Torn between Engineering or Enchanting to go with Alchemy.

[Loadsamoney]

Leveling an Ele/Resto Shaman on Horde side at the moment, starting with Herbalism to train Alchemy along the way. Once it's at 450 and I'm well stocked on Frost Wyrm Flasks, Wild Magic Potions, Rejuvs and have the Endless Health/Mana and North Flask, I'm going to drop Herbalism in favor of something more optimal. Originally I was going to go for Enchanting as it would be the most straightforward, but Engineering is making a strong case with some of its enhancements where regular enchants wouldn't benefit either build otherwise, namely the boots (Crit rating is the only stat I can get that helps either spec), Spellpower for the Cloak, and the Haste clicky for the gloves.

My Prot Pally has mining so it would just be a matter of time investment to acquire the materials for Engineering. If Engineering is the better choice here, do I go for the Frag Belt or the Pulse Generator? And most importantly, does the 25% Engineering bonus from Health/Mana injectors stack with the 40% bonus from the Alchemist Stone trinkets?

[Blkunxpd]

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[Heryberry]

Engeeniring is must have overpowered prof and i doubt anyone would take you to icc 6hc+ without it

[Loadsamoney]

The nitro boosts can't fail indoors (raids/dungeons) so you don't have to use 27 spell power on the cloak.

What else would I take on the cloak besides 27 Spellpower though? Enchanting doesn't have a decent Cloak enchant for Ele/Resto. Unless you're saying the 27 Spellpower is a clicky and not passive...

[Blkunxpd]

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[Loadsamoney]

Depends what spec you want to play, but for restoration shaman 23 haste is the go. That way you're saving one 20 haste gem and can use 2x 12sp+10 haste, receiving socket bonus(es) as well = better outcome. Just saying, min/max (if you ever want to) is your decision
And no, only the parachute is "on use". The spell power part of the enchant is passive

If Haste is the optimal stat to go for as Resto then alright. I thought Spellpower was always the priority for both Ele and Resto.

[Blkunxpd]

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[Loadsamoney]

Check out this video, it's very informative and probably the best one out there for restoration shaman

Interesting, so Haste gains in power the better your gear becomes? And all this time I thought it had a hardcap where further gains gave no benefit.

Alchemy is not one of the four professions listed. Is Alchemy an inferior choice for a Resto/Ele Shaman? I went with it for the reusables and Mixology mainly.

Does this also mean Potion of Speed beats out Potion of Wild Magic for a Resto Shaman?

[Blkunxpd]

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[Loadsamoney]

Interesting, so Haste gains in power the better your gear becomes? And all this time I thought it had a hardcap where further gains gave no benefit.

Alchemy is not one of the four professions listed. Is Alchemy an inferior choice for a Resto/Ele Shaman? I went with it for the reusables and Mixology mainly.

Does this also mean Potion of Speed beats out Potion of Wild Magic for a Resto Shaman?

Mainly took it for Mixology (ends up being something like +46SP for Frost Wyrm, which is comparable to most other professions stat-wise) and for the reusable potions/flasks to use during dungeons and world PvE, saving injectors and Frost Wyrms for raiding. Since my prot pally is already Mining/JC I wanted to avoid profession redundancy. I don't want multiple toons having the same professions in the name of optimization; the profession being viable is good enough.

I'm over 200 Alchemy at the moment and I don't feel like dropping it at this point, so I'm seriously hoping it wasn't a waste...

[Loadsamoney]

So since I'll be Engineering/Alchemy on my Ele/Resto Shaman, what should I replace Mining with on my Prot Pally? Ret is the off-spec but I haven't devoted any time to working on its gear and if I'm ever going to use it I need to eventually drop Mining to make it serviceable. Currently it's Mining/Jewelcrafting.

Enchanting caught my eye as the replacement, as I would still get the 60 Stamina through Ring enchants, but also would get 80 Attack Power, which translates to another 24 Spellpower through Sheath of Light. It's not Strength, but it's still decent I assume.

I could also do Blacksmithing for the sockets, which would get me 40 Strength instead and still comes with 60 Stamina. That's probably the better option but, as I understand it, Blacksmithing skill gains use a LOT of mats, so it'd take a while to acquire everything I need for it. I also plan to make a second Shaman at some point, and this one would be strictly Enhancement, so it would probably do well with Enchanting instead.

