Friday Fights Round 15: Secondary Professions

In the world of MMOs, completing quests and running dungeons is only part of the fun. This week’s Friday Fight is all about secondary professions. In one corner, we have crafting, where players build and forge everything from simple chairs to legendary weapons. In the other corner is gathering, with players literally putting their character’s life on the line to procure the rare (and not so rare) resources that fuel an MMO’s economy. Crafting and gathering go hand in hand, and both trades can become a lucrative side hustle between raids. You could split your time between the two jobs, but just like every Friday Fight, there can only be one winner in the battle between secondary professions.

Crafting

Crafting is the backbone of any player-driven economy. The ability to turn raw materials into powerful weapons, armor, potions, or even furniture makes crafters indispensable. Many MMOs reward dedicated artisans with unique recipes, mastery perks, and the ability to create best-in-slot gear. There's also a deep sense of satisfaction in refining materials into something useful, whether for personal gain or marketplace dominance. Unlike gathering, crafting allows players to leave their mark on the world—some MMOs even let crafters put their names on the items they create. Whether you want to be a legend in your server’s economy or just the go-to guy when someone in your guild needs a good weapon, crafting is the most rewarding profession.

Gathering

While crafters make the goods, they wouldn’t get far without gatherers. Gathering is an essential profession that allows players to explore vast environments, hunt for rare resources, and control supply chains. A skilled gatherer can amass wealth by providing in-demand materials to crafters and auction houses. Unlike crafting, which often requires significant investment in blueprints, workshops, or skill trees, gathering is more immediate—find the resource, collect it, and profit. Many MMOs also add an element of thrill to gathering with competitive resource nodes, risk-reward zones, and hidden treasures. If you enjoy exploration, efficiency, and a steady income without the grind of recipe unlocking, gathering is the way to go.

My Take

For me, this isn’t a battle, it’s a slaughter, and the lopsided victory goes to gathering. Unlike crafting, gathering is a viable money maker right from the start. As soon as you get your first pick, axe, and/or scythe, you can immediately begin gathering goods to sell. You don’t even have to stop questing; just run up to a resource node, gather, and then return to your current quest. 

Gathering is also a great job regardless of how much time you have to put into your MMO. A good crafter has to continually be focused on crafting the highest-tier goods available. It’s such a grind. Craft 20 copper swords. Craft 20 copper chest plates. Switch to silver and do it all over again. Six months after launch, no one will care about those twenty copper swords you made and still have for sale on the auction house.

With gathering, there’s always a need for lower-tier resources. You can watch the market and focus on where the demand is, or just gather whatever resources are near you while you are questing and killing, Drop it on the auction house before you log out for the day, and then the next time you log back in - tomorrow or two weeks later - to collect your gold.