Flower Picking Plate Wearers in 3.2 (So Far)

Warriors themselves are not really getting any love in WoW 3.2. We don't need it to be the most fun class to play, of course. :)

But the changes so far have been... meh to wtf?!? I won't even go there until after the patch. At this point, I'm taking a wait and see approach, even if my inclination is to rage and bitch and throw a fit. Ahem.

The more exciting changes for Warriors are coming in professions, and if you're a casual flower-picking plate wearer, things get really fun!

All subject to change of course. Some links are from the PTR version of WoWHead, so they'll break eventually. (And, let's face it, the chance of me going back and fixing 'em are pretty slim, so after 3.2 hits ya mights need to do a little searching. :P)

Alchemy

The first big news is that pots will now stack to 20. Ha! Okay, why not 100? Oh well, 20 will do. You'll be able to pack enough of those Indestructible and Speed Pots for several dungeon runs, extended questing, or long raids without having to refill.

Professionally speaking, it'll mean less runs to the bank alt to unload all those pots you've made for sellin'. And you can sell in bulk for larger at-once pricing. It won't necessarily change the per item cost, but it'll make it more convenient to rake in the golds.

On the other hand, maybe people will get so comfortable with the 20 stacks that they'll burn through them quicker. Which means they'll buy more. Selling is all psychology anyway. :)

/endwishfulthinking

The bennie ya get from Mixology is getting a boost, but no word as to what or how much yet. For Warriors, this is always huge. Any buff is a good buff. I'm hoping for more than just longer duration. A 2-3% or so increase to the effect would be nice. Popping a Deadly Strikes or Endless Rage and getting a bigger bonus would be wicked good for DPS warriors.

A new alchemy quest! "The recipe for transmuting a Cardinal Ruby can be learned from a quest, given by Linzy Blackbolt in Dalaran." Any time we get a new Alchemy quest is a good day. No, no daily yet. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for that one, but not getting expectations up. The quest, apparently, is just transmuting the other epic gem enchants. Meh. I hope they change that. Epic gem requires epic quest, not standing in front of the mailbox wiggling your fingers.

Not exactly sure why each profession doesn't have a daily quest or five. Hmmmmm.

Speaking of transmutes... Has transmutation become a viable specialization again? Not! We ARE getting new transmutes for epic gems. I read that the cool down is currently set to 20 hours (subject to change). Which is fine. Start grabbing those gems and eternals for the initial wave of jewel crafters wanting to cut them. Do it early cause miners are gonna be charging an arm and a leg for the raw gems after the patch hits. You'll want to farm up all your Crystallized what-have yous, as well.

Warrior alchemists will, obviously, want to set aside a bit of epic goodness for themselves. Banana Shoulders has an AWESOME guide to the new gems thus far. Be sure to check it out and plan your transmuting accordingly.

Tip: If you're going for the golds, take a good reading (using AuctionLite or r) for the next few weeks of which Rare quality gems sell best. The Epic versions of those will most likely be pretty popular.

Warriors will be mostly interested in:

Red: Bold (STR) and Precise (Expertise) Cardinal Ruby
Yellow: Rigid (Hit), Thick (Def) and Smooth (Crit) King's Amber
Blue: Solid (Stam) Majestic Zircon

There's also Orange, Green an Purple combo versions of the above, of course. I'll be transmuting up and getting cut some Smooth King's Amber because my Crit sucks so bad.

The mats you'll want to start stockpiling now are:

Gems: Scarlet Ruby, Sky Sapphire, Autumns Glow, Twilight Opal, Forest Emerald, Monarch Topaz

Eternals: Fire, Life, Shadow, Air.

At this point, no Eternal Water. And Life and Shadow are actually used in two of the new transmutes. Don't forget to check your transmute eternal-to-eternal thingie. If you have Herbalism, for example, you'll end up with piles of cheap Eternal Life, which can be transmuted into the rarer Fire and Shadow Eternals.

