Patch 5.2 interview with Dave Kosak
Inside an old alt's vault
The latest patch 5.2 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsGold Capped: Epic gems in patch 4.3
by Basil Berntsen 
Sep 23rd 2011 at 9:00AM
Epic gems will come in patch 4.3. They'll not be prospectable from Pyrite or anything else -- instead they will drop from geodes on raid bosses. This may not be the final design, but it's what Blizzard has decided so far. The people who need the gems most are going to be the source for the uncut gems, and the quantity available will be very low.
Every time I've talked about this before, I've hedged my bets that Blizzard might drastically change the design for epic gems compared to the last expansion. As things turn out, it did, and we're going back to a design reminiscent of epic gems in The Burning Crusade, which were mostly available to raiders. Everyone who stockpiled Pyrite now has to decide what to do with it.
PVP epic gems
One question that hasn't been addressed yet is epic gems for PVP gear. Right now, because resilience is no longer gaining value to Arena players at a non-linear rate, PVPers often use their gem slots to focus on their core stats. This leads to their needing many of the same gems as raiders, and Blizzard has tried to distance itself from requiring PVPers to raid to be competitive at the high level.
The obvious answer to this problem is to allow endgame PVP to reward epic gems at the same rate that they're generated by raiding. However, unless this mechanism is exclusive and doesn't prevent someone who raids and PVPs from doubling their gem take, it will force people who are competitive in either raiding or PVP to do both seriously in order to keep up.
Redistribution of wealth
One prediction I'm willing to make is that these gems will not be bind on pickup, as they'll need to be cut -- that or we'll be able to cut a gem in the "will not be traded" part of a trade window, like the way we currently enchant. Since the gems will be tradable, they will have a value on the open market. Demand for epic gems is always enormous in depth and volume; while a few people are willing to pay a lot for them initially, when they become less expensive, a lot of people are willing to buy them.
Every time raiders open a geode, they will be looking at a potential gold mine. Sure, they could simply keep the gems and use them, but selling them can potentially provide thousands of gold they could use to buy, for example, a BOE with someone else's valor points. This process will move wealth from competitive players who are willing to pay gold for a raiding advantage to players who are willing to wait.
It's like the opposite of a gold sink. Gold sinks, when properly designed, cut down the hoarded buying power of wealthy players, reducing their ability to drive up the price and demand for goods and services. This change will take these stockpiles of gold and smear it across a subset of players who raid but value gold more than the stat upgrade of an epic gem. Hoarders hide the effects of inflation until they spend their hoard.
What do I do with all this Pyrite Ore?
Whenever you are trying to decide what to do next, always start by considering the exact opposite as everyone else. In this case, while everyone is dumping stockpiles, I'm going to be buying it whenever it hits a certain floor price I've calculated.
I did stock a fair amount of Pyrite just in case Blizzard decided to use "copy-paste game design" and make Cataclysm epics prospect from it the way Wrath of the Lich King epics prospected from Titanium Ore. I have to decide what to do with it, as well as the ore I'm planning on buying from the panicky. My choices for the majority of it are:
- Prospect it. The value of Pyrite on your realm can be easily calculated by an addon or a site like Wow Prospector. If you cut gems, remember that the real value you're going to want to use is what something will be worth when the current set of raiding and PVP elite gear is available to grinders.
- Blacksmith it. Pyrium Bars are used for making Ebonsteel Belt Buckles, as are all the Volatile Earth you got from prospecting pyrite in step one. You also need a healthy supply of bars for making PVP gear.
Brave new world of jewelcrafting
Back in The Burning Crusade, epic gems were not easy to get unless you were given them by your guild. Those few that did exit the raider-only "market" of DKP and arbitrary officer assignments were way more expensive than the slight upgrade was worth -- especially considering people had to work their way up to the latest content and didn't just start there when they finished their first max-level 5-man.
People have more money these days, but epic gems might not be available for less than 6,000g for a long time. Compared to the prices for VP BOEs, regular BOEs, and best-in-slot enchants, their priority might well be last on many auctioneer/raiders' grocery lists. Once all these avenues of turning money into raiding gear are exhausted, then epic gems will considered. After all, why spend thousands of gold on a 10-stat increase when you could spend 20,000g on an ilevel upgrade?
