Wrath: Introducing Inscription and Herbalism
Jul 19, 2008 Crafting, Gathering, Professions, Wrath of the Lich King
This post will be one of many analyzing the data we receive from the Wrath of the Lich King beta. If you have beta access or a spare key and wish to share information with us (or loan us a key), we’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment and let us know.
Inscription is the new profession in Wrath of the Lich King and has been mentioned numerous times over the last six months. However, we never really knew what materials were required for this new craft. Until a few days ago…
It seems Herbalism is the complimentary profession to Inscription. To inscribe spells or scrolls, ink is used. Obtaining ink is much like Prospecting for gems - you crush five herbs using Milling for one (or more?) ink.
From what I’ve heard, the first three low level inks (Ivory Ink, Silver Ink, and Earthen Ink) require the first three low level herbs (Peacebloom, Silverleaf, and Earthroot respectively). I can only assume each successive herb is used for it’s own color/type of ink.
This is going to be huge for the herb market! Mining is primarily used for Blacksmithing, Engineering, and Jewelcrafting while Herbalism’s only major profession is Alchemy. Inscription is Herbalism’s new best friend in the expansion and we will see a significant rise in herb prices, especially in the first few weeks. I’d estimate 5-10x in the first few weeks (especially for the lower end mats, not so much the higher end ones), and slowly drop down to 2-3x current market prices where it’ll likely remain.
I’ve got six “storage bins” ready for herbs, so I’ll be stocking them up like mad over the next many weeks. According to my girlfriend, Wrath is scheduled to launch November 3rd, so we have plenty of time to buy all the herbs our little bank alts can hold without artificially inflating the market and overpaying.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
With that said. Do you think Netherweave Cloth will be the new Runecloth ?
Now I can see Runecloth for up to 15g a stack, while you can see Netherweave for less than 3g?
July 20th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Not unless they allow us to trade in Netherweave cloth for reputation. That’s the main reason why Runecloth is so expensive. Though, I’m surprised Runecloth is 5x more than Netherweave on your server, it’s about equal on mine.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:10 am
I still cannot understand why Runecloth costs so much. For Rep, you can do any quest for any major faction and get 10% of the rep for all the major factions. I rerolled from the US to the EU servers about six months ago and was exhalted with all the alliance factions at level 37. Now my human rep bonus did help but still, a full days playing for a level 70 and you can get to exhalted with ease. and doing it gets you rep for all the factions.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:13 am
Runecloth isn’t all that expensive on Sisters of Elune. Mageweave is still the most expensive in the AH, sometimes pulling in 5-6g a stack, whereas Runecloth only nets about 1-3g.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:26 am
About netherweave - even though it is not handed in for rep it might be good to have some stacks of it for just around launch. If first aid works the same way as it did with TBC, people will need netherweave to start lvling their first aid past 375, this could create a short increased need for it around expansion launch.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:30 am
I’m not sure about the herbs since the lower levels ones are so abundant especially peacebloom and Silverleaf. Earthroot is harder to get though.
Having commented on this, I’m hedging my bets on ores as I think most death knights will need blacksmithing in the beginning as the best gears will most likely to be craftables anbd they will have to level it from scratch! Mithril and thorium should start to sell really well and as they are currently already overpriced they will shoot up even faster!
i.e 1 stack of peacebloom now sells for 1-3g *15 times =15-45g
1 stack of thorium now sell for 40g *2 = 80g!
July 24th, 2008 at 3:36 am
I would be interested in learning what mid range herbs people are stocking up on. I hae a big concern that some herbs will be far more useful for inscription than others. Also from reading my realm forums it seems lots of people are stocking up on the mats to power level their DK in various tradeskills and I have noticed the price of most non outlands materials is starting to climb.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Runecloth costs 5g50s lowest 19g99s I have sold for 6g66s66c
several stacks. I should have said that our realm is low-mid population with mainly 70s and Tailoring and First Aid requires some amount of them.
And you will still skill with Netherweave so It won’t be bad to save a few.
P.S. Can some of the authors send me an email I have a private question to ask
July 30th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Problem with your logic - there is going to be an influx of new Death Knights looking to level herbalism and therefore there could easily be a glut on the entry level herbs, not a shortage.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Donald, that’s true, but I don’t predict a large percentage of Death Knights going after herbalism. They’ll start from a skill of 1 and have to go back through all the low level areas just to skill up.
It seems much more reasonable to assume most people will drop one of their professions for inscription and buy the necessary materials to skill up. It’ll be like it is now where people skill up their new primary professions by buying materials from the auction house, driving up the prices of those low-end materials, except on a much larger scale for the first few weeks (and perhaps months) of Wrath of the Lich King.
Most people are lazy and their time is better spent doing dailies and buying low-end materials than farming them. I don’t doubt there will be some inscribers that go the route of farming herbalism from skill 1, but a majority of them will go the easy, lazy, and economically logical route.
