(WoW) Best professions for hunters?

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Greetings,
As the title says, I'm wondering what the best profession combo is for a hunter. I should note that I have a Tauren Druid with skinning and leatherworking already, so I'm gonna choose a troll hunter, so the druid can create armour for both of them.

So, if I've got the armour creation covered, what profession does a hunter have most use for?

[Civil War Man]

Engineering is an okay Hunter profession, particularly if you focus on using guns. It might not be the best choice in the long run, since Blizzard has specifically stated that they're intending to phase out ammunition as a consumable item. If you go with that, you'll want mining. Engineering in my experience is also extremely expensive to level, and doesn't provide a whole lot at end-game.

Jewelcrafting is a good profession for any class. It gives you access to rings, amulets, and trinkets at an earlier level than if you didn't take jewelcrafting. It also gives you a level of gear customization at later levels that you otherwise could only get from enchanting. If you take this, you'll also want to go with mining.

Alchemy is also good for any class, if only for having access to more potions. Elixirs and flasks also give you extra buffs. For this, you'll want herbalism as your gathering profession.

Inscription can also be a good profession, but from what I've seen, it doesn't provide you with most of its bonuses until you are much higher level. Like alchemy, this goes with herbalism.

Enchanting is another possibility, but it lacks a complementary gathering profession. Tailoring is most commonly used, but that doesn't provide much for Hunters.

Personally, I'd recommend jewelcrafting/mining or alchemy/herbalism.

[Kuja]

Jewelcrafting and Alchemy are the most robust and profitable jobs in the game right now, and both of their accompanying profs (mining and herbalism, respectively) can be decently profitable as well. Forget about Engineering, it's a gutted money pit with little fun left in it anymore.

[Ghost Rider]

You really can't look as for Hunter, but more what do you want as buffs.

Engineering: A couple interesting buffs and the ability to make two decent profitable guns. Extraordinary in amount needed.

Jewelcrafting: Unique gems, and right now the best in slot for gems. Ability to make some decently profitable items.

Blacksmithing: Titansteel and ability to add slots on gear. Not too bad on items, but low given raiding.

Alchemy: Unique trinkets and extra time on buffs.

Enchanting: Ring enchants.

Tailoriing: Unique mount and back enchants

Inscriptions: Unique shoulder enchants

Leatherworking: Best Wrist enchant.

Herbing/Mining/Skinning have negligible buffs really.

[Slacker]

Inscription can also be a good profession, but from what I've seen, it doesn't provide you with most of its bonuses until you are much higher level. Like alchemy, this goes with herbalism.

Actually, I just discovered while leveling my druid that the little mini-decks they make to level their inscription skills give pretty awesome gear, including blue-quality shoulders at level 20. Granted, they're random suffix items, but they're generally a helluva lot better than what most people see leveling toons.

[Dorsk 81]

Depends on what you want to do with your Hunter basically, is this character going to be your main? Do you plan to raid with it? If you're going to raid or maybe PvP and want profession that maximize your DPS then nothing really beats Blacksmithing/Jewelcrafting. These professions compliment each other really well, and with the prismatic gems from Jewelcrafting allow you to get the most out of sockets on gear later on. For example, as a Holy Paladin I hate blue sockets on gear, so most of the time I ignore them and therefore don't get the socket bonuses. If I use one of my prismatic gems in a blue socket though, not only do I get a bonus over a regular gem, but it fills the role of a blue gem and therefore activates the socket bonus. With Blacksmithing you can add extra sockets to gear, so the bonus will scale better than say the bonus from Mixology you get with Alchemy, or the shoulder enchant with Inscription when the epic gems become available. Keep in mind though that Blacksmithing is one of the worst professions to grind, and if you don't have a Miner then Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting will cost you a lot.

If you want to make money, I'd say any of either Jewelcrafting, Mining or Herbalism. People always want herbs, ore and gems, so you should be able to make quite a bit from any of them.

[Oskuro]

Being (or pretending to be) a girl. Best profession for any class.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Wow, thanks everyone, you've given me a lot to consider! It seems the issue was way more complex than I imagined...

Anyways, the (initial) plan is not that the Hunter shall be my main character, that's reserved for my druid. That may change however, depending on how much I like the class after trying it!

Raiding: Well, some day, I guess there will be raiding, and occasional instances and stuff, but focus for now is soloing.

While two trading-professions seem nice, they almost require me to create a third character to provide the materials to work with, and that's time-consuming...

I must say, I like this one:

Being (or pretending to be) a girl. Best profession for any class.

[Ghost Rider]

Too bad you make less money off of it unless it's cybering and on vent. And that sorta ruins it unless you have a very high voice.