I forgot to save most of my Jewelcrafting threads, but what I do have I'll repost]
Let me start by saying that I love the profession of Jewelcrafting, I've got 375 skill in it myself and I'm super excited about the future. I've collected some of the common questions people have come to me with, as well as some obvious FAQ-style questions to make a makeshift guide for Jewelcrafting. I would like to add to this guide as well as do more Jewelcrafting research, but I need your help! I'm compiling a list of all the Jewelcrafting recipes, the materials required, the items produced, and where to find everything. If you find a recipe, please post it here so I can add it, same for rare gems.
Where do I start?
Apprentice through Artisan Jewelcrafting may ONLY be trained in Silvermoon City (Horde) and The Exodar (Alliance). This is of course subject to change, but at the moment plan on a trip to those cities. Master Jewelcrafting may be trained at Thrallmar (Horde) and Honor Hold (Alliance) in Hellfire Peninsula.
What do you need for Jewelcrafting?
Primarily, ore and gems. There are a few that use alchemy mats, a few that use enchanting mats, and a few that use assorted mob drops, but nothing in such quantity that it would merit taking a second profession other than mining.
Where can I use Jewelcrafting?
Anywhere, there are no fixed resources required (like a Forge or Moonwell). Most Jewelcrafting items require a Jeweler's Kit to produce, this is a trade item you can buy from nearly any Trade Goods vendor for 8s.
What can I make with Jewelcrafting?
As the flavor text specifies, you will learn how to cut precious gems and craft jewelry. Specifically, Jewelcrafting allows you to make rings, necklaces, trinkets, a few crowns, and socketable gems. This is a very unique profession in that it produces two types of gains, new gear for accessory slots and augmentation of existing gear. It's a hybrid between a production profession like tailoring and the service profession of enchanting.
How good are these accessories?
The obvious shining point of Jewelcrafting accessories is that accessories are traditionally rare to characters below level 30, so being able to create accessories customized for characters leveling up is wonderful. Past level 30, the Jewelcrafting gear is vastly outpaced by dungeon loot. Past 30, Jewelcrafting items seem to be at roughly a "quest reward" level, and as of yet there are no "ringers" that would warrant taking off dungeon loot for. I imagine this may be addressed at launch via rare designs and just more designs in general. Endgame Jewelcrafting is not about accessories though, it's all about the gems!
Which classes benefit most from Jewelcrafting?
Since accessories can be used by anyone, and there are gem cuts to augment virtually every stat, all classes benefit most from Jewelcrafting. There are necklaces with high attack power, rings with armor and defense, trinkets with mana regeneration, socketed gems with crit rating. This really is a unique profession in that it doesn't seem biased toward any class or role.
Which professions work well with Jewelcrafting?
I would strongly recommend picking up Mining if you plan on Jewelcrafting. The reason is threefold. First, it's cheaper.
Second, your materials may be in short supply due to the greater demand and lesser portability of ore versus bars, and you can't do much with bars (I imagine the ore market will boost when the expansion is released, but overall the demand for bars comes from many sources, the demand for ore is exclusively on Jewelcrafting). Third, by mining you will find gems naturally on the nodes while mining in ADDITION to the gems you will get when you Prospect all of that ore, not to mention stones for statues.
If not mining, I might recommend Enchanting, as nearly everything you can produce as a Jewelcrafter is of at least Uncommon rarity, and in many cases isn't worth selling on the Auction House due to oversaturation. Since very little of it is Soulbound however, there's not much difference if you simply stick Enchanting on an alt.