Flask of the North is the new Neverending Gobstopper for Alchemists. Weeee! Currently you need four Frost Lotus to make one. Expensive for non-herbalists, but you only have to make it once. It gives you a nice boost to either Spell Power, Attack Power, or Strength. No word yet on if this is a random effect or you can choose to make a specific type of flask. WoWhead lists one recipe that appears to be a random effect version, and then one each for SP, AP, or STR. I'm hoping for the latter. If so, Warriors will probably make both the AP and STR version, but again, ya only have to do one of each.

While this won't replace your main Flasks or Exlixir combo, it's a perfect buff for running dailies, PvP, questing or normal/heroic dungeons on the cheap. Save those Flasks for the big runs!

I do wish these were profession specific non-BoP items, though. I know that other Alchemists can make 'em, but they may not have Herbalism which makes getting Frost Lotus a bit expensive. So why can't I farm up the Frost Lotus and make one for them? Dunno.

Endless Healing Potion and Endless Mana Potion now gives 2700 to 4500 instead of 1680 to 2160. Can't use it in arenas any more. /fine. This is an awesome boost. This, combined with your Alchemist trinket and, if you have Herbalism, Lifeblood and add in built-in Warrior healing abilities... bah, who needs a healer any more! Ha!

Okay, I do. And I love each. and. every. one. of. you! Really. I was just kidding. Heal me. Please? :)

Finally, apparently rage potions can now be used by Druids. Didn't know they couldn't... but um, hey more business is more business. Hooray for ragey druids! :D

Herbalism

Lifeblood gets a boost. From 2000 over 5 second to 3600 over 5 seconds, currently. Yah! The patch notes also say that it scales slightly with maximum health. I imagine that'll be a small percentage that balances out the total percentage healed between toons with medium-range health and toons with high health. So... Warriors will obviously get a healthy boost from Lifeblood. (Sorry, first and final pun for this post.)

Yet More Wishful Thinking

For Alchemy, I'd still like to see a new application or two. For example, I still like the idea of salves and oils that can be applied temporarily to provide an item buff. Those are fun. Nothing huge that would be "required," of course. Or incense that can be burned to provide an AoE buff/debuff. I know Blizz got away from this sort of thing, but it always added flavor to the professions that I think is lacking now.

For Herbalism, the only thing I'd like to see is a few more nodes added, and/or maybe sorta a faster reswpan rate. Not much, mind you, but just a touch. All too often lately, with two professions using herbs now, herb prices make it impossible to justify making the finished materials.

I do Glyphs, on Neveron, and Pots and simply won't do them if the price per mat isn't right. Professionally speakin, it kinda kills the market for finished goods. Mats should certainly be profitable, but they shouldn't be more profitable than the final product!

I don't think, sometimes, Blizz is terribly interested in the WoW economy, but it is a fun aspect of the game for many. A little tweaking to make the material goods professions a little more profitable would be a Good Thing. Yes, the gatherers should make golds, too, of course. But going to the expense and time needed to level up a crafting profession should have much greater rewards. With associated difficulty and cost to get there, of course.

Anyhoo... Alchemy and Herbalism are offering a lot more for Warriors. That's always awesome. If the Crusade patch keeps going the way it is, Warriors in general are gonna be visiting the proctologist to remove the nerf bat. Sigh. So take what you can get where you can get it!

Oh, and I finally found a class I like almost as much as Warriors. Don't know why I didn't try it out a long, long time ago. Shaman! :D Yah, I made a baby Dranei Enhancement Shammy... and she's a blast! Very Warriory like, yet.... very different. Different is good sometimes. :)

-Fri

Alchemy Revelation

I don't really write a lot about Alchemy and Herbalism, though I prolly should. It's pretty simple:

Pick the flower.

Make the pot.

Drink the pot.

Done.

Prolly why I like it. It's pretty simple and has some great bennies.

Course, like any profession in WoW it's got some complexities. Tracking which herb makes what, what you can make with what you got, and so on can get a little overwhelming. I'll take anything that simplifies.

My ideal add on Alchemy add-on would:

* Keep track of all Alchemy related mats across all toons.
* Show me a list of what I can make with on hands.
* Show me a list of what I can't make with on hands.
* Show me the best place to farm what I don't have (interface with Carbonite)
* Show me a list of recipes I have.
* Show me a full list of what I don't have (and where to get 'em).
* Calculate the going price of a mat versus finished product using Auction Lite pricing on mouse over.

