Cataclysm Press Event: Path of Titans scrapped, Inscription overhauled
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jun 13th 2010 at 6:30AM
To offset this, they've chosen instead to work on an overhaul of the glyph system, as they noted they didn't quite get it to where they wanted with Wrath. Here are the basics:
- There will be a new tier of glyphs, currently called "Medium" glyphs, that will provide "fun alterations" to abilities. Major and minor glyphs will act much as they currently do. You'll have 3 of each glyph type at level 85.
- You will no longer have to re-buy glyphs when you respec or rearrange them. Rather, you will will learn each glyph like a skill and be able to swap them at will from a list.
- This list will show all glyphs available to your class, but will only allow you to use the ones you've purchased.
There's definitely a lot of interesting speculation to be done here. What "fun alterations" can we expect? Will warlocks finally get their green fire? Will death knights be able to turn their ghoul into a geist? It's not exactly a replacement to the genuine character advancement and improvements we would have expected in Path of the Titans, but it means a bit less min-maxing and analysis when deciding how to build your characters, and perhaps a little more fun for those of us who like visually oriented character customization.
The other issue, of course, is for the Inscription profession. With glyphs becoming one-time learned "abilities," scribes may find their profits down in the dumps as even people who respec often or swap glyphs on a per-fight basis can simply swap at will from their spell books. Still, we may also see a leap in the amount of required reagents for glyphs or some other change to help scribes justify a price leap on their wares, or Blizzard may have just decided that Inscription was just getting a bit too lucrative.
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
Aceman67 Jun 13th 2010 6:37AM
Bad news for scribes, good news for everyone who isn't.
Scribes will make a lot of money once Cat hits, and there's going to be a lot of people who are going to buy every glyph for their class and then never buy another glyph again until blizz decides to add something).
I for one wouldn't mind changing my ghoul into a giest...
Cyanea Jun 13th 2010 11:01AM
I do relish the thought of never having to buy another glyph when the game patches and alters my rotation yet again, but I thought Path of the Titans was supposed to be of useful, but not class-defined stuff, not just "fun or cosmetic glyphs". I was kind of looking forward to improved First Aid or better results from pots.
Hypocriticalhit Jun 13th 2010 12:47PM
I would like an Abomination to summon as a DK. Maybe a new unholy talent?
Friday_Knight Jun 13th 2010 2:20PM
One of my main 80s is a completely mastered Scribe. I make a decent amount of gold from selling glyphs in the AH, but often make better money selling over Trade chat. The fact that I've observed is that, with the proliferation of alts these days, the majority of players don't swap glyphs out very much. I've gotten more than a few players who buy a bulk load of glyphs to outfit their characters and stick to that with few variations. I find in general that only hardcore progression raiders regularly swap glyphs out with any frequency.
I don't think this change will have that big of an impact. Like another poster said, Scribes will see a huge boom at the beginning of Cataclysm and it will level off after a month or two. The important thing is that this is a great improvement to the way glyphs work. It should give the system the versatility it needs.
kabshiel Jun 13th 2010 2:35PM
Sounds like scribes will basically be in the same boat as almost every other profession: spend a lot of time and money to max it and then make almost no money off it.
Naphomci Jun 13th 2010 2:47PM
@Friday_Knight: There is a lot of people who switch glyphs very regularly. I usually sell a few hundred glyphs a week, and there are some glyphs that just sell in larger quantities because they are often switched. This basically kills the vast majority of the profit potential of Inscription
KrazyCalvin Jun 13th 2010 4:24PM
Yea, this is actually a great piece of news here. This is just spelling out the end of an era of cheap glyphs. Get ready for the day that glyphs are going to be 100 or 200 gold a piece because of the fact you only have to buy them once.
supracom Jun 13th 2010 5:05PM
@Friday_Knight
Yer doin it wrong.
raspybunk Jun 14th 2010 3:28PM
I think your profits will be fine. Especially if you sell in sets. If there are about 60 glyphs per class I'll be buying all 60 at 85. Shortly after i'll buy all 60 for my second 85, then for my third...
