Leatherworking for Stat-Mongers

I have an Alchemist / Herbalist Hunter. The Icecrown Citadel patch has a number of great 245 / 255 level Leatherworking recipies for Hunter gear. It also has exactly ZERO recipies for Blacksmith Hunters. Blizzard is making a clear line in the sand for our tradeskill choices and I don't want to be left out in the cold when Armorsmithing ( Blacksmithing ) becomes a Plate+Plate+Plate class skill. I give credit to the Hunter Blacksmiths out there. All three of them. An uphill task and thankless job for 2 extra gem slots and a number of blue / epic weapon recipies. Overall, I'm going to drop Herbalism and pick up Leatherworking. Let's not forget the Cataclysm expansion also features a STAT Reworking skill for armor that corresponds to Leatherworking. That's the big cookie for me.

Cons

What do I give up? I can't pick flowers. No 1000 hp regen from our Lifebloom / Heal over time skill. However, I do have two other level 80 characters that are Herbalists, so I won't be screwed for raw materials. Just perks.

Pros

Self-only +130 Attack bracer enchant. Since I already have the +50 bracer enchant, that's a net gain of +80 Attack. Not bad. Also, a my leg enchants are now done for a pittance. Two Nerubian Chitin for a 75 Attack 22 crit self-only Leg enchant. Everyone else? Two Nerubian Chitin, two Arctic Fur ( 60g each ), and one Frozen orb ( 50g ). Nice deal. Next, there's the uber powerful 450 LW recipies dropped in 25 man ToC. I don't go often, but when I do... I want to be able to roll on those. Lastly, there's Reforging armor in Cataclysm.


Leatherworking is SRS BZNSS. Honestly, the skill takes an ungodly amount of skinning to support and a complete guildbank tab of mats to pre-plan. The initial stockpile of skins I had planned to convert my hunter from Herbalist / Alchemist was respectable. 400 Light leather, 220 Medium leather, 90 Heavy Leather, 140 Thick, 70 Rugged, 100 Knothide Scraps, 40 Knothide, and 80 Heavy Borean Leather. Well, that wasn't nearly enough.

On the bottom end, I had plenty. On the top end, I was spending hours upon hours trying to get over the next "break point" for LW production. Skinning is ridiculously easy. I moved zones with my level 70 skinner and did massive AoE grinding for the next leather type. Warlocks. Ya gotta love em! Affliction is my favorite levelling spec and a great grinding spec. Truly non-stop looting critters for pelts. Getting 1600 Borean Leather drops is the hard part. 500 Heavy leather, brutal. There's a reason it's 20g per stack. The range of mobs to drop Heavy leather, for example is exactly 34-37. That's a small area. My lock went from 1-450 Skinning last week, and I've personally killed every critter in Azeroth and the Outlands... twice. The Northrend beasts are AoE-able... and they give xp.

Warlock Skinning

I got from 70 to 72 on the outlands mobs. I also had the 20% Relic gear bonus and full tier 6 armor / trinkets. So I could AoE stuff that would tear apart lesser Warlocks. Like 8 mobs my level. Not to brag, but you just can't die in a 1 on 1 fight with a geared 70 warlock. Not unless you're taking on a 77 mob or something completely immune to magic. Then, you were already dead. Warlocks are just OP with fear + dots + Lifetap abilities. Storm giants + horrific falls into the ocean because I was AFK while flying. That's the only thing that will kill me. Avoiding that, it's just a flood of XP. Made 73 last night doing quests and. WoW. Just wicked easy to grind away.


Leatherworking Progress

I got from 1-250 on Friday. Then took a break to skin some more. Ran out of Heavy Leather. Honestly, if you have enough stuff... you can hit 450 in a day. provided you had a zillion gold and were level 70+ with access to trainers / patterns.

The next day I slogged thru Heavy / Thick / Rugged. Then did dailys on my main. Sunday, I spent killing for Knothide on my Warlock. Then Monday, Northrend and Borean Leather. The same AoE tactics that worked on Clefhoof / Talbuks work on Shoveltusk / Mammoths. I kinda felt guilty tearing thru that many at once, until my first Arctic Fur dropped. We get Arctic Fur off these things?? That's it. I may be on the low end of Northrend skinning mobs, but they still drop Arctic fur, and that's awesome!

Hit 420 by Tuesday. Made some blue items for a slight loss when I resold them on the AH. No worries. Nobody is in the market for Lv78 blues. You're lucky to make a sale. Made 434 LW by Wednesday. Once I hit 435, I'll quit grinding and just make some Endgame armor kits for guildmates and some alts.

After that, I dunno. I'd cool my heels at 440 Leatherworking. Making the last 10 points till 450 isn't really a worthwhile grind. You can't really profit on it anymore. Heroic badge gear, ToC 5 man and Heroic ToC have been handing out free leather epics for weeks now. So Leatherworking is kinda squelched as a flat money-maker. Nothing super until I get a 450 skill recipie. Then I can craft an upgrade.

The rest of my gear is all 213 to 245 level. Nothing super outside of 25 man Onyxia / ToC. Still waiting on a Tier 9.5 tropy to drop for my Windrunner Leggins or when VoA 25 drops a pair of Hunter legs / gloves. Lady luck just being difficult lately.