Cataclysm Patch 4.3 Epic Gems - Pyrite Ore Is Fool's Gold After All

"I Pity The Fools That Stockpiled Pyrite Ore For Epic Gems!"

Cataclysm Patch 4.3 Epic Gems Will Come From Raid Bosses Only

Yup. That's correct.  Ghostcrawler (Greg Street) has finally spilled the beans on where Epic Gems will be coming from.  It is confirned that Epic Gems will be added in WoW Patch 4.3, which is also the last major content patch for the World of Warcraft Cataclysm expansion.  Epic gems are going to be coming from the new Deathwing raid content and will drop from normal and heroic mode bosses only (and not at all for the new easy difficulty raid option that is coming too).

These raid bosses will offer a rare drop "geode" for killing a raid boss in the new Patch 4.3 Deathwing raid content.  If the "geode" drops from a rare boss, each raid member will get their own "geode", which can then be opened to see what gems are inside.  There can be an epic gem or a rare gem.  This reminds me of the individual holiday boss loot bags (Like the Keg-Shaped Chest from killing Coren Direbrew, the Brewfest Boss), where you get your container and open it to see what you got.  Everyone gets one and everyone gets their own RNG roll when they open their "geode" container.  This helps eliminate the loot getting divided up in groups as everyone will get their "geode" and a chance at getting an epic gem.

Cata Epic Gems Unanswered Questions

That is a quick summary of what we currently know based on the various Blizzard staff interviews and Patch 4.3 information releases.  There are still some things that are unanswered that pertain to Epic Gems.  Hopefully we will see a Patch 4.3 PTR soon and learn more information on the fate of Epic Gems and Gem Cut Patterns.  These are the main questions that still need to be answered.

1. Will Epic Gems inside the "geodes" be raw Epic Gems or cut Epic Gems?
2. Will these Epic Gems be soulbound (BoP) or tradeable (BoE)?
3. Will there be Jewelcrafting recipes for cutting these Epic Gems?
4. What will the currency be that is used to purchase these Epic Gem recipe cuts?

In the notes there was a mention of new crafting recipes coming in WoW Patch 4.3, but there wasn't a specific reference to what professions would be getting new recipes.  Maybe there will be new recipes for Epic Gem Cuts or maybe new recipes for multiple professions.  We just have to wait and see to find out when more information is available.

Jewelcrafting in Patch 4.3 is not going to be the big gold earning profession that we all assumed it would be once Epic Gems were added into Cataclysm.  Even if Blizzard adds Epic Gem Cuts into the game and the Epic Gems from "geodes" are tradeable, they will still be rare and not a widely distributed commodity.  Only raiders will be able to obtain them.  As Jewelcrafters we may be stuck working mainly just for tips on cutting Epic Gems and we all know what a nightmare that fee pricing / tipping model that can be.

Pyrite Ore Is Fool's Gold

Pyrite Ore is also dubbed "Fool's Gold" in the real world.  You didn't invest too heavily into Pyrite Ore hoping to get rich when Epic Gems became available from Prospecting did you?  Pyrite Ore as a source of Epic Gems was nothing but pure speculation.  Today that speculative bubble burst and ruined the risky plans of many who choose to stock up on Pyrite Ore.  Today the prices are already crashing down and stacks are already under 100g for full stacks of Pyrite Ore on my server.  I feel bad for the foolish players that stocked up too much on speculation.  As in anything, it is a lesson to be learned.  Speculation is all about High-Risk taking in hopes of a High-Payout Reward should that speculation become true.  As with any major stockpile on speculation, you simply must have an escape route in case things don't work out as planned. 

If you didn't stock up of Pyrite Ore, then you can take advantage of the incoming Pyrite Ore crash.  Truegold Transmuting, Ebonsteel Belt Buckles, and Pyrium Bars are 3 outs you can take to unload your Pyrite Ore without losing too much gold.  You can also prospect and sell the rare gems you get, but be careful.  Volatile Earth and the current gems markets should both see prices continuing to drop as players churn through their massive stockpiles of Pyrite Ore.  I would hold onto Chimera's Eyes at this point until we know more.  If there is a new Prismatic Gem, it is possible that the "geode" would contain 1 piece that needs a Chimera's Eye added to it to become a full Prismatic Tear type gem (that is if the "geode" drops uncut epic gems).  I will work up another post to show ways to unload Chimera's Eyes for those of you that need tips on moving any that you may have stocked up on hoping for a new Prismatic Tear Epic Gem.

As of now, we just have to wait it out and look for more answers to our unanswered questions about Epic Gems in WoW Cataclysm Patch 4.3. 

