Blizzard releases guild flask and cauldron hotfixes

- Mix Master now requires your guild to craft 1,000 Cataclysm flasks (down from 10,000).
- Better Leveling Through Chemistry now requires your guild to craft 3,000 Cataclysm flasks (down from 25,000).
We've recently implemented a number of hotfixes directly related to guild achievements, flasks, and cauldrons. When first designing the guild achievements, we overestimated the number of flasks that guilds would be able to make by the time they reached guild level 10, and set the number of Cataclysm flasks required for the two related guild achievements to 10,000 (Mix Master) and 25,000 (Better Leveling Through Chemistry). In reality, most guilds have made fewer flasks than we had originally anticipated they would at this point in guild progression, and many players will soon be unlocking a guild perk (Chug-A-Lug) directly related to cauldrons and flasks.
Today, we've applied a few hotfixes to help bring these flask-related achievements in line with what we had originally intended:
- Mix Master now requires your guild to craft 1,000 Cataclysm flasks (down from 10,000).
- Better Leveling Through Chemistry now requires your guild to craft 3,000 Cataclysm flasks (down from 25,000).
We felt it was important to implement these changes as a hotfix rather than waiting for the next content patch, as many guilds will be unlocking the Chug-A-Lug perk this weekend. Please note that while the new values are already in effect, the in-game tooltips will not reflect these changes until the next client patch. If your guild has already reached the new requirement, you'll receive the achievement as soon as someone in your guild creates a new flask.
In addition, we've made a couple other cauldron-related changes:
- To ensure the Big Cauldron of Battle attained from Better Leveling Through Chemistry feels like a substantial upgrade over the "regular" version, the number of flasks it generates has been increased from 17 to 20.
- Both cauldrons now last 10 minutes (up from 5).
If you're unfamiliar with guild cauldrons, here's a quick breakdown of how they work:
- Unlocking the Recipes: Guilds can unlock the Cauldron of Battle alchemy recipe by completing the Mix Master achievement, and the Big Cauldron of Battle recipe by completing the Better Leveling Through Chemistry achievement. Buying either recipe from the guild vendor costs 150 gold and requires you to have reached honored reputation with your guild and an Alchemy skill of 525.
- Creating the Cauldrons: A Cauldron of Battle is a soulbound, one-time use item that requires a mix of 4 Cataclysm flasks and 8 Deathblood Venom to create. When the alchemist places a cauldron on the ground, up to 7 Flasks of Battle can be conjured from it before it's exhausted. While these flasks are tradable, they cannot be sold on the Auction House and will be removed from your inventory if you log out for 15 minutes -- just like mage food. When consumed, the flask automatically gives you the most appropriate buff for your class and spec for 1 hour. The Big Cauldron of Battle works just the same, only it requires a mix of 12 Cataclysm flasks and yields 20 flasks rather than 7.
- Guild Perk Benefits: As guilds level up, they'll receive perks that affect these cauldrons and flasks. At guild level 10, you earn the guild perk Chug-A-Lug, which increases the duration of Flasks of Battle by 50% -- meaning flasks from guild cauldrons will now last 1.5 hours instead of one. At guild level 20, the Happy Hour perk increases the number of flasks conjured from a guild cauldron by 50% (i.e.10 from a Cauldron of Battle instead of 7; 30 from a Big Cauldron of Battle instead of 20). Finally, at guild level 22, you'll earn an improved version of Chug-A-Lug, which increases the duration of Flasks of Battle by 100%, bringing it up to 2 hours.
We appreciate all the feedback we've received so far on the Guild Perk system, and we'll continue to make improvements to ensure it's a fun and rewarding endeavor.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.Filed under: News items, Cataclysm






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Sehvekah Jan 5th 2011 11:03PM
/zoidberg I'll take eight!
Drakkenfyre Jan 6th 2011 1:05AM
Spamming a link to an auction.
Having a drug reference in your name.
Expecting to actually get anything by posting here.
Fail all around.
Heroblade13 Jan 5th 2011 9:37PM
Don't say they never do anything for you
McRaider Jan 5th 2011 9:45PM
I completely approve to this. 10,000 flasks was just ridiculously much.
Koskun Jan 6th 2011 12:25AM
Why was it?
I'm serious here. I've seen many a complaint about how achievement such-and-such takes too long to attain, which has been going hand in hand with "leveling a guild takes too long".
So because it's 32 days out from Cat launch everyone has to be able to have everything handed to them automatically?
It should take a while to make it to those levels. This isn't a "they're catering to the casuals" rant, it's a "they are catering to the drooling 3 second attention span idiots".
Maybe I am of the age where I will say "Get off my lawn", but seeing all the complaints about how something takes too long isn't a valid argument.
cyanea85 Jan 6th 2011 12:33AM
How does this have ANYTHING to do with the casual vs hardcore debate, "scrubs", entitlement or anything else you listed?
10k flasks is pretty damn near impossible to get for any small guild (as many are) that only have one or two Alchemists (as many do), let alone by guild level 10. Smaller guilds now have a chance to get it before the next expansion comes out, and bigger guilds were probably already pretty damn close to getting it anyway.
Not every chance is something to spite you and the raider elite of the game. Relax.
cyanea85 Jan 6th 2011 12:37AM
And I should add that 1000 is still a pretty daunting number for a small guild. Since the expansion's release, my guild of about 15 people and two alchemists has made 44 flasks. It's still going to take a concentrated effort of herbing and mixing on our part to get there.
So again: relax. Your epeen is safe.
Lux Jan 6th 2011 1:06AM
To put it into perspective for why people say this takes to long Koskun;
It would take one Alchemist continually making flasks for over 8 hours straight with no breaks to make that 10,000 flasks.
