WoW Forever professions: which two to pick and what each craft needs

The game tells you that you may only know two professions at any one time, and its own help recommends one gathering and one crafting profession for new players. Cooking, First Aid and Fishing are Secondary Skills and do not count toward that limit. The pairings below cover recipes within the beta's level cap.

Which gathering profession does each craft need?

• Blacksmithing: most of its recipes take Mining materials, above all Bronze Bar, Copper Bar, Silver Bar, and Iron Bar. Some also take Pristine Leather, Medium Leather, Light Leather, and Heavy Leather.
• Leatherworking: most of its recipes take Skinning materials, above all Light Leather, Medium Leather, Cured Light Hide, and Pristine Leather.
• Alchemy: most of its recipes take Herbalism materials, above all Kingsblood, Mageroyal, Peacebloom, and Earthroot.
• Engineering: most of its recipes take parts that engineers make first, often from mined materials. Common mined materials used directly are Bronze Bar, Copper Bar, Iron Bar, and Silver Bar. Some recipes also take Medium Leather, Heavy Leather, and Light Leather.
• Tailoring: every recipe takes cloth, which creatures drop. Few take gathered materials: Light Leather, Pristine Leather, and Medium Leather from Skinning, and Pyrite from Mining.
• Enchanting: every recipe takes enchanting materials. Dusts and essences come from disenchanting magic items. Gathered materials are rare: Pyrite.

Which two professions go together?

• Mining with Blacksmithing or Engineering.
• Skinning with Leatherworking.
• Herbalism with Alchemy.
• Tailoring or Enchanting with any gathering profession, since few of their recipes use gathered materials. Use what you gather on another character, or sell it on the Auction House.
• Two gathering professions, if you would rather sell materials than craft.

What do Cooking and First Aid take?

Most Cooking recipes take meat or fish. A few use herbs such as Peacebloom, Liferoot, Mageroyal, and Swiftthistle.

First Aid uses cloth for bandages. Its healing potions use herbs such as Liferoot, Bruiseweed, Briarthorn, and Peacebloom.

What should I do next?

Open the recipe planner for the craft you picked, then the materials list to look up material sources.