The Burning Crusade did quite a bit to make tradeskills useful. While some were more powerful than others, almost all of them got something pretty nice, even the gathering skills. Tailors and Blacksmiths got a bit of an edge in gearing up for higher content, Leatherworking drums are one of the single most desired crafted items around for raids, Engineers got fantastic goggles and a pretty cool mount, Herbalists can pick powerful consumables, et cetera, et cetera. This is a major step up from life in vanilla WoW, where any tradeskills except Herbalism, Alchemy and Enchanting were almost entirely worthless.

Still, though, it kind of feels like crafting in WoW is... empty. The tradeskills are useful now, but I'm a strange fellow. The tradeskills need heart. They need flavor. I like my tradeskills having a larger effect on how you play. Leatherworking is actually a good example of this, from a conceptual point of view. I love the idea of drums having an active effect on things. It isn't just a passive stat increase that you equip or cram in your mouth. It's something you need to be conscious of, something you need to actively use. I don't really know how you could do this for all tradeskills, but I'd love to see more of it. No, those crappy nets don't count.

Another thing I'd like to see expanded from The Burning Crusade is location-specific crafting. Making my Spellcloth, Primal Mooncloth and Shadowcloth every few days seemed like an adventure, if a tedious one. Spellcloth was especially fun! You had to arm and prepare yourself before you hit the 'create' button until your gear was good. Fishing before The Burning Crusade was not nearly as useful as it is now, but I liked time of day and season having an effect on things. Stocking up on Grilled Squid in the appropriate season and using it to negotiate deals with rogues and hunters was great fun, I think. I'd like to see that come back in some form in Wrath, though maybe not as extreme.

What would you like to see out of crafting in Wrath? Are you hoping for something more dynamic, or are you a (wo)man of simple pleasures and all you need is a great big sword to be happy?

Cloth is like the gathering profession for everyone. You don't have to pay to pick it up, and there are no skills to level. Because of the sheer number of tailors, the amount of cloth tailoring eats up (not to mention first aid), cloth gathering can be a lucrative pass-time. Failing that, it can provide for your own cloth needs without having to hit the auction house.

This week's Insider Trader will be going in-depth into the world of farming for cloth, and tackling the following issues:

• The best areas to farm the cloth you need.
• How to alleviate some of the boredom.
• Ways to make the most out of your farming stints.

We will also be covering cloth that can be obtained by even level ones, and not just level 70s, as well as information about what it is used for, and who is going to want it.

• Linen cloth. (lvl 1-15)
  
• Wool cloth. (lvl 14-30)
  
• Silk cloth. (lvl 28-40)
  
• Mageweave cloth. (lvl 38-50)
  
• Runecloth. (lvl 50-62)
• Netherweave cloth. (lvl 58-70+)
• Felcloth. (lvl 50-60).

Whether your career hinges on stacks of cloth or you're looking to finance your other exploits, you won't want to miss this week's guide.

Our guild alliance's resident science and technology geek (and I mean that in a good way) linked us a somewhat confusing article yesterday. Apparently, scientists have figured out a way to store and retrieve empty space. Of course, a question naturally comes to mind upon hearing about this: How soon until I can buy my own bag of holding?

But seriously, while I tend to be a bit of a pack rat in real life, I'm an even bigger pack rat in WoW. I still keep gear and quest rewards from 50 levels ago because they look cool. In addition, I play a Hunter (with a quiver), a Warlock (with a shard bag) and a Druid (with Cat Form, Bear Form, and healing gear on me at all times). As a result, I'm always on the lookout for ways to increase my bag space so I can fit in a little bit of loot once I'm stocked up on gear, consumables, reagents, and all the rest.

Luckily, I've found that upgrading your bag space doesn't have to break the bank or send you after waves of elite mobs that require 25-40 people to take down, and I'll share a few upgrading tips after the break.

Tailors rejoice! All of that Spellcloth and Primal Mooncloth you've been sitting on isn't going to go to waste! Well, maybe. Shadowcloth, nobody likes you and you smell. Please go away. ...Just kidding!

Tailors are going to get two different sets, Sunfire and Eternal Light, each consisting of a robe and a pair of gloves. The former is a DPS set, and the latter is a healing set, naturally. They're loaded up with red sockets, and the socket bonuses are a pretty clear cut boost with no need to dance around to get them. The gloves of both sets require Sunmotes, so keep in mind that you probably won't be able to make these right away. The Sunmotes are likely drops inside of the Sunwell instances, potentially the raid zone. We can hope otherwise though, right? Luckily, the Sunmotes seem to be the only especially rare material required. The rest is just fairly mundane primals and cloth.

It is a bit strange that there is no new Shadowcloth set, but it's possible we simply haven't seen it yet. I have my doubts Primal Mooncloth and Spellcloth specced tailors would be the only ones recieving anything new in this patch. Sure, the pieces aren't tied to those specific specs, but Shadowcloth tailors want to put their transmute to good use, too!

Stats and materials after the jump, courtesy of our good friend over at MMO Champ.

Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

If you're a clothie, you've probably already figured out that you are going to need to take up tailoring at some point, if you're really serious about your gear. In fact, many players would argue that tailoring is mandatory for the serious cloth caster. There's no denying that the BoP tailored sets – Frozen Shadoweave, Primal Mooncloth and Spellfire – are some of the best items you can get ... And of course, since they are BoP, you must be a tailor who is specialized in that cloth type in order to use them.

Despite knowing all of this, I persisted in taking up herbalism and alchemy on my new shadowpriest recently, figuring I could always drop one or the other and powerlevel tailoring later ... Only it's later already, and I know I need to start the inevitable process
of slogging through my four-day cooldowns if I want to get my Frozen Shadoweave any time soon. (Actually, I'm trying to decide whether or not to rely on PvP gear for DPS and make the Primal Mooncloth set for my healing moments, or if I should go right for the Frozen Shadoweave – but that's a topic for a different column ... or the comments section!)

So if you, too, foresee a BoP tailored set in your future but aren't yet a skilled tailor, join me after the break for a tour through the top 1-300 guides and more tips for the final stretch from 300 to 375.