Herb/Alchemy Farmer Druid

[nobbie]

Part of developing any trade professions in this game is fast levelling. This is not a game (as Star Wars: Galaxies and to some extent Everquest 2 were) where you can become a proficient crafter without being a capable adventurer

True, but the game allows you to push certain "crafting characters" to a good extent, notably Tailors/Enchanters. For example, a Level 20 Warlock can push Tailoring/Enchanting up to Level 225 without collecting any resources himself. My Undead Warrior, now Level 48, sends via mail all quickly grinded Linen/Wool/Silk and lowend good/superior items to my new Undead Warlock (Tailor/Enchanter). My goal is to develop 4 additional Level 30+ Horde "crafting characters" that cover all 10 professions, incl. my main character, the Blacksmithing/Armorsmith specialized Undead Warrior. My new Troll Hunter will do Blacksmithing/Weaponsmith (for the "Arcanite Reaper" Axe and "Hammer of the Titans" Mace), the Tauren Druid Herbalism/Alchemy (for Potions, Metal and Elemental Transmutations), the Orc Shaman Skinning/Leatherworking (for Bags, Armor and Weapon ingredients), and the Undead Warlock Tailoring/Enchanting (for Bags and enchanted Metal). I'm very pleased so far with the profession "synergy" among my 5 Horde characters, which will make trading and (expensive) purchases in auction houses unnecessary in the near future.

Some Amazon Basin players report good results from soloing in Bear form, notably with Frenzied Regeneration. I like the idea that you can plow through mobs with less micro-management than using several shapes requires. Right click mob, wait, hit Frenzied Regeneration near the end of the fight is much more my (lazy) playstyle than my current caster/bear soloing technique

Possibly soloing purely in bear form is viable later. Which shape you optimise is, I suggest, between extra tank effectiveness, extra healing effectiveness and extra dps mode effectiveness. However the dps mode is quite specialised - I only use cat form when I'm grouping with a good tank and a good healer - it's my third choice group role. It's also not really a great solo mode since putting them down a split second faster then having to stop to heal is kind of pointless

That sounds to me as if Bear is the way to go in the long run for what I plan to do.

Look up the lists, pick your end game armour then learn that branch. Alternatively just pick whatever seems to sell best and buy your stuff since loot drops are generally better than crafted

Hmm .. I've heard that the latter is not the case with specialized Blacksmiths (Armor or Weapon), and thought the same goes for specialized Leatherworkers (i.e. the "Devilsaur" 2-item set from the Tribal branch). Actually, highend crafting should not yield weaker results than superior "blue" loot drops because getting the required ingredients is often very, very hard, let alone the time required to level up professions to their highest levels. Are you sure that loot drops are generally better than crafted? I assume that's true only for the hardest instance bosses and their extremely rare "epic" item drops, and there you usually have to share the loot with other group members.