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. Also Check Out The Teenager's Gold Guide To Get Started With Learning The Auction House As A Younger Player Or Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide.

Obsidium Ore Prospecting Crash Coming - MAYBE

Epic Gem Cooldown Removal?

The Data-Mined Cata Gems Vendor Price Change

So MMO-Champion has posted some data-mined information that shows a massive change to the vendor price of cut uncommon quality Cataclysm gems on the current PTR (Public Test Realm) build.

Jewelcrafting

•Bold Carnelian, Solid Zephyrite, Subtle Alicite, Perfect Quick Alicite, Sovereign Nightstone, Regal Jasper, Resolute Hessonite, and any cut of uncommon gem now sells to NPC for 75 silver instead of 9 gold.

Oh Fudge!  If you are like most players and sadly most bloggers, then the sky will be falling soon.  The gem vendor prices will be crashing, the obsidium shuffle will be dead, and all sorts of secondary markets will see major demand and supply changes.  Prospest and Sell all of your ore now before you get stuck with it.  Get out!  Unload your gems, unload your ores, get out from under the obsidium shuffle before it falls on you and leaves you with a major loss of profits.  Get out while you can!

Wait - Stop - Rewind....

Remember the Alchemy epic gem transmute cooldown removal fiasco from last expansion?  Remember when Just My Two Copper bought into the hype and cost a lot of Markco's lemmings a ton of gold from stockpiling for something that wasn't even real?  There was no epic gem cooldown removal, it was just changed to the midnight reset timer that is currently in use.  This may be the exact same type of issue.  I am here to tell you DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE UNTIL ITS PROVEN TRUE.  Just ask Markco and all the other bloggers who told you to stockpile for the epic cooldown removal.

What We Know

• Data-mined information isn't always correct.
• Data-mined information doesn't always go to the live servers.
• Data-mined information can change before being added to the patch notes.
• Data-mined information cannot in any way be fully trusted.
• The gem vendor price change is NOT in the patch notes.
• There have been no blue posts about a change.
• Blizzard would not "stealth change" something this big.
• If true, it will be added to the official patch notes.
• And even better:  The price of the uncut uncommon gems is 5 gold when vendored on the PTR.

Just more proof that something is mucked up.  The uncut gem sells for 5 gold, but the cut version sells for 75 silver.  If this isn't a huge red-flag, I don't know what else to show you.

Recommendations

The sky is not falling.  The markets aren't for sure going to be crashing.  These changes are not official.  Now it is possible that the price to cut and / or uncut gems will be lowered, but let's wait until it is official before we started to go to extremes.  One of the 2 prices (uncut and cut) is obviously wrong, so let's wait it out.  Something this big will be added to the patch notes.  Why not wait until it is official before believing all this hype about crashing market?  I'm not saying this is completely innaccurate and it could go to the live WoW servers, but be careful in what you follow until its official.  If we learned anything from the epic gem cooldown fiasco it is to only believe blue posts and patch notes as all it takes is one site promoting something to get a snowball rolling that may not even be true.   So don't be a little JMTC lemming.  Learn to think and analyze situations for yourself.

Pyrite Ore, Epic Gems, and Volatile Life: Reader Submission

Reader Submission - Huntrix of Akama

Hello mate, I've been reading your guide every day now for the past month or two, But I've had a question I believe you haven't answered on any of your posts yet.


My names huntrix, im from realm Akama horde, im sitting on 180kish in gold, and i probably have another 50-100k in liquid mats I think, I have alot of abyss crystals, saronite ore, and Argent tournament pets. I have about 100 metas saved up for the patch, and I plan on buying the new meta pattern, by camping the AH and buying it for whatever price it is and start mass cutting metas for a good price.

Any way my question is: Do you think it is worth it to invest into the Pyrite Ore due to one of the next patches that Pyrite Ore will be able to be prospected into EPIC gems? And at what price would you recommend buying the pyrite ore, and how many stacks would you invest in?

Also my other question is what do you think about Volatile Lifes, i've been reading that tons of people are buying these up for pretty cheap to sell them later? I haven't really read alot about the volatile lifes so my knowledge on this is lacking

Any way thanks again I hope you answer back my question!
huntrix

*************************

Thanks for the reader submission, Huntrix.

Volatile Life - If you are finding these cheap I would definately pick up some to flip at a higher price.  These Volatile Lifes are required to create Darkmoon Cards and Decks so you can buy them throught the month to sell during the week of the Darkmoon Faire.  This was the case for Primal Lifes and Eternal Lifes as well.  The 1 week during the faire you will see a spike in demand, thus higher sales volumes and prices.