Is that asking so much? Yah, I basically want an alchemist apprentice companion who does everything for me. And a personal cook. And a guy to go fishing for me. And why can't my Squire actually carry some of my crap?!? Great, you can carry my Champion flags around. Woopee. I carried several thousand pounds of horse and bird around in my backpack for years, you little whimp!

Anyhoo...

While browsing curse.com I found this one that at least helps a bit. It's called Revelation. When you use a key combo-mouse click, it pulls up a list of what you can make with a particular herb based on what you have on-hand in your bags. Is that snazzy or what?!?



So in the pic, you can see I can make the four pots I use regularly with two herbs and one vial. I use Crazy Alchemist's Potion, Elixir of Deadly Strikes, Elixir of Expertise, and Elixir of Mighty Fortitude. (I pre-mix Flask of Stoneblood for dungeon runnin'.) Without having to opening the trade window, I just select the one I want, click how many I want, mix, drink, done!

I can also drag my herb bag from the bank into a bag slot, do the key-mouse click thingie, and get an easy list of what I can make with on-hands before a run. Combine with Auction Lite and ya get a quick price comparison of mat stacks versus finished pot. Little maths involved, but not too terrible and way easier than doing the comparison by hand while scanning the AH.

Apparently works for other professions, as well... but who cares. :D

Gotta recommend this one for all hippy flower pickers out there. It's easy, small and an awesome interface addition.

-Fri

Large, Burly Men Picking Flowers

The big bad Warrior trudges through the icy landscape, cutting a swath through the evil undead with his mighty sword. The enemy seems endless, but our hero fights on. Blood, gore and bits of brains splatter his once pristine armor. Biceps bulging, he chops down two walking corpses with single, powerful blow and looks around for his next target when suddenly...

Ohhhhh! Pretty flowers!

Flower picking and mixing pots may not seem like the most Warriorly of professions, but there isn't a Warrior out there that doesn't use 'em. Whether you make 'em or buy 'em, you'll need to know about those pretty flowers and what wonderful concoctions can be brewed up with them!

I haven't done a lot with Alchemy and Herbalism since Wrath launched. Honestly, it's probably at bottom of the professions as far as interesting goes. Oh, sure we got all the regular stuff. Not much more than that, though.

One addition we did get was how we learn new mixes. Northrend Alchemy Research is a great addition and way better than the BC method of randomly learning a new Pot while making something. Alchemists picked up a neat passive ability called Mixology that doubles the duration and increases the effect of Elixirs, Potions and Flasks. Herbalists picked up Lifeblood, which is a nifty heal. Both are practical and useful skills. I just think both professions offer up the opportunity for some more fun, silly, and unusual applications, as well.

I use the term "pot" to refer to Elixirs, Flasks, and Potions, by the way. They are different and have different uses, but for a generic term, it'll do. I also equate Alchemy with Herbalism. One isn't complete without the other. I understand that you could certainly do one without the other, and that herbalism now supports a second profession. To me, though, the two are one and the same. :)

Herbalism is easy to level. Just pick stuff up off the ground and Ding! you're at level cap. Alchemy isn't terribly difficult either. There is a minor brick wall when you get near the end. You can't level the skill any further unless you do the transmutes. Minor annoyance, because you have to shop for the mats, but not terrible either.

One of the things I've always felt I should be doing with Alchemy and Herbalism is carry around the mats I need and mix on the fly. I never do, though. I usual end up with a big bag full of all sorts of weird crap I've mixed up thinking "Oh yah! I can definitely use that!" and then never actually use. Eventually, I burn them off while questing just to make room for one more stack of [miscellaneous bad guy body part]. So I sat down and made a carry list of stuff I'd actually use.

Brilliant, I know.

This is particularly true for Elixirs, which is the bulk of what you'd be mixing on the run. Potions are too situational, though being able to mix one when you need it just before a fight is handy. Flasks and Transmutes would require carrying too many mats. Most players will only use one type of Flask anyhow, so carrying the mats for them isn't economical, bag space-wise. In most cases, you'd pre-mix the particular Flasks you want and then hand 'em out and consume them prior to going adventuring.

