Time for a Career Change
Bastosa on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - 32 Comments Tags: dropping professions, enchanting, engineering, jewelcrafting 
Ever feel like your career choice is going nowhere? You’ve put in your time, and invested a lot in your job, but in the end you are just not getting enough out of it to make it worthwhile? You feel like you should stay out of loyalty, but in the end you just know you would be far happier doing something else?
Well I am at that point in life. While I have certainly served my tenure, I just see no reason to stay an engineer. Yes I’m talking about my WoW profession, what did you think I was talking about?
I have been an enchanter/engineer for as long as I can remember. I have been a perfectly happy enchanter, I get a nice boost from the ring enchants, and I feel like I am providing a valuable service to my guild (although I wish I could get a few more shards). Engineering on the other hand, has always been about one thing for me. The goggles. In TBC they were the first epic I acquired at 70 and I wore it all the way until I was leveling again. I loved the goggles, and they were worth the entire profession. Now things have been a bit different. I excitedly leveled my engineering again in Wrath, and crafted the goggles as soon as I could.
Then I ran Naxx 10, and found that that T7 helm would replace them for me. That’s right - the item that lasted me all the way into the Black Temple in TBC was replaced by an item from the first 10 man dungeon in Wrath.
So after spending thousands of gold and tons of time leveling engineering in Wrath I am seriously considering just dropping it all together. I’ve never been one to change my professions, and I’ve taken pride in the fact that I’ve had the ones I do for so long, but I just don’t really see the point anymore.
My thought is it may be time to pick up jewelcrafting. The stat bonuses seem much greater, as does the money making potential. I understand this will be an expensive prospect, but I think in the long run it will be worth it. I could really use a more profitable profession, and those special gems and trinkets look just awesome to me.
So what do you think loyal readers? I am asking for some advice here. Should I stick with engineering until 3.1 with hopes of some new patterns? Or should I drop it right away and stat my new career as a JC? Perhaps there is even another career choice I should consider? What do you think? I am in need of career counseling.
Reader Comments (32)
Well from what i have seen jewelcrafting is a bit better for money but you would have to untrain and start from scratch that can be expsensive and annoying so its if the time spent on the leveling up your engineering was worth the time you would spend leveling jewelcrafting
I'm probably going to drop Blacksmithing on my Pally and pick up another gathering profession. Hopefully this will help supply my other toons better in both mats and money.
I have Engineering on my Shammy just for the goggles. I am in hopes that they will have a TBC equivalent one patched in later on.
Well I don't see how you leveled engineering without mining in the first place. I would recommend a gathering profession (My personal favorite is mining but what ever floats your boat) and dare I say drop enchanting? Yes I know I use to think I loved it. It does give you stat boosts all the time but it all the hassle and cost really worth it to you?
I am currently playing a shaman and decided to mine/JC and can I say as of right now it is amazing. The BOP are worth it, not a lot of cost with leveling it (make all my own mats) and from what I have seen at high levels it appears to be a cash cow.
I'm in the same boat. Eng/Mining. I get the 500 stam bonus from mining, and those JC only gems are mighty sexy. I just spent so much money and ore leveling eng, its a tough decision. I'd say wait for 3.1. If they don't show any eng love, I'm done with it too.
if you feel the engineering isnt giving you any sort of advantages anymore, then why have it?
JC you can get similar advantages stat wise and you can actually sell the stuff too!
No matter what you pick your still my favourite protadin :)
good luck
Well the JC buffs are great and they really add some stats. Although i myself had switched proffesions once not... a ... good idea! Please dont do it just wait for you will waste so much time and money it wont be funny.
My up and coming DK tank is enchanting/mining. He's still at lvl 60 though because I want enchanting high enough to be able to DE all those quest rewards I don't need. I like mining too because of the 500 health bonus you get, and even though it's not a lot every extra bit is nice for a tank. But for your question I think JC has some great stuff; I never felt much love for engineering on my main or my alts.
You mean, you're going to switch to Jewelcrafting AFTER you make tons of Motorcycles for you and your guild, right?
I have maxed engineering and tailoring on my mage and i love it however i do see your point about moving to JC... i have a near maxed mining/JC pally as well and he makes alot more money and gets some really nice BoP items both rings and trinkets. So if you feel like spending the money to lvl it I say go for it but it gets expensive. .
changing proffesions can be fun. but i would not drop enchanting...i had to drop it after i had it near maxed pre-BC but I needed to get mining to match with my JC.
I think you should switch to inscription. But if you do herbalism would be nice or it would cost a hell of a lot of money to level it.
On the other hand if you switched to Herbalism and kept Enchanting, you could sell the herbs you farm for tons of money on the AH.
But you should seriously make the choppers first.
Just been tailoring for me since day 1, got enchanting just before wrath but got bored running to the ah and disenchanting low level greens i bought there...but as for engineering, i've always thought it was rather good, but as you say, and as i know, t7 does kinda outclass those goggles...guess you should just drop it imo (although i'm dam sure that blizz will shove in some improved version of those goggles in icecrown citadel just like they did with sunwell...)
