im a gonna make a draenei shaman and i want to know what are the benefits of jewelcrafting over alchemy and vice versa. also could someone tell me if herbs in general are abundant? i know peacebloom, silverleaf, ect are everywhere in newbie places but what about herbs like kingsblood, briarthorn? are they just as abundant in their respective zones?

You will find Kingsblood in many areas spanning a wide level range. Briarthorn is similar although tend to be slightly more difficult to find as they grow at the base of trees whereas kingsblood can be slap bang in the middle of a wide open plain. It's always worth making an effort for Briarthorn because of the swiftthistle which can also be harvested from it.

The herbs which are used for the better potions tend to be harder to get hold of. Wild Steelbloom grows high up on rocky ledges. Ghost mushrooms grow in caves (I think?) and grave moss obviously grows near graves and there isn't an awful lot of it about.

If you are thinking solely of the Draenei starting areas, I'm unsure as my only draenei character didn't have herbalism as a skill, but I wouldn't worry too much about picking a profession based on the starting area as you won't be there for very long if you decide to stay at all. Night elves find it difficult to start mining early on because of the lack of trainers and mining nodes in Darnassus but since you'll find copper and tin veins all the way up to level 40 areas they don't really miss out.

I would suggest Alchemy if you plan to use a lot of potions at higher levels. My Paladin is an Alchemist and it was a boon to have potions on hand whenever I wanted to use them without having to dish out tons of gold. It's also a nice bonus to sell off your spare herbs after skilling up, or selling any extras you find along the way. :)

Ok well think if you even want or like to mine or pick herbs. Alch has buffs and alchemist stone wich make potions even better. Jewel crafter has statues and faster/cheaper gems imo if you want the pots go alch if you want statues and gems go Jewel crafter.

Quick note.. if this is your 1st character i suggest going with herbs/alchemy the reason as stated above the xtra herbs you dont need sell for a ton of cash generally on the AH. Once you get to 70 then you can start on an alt with JC and use your main to help fund your jewelcrafter with ores and recipes when needed. Potions also sell well on the AH..Remember to obtain fishing also that will save you some money in your alchemy skills

Also, JC training is only available in Outlands and Dranaei and BE cities, whereas Alch/Herb is available everywhere. Or have they fixed this?

trainers are still in the same places. but thats the least of his concerns. if its your first toon, I would suggest something along the lines of skinning/mining, as (at least on my realm) leather and ores/bars sell for quite a lot, making it easier for you to buy your mounts. If you already have a 70, I would suggest Jewlcrafting as a draenei, simply because draenei have increased JC skills. which means at max skill, you can get a few recepies other races cant get.

Alch is superior for raiding. JC is exceptional for both pve and pvp. I have both at 375 and Alch makes more money for lot less risk.

Don't worry about pre-bc herbs as those are plentiful and by the time you hit 70, you'll realize only outland herbs matter anyway.

As for auctions, I noticed almost every time I posted a gem someone would undercut me a half an hour later. To make matters worse the demand could be sluggish on certain gems you would've thought otherwise. You'll probably be better off selling the gems uncut.

its a pain to farm oshugun crystals for consortium reps anyway and SoTS reps and sneak around kara for meta recipes...no such pain for alchemy other than cenarion expedition/honorhold/thrallmar for the transmute diamond recipes and major nature prot potion and sporegar if u want shrouding potion....i like alchemy better...easy to get mats...diamonds/potions/primal mights sell good always

JC is end game money where as alchemy is a constant income...get lesser invisibility recipe and swiftness potion while u lvl up as they are hot sellers due blacksmithing need...to make phantom blade and ghost dye for tailoring

Alchemy is great for raids and will make you very popular among your friends and guildies since potions and flasks will always be in demand. They are items that are consumed over and over after all.

If you're looking to make gold however, JC is much better since you can Prospect ore and sell the gems (both green and blue) on the AH. Saronite ore is very cheap on the auction house and you can prospect them to get blue gems. With the new expansion, there are Jewelcrafting dailies in Dalaran that give you Jewelcrafting tokens. Each one can be traded in for a Dragon's Eye. Depending on the server Dragon's eyes still go for 200-300 gold. So that's 200-300 gold per day. In addition, you can buy, craft and sell gems of all sorts such as a Bold Scarlet Ruby (+16 strength) or Rigid Autumn's Glow (+16 Hit Rating).

As you can tell I'm a huge fan of Jewelcrafting, the potential is limitless and as people get new gear they will always need more gems. If you need something you can just buy it off the auction house with the money you make with Jewelcrafting. However, everyone has their own favorites so in the end it really depends on what works for you. Every profession is a gold mine depending on who the tradesman is behind the profession.Cheers :)

Holy resurrect Batman.... the last post to this thread was 5 months ago.