World of Warcraft: Secondary Professions Review

A beautiful Febuary afternoon, with a gentle breeze blowing across Jekiil's blue skin. The air isn't as cold as his Death Knight blood, nor as bitter as his former master. Standing on a carpet of ice from his Path of Frost spell, he casts his rod like one would an axe into the water's skull, shattering it, and allowing the contents to stain the pole. Fishing - even a Death Knight can make it evil.

It's no lie that secondary professions can be a nuisance. Like primary professions, you need to pay for advancement, recipes and you'll need to go out and find the materials, or buy them from another player. The four professions I'm going to tell you about are Fishing, First Aid, Cooking and Archeology, and give you not only a brief idea on what they do, but how to become a master of those arts.

The Orc's body swayed in the outline of the flames, but his lute's tune followed gracefully. Jekiil sat in front of the bonfire, spinning the spit and taking in the smell of the boar in front of them. Their kill would last them the night, and the joy of spilling blood would last even longer. Their teeth would rend the flesh from the pork like their blades did to the sow that birthed it; their tongues would ravage it in their mouths like the magics flowing through that huge beast before it fell. It was surprising how he'd gone from burning boar ribs, to making a succulent feast that would last them an entire day!

Fishing is a special profession, in my honest opinion. It's not one that you have take in order to progress in one profession, nor is it one that you'd turn to immediately for quick money and pockets brimming with gold. It's a profession that I'd recommend if you've got a lot of time on your hands and if you're waiting for something else to happen in the meantime. It's a simple profession that doesn't require you to kill much, or even travel too far. If you've got a friend to talk to, they can help pass the time and make you forget just how long this job will be.

When fishing, you'll need two things: A Fishing Rod and a body of water. The fishing pole is the most obvious thing, unless you assumed you'd use more primitive methods of catching fish, and instead handfish. A body of water is where the travel comes in - capital cities such as Orgrimmar and Stormwind will have plenty - the Goblin Slums and Troll district, the Tauren are and the militant district of Orgrimmar have loads. Not to mention there's a lake to the east exiting Orgrimmar, and the docks to the west. Stormwind is surrounded by water, and has canals running through the centre of city too, so you're never short of it. At the lowest area of Stormwind where Deathwing has totally destroyed the city, you can get to the Docks (for those having trouble finding the boat to Northrend like I did, it's at the far end) where you can get transportation to Darnassus. You can fish here for a couple of levels, probably 50, but you'll need to travel further. Going back to Kalimdor, the nearest bodies of water now are in Azshara, and an oasis in the Northern Barrens. By looking at the continent map, players can see the levels of areas - when you stop getting skillpoints in one, you can move onto the next area that's 5 levels (character, not profession) above, and go there until you max it. In the Eastern Kingdoms, players can go to Elwynn to have a few rivers, and Westfall to the ocean there.

So, you've got your fishing pole and a body of water. How do you fish then? Simple - click on the icon (if it's on your action bars, or the profession page), and then mouse over your bobber. When it dips/splashes (it'll make a sound and animation), right-click it to pull out your fish. You'll find junk at first, but eventually low level fish and what-not. As you fish in higher level areas with a great fishing skill, you can find all sorts of useful materials and wonderful fish! It'll be a slow start, but you can get around 100 points in Fishing in just one hour! It's not perfect, but it's not bad either.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How do I make money with Fishing?

It's easy for me to say that you don't, especially at earlier levels. It will depend on your server and allegiance's economy - sometimes the Horde does terrible, but the Alliance brilliantly and vice versa. Because neutral Auction Houses aren't used as much as before, you may have a hard time putting items up and getting them returned in the mail (repeat that several times until you get the picture). Some fish sell for incredible amounts of cash and others will be completely ignored - the most common ones would be Oily Blackmouths and Deviate Fish (which, with Cooking, can make "Deviate Delight"s).

Is Fishing popular?

Very. Even on PvP-enabled realms, people will still go to Hyjal in all fishing gear just to get their money, and what's better is that fishermen/fisherwomen aren't harrassed at all, which is a nice sight. Anyone who is fishing will most likely want to have a chat while they're going at their business, as it blankets the boring nature of the profession. Plus, I'm sure some won't mind sharing their Shiny Baubles with you to boost your chances of finding fish instead of junk.

What opportunities are their for those who fish?

Every weekend there's a "Fishing Extravaganza", where players must take the quest from an NPC and bring back the largest fish or a particular one. Prizes are given out at random, and can be things such as Epic fishing poles, medals, ribbons and trophies! There's also fishing daily quests which can be taken in the capital cities of Azeroth, and even one in Dalaran, Eversong Woods (Northrend).

At max level (85 or 90, depending on when you're reading this), how long can it take to fully level the profession?

