Drop alchemy?

[capnpop]

It has literally been a couple weeks since I've made a potion of any kind and would really like to actually DO something with my professions.  I farm the trees in Skettis easily and have a MASSIVE stockpile of herbs.  There is no way I'm going to drop herbalism but I just don't see alchemy as profitable in the least.

I have around 5 discoveries (nice end-game flasks) but haven't put all that much money into it lately...I think I may need to start mining...that seems to bring in some decent money...plus it could be fun leveling from 1-375 again...(prolly not, but maybe...)

[un4]

Mining's been going pretty fast on my mage, with bars going to our sundry blacksmiths and to the bank.  She's the only character of mine who actually spends money on professions though >.>

[Buzan]

It has literally been a couple weeks since I've made a potion of any kind and would really like to actually DO something with my professions.  I farm the trees in Skettis easily and have a MASSIVE stockpile of herbs.  There is no way I'm going to drop herbalism but I just don't see alchemy as profitable in the least.

I have around 5 discoveries (nice end-game flasks) but haven't put all that much money into it lately...I think I may need to start mining...that seems to bring in some decent money...plus it could be fun leveling from 1-375 again...(prolly not, but maybe...)

Yeah my alchemy atm is only 275 but damn I don't like it. Maybe I should drop mine for smithing but I am a smith on my warrior...dunno what to do either 

[voctovian]

I understand where you are coming from Capn... I have seen MANY herb/alch's drop alchemy either in favor of something that would benefit their gear (i.e. shadowweave tailoring, enchanting for the ring enchants, engineering) or for making money (skinning or mining).  The latter is especially true of classes that can farm easily (i.e. not pallies ).  Be aware that mining and herbalism together are a little annoying because you cannot track herbs and minerals at the same time.  I am not sure how profitable skinning or mining can be, but they are not a money sink like alchemy and the other crafting professions.

You may also find that between Kaid, Lynnette, Koth and the other guild alchemists, that many of the recipes you have are also known by someone else.  

[Buzan]

I will most likely drop alchemy for enchanting. Who said pallies can't grind fast ? I can go back to retribution just for grinding.

[Lynette]

I'm also finding that I don't use my professions (herbalism & alchemy) very much, and have been toying with the idea of dropping herbalism for leatherworking. 

I will keep alchemy, although it is far from a money maker for me.  I use it strictly for consumables & transmutes for myself and guildies.  I find I don't like roaming the landscape in search of weeds to pull and usually just buy what I need from the AH.  Hence my thought about dropping herbalism.

[Shadowwolf]

Having done just about every combo out there in terms of professions, Ill give some feedback on my experiences.

Warrior = Mining / Goblin Engineering
O...M...G I love Engineering, especially Goblin. Gnomish is nice with the gadgets, but wow can Goblin rake in the damage with blowing stuff up. Its a bit costly to lvl to 375 on any path you pick and its not really money making, I think ive sold a few recipes for Goblin Rocket Fuel and a few rocket boots and stuff, but thats about it, but for PvP and even PvE, wow those Bombs do some damage. Mining just makes gathering mats for making more bombs easier. Stuff like [wowitem]The Bigger One[/wowitem] and [wowitem]Goblin Rocket Launcher[/wowitem] are just too much fun for words to describe alone. Something about blowing things up that appeals to just about all of us I think.

Rogue = Mining / Skinning
I made the profession setup on this char intended to be purely a money maker / gatherer for my other characters. So far its worked out well as Ive made a considerable amount of cash with selling skins and ore/bars on the AH at standard AH prices.

Druid = Leatherworking (Tribal) / Skinning
Did this because I was told back when it was my first char, these 2 go hand in hand and work well for a druid. I started off as an Elemental Leatherist, but that turned out to be primarily for Rogues and Feral druids, since im a caster, I spent the 100g to retrain Tribal for the caster BoP items. As far as money, I make a decent amount of money on the AH when I sell the Elemental craftables I can make from all the patterns I learned pre-BC. The money isnt as steady as when the server was new but people still buy Twinkish armor.

Mage = Herbalist / Enchanter
I wanted to go with something to offset the cost of leveling enchanting and figured that I could do it with Herb. Looking back on it now being a massive farm class, I probably would have had more benefit as a skinner laying waste to tons of mobs with AOE.

Priest = Tailoring / Jewelcrafting
I dropped mining for tailoring to have the ability to get my hands on some of those nice high level BOP tailor plans out there to make for myself and alts. Mining previously helped offset the cost of leveling JC some, but it was still an expensive road where I think ive spent over the last few months in excess of 10k gold on mats, patterns and training. I do make a decent chunk of money from crafting the rare gems off the stones I get, usually around 50-60g a buyout, but considering how few rare raw stones I get in mines, its also not a steady flow.