Or is Engineering just so dominant that it's a MUST HAVE for raiding on Lordaeron and even a requirement for raiding guilds?

[Disktrasa]

Dont sweat it, minmaxing in all it's glory but when it comes to pve and raiding, understanding of boss mechanics is everything. I raided with the "best of the best" on warmane since 2009 and I out performed these pro players even without any profession, both dps and healing wise, while it does help a lot and benefits you with professions, when we talk about what is the "best" for each class many of them is sucha tiny difference that honestly... **** it. I have engineering myself on nearly every toon because at bis gear the haste procc on gloves alone brings sucha huge bonus, but thats mostly for dps classes, specifically strenght based melee classes. Just look at how much the bis lists have changed over the years on fury warrs, retri paladins and unholy dk's, all for more haste at bis gear. So for your retri paladin I would advice engineering as second proff, there are guides that help you level it really fast and it's not as expensive to level as many thinks even if you buy all mats. I
personally have all professions on my chars and 9/10 of them have engineering as 2nd, when it comes to healers though I personally prefer a static bonus over procc based bonuses on professions (even though my resto shaman, holy paladin and disc/holy priest all have engineering, I choose it for my spellhance os on shaman and retri specc on paladin). The mana injectors as healer is really nice though when your in a pinch. Nitro boots is really nice also, it really is but you can do fine without it in pve and they take some getting used to if you truly want to optimise them (like running out on sindi with tomb at last 2 seconds so you can lay few extra heals for example, almost every boss has some abilities you can optimise nitro boots on to lay a few extra heals.) for pvp its rather huge though. But all in all go for whatever you want, just allways remember engineering is the best for every character in the end, but its better to have 2 professions with good bonuses then none at all.

[Disktrasa]

I almost forgot, srry for the wall of text but, for protection, engineering is even bigger, specially since the current meta all goes for armor and stamina stacking, so the head and glove enchants are rather huge, and who dosent love a tank that can kite an enraged lich king in phase 3 with nitro boots and survive thus saving the raid.

[Loadsamoney]

Dont sweat it, minmaxing in all it's glory but when it comes to pve and raiding, understanding of boss mechanics is everything. I raided with the "best of the best" on warmane since 2009 and I out performed these pro players even without any profession, both dps and healing wise, while it does help a lot and benefits you with professions, when we talk about what is the "best" for each class many of them is sucha tiny difference that honestly... **** it. I have engineering myself on nearly every toon because at bis gear the haste procc on gloves alone brings sucha huge bonus, but thats mostly for dps classes, specifically strenght based melee classes. Just look at how much the bis lists have changed over the years on fury warrs, retri paladins and unholy dk's, all for more haste at bis gear. So for your retri paladin I would advice engineering as second proff, there are guides that help you level it really fast and it's not as expensive to level as many thinks even if you buy all mats. I
personally have all professions on my chars and 9/10 of them have engineering as 2nd, when it comes to healers though I personally prefer a static bonus over procc based bonuses on professions (even though my resto shaman, holy paladin and disc/holy priest all have engineering, I choose it for my spellhance os on shaman and retri specc on paladin). The mana injectors as healer is really nice though when your in a pinch. Nitro boots is really nice also, it really is but you can do fine without it in pve and they take some getting used to if you truly want to optimise them (like running out on sindi with tomb at last 2 seconds so you can lay few extra heals for example, almost every boss has some abilities you can optimise nitro boots on to lay a few extra heals.) for pvp its rather huge though. But all in all go for whatever you want, just allways remember engineering is the best for every character in the end, but its better to have 2 professions with good bonuses then none at all.

Thank you for the feedback. I think in that case I'll stick to my original plan to go Enchanting for my Ele/Resto Shaman. I'm going to be making a second Shaman for sure at some point in which both specs will be Enhance; one will be focused on single-target melee, the other will be Spellhance focused on AoE, and they'll both have some variation in gear and gemming.

So my professions in the end will probably be:

Prot/Ret Pally: Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting
Ele/Resto Shaman: Enchanting, Alchemy
Enhance/Spellhance Shaman: Engineering, Leatherworking

And then I'll eventually have a Herb/Mining gatherer that doesn't raid, maybe a DK or a feral Druid.