Like me, you'll know you need to switch to carrying mats instead of the finished pot when you're filling a 20-slot bag with bottles of various fluids. Not good. :)

The Pretty Flowers

There are currently eight Northrend herbs. The vials you'll use are the Imbued and Enchanted Vials. A proper alchemist will carry one stack of Imbued pretty much all the time. Anything else, you'll probably only buy containers when you're pre-mixing.

Do you need to carry a particular herb?

I've started carrying enough to make the Elixirs and few pots I need plus anything my guildies might need. We're very magic dependent in Dark Clan, so I frequently need to make stuff to boost mana regen or spellpower and the like. Your mileage will vary, so look at what kind of groups you usually run with and you may be able to drop an herb from your bag.

Frost Lotus - only useful for making your Flasks and Alchemists Stones. Warrior Alchemists will probably end up making two of the latter: Indestructible Alchemist Stone and Mighty Alchemist Stone. I have both cause I don't have a better trinket to replace the Mighty one (damn you Loken!). Flasks always have a special reagent you have to use, like Pygmy Oil or a Crystalized something-or-other. Carrying all the mats would defeat the purpose, so Flasks are usually going to be pre-mix and carry. Basically, not a lot of reason to be carrying around Frost Lotus. Bank it.

Adder's Tongue - an excellent herb to consider carrying. Warrior's will mix up Elixir of Deadly Strikes and Elixir of Expertise. Unless you're capped on these two stats, these pots come in terribly handy. And who couldn't use an Expertise boost? You can also use it to make Elixir of Mighty Agility and Potion of Speed.

Deadnettle - might not carry this one around unless you really, really need to. It's used for Elixir of Lightning Speed, Elixir of Mighty Thoughts, Lesser Flask of Toughness, and Wrath Elixir. For a Warrior, Wrath Elixir is tempting, but there's a better one that doesn't require Deadnettle. You might need it for Elixir of Mighty Thoughts if you run with those magic wielding types a lot. If not, bank it.

Goldclover - Probably should carry two stacks of this. It's the most commonly used Northrend herb and is a reagent for 15! recipes. Nope, not gonna list 'em all. The most common thing you'll use it for is healing pots, of which I prefer Crazy Alchemist Potion. A heal plus a bonus. There's plenty of Warriory Elixirs that use it, too. Just carry it. It's your little yellow friend.

Icethorn - yes and no. If you're not at Def cap, then yes. This and Crystallized Life make Elixir of Mighty Defense, which frankly, you need if you're tanking under cap. The top end healing potion, Runic Healing Potion, also requires this, so if you prefer these you'll need Icethorn. I've never been willing to burn my potion cooldown on situational pots, but if you do, Indestructible Potion is excellent. Otherwise, you can safely bank this one.

Talandra's Rose - this one is worth carrying just for Elixir of Accuracy. Specially if you're like me and the ol' Hit rating sucketh. With this and a bit of Tiger Lily, you can be smacking stuff around properly. If you're packing Deadnettle, as well, your mana using friends will love you for Elixir of Mighty Thoughts and Elixir of Spirit. The best pot heal comes from the Rose. It's called Potion of Nightmares. One of these and a quick bandage will get you back in the action fairly quick. You might be a bit disturbed after, but you at least you'll be fighting quick. :)

Tiger Lily - One of the best. Another you won't want to leave home without. For Warrior's, Elixir of Mighty Strength, for spell casting friends, Spellpower Elixir. If Armor Penetration becomes more important, this one will also do Elixir of Armor Piercing. And, of course, you'll need it for Elixir of Accuracy, mentioned above.

When I know I'll be mixing for a group, I carry:

1 Endless Healing Potion
20 Adder's Tongue
20 Deadnettle
20 Goldclover*
20 Talandra's Rose
20 Tiger Lily

*I always run out of Goldclover, so prolly should start carrying more.

