During the medieval period, alchemy became a popular practice in Europe. Although it had been around for a long time, the fifteenth century saw a boom in alchemical methods, in which practitioners attempted to turn lead and other base metals into gold.
Alchemical practices have been documented as far back as ancient Egypt and China, and interestingly enough, it evolved around the same time in both places, independently of each other. According to the Lloyd Library ,. Around the ninth century, Muslim scholars like Jabir ibn Hayyan began to experiment with alchemy, in the hopes of creating gold, the perfect metal.
Known in the West as Geber, ibn Hayyan looked alchemy in the context of natural science and medicine. Although he never did manage to turn any base metals into gold, Geber was able to discover some pretty impressive methods of refining metals by extracting their impurities. His work led to developments in the creation of gold ink for illuminated manuscripts , and the creation of new glassmaking techniques.
The period between the thirteenth and late seventeenth centuries became known as the golden age of alchemy in Europe. Unfortunately, the practice of alchemy was based on a flawed understanding of chemistry, rooted in the Aristotelian model of the natural world.
Aristotle posited that everything in the natural world was comprised of the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water—along with sulfur, salt, and mercury. Once discovered, it was believed, it could be used to bring about long life and perhaps even immortality. It had a strong philosophical basis, and many alchemists incorporated religious metaphor and spiritual matters into their alchemical ideas. About four thousand printed books were issued from the 16th through to the late 18th centuries, exploring alchemy from a multiplicity of different perspectives.
Many thousands of manuscripts, hand written works, letters, notes and commentaries exist in the libraries of Europe and North America, some beautifully illustrated with coloured images.
Alchemy was thus, through the sheer volume of writings, influential throughout the early modern period. Its influence can often be seen in the work of writers, poets, and artists of the time. In the 20th century, interest in alchemy was revived, following its decline and total eclipse in the 19th century. Today alchemy is often used as a catch word for obscure and enigmatic symbolism, or for the idea of spiritual transformation and inner change. How is alchemy approached today?
Some people today still actually try and perform alchemical experiments. Most of these people hope they can make healing remedies, though there are a very few amongst them who still think they can find a transmuting philosophers' stone. Most people who take an interest in alchemy use it as a source of philosophical and esoteric ideas, to support the particular belief system to which they have attached themselves.
Don't get too excited about where you are questing, make the trek to the next area that you need for your Alchemy potions as opposed to getting an area entirely finished from a questing viewpoint. Once you reach max level you can return to any place you want to and go for those questing achievements. Don't worry about the one great blue item you can get for finishing an area. Go to Dungeons to get blue items instead. More effective for getting blue items that help you level faster.
The exception to my rule of moving on - Swamp of Sorrow. The collecting is so great in terms of the xp boost, it makes sense to totally finish this area from a questing viewpoint. It doesn't have a lot of quests anyways. In Summary, If you focus on your Alchemy, you will arrive at higher levels with both professions in excellent shape and you will get there faster also by using xp from gathering effectively to help you level.
As mentioned this is an effective strategy for other gathering profession combinations. Edited based on brionl comment below. Edited for Draenor. Comment by Eighjan Is it possible to get the "elixirs" link in the Alchemy paragraph edited to actually link TO an Elixirs list, please?
My question is, since the herb has been rather successfully phased out and is farmable only in instances, which would be a decent substitute for the undead elixir?
Or does anyone know if the herb will be once again farmable in world zones as of the next patch? Edit: Was a bit hasty in my post, having now hit the mark in my alch. The only other trainable recipe, and likely best substitute for the 15 point stretch to other than undead detection, is Dreamless Sleep Potion, req. Easier farming as well, as Purple Lotus is still found in Felwood. Comment by No they didnt get rid of the procs but it is taking a lot more speaking from transmute procs I have only had one proc from muting truegold so far the rates must have been lowered significantly.
Comment by An info for those who want to respecc their specializations: My warlock was elixier alch since the specializations were introduced in Burning Crusade. I just unlearnd the specc and had to pay g to unlearn elixier revered to lower city, don't know if this has impact on the price.
Comment by To change specializations: Go to the guy you got your orginal specialization quest from - and unlearn your specialization for g. Go to the guy for the specialization you now want and there should be a conversation button you can click when you interact with them. Click and you are done! Comment by Merador The counterpart for " Apothecary Antonivich " horde is " Alchemist Gribble " alliance to start your specialization.
Edit: Thanks for adding it to the alchemy-guide. Comment by Kyeld my suggestion for specialization: go potion spec while leveling your alchemy skills and then switch over to transmute at max level. Comment by Do you want to make money with a profession? If i were you, i would take Alchemy. I think it's easy to max compared to Jewelcrafting, Enchanting etc. How to earn golds with alchemy?
