Professions to No Longer Grant Combat Benefits

Professions are kind of an odd part of the game. Today, professions are balanced in such a way that they are all meant to give an equivalent combat buff. This started with things like Blacksmiths getting to add gem sockets to their gloves and bracers, but for balance's sake, the system has had to expand.

Today, the general idea is that maxing out your professions will give you a bonus that makes you more effective. The downside is that not all of these bonuses are created equal. While most professions will give you what eventually works out to about the same bonus to your primary stat, some aren't really designed that way. My Mage is a Jewelcrafter and a Miner (the mining to serve his JC'ing.) While the special gems granted from Jewelcrafting are nice, the stamina gained from mining is basically irrelevant for a Mage.

So, rather than do a huge rebalancing of all the professional bonuses, Blizzard is cutting the Gordian Knot and just getting rid of them.

But, you might ask, why have a profession if not for that benefit?

Well, that's a good question, but I think it will largely boil down to economics. You'll still be able to make armor and weapons, and we're still going to need gems and enchants. Glyphs are complicated, because while Scribes will still be making them, some of the more central glyphs are going to be learned automatically.

To look at the bright side of this, it will no longer feel so bad if you have a character who never got around to leveling those professions (my 87 Horde Monk is a Miner/JC, both of which are at about 75 or so.)

We will apparently have access to other professions in a limited capacity through our Garrisons, but I expect this is something that we'll need to get more info on before we can say much about it.

Good news for Engineers: while you can probably expects Synapse Strings to go away, rocket boots will likely be staying, and you'll be able to sell the tinker so that Engineering isn't seen to have an unfair advantage (other than the inescapable "cooler and more attractive" benefit.)