Profession leveling

[DalkurthIsL33t]

Ok, im thinking of lvling a new profession, but i wanna know which is the cheapest to lvl.

[DalkurthIsL33t]

So whats the cheapest to lvl?

[Cindy]

The cheapest professions to level are the gathering professions; Mining & Herbalism. You just run around collecting stuff and selling it. Training is the only cost.


Now if we're talking CRAFTING then...

Enchanting is the absolute most expensive to level (unless your leveling an alt that can provide greens & blues to disenchant.)

Jewelcrafting is the second most expensive to level without Mining.

Inscription is probably the next most expensive to level without herbalism.

Why? 5 herb/ore = 1 ink/jewel they need and the things they make usually require more then 1 ink/jewel or a second item that is completely different.


After that I'd say that Blacksmithing and Leatherworking are the last of the "expensive" professions because of the sheer amount of grinding you have to do of items that EVERYONE makes and no one wants. Gain, without Mining or Skinning, they're even more expensive.

The cheapest two professions are probably Alchemy and Tailoring. Tailoring requires NO gathering profession, but you'll still have to buy many items from OTHER professions to make many things. However, with 3 cloth classes and 2 leather wearing classes that'll buy stuff cloth (until Cataclysm anyway) they make something for almost everyone.

Alchemy is a little more expensive then Tailoring because you still need a gathering profession, Herbalism, but like Tailoring you make something for everyone. When you get to Outlands you'll be making Elixirs that become even more desirable since they're buff potions that don't count against using a health/mana potion. And then when you get to Northrend you'll be gathering more herbs then you can make desirable potions, assuming you gather everything you come across in addition to doing farming runs. So you'll have plenty of herbs to sell on the AH to other Alchemists and Scribes.


On a completely side note..

Cooking is a very underestimated profession. All of the 75+ food offers great food buffs and a whole lot of it sells on the AH. Best part is you can level it very quickly with fishing, which also makes money since you fish up things cooking can't use (like cloth, ore, and a pretty nice mount.)

Like the gathering professions, done right, the cost of cooking/fishing is only the training.

[larsha]

Cindy is correct. Though I think she forgot engineering, and I would place that up there in the first tier of very expensive, not to mention its a pain in the ass.

However, its definately one of the most fun professions if you can get it high enough.

Speaking from experience, tailoring is supremely cheap. It requires no gathering profession, as Cindy stated, so you can get a gathering profession along with it to help pay for any expenses you get with high level tailoring. Also, tailoring and enchanting are a good match, since tailoring needs no gathering profession. The easiest and cheapest way to level enchanting is by also having tailoring.

And, if you're smart, you'll get back what you spend in leveling tailoring. Cloth cooldowns bring me in 450g approximately every time the cooldown is up, and threads sell for a respectable amount.

Alchemy is super easy too, and in most ways, much more useable and efficient to your character than tailoring. But in order to make it cheap, you must get its gathering profession: herbalism.

Leveling alchemy 1-200 from my personal experience was very close to free.

Sorry for the wall of text, just thought I'd expand on what Cindy said.

TL;DR:
Alchemy and tailoring are win.