WoW - Alchemy Masteries
I'm about to switch masteries, and I just wanted to post some things about them to those that are still on the fence as to which to take.
The three masteries are Potion, Elixir, and Transmute.
Potion Mastery
If you are going through a ton of health/mana potions, this could be useful, but otherwise it's not. Protection Potions would also proc, but since they've been nerfed (from 1 hour duration to 2 minute duration), they're not really worth making for casual use.
Elixir Mastery
Even with the nerf that allows only two elixirs to be on a person at once, this is still the best one in my opinion. By using Adepts Elixir (Battle), and Elixir of Draenic Wisdom (Guardian), I can raise my spell damage, intellect, and Spirit all in two elixirs. Add into that Blackened Basilisk for my food buff, and Wizard Oil for my staff buff, and I'm quite the buffed little mage. I'll be going elixir mastery because I just use more of them than potions. On top of that, handing out Onslaught, Strength, Fel Strength, Defense, or Healing Power elixirs are always helpful for groups, and this will cut down on farming.
Transmute Mastery
I'd say only take this if you are either a jewelcrafter or a tailor as well. That way you're probably already transmuting for your other profession (primal mights for tailoring, diamonds for JC), and the extra mats will really come in handy. Otherwise, the proc is too rare and the cooldown is too long to make this one really worth anything.
Oh, and if you decide you want to switch later on, it will cost you 150g, so choose wisely.
IronClad Online: PurEvil
My experience has been a little different. I have two 70 alchemists, one with Potion Mastery and the other with Transmute Mastery. I don't use elixirs much anymore, as the reduced cost of flasks means I use those instead. It may be play style though, as I generally don't use elixirs or flasks except on raids. Learning raid content means lots of dying, so the flasks become more economical by far. The special Blades Edge Mountains flasks are another option, too.
I do go through a ton of potions, so the free ones are nice. My raiding casters are hooked on Fel Mana potions, so any savings on Nightmare Vine is good. I'm usually playing a healer, so use a lot of those and Super Mana Potions.
Transmuting is for making gold. For both my alchemists, I earned enough Sporeggar reputation to get the Primal Earth to Primal Water transmute formula. Earth sell for about 4g, and Water for about 15g, so that is a nice steady source of income. My main farming toon is mining/herbal, so I end up with plenty of Primal Earth from mining, and if Transmutation Mastery procs it is an extra free 15g.
So my recommendation would be to look at your own use habits & see what would save or make you the most gold. If I add up the profit from an extra transmute proc versus the cost savings of the extra potion procs, they are about the same gold-wise. If I didn't have such high potion use, the transmute would probably make more in the long run.
"Raise high the black flags, my children."
-- Gebhard von Blucher.
Hey... good subject...
Valleja has gotten her Alchemy to 350+, but we decided to dump it in favor of either Tailoring or Jewelcrafting (she's leaning to Tailoring as she thinks that will help her more).
The reason for this is that potions really have had almost no impact upon our playing. With Sun healing, mage water, what drops or is rewarded beyond that, and us not using much of the specialty pots, it has felt like a wasted profession.
That said, we both knew/understood that it would seem the prot pots would play a bigger role in instances, especially the higher level ones.
Yet in the end, it seemed like there were enough alchemists around in case we needed them eventually plus they seemed readily available off the AH, if push came to shove.
On the other hand, we know our/her equipment isn't up to snuff and we've never had a single gem cut for a socketed item, so that seems more pressing need.
Perhaps we just aren't using it to full effect, though.
4E D&D Campaign: Valley of Shrouds
Steam Community: ShadeRaven
I doubt it. I didn't use anything leveling up, and I don't think it would have made a notable difference. Using Adept's and Draenic Wisdom is nice, but really it's just the difference between having about 70% mana at the end of a fight, versus having about 45% mana at the end of a fight (most of the time). The problem with us mages is that, in the right hands, you're either:
A) Not getting hit, so health potions are a waste of time. Five or so for "Oh sh*t" moments are nice, but it's easy enough to just buy them at that rate, or run instances for ones that drop.
or
B) Using mana gems and evocation to make sure you don't run out of mana during fights, and conjuring your highest water so you can regain mana between fights. And in the rare occasion you do run out of mana, your gem and evocation are on cooldown, and you don't have pots, you can still wand till you get mana back. (Disclaimer: This is for everything except raiding. Raiding is a different story altogether. The fights are far longer so you do kinda need the mana potions to stay up.)
