It would seem that the nerf bat has finally managed to swing its way towards glyphs. Or has it? Some of you may have read it, some may not but I decided it was a large enough of a change to give my thoughts on. Here's the full quote of the blue post from world of raids. The major change is the last bullet point.
Path of the Titans & Glyphs
* Path of the Titans has been scrapped and will not be implemented.
* Instead Blizzard will focus on improving the glyph system, as they feel it didn't quite hit the intended goals in Wrath.
* Glyphs will now be available in 3 categories: Major, "Medium" (PH name) and Minor.
o Major glyphs are core to each class and will be expected to be used to perform at maximum level.
o Medium glyphs will be to provide "fun" alterations to abilities.
o Minor glyphs will largely function as they do today.
* Based on the mockup shown, you'll be able to have 3 glyphs of each type at level 85: Major, Medium and Minor.
* The glyph UI will now display all of the glyphs available to your class, even if you haven't learned them yet, to the right of the section where you apply your glyphs.
* Blizzard wants to make glyphs permanent so you don't have to carry a stack of them around. Simply learn the glyph and then you can swap it whenever you want.
What does that mean? It means that you won't have to change out glyphs ever again. If you run 3 specs or like to min/max and change glyphs on a per fight basis you won't have to anymore. Granted nobody does that really outside of high end guilds, but there it is. With the addition of a 'medium' level glyph scribes will have another huge market to work in. And with so many people being of the mindset that "I MUST have everything" there will be a buying frenzy that will out do the dual spec glyph sales I'd bet. Unfortunately at some point most people will have bought all the glyphs their class can handle for all their toons. This might not be within the first month or two, but it will happen. When it does profits will go down considerably.
Does this mean that you shouldn't bother leveling a scribe? Hell no! If you stokpile the herbs and such now while the getting is good you'll be primed and ready for a huge amount of profit. Even if it's only temporary, it'll be a huge amount of it and almost all at once. I still stand by my advice to get yourself a scribe and stokpile all the inks that you possibly can. With there being a new tier of glyphs and changes to nearly every other glyph out there and addition of many new ones, inscription will be just as fierce as a money maker as it ever was. Even if it's only temporary.
The only question is how long should you stay in the business. Once profits start to slowly dwindle as more and more people have maxed out their glyphs for their class/spec and alts, you'll have to take a look at your rate of sales. Also since a lot of people (the cancel/post button monkeys) will consider this a complete nerf. And like any moron that sees a nerf all they can read is "no gud its for only nubs now." See ret paladins after the nerf bat hit the in the teeth then look at a geared ret paladin in ICC. Still 100% viable dps.
That means that there's a good possibility that all the major sellers on your server may leave or go down to only casually posting glyphs instead of rolling out the full glyph machine daily. If you get into a situation like this where there's barely any major competitors, or only one or two, then I'd say stick with the market fully. Plain and simple people will always need glyphs as everybody has an alt to level and gear and glyph out. And now they'll be much more likely to spend even more money on you since they have so many glyphs to buy.
It is my pseudo-professional opinion that inscription will still be a major profession in the AH scene, but it won't be the dominant force as it once was. If you don't have a scribe, get one to 450 and get all your research taken care of. Stokpile all the inks that you can and reap the rewards of your patience come Cata. Just remember to keep an eye out for further changes and look for signs that it's time to get out of the market once the new expansion craze dies down.
In the end it will depend on the server population mostly. Right now not many people trade out glyphs and use them like consumables, but there's still a booming market for them. In fact, not that many people have 3 different specs that they use often enough to change glyphs out for. But if you're on a higher pop server then that means more alts are getting rolled all the time, just like now. This is what's going to allow a scribe to sustain a big AH business just like they can now. And with new alts means more glyphs. And more twink enchants, and more leveling greens/blues. And more cheap farmed materials. God bless the alts.
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This is quite the announcement made because business will change and there will still be a market to sell to. This will just be a matter of applying new methods to sell the supply.
ReplyDeleteTicallion
Another thought would be if one is using inscription as the only method to make money, then that person is not planning very well. Cataclysm is coming up and there will be plenty of ways to make money. "God bless the alts." is right indeed. Hooray.
ReplyDeleteHow will changes to other professions be made like JC or Enchanting? I can only assume changes to AH strategies will need to be applied as well because of the leveling for professions will be changing. "God bless the alts."
Ticallion
I commented about this too. I saw the news and thought that the market was going before I even get into it properly along with other issues I have been having with the market.
ReplyDeleteBut then I thought, well, there will be those who go out and get all the glyphs available for the class. How many people are going to buy glyphs they wouldn't normally have because then they can mix and match without the added cost. Yes, it looks bad up front, and yes the market may be slower once everyone has stopped buying them all, but in the long run, who knows.
As Stokpile said, time to start stockpiling.
This announcement is a blessing to scribes. As things stand today, each character buys about 6-8 glyphs in a lifetime. It's not often that people bother changing a glyph once they've installed it (at least after level 80). That means that mostly scribes are catering to adventurers who do not already have a glyph in the slot they are intending to fill. In other words, new(ish) adventurers - characters still levelling, or new 80s.
ReplyDeleteAfter this change comes into effect, I expect most characters will at some stage buy every glyph available to their class. Of course a bonanza is coming in the early months of Cataclysm. But even after it has dies down, glyphs will be more in demand than they are today - we will still be catering to newish characters, but they will each buy a ton more glyphs than they do today.
Wow, so all the low pop server scribes look to be getting shafted here. But then again, every scribe has had the opportunity to make their fortune in this expansion, if people couldn't figure out that glyphs were making gold and chose to not do so then I guess that's their problem.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm reading this right, then essentially every class has the opportunity to complete a recipe book just like a profession. Completionists will go nuts getting them for all of their characters. By the math that means when 4.0 hits, several thousand glyphs of each type will be needed. That's a TON of DK glyphs.
The prudent thing to do then is to not bother selling during this market glut and to stockpile inks like mad if you want to take advantage of the initial market.
On my server, there are about 3000 accounts each side, 3000 X 10 possible characters X 30 glyphs per class = Get to work. Holy crap.
I've been making money on Armor Vellum III for months. Those of us who largely ignore the headache of glyph manufacturing won't notice this change. On the other hand, I'll have to have a bank full of glyphs crafted and ready for Cataclysm. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree this will be a boon for scribes. I expect most people to buy 30 or so glyphs over a characters life time rather than probably 12-15 (I doubt that most players change their glyphs regularly, and those that do probably have a guildie make a big batch on the cheap). It will also be great for non-scribe. I think this is a rare win-win situation.
ReplyDeleteAfter the initial fall out I agree that it's a tough call to make if the usual glyph profits will go up, down, or not change at all. If nothing else, like others have said there's going to be new markets for us all to work in by medium glyphs. But no matter what the case, they're going to be making money hand over fist.
ReplyDeleteIts not that "Blizzard wants" to make glyphs permanent, the indication is only that they have talked about it. There are WAY too many blogs out there stating that this glyph permanency will be fact. At this point, its still a big unknown.
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