[Jericho]

Source: Forklift I think you need to clean up the benefits section to make it more useful.

Done... I hope.

As for comparing each profession directly to one another, that would be a huge thread in and of itself. In the Direct Benefits, I try to list what you would gain versus using the default available to all players regardless of profession.

Yet put it this way, the 48 stamina you get from Enchanting is currently the same 48 stamina you would get with leatherworking. It is more than what you'd get from being a JC vs just having epic gems yet less if you just had rare ones.

As for why BS is higher than anything else... Pure flexibility. The 3 most flexible professions in terms of bonuses are at the top of the list. We all know that the game will change when Wrath is released. We also know that the game will change during the course of Wrath's cycle. Remember gemming for EH in Kara all the way through BT and then bam its Sunwell time and its all about those damn crimson spinels instead of sapphires? BS currently gives more flexibility to bonuses than JC does. Do not get me wrong, I probably could have ranked them 1a and 1b, but I chose not to based on pure flexibility.

[Epicene]

The triple colored bop gems do more than help match metas. They make it a lot easier to get the gem bonuses on individual items.

Just from the first tier warrior sets from Naxx. Subbing 3 red for 3 blue will net +24 stam. This is assuming you're gemming for EH. The benefit is diminished if you were going to gem red in the first place of course.

[Forklift]

Bottom line, I don't think a strict numerical, linear ranking is doing justice to the choice people will have to make.

As far as tanking trinkets go, here's one you can get in 25-man Naxx (I assume): Defender's Code - Item - World of Warcraft That's some serious business right there. 10% dodge? Wow.

[Worldie]

You'll not get my roflcopter away from me.

And that trinket is nothing amazing, Moroes pocket watch had 2% passive dodge and 15% on use for 10 seconds, lot better than that.

[Alent]

Source: Forklift Bottom line, I don't think a strict numerical, linear ranking is doing justice to the choice people will have to make. As far as tanking trinkets go, here's one you can get in 25-man Naxx (I assume): Defender's Code - Item - World of Warcraft That's some serious business right there. 10% dodge? Wow.

ugh. [item]Badge of tenacity[/item] of the future.

[Hypatia]

Hmm. It just occurred to me, looking at that and at Moroes' Lucky Pocket Watch, that they'll really need to make an exception to avoidance diminishing returns to cooldown abilities (on-use trinkets, as well as class abilities) that boost avoidance. The 10% of Defender's Code isn't that awesome when you're at 50% avoidance already and it only gives you another 5%. Likewise, a Rogue's Evasion had better give a non-diminished boost to avoidance to be useful.

Making fixed-amount items that decay after level might be one solution (i.e. instead of XXX dodge rating on use, it's YY% dodge, but is decreased if you're over level 80--so it's not useful into the next expansion.) Another would be to make them give even larger amounts of dodge rating, so that they still provide a major effect when you use them.

I guess we'll see.

Edit:

To expand on that thought: if they remain as they are they're still useful as general incoming-damage-reduction items. But that's never why we used them, really. We used them as emergency buttons. Even though the effect will be more even between a squishy person with 5-10% avoidance using the item and a tank with 50%+ in terms of damage reduced, a tank probably won't want to be using the item at all. Something that gives a flat stamina boost will be far more effective at keeping you alive for that next heal to land.

[Blaze Mcgee]

So, as I've been reading this intently, I've only seen one person mention that we will be able to have 3 total professions. Can this be confirmed by more people?

I am currently BS/Miner and if it is true, id love to pick up JCing as well for those prismatic gems.

[Wintersong]

Source: Blaze Mcgee So, as I've been reading this intently, I've only seen one person mention that we will be able to have 3 total professions. Can this be confirmed by more people?

It's either you or I who isn't reading intently enough, as all I've seen is a WISH for 3 professions instead of just 2. -_-"

That aside, can anyone confirm for BS being able to socket bracers, boots and 1H weapons (as listed in WoWhead WotLK) only for themselves, or can they socket stuff in the 'not to be traded' window? Might make for great twinking as well, if the socketing doesn't bind the item to you.

