Completely lost.

[lespaul5895]

Currently I'm very confused about professions. It seems to me like they've completely changed everything about them and I'm clueless. Is there a guide somewhere that I could read through on how everything works now?

[JemiS]

Nothing really works any differently than in the past.

At one of the early quests in SMV, you'll get items for your professions that unlock a short quest that lets you level them to 700 and teaches you recipes.

Then you get mats and make things.

Secrets are used to buy recipes (Ashran), and you have daily CDs to make materials with which to craft things.

[barrsftw]

I get where hes coming from... I'm pretty lost as an ENGI. Enchanting seems to be completely different; no more glove/chest/boot/bracer enchants.. but now neck/ring/cloak enchants...

[JemiS]

Enchanting is completely different just because there are different slots to enchant?

Engineering is really straightforward- you have your daily CD to make gears, and you have secrets on a daily CD which you use to buy patterns.

Have you guys visited the profession trainers in Ashran?

[MasterDinadan]

Profession ARE pretty different. Here's a brief summary:

Gathering Professions:
Draenor nodes will yield more resources if your skill is higher. You can harvest Draenor nodes even from skill level 1, but you will only pick up fragments of materials until your skill is higher.
The only bonuses that are exclusive to the crafter (BoP craftables) are cosmetic like pets and mounts. There are no longer any combat benefits.

Crafting Professions:
Every crafting profession has a BoP crafting material (except enchanting which is BoE) that is the basis of most of their best items. You acquire daily profession cooldown or garrison work orders.
All Draenor recipes can be crafted with 1 skill. Increased skill level only gives the benefit of making your daily material cooldown better (which in turn means you can craft more stuff).
Many recipes can be crafted by players who put the station in their garrison, but every profession has a few recipes (usually the best) that are exclusive for them
The only bonuses that are exclusive to the crafter (BoP craftables) are cosmetic like pets and mounts. There are no longer any combat benefits.


Basically, any profession can be profitable. Gathering professions profit by gathering materials, while crafting professions profit by producing more of the key crafting material. The items produced by crafters have real added value because there is an actual limit to what they can produce (based on material cooldown and work orders).

It's still a good idea to pick complimentary professions. A blacksmith without mining won't get enough ore from his personal mine to get the maximum yields from his cooldown and work orders each day. Although, if you are cheap and patient, it may be better to just use the cooldown and ignore the work orders (it gives a more efficient rate)