Can someone explain Alchemy to me?

Community General Discussion
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So just some small context first. i’m a newish player, been playing on and off for a long time till actually started playing the game during Legion, stopped plaything again during Legion, and started back up when bfa was announced and I’ve been happily playing since.

So because of that I’ve never really understood professions all that much. And the one I mainly wanna get some help on is Alchemy, I’m lvling a Priest right now and I was originally gonna go with Alchemy & Herb but I keep jumping back and forth between Disc and Shadow. The reason this is even an issue is because for some reason I have the thought in my head of Alchemy only helps healers and are useless to tanks and dps.

So my question is, how and or if does alchemy help a dps, specifically a ranged caster dps like Shadow Priest?

Also, side question: Would you guys rather go Alchemy & Herb or Tailoring & Enchanting on a Priest.

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It saves/makes money.

All classes use flasks and potions all the way to end-game. Mostly at end-game.

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Herbalism/Alchemy is a pretty solid pick for a new player. You’ll be making potions and flasks with the reagents you’re able to collect yourself, and they’re always in demand for raiders.

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You make buffs for raids. = money for you that you can also use ti buy stuff. More gear or vabity rewards.

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Well, the upside with alchemy is being able to craft the potions and getting the chance of procing multiple potions. So 1 potion requiring 5 mats, you craft it, and you might get just 1, or get 5.

Your flasks also last longer! In the end, going alchemy will save you money. You could also go tailoring but that is only useful if you plan on doing heroic>mythic raiding as that is when the gear you craft becomes usable. Tailoring is also one of the cheapest professions to have. You’ll have thousands of mats for a few thousand gold. But like I said, the gear you craft is useless outside the gear that comes from doing raids which provide you with either a currency or the chance to craft high ilvl gear. Click my character and view my profile to see an example of a pair of pants you can craft. They come with a socket where you can add a gem. You’re able to craft gloves as well.

If you are thinking of going shadow priest, be aware that starting out with leveling gear and slowly gearing up is not going to be much fun. You have no burst so leveling/killing outer world stuff is going to be painful. Your voidform, the iconic thing about shadow priests, won’t last long early on because you don’t have any haste.

Haste/crit gear is also rare and kinda hard to come by and that’s the only stats you care about. The upside is that they scale well and are really good in spread target dmg. Your utility is also a bit niche and in places like mythic+ dungeons, people will prefer other classes.

BUT! I find the class to be fun and it’s really nice for raiding. And there’s always some boss where you’re amazing at so you’ll most always be wanted for raids.

Also, I believe alchemists at 120 get a chance to find cauldrons on the outer world. Those cauldrons provide 30 flasks which are useful when you raid. So that will overall save your guild/group money.

So yeah, i’d pair alchemy with herbalism. Herbs sell very well at the start of new expansions and they’re a great way to make money. So keep an eye on that if you’re around for the one after BFA. One thing I don’t like about BFA is that Anchor weed is a random spawn and you can’t directly target it. It’s also the main source of what you’ll craft.

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Hmm, I have to disagree. You may have found it “not much fun,” and “painful,” but that’s definitely not a universal experience. Fun is subjective, and you paint a pretty dim picture of the leveling process. Not too encouraging.

OP, I’d take what that person said with a grain of salt, and remember it’s just an opinion. To contrast, I had great fun leveling my Shadow Priest. Never had a problem killing anything solo, and I always brought solid DPS and utility to a group.

Professions don’t work like that anymore. In the past, they did provide specific benefits, e.g., your strength would increase as you mined minerals, and since strength is good for certain classes and specs, those classes and specs would want mining for the +Strength.

Nowadays, they don’t do that, though. So, in the case of Alchemy, you have a profession that makes potions and flasks, among other things. The potions may be something like a health pot (restores health, good for every class and spec), or an elixir that increases your intellect/strength/agility for a small period of time, or some other stat such as haste, critical strike, versatility, etc.

You can:

  • Make your own health and mana pots.
  • Craft trinkets that give a 40% increase to the efficacy of the pots I just mentioned.
  • Make your own intellect flasks (+DPS / +Heals), potions, etc.

It’s personal preference - your best bet is to read up on both profesions (well, actually, all professions), and then choose one. If you do Tailoring and Enchanting, you’ll still benefit. There really isn’t a profession that you cannot benefit from.

With T&E:

  • You can make your own bags, lots of different gear, and via disenchanting most of that gear, you’ll provide yourself with the mats to level enchanting.
  • You can enchant your own gear (+Int, +Str, +Just about any stat.)
  • Enchants sell for good money, but that’s an end goal. Early enchants sell for very little, if at all.
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It’s basically mixology, but instead of getting plastered, you just end up a skeleton.

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Sorry, but no. The problem isn’t about being able to kill, but efficiently being able to kill in comparison to a class that has burst options.

I leveled a mage I had boosted to 110 and went fire. Boy was that an entire new world compared to when I leveled my priest with heroic argus gear and 2 legendaries which got worse once i started replacing that with quest gear.

The mage also had the advantage of being mobile and having good cc. Of course for a new player like them, this won’t matter much as they won’t have any other experience to compare starting brand new with a priest is like.

And great utility? Mass dispel and leap of faith which we just got back are very niche and you’ll rarely be using them. I use leap of faith to troll my guild mates more than doing it for something in a fight.

Even for beckon, that becomes useful if someone didn’t do their job and run back.

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Sorry, but yes, LOL. What do you think, I’m making this stuff up? I have something like 80 days /played on my Shadow Priest (and over 350 days /played on this toon, over 700 days /played total), so I have the experience to speak from.

Any class and spec can be competitive in DPS when played with some basic skill. Are you going to out-burst other classes in end-game content? Dunno, probably not, though last I checked people were calling for Shadow Priest nerfs because they’re so high out front in DPS rankings.