As I stated earlier, players can get 100 levels in around a single hour, and if the cap is 525 (possibly more by Mists of Pandaria), it will take around 5-7 hours if you put your mind to it. These hours will include travel from one body of water to another, different zones, some self-defence (uncertain if you'll be attacked by players/creatures) and trips back to cities for more fishing training.

What a wonderous profession Cooking is. It'll start you off with the most simple tasks, ones that include ingredients you'll find during quests and wandering, and eventually proves just how advanced professions can get. Cooking is a new player's best friend as it offers buffs by simply starting a fire (or standing near one), opening the menu and pressing "Create All". Indeed, it's one of the friendliest professions for any explorer or quester. By cooking food and brewing drinks, players can get temporary stat boosts, find themselves belching out flames and even disguising themselves as a member of the opposing faction! It's one of those professions that you don't have to worry too much about if you're short of cash or if you're working, but it can hit you hard if you weren't ready to spend some cash around lv.150+.

For Cooking, you'll need a Camping Fire, which is provided by your trainer. This fire doesn't need fuel, wood or stone, and it can even be placed on top of water for you to cook (I know it sounds crazy). Some fires around the world of Warcraft can act as said fire, and you can find them by mousing over them - be these braziers and bonfires, etc. Secondly, you'll need ingredients in order to make your food. These are found either by killing creatures or fishing (because Cooking and Fishing are Secondary Professions, you don't have to worry about giving up something like Mining, Skinning, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, etc). While these materials (or "Mats" for short) can be found on the Auction House, they can be extremely pricey and not worth the gold, so be sure to go out and get your food "free-range".

You'll start off getting things like boar meat of different kinds such as ribs and bellies, then it'll move onto wolf meat (extremely irritating, as there's stringy, lean, thin, etc) and then bears, then stags and so on. By the time you get used to that, the buffs start wandering in - it makes a whole world of difference. With cooking you can take an ordinary piece of food and - if you have the right recipe - get the same healing/mana regen effect and get a temporary buff to Intellect, Spirit, Stamina, Agility - the list goes on. At levels 200 and up, these buffs will become more worthwhile and you'll notice then you're making big boy meals. Now, you're working with fish and it can be hard to find a steady supply of it on the Auction House, or someone you can pay to find it for you. Unless you have a profession addon that can aid in finding your ingredients, or you've got a tab with WoWHead open, chances are you're going to be having a very long and tiresome experience.

How do I make money with Cooking?

Early on, Cooking won't make a great deal of money. If you're a new player, keep what you make as it should scale with your level. If the food in your pack isn't giving you enough health, sell it off for a few copper, as it'll come in handy. If you're a player with several characters on the realm, feel free to leave it in the guild bank for someone who needs it (if allowed), or vendor it. A lot of the time you'll be left with materials that you won't have any use for, so stick them on the Auction House and see if anyone wants them. Remember: Everybody needs to eat at some point! Another thing would be to make feasts and sell them, maybe even charge for laying them down for people get buffs. At cooking levels 425+, players can make fabulous feasts which give major buffs, much like Alchemists' flasks. These feasts are excellent for raids, arena marathons and battlegrounds, but can be quite expensive and time-consuming to make! This is especially welcomed in RP, when people will be getting married or celebrating birthdays online, and seeing the joy and preparation made is payment in itself!

Is Cooking popular?

There's no denying it: most players who have a character will have cooking, either tucked away in their professions list unused, or constantly checked to see what kind of boons can be granted for the party/raid group. It's used commonly in guild runs for raids, instead of PuGs where players will take the buff and leave (sounds silly but happens more often than not). As for use in PvP, it's rarely seen, but welcomed when it is.

What opportunities are there for chefs?

Players will find their money running low if they pay to advance in their profession, so Cooking daily quests are around to solve such a problem. At level 85, players can earn up to 20g per day just by killing thieves, stealing rice/fish and catching crabs/crawdads around the cities. Each capital city will have a new daily quest for you, giving you around 60g per day just for doing loosely-related cooking quests.

How long will it take me to max the profession at level 85/90?

It really depends on how much you know the map of Azeroth/Outland, as you'll always need to explore because the auction houses will never have everything you need. Throw in time spent fishing for certain materials, and it can take weeks on end trying to get cooking to 525. Perhaps you'll be satisfied when you only want to know 3-4 feasts, instead of the many available? It's up to you if you want to spend tens of thousands of gold trying to get from 1 to 525.

