If you have travelled to Stormwind recently, you will know that the Stormwind harbor is now open to all in preparation for the release of the forthcoming Wrath of the Lich King. Boats are making ready at the docks for the journey to Northrend and mighty heros are lining up at the gang plank to battle with the Lich King Arthas and his undead horde.

With the latest patch 3.02, Echoes of Doom, the new primary profession of Inscription has been unlocked and players can now start training as Scribes.

Inscription is a primary profession, which means you are only allowed to train two. If you already have two primary professions, you must drop one to be able to learn Inscription. You do this by clicking on the profession skill in the character panel and choosing the drop skill option. Make sure you choose the right one thought!

In Stormwind the trainer Catarina Stanford will train you to apprentice level. You can find Catarina in her store by the canals, south of the Stockades. You'll also need an Inking kit so that you will be able to Ink your inscriptions onto parchment. Ink kits and parchment can be bought by the vendor standing close by.

The profession of Inscription allows a Scribe to enhance spells and abilities by creating Scrolls, Vellums and Glyphs. These can all be sold and traded at the Auction House and will make a huge impact on the gold economy of the World of Warcraft.

The basic materials needed for Inscription are Pigments, Inks and Parchments. Pigments are crafted by 'Milling' a variety of herbs into pigments, which are then turned into Inks. Parchments are then inscribed using the inks producing Scrolls, Vellums and Glyphs.

Most players will already be familiar with Scrolls: scrolls that increase Intellect, Stamina, Agility and Armor are all common. Initially, a scribe will only be able to make low level scrolls; these will increase as the Scribes skill level increases.

Vellums are a new innovation and will prove extremely popular with Enchanters. You can think of a Vellum as a blank scroll upon which the Enchanter can permanently place their enchants - both Armor and Weapon enchants. These enchanted vellums can then be traded on the Auction House and used like any other scroll by other players. Pretty cool!

Glyphs are like high level scrolls which have major and minor effects on spells and abilities and are therefore of two types: Major and Minor Glyphs. These are added to a special section of a players spellbook. The number of Glyphs that can be added are dependent on a players level.

I explain in more detail the new profession of Inscription and its effect on the gold economy in my Journal and Blog which can be found by following the links below.