The problem with that idea is that it would also destroy any existing gems or enchants on the weapon. Imagine you're a Blacksmith, and you've thrown Executioner onto your Torch or Cat's Edge. Then patch 3.0 is released, and you find you can't socket it without shelling out for a new enchant. Not good.

Also, can't Blacksmiths socket other people's weapons? If you can and you erased someone else's Executioner or Mongoose without telling them, I imagine you'd be able to hear the screams on the moon.

On Inscription data: We're now getting 2 builds each week, so the "goal posts" are continually moving. Wowhead (which is normally pretty good) seems to be finding items that do not appear to be on the EU beta realm yet (they have some minor glyphs listed now). And anyone basing Inscription on data-mining is going to be disappointed: Time after time we've seen that a spells.dbc entry does not automatically equate to an in-game item or ability.

Personally I'm only listing what I find in-game, and re-analysing it with each new build. I'm only human, so the odd error will creep in, but the vast majority will be accurate. I may have to re-evaluate that approach for discoveries, but those are unlikely to be relevent to leveling. In Friday's build the leveling curve was so close to broken, that I did not bothered working through the skills levels past about 225: Far too many of the most efficient skill-ups were "in the green" - multiple stacks of herbs could be used gaining a single point in some places. I concluded that the numbers are still being balanced, and everything will change again - perhaps in a few hours.

I took a stab at 100-150 (1 group of herbs, where the orange/yellow/green/grey numbers felt about right in the Friday build), and concluded around 6 stacks of herbs in that bracket were required to level 50 points. However, if you read that closely it shows a flaw: I didn't use the rarer (Verdant) pigment at all. Milling 6 stacks of herbs would have averaged 10 of the rarer pigment. The only ink it makes is Dawnstar, which is basically used for low-ish level BoP items (of no interest to power-levelers). To make Dawnstar you need both a common and a rare pigment, soyou still need to use all the materials that you would have used to make the glyph, plus the extra rare pigment. Since you can stay "in the orange" on glyphs at that point, and produce something that probably sells/"is useful", glyphs remain the best strategy. The perplexing result (if this structure remains on live) is that the "rare" pigments flood the auction house, with a far lower price than the common pigments, because they are only attractive to new rolls, who benefit from the tarot and off-hands. Another reason why I don't think it is done yet.

It still isn't entirely clear whether glyphs are going to become a raid/PvP consumable (the Lexicon of Power requirement to swap them suggests a move away from the "all you can eat" approach, although retains the possibility of swapping glyphs boss-to-boss for those looking for every possible advantage), or indeed whether scrolls will became a serious consumable (but the materials are fairly intense for a consumable), or whether there won't be a regular consumable and Inscription will gain some other long-term production role, or whether Inscription will not be production-orientated, with the main benefits being personal only (the engineering model).

Overall, I'm increasingly concerned that Inscription will go live without adequate testing and balance: They're aiming to get this into the pre-patch, which is literally weeks away. For several months I thought this slow implementation might be a rouse to stop herb speculation breaking the pre-Wrath economy... but increasingly I think they simply don't know yet...

While I haven't tried levelling the profession myself, I can tell you that the current amount of Outland Herbs (I think that's herb type 6 in your list?) is much higher than you list. Though it's likely it'll change in the beta build that's currently being put on the server. Just quoting from a random European beta tester here indicates that there was a need to make 47 glyphs to gain a single skill points at 339 skill. See here: WotLK Beta (EU-English) Forums -> [Feedback] Inscription in 8970

The same tester mentions this being true for the past skill points as well, so it isn't entirely bad luck.

Of course, that's kind of a moot point since it's likely to be overhauled in the new build.

A few changes in todays build

It's a new object in the game world, comparable to a forge or anvil, found near Inscription Trainers. It's basically a large floating book, and attempting to use a glyph while not near one will give an "Requires Lexicon of Power" error.

The Lexicon of Power is basically the Forge/Anvil/Cooking Fire for Inscription. You need to be standing next to it to re-Glyph, and they're placed next to Inscription trainers. Basically, no field-swaps, it has the same logistic issues as respecing.
[e]Curses, foiled again.

Any changes on the Stamina enchant? If it stays at 90, the 3 enchants will be using different item budgets for their respective stat bonuses which would be... odd.

(Enchants and Gems have no diminishing returns on stat bonuses so that is my assumption)

1 stat point is worth 2 AP, 1.2 spell power and 1.5 Stamina (Reference point: [Runed Crimson Spinel] (this should be 12 spell power in WotLK), [Bright Crimson Spinel] and [Solid Empyrean Sapphire]).

90 Stamina = 60 stat points = 120 AP = 72 spell power which isn't too far off from the old values. I expect the Stamina enchant to get nerfed down to 85 Stamina so it's in line with the AP/spell damage atleast.

I still don't get why they had to nerf this, but whatever.

EDIT:
Chicken lives for this. :P He probably has 5 browser tabs just for the EJ forums.

The scope is a new one at level 70:


There are also some new Engineering BoP headpieces (leather, mail and plate versions so far) that give frost resistance:

Speaking as a rogue (although this is valid for other classes as well), alchemy/herbalism will be a less beneficial combo than before for non-healers. Herbalism adds nothing compared to before, while alchemy adds the %bonus. Elixirs seem to be getting only 25%, while flasks get 50%. If elixirs had at least gotten the same multiplier as flasks it would look tempting. But considering how most other professions are getting stat/dps buffs, herb/alch is now obviously more inferior to for example skinning/lw than it was before. I hope Blizzard at least will consider giving elixirs the same 50% as flasks.

Edit: Seeing how I was using incorrect information in this response, I of course retract this post.

Don't make any assumptions about the boost that Mixology would give an Alchemist until it's tested.

When my friend tested it on the beta, here's the results he got-

Flask of Pure Death -- base shadow damage: 1229 -- base flask increase: 80 shadow damage
buffed shadow damage: 1332 -- amount increase: 103
mixology buff: 23 shadow damage, 28.75%

Flask of Relentless Assault -- base AP: 47 -- base flask increase: 120 AP
buffed AP: 207 -- amount increase: 160
mixology buff: 40 AP, 33.33%

Flask of Mighty Restoration -- base mp5: 0 -- base flask increase: 25 mp5
buffed mp5: 38 -- amount increase: 38
mixology buff: 13 mp5, 52%

Flask of Fortification -- base health: 10084, base defense rating: 0 -- base flask increase: 500 health, 10 defense rating
buffed health: 10805 -- amount increase: 721, buffed defense rating: 15 amount increase: 15
mixology buff: 221 health, 44.2% mixology buff: 5 defense rating, 50%

Flask of Distilled Wisdom -- base intellect: 549 -- base flask increase: 65 intellect
buffed int: 634 -- amount increase: 85
mixology buff: 20 int, 30.7%

Adept's Elixir -- base stats: 1175 spell power, 276 crit rating -- base elixir increase: 24 spell power, 24 spell crit rating
buffed stats: 1208 spell power, 308 crit rating -- amount increase: 33 spell power, 32 crit rating
mixology buff: 9 spell power, 37.5%; 8 spell crit rating, 33.3%

------------------------

In terms of stat increases, every flask EXCEPT Mighty Restoration gave 20 stat points of increase. Mighty Restoration gave a number way outside the expected value, so there might be a mistake there.

For Elixirs, it was a 16 stat point increase. But really, every single flask/elixir needs to be tested to confirm how much of a boost it gives.