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To alch or not to alchFollow

#1 Apr 29 2009 at 4:44 AM Rating: Decent
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89 posts
I am looking into wether or not I should change one of my professions to Alchemy.

I have always leveled all my toons with 2 gathering professions as the actual manufacturing ones seemed like alot of trouble. And if I just farmed everything in sight I should be able to afford anything I might be able to make with them right?

Well recently I've just gotten sick of it. I think all of my toons have skinning + either herb/mining, and I am looking for a change. Case in point. My druid Is Herb/skin. I just finished farming the 1k+ leather for the 2 blue PvP sets I wanted and am looking into wether or not skinning is still a good choice. I remember in BC once I was 70 skinning was more of a hassle as I didn't grind mobs very often, once at cap. Since I am already an Herbalist I figured Alchemy would be a good fit. I'm just trying to see if it holds anything good for me.

I'm a fairly casual player. I log enough hours, but due to work/family I don't raid. So will all the pots/flasks I make be profitable in the ah? Or am I better off just selling the stacks of herbs. I know the professions like this shine the best in a raiding guild setting where I can supply my guildies with their consumables, but since that is not the case I would just be supplying me, my alts, and a few friends. Would the surpluss be worth enough to justify making pots? or would I be better off selling the herbs?

Just looking for some insight from the pros as my knowledge in the 'manufacturing' professions is somewhat lacking. also if there are any good pages/links out there I'd love to see em. just started all this research.

Also what about from a personal standpoint? the alch trinkets have always looked jazzy and what about those mad alch potions? Do they help warrant a switch?
#2 Apr 29 2009 at 8:31 AM Rating: Good
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76 posts
Hmmm...I guess I will start off and give the usual rant about it being server specific,but as far as Alch goes, i don't think so. I have alchemy on a toon and the profession is nice to have....for me. I don't make a huge profit from it, but i DO make a steady profit(if i keep at it). Depending on your luck with discovering flasks,you could make more money, but even then, i find flasks are not selling well/quickly. In all honesty, I make most of my money from making Arcanite bars. Do I make money from pots? Sure, but they sell slowly and I usually only make maybe a gold or so a pot(after herbs/bottles are factored in). It is a steady income,but not much. Having said that, I am a bit of an alt-a-holic and having alchemy is GREAT for making pots for my toons to use as well as for my friends. If you are looking for something that is nice to have, small steady income and useful, take alchemy. If you are looking for something that will make you gold, take inscription as it goes part and parcel with herbalism,and once you get some levels into it, you can make pretty good coin from it.
#3 Apr 29 2009 at 9:59 AM Rating: Decent
Agreed. If making money is the thing you want to do with a Herb gathering prof Inscription is the way to go. My druid is Herb/ Alch and he makes almost no money from it but I also make a ton of pots for the raiders in my guild and get most of the mats from the Guild Bank for them. I'm bringing up a skinner/Inscriber alt for the other and am supplying the alt from the druid for and mats she needs.
#4 Apr 30 2009 at 4:21 AM Rating: Decent
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3,229 posts
Flasks are good sellers.
#5 Apr 30 2009 at 11:04 AM Rating: Good
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970 posts
Archfiend Goggy wrote:
Flasks are good sellers.

On my server, Frost Lotus is the bottleneck - I don't gather enough to make enough excess beyond what my guild needs to raid with, and it goes for so much on the AH that there's no margin (flasks sell for 10% over cost of mats, at best). Elixir mastery allows a profit, but you won't be funding your epic flyer with it atm.

Sad to say, most of my alchemy profit is the 10g that comes from my daily Life->Fire. And even then, I think the Life would be more valuable as part of a Darkmoon Card.
#6 May 13 2009 at 5:14 AM Rating: Decent
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1,912 posts
Note: server specific.

Alchemy isn't much of a gold maker but it can come out as a great gold SAVER. If you raid a lot, alche offers you extended duration and effect on your elixirs and flasks in addition to the Crazy Alche potions which are much cheaper than the normal mana potions and completely replace them.

To trinket or not to trinket, I don't know, up to you. The trinket is certainly not bad. I don't use it right now because I have better ones, but it's still not a bad one so I keep it just in case.

As for the market for potions and elixirs, they don't sell for much more than the cost of the mats. Selling the herbs instead is usually better because they are guaranteed sale and they sell very fast and very easy. Potions can bounce back unsold quite often, even if you put them for a very low profit margin.

Then there's the transmutes, you can get about 10g/day from transmutes. ATM I'm making slightly less than that as it seems that the demand for the more expensive eternals has dropped and their price is coming very close to that of the cheaper eternals. The Titansteel smelt gives a larger profit margin than the eternal transmute right now (I do both so I know).
#7 May 17 2009 at 6:14 PM Rating: Decent
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109 posts
I've been an alch on my main since I started her with no clue how the game worked. I have never ONCE considered switching to anything else.
I go farming once a week, make enough potions, elixers, and flasks to provide for my husband, myself, all our alts, and spares for the raids we do. I will admit, it isn't a gold making profession, but it is (as said before) a gold SAVING profession.
I'm one of the few people who will give away things that I make, in PUGs as well as guild runs, because the more buffed you are the less likely you'll suck. (With exceptions of course; The DK facerolling with 900 dps has no hope.)



Alch is really a profession that is mostly self beneficial, of course, if you spec it (Elixer/Potion/Transmute) you can make a decent amount.



I just got a 9proc on a flask. Too bad it was for someone else :(
#8 May 17 2009 at 9:05 PM Rating: Decent
You should have the druid drop the herb to get LW to compliment his skinning - you can do some really nice stuff with LW for a druid, especially for a casual player.

As for swapping another toon over the alchy - meh - can't say that its really worth all that much - its not a bad profession but since your casual, you don't need the flasks and its not the money making profession it used to be...
#9 May 18 2009 at 3:08 AM Rating: Excellent
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135 posts
Quote:
I'm one of the few people who will give away things that I make, in PUGs as well as guild runs

I do the same to a degree. If we're struggling on a boss I'll give out whatever potions/elixirs I've got that might help. I won't give out flasks to pugs but potions and elixirs are generally cheap and easy to make and if they help us down a boss then it's worth it. Guildies tend to use the ones they already have.
#10 May 18 2009 at 10:52 AM Rating: Good
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970 posts
Something else I've started doing (again)... If the price point on the elixirs I use (Mighty Thoughts, primarily, now that Guru's is basically free) is halfway decent - even a 5% profit or so - I'll buy enough mats to make a couple of stacks, sell the stacks and take the slight profit, and use the mastery procs to fuel my raiding for the week.

It ain't much, but it's allowed me to move to elixirs rather than flasks, even for progression, and the profit pays for a decent share of my repair bills. For basically no effort and little risk.
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