Which professions should you pick?

You get two main professions plus the three secondary skills (Cooking, First Aid and Fishing), which everyone can learn. The classic rule still holds: take a gathering profession with the craft that uses its materials, so you are not buying everything on the auction house while you level.

If you want… Take Why
Armor and weapons for a plate or mail class Mining + Blacksmithing Smelt your own bars; Sharpening Wheel for campsites
Gadgets, explosives and ranged gear Mining + Engineering Same ore feeds both; strong in PvP
Potions and flasks Herbalism + Alchemy Herbs are the whole cost of Alchemy
Leather and mail armor Skinning + Leatherworking Skin what you kill while questing
Cloth gear and enchants Tailoring + Enchanting Cloth drops from humanoids; disenchant what you make
Gold from raw materials Two gathering professions Sell herbs, ore and leather to crafters

What changed from Classic?

The numbers in the table above come straight from the beta client. Blizzard announced more than 600 new recipes across all professions and level ranges; the client has more than 900 recipes whose names do not exist in Classic Era, including renamed ones. Crafted food can now grant a small experience bonus as well as stats, and advanced Blueprint recipes drop from dungeon bosses.

Every profession page has a skill-up checker: type your current skill to see only the recipes that still give points, colored the way the game colors them.

Camping and professions

Each profession has three campsite objects: one learned at skill 20 and two from Blueprints. When players camp together, each can add one object to the campfire, and each profession gives its own buff or workspace. Read how Camping works for the full list.

Professions and the Legacy system

Tradeskill milestones count toward Legacy points, and the Professions Legacy tree has perks such as Bountiful Harvest (more materials from gathering). Plan them in the Legacy planner. Because Legacy points are shared across your account, alts with different professions add up.

What we have not tested yet

Recipe lists, skill colors and reagents come from the client. The skill at which a trainer teaches each recipe, vendor prices and profit per hour are server data or market data; we will add them after testing. Profession leveling routes follow once the game is live.

Find dungeons whose bosses may drop Blueprints on the dungeon list and plan where you will gather on the leveling map.