One man's opinion incoming...

I think the fundamental change that needs to happen with professions has little to do with what has come before. The problem with professions is that the model of receiving 95% useless fodder for leveling and 5% useful patterns at endgame is frustrating and tired. WoW has been around a long time, and at this point much of it's player-base simply wants to inhabit the world, play the game how they want to play it, and feel rewarded for that. At this point, crafting needs a major overhaul if it is to be seen as anything more than a gold sink that you must pay to be raiding optimal, or have a few toys.

I submit the idea that the crafting system could be overhauled to provide a more dynamic crafting environment, using the mats that are currently available. Instead of training specific recipes, you would learn how to combine the materials at your disposal to achieve different results depending on the combination of materials used. This system could still be min-maxed, meaning it would still be profitable on the AH, but those of us who might want to make crafting a more exploratory experience would still have avenues to make crafting more interesting and enjoyable.