Do any crafting professions earn good gold?

[nidanone]

Hi guys

I'm lvl 61, currently have 2 gathering professions, skinning and mining.

Skinning is at 316/375, but I'm a bit behind in the mining 184/225, and wondering if I should drop it and get a crafting profession or take some time and level it up (I quest in Outland now, and can't mine anything there, so I'd have to go find Mithril to mine to lvl up my mining)

This is my first toon, so I'm wondering if maybe first I should keep both gathering professions and save up for my epic flying mount (how much is that by the way?) and only after that choose a profession (?)

Or, do any professions earn good money? From what I've seen in many professions most don't really make much. Many items sell at or below the cost of the mats.

I'd be interested in Swordsmithing for example (even though I'd drop mining I would just get mats on AH when they are cheap), but that apparently is a losing profession too,

I'm thinking about Leatherworking, since I want to keep skinning. But I'd want to make Elemental gear, and just one Recipe for one piece is selling at AH right now on my server for like 300g so that would not make sense either.


Do any crafting profession earn a decent amount of gold?

Or are they just for fun? :rolleyes:

[Beruen]

Flying mounts are 900G for training and mount, epic Flying mounts are 5200G for training and mount.

You can make some money with most any profession, but unless you find a market that few other people on your server are working on, you won't get sure money with any of them. Once you're lvl 70, it's easy enough to knock out a few daily quests in under an hour for about 60-70G a day. Not the fastest way to make money, but good enough for most people, I've paid for 5 epic fliers that way.

[nidanone]

Thanks

I guess what I'll do for now, is keep mining and skinning and save for my epic flying mount, and once I have enough gold I'll drop mining for Leatherworking

In the meantime, I'm keeping my eye on the auction house for any good deals on rare leatherworking recipes so I'll have them for when I do switch over.

[Aerath]

Pretty much all professions can you make you money if yer smart about it.

I've made money through leatherworking, engineering, enchanting, tailoring (though I haven't hit the gold mine there yet) and alchemy. Jewelcrafting would've made me money if my li'l priest had been a higher level so she could get over the 300 bump. I even found a few interesting recipes in Blacksmithing that do well.

Every single profession can earn you good, solid money.

[nidanone]

Is the smart way getting your hands on rare recipes? (so that you aren't competing with all the other people in your profession)

[rgirty]

For the average player gathering professions will always make more than crafting.

For the more hardcore player who has access to the more rare expensive patterns and low % drop patterns a crafting profession can be more profitable.

I would only advise things like tailoring or leatherworking that you can produce great gear for yourself that you'll actually use.

At 61 you need a lot of gold for the future, keep your gathering professions at least until your flying... my 2cp anyway.

[nidanone]

Thanks

Yes exactly what I was thinking. Save for epic flying first.

Just have to lvl up my mining now as I can't mine anything in Outland yet :(

[Aerath]

Is the smart way getting your hands on rare recipes? (so that you aren't competing with all the other people in your profession)

No. It's selling stuff that people need (e.g. leg enchants, enchanting rods, quest items), combining mats for profit (e.g. transmutes/flasks) or making cheap stuff that disenchants into something more valuable than its original materials.

Most of my money comes from quite simply being handy with a calculator and comparing prices.

I'll give you an example. If Clefthide Leg Armour sells for 50g, and the combined mats cost 40g to purchase on the AH... there's a profit to be had.

There's nothing more to it really - just what will sell well or disenchant well is highly variable from server to server.

[caldepen]

I'll give you an example. If Clefthide Leg Armour sells for 50g, and the combined mats cost 40g to purchase on the AH... there's a profit to be had.

And if you can gather some of those mats you will be even further ahead...

Supplement that with buying and reselling things off of the AH (anything that is cheaper than it should be) and you will be ahead of the game.

[Aerath]

And if you can gather some of those mats you will be even further ahead....

No.

That's a common misconception.

Buying things off the AH takes about 2 minutes. Taking the time to farm it might be about half an hour. In half an hour I can make far more killing something profitable than the mats for a single leg armour (or whatever) would cost.

