So as of right now I have 7 of the 8 tools of the trade crafted while waiting on the materials for the mallet (WHY BLIZZARD DID YOU THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA THAT LEATHERWORKERS CAN ONLY GET SPIRIT OF THE BESTED ONCE EVERY 15 MINS AND THAT YOU NEED 15 OF THEM!!!)
So here are my thoughts on each item:
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Synchronous Thread- I must say I very much so enjoyed the questline it was very deaths of chromie esq. The time tears are great where they can give you a decent buff which may be useful in world pvp but the bread and butter is when the rift drops a time-lost npc who sells you old recipies no longer obtainable for tailoring just make sure you have ALOT of Embroidered Deep Sea Satin for all of the recipies. Also finding more cloth is always helpful and all of the special materials are boss drops making it one of the easiest to get.
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Iwen’s Enchanting Rod- The quest was intresting giving a bit more of the Drust lore but its not as standout as the Tailoring quest. The on use effect should never be used because its simply not worth it. The only good thing about the rod is you will be getting more materials every time you DE items and thats about is. The Lingering Drust Essence has a nice farm spot in Drustvar where 3 matron witches spawn relatively fast (as they are a story quest for the main story for alliance) and they drop 3-6 each kill so after killing them 10 times you should be good and have your rod made in no time.
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Sanguine Feather Quill of Lana’thel- This items quest was the most unique and engaging In my opinion where you learn these dark ways of the blood contracts which have you siphoning your own blood! The contracts themselves are ok if your doing world content but aren’t worth the materials. The on use effect of draining life of dead mobs is ok, I will have it on my action bar if im bored or waiting on the healer to eat/drink to regen mana. The material you will have to farm is Coagulated Miasma which you need 50 of. I found the best way was solo’ing normal underrot up to the first boss. Using my paladin as protection spec I only needed to clear the trash up to the first boss 3 separate times, The first time I only got 5 Miasma, the 2nd run I got 28 Miasma, and the 3rd run I got 17 Miasma. Results may vary so keep on trying and bringing a friend along can make the grind faster. Overall the item is interesting at best but has no real meta uses aside from saying you have it.
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Silas’ Sphere of Transmutation- NOW THIS IS PROFESSION ITEM! The questline is ok nothing really special. The on use effect is the reason why every alchemist should get this item. It essentially is the crown from Opulence with what it can transform into some good some bad. One of the transmutes can be a health potion which is nice where you don’t have to dip into your supplies during raid night or on a Mythic+ run. While the prosperity potion can have you create multiple potions/flasks which is really useful to make a quick profit. The other two transformations are a cosmetic change much like the orb of deception and a hearthstone/flight master’s whistle which is always nice. Unfortunately you have no choice in which one you want the sphere to transmute to but its still amazing to have. The 50 anchor weed and the cauldron is a steep price to buy on the AH but it is very much so worth it for the long run especially where the cauldrons out in the world can provide you with flasks that you can sell. Overall get this item ASAP if your an Alchemist.
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Khaz’gorian Smithing Hammer- The quest only stood out to me because getting the schematic was very quick… then you find out you need a special forge to craft the hammer which you go out and continue the quest to craft it. This tool is mediocre at best where its on use and proc effects aren’t worth it at all. Sure if your making a 415 plate item it “could” be useful but its just not worth doing on multiple characters with blacksmithing. The Titan’s Blood needed is easily farmable in Silithus at Crags where players fly inbetween 2 and will take you about 30-40 mins to farm all you need. Overall unless you’re not a completionist like me don’t bother with crafting it.
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Ub3r-Spanner- This items quest was pretty neat to go through and is one of my favorites next to the synchronous thread quest. The spanner actually has some combat uses where I found the sentry is the most impactful for dps. So defiantly feel free to use it on its 15 min CD when in a raid or dungeon where that slight dps boost can actually be useful. The best thing about the on use effect is that it costs nothing to use unless you use a want to specify what is summoned but thats up to you. I know on my prot paladin I won’t care which is summoned where I am tanking. The 2 power cores drop from 2 different mobs so check WoWhead for details! Overall this is tool is worth picking up.
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Jewelhammer’s Focus- The quest for this item is not that interesting. The world effect of finding geodes with gems in them is pretty decent depending on how well gems sell on your AH (Like owlseye and kracken’s eye sell for a pretty penny on my server) but worse case scenario if they don’t sell well gems vendor for a decent chunk of gold. The on use effect is just ok, nothing more nothing less, you won’t need to craft another kraken’s eye for a socket again and can pull gems out once you get an upgrade. The fine azerite power will cause you to clear the trash mobs in Tol Dag’or between the 2nd and 3rd boss multiple time it took me 5 runs to get all of what I needed. The 5 kraken’s eyes are easy enough to get ahold of. I would recommend any jewcrafter to pick up this item if they are out in the world alot where it can make them some gold off of gems.
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Mallet of Thunderous Skins- I will say this the quest for alliance side was pretty nice with the tasks you do. However thats the only nice thing I can say about this item. If you are a shaman or hunter you already have access to lust/hero so this items on use effect is worthless already. The blessings are ok but only work out in the world so if your doing WPvP it could be useful to you. And the Long Regal Sinew you just kill Rezan 4 times in Atal’dazar which is easily soloable on normal. HOWEVER the 15 Spirit of the Bested you need is annoy to get. You can only get 1 within each 15 minute time frame from X:00, X:15, X:30, and X:45 on your server’s clock… so essentially you can only get 4 of the materials every 1 hour. So pretty much take your leatherworker park him infront of a rare beast mob like Sythian the Swift in Tiragarde Sound and kill it every 15 mins then log out and wait to kill them again. IF Blizzard made it so that you could just go around Zuldazar/Kul’Tiras and kill 15 different rare beasts that would be SO MUCH MORE EASIER instead of just needing to sit down and have to wait 4 hours of killing 1 beast 15 times.
So my order of the items by usefulness:
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Silas’ Sphere of Transmutation- A must get item!
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Synchronous Thread and Ub3r-Spanner I have them tied where they are both extremely useful though one for farming cloth the other with adding dps.
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Iwen’s Enchanting Rod- More materials from disenchanting which is useful
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Jewelhammer’s Focus
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Sanguine Feather Quill of Lana’thel- Least it has a minor on use heal.
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Khaz’gorian Smithing Hammer and Mallet of Thunderous Skins- Just not worth it at all, For Mallet drums are cheap to make and buy and the amount of time needed to craft the item is terrible. The smithing hammer is just really useless unless you want to save 30 or so gold on repairing 1 item (which you can only repair every 1 hours).
For some closing thoughts I am glad that at least 6 of the 8 items are actually useful and I would obtain those 6 again on multiple alts who have leveled professions.
However The smithing hammer and mallet are beyond worthless and would need to be drastically improved.
I would improve the Smithing Hammer by having it be able to repair ALL of your gear once every hour allowing you to save a few hundred gold after a few wipes on raid night or in a mythic+ dungeon.
As for the mallet the material acquisition for the Spririts of the Bested needs to be drastically improved for starters, also the effect for it to be worth it would need to be either a 30% haste buff or a reduced Exhausted buff that lasts 5 mins instead of 10 (remember the mallet doesn’t pop lust/hero for the entire raid, it just gives you lust).
