Professions confusion

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1

Blizzard says:

This is because the profession window will always show the bar most appropriate to the character’s level

So if the professions have been separated into 8 different categories, with a different level/bar for each expansion, how do I know if I can craft item “X” for one of my alts?

Th profession on my toon is not just for that specific toon. I have professions on all my alts, so I can craft for my alts, not all of which are at 110. I have professions at various levels on alts at various levels. Four 110’s, on 80, and four mule/professions alts at 40. So… now I have no idea who can do what.

If I have tailoring for example on a 110, can I craft items for my 80 or my 40?

If I boost my leatherworker to 120, and then change to Engineering, can I craft items for my 40? (because I will not have leveled engineering at the appropriate level. Since my toon will now be 120, how am I supposed to learn and craft items for expansion levels and plans that I have skipped?.

Crafting was probably 1/3 of the game to me, and I’ve been here since 2005, so this is pretty important to me. I have a lot invested and really hate to give it all up.
There are 7 expansions which means 8 levels of professions, and there are 11 professions, so it sounds to me like I need to track 88 different professions levels. Tell me it is not as ridiculous as it sounds.

2

Yes, you can still craft lower level recipes as long as you’ve learned them.

Basically, professions now allow you to level each expansion’s profession levels independent from one another, so in your case, you’ll have “level 0” in all Engineering expansions, and will need to level the appropriate tier of Engineering in order to craft your desired items - “Classic” Engineering for a level 40 or “Northrend” or “Cataclysm” Engineering for a level 80. You won’t need to level “Outlands” Engineering in order to start working on the “Northrend” or “Cataclysm” tiers though.

You can still go back and learn lower level recipes the same way you always did - by visiting the appropriate trainers or obtaining the appropriate recipes from enemy drops, you’re simply not locked out from learning and crafting recipes appropriate to your content level.

3

I have always kept leveling my alts & mules, and kept track of what level each profession is. I have a spreadsheet with each toon, and its professions level. i.e., I currently have 11 professions levels tracked.

But now I will have 88 professions levels to keep track of?

4

No, it’s no different than before where you had to learn a new “rank” of profession upon reaching various caps.

Now they’ve simply added a visual aid by making the breakdown obvious, and made each rank independent from one another - you don’t have to finish leveling Classic Leatherworking in order to start learning and crafting BC recipes.

5

Either you don’t understand what I am saying, or I don’t understand what you are saying. Apologies.

I am used to looking at a single number to tell me if I can craft a given item. Lets take mining for example. My miner is a WoD alt, level 94, with mining at 43.

Can I mine Saronite ore?

Previously I would look at my skill level, and if it was 400, then the answer is yes. But it sounds like now, in order to answer the question "Can I mine ore “X”, then I also need to know the level I have earned with the appropriate expansion.

Correct? I can’t just look at WoD mining 43 and know whether I can mine Cobalt or Truesilver, right?

6

We’re both getting a little crossed here.

If you WoD mining is at 43, that has no relation to whether you can mine Saronite Ore (a WotLK material).

For farming skills, as long as you have learned the appropriate base tier (for Saronite Ore that means learning Northrend Mining from a trainer, just like you would have before the changes). Once you have learned that, you will be able to mine from any Northrend node with no restrictions. Even at level 0 Northrend mining, you will still be able to mine Saronite Ore nodes.

Simply put, it’s a simple yes/no “have I learned that base tier” for farming professions.

In the case of characters that you leveled prior to the change at the end of Legion, they will have all of their profession tiers maxed - so if you had 400 mining before, you will now have max level mining for Classic through WoD (or through Pandaria? I forget what the old caps were), but will still need to learn the base rank for the subsequent expansions, just like you formerly needed to learn Apprentice/Journeyman/Expert/Master/etc.

7

I understand your previous answer, and I’m sure you are answering a question I am not asking.

You said:

“If you WoD mining is at 43, that has no relation to whether you can mine Saronite Ore (a WotLK material).”

That is my understanding, and it is exactly why I am asking my question. What it tells me is even if I have 100 BfA mining, I cannot tell by looking at my skill level alone whether or not I can mine or craft X. I must also know what my skill level is for that expansion see? That means that as I was asking before, I will need to track the skill level for each expansion?

I just don’t see how I can look at one number and know whether I have a high enough skill level for any given plan or node gathering. I can’t break it out, all in my head, which alt has done what. I have far too many alts and professions to keep track of what I learned where and when, so the idea of “if I learned X before or after xpac or if my skill level was X before or after BfA” then the answer is yes/no… that is just too much.

