Tuesday 18 January 2011

Alchemists and 4.0.6


Well, it seems I'm truly committed to commenting the 4.0.6 PTR patch notes... Today, let's talk about Alchemy.
The patch notes are the following:
  • Alchemist's Stones for Agility, Strength, and Intellect have been added.
  • The number of herbs required to create flasks has been reduced, while the Volatile Life needed has been increased slightly.
  • The drops from [Tiny Treasure Chest] have been improved slightly.
So let's comment them one by one:

New Alchemist's stones
These stones are obviously great trinkets for any Alchemist, now covering every role the character could take.
Lets look at them in more detail:


mats: 50x[Volatile Life], 24x[Cinderbloom], 12x[Heartblossom]
mats: 50x[Volatile Life], 12x[Cinderbloom], 24x[Heartblossom]
mats: 50x[Volatile Life], 8x[Cinderbloom], 20x[Azshara's Veil], 8x[Heartblossom]

But there is also an hidden change regarding them...
Important Note: it seems these new Alchemist's Stones will not be disenchantable as it is now for the only one in game... And I can't see them leaving it disenchantable for long. This means that toons with Alchemy/Enchanting won't be able anymore to produce tons of [Maelstrom Crystal]. THIS IS NOT A SURE CHANGE! Actually, wowhead says the opposite: that those items are Disenchantable at 475 instead of 500. I'll update this post when I find something sure about it.

Quick recap if you don't know how having Alchemy/Enchanting on the same character can give you as many cheap [Maelstrom Crystal] as you like:
Starting from 500 skill level in alchemy, you can create [Lifebound Alchemist Stone], for mats quite similar to those the new Alchemist's Stones will need... Summing them all, in most server you need ~800g or less to create one.
Starting from 500 skill level in enchanting, you can disenchant [Lifebound Alchemist Stone]. Since it's BoP you need to have the two professions on the same character, but any level 75+ alt is potentially able to do this.
Since [Maelstrom Crystal] can easily sell for ~2k, this is a great way to gain lots of gold.

Lots of people have made tons of golds thanks to this trick, and they probably lowered the price of [Maelstrom Crystal] on your server... Soon this source of [Maelstrom Crystal] could (we don't know for sure) disappear. This could probably make their price grow once 4.0.6 goes live... so, if this doesn't reduce your liquidity too much, they can be a good investment right now: If you're an Alchemists/Enchanter try to make some [Maelstrom Crystal] for when you won't be able to produce them so easily... If you're a normal goblin with some gold to spend, see if you can buy some [Maelstrom Crystal] for "cheap" now.

Reduction of the herbs required to create flasks
This change is quite interesting... Before discussing it, let's see it in more detail:
For now, all flasks had their reagents requirements changed and now requires 8 Volatile Life (up from 6) and 8 of each Herb (down from 12)... As always these could not be what will go live, we're still in PTR. Here is what you get with this change:

[Flask of Titanic Strength]
mats: 8x[Volatile Life], 8x[Cinderbloom], 8x[Whiptail], Crystal Vial

[Flask of the Winds]
mats: 8x[Volatile Life], 8x[Azshara's Veil], 8x[Whiptail], Crystal Vial

[Flask of the Draconic Mind]
mats: 8x[Volatile Life], 8x[Azshara's Veil], 8x[Twilight Jasmine], Crystal Vial

[Flask of Flowing Water]
mats: 8x[Volatile Life], 8x[Stormvine], 8x[Heartblossom], Crystal Vial

[Flask of Steelskin]
mats: 8x[Volatile Life], 8x[Cinderbloom], 8x[Twilight Jasmine], Crystal Vial

Every time blizzard makes changes in the materials required for largely used recipes, you can obviously expect to see something happening in the AH... But what will change this time?
Most people would say that, since the demand for herbs will lower, their price will be the most affected by this change. But while it's true that prices are still going down and that the price of herbs could lower in the future, I don't think this change will really affect it.
Why?
Well, it could be different on your server, but in mine the demand for herbs mainly comes from scribes, and not from people making any sort of flask. This is even more evident during the Darkmoon fair, when some of the herbs nearly disappear from the market while scribes try their fortune hoping to get some really valuable card.
Until Darkmoon Fair's carts will be priced above 2-3k, you won't see the price in herbs drop.
Don't get me wrong: price in herbs will still drop a little, in time... People will start to buy less glyph, having everything they need for their mains and their alts, they'll get some epic trinket and stop buying the cards... demands will lower even for scribe-related goods... In time.
What will change when less herbs will be required to make flask, then? Well, the price of the flask!
So, you don't have any reason left not to sell your flasks while you can: raiding guild now raid and they need them. When this change goes live, prices on flasks will go abruptly down!
This won't hurt you if you're an alchemist... You will need less money to make them, so you can afford selling them more cheaply (actually, this could even be good for your business: people will be more eager to buy flasks and spam them if they're cheap enough), but you shouldn't make more potion than those you sell. Avoid having potion lefts when this change hits the live server (you still have some weeks, so don't stop production).

Drop rates from Tiny Treasure Chest
What is a [Tiny Treasure Chest]?
If you're wondering this, than you probably haven't read my post about Potion of Treasure Finding, which explains the way this [Tiny Treasure Chest] are found and why are they a great way to make money.
The increase in the drops from& [Tiny Treasure Chest] will make this potion even more valuable, so you should really start to think about it (if you're not a regular user already)

(now let me run to hear the news on the television... something amazing is happening here in Italy)


Other posts about the PTR 4.0.6 patch notes:

1 comment:

  1. Very nice post, Kreaton - I'm looking forward to the new Alchemist's Stones - my Rogue could use a 359 trinket.

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