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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsEpic gems and profession changes in Patch 3.2
by Eliah Hecht 
Jun 16th 2009 at 11:40PM
With all the things I'm waiting to hear about in patch 3.2, completely unforeseen news takes me by surprise. Bornakk just revealed that epic gems are coming in that patch, as well as some changes to other professions.
Jewelcrafters will be able to buy epic gem cut patterns with their Dalaran Jewelcrafter's Tokens. Raw epic gems will be available from prospecting Titanium Ore and alchemy transmutations, and will also be buyable with both honor and Emblems of Heroism.
Given that the availability of epic gems raises the value of the Blacksmithing perk (extra sockets), other professions are having their perks buffed. Details after the cut.
- Alchemy:
- Benefits from Mixology for Northrend flasks/elixirs increased.
- A new flask usable only by alchemists, Flask of the North, which increases your Spell Power, AP, or Strength for 1 hour, and can be used in arenas.
- Endless Healing Potion and Endless Mana Potion no longer usable in arenas. Amount of health and mana has been increased, and the cooldown reduced. They are still usable everywhere else.
- Enchanting: Ring enchants buffed.
- Engineering: Hyperspeed Accelerators, Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket, and Reticulated Armor Webbing buffed.
- Herbalism: Maximum rank of Lifeblood increased in healing, and Lifeblood now scales slightly from maximum health and is no longer affected by the GCD.
- Inscription: Shoulder enchants buffed.
- Jewelcrafting: Dragon's Eye gems buffed.
- Leatherworking: Fur Linings buffed.
- Mining: Maximum rank of Toughness buffed.
- Skinning: Maximum rank of Master of Anatomy buffed.
- Tailoring: Embroideries improved.
I'm most curious about that last one, since (in my opinion) Tailoring has some of the most lackluster perks right now. We'll see.
Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!
Filed under: Herbalism, Mining, Skinning, Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring, Enchanting, Patches, News items, Jewelcrafting, Inscription
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
Worcester Jun 17th 2009 1:03PM
I agree with Pop. You don't become an Engineer to get the best of the best enhancements, you do it for the overall benefit. While leveling, Engineering gave my Rogue some abilities from nearly every other class. They didn't always work, but it was great when they did. Plus, it's fun.
Also, some people do get benefits from Engineering. Especially if you use macros to tie abilities together. For example, I don't use the standard Slice and Dice button. Instead, I have my Hyperspeed Accelerators tied to SnD. That way, when the gloves are ready, they get activated when I cast SnD. I used to do the same with the Lightning Generator. It's all about using the abilities you have.
Kay Jun 17th 2009 4:02PM
@Popesicle
I'd be inclined to agree with you if the fun gadget love hadn't completely disappeared in Wrath. As a gnomish engineer, I have the following "new" to wrath in the fun gadget category.
1. A motorcycle that anyone, engineer or not, can own. It also requires 12,000g in non-negotiable vendor mats in addition to the farmable mats, placing it squarely in the "I have time to farm massive amounts of gold." category.
2. A belt tinker that stuns a few trash mobs in 1 or 2 encounters. Don't even try to bring up the other tinkers such as parachutes. They existed before, and blizzard pulled the incredibly stupid move of requiring that they take up the permanent enchant slot instead of giving them their own "slot".
3. Gnomish X-Ray specs....not anywhere near as fun as they may or may not sound.
4. As of the last patch, the flashlight. An incredibly inferior trinket statwise that creates a beam of light identical to many other items in the game available to anyone.
And that's it. What has a lot of engineers bitter is that BC and Wrath did indeed, have fun new flavor gadgets.
...in the collectible card game.
Robot Chicken, Rocket Mount (Which just screams goblin engineer version of the engineer flying mount), weather machine, disco machine, party grenades...etc, etc. All of them scream "these should be engineering items". And way better than the scraps that have scarcely been thrown engineers way.
Engineering wrath = crap on gadgets, -and- crap on buffs. So we've gotten a profession that now does for us almost nothing. My flying mount from BC is the one and only reason I haven't dumped it.
As for "why must all professions be equal"?
Because life isn't fair, and that's why we play games. ^_^
In all seriousness, the reason is the limited profession slots. If we were allowed to learn as many professions as we cared to spend the time and gold on, it'd be a different story. If picking up a new profession were a cheap or simple matter, again, it'd be a different story. But for a lot of us, this is something we've spent a great deal of time and money on, and "rerolling" our profs would both require more significant money and time, but...
and this is an important bit...
Also require us to lose everything we attained before. Like my previously mentioned engi mount. It requires high level engineering to -use-. That means if I leave engi behind, i can never use it again unless I once again pick up and level engineering.
