Herbalism

What changed in Forever

Gathering professions now have recipes. Herbalism's are its three camp items, and Wowhead says they are the only things a herbalist crafts. The Candle is taught by the trainer; Wowhead and wow-professions.com say the Greenhouse blueprint drops from Shadetooth in the new Excavation Site: Wetlands dungeon. Where the Seed Hybridizer blueprint drops isn't known yet.

New materials:

• Endgame herbs: Marefoil, Demonsage and Death Lotus. Neither Wowhead nor Icy Veins knows where they grow. Icy Veins ties them to four new Alchemy flasks (Natural Accuracy, Aggression, Precision and Swiftness) and to new enchants.
• Seeds: Commonplace, Uncommon, Unusual and Scarce Herb Seeds, for the Greenhouse and Hybridizer. Which herbs drop which seeds is still unclear (Wowhead).
• Scarce materials: Frilled Lichen, Rosecap and Stranglevine. Icy Veins says Alchemists turn them into Cerulean, Magenta and Viridian Dye, which other crafts use. The Bountiful Harvest Legacy perk raises how many you find (Wowhead).

Other changes:

• You can learn Apprentice Herbalism in your starting zone, from a trainer or by picking Wild Harvest as the reward from an early quest. Starting areas even have small low-skill nodes (Wilted Peacebloom, Stunted Silverleaf), per Wowhead.
• Tauren Cultivation now grows a harvestable copy of a nearby herb, and you don't need Herbalism to pick it. ForeverDB adds that the 24 September beta notes gave it a level requirement: the herb's skill divided by 5. Cultivation can add an extra harvest when available, but does not double every harvest or the character's total hourly yield.
• Gathering earns no Legacy Points. Wowhead lists no Herbalism challenges, and ForeverDB says the tradeskill challenges (150, 225, 300) count only crafting professions.

Ranks

The skill caps are 75, 150, 225 and 300, and Icy Veins gives 50, 125 and 200 as the skill needed to train the next rank. The character level is less clear. Icy Veins' Herbalism page gives 10, 20 and 35, as does ForeverDB's levelling page, which takes them from Classic. Icy Veins' own professions overview gives gathering professions lower ones: none for Journeyman, 10 for Expert and 25 for Artisan. Treat this as unconfirmed until launch.

Levelling, in brief

Herbalism levels by picking anything that isn't grey. Follow your questing route and the skill mostly keeps pace. Wowhead's route stops at 225, the beta's ceiling. The last row comes from ForeverDB's route, which uses Classic spawn data.

Skill boosts stack and let you pick higher herbs early: Herbalist's Gloves, two glove enchants and Goldthorn Tea, a Cooking recipe worth +15 skill for 15 minutes.

Making money

• Wowhead calls Herbalism a strong gold-maker while you level. Herbs sell well because many recipes use them, and in Forever more professions do.
• With Alchemy as your second profession, you can gather nearly everything you need yourself (Wowhead).
• Icy Veins notes that most endgame recipes use high-level herbs, and that rare herbs fetch high prices.
• A vendor pays almost nothing for herbs (Peacebloom sells for 10 copper, per ForeverDB), so their value is on the Auction House.
• Herbs also fill Waylaid Crates, which you hand in to your faction's trade camp for Merchant's Favor. Other professions spend that currency on recipes, so it gives a gatherer something to trade for.

Open questions

• Where the new herbs grow, and which herbs drop which seeds and Scarce materials.
• The character level for each rank (see above).
• Icy Veins names the Greenhouse blueprint without a drop source; Wowhead and wow-professions.com give Shadetooth.