Tailoring/Echanting vs. Herbalism/AlchemyFollow

i've started a new character and im think about being a tailor/enchanter or a herbalised/alchemist. which is better for a mage?

I got enchanting/tailoring and its very nice cause i can enchant all my stuff to get more stm, int and spi and, enchanting stuff sell for sooo much at AH. the only bad side is that tailoring uses alot of cloth but since im a mage, i can get free water and bread so it doesent really matter.

For starting, I don't suggest going into Enchanting. I made that mistake...but if you are a dedicated one, it will be great at the end. I am finally starting to make a bit of money.

Might I reccomend Mining/Tailoring for your mage?

Mining, unlike any other gathering profession, starts off profiable and only gets better. A stack of Smelted Copper (20 bars) sells between 50 silver and 1 gold (sometimes more!) on the AH, no regardless of faction.

Due to the high cost of Copper, and copper being the main ingredient in most Blacksmithing formulas, this makes Blacksmithing VERY expensive. (Even if you farm your own minerals, that's profit lost by using it, not selling it. I believe the Economic term is "Oppertunity cost.")

Why not have twice as much Mining power, and take Mining on both characters? Mine, Smelt, Sell. It's how I made 100 gold by level 25 on my very first character. Now I usually have 100 gold, and 6 12 slotted bags by level 20. (I've started over on a four different servers. Stupid friends moving around. *grumble*)

When you're soloing, get to every ore vein possible.

Tailoring/Enchanting is extremely expensive for a low level character to be training in, as you lose out on the profit you would make from cloth as well as the green items you loot that you would otherwise sell.

I'd reccomend either a gathering/crafting combination for things that you can use, such as Alchemy perhaps, or just two gathering professions to bring in more money.