Note: this post contains information on Wrath of the Lich King.

So, you’re wondering what professions will serve you best at level 80? Here’s a super-quick rundown of the crafter-only advantages of each profession, to help you pick.

In addition, I’ve listed the major epic items that each profession can make, even if they’re BoE, as there’s likely to be a lucrative market in providing crafted epics.

Current as of WotLK beta build 8982.

Alchemy

• Mixology: You receive an increased effect and duration when you drink any elixir or flask you are able to make. Doubles the duration, and gives an increased effect (the amount of increase varies by recipe, between 20% and 50%).
• Endless Rejuvenation Potions, the only potions usable in arenas.
• Alchemist’s Stones: Indestructible (+stam/dodge), Mercurial (+haste/spellpower) and Mighty (+crit/AP).

Blacksmithing

• Adding Sockets: Blacksmiths will be able to add an extra gem socket to their gloves, bracers, and one-handed weapon. Devs have also mentioned the possibility of letting them add a meta socket, but nothing’s in-game yet.
• BoP gear: chest, legs, 2H mace, and two 1H swords, all Rare quality requiring level 78.
• Epic gear: (all BoE)
  • helm/boots in healer plate, dps plate and tank plate flavours
  • three pieces of Frost Resist gear
  • a tank shield
  • a dagger, 1H caster mace, 1H DPS mace, 2H DPS mace

Enchanting

• Ring Enchants: self-only ring enchants for AP, Spellpower, or Stamina. (There was a Haste enchant, but it seems to have been replaced by the Stamina recipe.)
• Epic BoP Wands: upgradable in three stages, like epic Blacksmithing weapons were in TBC. There’s a spellpower/crit wand, and a spellpower/stam/int wand. There are also a Rare-quality wand of each type. Source: WotLK Wiki; this has not yet been implemented, so may not make it live.

Engineering

• Self-only gear enchants: Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket, Hyperspeed Accelerators, Nitro Boots, Personal Electromagnetic Pulse Generator, Belt-Clipped Spynoculars, and Flexweave Underlay
• Mounts: motorcycles for Horde and Alliance.
• Epic gear: (all BoE)
  • Goggles: tank plate, DPS plate, caster mail, DPS mail, caster leather, DPS leather, caster cloth.
  • two guns (one for tanks, one for DPS)

Inscription

• Self-only shoulder Inscriptions: in four flavours (AP/Crit, Spellpower/mp5, Spellpower/Crit, and Dodge/Defense).
• Decipher: allows a Scribe to ‘unlock’ an encrypted item (like a rogue lockpicking a lockbox).
• Epic Offhands: Both BoE, there’s the Iron-bound Tome and Faces of Doom
• Extra glyph slot?: Scribes are/were widely expected to get an extra glyph slot – however, there’s no official implementation of this, so it’s still up in the air. The datamined information on WoWhead no longer exists, suggesting it’s been removed.

Jewelcrafting

• Jeweler’s Gems: these are BoP gems with significantly better stats than any other gems, plus they’re colorless for versatility. Can only socket 3 at a time.
• BoP trinkets: rare-quality trinkets, all with two sockets and a mix of equip and use effects.
• Epic gear: (all BoE) Neck/Ring pairs for tanks (Earthguard), physical DPS (Impact) and casters/healers (Spellshock).

Leatherworking

• BoP gear: various chests, all Rare quality requiring level 78.
• Epic gear: (all BoE)
  • Stam/Int/Spirit/Spellpower leather boots/legs
  • Agi/Stam/Expertise/AP leather shoulders/belt
  • Agi/Stam/int/AP/Armor Pen mail legs/bracers
  • Stam/Int/Haste/Spellpower mail chest/boots
  • Frost Resist chest/belt/boots in leather and mail
  • two cloaks
• Self-only bracer enchants: various fur linings for Attack Power, Spellpower, Stamina or Resists (Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature or Shadow)
• Leg Armor: Frosthide (Stam/Agi) and Icescale (AP/Crit). The Rare-quality versions are Jormungar and Nerubian Leg Armors respectively. (Note: it’s ambiguous as to whether non-leatherworkers can use these.)

Tailoring

• Magnificent Flying Carpet: a BoP mount – “this is a very fast rug”, hee!
• Cloth Scavenging: requires tailoring 325 to learn, gives a tailor the ability to find additional cloth on northrend humanoids.
• Epic gear: (all BoE)
  • robe/gloves in three flavours (stam/int/hit/spellpower, stam/int/spirit/spellpower, int/spirit/haste/spellpower)
  • BoE spellthread: Brilliant and Sapphire (the Rare versions are Shining and Azure respectively)
• Self-only Spellthreads: Sanctified and Master’s Spellthreads.
• Self-only Cloak Embroidery: Darkglow (proc: mana return on spellcast), Lightweave (proc: extra Holy damage on spellcast), and Swordguard (proc: AP increase) Embroidery.
• Frostweave Nets: always fun for soloing if you don’t have a snare class ability.

Herbalism

• Lifeblood: Heals for 2000 over 5 seconds. Also makes the ground around you bloom with little flowers, for bonus awesome.
• New consumables: Fire Leaf (reduces your armor by 100%, but increases your attack power by 400 for 10 sec) and Fire Seed (makes you vulnerable to magic, but increases your spell power by 200 for 10 sec). Both are harvested via herbalism as byproducts from herb nodes, and require Herbalism 325 and Level 70 to use.

Mining

• Toughness: +500 Max Health

Skinning

• Master of Anatomy: +25 Crit Rating (0.54% crit at level 80)