Alchemy is the best profession in the game. All of them get the same total stat bonuses, except you only have to do the Alchemy stat bonus once for each expansion AND you use it to gain skill points. With JC you've got to do the daily and then trade in tokens for gems and then cut them and socket them. For BS you've got to put new sockets in each time you get an upgrade and then spend money on the gems. Enchanting and all the rest are very similar--They require some level of maintenance. I'm all about ease of use

Also, it should be said that the money you can make off of transmutes is ridiculous.