Grinding for mats costs you money. If you happen to run into them whilst doing other stuff - that's all good. E.g. - yer killing thousands of clefthoofs for Nesingwary in Nagrand and get leather that way ? Sure.
But killing those cows for a low drop rate on skinning thingy ? No.

As the goblins are apt to remind one: "Time is money, friend."

//edit: to put a bit more nuance in my previous reply:
Rare patterns *can* be worth it, but most times they're quite simply not all that rare. And while there's money to be had in being able to craft something fancy that not everyone can... those are generally once-off big shots. You might make 100g with one of those patterns once a week. But, if you can make 25g/day with the more common patterns, it's still a higher profit overall.

[nidanone]

That makes sense thanks

I have a lvl 20 alt that I leveled just so she can de-enchant stuff, her enchanting is about 205 now (trying to get it to 225)

So you are saying that many leatherworking items I can make can be de-enchanted? (and then I would just sell the mats on AH)

[Tikki]

Aerath, I hope to not step on your toes, but for someone who loves crafting professions for the sake of making their own armor to wear, it seems odd that you would side step the "gathering" part because "time is money".

Crafting professions are all about time. They're all about the realism of taking the time to get the materials, make the items, and then use them. I can't disagree that it's quicker and easier to buy the things at the AH, but I think you're losing the "fun" in the crafting professions.

Perhaps I'm having a cynical moment, but people are all to quick to rush through the game and get money.

In the end, professions can make you money if you research your market, the recipes and ingredients. Gathering professions will make you instant money early on, and will continue to be a great source of quick and easy money. And if quick and easy money is what you want, I'd research a crafting profession when you're at level 70, with a stack of gold, and quickly level it up.

[nidanone]

Hi

I agree there is considerable satisfaction in crafting items you wear. I remember when I was leveling my alt (just to 20, but still) and she had tailoring it was nice when I could make her some nice armor, and when I was able to enchant her a better wand than she had, etc..

But to level LW in my 60's or at 70, I won't have a need for 99% of what I'll be making. I don't mind buying off the AH, I do that a lot now anyway (buy low, sell higher), so I can easily keep an eye out for good deals on the mats needed for my leather recipes.


Question: once at/near lvl 70, I'm curious about something (actually have been for a while), between Quest rewards, PVP rewards, and Raid rewards, etc.. is there a comparisson between what a Leatherworker can make and what can be found elsewhere?

In other words, are there recipes to make leather armor that is equivalent or better than what one can get from a Quest/Raid/PVP ?

Do people actually seek out some of the items a LW can make? (at the higher levels) and if so - between the price of the mats and the price you can sell the armor for is it worthwhile?


Yes I'm sure a riding crop can sell well, and the leather enchants, but I would personally get the most satisfaction from crafting items that people want because they have good stats, etc. and are comparible to what they would get from Raiding or PVP'ing.

[Tikki]

You can sell the lower items at the AH. You'd be surprised at what you can get for some low items...it might not be a lot, but it's still money.

[caldepen]

Grinding for mats costs you money. If you happen to run into them whilst doing other stuff - that's all good. E.g. - yer killing thousands of clefthoofs for Nesingwary in Nagrand and get leather that way ? Sure.
Thats what I was referring to. It does not cost you anything if you were doing something else anyway. And time is only money if you have something else to do! A friend of mine is unemployed and lives at his moms. The money for his time is a lot less than some others.

And the situation you are referring to happens all the time. While leveling or farming for other mats or rep farming or whatever. You always end up with stuff you don't need and want to unload. Am I going to undercut? Sure I am. I want to get rid of it.

[irogue]

Hi guys

I'm lvl 61, currently have 2 gathering professions, skinning and mining.

Skinning is at 316/375, but I'm a bit behind in the mining 184/225, and wondering if I should drop it and get a crafting profession or take some time and level it up (I quest in Outland now, and can't mine anything there, so I'd have to go find Mithril to mine to lvl up my mining)

This is my first toon, so I'm wondering if maybe first I should keep both gathering professions and save up for my epic flying mount (how much is that by the way?) and only after that choose a profession (?)

Or, do any professions earn good money? From what I've seen in many professions most don't really make much. Many items sell at or below the cost of the mats.