Cope was talking to me a while back about dropping herbalism in favor of Tailoring, and I know he did it, but I'm not sure how much it helped him. I know there's some really nice purple tailoring BoP gear for us mages, but I haven't had the guts to take the plunge yet. I might do that soon though.
Between Tailoring and JC I'd definitely tell her to go Tailoring. We have a few people around who will cut gems for us (I know Deapsea has a JC'er and offered to help us out, and Tador can do it when he gets back), and even without them, gems are easy to buy, so tell her not to waste her time on it. Tailoring would provide her with some really nice purple mage gear.
IronClad Online: PurEvil
Whats a mana gem and can a priest use one?
I would recommend tailoring if your willing to sink about 5 hours and 300 gold into leveling it up. There is money to be made on some of the high-end cloths and the bop purples cannot be beat by anything you will loot pre-kara and possibly including kara. The only problem is that the cooldowns on tailoring the cloths is 4-days so it will take months to tailor up a full set unless your willing to pay a pretty penny for the cloth at auction.
A mana gem is a mage thing. They're unique and soulbound, so we can't have more than one of each, and we can't hand them out.
They don't scale very well, but they help a little bit in long fights.
IronClad Online: PurEvil
PureEvil "The three masteries are Potion, Elixir, and Transmute."
Ok you lost me. I have alchemy 337 a the moment and I am assuming at some point you have to choose between the 3 you listed? Is this similiar to Blacksmithing when you are given the option to go either weapons or armor?
GWJ Alliance
Dhalvid - 70 Night Elf Warrior
"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."
Plato
Yes. You get to choose at level 68 with around 355 alchemy (sure on 68, read about 355 alchemy somewhere). Whichever mastery you choose, you get a chance to gain extra potions/elixirs/trasmutes after making something. So, since I'm potion mastery, if I make a health potion I have a chance to make up to 5 at one time (very rare, but occasionally I get +1 or +2... only got +4 once so far).
I decided to just stay a potion master, and now I'm trying to get my hands on the major protection potion recipes. I've already got Major Shadow, and I'm grinding for Major Arcane now, and will later head on to go for Major Holy (all of these drop from non-instanced mobs). Major Nature is from CE rep, and the others all drop in instances.
IronClad Online: PurEvil
lvl 68, 350 Alchemy.
As to which is the best to take, it depends. I personally feel the proc rates are too low to go with potion or elixir, so in the long run transmutation is the best bet. As mentioned, Earth > Water is extremely profitable, and moreso if you get procs. Plus there's nothing like getting a 4x proc on a Primal Might transmute.
Coldstream wrote:
To counter what AnimeJ stated, I've read the procs on transmutes are too low to make it worthwhile, something like 15% and have read posts people who have complained about doing 50 transmutes without a single proc. Not sure if you can believe that or not. I do know that 4 primal might's is a very steep entry fee for the transmute mastery. I still haven't decided which to take so you have time to decide Dhalvid.
On a side note, Major Fire Prot. dropped for me last night in Mech. Too bad its bop or I would send it your way Vel.
Bah... I'm just glad someone in the guild has it. I need to farm mech for rep anyway, so I'm not too worried about getting that one.
IronClad Online: PurEvil
Except that I already noted that. The proc rate on all the masteries are 20% or less, and subject to the same bouts of randomness as the loot tables are. So, in the long run, if you're out to make money handing in 4 primal mights for a chance to proc multiple mights from a single transmute, as well as anything else you're transmuting. Sorry I wasn't as clear as it seemed to me.
Coldstream wrote:
Alchemy has been fairly unkind in general to me in the Burning Crusade. I would estimate that I've made somewhere in the order of 500+ pots since launch without a single discovery. I've found 3 rare BOP recipes in that time. Meanwhile guildies are getting to the point where they actually feel bad about repeatedly reporting discoveries to me. While I churn out 40-60+ pots a week still completely barren in the discovery department I curse the blizzard dev who thought this system was a great idea.
I've been equally unimpressed with Transmute spec. I transmute every time it's off cooldown. My normal transmute is the aforementioned Earth to Water which is a great recipe (the guild keeps me stocked with primal earths from mining). Air to Fire is a good option at times as I feel like air is one of the easier primals to farm. I've also transmuted somewhere in the order of 20-25 Primal Mights since taking the mastery.
Given that I've had transmute spec for over 2 months. I'd estimate roughly 35-45 total transmutes. In total I've had...drumroll please...1 proc on the mastery. 1 Primal Earth turned into 2 Primal Waters...yay. For 4 Primal Mights (the cost of the mastery) I was expecting much more.
