Enhance YourSelf : Professions

Hey all, Im back and I got a fresh post for you all today.
Today's topic is gonna be all about the Professions! Yup Professions something no max level player should ever be without. Now during your time in major city's you may notice in trade chat a lot of your fellow players posting "LFW" macros displaying there professions and services, this is just one way in which professions can make your time in wow easier. By doing so these players are providing a service in exchange for gold, which is then used for various other things, for the common raider that would be enchants, gems, regents, flask, pots, and BoE (Bind on Equip)Gear, all vital items in which to increase there rolls in raid. But professions are not just there to make you money, they are also there to provide you with above average enchants and buffs to help you reach that next level, Im going to go over them in this
post today.




Alchemy:
Lets start off with "Alchemy", now alchemy is a has always been a money maker providing commonly needed flasks, and pots for raiders for years. "Burning Crusade" and recently "Wrath of the Lich King" and brought some nice additions to this profession, such as Specializations allowing the player to choose between 3 specs, Potions, Elixer's (Flasks), and finaly Transmutation. Each one of these professions basically allows the alchemist a random proc in which to create a second Flask, Pot or Transmuted item for free. Now this Proc is not 100% odds are you may go some time without seeing this go off but it is worth having one of the three, some chance is better then no chance. Another thing recently added to this profession was the addition of Mixology this allows flasks, and pots in which you can create to have move improved effects and durations of both become doubled. A good profession to have but if you want maximum dps then you might want to look else ware.

Enhancement Items : Flask of Endless Rage / Potion of Speed
Leveling : 8/10 | Raiding : 6/10 | PVP : 8/10


Blacksmithing:
Next we have blacksmithing, now for as long as I can remember blacksmithing has never had a place with mail wearers, so untill now it has always been pasted over on. But recently it received a nice little buff in the way of extra item sockets, with Socket Bracers, Socket Gloves, and the BoE Eternal Belt Buckle. All three being nice items and spells but at the end of the day the cost in which to level this profession and only being only rewarded with 2 extra sockets which in some cases can be a big thing is not enough for enhancement shaman to go for in my opinion.

Enhancement Items : Eternal Belt Buckle / Titanium Weapon Chain (PVP)
Leveling : 1/10 | Raiding : 4.5/10 | PVP : 5.5/10


Enchanting:
Now we come to "Enchanting", a profession in which I come to see as vary important in raiding and pvp, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone leveling since the materials can be hard to come by and and item in which you enchant will be replaced far to quickly for it to have any impact on your overall performance for vary long . But for PVE and PVP this profession can come in vary handy because it in fact does bring enchanter only enchants to an item that without this profession cannot be enchanted and that is your rings. The Ring enchants come in three types of enchants Enchant Ring - Stamina, Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower, and Enchant Ring - Assault. Assault being the enchant of choice for Enh shaman.
This is a great profession to have if your willing to invest the time and money into it.

Enhancement Items : Enchant Ring - Assault
Leveling : 2.5/10 | Raiding : 8/10 | PVP : 8/10


Engineering:
Engineering has always been kinda of the ugly duckling of professions, noone ever seeing a need for it and always considered a joke. But I can tell you now, if pvp is your game this is the profession to have, from Grenades to Rocket boots this profession fits the bill for pvp. As far as pve goes this profession is not without its charm, coming in the form of mechanical enchants as they like to call them heh, one providing haste buff another agi to cloak.
A solid middle of the road profession for any casual or hardcore raider or pvper.

Enhancement Items : Hyperspeed Accelerators / Flexweave Underlay
Leveling : 6/10 | Raiding : 7/10 | PVP : 9/10


Herbalism:
Herbalism, now herb, like mining is a gathering profession, it allows the player to pick herbs from all over the zone based on your level of the skill. Ive always seen this profession as a money maker, its great for leveling and for players who just like to see a lot of gold in there bags, as far as raiding or pvp goes there's not much you can gain from this profession other then lifeblood which gives you a small heal over time on a 3 minute cooldown. If your looking for raiding or pvp professions look else where.

