Blue Notes: Alchemy is random, the Consortium are swindlers
by Eliah Hecht 
Mar 7th 2007 at 10:59PM
One of the neatest-sounding profession changes in a while is the alchemy discovery feature, where an alchemist crafting things had a small chance to spontaneously discover a new, rare recipe. A lot of people are unhappy with exactly how rare these recipes are, though; Drysc responds:The discoveries aren't intended to be common, they're extremely rare in fact. It's really intended to be a bonus if you happen to get one, and not something every alchemist is guaranteed to see. They're so rare that if you're putting effort purely towards discovery you could be spending a lot of time and resources to simply be disappointed. If you do find one, it should be a happy discovery, and not a waste of time if you don't.
What I'm saying is don't expect to discover one, but if you do then congratulations.
This makes a lot of sense to me: it's more or less a waste of time to grind for them, so just go about your business and be happy if you get one. Like a world epic. Drysc elaborated:
I previously made the [above] post, which many of you have probably read, regarding the discovery system and its intent. The discovery system is really a perk in addition to Alchemy, and not a guaranteed part of it. We wanted to reduce the amount of 'taxi cab' calling for Alchemists, where you can stick out your hand and any Alchemist with its light on can pull over and do the job. We wanted to give some the ability to have specific recipes that no one else may have, be it someone in a high end raiding guild or some random person that now has a unique purpose on his realm (until someone else discovers it of course). Are they required for advancement or success as an Alchemist? Definitely not, but they're certainly a very nice perk if you happen upon one. The same could be said for world drop items, they're a nice perk, but in no way required for your character's advancement.
The randomness takes out the need to make the recipes so difficult to obtain that only the highest geared or most well supported alchemists have access.
We do have some important changes coming on how flasks and elixirs function, and we'll be announcing those as we get close to the release of that patch.
Ooh, important buffing potion changes? Do tell! Honestly, I can't really think of what he might be referring to. Flasks already last through death; what more could you do to change them? Maybe they'll have multiple charges? But that would be just like being able to make more flasks for the price of one, and there's already an alchemy spec for that. Anyhow, Blizz have hinted before that they're doing something to address raid consumables. NPCs handing them out for free at instance doors? Who knows.
In other news, those of us who have had our eye on our Consortium rep are feeling a little miffed. The Consortium are supposed to send those of us whom they like (Friendly or better, I believe) a free bag of gems at the beginning of each month. So far, this has not yet worked, as far as I know. The standard blue response is to go to Aeris Landing and speak with an NPC there, but that didn't work this month either. Nethaera had this to say:
There is a bug with this quest at current where it is not resetting properly like it should be. This is being fixed in an upcoming patch. Unfortunately that means that everyone will need to wait a little longer until that patch is applied to get their gems and continue being able to take part in the quest.
When questioned as to whether we would be retroactively supplied with jewels for missed months, she said:
I honestly don't know as of yet. I think it will be closer to the time the fix is applied that we will find out how the fix is going to work exactly and let everyone know what to expect.
Well, OK. Thanks for being straight with us anyway, Neth. Guess I'll be blowing a few more gold on AH jewels for the time being.
Filed under: Alchemy, Odds and ends, News items, Factions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Lenny Mar 7th 2007 11:26PM
I'm wondering if this will be freed from the restraints of alchemy in future patches. With the expansion they opened up consumables to leather working. Enchanting has had them for a while now even though we did not start with them. I am unsure if Blacksmiths have consumables, engineering always has but more for the engineer than anyone else. So why not let these professions that can make consumables that will be "needed" for more and more raids learn random recipes as well?
Shawn Mar 7th 2007 11:29PM
Anyone know what level requirements there are for these discoveries?
Gist Mar 7th 2007 11:33PM
While I think it's neat that Blizz is making some pots very rare and available to anyone lucky enough to get one, this method has a nasty effect.
As the blue posted, it's only meant for a handful of folks at most to have these recipes on a realm, and on my pathetically low pop home realm, there is a single member of my faction that can craft the 70mp/5 flask. And instead of being a swell guy and crafting with mats +tip, he's charging 50g + mats per flask. And if he leaves the game, there goes the flask.