Also, this might be a bit early, will the crafted epic plate items be only available to armorsmiths, or will they be available for other specialties? So far BS looks pretty solid for paladin and warrior tanks, providing very decent gear before we can get our hands on end game raid stuff.

[Dots]

Blacksmiths can socket bracer and gloves only for themselves. They can also craft a tradable item that puts a socket on your belt. Items with a BS only socket will have a red line saying 'Requires Blacksmithing (xyz, skill depends on socket)' on them if your skill level is not high enough or you are not a blacksmith. This is actually true for other professions as well; ring enchants, JC only gems, and so on.

Edit: Tested it now and turned out as expected. If you unlearn the profession, the socket/enchant/etc will be in red and won't work for you anymore, it has a requirement added to it. The item itself can still be equipped.

[protonly]

I noticed browing the wotlk.wowhead.com item list that a good chunk of the items listed there from crafting professions are BOE and not BOP. Is this correct on the beta? I mean wow that would be great if the best items were only BOE.

[kolben]

Think i'm sticking with blacksmithing, and dumping engineering for mining again on the way to 80. Maybe save up a ton of ore, gems, etc, make a little money and decide if a 2nd crafting profession is going to provide an edge.

Good post, nice consolidation of what's available.

[Finelle]

Tempted to switch engineering for jewelcrafting, honestly. I've got a deal with a miner to supply me with Wrath ore.

[brain9h]

I'm sad about engineering. I have the sunwell goggles and I'm deeply bothered by the fact that as a min-maxer I'll have to drop this profession and take something else.

I think blizzard is making a mistake here, if they are trying to move away from people dropping professions to min-max stats they should add something equally nice to engineer pve-wise, because the current goggles suck.

[Jericho]

Source: brain9h I think blizzard is making a mistake here, if they are trying to move away from people dropping professions to min-max stats they should add something equally nice to engineer pve-wise, because the current goggles suck.

I do not think they are trying to move away from profession min/maxing. They are trying to make those who choose not to min/max get some benefit for taking other professions. They have yet to create a "Frozen Shadowweave" or "Stunherald" equivalents to professions. However, I do believe that professions are far from complete at this point. We still have ZERO minor glyphs as some profession specialties are still not populated well (if at all). I foresee some major profession related info coming out of Blizzcon this weekend.

As for your engineering goggles... They aren't bad. They could be better, but we will see an eventual upgrade for them sooner or later. I think that Blizzard really learned its lesson with them and the tailoring armors in TBC and decided to not make "entry level" profession items that could be used well into the final tier of raid progression.

I really do hope that we will see faction based or drop based BoP recipe drops happening more often in Wrath. Things like the boots, goggles, and sunwell chestpieces were awesome pieces that should continue on.

[Anna]

Engineering is like a hot yet mentally abusive girlfriend. You know she's bad for you and you want to drop her in the worst way, but you're hoping she'll turn it around.

[Korvid]

Thank for the great guide Jericho, good job!

I'm glad I have JC and mining, they have served me well in BC and looks like they will be even better in Wrath.

/sign of relief... lol

[Jericho]

Updated Inscription with the current lack of exclusive glyph slots.

[Tank]

I wouldn't say Armored Titanium Goggles as subclass if you look at the amount of expertise it offer. With or without socket bonus no other helm has this amount of expertise... and maybe defense.

It is a good option to get defense and expertise from this helm and focus on dodge, block value and parry on other items. Who knows when blizzard decided to have a lvl80 engineering helm and of course change the graphics of the helm (they are still using the same graphics in TBC :S).

[kolben]

This has been harder to figure out than I thought it would.

Thinking right now that I'm going to make a couple bank alts, stuff their slots with mining bags and fill em up with gems and ore in my spare time before WotLK. Then drop engineering on release day and pick back up mining and keep that until i've collected enough of the new materials to max out blacksmithing. Then going to drop mining and power level JC up for the rings, neck, and trinkets and JC only gems.

I didn't have anything in the way of money making professions in TBC. While I had great craftables for tanking, and we progressed so slowly that they actually remained best in slot for me, I realize I need a method to make a buck outside of instances.

[Inaara]

Re-rolling DK and i'll be BS and JC. My warrior will stay BS/Enchanting.