Most profitable professions

[Cardian]

Hello there,
as the title says i would like to know which par of professions is the most profitable on long term, i think i'm goin to roll a warlock and i know that the bloodvine set is one of the best for this class but it is worth to pick tailoring just for that and the +hit bonus? I was also thinking of alchemy&herbalism instead since pots/flasks are needed for the entire raiding community.

Thank you!

[Oneer]

As someone who hasn't played on pservers i'd still hedge my bets and assume alchemy as being the most profitable profession given the sheer quantity of consumables vanilla had at the time however this will be entirely dependant on having a constant supply of herbs to craft the potions in the first place.

Given most mains will feel heavily inclined to take engineering as one of their main professions herbalism for many will most likely be relegated to the duty of an alt unless you resort to playing the AH for herbs however this will cut into your profits vs. the time spent farming them yourself.

[AeneasBK]

Herbalism. The need for leather and ores will dry up, but gromsblood and dreamfoil will always be needed by the stack.

[Raugnaut]

Alchemy for sure. Keep in mind that unlike current where you only get 2 pots per fight, Vanilla, you could use a pot once every 3 minutes. There was no pre-potting, but instead you just continually chugged potions.

There was also a very wide range of potions that could be used at ALL lvls of gameplay.

[Thage]

Alchemy, as others have noted, is pretty evergreen. You and others will always need potions and flasks. Tailoring/enchanting are safe-bet professions, too, because people will always need enchants. Not many players are going to be dedicated/lucky enough for full Naxx-farm BiS so there's always going to be someone looking to get a new weapon or piece of armor enchanted. Bags and mooncloth cooldowns, too, will pretty much always make you money, and being able to craft your own bags as you level will be a godsend.

[Knolan]

Yep, last time I leveled a druid on a p server, I went herb/alchie, great deal (specially if you are not rushing as I wasn't).

I was getting around 5g profit on the Arcanite Bar CD and around 20s profit per potion when I got mats from AH.

On the other hand, if you are rushing, go skinning/mining, at least while leveling.

Alchemy, as others have noted, is pretty evergreen. You and others will always need potions and flasks. Tailoring/enchanting are safe-bet professions, too, because people will always need enchants. Not many players are going to be dedicated/lucky enough for full Naxx-farm BiS so there's always going to be someone looking to get a new weapon or piece of armor enchanted. Bags and mooncloth cooldowns, too, will pretty much always make you money, and being able to craft your own bags as you level will be a godsend.

I am actually planning on going tailoring/enchanting this time. I will play as a druid (obviously leveling as feral), which can grind relatively well. Humanoids with caster abilities have proven to be very profitable on the XP/Hour once you have feral charge last time, so I will try and see if I can grab enough cloth.

The main problem I see with herb/alchemy is that I heard the node spawn on the official server is much smaller, hence the competition will likely be quite big.

[Whistl3r]

I'll be going herbalist and alchemy on my rogue main but I would think herb and tailor will be a really good earner from selling raw herbs and bags/cooldowns

[Raelbo]

The thing about this question is that the answer changes dynamically according to what the current correct answer is. The problem is that the most lucrative professions attract people to them. Which then increases supply of that profession, driving down the prices and thus profitability.

The real trick to being highly profitable is anticipating, ahead of time, where the demand is going to be based on the professions that people avoid, and then being able to switch before everyone else cottons on.

[Whistl3r]

The thing about this question is that the answer changes dynamically according to what the current correct answer is. The problem is that the most lucrative professions attract people to them. Which then increases supply of that profession, driving down the prices and thus profitability.

The real trick to being highly profitable is anticipating, ahead of time, where the demand is going to be based on the professions that people avoid, and then being able to switch before everyone else cottons on.

Very true. Having most bases covered with alts so you can diversify and take advantage of synergies .

[Thage]

I am actually planning on going tailoring/enchanting this time. I will play as a druid (obviously leveling as feral), which can grind relatively well. Humanoids with caster abilities have proven to be very profitable on the XP/Hour once you have feral charge last time, so I will try and see if I can grab enough cloth.