I'd be interested in Swordsmithing for example (even though I'd drop mining I would just get mats on AH when they are cheap), but that apparently is a losing profession too,

I'm thinking about Leatherworking, since I want to keep skinning. But I'd want to make Elemental gear, and just one Recipe for one piece is selling at AH right now on my server for like 300g so that would not make sense either.


Do any crafting profession earn a decent amount of gold?

Or are they just for fun? :rolleyes:

I think most craft professions are for usability.

I got 2 70s with herb 375/alch 375 and tailor 375/enchant 361. I find it easier to lvl the alchemy and make money from pots and xmute from primal earth (4g) to primal water (20g) than my tailor/enchant.

Enchant is a money sink because it takes way too much to lvl it. Even you got some rare enchants, it is usually free for your guild mates and not much from strangers (5 to 10 gold tips?).

I usually won't sell my herbs because I may need to use them myself in the future. However, I don't care about fish or meat and I think fishing and cooking brought me lots of income - thanks for those dedicated raiders.

Golden Fish Sticks - 30 - 40 gold a stack.
Fisherman's Feast - 20 - 30 gold a stack.
Grilled Mudfish - 20 - 30 gold a stack.
Poached Bluefish - 20 - 30 gold a stack.
Spicy Crawdad - 20 - 30 gold a stack.
.....

There is also a daily cooking quest and up coming fishing daily quest.

:smiley:

[nidanone]

Interesting.... thanks, I'll check into fishing/cooking, haven't really done much with it yet.

[Aerath]

Aerath, I hope to not step on your toes, but for someone who loves crafting professions for the sake of making their own armor to wear, it seems odd that you would side step the "gathering" part because "time is money".

Crafting professions are all about time. They're all about the realism of taking the time to get the materials, make the items, and then use them. I can't disagree that it's quicker and easier to buy the things at the AH, but I think you're losing the "fun" in the crafting professions.

Perhaps I'm having a cynical moment, but people are all to quick to rush through the game and get money.

In the end, professions can make you money if you research your market, the recipes and ingredients. Gathering professions will make you instant money early on, and will continue to be a great source of quick and easy money. And if quick and easy money is what you want, I'd research a crafting profession when you're at level 70, with a stack of gold, and quickly level it up.

I've always made tons of money - it's easy in this game.
I'm not kcma, but that's mostly due to me being too lazy to really control a market.

But, there's a difference between working on getting money and working on getting geared.

When are you using a profession purely to make money, from a money/hour perspective it's pointless to go out of your way to get, say, a large fang. It takes you 5 minutes of flying, 5 minutes of walking and if you're unlucky 10 minutes of killing. That's 20 minutes for one item that costs maybe 1gold in the AH.

I don't know about you, but even at level 10 I can make 3 gold in an hour.

Now, if I'm going to be crafting something fancy for myself then I'll most likely grind most of the mats myself unless I want to avoid grinding for something with an atrocious drop rate (cobra scales, anyone ?)

Similarly, as Alliance, it's a hassle to go to the Barrens just to get some Zhevra leather. In that case, it's easier to just grab some off the AH.

[Tikki]

I've always made tons of money - it's easy in this game.
I'm not kcma, but that's mostly due to me being too lazy to really control a market.

But, there's a difference between working on getting money and working on getting geared.

When are you using a profession purely to make money, from a money/hour perspective it's pointless to go out of your way to get, say, a large fang. It takes you 5 minutes of flying, 5 minutes of walking and if you're unlucky 10 minutes of killing. That's 20 minutes for one item that costs maybe 1gold in the AH.

I don't know about you, but even at level 10 I can make 3 gold in an hour.

Now, if I'm going to be crafting something fancy for myself then I'll most likely grind most of the mats myself unless I want to avoid grinding for something with an atrocious drop rate (cobra scales, anyone ?)

Similarly, as Alliance, it's a hassle to go to the Barrens just to get some Zhevra leather. In that case, it's easier to just grab some off the AH.


I totally understand the convenience of the AH when crafting something fancy.

