Inscription to allow enchanters to sell on the AH
by Eliah Hecht 
Jul 20th 2008 at 2:00PM
Blizzard has been saying for a while that they're working on letting Enchanters ply their trade via the Auction House. When the Wrath beta launched, we didn't immediately see any way that this feature has been implemented. However, Elisalia, a beta-tester, wrote in to let us know that she'd figured it out. The link between Enchanters and the AH is going to be Inscription, and it looks like it will work as follows:- Inscriptors can create blank parchments, such as the Bleached Parchment seen in the picture. Each type of parchment works for one type of item to enchant -- armor, weapon, etc.
- Enchanters can cast enchantments on those parchments, to create, for instance, that Scroll of Enchant Cloak - Greater Defense. These scrolls can be listed on the AH, mailed, or traded like any other unbound item.
- The scrolls can be right-clicked by anyone to apply the enchantment to their own items.
Filed under: Enchanting, Wrath of the Lich King, Inscription
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
schwonga Jul 20th 2008 2:12PM
It could work out i suppose. Like you said the price is what could kill it, and then of course how easy they are to make and the subsequent supply and demand.
If the price is right this could replace the spam on trade from enchant offerings to just the usual LFG and gold sellers, which is always fun to read right?
If the price is not so right, then this will probably be reserved for people looking for enchants who can't meet with the enchanter in person for one reason or another or the more common enchants everyone likes that you know will sell on AH and ppl dont mind the price inc so much.
Matthew Rossi Jul 20th 2008 2:20PM
Enchanters will be able to enchant their alts more easily now as well.
Jason Jul 21st 2008 2:20AM
If Blizz is smart, they need to cut-out the middle-man...enchanters have needed this forever. I for one am tired of sitting in cities spamming to either get enchants or enchant other people. Making these available without the inscriptors (via vendors) will make the AH enchants more desirable for enchanters (rather than having to go through inscribers), make it so more enchants are available on AH, and make the cost of AH enchants less because of inflated parchment costs.
Matazuma Jul 20th 2008 2:13PM
Wow this will be awesome!
No more enchanters spamming trade channel :O
schwonga Jul 20th 2008 2:14PM
It could work out i suppose. Like you said the price is what could kill it, and then of course how easy they are to make and the subsequent supply and demand.
If the price is right this could replace the spam on trade from enchant offerings to just the usual LFG and gold sellers, which is always fun to read right?
If the price is not so right, then this will probably be reserved for people looking for enchants who can't meet with the enchanter in person for one reason or another or the more common enchants everyone likes that you know will sell on AH and ppl dont mind the price inc so much.
Clevins Jul 20th 2008 2:51PM
Meh... why should I need something that I can only get from someone who knows inscription? Yes, there are a few things like this now (the unruned rods made by BS so I can make the Runed.... enchanting rods) but those are one time things. Now I need to 1) wait for people to take Inscription, 2) level it so that they can make Bleached Parchment, 3) gather the reagents and make it, 4) sell it (unless it's a guildie or a friend). sigh...
As a system I'll mostly use it to enchant alts and friends who aren't on. "Send me the mats, I'll send back a scroll... " that kind of thing. But I'm not going to grab hundreds of gold worth of mats and make a Boar's Speed scroll or something on the off chnace that it will sell. That's the biggest weakness of the selling enchants as items concept... it requires me to get the mats vs telling the person who wants the enchant to do that.
But hey, another way to enchant stuff is good... it's not like I *CAN'T* do it the current way.
Kuroyume Jul 20th 2008 2:20PM
i would've preferred not to depend on another professon, but i guess it will work...
feels like blizzard is gonna go to great lengths to push the new content on players...
Reinard Jul 20th 2008 2:49PM
Yes. How dare they put all that work into making new things for us, and expect us to actually experience them!
Bastards!
Nogun Jul 20th 2008 5:07PM
Inscription probably can't survive on buff scrolls and spell enchants alone.
Kevin Jul 20th 2008 2:21PM
The problem with enchants is that they are just to expensive. People don't meet enchanters face to face just for the enchant, they meet face to face to give them the mats to make the enchant. Then they tip 2g and off they go.