The main problem I see with herb/alchemy is that I heard the node spawn on the official server is much smaller, hence the competition will likely be quite big.

I'll be going tailor/enchant on my gnome mage, both for free gear/bags/chants and for a steady supply of goods to DE.

[avitush]

You can't go wrong in any version of WoW (including Classic) with herbalism/alchemy if you want to make money and are patient enough to play the AH. People always need pots/flasks (and elixirs in some cases). And you have your arcanite bar CD. And you can always sell raw materials if you have extra stuff laying around.

I want to say maybe blacksmithing/mining can be good there too, since you can make some useful gear later down the road (particularly some plate gear with various resistances on it). Also some of the extra mats you get from mining stuff can be useful for other professions, so you can sell off the extra mats you don't need.

[Mercadi]

I am fairly certain that the most profitable of them all would be Auction spec. Buy cheap, buy all of it, sell more expensive, while eliminating competition. The more gold you have, the easier it would be to have your own corner of the market.

[vsb]

I wouldn't bet on alchemy. Everyone will learn it. And nobody will actually buy those potions, we are not on private servers, casual players are not going to spend a fortune for some lame temporary buffs and hardcores will farm for themselves. So it will be a rat's race to the bottom.

[Sorcereria]

Mage + Herbalism. U cant go wrong with farming black lotus.

[Bethrezen]

Skinning/Tailoring while leveling on realm start. Everyone wants bags, easy gear to DE for Enchanters, light/medium leather easy and safe vendor for consistent gold, AH Heavy+.

Goblin Engineering steady and consistent income at 60 for Goblin Sappers, depending on server population of raiders/pvpers. As mentioned above, Mage herbalism is $$$ for ez black lotus (only paladins my F you), and Dire Maul East herbs while farming AOE trash there for greys $$$.

Alchemy is strong and consistent $$$ for both raiders and pvpers. Especially titan and supreme power flasks, Fire Protection potions early on(there will always be some sort of demand for them early on with a good server raid population). Arcanite xmutes is a steady 5g every 24 hours, unless you can access yourself a steady supply of crystal + thorium bar to sell Arcanite yourself. I personally like to make my numerous warlock lvl 35 alts be Tailoring/Alchemy for this reason for arcanite factories (Mooncloth stock up for future phases. Wink, wink.). Plenty others need not mention if you're on a high pop/active Classic server.

Devilsaur from skinning. Not much need more to be said. Leatherworking Devilsaur too, if you're actually able to contest a steady supply for yourself to make these. They'll sell well until Phase 2 or 3 of content release. GL against the mafia though.

A lot of a professions worth though depends on what server you end up on, and if its active or dead raid/pvp wise. Keep this in mind as you explore your choices. Expect to make better gold on a pvp server than a pve server, as overall population will end up with more of a demand on pvp vs pve, since pvp servers may have players playing both pvp and pve.

[tikcol]

Skinning in the beginning for sure if you can farm devilsaur consistently

[garicasha]

Wool Cloth lol...farming Stockades is its own profession.

[PavelGolub]

Iron Ore , anyone that want to be good at pvp is going to buy them in bulks for Iron Grenades.
Wool Cloth . just farm lowbie dungeon is great because no one has enough of it to get their profs up without farming.
Devilsaur Skin is in demand for quite a long time, but you will be ganked there if you are alone.
Spider Silk is quite important i think it was iron-web that was quite expensive.

It really depends on the server, each server will have a different amount of people that sell the same "Services" so you'll have to do some market research if you want to maximize your earnings on your particular market.
You can farm devilsaur skin but there are 300 people that are selling them which means price is dropping rapidly and no one is selling copper ore so the price is getting higher by the second for those crappy ore's.



Alchemy is the safest bet if you can farm matts or play the market , you always need those Potions/Hebrs.
Swiftness,Free Action,Flasks,Resistance... Mana Pots healers will need a stack or two for a raid.
Arcane Xmute is great money too you can buy mats and sell it for a profit of 5-15g.