I just found it strange that you would buy your materials from the AH! I thought you were a good ol' labourer! In love with crafting, spending hours over the forge. It just surprised me since through previous conversations you always gave the impression that you're out to enjoy every aspect of the game, to it's fullest and to the ump'th degree. By no means was I criticizing you. From what I assumed, I would have thought that your devotion to your crafting profession included grinding out the mats! I think it's great that you stick so a crafting profession...I have a hard time doing it. But it is a great aspect of the game.

I myself have two gathering professions and find that I can easily make enough gold to suit my need. I've found leveling up a crafting profession costly, with little return. But then again, I have never devoted enough attention to make it profitable.

I hope I didn't offend you Aerath! :undecided:

[RWGreen]

Depending on your server, the amount of crafted material you can sell might be quite low. There are crafters of every type in my guild who are willing to do just about everything for free, so there's no reason to pay for the service. You might sell the occasional nice crafted piece, but there will also be long periods when you don't sell anything.

Gathering, on the other hand, will be a nice steady stream of income to supplement your income from daily quests. If you eventually want to pick up a crafting profession, pick one that would benefit you or your guild. If you occasionally make some extra money from it, so much the better.

[Aerath]

I totally understand the convenience of the AH when crafting something fancy.

I just found it strange that you would buy your materials from the AH! I thought you were a good ol' labourer! In love with crafting, spending hours over the forge. It just surprised me since through previous conversations you always gave the impression that you're out to enjoy every aspect of the game, to it's fullest and to the ump'th degree. By no means was I criticizing you. From what I assumed, I would have thought that your devotion to your crafting profession included grinding out the mats! I think it's great that you stick so a crafting profession...I have a hard time doing it. But it is a great aspect of the game.

I myself have two gathering professions and find that I can easily make enough gold to suit my need. I've found leveling up a crafting profession costly, with little return. But then again, I have never devoted enough attention to make it profitable.

I hope I didn't offend you Aerath! :undecided:

No worries Tikki - I'll let ya in on a li'l secret... I can't even go out gathering stuff on my Druid. She has both Leatherworking and Engineering...
I had to ditch Engineering on my Rogue specifically to get the mats to level up my Druid's Leatherworking o.O

However, now that I've been 70 for ages, I am far less inclined to go out and grind those mats painfully with a less geared alt when I could simply go grind on my Druid, earn 2-3 times the money in the same time and thus have a far greater amount of time left to do things that are more entertaining than mindless grinding. It can be amusing at times, sure, but there's other things I enjoy more most of the times.

I don't even do dailies for the most part - they're not worth it from a gold/hour ratio point of view (to me, that is!), which would be the main reason people do them.

[clevins]

I scanned the thread, so apologies if this has been meantioned but...

once you start running heroics you'll have shots at Primal Nethers which are a reagent that some recipes require. Since they're BoP, if you have a recipe that uses them you'll often see things like this in Trade:

LF someone to craft [BoE item X], my mats 75g for your nether

What this means is that they're paying you 75g for you to use the nether you got in a heroic. Of course, this is only an option at 70 and usually for patterns that require 375 skill.

[nidanone]

So someone else can use a Bind on Pick-up mat and use it to craft?

Odd I didn't know that was even possible. Where do they put it in the "do not trade" window?

[irogue]

So someone else can use a Bind on Pick-up mat and use it to craft?

Odd I didn't know that was even possible. Where do they put it in the "do not trade" window?

It is used to creat a BOE item.

For example: Pattern: Spellstrike Hood
the Primal Nether is a BOP but the crafted Spellstrike Hood is a BOE.

If you run a heroic (45-90 min) for Primal Nether, you have 1/5 ppl (20%) chance to roll the Primal Nether. Hence, every 5 heroic (5x 45-90 min) will get you a Primal Nether statistically.

I'd rather go fishing....

[mesonm]

If you run a heroic (45-90 min) for Primal Nether, you have 1/5 ppl (20%) chance to roll the Primal Nether. Hence, every 5 heroic (5x 45-90 min) will get you a Primal Nether statistically.

I'd rather go fishing....

Not really...only crafters take the nether...so, the odds are often 1/2 or 1/3.

[Successful]

Hi guys

I'm lvl 61, currently have 2 gathering professions, skinning and mining.

