New BOP jewelcrafting gems in 2.2
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Jul 16th 2007 at 1:40PM
More and more, people are choosing their professions for the top-level Bind on Pickup items. Blacksmiths have their awesome weapons, tailors have their superior spell damage sets, leatherworkers get admittedly mediocre leather sets, engineers can make neat helmets, and enchanters can enchant their own rings. You don't hear too much about the alchemy and jewelcrafting BOPs, though, because they're fair to middling. Alchemists can make the Alchemist's Stone, which is situational for most classes who aren't druids or shamans, and jewelcrafters have a selection of interesting trinkets.
World of Raids has discovered that the 2.2 patch seems to have introduced special BOP gems for jewelcrafters that essentially enable them to make extremely powerful epic gems from regular blue jewels. However, the gems are unique-equipped, so you can only socket one in your gear at any one time. For example, the 18 stamina Falling Star, which requires revered reputation with the Consortium and can be made from the blue gem Star of Elune, actually outstrips the Black Temple gem Solid Empyream Sapphire, which is 15 stamina.
Predictably, this has caused complaining from non-jewelcrafters, many of whom believe the profession is already too profitable and doesn't deserve the extra BOP stuff. But considering that you can only have one of each gem socketed and you can't sell these gems, the overall BOP benefit from being a jewelcrafter is relatively minor -- certainly more minor than that Deep Thunder you're swinging around.
What do you think about this change?
Filed under: Patches, Jewelcrafting
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tinwhisker Jul 16th 2007 1:53PM
I won't begrudge JC'ers getting a new BoP.
But the Alchemist's Stone is easily the weakest of the weak except for a few admittedly special circumstances involving a few classes.
So Blizz made Alchemy less of a chore with the recent changes, but "it's not as hard or time-consuming as it used to be" is NOT a buff and doesn't even come close to giving us a nifty BoP that we can use.
Sure the engineering helmets are only so great and still don't stack up to BS or tailoring BoPs but you can make one that benefits your class specifically. The Alchemist's Stone is nowhere near as good as that.
Nathan Jul 16th 2007 1:58PM
if World of Warcraft was youth soccer, jewelcrafting is the coach's son. He might be bloated, overweight, lazy and slightly useless, but no matter how hard you try, he'll always be a striker and you'll be stuck playing switching off as goalkeeper with some dweeby kid with bad depth perception.
I'm an angry enchanter.
Erica Olson Jul 16th 2007 2:18PM
About time they added something uber for JCs. Until you get to gem cutting, I've not found anything that's been really good that you can't find better as drops, quest rewards or in the AH. And even the cut gems aren't always very nice.
Huge monetary outlay to purchase all the gems you need to raise your skill level. Unless you happen to know (or are) a miner who's willing to help you out.
I've yet to make any money of being a JC. Too many of the few so-so items flood the AH for any to really sell well. And it's a joke as to how much the vendors will buy for. Hmmm, 25 silver for a cut gem. Wow, I'm raking in the dough and on my way to my epic flying mount.
I only took teh profession becuase we didn't have one and I'd hope'd I'd be a benefit when it came to socketing gems. I'd thought I'd at least have been able to come out even in the cash outlay and income from skilling up. 15g for one huge emerald and you need 2 per item for a skill point. Vendor will buy for 50s, not very cost effective.
At least now I have something decent to look forward to.
ryno106 Jul 16th 2007 2:38PM
They're unique-equipped, so it might give us JCers an extra 6 stamina and 2-3 spell damage, or comparable stats. It's not a huge boost, but more like a perk for those of us who have had to trudge to the top of the profession.
Yes, it's the most profitable, but things like this are necessary everytime someone scoffs at the 5g I charge for every cut. JC patterns cost 200-1000g, and it requires an obscene amount of wasted money to even make it to 300. Until we get gem cutting, all we have is a money sink. Even engineering gets some cool toys along the way.
I'm not complaining about the profession, I think it's great, and make tons of gold off of it. But it's taken lots of work and AH watching to do so, and apart from the Trinkets we get, there's really no other thing that us JCers get that set us apart. This gives us a small boost, and I'm really happy to see an avenue for growth with the profession besides running Black Temple.
amasen Jul 16th 2007 2:56PM
LOL, that's a pretty lame gimme to the jewel crafters if it's a Unique BoP gem. +6 stam... +5 spell damage... Those are useless. I think they need to be BoP.
They also need to fix alchemy so you can stack as many elixirs as you want outside of raid instances.
They need to give tailors something reusable (3sec nets don't count) once they've created all their amazing crafting gear.
They need to give blacksmiths a decent armor set... 1 brestplate, no sheild, no matching epic set just doesn't cut it...
Mad Cow Jul 17th 2007 9:06AM
@3
I made 5g last week cutting blue gems. Most I've made since blowing near 9k in gold to get to 375 (even though I'm a miner) and learn all most of the rare recipes (I still have a good 20 I'm missing including the really nice ones ... +12 stam, +16 AP, etc).
My engineer makes more money than my JC ... that's sad.
Trogre Jul 16th 2007 3:45PM
I'm a 375 Jewelcrafter on Suramar Horde side.. and I was one of the people who obtained all the materials to level myself straight to 375 as soon as TBC hit.
Along with Jewelcrafting, I'm a 375 minner. If you have any hopes or dreams of making money with Jewelcrafting, in my opinion you either need to already have money to work with to buy Ore from the AH to Prospect, and buy Designs, and re-sell the Rare gems you cut etc... Or be a minner to begin with.
