Professions preview and the trouble with Engineering

Nethaera has come forward with a professions preview, and I have to say.. it's not much.

First, let's get the obvious out of the way. Limiting elixirs to one per type is going to hurt raiding a lot. I'm not even near Serpentshrine or Magtheridon and I'm routinely using at least two elixirs. On paper this is doing exactly what Blizzard promised it would do: reduce the money needed for consumables in raiding. However, if the encounters are not balanced accordingly, it will just mean that the cost is transferred from consumables to repair costs. It's not the end, however. It will simply slow down raiding progress on gear-dependant encounters.

Next up is enchanting. The changes are nothing to write home about, simply some slight tuning. Making the spell damage bracer enchant cheaper is always useful, and changing spell damage enchants to both spell damage and healing will help healers in soloing stuff, and is in line with previous changes.

Fishing buffs are always welcome. Starting up fishing with 300 fishing and +25 skill fishing pole in Zangar Marsh was a pain. Since cooked fish are actually useful nowadays, this will hopefully inspire more people to take up fishing.

Jewelcrafting got the UI changes it needed, and got a few of the gaps filled out. I'll be ordering some spell hit gems as soon as possible. I'm also stockpiling ores for the improved Prospecting.

Leatherworking got a few cosmetic changes, so I won't comment on those. But I'll comment on my profession, Engineering.

The listed changes miss whatever feedback that has been given to Blizzard. 11 goggles? With any luck, they'd all require Engineering and/or are Bind-on-Pickup. Nobody's going to pick Engineering because they can craft 9 goggles that are useless to them, even if they are epic. If you pick Blacksmithing, you are a melee class, most likely a warrior or a paladin. If you pick Tailoring, you are a clothie. Rogues, druids, hunters and shamans pick Leatherworking. Everyone can use Alchemy potions, and you can always sell them. Ditto with Jewelcrafting. Now compare all of the other crafting professions to Engineering.

90% of the Engineering items require Engineering to use, and only a handful require a specialization to craft. This means that the market for Engineering items is nonexistent, especially when the guns are substandard. Currently, the only classes that get the most out of Engineering are Hunters and Warriors, and even then there's some clothie items left.

IMHO, Blizzard has to do some soul-searching with Engineering. What do they want it to be? Do they want to limit it by class like Tailoring, Blacksmithing and Leatherworking are now? Or do they want it to be a general-purpose profession like Alchemy or Jewelcrafting? Or just a novelty profession with some minor benefit on very limited circumstances? Because that's what it is now, a novelty. And if this is the best that Blizzard can do, it isn't going to be enough to make Engineering viable anywhere.