hunter, and a newbie to WoW. I'm still having a hard time understanding some of the acronyms, but I'm trying.

Thanks,
HunterXel

The one u have is fine. at lvl60 u might wanna look for a knife with +skin (there are a few dropped from mobs) to skill lvl63 mobs. but before lvl60 dont bother :)


as for selling hides. at lvl9 u probly get scraps witch noone wants :)
as u get further, U might wanna sell your leather on the AuctionHouse. since theres always a little money to be made from it.

(hint : make a alt. and put it in SW between the mailbox and the AH. mail all your stuff there. saves u a ton of traveling :) )

[mesonm]

The one u have is fine. at lvl60 u might wanna look for a knife with +skin (there are a few dropped from mobs)

Finkles, ftw. :)

[HunterXel]

The one u have is fine. at lvl60 u might wanna look for a knife with +skin (there are a few dropped from mobs) to skill lvl63 mobs. but before lvl60 dont bother :)


as for selling hides. at lvl9 u probly get scraps witch noone wants :)
as u get further, U might wanna sell your leather on the AuctionHouse. since theres always a little money to be made from it.

(hint : make a alt. and put it in SW between the mailbox and the AH. mail all your stuff there. saves u a ton of traveling :) )

Hey that sounds very much like a "mule" toon! I've heard of that - then I could just mail back my Gold/Silver/copper - or stuff to my good toon! cool, thanks for the tips.
:grin:

[Havoc Jack]

Does finkle's count as a skinning knife as well?

I mean, it adds +10 skinning, but if I have it in my bags and no skinning knife, can I still skin things?

By the way, if you vendor your leather, any merchant will give you exactly the same price.

[Morollan]

Actually your thinking is close but not quite precise. It is possible to skin one single yellow and get a skillup point. The skillup process is more along these lines:

Say you are skinning an orange mob, when you "skin" it a random number say 1-100 is rolled. For an orange item to give you a skillup point, lets just say you can roll any number 1-100 and get the skillup point. (Hence orange=guaranteed skill up point)

Now for a yellow, when you skin it, you may have to have the random roll be greater than say 20 for example. So there is a pretty good chance you will get a skillup point, but not guaranteed.

For a green you may have to have the random number be greater than 85. Again, it is still possible to skin a green mob but it's much less likely to get the skillup point.

Finally for a grey mob, you would have to roll a 101 on a 1-100 roll. Therefore, you get no skill ups from grey mobs. Actually, I think the previous poster was probably closer to the truth. Skinning an 'orange' mob does not automatically give a skillpoint, unlike any other profession AFAIK. I was levelling my skinning and it would take 2-4 orange mobs (mobs of the highest level I could skin, ie, 20% of my skinning skill) before getting a point. I even queried this with a GM and was told it was working as intended.

[Kail]

Finkle's and the other +skinning dagger do not count as skinning knives; you have to keep the one you've been using. Also, you have to actually equip the daggers to get the bonus. It's irritating.

There's also a +skinning glove enchant, +5 I think.

[mesonm]

k. but if I remember right, I tried to skinn creature higher than lvl20 I think it was lvl22. and I got the message, U cannot skinn this creature, or U dont have enough skinning skills to skin this creature. I might be wrong (I doubt it) but i'm gona go and check for sure.

Thx :-)

You are equating your character LEVEL with theirs....It is your skinning SKILL level that matters...

If your skinning SKILL level is 120, you can skin things approx level 120/5=24 regardless of your characters level (you could be level 15, or level 60, and it wouldn't matter as to what you could skin, so long as your SKILL level was appropriate..

[Glenfinnan]

Actually, I think the previous poster was probably closer to the truth. Skinning an 'orange' mob does not automatically give a skillpoint, unlike any other profession AFAIK. I was levelling my skinning and it would take 2-4 orange mobs (mobs of the highest level I could skin, ie, 20% of my skinning skill) before getting a point. I even queried this with a GM and was told it was working as intended.

One piece of information I heard in the distant past was that if you were skinning something that someone else killed (or that you were not a major contributor to it's death), that the chances of gaining a skill point was significantly reduced when compared against the situation where you skinned a mob that you killed solo. This was established to slow down the rate of advancement for people who skinned leftover corpses, as opposed to mobs that they killed. This could account for those occassions when a person skinned an orange mob but did not receive a skill point.

- GF

[Wasabee]

Items that give you + to Skinning:
Finkle's Skinner - Equip +10 Skinning, Dagger
Zulian Slicer - Equip. + 10 Skinning, Sword
Enchant GLoves: +5 Skinning

Skinning is good for "easy money". Kill a beast and you get the "extra" loot. I'd put all of it on the AH. (Yes, even the scraps...nice for new Leatherworkers...) When you get higher level (58+) you start killing Dragons on some runs. They give you Dragon scales which sell nicely. The Crème de la Crème is the Beast in UBRS (Pristine hide of the beast) and end game dragons (Check Onxyia and others).

All in all not a bad trade. I think you make more G on this "gathering" profession then others, only because you can clear a whole area and get several stacks of leather/scale as opposed to Herb/Disenchanting/Mining. Key is to skin all you can, and not to pass up beasties.

[Morollan]

One piece of information I heard in the distant past was that if you were skinning something that someone else killed (or that you were not a major contributor to it's death), that the chances of gaining a skill point was significantly reduced when compared against the situation where you skinned a mob that you killed solo. This was established to slow down the rate of advancement for people who skinned leftover corpses, as opposed to mobs that they killed. This could account for those occassions when a person skinned an orange mob but did not receive a skill point.

- GF Don't know if that is true but I was definitely skinning my own solo kills and not getting one skill point per orange mob.

[Aswer]

I don't know about your realms, but I dropped skinning cause you can't really make any money with it, its just irritating. I have both Finkle's and Zulian sitting in my bank now (Zulian enchanted with Spellpower mwuahahaha :D), but for money, both mining and herbalism are waaaay better than skinning.

As for the Devilsaur leather, it just doesn't sell for much on my realm. They go for 2g tops. I can solo the devilsaurs and king mosh without a hitch, while I go farm stone guardians around Un'Goro, but its still quite pointless. Just get a stack of dreamfoil and sell it for the price of 8 stacks of rugged leather.