Inscription and the WoW Economy

In preparation for the coming release of The Warth of The Lich King, Blizzard has released their latest patch 3.02 or Echoes of Doom. This is a huge patch - 1.6G - opening up the additional content that is a feature of WotLK. The Stormwind harbor is now open to all and the new Inscription profession is up and running. You can even get a haircut at the local Stormwind barber and earn points with the new Achievement system!

As I mentioned in my last post, the release of WotLK content will have a major upheaval on World of Warcraft economy with the release of hundreds of new items and recipes. The Inscription profession, especially, will have a profound effect on the supply and demand of many basic items on the Auction House.

If you haven’t had time to try it yet, the Inscription profession allows ‘Scribes’ to enhance spells and abilities such as a Mage’s Fireball or a Rogue’s Backstab. A scribe does this by creating Scrolls, Glyphs and Vellums.

The basic materials for the Scribe are parchments and inks. Parchments are purchased from goods vendor (usually located near the Inscription trainer). Inks are made from pigments, obtained from milling herbs. It’s a similar model to Prospecting and Jewelcrafting. Once you train as a Scribe you acquire the skill of milling, but you must purchase an inking kit (like the Jewelcrafters kit).

So the basic materials of Inscription are derived from a variety of herbs; therefore, a good complimentary profession to have - you guessed it - is Herbalism. If you have Herbalism as one of your primary professions, you’re going to be in great demand. As a side note, those players with Herbalism as a profession also gain the ability ‘Lifeblood’ which allows you to leach health from the soil. Very cool!

I predict that Herbalism will become the new Mining with this latest patch release with the demand - and therefore price - of basic herbs going through the roof. As an example, the basic price of Peacebloom has risen from 5 silver a unit to over 50 silver a unit on my server.

A Scribe can also create Vellums which allow Enchanters to cast their weapon and armor enchants upon, which can then be sold on the Auction House like the products of any other profession.

This will have a huge effect on the Enchanting profession. No longer will Enchanters have to shout their wares on the Trade channel (although they probably will), but they will now have a hugely increased market for their enchants, which in turn will make this profession very popular.

Finally, the Scribes ability to create Glyphs will also be in great demand. Already I’m seeing folks hawking their wares on the Trade channel as players scramble to buy these items from the Auction House.