I’m confused with the information out there with regard to herbalism and alchemy especially the leveling part. i know you just do the stuff to level but I was searching for specifics on how to maximize your time in leveling these professions now that I’m literally starting. currently lvl 50ish with my blood elf arcane mage. also looking forward to the money making process with the said professions as early as now. or do I really need to wait till I’m 110-120 to really start delving into these stuff?
Most professions are split up by expansion now (archaeology is the one exception). So any work you put into basic herbalism & alchemy at level 50 isn’t going to help you out when you get to 110 & start leveling Zandalari herbalism & alchemy; either way, you’ll be starting that at level 1.
I’m not involved in either herbalism or alchemy right now, but looking at the AH on my server there doesn’t seem to be a very active market in low level herbs. If making money is your primary interest in those professions, I’d say wait until you get to Zandalar to start working on them. If you’re wanting to make potions for your own use, then go ahead & work on them as you level.
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Herbalism is pretty simple to level when you’re out questing a lot, just watch for the yellow dots and it practically levels itself (same for Mining). Alchemy’s one of the easier professions to level, but as mentioned, not a whole lot will be useful for more than just yourself until later in the game. wow-professions.com has leveling and farming guides.
Profit definitely varies a lot. Herbs are also used to make ink for Inscription, and those often sell much better then the herbs themselves, or the glyphs made with the ink, if you want to explore that route. If you’re mostly after extra gold, you could maybe try it for the lower levels, then switch to Alchemy at 110.
Most profession profit comes from endgame recipes, such as Alchemy’s flasks and potions that people use a lot for raiding and such. Alchemists can also learn one of three Masteries, which basically just allows you to make extra of the specialty, but it only applies to the expansions prior to Warlords. Transmutation still has value because you can make extra metals and gems that are used by Engineering and other professions for pre-WoD recipes, and certain materials that aren’t otherwise available (such as Living Steel in Pandaria). I’m not sure how the process is done with the new system, but you’ll probably be able to look into it after level 80. This page at the wiki can give you a starting point at least:
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Alchemy#Alchemy_specializations
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Alchemy/herbalism are usually my goto professions for leveling toons unless I have some reason to take another profession.
If you can keep major stat (str/agi/int) potion making up close to your characters level it effectively gives you an extra items worth of that stat. Major stat flasks, from WoD onward, make a noticeable difference leveling through that harder content.
I tend to favor the transmute specialization as the market for transmuted items is pretty steady thoughout the life of an expansion and tends to go up once new expansions come out.
My transmute alchemists go for exalted Tillers rep in Pandarion to create a four plot farm. They plant snakeroot which produces the ore that can be transmuted into living steel used for sellable engineering mounts and creating very desirable items by other professions.
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Thanks you so much. This clear things up for me. Decided to drop alchemy and replaced it with mining just to sell drops then relearn alch when I get Zandalari.