Saboteur
10-05-2005, 01:03 PM
(told by an expert alchemist and artisan herbalist)
Alchemy is cool. Really. There's no other significant reason to pick alchemy. If you like the idea of "dabbling with potions", being a bit of a lone wolf, perhaps role-playing a wise and mighty old Master Alchemist who lives in a difficult to reach place where other adventurers risk their lives to seek you because they require your unique services and help... Then alchemy is for you! This kind of profile is complemented by playing a caster class, preferably at least borderline evil (Warlock), and to get the Yoda-effect ("do-not-judge-me-by-my-size-for-I-have-powers-you-would-not-dare-dream-of"), a gnome. Or, if you're playing horde, you'll want to be undead, since it adds to the image of being as old, mysterious, wise (and cruel!) as time itself. Also, if you acquire an epic mount as undead, you will look just WICKED.
There's more to why alchemy is well suited for a character who prefers to play solo. You will have access to unique elixirs that augment your survivability - which you can craft for the price of mere vials which is next to nothing (you won't need those costly-looking advanced vials until you're fairly advanced in the game, at which point they won't seem that expensive). The required ingredients are free and I think strolling woods, climbing mountains, diving oceans (Warlocks will find this easy) and combing through graveyards for those elusive plants and herbs common folk won't even notice only adds to the role-playing potential I outlined in the first paragraph.
Does this sound good to you? Yes? Ok, let's talk practical stuff then. As we know, professions were designed to allow us to customize our characters in a way that supports their "personality". And we also know that a lot of people only use them for getting gold in the game. So I'll have to address this side of it as well. Note that everything below is valid only on Argent Dawn - your experience may vary, especially in a PvP server environment. (Also note that I currently play alliance).
I will admit to being relatively new to the game and having no experience of other professions than alchemy/herbalism past skill level 50, so I am mostly dependant on hear say when it comes to other professions. Be that as it may, if you read any WoW profession forum for more than 2 minutes, you will learn that 1) enchanting/tailoring is a money pit and 2) skinning/mining will profit you best. Alchemy falls between these categories, but it leans to the profitable side of the scale. So if it's money you're after, alchemy/herbalism will not be a waste of your time, and you may at the very least want to have an alt as an alchemist (although personally I'm thinking of creating yet another alchemist!). At apprentice and journeyman skill levels most of the potions you are able to create are highly useful to you and others around you, but are not powerful enough to be worth too much in the auction house. (This tends to be the case for all production professions, though).
However, once you learn potions of "standard" quality (not lesser or minor) you'll actually see some demand. In particular, once you learn to create Elixir of Defense, you can start cashing in. Such an elixir is highly desirable for a class that doesn't have armor buffs they can cast on themselves, but the demand is much augmented by the fact that these elixirs are used in other professions as well. (Blacksmithing or leatherworking or somesuch, I don't remember now as I'm writing this). A stack of two potions will net you 70-80 silver - and that's _after_ undercutting everyone else's prices by about 10%. There are a couple of relatively low-level (though medium-risk) harvesting sites for Wild Steelbloom in Duskwood and the Wetlands, and the Wetlands is also my regular harvesting site of Stranglekelp. The problem with the Wetlands is that it's such an easy and profitable (Wild Steelbloom, Stranglekelp, Liferoot, Kingsblood and Briarthorn among others are abound) place to harvest that everyone is doing it. So try harvesting on off-peak hours for best results.
Elixirs of Greater Defense have very wildly fluctuating rates of supply and demand. When there are only one or two listed, you can price one (1) potion at slightly over 1 gold. When the potions start stacking up, you may want to hold on to yours for a while until the oversupply ends. Even in oversupply situations you can expect a sell price of 50-80 gold per potion, or less (per potion) for stacks of 5.
Healing Potions do sell at the AH, but not for much more than 30 silver per stack of 5. There are usually always at least a dozen listings for these. Greater Healing Potions you should try not to sell for less than 50 silver per stack. Mana Potions I find to be a waste of time in many ways, not least because they are on the same cooldown timer as healing potions. There are always some listings for different qualities of mana potions and they are always too cheap to warrant the herbs you need to invest in a stack of 5, especially when talking about higher quality potions.
Rage Potions will sell for a few of dozen silver for a full stack, and their Greater variety for a bit more. I find creating them to be a bother though, as the claws and fangs required for them drop rather irregularly and from very different locations.