July 30th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I dabble a little in the ah (not a big player as i would like to be) and have noticed that the market seems a little slow on my realm of late GPE (15g)and H knothide (35g for a stack of 10) usally sell within an hour and have now expired after 48 hours.. I was just wondering has anyone else had a slow market (which i am considering normal after the rush of S4)
July 31st, 2008 at 5:09 am
I have also noticed a shift in prices in the last week or so. I usually clear about 100g a day from trading enchanting supplies. GPE have been selling for 10g50s on my server for months. I can usually buy 10-20 each day for 9g and have them sold 24 hours later. Last weekend the price dropped to 5g. Yes 5 gold! So I spent several thousand gold buying everything up. And again on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The price has climbed up to 8g but I now have about 600 GPE and no idea where the price is going. If they don’t start moving by Monday I plan to start lowering my price to clear my stock. Similar price drops have occurred across the range of enchanting supplies. I also play the herb market and it has also suffered a 15% price drop this week.
I think the critical moment was the beta really kicking off last week. Players now know WotLK will be out soonish. I have also noticed the bankalts for the major raiding guilds are selling a lot of stuff at rather low prices. I guess they are clearing their guildbanks out to get ready for WotLK.
I have to admit season 4 has convinced me it will be very hard to predict what is worth stocking up on for WotLK. On my EU server Season 4 sent some prices up 40-50% (Primals) , while other items (such as Arcane Dust and GPE) which I thought would spike showed no price rise at all. The market was flooded with so many Large Prismatic Shards the price fell 2g when Season 4 came out. From chatting to guildmates, and reading forums/wowinsider etc I think many players know their plans for WotLK and are stocking up now.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
It’s too early to make a call on what will be needed in wrath as we are still in beta and anything can happening when it is live. It may be the case that you can buy ink from the general good merchants and would not need all those herbs…..
I hope it doesn’t happen to balck smithing because I am storing a lots of ores (but just enough to level 1 blacksmith though).
August 5th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Also noticing a drop in prices on my realm in the herb department… My theory is that the honeymoon is over with the new content and many guilds have cleared kara already, so not much going on.
August 6th, 2008 at 9:04 am
My feeling is that you can get ready for another price drop at the end of September. Warhammer Online is scheduled for release around that time and pops might be dropping a bit overall.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Yuck price drops!
On average I now only manage to sell 2-10 blue gems a week. It took me 3 weeks to sell 2 infused nighteyes for 30g!
The prices for herbs are still good on my server but I’m still unsure why alchemists are selling pots for a discount when the mats costs more… i.e. destruction potions 30g/5 when mats = 10nmv (20g) + 5 nether (10g)+5 vial (10g) = 40g.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
the cost of primal nethers has taken a huge drop on my server.
they have gone for around 130-150g each for the last few months but in the course of two weeks the price went down to 100g and has stayed aroudn there.
i stocked up for a while, not quite understanding the new trend. currently i have 20 of them on stock and the price has remained this low for almost a month. does anyone know why this might have happened? or what the future for primal nethers holds?
August 6th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Primal nether sell for 30g on my server. The reason they are so cheap now is because most ppl have been level 70s for a long time now and do not require crafted gear anymore. In addition to this, the season 2 arena gear, kara gear (no more keys) and badges are cheaper and easier to obtain and are comparable if not better than the crafted items. I would dumb all of it asap if I were you.
This remind me of a person who purchased all the craftable epic patterns on our server AH and then mark them up by 100 or more per cent. Talk about stupid given what I said above and the gear reset in WOTLK.
While you are at it, don’t buy or hold onto nether vortexes.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:46 am
ah, thanks for the advice taco.
i spend a lot of time on the auction house, but i have no character over 58 so i don’t know what much of it is used for.
i havn’t noticed the price of nether vortexes drop yet but i do have a few of them and i will be careful about it. this is the sort of thing that worries me about WOTLK. i see it is gonna be a huge income opportunity but i don’t want to have inventory of items that are going to be obsolete.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:48 am
one more thing i forgot. i don’t want to have obsolete inventory but with the crazy inflation that is expected to come with release i do want to be 90% invested or so.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:41 am
I think, as this article points out, that a safe way to go would be to stock up on herbs. As long as you’re well balanced and have quite a few of each, you’ll probably make out well. Aim for the diversified portfolio. It’s a parallel profession to JC and look how many mining mats it uses, especially in the low levels. Dump the high end crafting mats which will no doubt be obsolete, such as preBC chanting mats, and pick some flowers.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:42 am
p.s. Do any of you use addons or other digital programs to track your investments, expenditures and sales?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:57 am
i do hae one addon called “expense history”. it is not helpful though and resets itself whenever i need to reinstall it. it doesn’t keep track of AH cuts, deposits or even spell training though. pretty much just repairs, FP and reagents.
i keep track of it on my own by having three seperate auction house guys and keeping their gold seperate.
