World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, the much awaited game expansion for World of Warcraft will feature loads of features including a new Horde race, the new Alliance race, new dungeons and battlegrounds, and the addition of jewelcrafting to the professions list.

Jewelcrafting allows players to craft jewels that can be placed into items to augment the item's statistics, similar to the socketed items in Diablo II. The good thing the comes from this profession is that players are given a whole range of customizable weapons and items. Jewelcrafters are able to create beautiful jewelry and trinkets by extracting gems from the raw ore mined from the various deposits and mineral veins. Unlike the miners who sometimes find gems while gathering ore, jewelcrafters rely on their prospecting skills to get more of the precious stones.

Rings, amulets, and trinkets that were created have the same function as those that are already found in the game, with a few exceptions. For example, jewelcrafters can learn to create gemmed figurines, which can provide a little damage boost or a quick burst of extra healing power. Only jewelcrafters can do this trick.

Another trick of the trade is to cut the gems down for use in socketed items. A gem's cut determines the effect they will have.
The Azure Moonstone can be cut into a lustrous, stormy, solid, or sparkling pieces and each one of these cuts offers different bonuses when used in a socketable item. This allows players to customize their equipment to suit their play style or roles in their class. At higher levels, socketed items and specially cut gems play important part of an adventurer's "bag of tricks".

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will also introduce new recipes for all the professions, including many recipes that let leatherworkers, blacksmiths, and tailors create socketed items.