4.7 Mining
Early on, you will find heavy competition from most nodes. Both blacksmiths and
engineers compete for the precious nodes of ore that fuel their professions. Copper can
be a hard thing to mine at peak hours. The best alliance place tends to be the North-
East portion of Elwynn Forest.
It’s recommended to do a mining tour in the early mornings or late at night – whenver
you got time and few people are online. If you are thinking of making a new character
that mines ore, you may want to consider moving to a server that is a few time-zones
ahead or behind you so you can mine ore either extremely early or extremely late at
night in relativity to the server’s location. You need about 200-300 copper bars to
advance to bronze, and another 200-300 to complete bronze.
In later levels, ore can be a pain to find. Ore only appears in hills and mines, while there
are plenty of these, they tend to be filled with higher level monsters than you are. By the
time you need iron, the creatures guarding the heavy-iron mines tend to be above you.
Expect the items you create to have a level requirement lower than your level. Items
that aren’t worth it should be sold to the auction house about 10% above vendor price or
the current trend (whichever is higher). Set the buyout price 10-15% above the auction
price or slightly below other buyout prices (whichever is lower).
As a smith, you should always keep an eye out at the auction house. Watch the ore
trade, if you see some ore you can really get a bargain on, buy it. You can either use it
or resell it for a higher price.

4.8 Skinning
Skinning is the simplest profession in the game: Kill a beast, skin it, loot the leather. For
tailors who take up this profession, it should be noted that you won’t really need that
much and will end up selling most of it.
What you skin is based on the creatures level, but a minor random modifier affects the
outcome as well. Here are some general guidelines as to when you’ll be skinning what.

4.9 Tailoring
Tailoring is one of the easiest professions in the game. Though sometimes you may
grind to get certain cloths, most of what you need to level your talent will come to you
whether you look for it or not.
Tailors can make some cool items for the caster-classes. Casters don’t tend to need
bleeding edge, but tailoring can make some items that boost damage. These items tend
to be the way to go for mages and warlocks. You will seriously want to consider
gathering ingredients for Robes of Power.
● You may want to consider going enchanting as a second profession. This
is a natural choice since it is the only other profession that does not
require a gathering skill. Tailoring and enchanting can be symbiotic. This
path is quite expensive in the beginning and not recommended before
level 40.
● Your second choice is to go skinning. Skinning allows you to gather
reagents for your bags. On top of that, the spare materials can be sold
on the market to other tailors and leatherworkers. This will generally
generate more cash than enchanting, but you’ll be slightly less powerful
since your stuff won’t be enchanted.
● You may also want to consider herbalism for the same reasons.
● Mining isn’t a great idea since you’d be competing with two other
professions, engineering and smithing.
4.10 First Aid
The first aid skill allows players to make special bandages and anti-poison salves that
help players reduce downtime. Any class can take this and it does not count towards
your two-profession limit. The only classes that shouldn’t take first aid are those who do
tailoring. Tailoring uses the same items as tailoring, so focusing on tailoring is probably
best, especially once you get into silk, mageweave and runecloth.
First aid is one of the best downtime reducers in the game and should be considered
seriously. It’s actually a must-have for rogues since it can be used in conjunction with
stuns (especially blind – a 10 second stun) for in-combat heals.
4.11 Fishing
Fishing is a “fun” profession. It does not count towards your two-profession limit. Try
fishing in weird locations: Single zones can hold many different loot tables.
Fishing is good for down times, when you just want to hang out in WoW or are waiting
for your group to arrive. It can’t hurt and can be fun. Don’t bother investing in bobbers
and stuff like that too much, usually what you’ll pull out is much less than the cost of the
fishing lure.
Check the auction house for better rods if you really get into it. There are five types,
ranging from no bonus to +20 skill to fishing. On the plus side, fishing involves no
combat, so you won’t have to worry about dying.
Fishing is particularly good for alchemists, who need some ingredients that can usually
only be obtained through fishing.
?? Oily Blackmouth
?? Deviate Fish
?? Firefin Snapper
Just about anything can be fished up from the depths, so never believe fishing is classspecific.
People have pulled out everything from recipes in bottles to items. Even if you
don’t get a good item, fishing costs nothing and you get a sellable item! It’s a no-risk
venture and you can’t loose.
4.12 Cooking
Cooking is used to turn animal parts into edible foodstuffs. Good cooks can turn virtually
any meet into a food, thus reducing downtime. This does not count towards your twoprofession
limit, so feel free to take it. Cooking can also give some temporary statbonus’,
so you might want to consider using cooking since you’re going to be collecting
these parts anyway.
Recipes to watch for:
1. BBQ Buzzard Wings
2. Blood Sausage
3. Crab Cake
4. Curiously Tasty Omelet
5. Hot Lion Chops
6. Lean Venison
7. Monster Omelet
8. Mystery Stew
9. Redridge Goulash
10. Seasoned Wolf Kabobs
11. Soothing Turtle Bisque
12. Spiced Chili Crab
13. Tasty Lion Steak
14. Windblossom Berries
Some foods enhance your stats – definitely worth the cost and effort. Rogues will want
to take this profession at least up to skill level 60. This allows them to make Thistletea –
an instant full energy boost.