Professions in World of Warcraft are what drive the economy of the game. Select the right combination of professions for your character and you can earn a lot of money by selling the items you create. You can also use them to greatly improve your own character’s equipment and create items that improve your entire party, raid, or other members of your guild.
There are three main categories of professions: crafting professions, gathering professions, and secondary professions. Each has its benefits and each profession can benefit the others.
Gathering professions are used to harvest resources needed by crafting professions. You can use these items for your own crafting profession or sell them on the auction house to other crafters.
Crafting professions allow you to make all kinds of useful items using the items collected with the gathering professions. With a crafting profession, you can create items that you or other characters can use directly, as well as other ingredients needed for further crafting. Most crafting recipes are learned from the profession trainer, but other rarer recipes are obtained from random mobs and dungeon bosses. Others can be purchased from faction quartermasters once you have achieved the required reputation with that faction.
Each character is only allowed 2 main professions at a time. At any time you can decide to leave a main profession and learn another. Most players typically choose a gathering profession and a crafting profession that uses the materials from the gathering profession. Having lots of alternate characters, each with a different combination of professions, can really benefit all of your toons, as each profession can collect or craft items that can benefit many of the other professions. If you’re primarily focused on one character, joining a guild, where other guild members have a variety of professions, can really benefit you and the professions you’re trying to level up.
The 3 secondary professions (cooking, fishing, first aid) can be learned by everyone. First Aid allows you to make bandages that can be used during combat to heal your character. Cooking and fishing, especially when leveled together, can allow you to get great food buffs to improve your character’s stats and abilities.
As you level up in your profession, you will gain proficiency titles that you must learn to progress in that profession. Each level of proficiency has a required character level and a minimum profession skill level, before it can be achieved. These are summarized below in this mini guide to WoW professions.
Apprentice
Skill Range: 0 – 75
Require character level:
- Meeting level: 0
- No collection: 5
- Fishing: 5
Official
Skill Range: 50 – 150
Require character level:
- No pickup: 10
- Fishing: 10
Expert
Skill Range: 125 – 225
Require character level:
- Meeting: 10
- Non-collection: 20
- Fishing: 10
Craftsman
Skill Range: 200 – 300
Require character level:
- Meeting: 25
- Non-collection: 35
- First Aid: 35
- Fishing: 10
Teacher
Skill Range: 275 – 375
Require character level:
- Meeting: 40
- Without collection: 50
- Fishing: 10
Great master
Skill Range: 350 – 450
Require character level:
- Meeting: 55
- Non-collection: 65
- Fishing: 10
illustrious
Skill Range: 425 – 525
Require character level:
- Meeting: 70
- Without collection: 80
Racial profession bonuses are granted to certain races as a racial trait. These are listed below.
Gnome – +15 Engineering
Tauren – +15 Herbalism
Draenei – +5 Jewelry
Blood Elf – +10 Enchantment
Worgen – +15 skinned
Goblin – +15 Alchemy