If you are lazy like me , you should choose Transmutation specialization. The best profession to pair with transmutation mastery is Jewelcrafting. Jewelcrafting is more difficult to max, but if you have another character for herbalism and mining, it's the best choice.
Prospect some ore with your JWC, then transmute uncommon gems with alchemy on my realm, profit isn't very good, but you have chance to create more with your specialization. Then create gems with your JWC. Of course, check auction, some gems are more profitable than others. Don't forget to create Truegold every day. Again, profit on my realm isn't very good, but sometimes, I create 5 truegolds on 1 cooldown so the profit for one day can be over golds!
Pair it with herbalism. It's very profitable, if you have enough time to farm herbs. It's simple: just farm herbs and create flask, which is the most expensive. Best alternative if you don't have character for gathering, or you don't want to skill JWC. Stat bonuses are worse than first alternative, you will get better flasks, weak heal and some haste.
And last choice is to pick Potion specialization. I don't think it's good at this point of game on max level. But who knows, maybe later. For additional profit, transmute uncommon gems into rare gems and rare gems into meta gems. For Elixirs, it's the same. Good if you are a raider and you are creating flasks for raid there is not any Cauldron at this point. For Potions, the profit is not the best. I tried it, but the chance of getting more potions is very low, and when you get 2 potions instead of 1, the profit is somewhere about 5 golds.
You would have to create literally tons of potions to make some profit. Additionally, you can buy Golden Lotuses for Spirits of Harmony 3 Lotuses for 1 Spirit , which you can use for rare gems transmutations, or for creating flasks. Or you can use Spirits of Harmony for another Living Steel transmute in a single day.
Good to combine with farming, as you can grow Spirits of Harmony on your own farm. If you want to change your specialization , just visit your alchemy trainer and tell him you want to unlearn your specialization. He will give you the opportunity of picking another specialization.
You just have to complete one of his quests. But pick your choice wisely, as the quests are not easy. For example, for Elixir Master, you must give him 8 flasks, what is about g. Comment by sanjiyan On my realm Transmute Truegold is a gold loss compared to selling the mats. Much better to go with transmute living elements to create air or water depending on what is currently the most expensive on your realm. Comment by With the upcoming patch 4. Comment by XxdruidsxX Herbs always sell well on the Auction house.
Comment by ninelevel9 So as of patch 4. You simply have to open your spellbook and abilities tab, and click unlearn. When you go back to learn a new specialization, the npc no longer trains you. Does anyone know what they changed or where to learn a specialization?
Comment by Neko7 If, like me, you have several active Alt, you may want to specialize to meet the profession side requirement additionnal skill and reputation.
Comment by I hope you continue to update even after cata. It's very usefull. Comment by Biffsterr The specializations have changed, for those who have leveled alchemy on another toon before and can't find the quests in Shattrath.
You now have to reach before you can specialize and the mats are Cataclysm level. If you want to unlearn one specialization, open Spellbook, go to Professions tab, note the little red circle next to your current specialization and unlearn it by clicking it. Comment by Are Alchemists limited to 1 xmute a day, or 1 xmute per kind, per day? Comment by thanks guys this page is very helpfull to me for alchemy to say what i have to get for reagents thank you soo much.
Comment by Tsuwulf I have mixed feelings. Comment by With the update to 5. Or, alternately, at least waiting until the potions are available in the auction house. Love to be wrong on this, but that looks like how it is unless I'm missing something. Comment by GoHF It seems that the recipes above skill level are now all discovered - ie: you will learn them automatically and randomly while crafting other recipes.
It also seems that recipes for which you no longer receive skill points do not trigger this discovery. Not a question but still something I hear a lot You don't need the spirituality to perform Alchemy. A Wrong. That statement is completely and utterly false. Without the spirituality of the Art, you have science.
You cannot have true alchemy without spirituality. It simply is not true and that is final. Q I don't update often because I don't have much time.
I am torn between work, school and other obligations that I can't keep up with this site. Another reason is that I am fully aware that anyone can access this site. Including minors. So I have a responsibility to provide as much information as I can without making it unsafe for minors.
I also have a responsibility to not divulge too much. Many alchemists and my colleagues are frankly angry with me that I even put a tutorial of how to make a Spagyrical Elixir. If I divulge too much, I might even put myself at risk. So I think long and hard about what I put on this site, and think about the unintended dangers I may put my readers in.
A If you're under 21 years old, you shouldn't be attempting alchemy. I myself an under that threshold but I understand all the dangers that are associated with these practices. I'm sorry to say, but if you are less than 16 you should abandon the idea of alchemy for a few years.
It's something harsh to say, but you need to truly understand what you are about to enter. I hope that this has answered many questions and concerns about alchemy. I understand that this won't necessarily help the problem, but I hope it makes an impact.
Question 1 year ago on Step 3. Alchemy is very interesting to me. Do you think you could explain more about what it is?
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