I actually just took a straight week and a half, and mined my own Ore, Prospected it, cut the rare gems I obtained, and within a week or so I made about 3,000g. So with another week or so, I ultimately made the money for my Flying mount in just about two weeks, and had money to spare afterwards. Which to me felt really good, since in the past I've always been the poor Main Tank asking for repair money after an all nighter in BWL or Naxx.
With these recent Gem Designs I'm glad to see a bit more variety for the Jewelcrafters themselves. It is quite nice to have something to look forward to after spending countless amounts of gold on rediculously priced Designs.
I mainly wanted to state that those of you who have not made a cent off Jewelcrafting might want to double check your Secondary profession. But I'm sure there are those of you who have done just fine with a different profession other than minning.. it's just how you play the game, and how and why you spend your money that ultimately decides IF you end up making any money at all.
_Trogre_
BigFire Jul 16th 2007 3:54PM
As a 375 Jewelcrafter/Miner on Korgath who knows every single rare designs, I can attest to the fact that Jewelcrafting is an amazing money sink. Each and every single designs (except the reputation & Halaa) cost a fortune to buy on AH. I know I spend more on JC designs than my flying mount. Getting people to actually buy your service is annoying at best. Some people considered a privilege for me to cut their gem, and beneath contempt when I ask for my usual fee.
Sohanstag Jul 16th 2007 4:11PM
If you aren't making money off of jewelcrafting after 350 it ain't the profession's fault. I'm sure it varies from server to server but, at least on my server, prospecting is HUGE money. I've made enough to greatly expand my recipes, drop mining, and purchase all my regular consumables with zero farming and pretty minimal time in the AH. I can see it beginning to sink with more players discovering the joys of prospecting; but, even then, I'll expect the adamantite prices to fall in unison with gem prices eventually. For now...good money AND I got to pick up another profession that wasn't gathering (thank heaven).
And back on topic...
These recipes are nice and, if they only require a revered reputation which is very much an obtainable goal for casual players. Hooray for a profession that's working as intended and also makes useful stuff!
Sam Jul 16th 2007 6:06PM
any idea on where to get a fire ruby for the +12 agility gem?
Coherent Jul 16th 2007 5:57PM
I would hope that if they're BoP, they would be at least as useful as some of the BoP items that other tradeskills can make.
Wolfstalker Jul 16th 2007 6:19PM
People who complain about Jewelcrafting being "too profitable" are morons.
Just like any other crafting profession, the profitability is directly proportionate to how many people are doing it. The reason all the non-TBC professions suck is because sooo many people have them, and competition is high.
Jewelcrafters make more than any other crafting professions because there's less of them. It is self-balancing. The more people level up jewelcrafting the less profitable it will be.
This is also why Gathering professions are so profitable. Just about everyone takes at least one crafting profession, which makes all the crafting professions unprofitable, and gathering highly profitable. Not only do they bid each other up for mats,but they then go and undercut each other when selling.
It's called "Economics".
daniel Jul 17th 2007 2:50AM
Even though I love my Alchemist's Stone, it was god awful expensive to make and that's the only alchemy BoP item I know of, there should be more.
Shadowisp Jul 17th 2007 4:02AM
Jewelcrafting is a money sink, only people making money out of JC is the AH Gougers who are extorting high prices on each of the patterns... easily spent 11,000 gold for patterns and 5 thousand in training it from Day 1 of BC... and all we get is 5g a tip per cut, thats a lot of friggen gem cuts.
Prospecting is too much of a gamble and just selling the ore is easier and is about equal in profit. Primal nethers are not required by JC, so each Heroic run we have to wave goodbye to another Primal Nether.
Unlike the Tailor, LW & Blacksmith trade skills, there is no special epic BoP armors/weapons. So I like the JC Epic BoP Gems.
The JC Trinkets are nice, but they are too easily surpassed by upgrades so this is a nice touch.
I admit Alchemy needs a tonne of work since Blizz changed all the way pots worked, especially the philospohers stone trinket needs a bit of a boost (AP and +Spell would be great)... so its fair to them to complain.
Laurens Holst Jul 17th 2007 10:48AM
I wish they would do something for alchemists... I’m increasingly wondering if the profession is worth anything at all. Unless you want to spend tons of money, you have to combine the skill with herbalism, which means both of your profession slots are in use.
Compare that to my alt who is an enchanter/tailor and gets all kinds of cool stat bonuses from the tailoring BPOs and enchanting swag. Plus both the ‘gathering skills’ are free, as cloth drops for from mobs, and you get disenchanting automatically with the enchanting skill.
The only thing that alchemists can do is make elixirs for expensive mats that disappear when you die. And transmute a little, with 1-day cooldowns, so that’s no goldmine either. And that Alchemist’s Stone is absolutely worthless.
Laurens Holst Jul 17th 2007 10:48AM
^^ QQ ;p
Val Jul 20th 2007 3:24PM
As a jewelcrafter on my main I feel it does not need to be buffed, LW and alchemy need buffs, and blacksmithing need a a nerf, when most classes complain about their profession its because their comparing it to the clearly overpowered deep thunder (when 90% of warriors you see are using a weapon they made, and the other 10% arent even blacksmiths, you know the profession is imba).
Elfhorn Sep 18th 2007 10:00AM
THERE'S A CONSPIRACY GOING ON! Blizz has been deleting all posts on the Test Forum regarding the BoP gems in PTR. Just try asking a question and see if your post lasts longer than 15 minutes.
Sounds like these gems are NOT going to happen.