In the end, blizzard must face this expectation because they created it themselves with the release of Wrath when they gave nearly all of the professions a comparable and significant self-buff and then left engineering out of that. In terms of player dissatisfaction with the state of engi and its lack of said buffs, they have noone to blame but themselves.
Popesicle Jun 17th 2009 5:27PM
I do agree with you to an extent. I feel like the profession has so much more potential but I am still (probably overly) optimistic about what they will do with it.
I certainly would love to have more gadgets and better toys that are level appropriate like we used to have too. I just think that if my goal was to increase my DPS, or my stamina or whatever stat I needed, through my profession-only skills, I wouldn't have chosen Engineering to begin with. I have it on my PvP toon which is a mage, so the Noise Machine, the Hand Rocket, Nitro Boosts and the GLG have been very useful to me. I just recently hit 80 though, so it will surely all be replaced by better trinkets and enchants...but its still fun to use. And having that extra instant-cast spell at my disposal has saved me more than once so far.
And the mounts are still some of the best in the game, even if one happens to be BoE. I have only crafted one Mechano-Hog so far, and that wasn't even for my engineer, it was for my achievement whore of a main. :)
Creese5704 Jun 16th 2009 11:55PM
EPIC!!!!!!!
Sothe Jun 17th 2009 12:02AM
Oh I am SO excited now!
Avan Jun 17th 2009 12:04AM
Betcha they're "adding" the epic gems that don't have a source yet. Just take a look at Wowhead for "dreadstone".
V Magius Jun 17th 2009 9:57AM
Interesting thought and very plausible. Maybe Alchemists will finally get that Eternal Might listed on Wowhead we've all been waiting for. They may wait on that one until Icecrown though.
Sleutel Jun 17th 2009 12:07AM
About time Alchemy got some useful raiding buffs.
Faar Jun 17th 2009 8:13AM
They could update the friggin' alchemist's stone too while they're at it. The blue one we get now in northrend gives less spellpower than the epic from sunwell isle. It's about friggin' time we get an epic best-in-slot trinket just like when sunwell launched.
Sleutel Jun 17th 2009 8:39AM
@Faar: Oh hell yes, agreed. I'm sick of being forced to equip a blue trinket if I want one of the best benefits of my profession. (How about putting the pot benefit onto Mixology, instead?)
Spazmoose Jun 17th 2009 11:56AM
I recall reading somewhere that Blizz was trying to do away with BiS craftables (while still allowing some items to be close to BiS).
Sleutel Jun 20th 2009 12:25PM
Spazmoose, if they were, they'd also have to stop letting Enchanters chant their rings, Blacksmiths add extra gem slots, etc. I just want my profession's endgame benefits to be brought into line with other people's instead of being punished for taking a profession that I can use to help make important buffs for my raid.
Myf Jun 17th 2009 12:11AM
They're not gonna buff my engineering flashlight =(
Wolftech Jun 17th 2009 1:23AM
Sadly, the flashlight will be nerfed. Due to the current environmental regulations, your flashlight will now have a crank handle to power it. Also, the Chopper/Mechano-hog is now required to be a hybrid and as such is nerfed to 40% speed.
my2cents Jun 17th 2009 2:13AM
It's necessary to ensure that Icecrown doesn't melt before the Arthas raid is released. It would feel awkward to fight Arthas while he's dressed in cutoff shorts and a tanktop to fight the heat.
Ophelos Jun 17th 2009 12:13AM
Damm i'm loving all the buffs, but now i'm kicking myself in the butt over the titanium ores.. i got 120+ titanium bars.. but now i'm wishing they were all ores again.
Mullen Jun 17th 2009 3:30PM
Keep those bars around. Bars are made from Ore and with more demand for Ore which equals less Ore for Bars which means higher prices for Bars.
I did the same thing, picking up 500G in Titanium Ore and planned to flip it for 700G in Titanium Bars, but I will hold on to those and wait for the Titanium Ore and bars to dry up and watch the price go up. My guess is that in a few weeks, I'll pull 1K for all my Titanium Ore.
Old Man Franks Jun 17th 2009 7:16AM
Um....the lightweave embroidery at least is pretty much far and away the best spellcaster profession buff out there on it's own.
BS/JC might have it beat now (even then I'd debate this) but once the dragons eye nerf hits it certainly won't
RetPallyJil Jun 17th 2009 12:32AM
Note there are no smithing additions. Fark you, Blizzard.
Grumpy Priest Jun 17th 2009 12:36AM
Methinks you missed this little bit:
"Given that the availability of epic gems raises the value of the Blacksmithing perk (extra sockets), other professions are having their perks buffed. Details after the cut."
See?