Choosing a profession in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic can be a bit daunting. There are so many options to choose from, and it isn’t quite clear which would be suited best for your character. This guide will steer you in the right direction for which professions are best for you as you explore Azeroth and Outland.
What professions you can choose from?
In World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Classic, there are a total of 10 professions to choose from. This particular expansion added jewelcrafting to the list, which allowed players to craft Socketed Gems, Trinkets, and other useful items.
Here is a list of the primary professions, and a brief summary of what you can achieve with the learned skills as you level up the profession to 375.
- Jewelcrafting – Allows you to craft Statues, Fist Weapons, Jewelry (necklaces, rings, and crowns), Trinkets, and Socketed Gems. Also gives Prospecting, which gives you the ability to break down ore into gems.
- Alchemy – Allows you to create consumables such as Potions and Elixirs.
- Blacksmithing – Allows you to create metal weapons, mail armor, and plate armor. Also gives the ability to add sockets to one-handed weapons, bracers, and gloves.
- Enchanting – Gives you the ability to permanently enhance gear. You can also disenchant items, which produces dust you can use for Enchants.
- Engineering – Used to craft useful or unique gadgets like guns, explosives, and even mounts.
- Herbalism – Allows you to gather herbs used to create consumables via Alchemy.
- Leatherworking – Used to craft gear for Leather and Mail users.
- Mining – Allows you to Mine for ore used in Blacksmithing, Engineering, and Jewelcrafting.
- Skinning – Allows you to skin certain enemies with the gathered materials used for crafting gear.
- Tailoring – Give the ability to craft cloth items like Armor and Bags.
There are also a number of secondary professions to learn. There isn’t a limit to how many of these professions you can learn, but they will prove to be just as useful as the primary professions. Here is a list of the secondary professions as well as a brief description of each:
- Cooking – Allows you to cook food, which restores health or provides buffs.
- First Aid – Allows you to craft bandages that heal you.
- Fishing – Allows you to fish. Materials gathered through Fishing are typically used for Cooking.
Which professions pair well together?
As you may have gathered from some of the descriptions above, some professions seem to pair well with one another. For example, there is a definite synergy between Alchemy and Herbalism. You gather herbs using the Herbalism profession, and just about every herb gathered is used in some sort of concoction that can only be crafted using Alchemy.
Realistically, there is no set rule of which two professions you should choose. If you want to choose Engineering and Enchanting, you can totally do that. However, it’ll cost you a whole lot of gold to actually level those professions, as you have no way of gathering materials.
As there are no rules to choosing a profession, here are some recommendations you may want to consider when choosing which two professions you will dedicate your time to:
- Herbalism and Alchemy – Much of the recipes for Alchemy require herbs gathered across Azeroth and Outland.
- Mining and Blacksmithing, Engineering, or Jewelcrafting – Mining provides the materials used to craft items within each profession.
- Skinning and Leatherworking – Much of the materials needed for Leatherworking can be obtained by Skinning.
- Tailoring and Enchanting – Cloth found can be turned into Tailored items which can then be disenchanted.
Which professions should you choose?
Realistically, you can choose whatever two professions you want. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic gives you the freedom to choose what you want to do. However, there are some classes and races that may benefit from choosing a specific type of profession.
In World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic, there are actually profession bonuses for four of the races, two from each faction:
- Blood Elf – Arcane Affinity: Enchanting skill increased by 10
- Tauren – Cultivation: Herbalism skill increased by 15 and you gather herbs faster than normal herbalists.
- Gnome – Engineering Specialization: Engineering skill increased by 15
- Draenei – Gemcutting: Jewelcrafting skill increased by 5
So, if you’re playing any of those races, you may want to invest time into one of those professions. After all, you do want to get the most out of your toon. You’ll also want to pair that profession with something that benefits you the most. For example, if you have a Blood Elf Priest, and you decide to take advantage of the racial bonus and pick Enchanting, you’ll probably want to pick Tailoring.
Again, you don’t need to choose professions that “pair well,” but it is advantageous to do so. I will say, for just about any Class/Race combination, the pairing of Alchemy and Herbalism is incredibly beneficial to just about every Class and is very easy to level. You can also make easy money.
However, you may want to do something a bit more exciting. So, here is a list of some recommended profession pairings for each Class.
- Druid – Skinning/Leatherworking
- Hunter – Mining/Engineering, Skinning/Leatherworking
- Mage – Tailoring/Enchanting
- Paladin – Mining/Blacksmithing, Mining/Engineering
- Priest – Tailoring/Enchanting
- Rogue – Mining/Engineering, Skinning/Leatherworking, Mining/Jewelcrafting
- Shaman – Mining/Engineering, Skinning/Leatherworking
- Warlock – Tailoring/Enchanting
- Warrior – Mining/Blacksmithing, Mining/Engineering
Of course, if you’re playing with friends or in a guild, you should consult with them and see what the needs of the team are. Sure, Warlocks pair well with Tailoring, but maybe one of your friends already has Tailoring leveled up and can get you anything you would need from that profession if you needed it. Maybe then you’d pick up Jewelcrafting and Mining instead as it may be more useful for your team.
In any case, just pick whatever gives you the advantage in both PvE and PvP. You’ll want all the help you can get in both raids and in the arena, and leveling the right professions may give you that edge.