For the flask of the Draconic Mind it would take
60,000 Volatile Life 9g
120,000 Azshara's Veil 9g
120,000 Twilight Jasmine 12g
120,000 Crystal Vials 1s
Assuming that you get 2 herbs per node and could herb consistently one node every 30 seconds it would take 500 man hours to gather the needed materials (this assumes that the volatile life is gotten during the procurement of the two plants).
Taking assumed average prices as set with unlimited supply it would cost
540,000+1080000+1,440,000+1200 = 3,061,200g
Cambro Jan 6th 2011 1:57AM
@Koskun
10,000 flasks was an unrealistic number, honestly. It required you to gather enough herbs to create 10,000 flasks, and then make all those flasks, before you could unlock the cauldron of battle. Only the most hardcore guilds, or very large AND committed to this singular task, would even be able to use these cauldrons because only they would have been able to gather all these herbs. Everyone else would be seeing them a year into the expansion or longer. I greatly appreciate these changes, it makes them much more accessible.
As a side note, I really hope Blizzard increases the number of herb nodes or respawn rates, because Twilight Jasmine and Heartblossom are ridiculous to try to farm. Whiptail is difficult but at least it grows in 2 zones. In a way, this goes towards these alchemy achievements and cauldrons: you have to have herbs to make the flasks. At least dropping the required number of flasks will offset the difficulty of farming these herbs (yes, I'm sure some servers are an exception), but it would REALLY help to be able to gather more herbs. There is a lot of cool stuff that is just too expensive to make and use to full advantage, like the Potion of Treasure Finding (counts as a potion, persists like a flask, lets you get additional loot from killing things), Potion of Illusion (it's fun!), Potion of Deepholm (transports you to Deepholm, I'm undecided about this one). But even Mythical Healing Potion is expensive to make (2 Twilight Jasmine, 1 Volatile Life) due to the low spawns, and I'm not sure I've even seen these pots drop off a mob yet.
jamesbragg07 Jan 6th 2011 2:51AM
There was a post on the forum about this before this was changed today. but roughly what he did was a mathematical breakdown of the 10k flasks. So what it broke down to was that 10k flask is about a year and a half of flasks for a 25man raid that raided 20 hours a week. At that point you wouldn't really need cauldrons.
theRaptor Jan 6th 2011 4:11AM
@Koskun
Do some maths before ranting. If you raid 10 man 6 hours a week* you will use 10,000 flasks (and that is the 10 man achievement) in THREE AND A HALF YEARS (3 1/2). According to Blizzards schedule they will be nearly ready to release the expansion after next by then.
The reason people complained is because even slow levelling guilds would be guild rank 25 and have three cauldron related perks for about two years before they would reasonably get cauldrons.
Sure you could grind it but having 1000 flasks per raider defeats the purpose of the cauldron in the first place.
* Which was enough time for my guild to clear everything in Wrath.
LittleHamster Jan 6th 2011 4:44AM
Agree with all the response. I'm in a very active 25man semi-casual raiding guild (8/12 currently). With all the raiding, and lots of alchemists mains and alts, we have just made it pass the 1000 mark a few days ago. Remember this is a guild where every raider is required to use a Cata flask for all non-farm raids. We haven't specifically worked on the achievement, because we felt the 25,000 mark (for the big cauldron) is completely non-attainable. But this should give you a ball-park figure of what an active non-hardcore raiding guild would normally craft. We are also at over 7500 fish btw :)
With this change, I can see an active 10man raiding guild getting this perk very soon. And ones that really work on it will be able to see it now or sometime in the next couple of weeks. Very good change indeed.
Katsuya Kaiba Jan 6th 2011 7:09AM
@Lux
*Just mindlessly gapes at the math* Holy...fuuu.....
Furlover Jan 5th 2011 9:47PM
Good change is good.
pancakes Jan 5th 2011 9:52PM
Thank God! As the only Alchemist in our small guild currently, I had this resigned to the realm of impossibilities. 1000 will still be a task, but a task 1/10th of the size.
cvelcm Jan 6th 2011 12:40AM
''Thank God! As the only Alchemist in our small guild currently, I had this resigned to the realm of impossibilities. 1000 will still be a task, but a task 1/10th of the size.''
+1
Bynde Jan 6th 2011 11:02AM
As 1 of two alchemists in a very small Guild I agree. This went from 'Totally Impossible' to 'Possible If You Live Long Enough'.
So, 'yay'!
akiva Jan 5th 2011 10:10PM
It seems odd that the Big Cauldron has a worse return rate for the mats than the regular cauldron. For 12 reagent flasks, you could create 3*7 = 21 flasks of battle by making regular cauldrons, whereas the big cauldron would only give you 20 for the same 12 flasks. I wonder if this is a mistake?
atomicstrawberry Jan 5th 2011 10:43PM
The standard cauldron is 1 of each of the four types of flask, plus 8 deathblood venoms (which is I think essentially 8 extra vials + 8 stormvines). The big cauldron is 3 of each type of flask only.
If a stack and a bit of extra stormvine isn't worth it for the extra flask, it won't be once you get the extra capacity perk - 50% bonus on top of 7 is an extra 3 flasks, 50% bonus on 20 is an extra 10 flasks, so you're getting 30 each way and the bigger one is better. This wasn't the case when it was 17 though - three smaller cauldrons would yield an extra 5 with the perk.
B1ue Jan 5th 2011 10:49PM
They put those numbers in assuming that, sooner or later, every guild will have the Happy Hour benefit. while 3*7 is more than you'll get with the base 20, 3*10 is equal to the bigger 30 flasks you'll eventually get out of the cauldron.