Also Patch 4.0.6 includes 3 new alchemist stones and all of them require 50 Volatile Life to craft, so now alchemists can choose a stone other than +stamina and go for a major stat like +str, +int, or +agi.

Pyrite Ore - Once it is patched in that prospecting Pyrite Ore creates epic gems the price will inflate overnight and will result in an overall higher value of the stacks of ores.  This is not being added in Patch 4.0.6 yet.  Just like Titanium prices went up when the epics started to be able to come from those ores.  You then have 2 options. 

You can buy reasonably prices Pyrite Ore and then flip it later, or you can buy it now while its cheaper and then prospect it later once the epic gems are patched in.  Either way could earn you a nice return on investment, especially if you have saved up jewelcrafting tokens to get the new epic cuts as they are released.  Not sure what a good price would be to buy at, but buying at 75% or less of current value should be a fail safe method.
Thanks Again Huntrix!

If you have a question you would like addressed feel free to email it to me, or email it over at the Auction Hosue Junkies homepage, if you would it to be addressed on the podcast.

Obsidium Ores & The Big Three Professions Shuffle

Obsidium Ore Selling Idiots

Obsidium Ore - Farming The Auction House

Obsidium Ore was listed at very low prices on the Auction House.  Who would sell Obsidium Ore at such a low price?  Probably ignorant and uninformed farmers or players too lazy to put these to good use.  These Obsidium Ores were selling from 29 - 35g for full stacks, when I logged in early in the morning to hunt for deals.  My Mammoth Mining Bags are now overflowing as I bought 8k gold worth of Obsidium Ore at this price.  Wes, I beg to differ.  The dumbest Warcraft players are on my server!  Time to shuffle all these ores for major profits.

The Big Three Professions

The Big Three is the excellent gold making profession combination of Jewel Crafting, Alchemy, and Enchanting.  It was an added bonus if you had an Alchemist / Enchanter and could take advantage of disenchanting the Bind-On-Pickup Epic Alchemist trinkets for Maelstrom Crystals.  As of yesterday's hotfix, these are no longer able to be disenchanted.  The Big Three has been very profitable through out Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and now into Cataclysm.  Jewelcrafting was introduced in the Burning Crusade expansion, so The Big Three did not exist during Vanilla World of Warcraft.  If you are stuck and looking to expand your gold making oppurtunities, be sure to have The Big Three Professions covered.

• Jewelcrafting - Is used primarily for prospecting ores into uncommon and rare gems.  Also is used for crafting jewelry and weapons (like Carnilian Spikes) to be disenchanted.  Also is used for cutting gems and jewelry to vendor for a profit or sell on the Auction Houses of Azeroth.
• Alchemy - Is used to transmute gems and meta-gems, truegold and living elements. 
• Enchanting - Is used to disenchant jewelry and other items to create Enchanting materials like Dusts, Essences, and Shards.  Also used to create Enchanting scrolls to sell on the Auction House.

I also recommend that you take a look at the Venture, LLC Blog.  Stede has a nice post about making gold from Selling Cataclysm Jewelry.

Shuffling Your Ores

1. Buy ores from the Auction House or gather from farming.
2. Have the Jewelcrafter prospect the ores for gems.
3. Cut the rare gems and post on the Auction House.
4. Sell uncommon gems raw, cut and vendor, or craft jewelry & weapons for disenchating.
5. Send all jewelry and weapons to Enchanter.
6. Send some gems to Alchemist to Transmute rare gems and metagems.
7. Send those transmuted gems back and cut them to sell on the Auction House.
8. Have Enchanter disenchant all items and sell some Enchanting materials raw on the Auction House.
9. Create Enchanting scrolls to sell on the Auction House.

This processing of ores is profitable with most of the ores, but especially the newest forms of ores.  If you don't have The Big Three covered with your professions, then I highly suggest you start working towards having all three professions.  Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, and Enchanting are an excellent first set of professions to be working towards.

Are you covering The Big Three in your World of Warcraft gold making process?

$$$ Golden Draenite $$$

One of my very first posts, late in last year I wrote about Yellow GoldMines. While the Autumn's Glow market has crashed on my server, the markets for Golden Draenite has gotten even more profitable as the farmers have been killed by Warden 2.0! Forget the Saronite Shuffle, its Adamantite Shuffle Time! Anytime I prospect and get a Golden Draenite its easy gold, selling for 40-45g each within hours. It's THE GEM to get. Don't foget to get your Netherstorm Bag of Jewels once per month from the camp in Nagrand.