Gathering still takes a primary slot: planning professions for a first character

A first character in Forever still spends one of only two primary slots on any gathering profession it wants. On 14 October, a player on the official forums proposed changing that: move the gathering professions to secondary. The poster’s case was that hitting a rock or picking a flower should not carry the same weight as engineering, and that gathering could level through quest chains at key levels instead of at a trainer. Replies split. Some called the gathering choice a meaningful one. Others worried about crowded nodes, and about materials losing their value if everyone could gather everything.

A week later, Blizzard’s camping guide of 21 October still listed the gathering professions as primaries.

The slot budget

• Two primary professions. Skinning, Mining and Herbalism are primaries, alongside Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Leatherworking and Tailoring.
• All three secondary professions. Cooking, Fishing and First Aid can all be learned on the same character.

To drop a profession, open the Professions tab (K) and click the X next to it.

Choosing a pair for a first character

With the secondaries free, the real decision is the pair of primaries. Three details from Blizzard’s guides bear on it.

Gatherers can contribute to camps. The camping guide’s sample table gives Herbalism an Incense Candle, which raises Intellect, and Skinning a Camp Chair, which raises critical strike chance. Both are listed at skill 20. The table is a sample, so it does not settle what every profession offers.

Legacy challenges count crafting, not gathering. The Legacy system guide, published on 23 September, awards a Legacy point for reaching 150, 225 and 300 in each non-gathering primary profession. A character with two crafting professions can earn up to six of those points; one with two gathering professions earns none. Reaching 150 in a crafting profession is also an alternative route to your first Legacy point, alongside reaching level 25 or exploring the entire world map.

Gathering has a Legacy perk of its own. Legacy points are account-wide, and any non-Hardcore character can spend them in the Professions tree, where Bountiful Harvest helps you find additional Scarce resources when mining, herbing or skinning.

What the slots still mean

Forever keeps the old trade-off: nine primary professions share two slots, so no single character holds them all. For a first character, the clearest difference Blizzard’s guides spell out is Legacy progress. Each crafting profession you take opens three tradeskill challenges. A gathering profession opens none, though Bountiful Harvest is there for players who mine, herb or skin.