Up front, I did not raid in TBC, but EVERY story of TBC profession has been very different from this. It was very much mandatory BECAUSE of the BoP gear. I couldn't count the number of TBC raiders I heard complain about how they were forced to work on a profession because of a BiS slot that was filled by a profession. BoP crafting is just wrong IMO for this exact reason. This is the first time I have ever heard anyone say that crafting in TBC wasn't manditory for raiding.