In all honesty Alchemy has been a bitter dissapointment for me since Burning Crusade. I used to love this profession but nowadays I'm much happier with my other 375 profession, Jewel Crafting. I've been on the fence for a while but those purple Blacksmithing weapons are looking prettier everyday. Deep Thunder FTW!!!!!
"Fault always lies in the same place...with those foolish enough to lay blame"*
-Cort
*Unless you're Amazon or Funcom, in which case, SCREW YOU.
I dropped 360 Dragonscale LW and 375 Skinning for BS and Mining. I <3 my Planar Edge.
Coldstream wrote:
That's similar to what I've been hearing on other forums, which is the main reason I didn't go for it (the second reason being that I hate farming primals, and don't transmute often). The cooldown really hurts this one, unless you're doing a lot of transmutes anyway. You might make less per proc from potion or elixir mastery, but it's steadier income than waiting for transmute procs.
And, I really feel I got robbed on discoveries. The entire time I was leveling alchemy from 300-375 they were disabled.
Though, at least a few of the Major Protection Potion recipes are really easy to get. I grabbed both Arcane and Holy within 20 minutes of logging on last night. The next two I'm aiming at is Fire and Frost (fire from astromages in mech, which I need to run for rep anyway, and Frost from the last boss in mana tombs, which I have yet to step foot in).
IronClad Online: PurEvil
Let me know when you're running either, and I'll join you. There's a nice axe that drops in Mech, and a chant I've been trying to get from Mana Tombs for a while.
That which does not kill you, still hurts like Hell. - Anonymous Soldier
None of us is as dumb as ALL of us. - Anonymous Staff Officer
Veni, Vici, Ridebam, Discedebam - "I came, I saw, I laughed, I left"
I got a discovery of the Primal Fire to Primal Shadow transmute. That will come in handy when I decide I have too much gold & need to reduce the value of things.
"Raise high the black flags, my children."
-- Gebhard von Blucher.
Dude, you still haven't lucked into that enchant yet? That's just cruel.
I'm starting to think all the supposed chants that drop in instances are a cruel joke by Blizz.
That which does not kill you, still hurts like Hell. - Anonymous Soldier
None of us is as dumb as ALL of us. - Anonymous Staff Officer
Veni, Vici, Ridebam, Discedebam - "I came, I saw, I laughed, I left"
LOL!
Why there would even be a transmute for that is beyond me. I actually got a transmute discovery last night - Shadow to Water. The timing is completely ironic as I was seriously considering that last night I'd pick up Blacksmithing. Maybe if I post again about the futility of alchemy discoveries I'll spontaneously learn something tonight too.
So here goes: Alchemy is teh suck! Blacksmithing so much bettah! Don't waste your time on brewing pots when you could be making sharpening stones instead!
Now I'm totally going to discover the Flask of Fortification tonight...
"Fault always lies in the same place...with those foolish enough to lay blame"*
-Cort
*Unless you're Amazon or Funcom, in which case, SCREW YOU.
That flask was my first discovery
Shadow to Water is a good one really. Water sells for a lot on the AH, as well as being a major mat in a lot of recipes.
Unfortunately, if I slash my wrist with my lightsaber it cauterizes instantly. - PurEvil on emo Star Wars plots.
I have a potion master alt and I find it to be a very decent moneymaker.
Mana pots are chugged like beer at a frat party by raiders, and there's constant demand. Felweed and Dreamfoil are easy to get, and my profit margin is easily 50% even before procs. Other more specialised pots that are valuable are ironshield pots for raid tanks, and haste pots for raid melee DPS. These cost a bit more to make, but are rare drops so competition is lower.
My main is a warrior and I used to be afraid to use health pots because of the cost. In fact this is why I rolled my rogue alchemist in the first place, until I found out how much fun rogues were. With pot mastery this is no longer the case. I tend to always carry a couple of stacks of health pots on me, and feel a lot less bad about using them now as I can easily farm the mats for a couple of stacks in 15 minutes.
Elixir mastery is nice as well, but since they reduced the effects, stackability and costs for elixirs in that patch, demand has gone down dramatically. A stack of 20 elixirs will often last me a whole month, and is easy to replenish. Also, we already had a bunch of elixir masters in the guild.
The trouble with transmute spec is the cooldown. Sure, it's nice when it procs, but you only get to see the results every 24 hours, and have no control. It may proc on Earth to Water or Primal Might (nice), but it's next to useless if it happens to proc on that arcanite transmute you did for a friend.