Epic Gems - Xmutes & My Thoughts

NOTE: Pro tip. Max out your justice points on ALL of your different toons. Maelstrom crystals will be sold for about 3750 JP come 4.1 so get a head start.


Continuing from yesterday on the subject of epic gems. Yesterday we covered pyrite ore prospects and why it isn't too likely. After pyrite ore prospecting, the next thing that people are thinking of are alchemy xmutes. Once again there is no clear pattern here for this. However there is more validity to this claim than that of prospecting pyrite ore.

In TBC there were no xmutes for gems epic or otherwise, but in wrath you could xmute rares and epics. Now the so called "pattern" here has a bit more going for it. Giving these people the benefit of the doubt, the event of having gem xmutes twice counts as a pattern. Though in my opinion twice in the same expansion isn't nearly as important as once in two different expansions would be. And now in cata, we can xmute rare gems with the current commons and herbs. Twice in the last expansion and once in the current one gives this a very high possibility of happening. Enough so that I'd wager my bank on it.

Could it be that epics will require 3 rares and 3 herbs? Who knows, but that would definitely be a huge boon to the JC market on top of the epic gems. That is definitely something I'd like to see. Especially since I'm stokpiling all of my rares that don't sell instead of vendoring them.

I think that if any of the popular beliefs on epic gems are to be believed, this one is the most likely situation. I say this because you can use herbs to xmute rare gems. In wrath it was eternals but now there aren't enough volatile/eternals to associate with each color gem. So unless blizz adds in a new volatile shadow or some such I doubt it'll be that. So if xmuting gems comes out, which I'm sure it will, this is the most likely way they'll come. You may also require rare gems or a handful of commons.

There is also the possibility that nobody has mentioned yet. An epic gem xmute will require all of the above. It could wind up needing 2 rare gems, 6 common gems, 3 herbs, and a random volatile. With the current over abundance of common and rare gems I wouldn't be shocked if this were the case as they would be quite accessible for everybody and the price almost as low as the current rares. That would let everyone have their fair share of epics for all of their alts. What I expect is that the epic gem transmutes will require herbs and rares, and possibly something else in addition to that.

So that's my take on pyrite ore and and xmutes, but the main question hasn't been answered yet. Where will they come from? Well there is one pattern that has and always will stay consistent and reliable. Gems come from prospecting and gems come from mining. This means that the only thing we know with certainty is that there will either be a new ore, a current ore will yield epic gems, or they will be mined from "gem" nodes. I believe also that there will (most likely) be a transmute for epic gems requiring any combination of current materials.

Any materials? That's quite a bit to stokpile and requires more storage than even I can muster. Let alone the gold investment needed to have a decent size stokpile. So what's a goblin to do? Like I've said before, one can only have as much preparation as one has foresight. The short version of anything mentioned about epic gems is that nobody knows.

Then there is the potential for a new zone, new dailys hub, new raid, and new mining nodes. It's just as possible as anything else is. Though this isn't something that I can put much of a comment on. It would definitely be pretty nifty to squeeze in another zone to muck about in.

If I had to pick a possibility of where epic gems will come from, I would have to say that they will come from raids a la TBC. I think they will either come in the form of the tried and true gem bags and/or mining nodes. I base this on absolutely nothing more than a gut feeling. It will either be this or the Firelands in 4.2 won't be just a new raid, but it will gate us to a new zone with a new map. The biggest argument against a new zone is the question of where would they put it? A zone with it's own map somewhere in the middle of nowhere such as deepholm is the answer. But I have been wrong before.

My best possible advice is twofold. First you should definitely stokpile something. Second, only stokpile something that you'll be using in bulk if you pick completely wrong. There's a ton of guess work going on and plenty of things to reference, but zero information from blizz on the subject. Make your choice, even if that choice is to do nothing but wait and hope that you chose wisely. Or just got lucky.


Thanks for stopping by!