The Worgen howled in agony, desperate for the pain to end. He was mortally wounded by a Paladin's blade.... the power of Fel magics wasn't helping at this time. It took three Priests to hold him down, but the elves could not pin him for long. He wrestled them, snarling and eyeing them, growling with misery and a burning hatred. Magic didn't help, as it only stung him further. And to rub salt into the wound, it was Holy magics! How could they not understand?! The Warlock wriggled, not being able to bare the pain much longer. He didn't care if he needed an amputation, as long as his suffering would come to an end. A fellow Worgen approached him. What could a Druid do to help, use Nature? Pah! But he knelt down and withdrew some cloth from his pack, stretching it and soaking it in medicines. The Warlock stopped his whining and watched in curiosity. The cold, wet bandage was wrapped around his leg, and it felt much better despite the harsh sting. The blood was no longer seeping out, and the wound didn't look as nasty. The Priests let go of him, and gave him time to walk. Within a few days, he was fully healed. "Now," he said with a huge grin, "Where's that Paladin?!"

With all these healer classes and abilities, what use is First Aid? It's a good question - it's a lifesaver when you're on your own and out of combat. A lot of abilities that heal are required in combat, such as the Hunter's Chimera Shot or the Warrior's Victory Rush. Even then, they can be mediocre and offer little help. Yet when the battle is over and you leave victorious, or the foe retreats, you'll still be injured. Yes, there's food and drinks you can get, but what if you've got no more? If you're a chef, you might have some excellent food but do you have enough ingredients to make it? Desperate times will call for desperate measures, and so you may need to use that cloth in your bags for a well needed heal, plus you're getting a fast heal in several seconds, instead of needing to sit for 30.

The best things about First Aid are,

1. You don't need another profession to get the most out of them (unlike Cooking, Blacksmithing, Engineering, Leatherworking, Alchemy or Inscription).
2. You can find the materials very easily and can save them for emergencies.
3. You can make bandages and antidotes within seconds.
4. You can get a quick heal out-of-combat (OOC) before engaging in another fight.

One point that should be made is that Death Knights start with 225 points in First Aid, giving them a major advantage in combat. This is especially imporant for Blood Death Knights who may not have invested in Rune Tap, or if a Healer isn't present. This can also save teammates a lot of mana, as your requirements are few in order to make a bandage.

Bandages are made of one thing, and that's cloth. You'll start out making bandages from the most common cloth, Linen. Then you'll move onto another type which is "Heavy" - this requires 2 of the same cloth for one bandage, but you get a much bigger heal from it. Then you'll move onto Wool, Silk, Mageweave, Runecloth, Netherweave, Felcloth, Frostweave and eventually Embersilk. There are level requirements to use these, but thankfully they're varied. At level 85, the minimum one can heal themselves with is 17,000 health, but nearly all classes and specs can increase self-healing, and other people can bandage you, further increasing healing efficiency - what a great mechanic!

How do I make money with First Aid?

You don't. Bandages don't sell at the Auction House, and when they do, you'll realize that the cloth could be put to better use like someone else's Tailoring, or just sell it in bolts or seperate. Unless you're selling to another player in person after asking around, you have little chance elsewhere. This is mainly because of their level requirements, and the fact that food will be much cheaper. Only take First Aid if you need it, or if you're doing it for achievements.

Is First Aid popular?

It's one of the most popular professions any soloer will take - be you a quester, an RPer who often runs into trouble or the brave explorer, chances are you'll need First Aid. It's good to know that during your travels, a profession can be your best friend simply by looting humanoids for cloth. It's excellent for when you've just survived a rush in a BG, and it's a relief when you've outrun a much stronger enemy.

What opportunities are there for Medics?

Very few, I'm afraid. If you meet someone in the wilderness who looks like they could use a heal, feel free to give them a bandage or two in trade, maybe apply it for them. Either way, it's nice if you're trying to be helpful, instead of doing a drive-by Replenishment and what-have-you. At Darkmoon Faire, players can also bandage the carnies for a reward of several gold and +5 points to First Aid - a welcome boost to someone levelling it.

How much will it cost to max the profession at the highest level (85-90)?

Rivalling Enchanting, First Aid is the cheapest profession in the World of Warcraft. All it requires is that you buy advancements and recipes from your trainer. Other than that, you can find cloth in and around Azeroth from the corpses of Humanoids. You might even find trunks from Fishing, and a couple of bolts of cloth in there to help. Your best bet is the Auction House though, as players will have a plentiful supply of cloth for you there - it will never run out, as it has so many uses for Tailors and Leatherworkers too. The Auction House is always an option, but your guildies might have some too. Remember to ask before removing from the bank, and compare AH prices with guildies before trades. Off I went on a tangent, so now to continue: the prices will vary due to servers having different economy states. Sometimes it will cost only a few thousand to buy the cloth needed, but with the adventures you have from level 1 to 85, you'll find more than enough cloth to get you on your way to skill level 525!

Archeology has been argued to be the most boring or interesting professions in the World of Warcraft. It has many thrills when you find new artifacts and keystones, piecing them all together to get a common or rare artifact, maybe even a mount! Yet it is a profession that requires much exploration and travel - it can't be done just anywhere.

