When we’re not busy killing the enemies of the world, looting epics, ganking fellow players and collecting quests, there is one important role left.
Professions.
With BfA re-jiggling of the professions (RIP First Aid), some have certainly become more useful than others. Some are hugely lucrative, with players drowning in gold like Gallywix himself.
Professions have transformed into a way to pay for wow services that had previously required “real world money” (pfft…).
Now players are putting their noses to the grindstone, instead of diving behind couches to buy their precious wow tokens.
Not just used to flex about the gold total, professions still have their place in a raid and end game content and so it’s useful to know which ones will give you an edge financially and in gameplay.
See which ones you like and I hope it helps you decide which ones to pick up.
So here we go… the top 5 professions for BfA.
5. Tailoring
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Bespoke gowns and suits for the finest of Azeroth
Tailoring overview in BfA
Tailoring is always a great profession to take and there are some nice Tailor-exclusive perks that make it all the better.
It’s a decent one to level as murdering humanoid creatures will always drop the cloth needed. It won’t take long to find yourself in with more Tidespray Linen then you know what to do with.
Able to craft decent quality gear for cloth users (and cloaks) as well as the infamous money-spinner that are tailoring bags, it’s a great way to be useful and cash in.
I find it’s ideal to pair with enchanting. If you’re a glutton for punishment like me and take two crafting professions, that is.
You make pretty dresses, smoosh them into dust and get sparkly gems instead. Job done!
What Makes Tailoring Useful
It goes without saying that making bags will always be the biggest incentive for tailors.
Since Tailoring has existed, making the big slot bags is a sure way to keep a steady flow of gold into your piggy banks.
The Embroidered Deep Sea bag is a 32 slot bag and is massively sought after for the hoarders amongst us. These can sell for a couple of thousand gold each (depends on your server’s economy) so are the go-to for quick cash.
I recommend getting these to level 3, which means a little bit of a rep grind. But fewer mats requirements mean more bang for your buck.
And who doesn’t love doing quests for Scrollsage Nola?
Being able to craft a decent item level is a helpful step up for any alts you plan to level. And it's a great way to get gear to prepare you for raids if you need a little boost to your ilvl.
Some of the items do sell pretty well on the AH. If you’re on RP servers, the sets can fetch a nice price.
4. Enchanting
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A true artform; turning armour into sparkles
Enchanting overview in BfA
Enchantment? Enchantment!
The profession of magically crushing items into sparkly gems or bucket loads of dust, Enchanting is one profession that is both profitable and highly useful.
Collect greens, blues, and epics along your journey and use them to enchant your own gear with the stats you want.
Like, tailoring, BfA rewards with enchanting-exclusive goodies with the Bracer enchants that make your life just a little bit easier.
What Makes Enchanting Useful
Enchanting is always going to be a winner when it comes to both gold making and being useful. Strict Raid Leaders still demand all members are enchanted to the teeth.
Enchants such as Coastal Surge is incredibly powerful for healers, giving a nifty little healing bonus, which is always nice!
Glove enchants that help the Enchanter crafter saving mats are a nice perk and make your goodies go further.
Not just buffing gear, they make it too, with PvP wands available which are not bad for passing onto freshly dinged alts or making a little money. These are pretty popular on the RP realms, as they work well for transmog without dropping the ilvl.
Disenchanting gives the currency of TitanResiduum which can be used to buy higher ilvl Azerite pieces; another helpful way to buff the old ilvl and sneak into LFG queues.
Umbra Shards and Veiled Crystals can sell for a tidy profit when you're between jobs, so they can keep your pockets lined.
Worth getting your rep up for reach level 2 or 3 for better recipes.
Enjoy the Rep Grind...!
3. Jewelcrafting
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Buy me diamonds and rubies...
Jewelcrafting overview in BfA
Trinkets, pretty trinkets…
Jewelcrafting is all about adding some serious bling to your gear and adding a few perks to your stats.
Adorning yourself in jewels has been a staple since Wrath and since then has always had a strong monopoly on the AHs across servers.
BfA removed the color exclusive sockets, with gear only with prismatic sockets. You can shove whichever color sparkly you like.
A definite must for raiding/PVP, a lot of the top tier teams grind gear for the hope of the elusive prismatic sockets.
What Makes Jewelcrafting Useful
Whilst making rings and such are nice… it’s not the biggest pull for jewel crafting. With the recent patch, Jewelcrafting has added new BoP rings up to a hefty 440ilvl.
It’s a great profession to buff your own gear, especially when pesky rings can be tough to replace. A shame that the new rings are BoP, but if you can’t drip yourself in diamonds what would be the point!
