So, over the past few patches Blizzard has simplified several professions and also made them easier to level. Mining and herbalism can now easily be leveled in a single night without leaving Pandaria; Jewelcrafting and Enchantment now make finished products that scale with your level so you don't need to buy them as often; Inscription was hit earlier by the removal of 3 glyph slots with the release of MoP... Additionally, Blizzard has announced plans to 'streamline' all professions - making them easier to level (and, I assume, also making it so 'consumers' need to buy the resultant 'products' more rare as is now the case with gems and enchants). This sounds great at first, as it means you can finally level that one profession you've always wanted to max out but just couldn't commit to and you are tired of buying enchants every 4 or 5 levels when leveling a new toon... BUT, what is this doing to the AH, the WoW economy? It is increasing supply while simultaneously reducing demand - AH prices will keep going down except for very brief periods when a big patch comes out... People will have more incentive to be self-sufficient, less reason to even look at the AH - less reason still considering that people will be making less gold overall due to this meaning they have less funds to buy off the AH. Blizzard wants us to be more social, the game more interactive... yet what they are doing to professions is going to result in just the opposite and make the game less fun to play (I like 'playing the AH' - many people, however, just like to buy and not mess around with making things they can buy - both people like me and 'buyers' will end up less happy overall).
I really think Blizzard should stop trying to dumb down the professions, they are becoming too easy and too unprofitable. At this rate, they will eventually have no reason not to let us all make anything from any profession as long as we've the mats without having to buy anything and without having to level professions - and get rid of the AH except for more specialized items like rare drop gear and pets.