Skinning is at 316/375, but I'm a bit behind in the mining 184/225, and wondering if I should drop it and get a crafting profession or take some time and level it up (I quest in Outland now, and can't mine anything there, so I'd have to go find Mithril to mine to lvl up my mining)

This is my first toon, so I'm wondering if maybe first I should keep both gathering professions and save up for my epic flying mount (how much is that by the way?) and only after that choose a profession (?)

Or, do any professions earn good money? From what I've seen in many professions most don't really make much. Many items sell at or below the cost of the mats.

I'd be interested in Swordsmithing for example (even though I'd drop mining I would just get mats on AH when they are cheap), but that apparently is a losing profession too,

I'm thinking about Leatherworking, since I want to keep skinning. But I'd want to make Elemental gear, and just one Recipe for one piece is selling at AH right now on my server for like 300g so that would not make sense either.


Do any crafting profession earn a decent amount of gold?

Or are they just for fun? :rolleyes:

Gathering professions bring you a lot of money. Especially once you have them in high levels since you can get more popular mats that people need. People may disagree, but I think that crafting professions do not bring in a lot of money if you are under 70 and it takes a while to level unless you have the gold to just buy mats the AH and craft. Which you wouldn't want to do because you want that flying mount once you hit 70. Most of your gear comes from quests so crafting won't really benefit you with weapons or gear. With a gathering profession you can just grab anything you can while doing quests/grinding and selling it on the Auction House for money.

The only time I would choose a gathering profession is in the low levels so that I can make my own gear/weapons or 70. For example, the engineers can make a mote extractor. All you have to do is fly around Nagrand, get the motes out of the clouds and BAM! You will be rich after 3 - 5 hours.

[ViciousViceroy]

I would like to point out that the cheapest crafting profession seems to be the profession that made me the most money. When leveling my tailor most of the mats that are used to level it are relitively cheap, with the exception being mageweave cloth which is 10g a stack on my server lately. I could ussually DE my crafted items while leveling and sell the mats on the AH. Notably being Black mageweave pieces which DE for 1g worth of mats per item.

Once I got a specialization I chose shadowweave as a Lock. Now that I have my Frozen Shadowweave gear I can sell my cooldown or Shadowcloth to others for some easy gold. For 30g worth of mats I can resell the cloth for 80g on my server. While 12.5g every day isnt good by any messure it is relatively easy money.

[Aerath]

And whilst leveling you can make a goodly amount of bags that always be needed.

[Clavina]

Over my various chars I have mining, skinning, alchemy, engineering, tailoring, enchanting, leatherworking, blacksmithing, cooking and fishing.

The only ones I actively make money from are:

Leatherworking - Epic armor kits, Heavy Knothide Leather (all leather I skin I make into this as it sells well on my server)
Skinning - Thick Clefthoof Leather
Mining - Ores, Gems
Enchanting - Disenchanting underpriced items off AH and selling mats.
Alchemy - Raiding elixirs/flasks (Although don't do this so much now as I have to buy the herbs)
Cooking - Roasted Clefthoof (I end up with loads after farming Clefthoof leather)
Fishing - Pots, cloth, leather fished from boxes

You can make money from any profession as long as you can find a market for it.

[Tikki]

Aerath- *gasp* I know your secret now :)

I've been wishy washy this entire thread...but here's my out and out advice.

My main character has skinning and tailoring. I picked up tailoring around 29/30, prior to that I had mining. With mining and skinning I had manage to get well over 100g by then. I decided to take tailoring up because a friend recommended it to me. It worked well.

If you do decide to take up two gathering professions just until you get yourself a chunk of cash I would recommend this- save ALL your linen, wool, silk, etc. This will make leveling up your tailoring soooo much quicker. Another good tip once you start using mageweave, is to sell half of that you collect (A smart person told me this!).

