IMO, the decision to remove profession-exclusive bonuses was a bad one. Yes, there's always some crank complaining that now they're obliged to take a profession and level it to get a fraction of a fraction of a percent of DPS, lest they be dropped from their raid slot, but in point of fact, there's still an argument to be made that professions are economically obligatory, the only thing that's changed is which professions are required. Alchemy and Enchanting are the big dogs now, with Tailoring offering a utility niche with bags. And now that reagent prices are stupidly inflated, gathering is the new cash-cow profession. But don't worry. Once the gear demand has been satisfied (which will likely take until the next raid tier being released), gathered mats will start to deflate. And there's no reason that you really need to participate in the player-driven economy if you don't want to. You won't be able to afford the spider mount, but there are worse fates.

In other news, I've really started enjoying leveling my Frost Mage bank alt now that the Frost buffs have been delivered. The best piece of news is your mage bodyguard is a frost mage, and she regularly casts a ranged freeze on targets which apparently doesn't break on damage, so world questing gets a LOT better once you've got her following you around. Frost may not measure up to Fire and Arcane still, but it's at least remotely viable. I also love that one of the Ebonchill artifact traits is a buff to Ice Barrier. It's certainly not a priority if you're min-maxing for raiding, but I've always loved the QOL aspect of Ice Barrier, and the aesthetics of Frost. If only I could trade Ice Lance for Fire Blast (I loved my frost/fire shatter combos in Vanilla), I'd be exquisitely happy.