Professions have undergone a lot of changes since WoW began. Most recently, in Burning Crusade, crafting professions were typically a good way to obtain surprisingly high-quality items that you couldn't get any other way, such as Stormherald or the Frozen Shadoweave set. So far we haven't seen any evidence of directly parallel itemization in Wrath of the Lich King, and according to a couple of recent posts by Verimonde, we're not going to.

Specifically, Verimonde said that "There will not be a Stormherald type weapon 'high level crafter only,'" although there are, for instance, several BoE epic smithed weapons in Wrath. In his second post he explains the reasoning a little more: Blizzard didn't like that many people were picking professions based on what would make them the most powerful, as opposed to what they enjoyed.

One reason often given in favor of BoP gear from professions is that it gives players a reason to level an expensive crafting profession in the first place. If all crafter gear is BoE, you can take two lucrative gathering professions and simply buy the gear you want on the AH. In Wrath, all professions will have crafter-only perks; they just won't be epic items. For instance:

• Blacksmiths can add sockets to their items.
• Leatherworkers get "furs" - exclusive bracer enchants.
• Tailors get enchantments called Embroideries for their cloaks (and flying carpets).
• Enchanters get ring enchants (like in BC).
• Scribes get shoulder enchants, better than the faction-bought ones, as well as caster-oriented off-hands.
• Alchemists get increased effect and duration on flasks and elixirs, as well as Alchemist's Stones.
• Jewelcrafters get BoP gems and trinkets (as in BC).
• Engineers seem to be keeping their traditional arsenal of engineer-only items, including goggles.

Aside from the Alchemy perk, these all work out to be remarkably similar: a few extra stat points, one way or another. Which makes me think that I'm pretty unlikely to bother picking up new crafting professions on new characters. I'll level my 375 tailoring up to 450, but without the big rewards at the end, it doesn't seem worth it to go all the way from 0.

Tags: boe, bop, crafted-epics, crafted-items, crafting, epics, professions, stormherald, verimonde, wotlk, wrath

Filed under: Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring, Enchanting, Items, Jewelcrafting, Wrath of the Lich King, Inscription