And why shouldn't the alchs that grind for the gold to buy rare pots or join raiding guilds get the good stuff? Every piece of gear or recipe in this game has to be earned the hard way by farming rep and raids, why is this suddenly different?
Natali Mar 7th 2007 11:45PM
I got the Flask of Shadow Fortification (http://www.thotbott.com/?i=59629) over a month ago (whilst levelling my alchemy in the middle of the night in Org, I hit 355 and had the Discovery message), and hooboy the mats are incredibly rare. I like that I can have something like this without having to grind for cash to buy it on the AH, it makes me feel a little more valuable to the guild/realm as a whole. And it fits with the profession - most awesome stuff is discovered whilst scientists are messing around.
It would be nice however if there were lesser recipes that had more of a chance to be discovered. Just so others don't feel left out.
Jeff Mar 8th 2007 12:22AM
@3 I think Blizzard is finally addressing the concerns of the majority of players who believe it or not are "casual". I know that is apparently a dirty word around here or something but the vast majority of the over 8million players are casual not everyone is 70 not everyone has their professions maxed out and most certainly not everyone raids. As a matter of fact there are alot of serious people who play more than on a casual basis that dont raid.
Finally with BC the concerns of the more casual players out there are being addressed and I as a more hardcore player am happy to see this happening for the casual players it means more players playing and more people taking the game seriously without being one of the assholes in the huge raiding guilds ( and yes I did just call and I will stick by my point, most of the people in huge raiding guilds are assholes).
cheesebanana Mar 8th 2007 7:22AM
It'll be that consumable buff limit.
You'll get 1 flask slot, 1 elixir slot, 1 potion slot, 1 food slot.
It limits the amount of consumables you have to farm and makes everybody equal if they just fill up their slots. You'll still have to farm some...but you wont have the advantage if your guild has the time/money to farm hundreds.
Mark me words its comin :P
daniel Mar 8th 2007 3:23AM
it doesn't sound very convincing that you can find new recipies by just creating pots, maybe they ought to increase the droprates of those recipies and instead make it possible to produce "elite" pots on rare occations that has some percentage increase to their stats.
Deathlike Mar 8th 2007 5:38AM
Jeff (5,) just to back you up, 'cause I completely agree..
I've been playing since May 2005, if I remember correctly.
I have never gotten a character to 60.
I have never raided.
I haven't visited Outlands.
I just enjoy playing the game; my characters are all over the place, and I have a lot of 'em. Only two are in the high levels, a hunter at 53 and priest at 49. I still enjoy the game, I'm a pretty good player, and I know a lot of things in terms of game mechanics and information.
Blizzard has kept me this long, but only because the other MMO's released in this time have sucked. I'm waiting for something new, and when it comes, I'm one of the ones who won't be staying. Kinda off topic, but I just realized this myself anyway.
That's all I've got.
Deathlike Mar 8th 2007 5:40AM
Sorry, March 2005. And I forgot to completely agree with the players saying it's a good idea you can't grind for it.
It's unfortunate that luck is the only thing deciding whether or not you get it, but it's still much better than allowing a grind.
Muraenidae Mar 8th 2007 6:23AM
On my first day in Outland, on my third potion made with my spiffy new Felweed and some old herbs I had, "DISCOVERY! Muraenidae has discovered a new recipe: Flask of Mighty Restoration!" popped up. I thought "hey, spiffy, so that's what they were talking about. A month and a half later after our hardest of hardcore grinders has blown over 1000g on raid pots, he still has nothing to show and I still have my flask recipe. I'm on Dentarg, Horde side btw. You can officially hate me... now.
jon Mar 8th 2007 8:28AM
My main has been alchemist from day one. I took great pride in the fact that I could brew _any_ pot in game - some receipes I got lucky with, some required grinding.
When TBC hit, many herbalists I know agreed to help me in getting the new receipes to complete my collection once again. Herbs have been pouring to my mailbox ever since, I pot them to whatever's requested, and mail them back.
But roughly 600 _stacks_ of pots/elixirs/flasks later... not a single discovery.