Good luck.
Just know, whatever choice you make can't be wrong, and you can always change things :)

[elsegundo]

in regards to tailoring, i make some money with bags, but not a whole lot. not as much as pure gathering at my level, but it still makes something others want. i have compared prices of various mats and the things i can make with them, and i find that selling mats makes more money overall. still, i make the items anyway. some things actually do make money if you have the gathering profession for it. but still, its more profitable to sell the raw mats. i do so only because i like to make things and hopefully provide something useful to the connunity, and bags are a great help to everyone.

in my experience, i've found that making bags is a money sink until silk bags. in my server silk is abundant, and getting a stack costs about 50s to 80s. some folks sell for a gold or more, but i never bid on those. with the necessary leather, my cost to make is just about 1 gold. then i sell for 1.25 gold and make about 25s. yes its not a whole lot, plus im not taking into account the AH fees. but its better than making woolen bags.

next up are the mageweave bags, which is terrible!! in my server a stack of mageweave can go for between 3-10 gold. i try to pay no more than 4 gold. 1 stack makes 1 mageweave bag that sells on my server for 2 gold. money sink indeed. but if you can make the enchanted mageweave bag, you can make some money. cost for the pattern is about 2-4 gold on my server. plus i'll need about 2 gold's worth of vision dust (4 visiondust). so cost totals 6 gold to make a bag that sells for 7-8 gold. still.... thats not a whole lot of money! but its much better than making the regular mageweave bag.

there's also the trick if DE'ing the tailored items you make and selling the results. its great if you know which ones will give you the most bang for your buck. still, its not a whole lot of money.

im still in my level 40s and its a little harder now to advance in my tailoring. mageweave is a big wall since the mats are a lot harder to attain.

through my personal experience though, i'd say stick with the gathering professions, as it is usually more profitable. once you have built up enough cash reserves, you can drop one and take up a crafting profession. if you want to make some money in the crafting professions, be prepared for a lot of research, and a lot of expired auctions.

[Luciaz]

From my experience in engineering, I find that making rifles is pretty lucrative.
Eversince the QQs going about how hunters are the easiest and most overpowered, there was a hunter boom on several(or some) servers.

I dont remember that exact mats for the rifles (my university blocks game sites :( )but I didnt really need anything from AH. All of them are from mining and leveling. Make 3-5 rifles of each levels, put it in AH(refer price from a reliable wow site). I sold all in 1 day. Good money...:D

Or I was just being lucky as engineering is the most underestimated crafting profession, so no engineer would ever thought of selling rifles in AH.:O

[Abeezil]

Thanks

I guess what I'll do for now, is keep mining and skinning and save for my epic flying mount, and once I have enough gold I'll drop mining for Leatherworking

In the meantime, I'm keeping my eye on the auction house for any good deals on rare leatherworking recipes so I'll have them for when I do switch over.

Gathering seems to be what makes any money. And, as said above, what you can sell on your AH depends a lot on the local economy. The AH on my server sells very poorly even for gathered items. For some crafted items it's hopeless. That said, though, there's something very satisfying and enjoyable about manufacturing things and improving your skills. Engineering is really entertaining, with the weird and wonderful things you can whomp up. So for me I trade perhaps a bit more money to be made for the fun I get from making these things.

[elsegundo]

General tip for the skinners/leatherworkers.

Do NOT combine your leathers to make the next level leathers. (except for the scraps). make sure you check your AH prices for them first, and see if you can make money off the lower level leathers first. I made this mistake the other day. here's the breakdown:

I had 120+ heavy leathers for a total of 6 stacks.
My leatherworking skill allows me to make thick leathers from those heavy leathers.
Boneheaded me thinks that heavy leathers are more valuable than thick leathers and combines them.
Now, on a 1 on 1 scenario, thick leathers are worth more than heavy leathers.
However, 6 heavy leathers = 1 thick leather.

Here's the outcome.
I could have sold 6 stacks of heavy leather for 2-3 gold each stack. lets say 2 just for the hell of it. that means i could have made 12 gold.
Instead, I combined them into two stacks of thick leathers and sold them each for... 3.5 gold each. total, if they sell, 7 gold.

Which is better: 12 gold or 7 gold? It's a no brainer.

Please check the AH for the going prices and see which one is better. just a little tip. good luck!

[nidanone]

Thanks, that's good advice

I finally got my mining skill up and can mine in Outland now (not everything yet) but so far making decent gold from the ore there (and I'm just tapping mines as I see them while questing)

Maybe I finally can save up for the epic flying mount now :)