Insider Trader: Jewelcrafting, the final stretch part 2

Last week, Insider Trader began the journey from 300 to 375 jewelcrafting skill. While we were able to avoid using recipes that required faction reputation or that had to be farmed, the cheapest methods to 375 from about 365 may require a bit more effort to obtain.

If you are like so many other craftsmen, stuck with 375 seeming far away and expensive, then carry on through the break to examine ways to not only maximize your skills, but to attempt to make a profit while doing so, rather than running on a loss.

Featuring several distinct ways to reach 375, you will find that you have many choices to suit your own needs, your guild's needs, and your server's market. In addition, I've put together some links for further reading that you should find helpful.

Last week, we left off at a skill of 355 in jewelcrafting, and now we must prepare for the uphill battle to 375. Still, we should be able to reach 365 without spending too much money.

355-365:

• Each [Purified Shadow Pearl] will set you back one [Shadow Pearl] and one [Purified Draenic Water]. The pearls can easily be farmed from clams that drop from Naga, as well as other sea-type creatures. Zangarmarsh and the Coilfang dungeons are a great place to go to farm. The water can be bought from any innkeeper or general goods vendor, and will drop from upper level Outland mobs. The recipe is easy to get, because it comes straight from your trainer in Hellfire Peninsula! This pattern will stay yellow until 365, at which point it turns green. In theory, you could make this until 375.
• You may also find [Shadow Pearl]s in your bag of rewards from the daily fishing quests.

The rest of the haul will be accomplished in one of several ways. Either you can head to the auction house and pick up one of those pretty blue gem cuts for several hundred gold, or you can farm for a similarly rare, but non-world drop blue jewelry design. Check with your guild to see if they are hoarding any of these recipes, or if they are willing to run you for one.

You may choose to invest in the cuts that will be most useful to your guild, or you may want to consider the resale value of the product so that you can try to recoup some of your gold, even if this means spending even more initially.

Another, and potentially most viable, option is to have cultivated enough reputation to have achieved certain recipes by this point in time.

365-375: The world drop via the auction house (or luck) method.

• Most of these designs are yellow at 350 and go green at 365, so you're going to be making them for awhile to hit 375. Choose wisely when purchasing your designs here. Once you have them, you can solicit in trade and with friends to make the cuts with their materials, thus saving you the hassle and risk of purchasing the blue gems and not making as much of a profit as you would have liked.
• The cuts are done on the following blue gems:
• [Living Ruby]
• [Talasite]
• [Star of Elune]
• [Dawnstone]
• [Nightseye]
• [Noble Topaz]
• Keep in mind that the cheaper blue gems on the auction house may signal that the cuts, and thus designs, available for that gem are comparatively poor and may not bring you profit as quickly as you might hope.
• There are also a few world-drop jewelry recipes that would take you to 375 with less trouble than the above cuts, as they will start 365 at yellow and turn green at 375. Unfortunately, they may not sell as well.
  
• [Delicate Eternium Ring]
• [Thick Felsteel Necklace]
• [Living Ruby Pendant]

365-375: The farmed jewelry pattern method. These are non-world drops, but rare and bind on pick-up. The products are bind on equip and can be sold. Here is where your earlier creations of [Mercurial Adamantite] will come in handy.

1. The design for [Khorium Band of Frost] is bind on pick-up. It will be yellow at 365 and not turn green until 375, so it is ideal in that respect. For each band, you will need 2 [Khorium Bar], 4 [Mercurial Adamantite], and 3 [Primal Water]. The drop rate, according to Wowhead, is roughly 0.2% and it drops from the common Coilfang Sorceress in The Steamvault, on both normal and heroic modes.
   
2. The design for [Khorium Inferno Band] has a similarly poor drop rate, and can be found on Darkweaver Syth in Sethekk Halls on normal or heroic. The materials per ring are 2 [Khorium Bar], 4 [Mercurial Adamantite] and 3 [Primal Fire].
3. If you cannot reliably find good groups to farm instances, you can solo farm the design for [Khorium Band of Leaves]. Again, the design is bind on pick-up, and fairly rare, but definitely can be done without a group. Head to the southeastern portion of Blade's Edge Mountains and start killing Vekh'nir Dreadhawks. The materials are as above, but substituting 3 [Primal Life].

