How to get epic gems in 3.2

As you all may know, one of my many hats is that of a Jewelcrafter. And as a JCer and a stam-whore tank, my primary concern on patch day won’t be tier 9 or Emblems of Triumph or baby raptors. Nay, my driving focus once that last bit of patch is downloaded and installed will be the relentless pursuit of epic gems to give me some delicious additional stamina. Here, my friends, is a four step guide on how to attain raw epic gems in order of least to mostly costly:

1. Buy gems with Emblems of Heroism

This is pretty straightforward and the main benefit is you don’t need a profession to get you the gem color you want. If you’re like me you have a bunch of Heroism/Valor badges saved up with nothing to spend them on. I’ll probably be able to replace all my superior gems with epics on badges alone.

2. Buy gems with Honor

Same deal as Emblems of Heroism, but 10k honor a pop. I have 20k honor saved up that I can spend, but I think I’d rather hold onto them for shoulder enchants. Although, I can always cash in my Stone Keeper Shards for honor tokens and then gems.

3. Prospect Titanium Ore

When Blizzard first announced this was one of the ways to get epic gems, the price of Titanium Ore skyrocketed across every server. I think it’s going to turn out that this method for obtaining the gems is going to have a terrible return on investment. Moreover, with RNG coming into play as to which gem you’ll get, you’re bound to be unhappy if you’re depending on a stockpile of ore to deliver the goods on patch day.

4. Transmute

This is where knowing or being an Alchemist comes in handy. The transmutation formulas we know are as follows:

  • 1 Majestic Zircon = 1 Sky Sapphire + 1 Eternal Air
  • 1 Ametrine = 1 Monarch Topaz + 1 Eternal Shadow
  • 1 King’s Amber = 1 Autumn’s Glow + 1 Eternal Life
  • 1 Eye of Zul = 3 Eternal Life
  • 1 Cardinal Ruby = 1 Scarlet Ruby + 1 Eternal Fire
  • 1 Dreadstone = 1 Twilight Opal + 1 Eternal Shadow

All the transmute formulas except for Ruby will be purchasable from the trainer. The Ruby formula comes from a quest that requires the Alchemist to transmute five epic gems. Everyone will probably have these on patch day, then.

There is a 20hr cooldown on transmutes in the latest build of the PTR. That unfortunately makes this the slowest method of obtaining gems.

7 Comments to “How to get epic gems in 3.2”

  1. Galyan 25 June 2009 at 1:02 pm #

    Thanks for the info! I think I am going to farm some heroics before the patch to get more emblems of heroism. I want to have plenty to replace all of my slots.

  2. Rhidach
    @Rhidach
     25 June 2009 at 1:57 pm #

    I think I’ll be farming heroic badges as well. When the patch hits I don’t want to have to consider down-spending Conquest badges on gems.

  3. HP
    @iamapaladin
     25 June 2009 at 3:08 pm #

    For once, I need to stockpile Forest Emeralds! They were the cheapest gems too.

  4. Rhidach
    @Rhidach
     25 June 2009 at 3:19 pm #

    I sold so many for so little over the last few months… ugh.

  5. jgalt 25 June 2009 at 4:52 pm #

    dont forget that prospecting titanium also gives titanium dust, which i believe eventually leads to more JC tokens

  6. Tepisor 26 June 2009 at 12:23 am #

    Since two days ago, there are no Forest Emeralds available on my servers AH because of .. me. Bought 44 of them at around 5g each. I expect to make a very big profit in the first 2-3 days after the launch of 3.2.

    Regarding Titanium Dust, there is a quest to hand in 10 of those to the JC trainer. Unfortunately, I don’t know what the rewards are, since I lack them.

    Also, important bit of info, each new JC design costs 5 JC tokens, so be sure to stock up on those fast.

    • Rhidach
      @Rhidach
       26 June 2009 at 7:59 am #

      Yeah I’m doing my dailies like a fiend. I really want to have enough to get the basics (Solid, Enduring, Regal, Thick) and then the moneymakers (Runed, Bright, Delicate, Bold, Smooth). I’d need 45 tokens for that, which isn’t too bad considering the patch just went on the PTR.