WORLD OF WARCRAFT WORLD OF WARCRAFT WORLD OF WARCRAFT WORLD OF WARCRAFT WORLD OF W WINDSHIELD'S INSCRIPTION GUIDE WINDSHIELD'S INSCRIPTION GUIDE WINDSHIELD'S INSCRIPTION GUIDE
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WINDSHIELD'S INSCRIPTION GUIDE WINDSHIELD'S INSCRIPTION GUIDE WINDSHIELD'S INSCRIPTION GUIDE WORLD OF WARCRAFT WORLD OF WARCRAFT WORLD OF WARCRAFT WORLD OF WARCRAFT WORLD OF W
LAST UPDATED: October 6, 2008 EMAIL: windshield450@yahoo.com
Inscription: Best Profession Ever?
Welcome to the Inscription profession! My name is Windshield, and I'll be your guide. Well, I suppose you could figure it out on your own, but you'd probably be wasting time, not to mention gold. I've already wasted that time and gold for you.
But don't let this talk of time and gold intimidate you. Inscription is actually a relatively inexpensive and painless profession, especially compared to old favorites like Enchanting or Blacksmithing. Sure, it does require a crapload of herbs, and there's a good bit of randomness, but it's nothing like the aforementioned goldsinks. If you buy your herbs early, you can keep your materials costs fairly low. You will be able to sell or use everything you produce. But above all, consider this. All professions, even Jewelcrafting, have periods of slow and highly expensive leveling. Inscription has none of these.
Inscription is also quite useful and enjoyable. Glyphs are going to be a huge part of the game. Leveling isn't bad, either. You never feel like you're making something that will be wasted. And for the RPers out there, having to stop every now and then to mill herbs and make ink for your next batch of glyphs really makes the whole leveling process feel tangible.
Mission Statement
The purpose of this guide is to get you (and me, honestly) through the levels with minimum cost and maximum predictability. While these things cannot always be achieved, we will do our best.
Using the Guide
If you use this guide to level Inscription, it's best that you follow it closely and don't go astray. If you prefer a glyph over one I've chosen, and you know that it has the same leveling properties, then go for it. Otherwise, I recommend sticking to the guide. Don't exceed the level ranges or start early on anything unless it's indicated in the text.
The Basic Process
This is pretty much how Inscription works:
1. Gather herbs from a particular herb category (listed below). Officially, any herb from a given category is as valuable as another, so it's best to choose the cheapest herbs. (There's some debate on this, by the way.) Note that your herbs only count if they're in groups of five. So for example, having 14 Peacebloom is the same as having 10 Peacebloom, since you can't use the left-over 4.
2. Mill 5 of any one herb from a given category. (RP angle: You're crushing the herbs, basically.) This yields 2-4 pigment. Yes, it's that random. Milling also has a chance to yield a secondary pigment.
3. Now you make ink from the pigment. Most inks require 2.
4. Finally, after all that hard work, you can make glyphs. Some glyphs require 1 ink, but others require 2. We're going to favor the cheaper glyphs when we have the choice. Leveling with glyphs gets much smoother around 100. At this point, you'll learn a new glyph basically every 5 levels. It will be orange for all 5 of those levels, which is good. The downside is that you pretty much have to speak to the trainer every 5 levels. But that's why you stand next to the NPC.
Parchments
All glyphs and scrolls require parchments. Instead of listing them under every glyph name (that would just be redundant), I tell you how many stacks to buy before each phase. These figures will give you a bit extra.
Quantities
Some item quantities are minimums. This is only the case if an item has turned yellow, but that does happen in some places, especially early in the leveling process. What does this mean? It means that you will often have to mill and make ink as you go to fill in the missing levels. This is no big deal, really. Just something to expect. This is also why the material quantities listed below are bare minimums.
Trainers
It's best to find an Inscription trainer close to a mailbox, for obvious reasons. I'm told that the Horde trainer in Silvermoon at the Court of Sun has a mailbox almost right next to him (thanks, Wharep). The trainers in Ironforge and Exodar are very close to mailboxes. Stormwind... not so much. Darnassus is okay, but you have to climb a freaking ramp every time you go back. When you get to 300, you'll need to get to a Master or Grand Master trainer. Pre-expansion, Alliance will find the NPC in Honor Hold near the Enchanting trainer. You need to go inside the tower that's sort of between the inn and the keep. This offers much less mailbox convenience, but you should be doing less traveling at this point. The Horde trainer is in Thrallmar, also in a tower next to an Enchanting trainer.
Materials
Each milling produces 2-4 pigment. Unfortunately, this wide range is reflected when we attempt to calculate how many herbs we actually need. It's best to assume an average yield of 2.7 (thanks to El's work) and stockpile extra.
Herb Categories
You will find this information repeated in the leveling guide where it is useful.
1 Buy a Virtuoso Inking Set from the vendor.
1 Buy 4 stacks of Light Parchment.
1 MILL ALABASTER HERBS Peacebloom Silverleaf Earthroot until you get Alabaster Pigment x 77
1-18
18-35
35-60
60-87
87-88 Minor Inscription Research x 1
88 MILL DUSKY HERBS Mageroyal Briarthorn Swiftthistle Bruiseweed Stranglekelp until you get at least Dusky Pigment x 20 Verdant Pigment x 2 Subtract your current level from 90. That is how many Verdant Pigment you absolutely need.
88-90
90
90-100
100 Buy 6 stacks of Common Parchment.
100 MILL GOLDEN HERBS Wild Steelbloom Grave Moss Kingsblood Liferoot until you get at least Golden Pigment x 120 Burnt Pigment x 5
100-105
105-110
110-115
115-125
125-130
130-135
135-140
140-150
150 MILL EMERALD HERBS Fadeleaf Goldthorn Khadgar's Whisker Wintersbite until you get at least Emerald Pigment x 140 Sell whatever Indigo Pigment you get.
150-155
155-160
160-165
165-170
170-175
175-180
180-185
185-190
190-200
200 Buy 7 stacks of Heavy Parchment.
200 MILL VIOLET HERBS Firebloom Purple Lotus Arthas' Tears Sungrass Blindweed Ghost Mushroom Gromsblood until you get at least Violet Pigment x 110 Sell whatever Ruby Pigment you get.
200-205
205-210
210-215
215-220
220-225
225-230
230-235
235-240
240-250
250 MILL SILVERY HERBS Golden Sansam Dreamfoil Mountain Silversage Plaguebloom Icecap until you get at least Silvery Pigment x 70 Sapphire Pigment x 5
250-255
255-260
260-265
265-270
270-275
275-280
280-285
285-290
290-300
295-300 As noted above, only make these if you can buy Ethereal Ink at a reasonable price or get some from a Scribe friend. This recipe is learned only from Master (or higher) Inscription trainers. You'll have to find one at 300 anyway. (See the trainer information in the Orientation section.)
300 Buy 4 stacks of Resilient Parchment.
300 MILL NETHER HERBS all Outland herbs until you get at least Nether Pigment x 110 Ebon Pigment x 5-12
300-305
305-315
315-320
320-325
325-330
325-330
330-335
335-340
340-345
345-350
350 Congratulations! You've reached 350. While you can go further, there's not much practical value in it. Wrath professions begin at 350. You will have several new cheap orange recipes at this level.
350-365 (OPTIONAL)
Inscription @ El's Inscription Inscription @ WoWWiki Inscription @ WotlkWiki Inscription @ Wowhead Inscription @ Thottbot
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