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Want to forge a keen-edged sword that just screams "deadly"? What about brew an arcane potion? Or tailor a stylish outfit? All of these abilities fall under the heading of Professions in World of Warcraft, and specializing in certain disciplines by selecting and perfecting them could allow your character to seize an important role in the dynamic economy of the world. To find out what some of the skills in World of Warcraft currently are, and how these abilities are different from those in other MMORPGs, read on.

How do Professions work?

There are two types of skills in World of Warcraft: gathering skills, which allow you to collect the raw materials needed to make items, and Professions, which actually transform those materials into finished goods. Professions are generally paired with gathering skills in a relationship that makes each integral to the other. To make items with the blacksmithing ability, for example, players will need ingredients that are acquired by applying the mining skill. Players will not have to be equipped with both paired abilities to succeed, however. An alchemist working to create a potion can always purchase the necessary herbs from an herbalist.

How do players acquire new recipes?

Profession recipes are the blueprints for crafting an item, and they detail the raw components required to manufacture that item. Many recipes are available from the same in-game trainers who teach a specific Profession. Other recipes are found through various vendors around the world or on the corpses of slain monsters.

How are Professions in World of Warcraft different from those in other MMORPGs?

A great deal of effort has been made to make every item that is crafted useful so that players are not just creating items to increase their skills. Also, many of the raw materials needed will be found in dangerous locations throughout the world. Players are encouraged to adventure in order to gain ingredients, rather than just farm a distant, nondescript patch of land endlessly.

Recipes will work every time. If you collect the proper ingredients to create an item, you don't have to worry about them being wasted due to failures. There's also no need to constantly experiment in World of Warcraft to find a combination of ingredients that will work. A recipe clearly lists what it will allow you to create and what raw materials are required. There's no guesswork (or surfing through dozens of Web sites) involved

 

A few of the skills currently in the game:     Fishing: Armed with their best fishing rods, fishermen explore the world of Azeroth looking for new and interesting places to cast their lines. In addition to the varied fish population, all manner of aquatic treasure awaits the fisherman with the skill and patience to reel it in.
	Enchanting: Enchanters use their magical formulae to grant both temporary and permanent augmentation to weapons, armor, and other equipment.
	Alchemy: The alchemist mixes herbs to generate potions with a variety of effects. A player can create healing, invisibility, elemental resistance, and mana potions; oils to coat weapons; and much more.
	Blacksmithing: Blacksmiths take bars of metal from miners and work them into finely crafted arms and armor. There are many unique weapons and other armaments that cannot be found on any of the vendors or monsters in the game, but can only be created by blacksmiths.
	Engineering: Engineering is used to assemble metal and stones into parts needed to make explosives, guns, scopes, bullets, mechanical dragons, aquatic helmets, and more. More than any other Profession, engineering products require several steps to be completed.
	Leatherworking: This skill allows players to work various leathers and pelts into leather armors as well as patches integral to the creation of higher-level, metallic armors and enhanced weapons.
	Tailoring: Tailoring allows players to cut and weave various pieces of cloth into armor, bags, shirts, and other cloth items.
	Cooking: From beer-basted boar ribs to giant clam scorcho, there is no recipe too obscure or odd to avoid notice by the chefs of Azeroth. Food is used in the game to heal players out of combat so that they can return to the fighting as quickly as possible.
	Herb Gathering: Herb gathering is used to collect plants found throughout the world, with more powerful herbs requiring a higher skill level to find. Each type of herb has specific uses and places where it is found. For instance, grave moss must be sought in cemeteries, whereas wintersbite grows in snowy areas.
	Mining: Mining is used to extract ores, stones, and gems from mineral nodes found throughout the world. Generally, more of these nodes can be found in the dangerous underground than on the surface. In addition to gathering the raw materials, it's up to the miners to smelt the ores taken from the ground into metal bars. These are the raw materials that artisans such as Blacksmiths and Engineers will transform into deadly weapons and wondrous objects.

Features:

With the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, many core aspects of the game will be improved, expanding the choices available to players and streamlining some gameplay elements. For example, new raid encounters are being designed for a maximum of 25 players, and the PvP system will change how honor works in the game. Following this general strategy of making gameplay even more rewarding and expanding the playing experience with new, interesting content, the professions of World of Warcraft are also set to receive major updates to ensure that they remain a fun and worthwhile part of your adventures in Azeroth and beyond.
When the time came to begin the professions update for the expansion, the dev team took a very close look at all the work that had gone into the profession system so far. There were some things the team felt could be improved in World of Warcraft's professions to make them more interesting, more valid, and most importantly, even more fun. The expansion will allow the dev team to upgrade the profession system, and to provide players with cool new gadgets, equipment, and consumables that will help them brave the many challenges of Outland.

On the following pages, you'll find a brief summary of what changes you can expect to see in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade for each profession. Keep in mind that there is always a chance that these plans may change, but this is what's on the drawing board at the moment.