So, about those Alchemy masteries...

[RTM]

I finished up my Elixir Mastery quest last night and got a chance to test it out with all the herbs I've been saving for a special occasion.

It had it's low points:


...and it's high points:


Overall I'm pretty pleased with it. I contemplated taking transmute mastery but I'm pretty bad about remembering to do regular transmutes, and potion mastery seemed rather pointless to me (Healing potions!? Who uses them?). I've heard mixed reports that elixir mastery works on flasks, so if my rogue ever finds a use for the Flask of Distilled Wisdom recipe I have, then it'd be nice to be able to proc a few extras.:)

Anyone else have any alchemy horror/success stories?

[nobbie]

My druid is transmutation master, and of 10 transmutes primal earth -> primal water, the "mastery" effect procced twice so far. The first proc resulted in 3x primal water, the second one in 2x primal water.

[Xanthix]

Elixir Mastery does indeed work with flasks, or at least it does according to screenshots I've seen.

Most of the horror stories are people who picked transmutation mastery, and haven't had a proc in a week or some other statistically small sample.

[Bolty]

Right, transmutation mastery is a little more "ouch" since you only get one shot a day. So far I've had one proc out of about 10 tries.

Blizzard had to walk a fine line with transmutation mastery, since transmuting things doesn't destroy them. Since I can transmute a "circle" of primals over and over ad infinitum, if it procced too much I'd be swimming in them.

Still beats friggin farming for them as a holy Priest. :)

-Bolty

[TheLuminaire]

Right, transmutation mastery is a little more "ouch" since you only get one shot a day. So far I've had one proc out of about 10 tries.

Blizzard had to walk a fine line with transmutation mastery, since transmuting things doesn't destroy them. Since I can transmute a "circle" of primals over and over ad infinitum, if it procced too much I'd be swimming in them.

Still beats friggin farming for them as a holy Priest. :)

-Bolty

That's pretty true, but there's some holes in the circle due to "discovery" transmutes.

I've had 4 or 5 procs in about 15 transmutes, but I've been going for Mights and Diamonds so far. I like it.

[WimpySmurf]

That's pretty true, but there's some holes in the circle due to "discovery" transmutes.

I've had 4 or 5 procs in about 15 transmutes, but I've been going for Mights and Diamonds so far. I like it.

I think the circle Bolty was referring to is completely attainable via rep grinds.

PE -> PW -> PA -> PF -> PE

Just gotta be revered with Sporegarr, Cenarion Expedition, Shat'tar, Mag'har/Kurenai

The "awesome" transmutes PM -> PF, PL -> PE, PS -> PW and the reverse are only discovery recipes.

I've been (un)fortunate enough to "discover" PF -> PM which is pretty useless. At least it wasn't PE->PL:)

-WimpySmurf




EDIT: assume != awesome

[redinter]

I am still wondering about the proc % of the transmute mastery. On all my transmutes up to date I have only had 2 procs, 1x Primal might and 1x Skyfire diamond. I have transmuted over 20 mights and maybe 4 diamond. Maybe I should test primal to primal.

[nobbie]

Just gotta be revered with Sporegarr, Cenarion Expedition, ...

These are the first two Outland factions I grinded to revered with my warlock and druid (now both transmutation masters). The Sporeggar recipe (primal earth -> primal water) is great for easy leveling of alchemy from 350 to 375. The bog lords (which you have to farm for the Sporeggar rep) not only drop unidentified plant parts galore (which get you to revered with the Cenarion Expedition on the side), but they are also a herbalist's dream because you can perform herb picking on the corpses - skinning for herbalists, so to speak;)

[oldmandennis]

From my experiance, it does not matter if you transmute primals or might/diamonds. I don't have exact numbers to back it up.

Anybody considering this I strongly recommend elixers. On most servers (and mine for sure) the cost of primals exceed the cost of a might. Unless you get lucky, you are losing money on the transaction. There are a horde of alchemists begging to give away their timer for free. Assuming a nonprocing transmute is worth 0g (it's probably worth less) and the might is worth ~100, and you average 20% extra from specializations, your daily transmute has a value of 20g... minus the time to acquire all those primals (when I did it, it took about 10min a day... Primal fire is high, I'll buy motes this time, Air is cheap I'll buy 3, etc.) and a 10g AH cut. In addition, the market for mights will probably start to subside in the next month or two as people finish their crafted epics/riding crops.

On my server, earth is about 5g and water 25g. Sporegarr is easy to rep up, so even without a specialization you can get as much doing that, if your server is like mine. Since earth is cheaper, its easy to buy a large stack of them and just keep it in your bags until your timer is up. Your spec has an expected value of 5g/day.... so it will take 100 days to pay off your initial investment.

The transmute circle is irrelevent since transmutes share a timer - you would just do the most profitable step over and over again.

What happens if you are the guy in your guild who discovers restoration or fortification? You will really wish you had elixer spec then. If flasks are (conservatively) 50g, it only take a couple to make way more money then you ever could with transmute. And all the extra elixers you are making for your foolish guildies who went transmute (I send an elixer master anything more expensive then major agility) will probably get you the shadow -> water transmute faster then them, ironically.