GG Blizz. Way to frustrate a dedicated alchemist:(
Cascade Mar 8th 2007 8:32AM
Personally, I think the rates were changed after the first week or so. I saved a ton of mats to skill up and get thru alchemy. In the first 10 days I had 3 discoveries !! Since then, months later and with wayyy more pot and flask crafting, not one. I've heard rumors that once a mastery is taken, the rates may be even lower or not working at all.?? If they were, the saying holds true...."exploit early and often".
C.A. Mar 8th 2007 9:20AM
You know what I would like...
A potion bag, much like your keyring. It would have maybe 4 to 8 slots and flasks would become reusable like trinkets. They would have to drastically raise in price to compensate alchemists for not making a ton for raiders, but I think that it would be something that the everyday casual would actually buy. It would also solve the problem of cost for repeated raiding and flasking.
Blizzard would have to balance the cooldowns and stuff like that but how nice would it be?
Karangos Mar 8th 2007 10:05AM
Agreed. I have made hundreds of potions in hope of learning a discovery. I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of recipes in TBC that are trainable and that drop. Other Proffs seem to have a few. I will keep trying to get a discovery and after the post I will no longer make stuff in hopes and just take them as they come...if ever.
Ragbar Mar 8th 2007 10:33AM
This "discovery" thing is a great idea, except why does it only apply to alchemy?
Blue said they didn't want alchemy to be a 'taxi cab' profession and allow some alchemists to be able to make things that few others could. Awesome! Great!
What about use Jewelcrafters/Enchanters/Tailors/Engineers/Blacksmiths?
Christian Holton Mar 8th 2007 12:41PM
@15
No joke. I know that, like pre-TBC, I knew I'd never get any Rag or BWL loot, and I accepted it.
I know that there is a very slim chance that I will be attending the uber-high end lvl 70 instances and raids, and therefore missing out on the badass gear.
Why, simply because I'd rather enjoy my time and have fun with my guild. If I DO end up going to The Black Temple or whatever, GREAT. If not, it's cool.
Allowing each profession a 'discovery' recipe or three would get me mining and blacksmithing again. Maybe with profession specialties, there could be one additional "discovered" recipe, or even manuals that are uber-rare world drops, like the armorsmithing manuals.
Halicante Mar 8th 2007 12:21PM
The discovery thing sucks. I'm main alchemist for my guild and have made probably 50 stacks a week for the past almost two months without discovering a single freakin' recipe. It makes me really irritated, especially when I see some casual spamming trade with a few flasks they can make. Ugh. I'd really prefer that they were rep rewards.
Chadwick Mar 8th 2007 12:33PM
I love the idea of discovery for Alchemists.
But I still think they should have another profession, I call it Scribe (or even Scholar), that can make scrolls.
Blizzard says they didnt want something that directly competes with Alchemy, but I beg to differ for one main reason.
Most guilds, especially raiding guilds, are hightly dependent on Alchemy to "keep ahead" of the content. You need flasks, protection potions, healy pots, mana pots, stat pots, etc.
Now you don't have to have potions, but it's my belief that some encounters are designed with them in mind.
I think it may be the only profession(and with it herbalism) that has such a dependency in the game overall.
Having a Scribe that can make even a third of what an Alchemist can would help everyone IMO.
I have an Alchemist and love it, but the dependency on it needs to be looked at.
Town Portal Scrolls anyone?
Robert Mar 8th 2007 9:08PM
Discovery system: brilliant concept, terrible execution. The discovered recipes should never, ever, ever be the best in the game. They should be useful variations on commonly available potions. As it stands right now Alchemy has become a lottery profession: make pots til you get an end-game flask recipe, and you're set for gold for life. Retarded.
dlanni Mar 9th 2007 9:01AM
My GF discovered the Flask of Relentless Assault. She was 66 at the time and a 350'ish alchemist. Like me, she's a casual player and not in a raiding guild and as far as we can tell she's the only person on our server who can make them.
The system may be a little too rare, but that's what makes it special. I would love it if they had something like this for tailoring/enchanting. Bonus systems like this are kind of like easter eggs. They make the game interesting. It's equivalent to getting an epic drop while killing things, you can't grind for it, but it may happen one day!