Which is 7 bag slots (including flasks). With these I can make at least 16 pots for a nice buff diversity. Two or three more slots increases that to close to thirty mixes. Much more economical than carrying around the individual pots.

If I'm not planning to be mixing on the move, I carry:

5 Elixir of Accuracy (Battle)
5 Elixir of Mighty Fortitude (Guardian)
5 Flask of Stoneblood (Both)
10 Crazy Alchemist's Potion

Once I'm hit capped, I'd switch to Elixir of Mighty Strength for the Battle Elixir. So, just for m'self I can run around with some nice buffs in only four bag slots. And all are dirt cheap to make for a flower pickin' Warrior.

Don't be ashamed to pause the head bashing for a moment to pick some flowers. Stop and smell the Talandra's Roses. They may laugh at you now, but they'll be kissing your plate-clad behind when it comes time to hand out the pots. :)

-Fri

Wrath of the Alchemist!

SPOILER WARNING! WRATH OF THE LICH KING INFO DISCUSSED BELOW.

Wotlkwiki posted some Alchemist info from the Beta, so thought we'd take a peek today. Nothing terribly exciting, but good to know to get ready.

(I'm not linking these yet, cause most of the tooltips from Wowhead aren't up. Update to come.)

Add 75 more points to your Alchemy skill, bringing it up to 450. Considering there's a lot of basic potions, most of them probably trainable, that shouldn't be too difficult to pull off. We become Grand Master Alchemists in the processes. Hooray! (Cannah get a title and tabard for that, please?)

Our new top-end Transmute is Eternals. And yes, we get to make Eternal Might! I only ever use the Primal Transmutes to get that one last bit for a Primal Might anyhow. Nothing too exciting here, but like Primals, watch for cheap conversions.

There's a new oil to make called Pygmy Oil and it's used in a few pots. Comes from the Pygmy Suckerfish. So, if you're like me and stopped leveling fishing when you could make all your oils, it's time to break out the ol' fishing pole and get to it. The tooltip for this stuff so far just says "Drink It." I'm really hoping for something hysterical. The obvious effect would be insta-gnome. heh... Imagine a 3' tall Tauren in T6 gear. Aw, cute! :)

Then there's the usual assortment of Elixir's, Potions and Flasks. Sorry, nothing really got me excited. Mostly just upgrades. Good. But I'm thinking Blizz isn't done with Alchemy yet. If they are... woe is me.

Herbalist will be getting some competition from Inscribers practicing the new Inscription trade. They can "mill" various herbs to get inks to do their work. Competition for herbs is going to get nasty. Prices will skyrocket. Stock up now? Yah, it's alt bank time.

I found these on Wowheads Wrath site. Hmmm... I wonder. :)

Overall, nothing huge. Again, though, this is obviously very early information and it's nice to know the basics are covered. And let's hope there's some Alchemy fireworks coming soon! Some stuff I'd like to see:

* More oils. Oils to apply to all sorts of stuff. We can't even make massage oil! Sheesh! There's plenty of beasties and plants out there we could be extracting oils from. Even a "milling/prospecting" ability would be good. And not just weapons, but definitely better weapon oils as well. Was there a weapon oil for BC? Basically, short term "enchants" that are as good as the real deal. Fun!

* Incense. Burn 'em during encounters for nice, fat AOE buffs. Yah, you'd have to carry around flint and tinder (does anyone do that anymore???), but for the right buffs, you bet. The limit would be they are only available to Alchemists. And think how much nicer battles and boss fights would smell! Apple-cranberry Illidan? Love it!

* More fun potions. How about illusion potions? Love potions? Puke potions? Potions for pets? Potions that change you different colors? Smoke bombs that drop aggro or blow in different colors as markers? There's no limit to silly, slightly useful though not really, pots we could make.

Alchemy needs a kick. I can has pots now?

-Fri

Hippy Flower Pickers

About a month ago I finally got around to working out how to make g with my profession. Yeah, I'm flower picker.

I took herbalism/alchemy because the buffs are free and almost essential for a warrior. Probably for any class, actually. But solo'ing as Warrior is tough early on if half your bag isn't full of healing potions. When I started playing WoW I had no idea how to make money, so this looked like a free way to get my character a nice boost. Hell, you just pick it up off the ground!