Onto the factions!
Now that we have effectively avoided having to have any reputation with anyone, let's see where having earned that love might come in handy when trying to level cheaply or easily. You will find that for your last 10-15 points, your hard-earned faction reputation might come in handy.

Patterns that give cheap skill points, but are faction-specific may net you more money at auction. This is because they may have more specialized stats, and because they will be rarer, as not every jewelcrafter will achieve exalted with every faction. If you simply must, check out our guide to reaching exalted with both the Aldor and the Scryers.

Faction-specific but notable patterns:

305 (yellow) - 325 (green) - 345 (gray):

• The design for [Gleaming Golden Draenite] can be purchased from the Aldor faction at Friendly, and thus is a perfectly feasible design to use in the early levels, although is unnecessary for leveling considering the amount of choice available for the skill bracket. Still, six spell critical rating is nothing to sneeze at!

315-325: These gems will be yellow at 315, green at 335, and gray at 355, making them ideal for the recommended level bracket.

1. [Runed Blood Garnet] cut can be obtained from the Scryers at Friendly.
   
2. The [Enduring Deep Peridot] cut can be snagged from Thrallmar or Honor Hold at Friendly. Seriously, Hellfire Peninsula has a lot for jewelcrafters!
   
3. At Friendly, the Consortium will give you access to the [Shifting Shadow Draenite] cut.
   
4. At honored, the Consortium will consent to sell you the design for [Thick Golden Draenite].

Above, we talked about the awkward period from 365-375, and mentioned some world-drop blue gem cuts. As an alternative to shelling out hundreds on the auction house, there are a few that can be obtained from faction reputation.

(350-) 365-375: The blue gem cuts from faction vendors method.
Like the cuts above for the same bracket, you will be working with a green pattern the entire way. This pattern is yellow at 350 and green by 365. As long as you are requiring that others bring their own materials, or you have a cheap source of [Talasite], you could begin this cut before 365. Just remember that talasite is comparatively cheap for a reason.

1. [Steady Talasite], although potentially not the most popular cut available, can be farmed quite easily. In fact, you don't even need to grind to exalted with anyone! All you will need is 4 [Halaa Research Tokens], which translates to 80 [Oshu'gun Crystal Powder Samples], which drops off of any mobs in Nagrand, although it is bind on pick-up so you will have to farm it yourself. Considering the number of quests to do in Nagrand, this amount (and more) can very reasonably be obtained while completing quests, with no need for grinding. Of course, should you choose to grind, I recommend the Ogres of Nagrand, as they will award faction reputation from within Garadar and Telaar.

Most recommended method to 375:
For a more challenging, but more lucrative option, I recommend that any jewelcrafter reach Exalted with the Consortium, not only because of their ample supply of designs, but also because they will give you a bag of gems every month for free, and at maximum reputation, the rewards can be very helpful. Because this is essentially a 'mandatory' venture, I will show you how to reach 375 using the items they have to sell you.

365-375: The Consortium reputation method. The following will either be orange or yellow, even at 375.

1. Honored: [Design: Powerful Earthstorm Diamond]. Meta gems can be highly sought-after, so having this design in your bag of tricks may get you a few skill points from people soliciting your help. I highly recommend specifying their materials only, as otherwise you need to deal with an alchemist who can perform [Transmute: Earthstorm Diamond] for you before you can make the cut.
   
2. Honored: [Design: Swift Skyfire Diamond]. Another meta gem, this will be of benefit to you to learn. You may find guildmates and individuals in the trade channel asking for the cut, and you can jump right in at no immediate expense to yourself. Should you attempt to acquire your own materials, you will need an alchemist who has [Transmute: Skyfire Diamond].
   
3. Revered: [Design: Bracing Earthstorm Diamond]. This is an excellent healing meta gem, and will require the same materials as (1) in order to obtain the uncut diamond.

While you may find that gathering the materials and obtaining the transmutes takes a bit of work, these are not too expensive to manufacture, sell well, and can often be cut at no expense of time or gold to you if you advertise in trade and by word of mouth. In addition, you'll be receiving a pile of blue and green uncut gems each month which will help fund your efforts.

Further reading:

1. Jewelcrafting, the final stretch part one
2. Tools for the crafter's toolbench.
3. Our consumer's guide to gems.
4. Changes to jewelcrafting as of patch 2.4.
5. Two online tools for jewelcrafters.