So it definitely sounds as I was saying in my first post, I now have 88 skill level numbers to keep track of on my spreadsheet.

Unless you are saying: “Once you have learned the base skill, then you have a high enough skill to learn/farm any plan/resource for that expansion.” Is that what you are saying? e.g., If I train the base level tailoring for classic, then I am high enough at that point to craft Onyxia Hide Cloak? Which was certainly not a base level crafting skill back in Classic.

If that is true then I only need to track yes/no for each skill for each expansion, but it is still a lot to keep track of. Otherwise, just by looking at my single skill number, I cannot know:

Is my engineering alt high enough to learn Mekgineers chopper? I have to know the skill level for that particular expansion. The base skill level for that expansion was not high enough to learn those plans.

I think the part that you are missing in my question is not “can I get to it?” which I understand may or may not involve skill leveling; I am not asking anything along those lines. I want to know “am I there already?” is what I am asking. And I mean just by looking at my spreadsheet, and not having to do the problem solving all over to remember did I level this one before or after xpac, and what level was it?

I may be on one toon, and need to know if another alt is currently high enough to… do X. -without logging out and logging into the alt to check if I have the plans or w/e. I want to know right now, quickly. How am I supposed to do that without knowing the skill level for each trade, for each expansion, and without trying to remember, whether I leveled it before the expansion, which expansion, what level was the char at the time and what level was the skill at the time.

8

Yes, and no. Farming resources are not locked behind their profession ranks. Crafting resources are locked behind their profession ranks, just as they always have been, the only difference is what those ranks are named.

The Mekgineer’s Chopper, for example, appears to be a Northrend recipe, with a required level of Northrend Engineering 75 (which is the max for Northrend Engineering). Creating the Onyxia Scale Cloak still requires that you reach Classic Leatherworking 300. Again: this is no different from how things worked in the past.

If you already had a spreadsheet, then you already have the data you need. Practically speaking, what difference does it make if a recipe was once available at “Tailoring 450” and is now available at “Draenor Tailoring 25” or whatever?

This is especially true if you’re talking about farmed recipes over trained ones, as you’d have to track those individually, even before the changes.

Also, secondary to all this, you don’t have to figure out anything. All professions now feature both a “learned” and an “unlearned” tab, as well as a search bar, and you can see the requirements to learn any “unlearned” recipe spelled out on that page.

If I may, it sounds to me like you’re trying to make this much more complicated than it needs to be. I also have a multitude of toons, all with different professions, but tracking who can make what has never been as much of a stressor as you seem to have made it for yourself.

1 Like
9

The difference is now I have 8 numbers to track for each trade instead of one, because in order to check the tab, I have to log into the toon.

Previously, this is what I had:

Alchemy | lvl | Blacksmith | lvl | Enchant | lvl | Engineering | lvl | Inscription | lvl |

Alchaholic | 700 | Ricosmith | 450 | Derry | 700 | Ricosmith | 650 |
PallyDan | 450 | Sartor | 80 | | |

So I am logged in to Sartor (BS 80) and I can alt tab to see that Ricosmith is BS 450, therefore is able to craft the plans I just found without having to skill up.

I can alt-tab to excel, but not to another toons tradeskills. I can see that I have 2 alchemists, ALchaholic 700, Pallydan 450, I have two BS, Rico 450 and Sartor 80. I have a 700 ench alt Derry and Rico also has 650 Inscription.

All without logging in and out. I know all of this instantly. Now with the new system it looks like I will need 8 numbers for each profession instead of one.

(can’t make the columns line up, hope you can see what I have tho)

10

For purposes of your spreadsheets, you are going to need another column for the relevant expansion.
If you open up the profession window ingame and hit collapse all, it will display each expansion you have learned and your progress in that expansion.

Bear in mind that all professions do not need to be capped in an expansion to proceed to the following expansion.

This guy has WoD alchemy at 50/75 and, as he know all the available recipes, is not likely to go higher unless he crafts for an alt. s I have a wod hebs garden, my herbalism is even lower. Yet, I am able to learn and progress in Legion alchemy and Herbing.

I too, used to keep profession spreadsheets which I replaced with altoholic and a profession son for monitoring alt skills. Tracking Ingame is more functional. Altoholic also can cross wow accounts on a given battl.net account.

11

Thanks Nok.

I will take a look at Altoholic, it looks useful.

Thanks also Keres, I realize you put time and effort into your answers.