Blackmouth Oil has its uses, and if you're lucky, you can charge obscene amounts for it (stack of 5 for 70-80 silver). Possibly the best place in the Eastern Kingdoms to farm it is in Menethil Harbor, through fishing. It is very much worth it to train your fishing skill, as you will need some different kinds of fish in alchemy recipes throughout your "career" as an alchemist. Alchemy, herbalism (needed for alchemy), fishing (also needed for alchemy) and cooking (why not cook all that extra fish?) support each other quite well in that respect, so you will find leveling all four rather easy.
Free Action Potions sound like something that would sell well on PvP servers. Some reports would seem to indicate that this is true.
That's about all I can say about alchemy according to my own experience and skill for now. I'll just wrap it up with a word on herbalism as a money-making skill. As an alchemist, you won't be selling too many herbs until you're in a position where you no longer need to level your skill much. One particular herb will be an exception though, and that is Swiftthistle. Apparently rogues love this stuff and you start finding it very early on with briarthorns (and sometimes mageroyals), and you will often notice that the auction house is clean out of listings for it. That's because all of it has been bought out. 1,25-2 gold is a fair price for a full stack of 20, but if you don't have that much, you can often charge up to 60 or so silver for a stack of 5. Selling in smaller quantities will get you a better price per unit in the long run, but if you're rich already you may not want to bother.
As for other herbs, they are all worth a bit when sold at the AH, with the exception of peacebloom and silverleaf. And for that reason you don't want to buy them from the AH for your potions! Find them yourself, or if someone has listed a nice herb or stack of herbs for the "suggested price" of the AH (meaning ridiculously below the market price), snatch it and sell it for a higher rate or use it.
This wasn't really intended as a guide of harvesting herbs or selling potions (although I did get a bit carried away with that part), but rather just a collection of some observations I've made during my short but enthusiastic career as an alchemist. The most important thing I'd like to share with everyone, the bottom line, is that...
Being an alchemist has a unique feel to it. It's not as tangible as blacksmithing (which evokes the image of a strong, bulky warrior hammering away at a forge) or engineering, nor as esoteric and immaterial as enchanting (which does seem fitting for a wise old wizardy character like alchemy does but it doesn't "produce" anything concrete and it has a different mood to it).
Or, in other words:
Alchemy is cool.
Alchemy is cool. Really. There's no other significant reason to pick alchemy. If you like the idea of "dabbling with potions", being a bit of a lone wolf, perhaps role-playing a wise and mighty old Master Alchemist who lives in a difficult to reach place where other adventurers risk their lives to seek you because they require your unique services and help... Then alchemy is for you! This kind of profile is complemented by playing a caster class, preferably at least borderline evil (Warlock), and to get the Yoda-effect ("do-not-judge-me-by-my-size-for-I-have-powers-you-would-not-dare-dream-of"), a gnome. Or, if you're playing horde, you'll want to be undead, since it adds to the image of being as old, mysterious, wise (and cruel!) as time itself. Also, if you acquire an epic mount as undead, you will look just WICKED.
There's more to why alchemy is well suited for a character who prefers to play solo. You will have access to unique elixirs that augment your survivability - which you can craft for the price of mere vials which is next to nothing (you won't need those costly-looking advanced vials until you're fairly advanced in the game, at which point they won't seem that expensive). The required ingredients are free and I think strolling woods, climbing mountains, diving oceans (Warlocks will find this easy) and combing through graveyards for those elusive plants and herbs common folk won't even notice only adds to the role-playing potential I outlined in the first paragraph.
Does this sound good to you? Yes? Ok, let's talk practical stuff then. As we know, professions were designed to allow us to customize our characters in a way that supports their "personality". And we also know that a lot of people only use them for getting gold in the game. So I'll have to address this side of it as well. Note that everything below is valid only on Argent Dawn - your experience may vary, especially in a PvP server environment. (Also note that I currently play alliance).
I will admit to being relatively new to the game and having no experience of other professions than alchemy/herbalism past skill level 50, so I am mostly dependant on hear say when it comes to other professions. Be that as it may, if you read any WoW profession forum for more than 2 minutes, you will learn that 1) enchanting/tailoring is a money pit and 2) skinning/mining will profit you best. Alchemy falls between these categories, but it leans to the profitable side of the scale. So if it's money you're after, alchemy/herbalism will not be a waste of your time, and you may at the very least want to have an alt as an alchemist (although personally I'm thinking of creating yet another alchemist!). At apprentice and journeyman skill levels most of the potions you are able to create are highly useful to you and others around you, but are not powerful enough to be worth too much in the auction house. (This tends to be the case for all production professions, though).