If we want to know what epic gems prices will look like, we need nothing more than to look at the price curve for Eternal Embers. I know, it's not the same, but it has similarities. Embers drop centrally but require an entire raid to produce. Epic gems drop per raider, but rarely. I'll bet that the production rate of epic gems per raid over time will follow the same curve as the number of Embers produced per raid Firelands content.
The demand for Embers is different than it will be for gems, as a lot of Ember gear only replaces gear that drops somewhere in the more accessible bosses in Firelands. Epic gems will always be an upgrade; however, the upgrade will be slighter.
Look at the price history for Embers on your realm, and you will see a trend that should be similar to what the price trend for epic gems will look like.
Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped. Do you have questions about selling, reselling, and building your financial empire on the auction house? Fox and Basil are taking your questions at fox@wowinsider.com and basil@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Economy, Gold Capped
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
parnell47 Sep 23rd 2011 10:18AM
JC's better save up their daily tokens!
gewalt Sep 23rd 2011 10:31AM
Basil needs to leave this column to Fox. Basil, stop posting FUD.
matt Sep 23rd 2011 10:59AM
FUD, I don't think that means what you think it means. OR you must have been under a rock dude
quoth the crab"
"he way we're hoping to set it up, and we kind of have this working but things could change before we go live, is when you kill a boss on normal or heroic mode, each player gets a geode, and when they open the geode there's a chance they may find an epic gem inside. If not, it'll have blue gems or something like that. We really want it to feel like an individual reward, and not something that the raid leader gets to have fun in deciding who gets the gems, or they all go to the guild bank or something. We really want it to feel like an individual reward."
r.claudio123 Sep 23rd 2011 10:48AM
First off Basic Economics 101 When the price of gas goes up so does everything else.If the price of epic Gems go up so will all the grinding mats, all the rare gems,even milk.
your'e looking at the market as if the demand is gonna be on the cut, Which will be true for the most part, till the other 5000 Jc'ers on your server farm just as much as you to get that cut first and then the price diminishes. Unlike other profressions Jc'er Mats in Epic tier is self farmable.
-ie.ores;orbs,Volatiles,embers. So to make Jc'ers have to farm with competition now on free rolls instead of prospecting puts Jc'ers on a below average playing field that isnt really following the guide lined rules of any profession.
Hence why we got the shaft.
Edge00 Sep 23rd 2011 11:28AM
First off... what you are saying with the rolls is *exactly* the same way enchanting works. You can not solo content for maelstrom crystals and heavenly shards, you must at the very least run 5-man content and everyone in there gets to benefit off of your 525 enchanting skill.
Second... no one that is making large amounts of money is actually farming mats for their products they are selling on the auction house. Farming is too small scale; I can get a much higher volume of materials with less time by just buying materials on the AH and then crafting from that (The best value would be to cut a deal with a farmer and have them feed you materials below market price). Furthermore, the margin will be the exact same. If I just farmed, the value of those materials are still what they would be on the AH.
This same line of reasoning applies to the epic gems. The reason this will be a valuable market is not because the rarity of the cut itself. On the contrary, the limiting factor will be having enough liquid funds to actually get the business rolling. Lets say the raw epic gem starts out at 10k and the finished cut product is 11k. To the average WoW player that is too high of a barrier of entry into the market, but to the entrepreneur with enough liquid assets to cover that cost of entry he just sees a 1k profit per sale.
niko Sep 23rd 2011 11:31AM
do you mean you got the shaft in much the same way enchanters have been shafted over what is now YEARS of disenchant greed rolls? Sure was the shaft to them when it came out, and now this one is brought up and it's as if this is unique to JC or something.
Clearly not unprecedented.
Boobah Sep 23rd 2011 2:32PM
The other replies to this have covered why this particular sourcing of the epic gems isn't giving the shaft to JCs.
I'm still stuck on the assertion "If the price of epic Gems go up so will all the grinding mats, all the rare gems,even milk." I mean, the price of gas affects the price of everything else because it's one of the main costs of transport, and very few things don't spend any time on a truck (and/or train, ship, airplane) going from point A to point B.
