Survival Skills

Survival Skills was a minor trade skill (profession) planned for the original version of World of Warcraft. It didn't make it past the beta.

Overview

Survival Skills Basics

Survival skills allow you to create campfires and hold torches, which increase the spirit of those nearby. This is a minor skill that only requires a small amount of skill points. Survival skills are useful to those that have the cooking trade skill because it allows them to cook food nearly anywhere.

Campfires

In addition to allowing cooking, campfires also provide a spirit bonus, which increases health and mana regeneration. After a battle is over a player can create a campfire, which allows the party to regenerate faster. This lets the party get back in battle faster.

Creating Campfires

First you need to buy some wood and then flint and tinder at the general goods merchant. Then open up your abilities menu ("i" key) and drag the "Basic Campfire" icon onto your action bar. Now click on it to create a campfire.

Basic Campfire: Increases spirit by 4 and allows cooking.

Bright Campfire: Increases spirit by 8 and allows cooking. It looks much cooler too!

Torches

Survivalists can also hold a lit torch in their off-hand, which provides a spirit bonus "aura" to everyone in the party near the player carrying the torch. Players also receive a minor light bonus at night. Buy torches at general trade item merchants. Create a campfire and right-click on the torch. This will light the torch. Now equip it in your hand. If you need to use a weapon to fight it's best to use a torch after battle or on the run. Torches last for a period of time before they burn up. You'll then have to light a new torch.

Other

Due to its connection to Cooking, Survival Skills was also mentioned at the original Cooking article:

Good Skills to Combine with Cooking
Fishing is often a good skill to combine with Cooking, because recipes you use to cook the fish that you catch end up providing a greater healing benefit, not to mention the fact that fish are always abundantly available.

You may also want to train in Survival Skills, which will allow your character to create camp fires. Camp fires are used to cook, and being able to create a camp fire will allow you to almost always cook anywhere. Without a camp fire, you will have to carry your ingredients back to a fire, or cooking pot, in town in order to cook your food. Some players prefer that method, while others prefer to be able to cook anywhere at anytime.

Legacy

Survival Skills never made it past beta, but the ideas it was based on still appears in the game.

• The Basic Campfire (renamed "Cooking Fire" in patch 4.3.0) is an ability automatically given to a player upon learning the Cooking-profession. It also provides 4+ spirit, though such a small amount only provides a significant regeneration bonus for very low-level players.
• The [Bright Campfire] is a spell known by Syndicate Conjurors in the Arathi Highlands. Why they were given this spell is unknown.
• The game contains several torches, sometimes in the form of wands or off-hand items, such as  [Torch of Austen],  [Grayson's Torch] and  [Excavator's Brand]. None of them provide any sort of spirit-aura, however.
•  [Unlit Poor Torch] was planned to be an item for the profession, giving off a  [Dim Torch].

Notes

The original article presenting Survival Skills also included some images. These were, unfortunately, not accessible through http://web.archive.org/.

External links

• Wowhead