So, we’re finally done with all the profession previews, so let’s look into how I rate these professions against each other, as well as my personal setup going into wrath.
Frozen Orb Disclaimer
Frozen Orbs were never BoP in original wrath, but they have been BoP on the wrath beta. I’ll be doing the discussion here assuming you have access to crafting with frozen orbs, as I will be comparing the peak goldmaking efficiency of professions. If they remain BoP all the armor and gear professions will be very low value for characters you are not planning to level to 80 and run heroics on.
C-tier: Engineering
Engineering has very little in terms of in-demand recipes for other players. C-tier might be underselling it a little bit, as there are some recipes with goldmaking potential, particularly the mount recipes are interesting, but I personally value strong power items higher and Engineering does not have enough power to sell to other players sadly.
B-Tier: Leatherworking
Leatherworking is solid, but nothing ultra-spectacular. Crafted gear for pre-raid BiS is almost always a consistent seller, but it lacks that repeat customer potential some of the other professions have. You definitely want to hit the first gearing rush with epics ready to roll, and pray for tradeable Frozen Orbs.
B-Tier: Tailoring
Tailoring is in a very similar position as leatherworking. You have one less armor type, but you gain bags, as well as the very intriguing Deathchill Cloak recipe. This makes Tailoring a very strong candidate for a profession you want to have on your main if you want to min-max for goldmaking as the recipe is fantastic, and it requires Loremaster of Northrend to unlock.
B-Tier: Cooking
Get it. It’s profitable, but rarely spectacular. Everyone can have it so competition is usually relatively high. Consumables are used up every week though, so you can sell an incredible number of items.
A-Tier: Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing is in my opinion a cut above LW and tailoring, simply due to the existence of weapons. Weapons are the single most impactful item in the game to equip for most classes. The existence of raid consumables in the form of weapon stones as well helps cement it as the best armor profession.
A-Tier: Enchanting
Enchanting is a fantastic goldmaking profession. You have access to shuffles as well as selling enchants on the Auction House. Focus on the most in-demand recipes, particularly weapons and cancel scan liberally. Players will need new enchants every time they get an upgrade so sales are extremely consistent.
S-Tier: Jewelcrafting
Jewelcrafting will be extremely profitable in wrath, but I still expect this profession to shine from a goldmaking point of view. Dailies will gate recipe unlocks creating low supply situations early on, which is great for players selling gems. Prospecting is time consuming and “risky” which leads to low competition. JC was fantastic in TBC and I expect another really strong expansion.
S-Tier: Inscription
The new kid on the block. Glyphs, particularly the Northrend research ones will have incredible profit potential early on when very few players have the recipe. Demand will remain strong for the entire expansion as players will need these every time they respec. Then on top of that you have one of the most profitable markets in the entire game with darkmoon deck crafting. If you don’t have a level 68 375 scribe already then it’s high time you get one.
S-Tier: Alchemy
Alchemy is the last S-tier profession. Consistent, strong demand week in and week out. With the old auction house you can sell your consumables in varied stack sizes which lets you net a lot of extra gold from your crafts. Potion or elixir mastery are the choices in my opinion, as the weekly gold volume of those two will most likely far outstrip transmutation. If you want to prioritize more time on other professions then transmutation becomes a better option.
Setup considerations
You can get a surprisingly large part of the benefit of most professions at level 68. The main question is of course the Frozen Orbs. If they remain BoP then Tailoring, Leatherworking and Blacksmithing will all be C-Tier on level 68 alts. They still will have some recipes, but overall the value is not there. Alchemy, inscription and enchanting are all perfect for level 68-70 alts. You can get access to all relevant recipes at level 68, so there’s no need to level these characters at all.
Jewelcrafting should be on your main. The dailies for unlocking recipes will be a lot faster on a level 80 character. They can be done on a lower level one, but you will waste a lot more time traveling.
If you want to min-max for goldmaking my second pick for the main would be tailoring. The Deathchill Cloak recipe has some extreme profit potential if you are first to market. If you do this you should not do any dungeons outside of doing the related quests while leveling so you can speed run loremaster.
Outside of that there’s little specific benefit to level 80 crafters this time around, so you can spread your professions around however you like.
My setup
Main DK: Engi/JC
I just went with the BiS PvE professions. I lose out on a small bit of goldmaking efficiency, but engineering is to valuable for other aspects of the game. Keep in mind that players need to high max level and start earning socket gear before JC prices take off.
Level 68 Mage: Ench/Inscription
This alt will sit at level 68 on my second account. I can give myself portals and get going with two very strong level 68 professions. I’ll probably try to level inscription day 1 or 2 of wrath launch, and I expect to spend a lot of time on this character.
Level 68 Rogue: Alchemy/Blacksmithing
Potion mastery for the big gold potential, and blacksmithing for weapons. This rounds out all the top tier professions from a goldmaking point of view. I don’t really expect to go hard on this one early, unless Frozen Orbs are tradeable. If they are I will level up blacksmithing early on.
Level 70 Warlock (my TBC main): Tailoring/LW
He’s only level 70 because I mained this in TBC. This is the last two professions. The potential value here is solely decided on the frozen orb tradeability. I do not plan to level this character up, and I haven’t even leveled leatherworking yet. This is definitely the combination you can skip on low level alts (even if it can be extremely good on a main).