Things won't change. People are going to farm the mats themselves and then spam Trade with "LF Enchanter have mats."
schwonga Jul 20th 2008 2:40PM
Saying things wont change at all is just plain silly. I mean, so long as the scrolls cost a max of a gold or two, I can definitely see less and less ppl paying for individual mats and just buying the scroll for the bulk price of all the mats, maybe even a bit cheaper (depending on the situation of course.)
I mean really you wont save much gold if you aren't an enchanter yourself, finding greens to DE from the SSO dailys and whatnot.
"What about all those Primals you need for high end enchants?" Its not to hard to imagine people farming primals to sell on the AH to pay for the scrolls indirectly instead of to contribute the enchant. In fact, who do you think will be buying most of those Primals? The enchanters making the scrolls!
This system could work, lets see how the details flesh out.
Khanmora Jul 20th 2008 3:33PM
If the chanters get skill points for enchanting scrolls you can bet some of those with the easiest mat requirements will be available by AH all the time. Most people I think have a friend or guildmate they go to for really mat intensive chants now anyhow. The most rare enchants like Surefooted should be the only ones you would see in trade chat I would think.
Clevins Jul 20th 2008 4:38PM
@schwonga... I think what Kevin is saying is that the system now means that the person who wants the enchant has to gather the mats. I then do the enchant...
In the new system I can take a risk and gather the mats myself... create a scroll... and sell it for some markup on the AH (so that it's worth the time and risk that it won't sell).
But if people can still do the first option why would they pay MORE for the scroll? Sure a bit more for convenience... but significantly more? Probably not. So enchant scrolls will trend to the price of the mats (perhaps less as many other crafted items do).
kabshiel Jul 20th 2008 5:35PM
People will pay more for the convenience. This also expands your customer base to a) people who are online at a different time, and b) people who are really into the solo experience and would rather not interact with other players. I think there are a surprisingly large number of people in that second group.
ZekeGrimsblade Jul 21st 2008 12:05AM
Personally, finding someone to enchant for me is a daunting experience. Only when my equipment is more permanent will I go to all that trouble. I'm much happier at the Auction House.
Finnicks Jul 22nd 2008 5:55AM
Don't forget that this will make it supremely easy to get enchants from guildees and friends, or to arrange for enchants on the forums.
Find the chanter you need, mail them the materials, they create the scroll and mail it back. Guilds will also be able to stock their guild banks with scrolls of high-need raid enchants to get new recruits off the ground quickly.
This is a HUGE change.
Luskeren Jul 20th 2008 2:26PM
Thay shuldt make enchantes mats Bop
twizt3dkitty Jul 20th 2008 2:31PM
no... they deff should not, this is a horrible idea because then lvl70 enchanters would need to farm greens for all levels to stock mats. example... fiery weapon... 4 small rad shards and an essence of fire, those shards are a pain in the balls... i dont want to go making the dreamweave gloves everytime someone asks for that enchant just to de them. If the mats were bop, it would offset the value of materials needed to make the items to de. Catch 22. Nice thought, just not sensable.
Ben Darlow Jul 22nd 2008 3:57AM
Actually this is a great idea. If some (but not all) of the materials for enchanting were bind on pickup then Enchanters would have actual value. As an earlier poster wrote (and I do this myself too) most people simply gather the materials themselves and then look for an enchanter. Why? Because the markup that Enchanters charge is simply so high, and there is an easy alternative (providing the materials + tip).
If there is no alternative to this (i.e. the Enchanter isn't just acting as a conduit for turning the customer's materials into an enchant) then the Enchanter's involvement is rewarded.
This has been a grievance of mine with all crafting tradeskills for a long time; there's simply too little opportunity to make money from them, as very few in-demand recipes have low supply, and most recipes produce undesirable items. Making Primal Nether and Nether Vortex non-BoP might have opened up a whole slew of new possibilities for more casual players, but it also removed the guarantee to make a profit from some crafting tradeskills.
I'd like to see every tradeskill utilise BoP materials that only that profession can gather/create (or perhaps, only the linked profession; e.g. Mining -> Blacksmithing), of varying levels of rarity, such that all crafting recipes have some integral value: your playing time.
dAnixx Jul 20th 2008 2:26PM
Yay no more enchanters spamming the trade chat with their addons telling us 30 enchants they can craft-with your mats