🚀 go-pugleaf

so in a moment of weakness I took advantage of the Black Friday deal and purchased Warlords.  I should preface to say that my last serious wow playing was killing the Lich King. For Cat, I leveled up my main for a month and then stopped and for Panda I've only ever taken advantage of 7 or 10 day free trials to quickly level up via instances.

A few months ago I was able to get through the Warlord introduction and start my garrison and had to stop as I could not ding 91.

But now I'm in for a 3 months as I was intrigued by the garrisons but I'm a bit confused.

Professions: I'm a leatherworker but it seems very daunting to try and level it up as the amount of materials needed (and time to farm) is extraordinary. I was expecting as per past to gather enough materials while questing to at least make a dent in leveling up but most of the mobs are not skinnable.

The garrison: what seemed interesting at first has really turned into a time and money sink. I dinged 100 and have a few level 2 buildings. The routine when you log in takes almost a half hour and is super expensive. I know money comes easy and it should now that I'm max level and still have 3 zones to explore but the time sink to keep up your garrison vs. exploration doesn't allow for a casual experience.

Instances. gear level caps to run the instances? I was level 99 and couldn't get into Skyreach because my gear level was 2 points too low. Problem was I was still questing in the low level zones so I wasn't getting any gear of the right ilevel. Wasn't until a garrison mission earned an appropriate gear reward that I dinged.

Also, I still only see 4 instances in the Looking for Group interface. do more open up now that I'm 100? Will I have the gear?

There is some neck item that I have that claims to reveal 'treasures' hidden throughout. What does this thing do?

When do gems come into play? I haven't seen any gem slots on the gear I've acquired? Is my herb garden just AH fodder? Or do I need that if I build an building associated with a profession that uses herbs?

I may have missed it but when do the visiting quest givers at your tavern start?

Thanks