[Bolty]

minus the time to acquire all those primals (when I did it, it took about 10min a day...

Here's where you lost me.

It takes me an hour to farm a primal. An HOUR. Meanwhile, I can pick herbs just as fast as anyone else.

That pretty much cemented it for me. I know, I know, "you can make more gold" blah blah, but when I see these enchants that require 16+ primals, I wanna scream. To me, gold is something you get just enough of to have fun with. Something about "virtual money" and all that.

I was laughing this weekend when I went farming for Scryer rep and watched this warlock literally kill 6 blood elf mobs in SMV in the time it took me to kill 2. He could clear out the whole pathway leading up on the side of the Black Temple and some around the corner as well long before respawn back at the bottom. best I've ever done is get up halfway before the bottom respawns.

Think about that the next time you hear your healers or prot warriors complaining about farming. :)

-Bolty

[Brista]

Here's where you lost me.

It takes me an hour to farm a primal. An HOUR. Meanwhile, I can pick herbs just as fast as anyone else.

I think he means shopping for them on the AH takes him 10 minutes

[Brista]

Anybody considering this I strongly recommend elixers.

On an individual basis I'm sure you're right, Dennis

A guild however might be best however with one person doing the elixirs/flasks, one doing the potions and the rest doing transmutes

Incidentally is it possible to change specialisation? I remember reading that Leatherworkers and Blacksmiths could change their pre-TBC specialisations. Does the same hold true for Alchemy?

[Xanthix]

Incidentally is it possible to change specialisation? I remember reading that Leatherworkers and Blacksmiths could change their pre-TBC specialisations. Does the same hold true for Alchemy?

You cannot change specs unless you drop and re-level alchemy. This may be because unlike specs of other tradeskills, when you drop a spec you do not lose the use of any recipes/items, so they wanted some other way of upping the "cost" of a respec.

[Cirya]

Incidentally is it possible to change specialisation? I remember reading that Leatherworkers and Blacksmiths could change their pre-TBC specialisations. Does the same hold true for Alchemy?

Alchemist had no pre-tbc spec. this is a new feature

[oldmandennis]

I think he means shopping for them on the AH takes him 10 minutes

Correct. If you are trying to make a profit on something that often loses money, you have to watch the prices like a hawk. For each primal, you have to compare the cost of purchasing motes, you have to see if you've gotten any motes randomly, etc. If you are doing earth -> water, its a lot easier. If the only one available costs 8g instead of the more usual 5, no biggie. If you see a large stack at a good price, it's not difficult to snap it up.

Another consideration is your deposits. If you get undercut on mights, it's a lot more expensive then if your water fails to sell.

The market for water should continue well past when the one for might starts to fade. It's needed for crafting FR gear, and the plate FrR gear.

A guild however might be best however with one person doing the elixirs/flasks, one doing the potions and the rest doing transmutes

That was my original thought. I think the discovery mechanism defeats that. To really make the most of transmute spec, I'd _really_ like the shadow->water. To have any hope of getting that, I'd have to make a lot of pots or elixers. I'd cry if I discovered a flask the guild didn't have, especially the healer one.

[Shamago]

I think the discovery mechanism defeats that. To really make the most of transmute spec, I'd _really_ like the shadow->water. To have any hope of getting that, I'd have to make a lot of pots or elixers. I'd cry if I discovered a flask the guild didn't have, especially the healer one.

All of the reports I've seen indicate that you can only discover a new transmute when doing a transmute. Has anyone seen otherwise?

There doesn't seem to be any differentiation for potions/elixirs when discovering those. I guess that would be because there's only one potion discovery and something like 5 flask(elixir) discoveries.

[WimpySmurf]

All of the reports I've seen indicate that you can only discover a new transmute when doing a transmute. Has anyone seen otherwise?

There doesn't seem to be any differentiation for potions/elixirs when discovering those. I guess that would be because there's only one potion discovery and something like 5 flask(elixir) discoveries.

So I've been lucky enough to discover 2 recipes so far. Flask of Mighty Restoratoin and Transmute Fire->Mana.

I got the flask while making some sort of elixir/potion (don't remember exactly but may have been a Unstable Mana Potion). I got the transmute when i was doing my daily PE->PW transmute.

The one thing that I did read at one point was that you can "discover" world drop recipes like Fel Mana Potion which is completely farmable and would suck to discover.

-WimpySmurf

[Epi]

The bog lords ... not only drop unidentified plant parts galore (which get you to revered with the Cenarion Expedition on the side)...

How do you do that? Unless there's some trick I missed, Expedition's NPC stops accepting these plant parts when you hit Honored... at least, she stopped for both my toons at that moment.

-Epi.

[nobbie]

How do you do that? Unless there's some trick I missed, Expedition's NPC stops accepting these plant parts when you hit Honored... at least, she stopped for both my toons at that moment.

-Epi.

Sorry, my bad. I meant the quickest way to Honored (for Cenarion Expedition):)