My newer toons will buy in a trickling manner, but instead of 1 every 10 levels or so, if that, however many become available every 5 levels. I'll want to try all the options and never be without anything.
My first warlock has bought about 19, my second 12 as I knew what I liked, my priest 8 for a smite swap, my druid 4.
I figure you'll see a huge influx at release, but the leveling 5 levels and buying 4 glyphs every time should be a gigantic market that continues forever. I'd shoot for selling complete sets minues what they have on at release, then kind of level sets for leveling after that, and/or spec sets depending how people buy. Either way the leveling glyphs should be a mad house with so many to buy so often rather than one every 10-15 levels.
My undead hunter will need stuff, my druid, etc.
Kaylin Jun 21st 2010 2:23PM
KrazyCalvin, unless they change the mats to be something more than dirt, I doubt glyphs will go that high, at least not regularly. Scribes are already marking up hundreds of % on glyphs today. I don't see that demand going down would increase the price when the same amount of people want to sell the things and the cost to enter the market remains trivial.
Zhiva Jun 13th 2010 6:38AM
# You will no longer have to re-buy glyphs when you respec or rearrange them. Rather, you will will learn each glyph like a skill and be able to swap them at will from a list. #
RIP, glyphs market.
Jack Spicer Jun 13th 2010 7:40AM
Guess what?! Just like the "path of the titans" the idea of permanent glyphs might get scrapped. Especially if there is no additional revenue channel offered to scribes.
Zhiva Jun 13th 2010 7:42AM
Yeah, I'm going to call next expansion "Scrappaclysm" from now.
Dogii Kruger Jun 13th 2010 9:34AM
There was a glyphs market? I'm generalizing a bit, but on my server at least, the most I ever sold a glyph for was 5 gold. That's the highest the market would allow. Inscription has been nothing but a huge money sink for me. If it wasn't for enchanting scrolls I would never have finished leveling it.
Jeaz Jun 13th 2010 10:12AM
@Dogii - At the highest point, I made about 2-2.5k gold each day selling glyphs. Then MMO and wow.com made guides on how to make profit from Glyphs and it went downwards from there :-)
So glyph market was definitely profitable at one time. I think one problem with it, and I think this is one reason behind the change, is that it's really impossible to sell it very well without addons and a lot of reposting.
Bionic Radd Jun 13th 2010 10:26AM
Armor and Weapon Vellums will never not be needed. I get about 15 gold per stack for the first tier of Armor Vellums on my server.
thebitterfig Jun 13th 2010 10:58AM
Just a note on glyph profitability: Glyphs are an interesting good in terms of profit. Despite having a low cost, they sell in fairly high volumes, and with reasonable per-unit profit margins.
They are incredibly easy to make, with a single stack of NR herbs (20 gold at most... probably lower) producing the ink for on average 6 glyphs, with some spare Icy Pigment. Selling at 5 gold each, with an additional 50s per glyph for parchment. That's 7g in profit per herb stack, presuming 5g glyphs and 20g herb stacks. However, a lot of glyphs sell for more, and a lot of herbs cost less. If you presume 10g glyphs (not at all uncommon on my server, depending on the glyph), and get herbs at 15g a stack, that's 42g profit per herb stack. Might not sound like much, but say you process... 10 herb stacks a day, 60 glyphs, and easily 400g in profit.
Schadenfreude Jun 13th 2010 1:40PM
It depends on your server-- the market is so slow on mine (low pop) that it's nearly impossible to sell anything before the glyph cabal swoops in and undercuts you. THEY'RE making money, but they have to sit at their computer all day to do it. No thanks, I'll stick with enchanting, mining, etc.
Hollow Leviathan Jun 13th 2010 1:53PM
Just like how you only buy bags for your characters once, you'll now only buy glyphs once. The bag market has survived, so will you.
Naphomci Jun 13th 2010 3:32PM
@Hollow
Just throwing this out here. The tailoring profession isn't made in such a way that 90% of it's profitability is tied up in bags. If that's how you use tailoring, you're doing it wrong