Making money at it, though, requires some work. Except for selling excess herbs, I never tried very hard to "make a living" with it. And you should make g with your profession. That's kind of the point of having a profession.

The Professional Alchemist

First thing an Alchemist/Herbalist has to do is install Auctioneer. Ya need this to be able to quickly mouse over an herb or pot (and by pot I'm referring to potions, elixirs and flasks) and see its average auction house price. Without it, you're gonna spend way more time than necessary comparing prices, and/or make a lot of bad investments.

Regardless of level, always use Auctioneer's Bottom Scanner to look for cheap herbs. Doesn't matter if you can use them or not. When combined with what you're picking, you'll either level alchemy faster, or save them and resell them. There might be one or two pots you need for your class, so keep making those. Otherwise, pour all your pickings into leveling and then selling. This makes leveling alchemy almost free until you get into the much higher ranges.

The problem is, unlike mining or skinning, the initial herbs you pick aren't going to sell for much. No wants 100 more Peacebloom or Silverleaf. You can't walk through a starter area without tripping over those weeds constantly. Since people level so fast now, there's also a limited (or no) market for low level pots. Use Auctioneer to check pot prices, at any level, for your Realm.

Our number one rule for alchemists and herbalists: NEVER PASS UP AN HERB. With the exception of a few situations where you're in a fast moving group with a timer and a specific goal, you should grab every herb that pops on the mini-map.

Farming herbs is pretty easy once you get up to higher levels, too. The mobs don't bother you as much and you can run through an area and grab up as many flowers as you can carry. I'm not fond of the herbalism add-ons I've tried that supposedly help this process. They populate the mini-map with so much crap that you can't see where you are or where you're going. I much prefer the run back and forth and use the built in "Detect Herbs" feature. Try the add-ons, though. You might find one you like.

As you get toward level 30+ you'll probably pick up a few drop alchemy recipes or buy the BoE recipes in the AH. Certain vendors also sell recipes that many alchemists may not be aware of, and you can pick up new recipes and transmutes in Outland from reputation with certain factions. It's around this time that you need to start comparing the price of the base mats versus the cost of making a pot. In many cases, between 20 and 60, the herbs themselves sell for WAY more than the pots you can make out of them.

This is an economic factor tied to the faster leveling. People get way up the level ladder and realize the herbs they need are way behind them. Farming them would take forever, so they run to the AH to buy the herbs needed to level their skill. Goldthorn, for example, is a fairly rare herb, but not terribly high level. At various times, though, it sells in the AH for big g! Ghost mushrooms are another favorite. But you have to watch the price versus making Ghost Dye constantly. Which one makes more money flip flops occasionally. Look for these situations using Auctioneer.

Around level 50 many people start raiding. The 5-mans at that level start requiring a great deal of preparation, as well. For both, people need pots. While many guilds have an alchemist for this purpose, there's plenty of times when that alchemist isn't available prior to a run. Of particular need are any elixirs that boost immunities (fire, frost, nature, arcane, and shadow), called guardian elixirs, as well those that boost damage for the schools of magic (battle elixirs, in particular). This is when selling pots is often more worthwhile then just selling the base herbs. The AH is the main source for this, but selling direct is sometimes better.

Pot Master. Dude, Where's My Flask?

Once your Alchemy goes past 300, you can start making a rep for yourself, as well. You can start earlier, of course, but demand will be lower. You want to hook up with players, particularly those in instance and raid guilds, that constantly need pots. Be nice, friendly and helpful, then ask them to add you to their Friends list and whisper you when they need more. Most of the time they will supply the mats, you mix up the pots, and then give you a nice tip (see tipping, below).

When transmutes become available, hook up with a couple of blacksmiths and make Arcanite for them. Blizzard recently made this an "unlimited" transmute, so having a few clients that need it constantly can be a steady stream of tip income. (It killed the AH sales, though.) You can also sell your daily transmute to the highest bidder, but it's better to have clients that know its worth and whisper you when they need it. Not too many, because you don't want to be saying "I already used it" too much, but enough that you're burning off your transmute every day.