To start, you'll need a level 20 character and the Cataclysm expansion. Without the expansion, you can't take the profession, and the digsites vary from levels 20-85/90. Once you meet those two requirements, pay to get the novice level like any other profession, and you'll learn the ability Survey. Now, press the map button (default 'M') and look at the bottom to find a box saying "Show/Track Digsites". By ticking this, you can start digging in the red circular areas of the mega-map. Firstly, when you're on the world map, choose a continent and look for a shovel icon. Click on the area where that icon is, and you'll find red-filled circles with a red outline. Travel to those to use your Survey ability - these are the only places where you can dig.

It's not as easy as that though - when you plant the telescope, you'll notice a little light near it. If the light is red, then you're far away from an artifact. If it's yellow, you're not far and if it's green, you're very close. Be sure to head in the direction where the telescope is facing, and use it every time you think you're getting nearer to the find, or the end of the digsite. When your telescope doesn't appear after you've done a survey, it means the artifact is near, so be sure to look around you for vases, fossils, tablets (not medical ones, but stone blocks) with quest item-like glitter falling around them. Interact with them, and you'll add it to your list.

Now, what do you do with all these? Well, open up your Archeology menu, and you'll see all the possible races you can find artefacts for. You should have at least one available after your first dig, and a number (it would look like XX/60), meaning you have enough, less or more needed to piece the artefact together. Click on the icon with the number to see if you've unlocked anything - it's also here where you can find if your artefact will be rare or common. At first, it's highly unlikely that you'll gain anything of importance until you're in the 150+ levels, and that's just a couple of rares.

How do I make money from Archeology?

At any level, it will be extremely hard. Max levels will find common items worth a single gold coin, and rares can be up to around 20g each. Yet because they're soulbound, they won't be able to go onto the Auction House. Players will find many different items from the races of the game, and will be able to keep keystones (which act as several "archy" fragments) to save for later. Fragments don't take up room in the inventory, but your keystones do and can be sold on the Auction House for high amounts.

Is Archeology popular?

It's debatable. But my guess is that it depends how much time players have - how long will it be before that dungeon or BG is ready? How long must they wait before dinner? Are they expecting something in an hour or two, and have nothing else to be done in that time? Those are reasons people will have to take Archeology - it can pass much time without you even knowing. And people who play WoW at endgame tend to have a lot of time, and have total freedom, so it is quite popular. Those who dislike it on the forums are commonly known as "a loud minority", as - while we can agree to some extent it takes time to level - it's still a fun profession at times, despite it's repetition.

What opportunities are there for Archeologists?

There are few moments where you'll find archeology as a big thing. There's daily quests in the Heroic Dungeons at level 85 (requires a skill of at least 425 though), and there's few to no events on the profession. Those who work really hard and keep on trying though, may find themselves sitting on a fossilized dinosaur.... reanimated as a mount! There used to be heirlooms but were later turned into epic items, which disappointed the few who had them and shocked those who were looking for them.

How long will it take to max the profession?

Because of the time needed to travel and having to wander around looking for fragments, not to mention storing them until you have nearly enough, it can take weeks to do, even months for those who aren't dedicated. At max level, it basically says to you, "Yeah, you may have all the areas but you NEED a flight mount!" Yes, ground mounts will make it tough for exploring and farming the profession. Not only that, but in the next expansion - Mists of Pandaria - players will have no flight whatsoever until level 90, making the profession much easier said than done.

So here's the question that I think you're really here for answering: Are secondary professions worth the time and money? And my answer to you is Yes! The best thing about these is that you don't have to give up other professions you already have such as gathering or production professions! You can still keep your Skinning and Leatherworking, but have all four secondary professions! A lot of players can get confused by this and whey see "second primary profession", it makes their heads spin. It only costs a few silver to take each one and even then, you'll make that money back very quickly from what you can make.

But what secondary professions do I recommend to you? All of them. I don't have a favourite, as I think Cooking will be useful for raids, BGs and dungeons; First Aid is good when I run out of food during my high-level skinning runs; and now I've started Fishing, there's a lot I need for levelling Cooking so I'll take that and get some decent cash too! Archeology is tedious for me, and I only do it as a last resort for entertainment. I make a lot of progress, but you'll notice a major leap in Archeology XP from the first few puzzles solved, then evetually do the longer stuff.

It's professions like these that help WoW stay at the top - they're fun, they're simple and they don't try to sound overcomplicated. They make everything seem innocent and can help roleplayers do their thing. In Defias Brotherhood, I've seen players claiming to be Master Chefs, top Fishermen and Brann Bronzebeard's apprentice! Yes, the world of Warcraft has some peaceful pasttimes and joy in taking part.