Why wouldn't you take up tradeskills from the begining? Surely you're just cutting off a useful area of income and items?

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As a newbie, I didn't suss professions until I was at least level 15. I then quickly got myself a skinning knife and went on a rampage. Killing and skinning low level mobs over and over again just to level the profession up was the worst bit of grinding i've encountered thus far :(

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I wait til level 70 for any manufacturing professions. I figure that's when I'll get the most benefit from them, that's when they'll be easiest to level, and that's the only time I might actually *need* them.

This is the same across any toon. I level them all with skinning and mining like mentioned above, then swap to the toon's 'real' professions at 70.

However, if I were to make a twink, I'd obviously get as far into engineering as I could. =)

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I'm in the same boat with mining/skinning as it creates a ridiculous amount of cash (new server and I didn't have to wait a second for my 40 or 60 mount!).

The second character on the server gets the same treatment, but I also treat myself to frequent, cheap, AH upgrades to speed the leveling a bit.

My intent is to level appropriate professions (based on class) at end-game for upgrades, but never for profit. So tailoring for some, blacksmithing (maybe) for others.

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Well when I started i didn't know that engineering was such a money sink. So about 20 something i switch to lw and went back to Engie about level 61.

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The best way to start a profesion is with a new char/alt.
Because you get very quick the stuff you need to when you are leveling.
Blacksmithing is one of the professions that i would start when you are 60+ because you need a fast mount and you need tons of thorium to get it up.
Blacksmithing is not fun to skill with. ;/ thats another thing.

My chars are allready finished.

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I level Trade Skills as soon as I can get them. I always have max Cooking and first Aid for my level, and then whatever my gathering type is. Now the crafting skills are another matter.

Yesterday, I was working on my LW Shaman, and I wasted a bunch of leather to make Guadrian Gloves (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=5966), a level 33 WHITE item. WHITE!!! I hope to god that when WotLK comes along Blizz streamlines all the old craftable items since so many of them are worthless (IE all that Agility Spirit gear) or have mat requirements that by the time you could farm enough, you have long since outleveled the usefulness of the gear.

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On my alts, I always pick up skinning and herbalism. Sell the leather, send the herbs to and alt for later (40-50ish), at which point I'll drop skinning and pick up alchemy, using those herbs to level it up.

The only problem is, none of these alts have gotten past 15. Though now I do have lots of peacebloom and silverlead :)

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I've had mining ever since I came across the first trainer for it back in the starting area. It's been a great money maker.

My other slot I've tried a lot of things with. I've been a leatherworker, skinner, herbalist, a jewelcrafter, and now an Engineer (for the second time). I think the Flying Machine has convinced me to stay one this time though.

What I wouldn't give for a third profession slot though...

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i play warcraft poorly, i have a blog about it
won't you comment on my blog

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on my first char (pally) i lvled mining and BS. I wish someone would have told me that BS is pointless for prot pallys :/ Got it to 370 before i finally decided to drop it and pick up herbalism instead.

I normally lvl my profs as i lvl, i usually reach the prof lvl cap way before im high enough lvl to learn the next bracket.

I'm currently lvling enigneering on my 23 rogue, and loving it :D Goggles that are so imba for the lvl, bombs that do 250 AoE dmg and stun :D Just got the Goblin jumper cables as well, used twice, worked twice :D And lets never forget the amazing Kamikaze Sheep :P

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Leveling using Skinning and Mining is the way to go, but being a Disenchanter can get you some cash too. my current alt on a new server is a Skinner and Disenchanter. tho i havent made any $$$ yet, but there should be some potential

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I tend to go one for fun, one for profit - each alt has a gathering profession and a complementary manufacturing profession. It isn't as profitable as sell-everything-you-harvest,
but I get a thrill from seeing "Made by ME" in the tooltip.

My first alt got started to make a bronze tube for my main when they were not to be had for love or money on my server ("Look to the Stars" in Duskwood). After that, I was hooked.
One of each class, one of each profession on two different servers (Horde and Ally)...

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I've worked most all the professions. Ideally, if you choose the crafting skill that suits your class (i.e. smithing for warr/Pally, LW for Druid/hunter, etc) you will have access to a constant stream of upgrade gear, regardless of drops, and the collection skill will give you some decent coin for your spare mats. In reality, crafting, and the entire player economy, is one of WoW's greatest Achille's heels. Most of the craftable items are there just to level you to the next 'decent' item's crafting level, and almost anything you can craft will be worthless to anyone but you for the one time you make it as an upgrade. Because WoW is so gear dependent, crafting will always be on the backside of the gear stat inflation curve. After playing games that aren't level/gear dependant, with actual player economies where crafting MATTERS, it's kind of annoying.
But, it's one more "oooh, gotta spend another hour or two in game to make THAT", so still best done while leveling. Otherwise it's just a major annoyance to get it up to 300 all at once later on so it'll be usefull.

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If I'm rerolling for some reason I'll start with mining/herbing or mining/skinning. However on my estabilished servers, I have one of each of the production trades (although engi is only on my twink) and a couple of characters that are just gatherers.

I use my higher level gatherer to get mats for my lower level professions and then use my enchanter to DE all the items that I make to level the professions. If I'm in between levels that I'm able to train (i.e. about lvls 25-35 and 40-50) then I'll take all the gathering mats and sell them. That is how I have financed 2 epic mounts now.

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My lowbies do mining unless they're on the same server as my mains.

All my chars level mining then change to something else at 60 or so. Never tried skinning.

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Definitely take up mining and skinning all the way to 70. Skinning and mining will also help you level up faster - since several quests require skins and ore and some mobs will drop quest items you need when you skin them - same with the ore quests - some ore you mine will have quest items. (Netherwing Dailies, for example, have a Daily Ore Turn-in, which you can get from mining the deposits around Netherwing Ledge in SMV)

These days, I wouldn't touch any armor-producing professions, because anything you can craft will always be inferior to what you can get from PvP, Dungeons and even Reputation Rewards. Use the money you make from Mining and Skinning to BUY whatever cool craftables you want off the Auction House (noting that a couple you can't use without being a crafter yourself).

I'd go with Enchanting, Engineering or Jewelcrafting, if you choose to drop skinning. Keep mining, because it's used in Engineering and Jewelcrafting. Enchanting works with anything (it's also off-shoot gathering profession, from the shards you get from DE'ing items). Engineering has lots of cool stuff and gadgets (Jumper Cables, Scopes, Gyrocopters) and Jewelcrafting is awesome for filling out sockets in armor, which seems to be a staple now for high-end items.

Blacksmithing, Tailoring and Leatherworking are largely useless, IMO. Blizzard destroyed a lot of the "old-world" stuff with the Expansion and the armor-producing professions have really never recovered.

If you need bags, Armor Patches or Riding Crops - just buy them off the AH or buy the mats and ask someone to craft them for you.

So long story short - take Mining and Skinning to 70. Then, drop Skinning for Enchanting, Engineering or Jewelcrafting and reap all the benefits :)

This is just my opinion - ignore me if you wish. :)

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