The bigger and better the transmute, the more you can charge (or get tipped). You'll be surprised how much people will pay for your daily Primal Might transmute or Earthstorm or Skyfire Diamond. If Primal Might is running 150g, and they already farmed the mats, paying you 10g or more is a bargain. (I've sold my transmute for as little as 2g and as much as 100g!)

Offering alchemy as a service is a great money maker, if you're into sales and customer service. You do have to be helpful and nice. If you're an ass, people won't come back. Repeat business is where the g is for services. You want people adding you to their Friends list with a "great alchemist for pots" note.

Supplying pots as a service is the best way to level past 300. You just offer to make pots for people by posting something like:

"Alchemist making [pot name(s)] free with your mats. PST!"

to the /Trade channel. Always advertise the pots you need to make to level your skill. Most people will tip as well!

Keeping certain pots "in stock" works, but you have to be really on top of what will sell. Browse the raid and pvp forums and see what guilds are "requiring" their tanks and casters to have. Check where they are in the raid progression and prepare pots for their next step by checking damage abilities of bosses. See which instances are most on farm and make pots for those raids. Opportunities like this just require a little creative thinking and anticipating customer need.

Content players, raiders and PvPers need different pots. Tanks, for example, probably don't buy huge quantities of healing potions because they rely on their healer to get the job done. Most I know carry five at a time for emergencies. Knowing that, though, you can probably make a good business brewing up high end mana potions, pots that augment healing spells, and spirit and intellect buffs. If you know certain people need it, you can make it ahead of time and have them ready. Makes a good impression.

Flasks are particularly good for this, because they are in high demand and incredibly expensive to make. I only make flasks from mats I've gathered, or get at 50% minimum market price for the AH, and carefully compare the mat price to the pot price before hand. The market changes quickly. However, having that high end stuff ready on, say, Thursday and Friday for the weekend raiders and PvP arena teams can be worth a small premium. Pay attention to what people are really using.

Show Me The Money!

Should you make pots for free? Well, yes if you post "Making all pots, free with your mats, tips appreciated" then you have to do them for free if someone comes to you with mats. After you've used this method to level, if you're getting a lot of free loaders, you might need to set prices.

There's also the issue of what is an appropriate tip. From the alchemist's point-of-view, it's whatever anyone gives you. :) Never, ever gripe about a tip. Say "thank you" to the bad ones and move on. Then don't do business with that person, of course. Bad tippers will figure out eventually that no one wants to do stuff for them because... well, they're bad tippers.

The "tip" guide below is a good place to start for tipping and for service charges (remember this is with THEIR mats):

The first method, you take a percentage of the skill level required to make the pot and convert that to silver/gold. Say, 1% to 5% and round. So, let's say you have a pot that requires a skill of 275 and you want 20 of em. 275 X 3% is 8.25 silver (8s rounded) per pot. So the tip/price on 20 would be 1g 60s. The higher level the potion, the rarer the recipe, and more difficult it is to make, the higher the percentage should be. Weigh it against the cost of buying the pot outright and the cost of acquiring the mats. Some transmutes and flasks might get as high as 20% or more.

Tune into trade and see what other people are charging. You want to adjust your prices to be competitive, but not so low that you wreck the entire market. If you're offering alchemy services for 50% lower than anyone else, you may soon find yourself with a new career... sitting at the computer making pots full time! Yuck!

Selling in-stock direct is easy as well. You want to calculate it based on the current market price, using Auctioneer, for the mats. Don't forget the cost of the flask. Then markup appropriately. You do have to check the AH, though, for the going price of the pot. If the cost of making the pot is more than the price is the AH, you're not gonna make any money.

Finally, research the recipes available carefully and go out of your way to acquire the rare ones. Most of the very high level ones are earned by rep with various factions. There's also a selection that drop fro mobs and are BoP (meaning you won't see the in the AH). Few people have those. Obviously, being able to make something few others can is usually worth the time and expense.

Blizzard definitely needs a slightly more robust economic model for professions. But using the tools available, a good hippy flower picker and can be a happy hippy flower picker in no time.

-Fri