Alchemy or engineering?

[Regen]

Currently on my DK i have 450 Alchemy and 450 Engineering, and as i'm now leveling him, I realize I don't have the gold to level either profession. So the problem/question is, which should i drop for the other professions gathering?

I'm looking for a good mix between what i can make money off of but also get the best of benefits off of.

I'm a Tauren DK, with most focus on dps and i'm looking to get more into PvP in this expansion and a little blood tanking here and there.

[kumduh]

engineering rarely makes you money, but it has great perks.

[Nyanmaru]

Want an epic helm at the start? Keep Engineering.
Want an epic trinket at the start? Keep Alchemy.

Want a DpS CD? Go Herbalism.
Want +120 Stamina? Go Mining.

TBH unless you are a caster, engineering sucks balls except for OOC gimmicks.
Alchemy = Transmutes + Flasks making money for you
Engineering = A rifle, once in a while, sometimes...

If you want to make money and DpS Boost, go for Herb/Alch, it will reward a lot more than Mining/Engineering

[Volitar]

I would drop eng

[Shiira]

Engineering will be our best dps prof in 4.06 so I wouldn't recommend dropping it.

[Alternategray]

Don't drop either. Power-level an herbalist/miner. I only say this because it's waaaaaay easier and better to have two gathering professions on one toon. Way.

But if you insist on taking the easy way, Nye pretty much laid it out.

(Rogues make good gathering char.'s, although I've heard pallies are pretty good also, probably better. DK's are the best, but... that's not an option for you, obviously.)

[dwarven]

Alchemy is awesome. I've made some decent gold with it and you get a bunch of perks like the new trinkets and increased flask durations.

[Thunder Blue]

Don't drop either. Power-level an herbalist/miner. I only say this because it's waaaaaay easier and better to have two gathering professions on one toon. Way.

But if you insist on taking the easy way, Nye pretty much laid it out.

(Rogues make good gathering char.'s, although I've heard pallies are pretty good also, probably better. DK's are the best, but... that's not an option for you, obviously.)

I think Druids are easily the best gatherer class. Instant Bird Form + Herb gather in Bird Form + Easy CC + Stealth. Doesn't really get better than that.

[Nyanmaru]

I think Druids are easily the best gatherer class. Instant Bird Form + Herb gather in Bird Form + Easy CC + Stealth. Doesn't really get better than that.

20% increased mount speed want to have a word with you. If you spend 7.5s moving to the next node, the mounted speed is better than the instant form. Even if the guild perk is fixed (last I heard, it doesn't affect flight form), it's still 10% difference so if you spend more than 15s finding the next node, any class with +20% mount speed talent/skill wins. (iirc, DKs, Paladins and Hunter can go for it, but there could possibly be other classes as well, I didn't stay up to date on all of the cataclysm talent changes for all the classes)

[Wingwraith]

Engineering will be our best dps prof in 4.06 so I wouldn't recommend dropping it.

Agreed. I'm glad they're finally getting around to making the glove tinker proc more than just intellect.

[Deathquoi]

Gathering professions are for alts.

[Dominate]

20% increased mount speed want to have a word with you. If you spend 7.5s moving to the next node, the mounted speed is better than the instant form. Even if the guild perk is fixed (last I heard, it doesn't affect flight form), it's still 10% difference so if you spend more than 15s finding the next node, any class with +20% mount speed talent/skill wins. (iirc, DKs, Paladins and Hunter can go for it, but there could possibly be other classes as well, I didn't stay up to date on all of the cataclysm talent changes for all the classes)

Druid herbalist means you don't actually need to fight anything however, with a tauren druid I can pretty much beat any paladin or whatever to herbs at least. Minings a little here or there, but generally cultivation with a druid now it increases herbing speed isn't something you can beat. And I did have a hunter speeced into animal handler (I think it was...haven't played that toon for a long time) with skinning and herbalism I retired.

Just an opinion; I'd take not needing to fight near needs and exist form, plus gather faster than moving slightly faster. Also any gathering in Vashj'ir is insanely fun and easy with aquatic form.

[Deleted]

Gathering professions are for alts.

Not really, my tank loves my mining buff... goes well with JC too

[Roose]

Engineering is not for making money. Alchemy is all about making and saving money. Right now with flasks costing anywhere between 100-400g, that alchemy buff is nice.

Engineering helms are better than anything outside of heroic raids.

Jeeves anyone? Portable mailbox? Just some of the things that make the game easier on you.

Also, tinkers stack with enchants. Synapse springs will be your best stat soon and that will be awesome. Outside of raids I use my parachute cloak quite often.

I love engineering.

[Shiira]

I would be surprised to see synapse springs go live in their current ptr state, the stat gain from them is 20% better than the gains of all the other profs apart from jcing.

Would be nice if they did though.

[tuknir]

I think its logical. They already exist on live servers, just only with 1 stat. Now they're just correctly updating them.

[Shiira]

Making engineering good for melee and hunters again is logical. Making it better than all of the other profs isn't. I won't complain because due to my own laziness I never ended up dropping engineering while it was useless, but it's really going to suck for everyone who went jc/lw.

[kumduh]

What I've always loved about engineering is that the glove enchant is a cooldown and not just a static buff. This has always made it extremely good for Frost, since you can use it with Pillar of Frost for more attacks that do more damage, but now that it provides a strength bonus it's even better. 480 strength while having +20% buff would come out to a gain of 96 extra strength, and if my math isn't wrong - I'm not the math expert that Nye is - it would be equivalent to 115.2 strength full time. That's an extra 35 strength than the other professions, but again, that's if you play Frost. Using it with Gargoyle is just as good, though.

[thundercles]

STOP!
Don't drop either one!
You'll be much much much much happier in the long run by making an alt your gatherer.
A druid with mining/herb is teh sex.

You will like yourself better if you go this route.

[Shiira]

It isn't 35 strength more than the other professions for frost because unbreakable armour also increases stat boosts from other profs.

It's still going to be the best dps prof for frost even if it gets brought down to the same level as the other profs though.