However, once you learn potions of "standard" quality (not lesser or minor) you'll actually see some demand. In particular, once you learn to create Elixir of Defense, you can start cashing in. Such an elixir is highly desirable for a class that doesn't have armor buffs they can cast on themselves, but the demand is much augmented by the fact that these elixirs are used in other professions as well. (Blacksmithing or leatherworking or somesuch, I don't remember now as I'm writing this). A stack of two potions will net you 70-80 silver - and that's _after_ undercutting everyone else's prices by about 10%. There are a couple of relatively low-level (though medium-risk) harvesting sites for Wild Steelbloom in Duskwood and the Wetlands, and the Wetlands is also my regular harvesting site of Stranglekelp. The problem with the Wetlands is that it's such an easy and profitable (Wild Steelbloom, Stranglekelp, Liferoot, Kingsblood and Briarthorn among others are abound) place to harvest that everyone is doing it. So try harvesting on off-peak hours for best results.
Elixirs of Greater Defense have very wildly fluctuating rates of supply and demand. When there are only one or two listed, you can price one (1) potion at slightly over 1 gold. When the potions start stacking up, you may want to hold on to yours for a while until the oversupply ends. Even in oversupply situations you can expect a sell price of 50-80 gold per potion, or less (per potion) for stacks of 5.
Healing Potions do sell at the AH, but not for much more than 30 silver per stack of 5. There are usually always at least a dozen listings for these. Greater Healing Potions you should try not to sell for less than 50 silver per stack. Mana Potions I find to be a waste of time in many ways, not least because they are on the same cooldown timer as healing potions. There are always some listings for different qualities of mana potions and they are always too cheap to warrant the herbs you need to invest in a stack of 5, especially when talking about higher quality potions.
Rage Potions will sell for a few of dozen silver for a full stack, and their Greater variety for a bit more. I find creating them to be a bother though, as the claws and fangs required for them drop rather irregularly and from very different locations.
Blackmouth Oil has its uses, and if you're lucky, you can charge obscene amounts for it (stack of 5 for 70-80 silver). Possibly the best place in the Eastern Kingdoms to farm it is in Menethil Harbor, through fishing. It is very much worth it to train your fishing skill, as you will need some different kinds of fish in alchemy recipes throughout your "career" as an alchemist. Alchemy, herbalism (needed for alchemy), fishing (also needed for alchemy) and cooking (why not cook all that extra fish?) support each other quite well in that respect, so you will find leveling all four rather easy.
Free Action Potions sound like something that would sell well on PvP servers. Some reports would seem to indicate that this is true.
That's about all I can say about alchemy according to my own experience and skill for now. I'll just wrap it up with a word on herbalism as a money-making skill. As an alchemist, you won't be selling too many herbs until you're in a position where you no longer need to level your skill much. One particular herb will be an exception though, and that is Swiftthistle. Apparently rogues love this stuff and you start finding it very early on with briarthorns (and sometimes mageroyals), and you will often notice that the auction house is clean out of listings for it. That's because all of it has been bought out. 1,25-2 gold is a fair price for a full stack of 20, but if you don't have that much, you can often charge up to 60 or so silver for a stack of 5. Selling in smaller quantities will get you a better price per unit in the long run, but if you're rich already you may not want to bother.
As for other herbs, they are all worth a bit when sold at the AH, with the exception of peacebloom and silverleaf. And for that reason you don't want to buy them from the AH for your potions! Find them yourself, or if someone has listed a nice herb or stack of herbs for the "suggested price" of the AH (meaning ridiculously below the market price), snatch it and sell it for a higher rate or use it.
This wasn't really intended as a guide of harvesting herbs or selling potions (although I did get a bit carried away with that part), but rather just a collection of some observations I've made during my short but enthusiastic career as an alchemist. The most important thing I'd like to share with everyone, the bottom line, is that...
Being an alchemist has a unique feel to it. It's not as tangible as blacksmithing (which evokes the image of a strong, bulky warrior hammering away at a forge) or engineering, nor as esoteric and immaterial as enchanting (which does seem fitting for a wise old wizardy character like alchemy does but it doesn't "produce" anything concrete and it has a different mood to it).
Or, in other words:
Alchemy is cool.