Warlock = Tailoring / Alchemy
This char makes me money on the hard to get tailor patterns. [wowitem]Satchel of Cenarius[/wowitem], [wowitem]Big Bag of Enchantment[/wowitem], etc. Unfortunately, its also not steady but I keep both professions to have an alchemist for pots when I need them on my other alts.

Hunter = Mining / Gnomish Engineering
Ive made hardly any money on this char on its own. I sell some lower level ore and bars, but most Ive kept to help level to 375 engy. Engineering on Gnomish has yielded also no money. The only advantage I see is the really nice helmet I can craft myself when I get all the mats and having the nifty trinkets and doodads that add humor to playing.

Shaman = Enchanting / SKinning
Being on Horde, I knew it would be rough leveling enchanting. So I decided to try skinning as an offset and it paid off well. Selling skins pre-BC was able to help fund 100% of leveling from 1-300 enchanting and seems to be working to do the same taking it to 375.


Hope this little bit of info helps.

[Tolwen]

As a herb/ alchy i've only figured there are just some selected elixers that sell in ah and seems like u can sell the herbs more then the elixers sometimes....
pre BC i dropped herbs for tailoring and then i dropped my 300tailoring again to get herbs. been a long time that i'm thinking about getting leatherworking ( honestly i know i cant make money out of alchemy but i kindda like it ) but wouldn't it cost a lot to lvl leatherworking if u can't skin?

[Arcdelad]

when I moved to chicago and I was out of work finding new work, I decided to finally do trade skills...it took me one week to get skinning maxed and what i found was I was selling my goods before i would EVEN CLOSE THE AH WINDOW. I even started inflating them and still had the same result. Right now I can pretty much ask any price I want for clefthoof leather, and itll sell before I get 100 yards away...

now, counterbalancing that, I also went from 0-375 leatherworking in about a month. I would estimate that even with skinning as much as I could for my own mats I spent 2.5K in gold, maybe even closer to 3K. 2k of that expenditure was just getting from 350 to 375, where you run into needed tons of primal this and primal that, plus 40 clefthoof leathers for some things or cobra sclaes which are almost impossible to get easily...

If I wasnt a skinner, id say the 350-375 push would have cost me 4k-5k gold...and I think im being conservative.

[Kaidelina]

Well, mixed feeling here.  My two characters have the professions Herb/Alchemy (Pally) and Tailoring/Enchanting (priest).

Now with my priest, i consider her my money sink.  The professions that she has doesn't earn me any money and i have spent thousands of gold worth of mats to level both of these.  However, i would be hard pressed to drop either since she has now learned some bop recipes and these tradeskills are 'useful' to her.

With Herbalism/Alchemy, different story.  Both are relatively easy to level and in fact both can be good money makers.  Herbalism is easy and the herbs sell for LOTS on the AH.  This is one skill that i will not unlearn.  Alchemy on the other hand is nice to have since i can make my own potions/elixirs etc when i need.   It is a convenience.  But i agree with Tolwen, oftentimes, the individual herbs will sell for more than the cost of the potions that they make

If you do decide to drop alchemy, i would be happy to make up any potions that you might need... only gotcha is that i do not have all the recipes, and do not anticipate getting them all.  I do not play my pally all that often anymore. 

[capnpop]

Well, it would be alchemy that would go away.  I never pack up on consumables for any instance since they just mean I get aggro that much faster (which sucks...).  If I start getting into Kara and loading up for those the majority of my consumables will be easy to find/get elixirs (adept and draenic wisdom).   I usually don't need to have herb finding up since 90% of my herbs are from mobs (tree killing) and the only time I really need it is for shadowmoon and netherstorm (even then i usually forget). 

I would likely pick up mining since it seems to level quickly and would prolly be even quicker flying/riding with fast mount. 

The only thing I'd really lose would be my high-end flasks that were discovered, and even those are an utter pain to try to sell (even undercutting everyone on a raid night...).  The only time it was really useful was the couple times I made 1 for someone...(twice) getting me a decent tip each time.

I'm thinking that I should wait on it and think a bit but, knowing me, I'll be a miner before the night is done...

[Luise]

I'd encourage you to wait on it- as it will be more costly if you change your mind.
I almost dropped mining for engineering- but am now grateful I didn't- as I couldn't afford to lvl both smithing and engineering- maybe in 6 months I will- if I ever have enough money.