More Mad Alchemist's Potion buffs and testing
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 6th 2007 at 2:59PM
Jagoex sent a followup on the speculation around the Mad Alchemist's Potion that us Alchemists are getting in the next patch. We've already seen a few buffs come in, but Jagoex found a few more: Adept's Elixir, Earthen Elixir, and Elixir of Mastery and Major Fortitude all popped up from the potion proccing. It's pretty wild how random these buffs will get, and unfortunately, that makes them fairly useless-- there's no way a strength buff would help casters. However, as cheap as these are (we're told that it only takes a few Ragveil to make them-- AH speculators take heed), it might be worth it to make a bunch, and then just keep canceling buffs and drinking until the right buff is achieved.The good news is that the buff isn't completely random-- in his testing Jagoex found that most of the time, the potion put a complementing buff on the player. That is, if the player has a Guardian Elixir buff, the potion would apply a Battle Elixir buff, and vice versa. He's only tried it a few times, so more testing is probably necessary, but there are indicators that the MAP's buff is not completely random.
Good news for Alchemists. This is definitely looking like a fun potion, and as long as it stays cheap, it could be a really useful for players who regularly need elixir buffs.
Filed under: Herbalism, Alchemy, Patches, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scruffy Nov 6th 2007 3:24PM
So... anyone know if this potion shares the same cooldown with all the other potions?
That doesn't sound too hot especially if you can guarantee what buffs or mana/health you get.
xarnx Nov 6th 2007 3:52PM
I was using these the other day when fighting the bear boss in ZA - basically just popping them instead of my usual mana pots.
I got no buffs, and I used a total of 7.
They share the same cooldown with other potions, but if you're using them to restore your mana (especially with an alchemist's stone) then it doesn't matter too much - you're using them just as you would a mana pot.
Basically the way I see it is that they're giving alchemists the chance to get way cheaper mana pots, and then occasionally on the side giving them a buff with it, I guess I can't see myself plowing through a full stack searching for a buff, especially if the proc rate on the buffs is that low.
Urthal Nov 6th 2007 4:01PM
As a potion, it should be on the same 2m cooldown as other potions. People don't seem to realize this potion restores both slightly more health than a Super Healing Potion and slightly less mana than a Super Healing Potion, with a bonus chance to give you a random buff.
The real kicker here is the fact that it's dirt cheap to make. Ragveil has very limited uses, making it extremely cheap (25 silver a piece, according to Wowhead), and a Crystal Vial (5s each), not an imbued vial (40s each). For 55 silver you get a potion that's almost as good as a Super Mana Potion (3.5 to 5 gold each) in terms of mana restoration, with the additional benefit of also restoring health and giving you a random buff.
If you desperatley NEED those 250 more mana, you can always drink a Super Mana Potion instead.
gaboury Nov 10th 2007 5:15PM
The main thing that gimps these pots is that the buffs don't stack with other battle/guardian elixirs. So if you are flasked in a raid you won't see any random procs, since you already have both possible elixir buffs. Blizz stated in a blue post that the buffs wouldn't overwrite your current elixirs, but what they failed to mention is that they also won't stack with them, making them nothing more than cheap mana/health pots. Nice for some (mana users), not so nice for others (warlocks, rogues, feral druids, etc.)
Acceptable Risk Nov 6th 2007 5:37PM
Yeah, people seem to be flipping out over the random buffs but for some reason keep ignoring the fact that it's a ridiculously cheap rejuvenation potion. Presuming they work with the Alchemist's Stone (and it would seem down right criminal if they didn't) if gives Alchemists a good reason to quaff potions whenever needed instead of hoarding them all of the time.
As a warlock, these are effectively twice as good as Super Mana Potions/Super Healing Potions when it comes to keeping my spells going and they're a tenth of the price. What's not to love?
jefeweiss Nov 6th 2007 6:04PM
When I heard the name I kind of hoped that the Mad Alchemist's Potion would be a version of a Deviate Delight. I hoped that the buffs would be not particularly useful, but maybe some unique fun thing.
Adam Nov 6th 2007 6:45PM
As an alchemist and a raid healer who is already flasked or elixired up for 95% of the time raiding I could care less about these special buffs. It'd be nice if they stacked with flasks or elixirs but if they don't it's no big deal.
I'm mainly excited about these because they're super cheap rejuv pots. Right now I have almost a full imbued netherweave bag full of mana pots with some super rejuvs thrown in but after the patch I'll probably fill that pot bag with mostly these pots and maybe 3 or 4 stacks of super mana pots for those desperate times when I really need to try to get back as much mana as possible.
I've also been hoarding ragveil ever since I found out about this pot. Have two netherweave bags full of ragveil ready and waiting...and with being potion specced I'm gonna have a lot of these pots.