Enhancement Items : None
Leveling : 8/10 | Raiding : 2/10 | PVP : 2/10


Inscription:
Ok so now we come to inscription, a profession which was released with Wrath. This profession really has some ups and downs to it. Glyphs, Cards, and 4 Scrib only Shoulder enchants are the main focus of this profession. The only real reason I can see this profession being worth while for raiding would be the shoulder enchant Master's Inscription of the Axe. The Cards can be something to look at if you feel you want a Darkmoon Card : Greatness, but the odds of you getting the whole deck without you spending more on the value of the herbs you farm (if you partner it with herb), or buying the amount of herbs you need on the ah could cost more then buying the deck straight up on the ah. Glyphs overall have there place, but are not worth it if raiding is your prime objective. A great profession for making money and the enchant is a nice plus, but if you rather spend your time instance grinding for gear or badges then Sons of hodir who are more commonly used for shoulder enchants can be the way you would like to go. Now it does provide glyphs which at first you might think can be helpful having the ability to make them your self, but with this profession you just don't learn every glyph in just one day, daily cooldowns are needed to inscrease your inventory fully, and most times not at a cost friendly price.
For PVP most top players enchant there shoulders with Inscription of Triumph for the resilience.

Enhancement Items : Master's Inscription of the Axe. / Darkmoon Card : Greatness
Leveling 6/10 | Raiding 5/10 | PVP 2/10


Jewelcrafting:
Jewelcrafting a new profession which was introduced with the "Burning Crusade" expansion.
is in my opinion one of the top raiding professions one can have. With time you will notice top gear having more and more gems sockets upon them. And with Jewelcrafting this can help supply you with gems needed for your ever changing inventory. at level 350 you will obtain a quest which with give you a passive ability "Gem Perfection" which allows the crafter a chance to cut green quality gems with above average stats, most times the stats being increased by 1-2, while end game raiding this ability will not be the way to go, but while leveling in northrend this can really come in handy. The main reason for this being a top raiding profession is the option to use a variety of Jewelcrafter only gems with well above normal stats, now you are limited to only useing 3 of these gems but these gems can really come in handy when either trying to get that one stat that refuses to appear on your tier gear or weapons.
In my opinion Jewelcrafting should be a way to go if raiding is your route.

Enhancement Items : Quick Dragon's Eye / Quick King's Amber / Bright Dragon's Eye / Bright Cardinal Ruby
Leveling 7/10 | Raiding 9/10 | PVP 8/10


Leatherworking:
Here we have leather working, another profession in which I consider to be a must for raiding.
For leveling this profession can be of a nuisance since most pattens needed to level require quite a bit of leather and time to gather said leather. Raiding wise its great to have, for two reasons. One, leg reinforcements, these allow the leather worker to apply leg enchants such as Nerubian Leg Reinforcements at a much more cost affective price, and two the option to apply 130 attack power to bracers Fur Lining - Attack Power, which far exceeds any enchant you can obtain from enchanters. Another positive to this profession is the idea of creating your own items since leather workings main focus is Leather and Mail armor, and obtaining newly released patterns can be a nice boost to your income.

Enhancement Items : Nerubian Leg Reinforcements / Fur Lining - Attack Power
Leveling 5/10 | Raiding 9/10 | PVP 7/10


Mining:
Mining is one of three gathering professions which can be obtained. its a pure money maker, and is a great partner to jewelcrafting or blacksmithing. Theres not much you can consider a boost to your dps from this profession, its mainly for money and the ability to supply your self with materials for other professions. For PVP I can see maybe a slight reason to maybe pick this, the reason being Toughness which gives you a small hp boost, which is nice but should never be the sole reason for taking this over anything else.

Enhancement Items : None
Leveling 8/10 | Raiding 3/10 | PVP 4/10


Skinning:
Skinning the third gathering profession I'm going to review today. A great partner for leatherworking which is nice for casual players, but for hardcore raiders two crafting professions is really the way to go. For leveling this can really contribute to your speed overall by providing you with the passive skill Master of Anatomy which increases your crit rating a fair amount.

Enhancement Items : Master of Anatomy
Leveling 9/10 | Raiding 5/10 | PVP 5/10


Tailoring:
Tailoring the caster profession. As far as enhancement shaman goes there's not much you can really get out of tailoring. Besides bags or the occasional pattern request the gold side to this profession is pretty average, some people see cloth cooldowns and pant enchants profitable, and its a good way to go for money but overall at the end of the day your time is much more well spent leveling other professions that have much more upside.

Enhancements Items : None
Leveling 5/10 | Raiding 1/10 | PVP 1/10


I hope this post provided you with a better idea and understanding of what professions you should go with at 80 or while leveling.