The greatest asset is the Gems themselves. With the jewel crafting ability of Prospect, pairing Mining with Jewelcrafting makes this an easy win.
Patch 8.2 released new gems that have +100 to primary stats. These will be desired by all end-content players. These gems fetch a healthy amount of gold on the AH and are worth crafting.
Even the lesser gems still sell for a nice amount, popular for lower ilvl gear. One of the gems, Insightful Rubellite grants a 5% Experience buff which is fab little incentive for levelers. These can be stacked and are quite lucrative.
Diamonds really are a girl’s best friend.
2. Cooking
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Cook, Raid, Wipe,Repeat.
Cooking overview in BfA
Might be a little bit of a wild card but I’ve put this secondary profession in second place because it is massively overlooked.
But believe me, you can make a killing from cooking.
If you can get over your trauma of dealing with Nomi, that is.
So easy to level in BfA, you can buy plenty of the mats from a vendor and cook so much food you can survive a fourth Burning Legion invasion (Not...that there will be one…)
Feeding hangry raiders is a noble and crucial task too, with various stat improving foods and feasts to provide picnics in raids.
Materials are found all over the zones as well as reasonably priced from the AH.
Worth picking up fishing to farm your own mats and enjoy being out of the hustle and bustle of end-content.
What Makes Cooking Useful
It’s still a staple for raid setups. How many of us have heard the phrase “Feast, Flask, Pots” before any sort of pull timer goes up?
The large feasts of Famine Evaluator and Snack Table (F.E.A.S.T! Get it?!) not only has a fantastically gnomish name but it is the best for providing a hearty buff to your party.
A +131 in a stat for an hour is not something to say “I’m not hungry” to.
It’s pretty self-sustaining, you can turn the final products into a business.
If feeding the masses doesn’t appeal, there’s strong secondary stat buff food that is easy to craft and great to sell.
Some of these feasts are going for a few hundred golds individually, so you can really turn a tidy profit. Even the smaller cooking recipes, can make plenty of gold.
Plus there’s the novelty item “Mecha-bytes”. Why not give them a try? Who knows what will happen…
1. Alchemy
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Royal Apothecary Society now taking new apprentices: Dead or Alive.
Alchemy overview in BfA
Potions, flasks, transmutations, these alchemists of WoW dabble in all sorts. Often the creators of the bizarre and wonderful tonics, are also wealthy businessmen.
The final part of the raiding triforce, Alchemy provides desperate raiders with flasks and potions to increase their beloved deeps.
With the elixir mastery buff, Alchemists are able to churn out plenty of potions at a sliver of the mats required.
Working best when paired with Herbalism, there is a lot of money to be made in flasks.
If you enjoy the RP side of WoW (Proud RPer here!), then you can also make a killing from Firewater flasks that increase the height of wow models.
Desperately sought, by the Game of Throne fanboy guilds and overbearing Taurens.
What Makes Alchemy Useful
The latest catalog of flasks increase their chosen stat by a colossal 360 (540 for Stamina elixirs) and is a must-have for progressive raiding teams.
A new cauldron too can be used by your entire team and give them a heart alchemical pat on the back, with 30 uses per cauldron. Easy to wash down your feast with a chug from these cauldrons.
Potions have had new options added, with ones giving a temporary buff to these stats when used. Creative pots with interesting procs are also included such as Potion of Focused Resolve. These increase the chance for crits by 20% and work well against single target fights.
And if that wasn’t enough to make you drop everything and dash to the nearest trainer, Alchemists are also able to craft unique alchemy-only trinkets that have an ilvl up to 440. A true incentive, to hone your craft.
There’s no denying the value that comes with these flasks/potions, with stacks being able to sell for thousands.
An Alchemist can transmute things into Gold but when they are dominating the AH, who needs to!
For this reason, they get my desired top spot. Lucrative and useful, they combine the best of both worlds. Pair with herbalism and nothing can cut into your profits.
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And thus we have reached the end of my career fair!
I hope it has been insightful and you’ve left here with your brochures for the right trainer for you.
Hone your craft, fill your bags withsellables and you will find yourself with more gold than you’ll know what to do with.
Maybe you can finally afford that elusive mount you’ve wanted all along.
A proud Gnome bard, I have wrote tales taller than me across realms and universes beyond human comprehension! Dedicated gamer and lover of all things nerd, with a penchant for epic loot!
Gamer Since:
1997
Favorite Genre:
RPG
Currently Playing:
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
Top 3 Favorite Games:
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, Dead Space, Dragon Age: Origins
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