With the recent announcement that patch 4.1 will not contain the Firelands Raid by Blizzard and instead 4.2 will contain it, it got me thinking. Well Blizzard said that 4.2 will be released shortly after 4.1.. and what major thing could either of these patches bring..? Epic Gems.

If we go back and analyze the data from the past expansions we notice that Blizzard released the Burning Crusade epic gems in patch 3.1 along with the first major content patch that Burning Crusade got. Let's Fast Forward to Wrath of The Lich King, epic gems don't hit until 3.2, but this time it's released along with the second major content patch. What does this leave us with for Cataclysm? Epic gems could hit in either 4.1 or 4.2, both of which are supposedly right around the corner.

I wrote a post not long ago debating if you should be stockpiling pyrite ore or if it's too early. My opinion has then shifted, I think now is the time to be stockpiling the pyrite ore. You don't really have a lot of time if 4.1 and 4.2 is coming out soon, especially if 4.2 is going to be released shortly after 4.1. If you haven't already I suggest that you start buying pyrite whenever it's cheap ( if you haven't already ). I've had a couple people ask me if I think they'll add a new ore into the game that will yield epic gems, so I'll put my two cents into that. I personally don't think blizzard will go in and add a whole new type of ore, it hasn't happened in the past and I don't see why they'd do it now.

Another thing that you might want to stockpile is rare gems. Why? Because you will most likely be able to transmute them into epics. Now you're not going to want an absurd amount of gems stockpile because the transmute will also most likely have a cooldown on it. Unless you plan on having multiple alchemists ( 5+ ) I'd say that you're safe with a couple hundred of each color.

Like this article? Learn to make gold like Markco with his Cataclysm Gold Guide.