Rare gem prices will go down, because there will be a better substitute, although I expect to see a demand spike as people clean out the JP and honor vendors and start getting the new drops faster than they can get epic gems to fill the open slots.
gewalt Sep 23rd 2011 11:14AM
I didnt realize "fear, uncertainty and doubt" were difficult concepts. My aplogies.
Eirik Sep 23rd 2011 2:10PM
"Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt" is most commonly considered a strategem by someone who stands to gain from the result. The intent is to sow fear among the audience to gain a reaction. Please describe how Basil would benefit by an application of FUD in this case? He would seem to be doing alright (in the gold-gaining game) prior to the post you accuse of being FUD.
On the contrary, he's been asked to foresee where the gem market is going. In making his predictions, he has described the factors he considered, and continuously reminded us that those factors are not under his control. I'll even point out that blog posts such as this, and the responses to them, may be part of the environment Blizzard watches when making those decisions. That is, Basil's columns and your reactions to them are part of a feedback system...
Jr Sep 23rd 2011 11:36AM
I'm sure eventually raw gems will be available with points.
Butts Sep 23rd 2011 11:36AM
>> Right now, because resilience is no longer gaining value to Arena players at a non-linear rate, PVPers often use their gem slots to focus on their core stats.
Can someone explain what this means? I'm fairly new to pvp/arenas and was under the impression that resilience is king and have been gemming accordingly. Should I be gemming my DK for str instead?
Edge00 Sep 23rd 2011 11:43AM
I might be wrong (I don't pvp that much). BUT, I think what many people are doing is getting their resilience up to near 4k (i see 3.8k referenced a lot) and then going with primary stats after that.
gewalt Sep 23rd 2011 12:11PM
yes, you should be gemming/enchanting strength. with a caveat, you need spell pen. yes, im serious.
Butts Sep 23rd 2011 12:25PM
@gewalt I've got spellpen covered. Is it agreed I should gem for strength straight off, or after a certain soft cap such as 3.8k resil, as Edge00 suggested?
Dreadmist Sep 23rd 2011 5:47PM
What Basil means by non-linear rate refers to the scaling of resilience as it stands. At a break point of about 3500-3600 resilience, each point of resilience you gain will provide you with less and less damage reduction the higher you go. As your pvp gear improves, you are easily able to reach 3800+ resilience without even gemming for it. After the aformentioned "break point" you certainly get more bang for your buck gemming primary stats rather than resilience.
r.claudio123 Sep 23rd 2011 12:35PM
OH fuck off with that enchanter complain meanwhile you can DE for your mats We have to FARM ore. not go into instance and play the game and get a bonus by pressing a button thats now shared with everyone else cause who the fuck cares if you get some dust, just dont take MY MONEY MAKING MAT, right?! yeah ok.
niko Sep 23rd 2011 1:01PM
L2Reply good sir.
to the point, however... how, pray tell, do enchanters "farm" their mats? OH YA, they DE stuff from dungeons and other sources (JC-crafted Carnelian Spikes for one, quest rewards potentially if you're not already quested out of Cata q's for menial mats, etc.). Certainly no Maelstroms from those other sources, though.
Also, just because you're a JC doesn't mean you have to farm ore. Most I know don't farm a single thing, and just flip ore prices on the AH into profit (and was impossible to lose money on prospecting until lately!). I suppose you could say that enchanters have the same possibility... but it's much less profitable than JC has been over the years with this sort of strategy.
Celebreth Sep 23rd 2011 12:26PM
Can anyone explain why this makes any sense? Why make epic gems so exclusive and expensive, when they'll offer only a modest upgrade.
Doing it this way won't significantly help raiders, but it will make epic gems prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of players. Moreover, as the article points out, it will enrich raiders at the expense of mid-level players.
kinnson Sep 23rd 2011 7:16PM
Because other games give raiders loot bags. So now WoW is giving loot geodes. To make it feel like you got something even if your gear upgrade didn't drop.
Blagaah Sep 23rd 2011 4:48PM
The point is that unless you're pushing content that that tiny upgrade in stats matters you don't actually need the new gems. The goal as I see it is to give people with the resources to buy the gems/cuts the chance without totally invalidating the existing gems. With such a small +10 point advantage over the current gems, you don't honestly need the bump in a way that will prevent you from clearing content if you don't have it right as soon as it's available.