Professions in WoW Forever: what changes and the best pairs

The 12 professions

There are nine primary professions and you pick two: Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Herbalism, Leatherworking, Mining, Skinning and Tailoring. You can learn all three secondary ones (Cooking, First Aid and Fishing).

The cap is still 300 points, in four ranks (75, 150, 225 and 300). Professions gained over 600 new recipes; some Blacksmithing and Leatherworking recipes now drop from dungeon bosses, and so do the Blueprints for advanced campsite objects.

Each starting zone has new profession quests and recipes, so learn yours early: some recipes only show up in those first areas.

Campsites: professions that help the group

The Basic Campfire sets up a campsite where each player can place one object from their profession, up to three per fire, with a shared one-hour cooldown. Buffs last an hour and you only get them while rested by the fire.

The first objects unlock at skill 20, from trainers or vendors: the Blacksmith's Sharpening Wheel (Attack Power), the Tailor's Faction Banner (Spirit) and the Herbalist's Incense Candle (Intellect). These buffs don't stack with the matching class buffs.

Alchemists get an Alchemy Lab, Leatherworkers get the Tanning Rack, which advanced recipes require, and Cooks craft better campfires with room for 5 or 10 objects. Advanced objects come from Blueprints dropped by specific dungeon bosses.

Gathering: what changed

Each creature can only be skinned once before it disappears, so two skinners can't share a corpse. Starting zones have fewer Poor Copper Veins.

Legacy has Bountiful Harvest, which increases materials from Mining, Herbalism and Skinning. If you gather a lot, it's worth spending points there.

Tauren have Cultivation: each herb requires a character level equal to its Herbalism requirement divided by 5, herbs above 300 wait until level 60, and the cooldown is 15 minutes.

Food and Cooking

Crafted food now gives a small experience bonus on top of its stats, which makes Cooking a good secondary for everyone while leveling.

Cooks who push the profession further craft bigger campfires, so more people can place objects at the same campsite. In a regular group, having a cook makes a difference.

Vendoring doesn't pay

Vendor prices for many crafted items were cut, and common and uncommon crafted wands sell for 1 copper. Leveling a profession to sell to vendors no longer works.

The money is in selling to other players: gathering materials, consumables and gear they actually use.

The best pairs

For leveling and gold: Herbalism + Mining, Mining + Skinning or Herbalism + Skinning. Gathering doesn't slow you down and materials sell well in the first weeks.

To craft your own gear: Blacksmithing + Mining for Warriors and Paladins (with the Sharpening Wheel for the group); Leatherworking + Skinning for Hunters, Rogues, Druids and Shamans; Tailoring + Enchanting for Mages, Priests and Warlocks, who collect cloth from monsters while leveling.

For consumables and PvP: Alchemy + Herbalism for potions and elixirs; Engineering + Mining for PvP gadgets (Gnomes have Engineering Specialization).

A common plan is to level with two gathering professions and swap one for a crafting profession near 60, when you have the gold to buy materials.