Epic Gems From Transmutes: But Not How You Think....

Hey Folks! I have done the improbable. I have let a guest post in.....

Bones, better known from IRC and JMTC's Friday night gold meetings has came up with yet another way to get epic gems. Well, kinda. He has a new spin on the Transmutes, and once again, it's a very interesting "view" on the possible stockpile. Will it work? Who knows. Will I stockpile up a bit of herbs? You bet. Will it be a bank tab full? Nah, but I am gonna set aside a few stacks after hearing his "insight".  How about you just read and see for yourself, as he hits some great points within.

Will Epic Gems Transmutes really use Volatiles?

Bones here again, Hijacking another blog to bring out an important service announcement.

Our good friends at JMTC recently posted an article called The Top 5 Items To Stock Up For 4.1/4.2.  The information contained therein is valuable, but I figured I needed to speak up as I believe that they may be leading you down the wrong path on 1 of the 5 topics covered.

In JMTC's words:

·      Volatiles - Why? Again, if you're even going to transmute any of the epic gems you're going to need some cheap volatiles. They're currently low-medium on my server, this will most likely change come 4.1/4.2.

Everyone is so focused on what Blizzard has done in the past, that they often forget to look at the subtle and not so subtle hints that Blizzard puts in our faces.

Case in point, Epic Gems from Transmutes.  In the past, you would take some gems, some volatiles and mix it up together and get an Epic gem out of the deal, 2 if you were an xmute master.

In Cata however, Blizzard, up to this point, has gone down a different path.  The screenshots below show what is likely the real path that blizzard will take for xmuting gems this expansion, and it won't be Volatiles, it will be HERBS! 

See the following screenshots as Exhibit A and I will elaborate in the rest of the article.

 

 

 

To my knowledge, and please leave a comment if I am wrong, never before Cata did blizzard use herbs in the transmutes of gems.  It has always been elementals (Volatiles, motes etc..).

But, in Cata Blizzard decided to buck the trend and use herbs for transmuting un-common (Green quality) gems into rare (Blue quality) gems.  I don't know about the rest of you, but this gets me thinking:

Is Blizzard going to use Volatiles to Xmute Epic Gems?

Maybe.  But I wouldn't bank ALL my gold on it.  To me, there is a 50/50 chance.  It's either going to be Volatiles or its going to be Herbs.   I do not see any other options.

What does this mean to you?

If you're a veteran goblin able to fill Azeroth's wells and fountains with your gold, then I would save up all the cheap Volatiles and Herbs that I can find.  You know its going to be one or the other, and you know you will be able to liquidate the unused choice profitably if you purchase at the proper price point.

What do I believe?

Personally, I believe the xmutes will use Herbs.  I rather believe the simple clues in front of our faces, rather then what Blizzard did in a previous expansion.   Blizzard likes to change things around and keep us on our goblin toes.  I believe this is where 1 such change is here to stay, for this expansion at least.

What will I do with all those unused mats?

As always, in my articles, Bones is here to give you a way out of your stockpiling mess should these investments fail to produce.

Volatiles

Volatiles are used in a lot of recipes.  From Blacksmithing to Tailoring and almost crafting profession in between uses em.  Blizzard has said that they were commited to having ever evolving professions this expansion,  I expect more patterns will be added to the game to continue to stabilize the volatile market.  I still believe Volatiles will have a strong demand, but not because of transmuting Epic gems.

Herbs

Simply put, with the Herbs, I currently make:

Flasks/Potions

Mysterious Fortune Cards / Darkmoon Faire Cards / Glyphs

Flasks have not reached their peak volume yet.  There are not enuf raiders to sustain a high demand on flasks, on most servers.  As people get better geared, they start doing more Raids, the more people that do raids, the more Flasks are going to go off the shelf and this is what I intend on doing with the herbs should they not be needed in transmuting Epic gems.

Conclusion:

Am I right? Am I wrong?  I don't think anyone knows for sure, and I dont think anyone will say that their way is set in stone.  I know mine sure isnt, but I am planning for either eventually.

If you've enjoyed the article, I have another one posted at Xander's Goldmine, called The Real Reason To StockPile Pyrite Ore .

Thanks for reading and don't hesitate to leave your comments. I'll do my best to respond and reply.

Bones