Epic gems are 15 Badges after all
by Eliah Hecht 
Apr 28th 2008 at 11:00AM
Remember a few weeks ago when it was discovered that the Armory was listing the new Badge of Justice-reward epic gems at 10 badges each? Yeah, turns out that was just an Armory bug (which we knew was a possibility). They're 15 Badges after all, as they were on the PTR. The way we know this now is that Proudmoore-US, first in all things Shattered Sun, has done Discovering Your Roots enough times to unlock Shaani, the vendor who sells you the gems. Thanks, Proudmoore! Grinding for knowledge. And everyone else, get on that quest. It's a fun one -- everyone gets a pet so they can pretend they're a hunter for a little while -- and you'll help your server along.Assuming the epic gems sell for around 500 gold, which seems reasonable given the order-of-magnitude increase in price between uncommon and rare gems, this yields a 33 gold per Badge conversion rate (if you buy gems with your Badges and sell the gems; they're not bind-on-pickup). That's right on target in terms of gold per hour. I figure it takes about 20 minutes on average to earn a Badge, which means 100 gold per hour -- pretty much the same rate I make through dailies or grinding. And given that any activity that earns you Badges (i.e. raiding or heroics) gives you a chance at gear as well, it looks like the PvE endgame is fairly rewarding right now.
Filed under: Patches, News items, Economy, Jewelcrafting, NPCs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ShafeNutS Apr 28th 2008 11:05AM
As a jewelcrafter who is stuck in early 25s and seems to have badges coming out my ears now a day this is quite good news.
Valkry Apr 28th 2008 11:14AM
Don't mean to sound negative, but why would anyone waste 500g on new gems that are minor upgrades and very easily obtainable?
Ikarus Apr 28th 2008 1:55PM
I kinda feel that way about the difference between green and blue gems. granted, i buy the blue ones when i can, but honestly, the green spell damage gems are + 7 and sell for about 4-5g on my server. The blue ones are + 9 and usually go for about 60-70g. 65g for 2 more spell dmg?
ErsatzPotato Apr 29th 2008 9:25AM
"65g for 2 more spell dmg"
Absolutely. Obviously you don't waste the money on junk gear, but putting in all blues adds up. Think of it this way: blue in stead of green quality in all your sockets = as big an upgrade as turning one of your gear items into an epic.
All those +2s really add up.
Heilig Apr 28th 2008 11:19AM
Epic gems will be half that price if not less. Look what happened to the nether vortex. Goes for 200-300, depending on server, for the same number of badges.
Replex Apr 28th 2008 11:20AM
Honestly, gems won't be 500g each once the gem vendor is opened. Don't get me wrong, I would love to continue to sell Spinels for 800g each on my server, however once all of the gems hit the market things will drop fast.
Arch Apr 28th 2008 11:28AM
I never understood that.
50g for a solid star of Elune. (+12 to stamina).
500g for a Solid Empyrean Sapphire (+15 stamina).
450g for 3 stamina? I don't care how rich a person you are, it just doesn't make sense to me at least.
Callandra Apr 28th 2008 11:32AM
Spread over all your items, assuming 10 slots, thats 300 life plus any multiplying factors (talents, blessing of kinds etc etc).
If you're in a high-end raid guild where everyone min/max's it will come out to hundreds of attack power, spell damage, more crits, less misses, less damage taken, someone being easiar to heal etc. etc. As a raid this means less wipes, faster DPS, less healing needed etc.
Small scale it doesn't seem like much, big picture it makes a HUGE difference.
Zarzuur Apr 28th 2008 11:57AM
The top-end items have a premium price, like the jump from flying 800g to epic flying 5000g .. and also, the supply-and-demand of the realm economy will increase the price of less available items.
Dean Apr 28th 2008 11:46AM
But if you're in a high-end raiding guild, they'll be dropping for you anyway.
Brian Apr 28th 2008 11:59AM
As a JC with not a chance on god's green earth of getting an Epic drop due to the level of my guild this is GREAT NEWS. I can build some trinkets Ive been wanting badly. Yea Yea I know it almost feels like cheating but things like this will help us progress faster
Richard Apr 28th 2008 12:09PM
I agree this is a fun quest, it really isn't that hard but I do notice a lot of the ravagers are bugged and evade, forcing me to farm more glands.
As a bonus, it takes me near hellfire where I don't normally go and farm ravager meat instead of paying for them on the AH.
seankreynolds Apr 28th 2008 1:16PM
Apparently if you dismiss your pet at the end of the quest, it bugs and stands there (which is why they're huddled near the dirt piles). Better to mount up and ride/fly away so the ravager despawns normally. Or send it off to fight something and let it die.
When preparing to use the gland, tap the mob with a spell or attack. If it doesn't evade, it's safe to use the gland (you can use it in combat). If you're a hunter, using Hunter's Mark is an easy way to see if the mob is bugged.
Hugh "Nomad" Hancock Apr 28th 2008 12:11PM
20 minutes a badge? Maybe if you're farming KZ, but doing Heroics it's more like 1 badge/45 mins to an hour, even assuming a competent group.
Tiforix Apr 28th 2008 1:43PM
If you're farming Karazhan it's quite a lot *less* than 20 minutes per badge. Karazhan has 22 badges total in it, and it can be cleared in under 3 hours by any guild that's part-way into SSC.
As for the actual "Discovering Your Roots" quest, I didn't find it very fun at all. High competition for spawns and a *lot* of evading mobs made it more frustrating than fun. Happily, I was already exalted before that quest even unlocked. :P
Braille8011 Apr 28th 2008 1:46PM
@ Hancock:
Off the top of my head...
Heroic Botanica = 45-60 min and 5-7 badges, depending on the heroic daily
Heroic Shattered Halls = 45-60 min and 5-7 badges, depending on the heroic daily
Heroic Underbog = 45-60 min and 4-6 badges, depending on the heroic daily
With a competent group, badge farming from heroics is not hard at all.
SaintStryfe Apr 28th 2008 2:14PM
I'm told the Epic Gem Patterns from Hyjal are also sold once the gem vendor is unlocked. Can anyone on proudmoore give the price for the patterns? Badges or Gold?
Kadaan Apr 28th 2008 3:13PM
Look at the screenshot maybe?
Eliah Hecht Apr 28th 2008 4:11PM
They all seem to be 42.5g, according to the screenshots on MMO-Champion.
Waggerz Apr 28th 2008 7:51PM
Sorry I replied to the thread and not the post so this will be posted further down as well
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Yes the BT/MH plans JC designs are all available from shaani. The price in the pic is the same price my JC has them for but she is not exalted with SSO only revered (I've been slack). I'm not sure if exalted will drop the price a little more but it probably does. Maybe 40gold per design.
There are 38 (!) JC designs available (32 plus 6 more at exalted) which means over all you are looking at:
38x40 = 1520 gold for all the JC designs. give or take how wrong I am on the prices at exalted.
Thats a fair investment for those of us that like to have the whole set.