alchemy
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Specifics on flask changes, plus new elixirs
So by now you've probably seen a little bit about the current Alchemy shake-ups. But if you haven't been on the PTRs, you might not necessarily know the specific numbers involved. Fortunately, Eyonix made a nice post a little while ago about a specific example of the reduced effect and ingredients of flasks. Ready? You might want to be sitting down for this, it's a big nerf. Here we go:Flask of Mighty Restoration - Current Instant Regenerate 70 mana per 5 sec for two hours. Dreaming Glory x20 Mana Thistle x10 Fel Lotus x1 Flask of Might Restoration - Patch 2.1 Instant Regenerate 25 mana per 5 sec for two hours. Dreaming Glory x7 Mana Thistle x3 Fel Lotus x1 (Please Note: The drop rate for Fel Lotus is also being increased by approximately 15% in the same patch) Players will notice that while the effect of the flask has been dramatically reduced, so has the cost to create one. All alchemy flasks will be adjusted similarly.In short, the effect and cost of the flask have been reduced to about a third of their previous values. This is a big deal -- Tigole wasn't kidding when he said earlier that flasks had been significantly reduced. He then goes on to compare this to a similar elixir:
More on Alchemy changes
As recently revealed in the profession revamp preview, Alchemy is getting a pretty major nerf in 2.1: players are only going to be able to have two elixirs up at once, one each of offensive and defensive (the categorization of particular elixirs is yet to be determined, though in most cases it's fairly predictable). There's been some discontent about this among the alchemists, understandably, since it means less demand for their craftables. Now we have a bit more rationale, along with one major piece of new information: Flasks will work in this new system by taking up both the offensive and defensive elixir slots. So if you drink a flask, you can't have any other alchemy buffs up.The rationale Blizzard gave is along expected lines, and reminds me of the Decursive issue. Basically, since a cornucopia of buffs was theoretically available to raiders, Blizz had to tune boss encounters around having all those consumables on. If the encounters were tuned around few or no consumables, people like Nihilum would blow through all the content in a month, since they'd just flask up and would therefore be "overpowered" from the perspective of raid design. On the other hand, the way it is now has problems too. Since encounters are balanced with an array of flasks and elixirs in mind, they can be very hard if you don't use all those consumables, thus leading to heavy gold requirements for raiding.I think the solution they've come up with is pretty decent. It basically levels the playing field a certain amount, so that you have a much smaller opportunity to buy more leeway in your raid encounters. This means less gold for raiding. And new encounters are going to be balanced with only a few consumable buffs in mind, so in theory we shouldn't see much of a difference -- we'll be weaker, but so will the bosses. Current content will be rebalanced as necessary, although I imagine at least at first we'll see a stepping up in difficulty, at least those of us who are used to downing flasks and elixirs like so much Gatorade.Blue post copied after the cut. Oh, and one small ray of sunshine for alchemists: elixirs will now be able to stack with class buffs, so (for instance) an intellect elixir will now be useful, where before it would have not stacked with Arcane Intellect/Brilliance. This will lead to some new recipes being introduced that would previously have been useless. We are also going to be eventually getting some new recipes that might have been overpowered before.
Duplicate recipes create ingame scam
Tobold has found a strange little ingame scam that high level alchemists might fall into if they're not careful. Before the expansion came out, the recipe for Flask of Distilled Wisdom was an extremely rare drop from the last boss of Live Strat. Because it was so rare, the recipe could sell for hundreds of gold on the AH. Tobold thought he was getting one for a bargain at 150g, until he actually tried to learn it.Turns out he got the Recipe: Flask of Distilled Wisdom instead, which is exactly the same thing (produces exactly the same potion), but is available for a mere 4 gold from the Cenarion Expedition quartermaster in Zangarmarsh. The only catch is that while both are BoE (which means they can both be sold on the AH), the Cenarion version requires that you be exalted with the Expedition to learn it. Which isn't super hard, but the fact is that players who are exalted can buy this recipe for 4g, and sell it on the AH to unsuspecting alchemists for hundreds of gold.Of course, this scam has an expiration date, because as soon as word gets out that a) it's a scam, and b) the recipe is available for 4g in Zangarmarsh as long as you're exalted, the AH price will likely drop anyway. As Tobold says, Blizz could fix it by simply making the Zangarmarsh recipe BoP, but Blizzard probably thought they were doing players a favor by turning a rare drop into a rep reward. Anyway, if you happen to be shopping around for high level flask recipes, buyer beware.
Blue Notes: Alchemy is random, the Consortium are swindlers
One of the neatest-sounding profession changes in a while is the alchemy discovery feature, where an alchemist crafting things had a small chance to spontaneously discover a new, rare recipe. A lot of people are unhappy with exactly how rare these recipes are, though; Drysc responds: The discoveries aren't intended to be common, they're extremely rare in fact. It's really intended to be a bonus if you happen to get one, and not something every alchemist is guaranteed to see. They're so rare that if you're putting effort purely towards discovery you could be spending a lot of time and resources to simply be disappointed. If you do find one, it should be a happy discovery, and not a waste of time if you don't. What I'm saying is don't expect to discover one, but if you do then congratulations.This makes a lot of sense to me: it's more or less a waste of time to grind for them, so just go about your business and be happy if you get one. Like a world epic. Drysc elaborated:
Double trouble -- two new Fullmetal Alchemist videos [Update 1]
As wanna-be alchemists, we have yet to grasp the idea of turning random objects into ass kicking devices. Trust us, we have tried and failed several times. Something about making a ten ton bowling ball of destruction come out of thin air is very appealing. The two new videos for Fullmetal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy are an introduction of sorts for lead star Edward and his masculine friend, the appropriately named, Alex Armstrong. One thing we do know is don't test Edward's temper with whirling tornadoes of fire. He really doesn't take it too well. See the videos after the break! [Update: Fixed the link and general computard mistakes.]
Electrifying Full Metal Alchemist screens
Note the full-bodied burst of energy, an electric explosion up front that evens into a smooth, velvety battle with a few hints of fruit (mostly in the hair). That up-front energy has a whiplash effect, an off-the-chart acidity that would burn if not for the dampening apricot that soothes the throat. Yes, friends, these Full Metal Alchemst screens are like watching water become wine, except nothing like that at all, really. There isn't any apricot, either. We're sorry for misleading you. What Full Metal Alchemist: Dual Sympathy does have, however, is an epic quest to find the Philosopher's Stone, and along the way our heroes, Alponse and Edward, may rain a little righteous judgment down on those evil Homunculi. And that's got a finish to please any palate. Check after the jump for a few more screens from the upcoming game.
Alchemy produces and ships new HDTV "lip-sync" solution - DDL & DDL4
Don't you hate it when the audio is just a half-a-sec ahead/behind the movement of the lips. Oh we can't stand that, but Alchemy has a new solution that will hopefully put the end to the notorious Chinese Kung Fu movie syndrome. Simply plug in your digital audio cable to this little magical box and then output it to your receiver via another digital wire. You can then select the amount of delay to make it as precise as you want. Alchemy has made it easy for you to work as well with a built-in IR code learner so when you switch your receiver to another input, this box will switch as well. The two source DDL retails for $399 and while the four source DDL4 only fifty bucks more at $449. Monster Cable is getting into this game too and will be selling the DDL4 under the MonsterISF brand for surprisingly the same price.
