Insider Trader: All about flasks in 3.1
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Patch 3.1, for all of its grand changes, has also dedicated itself to imposing smaller tweaks aimed at making some mechanics more convenient, logical, and fair.
The application of applying a glyph is one of the latest in a line of positive changes that we'll be seeing on patch day. While the old (current) process is an annoying charming ritual, the new method is better for the Azerothian on the go.
Currently, applying a glyph requires that the player be standing in front of a Lexicon of Power, usually found in main cities. With patch 3.1, this will change, and we will be able to re-glyph at will.
This means that if you asked your buddy to hook you up for the raid that night, and it arrives in the mail a few minutes before go time, you can just switch it in without having to hearth and be re-summoned. Heck, I'll just be happy to be able to do it from the mailbox rather than having to ride through the city!
While some may complain that this makes the process less special, it might be wise to consider the glyphing change that is accompanying dual specs. Once we glyph our main and off-spec, we will not need to glyph again unless we change our minds on which glyph we want, or spec to our third spec.
The only hitch is that you cannot switch them during combat, in Arenas, or in Battlegrounds once the fight has started, which sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
Another major, and welcome change, relates to flasks, which brings us to our topic of the week. I will be addressing the new mechanics of flask creation, and discussing the benefits of the new system.
Currently, each flask grants you a two hour long buff, and Elixir Mastery, one specialization for Alchemists, has the chance to grant you bonus flasks.
Once the patch is live, each flask will last only one hour instead of two. To make this fair, the "spell" cast to make a flask now produces two 1-hour flasks, and instead of having the chance to grant two or three extras, Elixir Masters may get four to six extras.
Your passive skill, Mixology, will work in the same way it always has, and will extend the duration of your flask by one hour.
What will happen to your stockpile of two hour flasks? No need to try to chug them down before patch day. They will be converted into "mixtures" which are then used to create two separate flasks of the corresponding type.
Another bonus is that you can now stack flasks up to 20, and their vendor price is being lowered so that your deposit on the Auction House will be lower.
All in all, you will see no increased cost in materials, no losses from the conversion, and will even be able to auction your goods for a smaller sum.
This change may seem like a lot of shuffling around for little to no gain, but it is actually quite a positive change. Flasks will be more economical for heroics, as Wrath dungeons are notoriously short.
This will also allow raids to raid for an odd, as opposed to even, number of hours, without wasting an hour of flask-given buffs, and will encourage players to actually use them, rather than trying to save them for certain parts of the dungeon.
In addition, this is a very logical change to accompany dual-specs. A character might off-tank for the first hour or so, and then switch to DPS or healing for the next portion, during which a defense flask isn't going to be terrifically helpful!
Healers, for example, could complete the earlier, easier fights with a Flask of the Frost Wyrm for a spell power boost, and later switch to a Flask of Pure Mojo if mana regeneration begins to become a problem.
How do you feel about the change to flasks? If you will be using the dual-spec system, do you think that this will be useful for you?
Each week, Insider Trader takes you behind the scenes of the bustling sub-culture of professional craftsmen, examining the profitable, the tragically lacking, and the methods behind the madness. Check out earlier patch 3.1 profession changes.