OP is level 17. The differences in DPS output and the need for huge bursts of DPS only become relevant at very high end-game levels.

For questing, leveling, dungeons (normal, heroic and low level mythic), LFR, normal and heroic raids, standard PVP, etc., Shadow Priests are as relevant and strong as every other class.

And yeah, utility. OP is a new player, as they said, and you’re forgetting the basics:

  • Fortitude Buff
  • Self-heals / Off-heals
  • Dispells, both offensive and defensive
  • Mind Control has it’s cool niche uses here and there, both solo, and in groups.
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you can make good potions to boost a stats for a while. Usually for raid but assume no level locks in place you can run older alchemy up for “raid” potions to use normally. And not pay high price for them.

Also gold is power. Sell off stuff and buy items if stuck later on. My S. priest was stuck in wand hell. No staff drops in bfa, getting wands but…no offhand. Wands need offhand for stats.

Potion sales funded buying whatever was on the AH not losing too much money to ride that out till one day a staff dropped. Not even an omfg great staff. But it was good enough to leave wand hell for me lol.

Professions for pure leveling leverage…at least herbology. XP…this can bring in very decent amounts. I personally herb and mine all alts to 120 then have them pick “real” professions.

If the rock/plant gods favor you take in tons of xp this way. Save the rock/herbs for alts or sell it on AH. Player choice there. I feed alts for OCD complete tries on older crafting completes but thats me.

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Yeah dude, you’re not even reading what I’m saying and are arguing for some other point.

And will repeat this point again and say that our utility is very niche. Mass dispel and leap of faith are things i almost never get to use.

Mind control? I don’t think I’ve used that ability this entire expac besides mind controlling horde into portals which I think doesn’t even work anymore.

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I am reading everything you say. Where would you get that idea?

Have you read what I wrote? Then dispute a specific point. 'Cause I don’t see any specific disputes.

I literally listed utilities we have that are relevant and useful, you skip over those and go off on Leap of Faith. Did I say anything about Leap of Faith? Actually, no, though it has its uses as well (pulling DPS out of “the fire,”), I didn’t.

Your loss. It has niche uses that can sometimes save your butt, sometimes make pulls easier for a group, sometimes make things easier in general.

So, again, I say that leveling a Shadow Priest can be quite fun and entertaining. If, for some reason, I didn’t find it fun, I’d take that as a “me problem” and not try to discourage others.

And viable in endgame? Certainly.

Overall, as solid a choice as any other class, both for leveling, and endgame.

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Dude you’re arguing against me about how well they are for end-game content when in my post I literally said they scale well and are amazing in certain raid fights where anyone would want you.

My entire point of the post was to warn them that leveling in the outer world is not going to be as good as other classes that have access to more BURST and CC, like a FIRE mage. And I warned them that their iconic voidform will not last long because they won’t have as much haste.

You say you read what I wrote, but you didn’t actually. And please, a stam buff that one has access to with an inscription scroll that costs like 100g. And once again, the utility is very niche and OP will probably never get to use them.

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I would definitely go Herb/Alchemy over Chanting/Tailoring simply b/c you get way more out of Alchemy/Herb than Chant/Tailoring. I will say, however, if you have another character to play/level, go Chant/Tailoring on them just so you will have Chanting at higher level -

That being said, here is why Alch/Herb is better imho -

Alchemy you can craft health and rejuv pots - those help replenish health and mana

Alchemy provides potions(more so an end game thing) that help you with your dps openers etc for 25 sec which coincides with Lust/Time Warp etc and helps in your all around dps output.

Alchemy allows you to craft cauldrons for your raids for the essential flasks each class needs

Alchemy also allows you to craft your own trinkets

Herbalism not only is essential in your Alchemy but it also adds some leveling xp as you level up. Up to 3k each herb, as long as you’re at rested xp(your xp bar being blue) and a little over 1k if you’re not rested.

Alchemy/Herb is also a very good gold maker at max - can make a little bank during leveling as well, but that’s sometimes dependent upon what server you’re on, as well as what ppl might be looking for at any given time. But at max level, it’s definitely a go to for gold making.

Just a footnote here for leveling - With my characters, up until between 110 and max, I simply took mining and herb b/c they both grant the added XP I was describing for herb in my prior explanation - and then I take on the craftable profession - Alchemy, Scribe, tailor etc in higher levels.

But that’s just my take on it. Hope it helps a little. I’m not here to push ego or make you think a certain way. Just give my take.

Good luck OP. :slight_smile:

:sparkles:

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I am not, whoa. You go back and read. I am arguing that they are fun to level and just as easy to level as any other class and spec. That they are viable in end-game is just a side point.

I’ll leave it at that for now because you seem to get confused with larger posts.

So, do you understand that, for starters? That I am not arguing anything about endgame? I am arguing that they are fun to level (positivity), versus your “they are no fun and painful” (negativity).

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I guess we both lack reading comprehension, let’s leave it at that. :slight_smile:

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Erm, no, thanks. I comprehend everything just fine.

This is all I ever said about your post, and it stands:

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lol Nice, I didn’t even see your post until just now after I’d posted mine and we touch on a lot of the same things. :slight_smile: (I"d give a like, but I’m out for about 11 hrs so here pls have a heart :blue_heart: )

I don’t want to detract from what the OP actually came here and posted this thread about - derailing can be really annoying, but I just wanted to say HEY GMTA!!! (Great Minds Think Alike)

Apologies OP for the temp derailment. Again, good luck!

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In a nut shell
You will have a 2 hour flask buff…
Instead of the normal 1 hour
Only good its for

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I really appreciate long posts like this so, thank you a bunch for taking some time out of your day to help me out :smiley:

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