one is for playing the auction house, one is for reselling vendor items and the last is for selling the materials i gather with my other guys.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Here’s an update on what herbs are needed from Wrath wiki:
# Inscription 1: Earthroot, Peacebloom, Silverleaf.
# Inscription 25: Briarthorn, Swiftthistle, Bruiseweed.
# Inscription 75: Wild Steelbloom, Grave Moss, Kingsblood, Liferoot.
# Inscription 125: Fadeleaf, Goldthorn, Khadgar’s Whisker, Wintersbite.
# Inscription 175: Firebloom, Purple Lotus, Arthas’ Tears, Sungrass, Blindweed, Ghost Mushroom.
# Inscription 225: Golden Sansam, Dreamfoil, Mountain Silversage, Plaguebloom, Icecap.
# Inscription 275: Dreaming Glory, Felweed, Terocone, Ragveil, Flame Cap, Ancient Lichen, Mana Thistle, Netherbloom, Nightmare Vine (All Outland herbs).
# Inscription 325: Adder’s Tongue, Goldclover, Tiger Lily, Lichbloom, Icethorn, Talandra’s Rose (All Northrend herbs).
I my opinion we will see large price increases in the pain-in-the-butt to gather herbs such as nightmare vines and ancient lichen.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
In response to the posts about dropping prices in the AH:
The suspect is S4 and to a much lesser extent a slow down in raiding (summer/lack of interest in SWP before WotLK).
The influx of new S4 gear is now slowing down. The market was HOT for 3-4 weeks after S4 and now that we are 6 weeks in the market has cooled. I have seen a 10-30% drop in primals, gems, and enchanting mats all of which are used for tweaking your gear.
Thanks for the info on herbs used for inscription taco. I just had 6 Sacthels of Cenarius made for a tertiary bank alt for this reason.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:36 am
Just tapping into the braintrust here:
It’s a wee bit off-topic, but what do you guys think people should do regarding spending their Honor points?
I’m guessing that the expansion will obviously start a new arena season due to the new level cap, and just like the top-end Grand Marshal’s gear from Pre-BC, so will the Brutal Gladiator gear likewise become the new general honor purchases.
Or… maybe they won’t aim that high, and will cut off the PvP gear offerings lower down the totem pole. Any ideas? Anyone in beta see a list of what rewards are offered?
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:24 am
@Taco
why do you think mithril and thorium will sell better than other “low-lvl” ores?
August 25th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Where did you guys go? Love the blog.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Hi all,
Re Inscription - I just read on the WowInsider site (http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/08/25/blizzard-announces-pre-wrath-content-patch/) that the Inscription tradeskill will be introduced via patch within the next few weeks, before the WotLK expansion.
I forsee the pre-OL herb market going silly for a few weeks, so it may be a good opportunity to secure your herbs now (either for self-levelling or on-selling).
Has anybody had any success in the past with putting together tradeskill power levelling materials packs? I hear them selling for many thousands, but I haven’t really looked into whether you can command much of a mark up.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:37 am
[...] hinted in a comment in our last post that we might have some success selling “tradeskill powerleveling [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Read the Wrath Wiki website - it is not clear whether you will need ALL the listed herbs to make inks. It just says that certain pomaces can be milled from certain herbs - example L1 pomace can be milled from: Earthroot OR Peacebloom OR SilverleafOR mageroyal. Only one or two inks says they require specific herbs or pomaces. Anyway, it is all still up in the air: will the scarce herbs be required, or not? I hope soo since I sure spent a lot cornering the swifthistle masrket!
Anyone have more insight in to this issue?
August 26th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Cheers for the mention guys! /preen.
Regarding methods of carrying the goods, I’ve also heard of players creating a Guild Bank, and storing all the product for the power levelling pack in there.
They invite bidders to the guild and let them see the materials within the bank. Once the funds are transferred (or a hefty deposit, depending upon how you choose to arrange it), they promote the purchaser to a rank which allows them to withdraw, and let them clean it out.
It certainly makes it easier for players to store materials, and may give purchasers slightly more comfort around getting shortchanged, etc.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Ok someone said way up near the top that the death knight would be hard to level/pointless (i forget exact words) because it would start at a high level zone with high level herbs but low level inscription. However according to posters on the WOW WOTLK forums Dk starts inscription at 250 / 275 ( I read it a while ago and so don’t remember exact number) but it was def. in that margin. So anyone wishing to level a DK with inscription and has been buying low level herbs Aparentely you have been wasting time and money :p
September 16th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I’ve already filled 2 guild bank tabs with low lvl herbs.
I have to be honest, I was a bit overexcited and I completely blew up the herb prices ><, within 1 day the prices of silverleaf and peacebloom went from 50s - 1g to 5-15 gold, lol. Funny what 1500 gold can do :P.
Any tips of how to sell them when the patch is out? Are there any tactics of how to sell them in a way you’ll get the most profit?
October 15th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Ah HA! So that explains why Silverleaf and peace bloom are selling by fives for 7g-10g. I actually brought this up earlier before thumbing through the blog this far.
BTW this is a great blog to read, been having a great time just browsing.