Up to you really, i'd say getting JC is probably the best way to go, unless you want those amazing bracer enchants from letherworking to go along with your nice ring enchants...or the cloak enchants from tailoring...i'm not being helpful am i? oh well ^^
I am fundamentally unimpressed with Blacksmithing (which I will never give up as it's too much a part of the experience for me now) because while it has a few really good things on the way through, I feel like it falters with the upper level crafting. The pally stuff mysteriously falls away and there's no weapon support for DKs at the Purple end. Furthermore, there's no real use being made of the specs and what use is made is similarly lacking in the Pally department. There are no non-trainer plans yet, either, which is really bizarre, if you ask me. No drops, no rep rewards, no vendors hiding in odd places, and no discovery stuff. Every other profession has something like that. Smithing has been shafted for a long, long time in WoW..
i am skinning/tailoring i was once skinning/mining when i first started so i could make money, i have to say that with tailoring you get that extra drop of Frostweave is really nice. during the first month of WotLK Frostweave was about 40-50g a stack, good money making there, since then its dropped off to about15-20g a stack, so i'm thinking of picking up mining again to make some extra $$.
I have been using Mining and blacksmithing but I am seriously thinking of dropping blacksmithing... cause it is just so... bleh. I rolled a paladin and gave it mining jewel crafting and it is moving along better than my blacksmiths.
I've never tried enchanting, maybe I will remove and learn up that.
I've found jewelcrafting to be a one way flow of capital, while leveling my trade skills i always thought when i maxed it out the money would pour in. Then when i finally managed to, I found another level of jewelcrafting above that, which i need to raid for the mats and recipes. All in all I probely spend about 3,000g for so far very little return.
I do enchanting/tailoring on my Druid Murruhlin, but I also have been a loyal Miner/Blacksmither for what seems like forever. Originally I was an Engineer/Miner before going Blacksmith/Miner on my Warrior, and that to me was a great change of pace. While hurling dynamite at unexpecting victims is fun, the leveling process cut into First Aid. I say try something new and if you don't like it, then get out of it and go back to what you know. The only thing your losing here is some time and gold, and that's all replaceable with some time grinding.
I have raised pretty much EVERY prof to max in my 4 yrs of WOW. Even BS for some nice weps. Lets face it, BS for a rogue ither then weps is pretty useless. The one prof I will most certainly never change is mining. It has always been mining / ???. I love mining. Ore, gems, bars (miners can smelt) stone, etc... Lets face it. Its a great all around prof that goes with most everything.
But recently I dropped GM JC. I had become bored with it.
Sure making my own gems to re-gem was great but lets face it, gold is to easy to make so why not buy them. I picked up Engineering to replace it and I have to tell you, I LOVE IT. I'am wondering why you would drop it. Lets analyze its benefits shall we.
1. Vehicles = more mounts toward achievment mounts.
2. Goggles :)
3. A rogue who can res. Gnomish army knife :) i havent had it fail yet. :)
4. Engineers can now "mine" or "gather" from most things robotic. Kill a mob, gather mats.
5. Rocket boots, teleporting devices, glove rocket launchers, etc..... some VERY VERY cool gadgets and useful, very useful when used in the right situation.
6. Trinkets. I have made some amazing trinkets. Blizz is actually lowering the CD and cast time on one of my favorites, the one that shoots a bolt of lightning for like 2500-3300 damage. Its at a 1:30 min CD now and cast time is like 3 secs or so. Lowering it will make it OP for a nice damage boost or finisher.
I spent roughly 3500g to get it maxed and I had alot of mats form mining saved up. I would just re-consider before I dumped a prof that IMO has gotten soooo much cooler since Wrath came out.
Thanks. :)
Well I`d preffer JC but its your choice :)
If you haven't leveled a DK yet, I would suggest doing so and using it for JC
I would go for Blacksmithing. I'd rather have 2 more gem slots than have slightly better stats on my gems. I started a DK after getting my paladin tanking Naxx and I have to say that getting Blacksmiting up was a rough journey but I feel that it was worth it in the end. Plus, you can make Eternal Belt Buckles and sell them for double the cost of the materials (30g for mats and 65g for belt buckle on my server Thunderlord). There are tons of money making professions though so just go for whichever gives you the best bonus/gold for your efforts.
as with any career, rl or otherwise, one must be happy or they fail to wanna work it. although i cant speak for wraith yet as i havent fixed my computer yet.... i switched ut of skin/leather for the same reasons. i ws dumping time, money, and mats into a profession that i felt wasnt getting me anywhere. i went mining/jc and although i saw a demand for jewels... the returns for me were diminshing due to not jumping the bandwagon fast enough. jcing is fun. but without a miner it could be a very spendy propisition. you hae asked the question, sir... so your happiness with youre profession is no longer there. find on that pleases you friend. don't subject yourself to hating going to work. :D
as a side. i have read almost every word on this site. thanks for youre excellent contributions. keep up the great work fellas :D
ranshire
70 troll hunter
i have a JC and it sucks to lvl it up at the end its ok cos u can make ur own gems and stuff but ive got better rings,trinkets and necks from instancing for a long lime
Go to www.crafterstome.com and look at the JC recipes. all of the lvl 80 epics are BOE. Try and tell me you won't be able to seel those bad boys on the AH and make a ton of gold. I've been a miner/JC and don't plan to change. Most of my money comes from selling unprocessed ore, uncut gems, and blue/purple cut gems. Yes JC is a pain in the ass to lvl because you need a ton of raw ore for prospecting but at lvl 80, mining copper thru adamandite isn't going to be hard.
I've heard that they are going to be many new engineering goodies in future patches, including upgrades to goggles. Hold tight - things will get better and then you might need to level it all over again.
Engineering will never make you money - unless you include gas clouds - but they are hardly worth it without combining it with another gather profession.