El's Inscription - World of Warcraft Inscription Guide // Advanced Topics // Cataclysm

• 

  This page summarises Inscription changes in Cataclysm, including patch 4.0.1. Cataclysm is the 3rd expansion to the World of Warcraft. On this page:

  • Training
  • Herbs, Milling and Inks
  • Master Inscriptions
  • Glyphs
  • Glyph Conversion
  • Products
  • New Trainable Inscriptions
  • New Non-Trainable Inscriptions
  • Appendix: Pre-Cataclysm Glyph Conversions
  • Learn More

Special thanks to Kaliope and Yoco for confirming many of the details here.

Training

Cataclysm adds a new Illustrious rank, which raises the maximum Inscription skill to 525. The requirements for becoming an Illustrious Scribe are at least 425 Inscription, and level 75 or above. Cost 50g (before reputation reductions).

In addition to Inscription trainers, multi-profession trainers can be found around Azeroth, especially in the towns in starting zones. These trainers teach all primary professions, including Inscription.

The recipes taught by trainers now depend on what expansion you have, not the location of the trainer.

Herbs, Milling and Inks

Cataclysm adds a new tier of herbs, milled pigments and inks. Details are not fully confirmed, but the patterns seems to be the same as previous tiers. Cataclysm-level herbs:

• Commonly mill into Ashen Pigment, 2 of which makes Blackfallow Ink.
• Rarely mill into Burning Embers, 2 of which make Inferno Ink.

Cataclysm-level herbs are shown below, based on Dwarven data mining. Milling requires much higher skill than in WotLK - 500 Inscription skill to mill the hardest herbs, rather than 325.

In addition, several Old-Azeroth herbs have changed name:

• Plaguebloom becomes Sorrowmoss.
• Wintersbite becomes Dragon's Teeth.

Jessica Sellers still trades inks in Dalaran, however all inks are sold for Blackfallow Ink instead of Ink of the Sea. All inks cost 1 Blackfallow Ink, except Ethereal Ink, Snowfall Ink and Inferno Ink, which cost 10 Blackfallow Ink.

Master Inscriptions

The main personal benefit of Inscription is your choice of 4 new Master Inscriptions. These can be applied to your own shoulder armor. Minimum Inscription skill 500:

• Felfire Inscription - 130 Intellect, 25 Haste
• Inscription of the Earth Prince - 195 Stamina, 25 Dodge
• Lionsmane Inscription - 130 Strength, 25 Critical Strike
• Swiftsteel Inscription - 130 Agility, 25 Mastery Rating

Non-scribes use shoulder enchants that require Therazane reputation, which is gained by questing in Deepholm. Compared to the Therazane Exalted shoulders, the Inscriptions above give an extra 80 Intellect, 120 Stamina, 80 Strength, or 80 Agility. Scribes also don't need to spend time gaining Therazane reputation.

Glyphs

Glyphs are now learned once, then known forever. Fresh glyphs will not need to be repurchased when changed. Learnt glyphs can be swapped. Each swap requires a reagent: Vanishing Powder for those level 80 or below, Dust of Disappearance for those above level 80. These reagents can be made by Scribes or purchased from Inscription Suppliers - Vanish Powder for 8s, Dust of Disappearance (Cataclysm only) for 10g.

All glyphs (even those not yet learnt) are displayed in the Glyphs screen (next to Talents). The list can be searched.

There are 3 types of glyphs (originally defined by Ghostcrawler):

• Prime - Increases in Damage Per Second output, in a way that is easy to understand. [Removed in Mists of Pandaria, with Primes mostly converting back to Majors.]
• Major - Interesting options, that either do not directly give DPS increases, or require careful calculation of benefits.
• Minor - Convenience or fun, similar to WotLK.

As before, you start with no glyph slots. At levels 25, 50 and 75, you will gain 1 extra slot for each type of glyph. At level 75 and above, 3 glyphs of each type can be used, 9 in total.

Details of specific glyphs are considered alongside talents, so are best described by other sources (such as Wowhead or MMO-Champion).

Glyph Conversion

Most pre-Cataclysm glyphs convert directly into a Cataclysm glyph, even where the name or type has changed. This change should apply to recipes, unused glyphs, and previously applied glyphs.

Glyphs are made using 3 of the same ink, rather than 1 (or sometimes 2) in WotLK. This change at least doubles the (herb) cost of manufacturing glyphs. Goblin investors may try and profit by making glyphs using the pre-patch ingredients, then selling their glyphs after the patch for higher (auction house) prices.

However, profit is not without risk: There are a few exceptions, where recipes are forgotten and previously produced glyphs become "Charred Glyphs". Charred Glyphs can be sold to vendors for 50s, but are otherwise worthless:

• Death Knight: Dark Command, Disease, Icebound Fortitude, Unholy Blight.
• Druid: Rapid Rejuvenation, Survival Instincts.
• Hunter: Possessed Strength, Volley.
• Mage: Arcane Explosion, Fire Blast, Fire Ward, Improved Scorch, Mana Gem.
• Warlock: Siphon Life.
• Warrior: Barbaric Insults, Last Stand, Taunt.

A full list of conversions, including glyphs that are expected to change name, can be found at the bottom of this page.

Products

Scribes continue to make Off Hands and Scrolls (including a new group-buff Runescroll of Fortitude II), and a new tier of Darkmoon Cards: Darkmoon Card of Destruction.

New types of scribe-made products are:

• Relics, equipped by certain classes. Includes epic quality Tattooed Eyeball. Relics bind when equipped, so can be traded. [Relics were removed in Mists of Pandaria.]
• Mysterious Fortune Cards, which create a random card, whose vendor value ranges from 10s to 5000g. Probabilities are likely to be heavily biased towards 10s, but this might be an interesting way to earn money, if auction house herb prices are low.
• Forged Documents, which must be delivered (by a quest) to "a resident" of Orgimmar (for Horde) or Stormwind City (for Alliance), for a Bulging Sack of Gold reward. Yoco notes, "when accepting the quest several yellow '?' mark popup in town." The bag contains around 10g. Reported to be made with a 24 hour cooldown.
• Adventurer's Journal "Use: Peruse the experiences of a rugged adventurer. If you still have things to learn (below level 85), you're likely to receive a substantial benefit. (1 Hr Cooldown)" Requires level 75 to read. The affect is a random buff for 1 hour. Known results of reading an Adventurer's Journal include :
  • +10% experience
  • +15% damage to (one of) beasts, dragonkin, elementals, giants, mechanicals or undead
  • +15% movement speed
  • 30% chance to heal yourself when dealing damage to an enemy.
  [Adventurer's Journal were removed in Mists of Pandaria.]
• Origami items - Origami Slime ("release several inky oozes"), Origami Rock ("creates a rock"), and Origami Beetle ("release a small swarm of beetles"). The usefulness of these items is unclear.

Vellum now comes in one type only. The same Vellum is used for weapon and armor enchants, regardless of level. Pre-Cataclysm vellums either automatically convert directly into the new Vellum type, or become Charred Vellum. Charred Vellum is converted into the new click on use ((click it)). None of the old Vellum types will be wasted.

Still unconfirmed (probably untrainable) are "Cataclysm Reclamations" for Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Jewelcrafting, Leatherworking and Tailoring. These promise to teach a random recipe for their profession. They require 500 skill in their profession to use. These may replace the originally reported Alchemist's Tarot.

New Trainable Inscriptions

There are several new recipes trainable below 445 skill:

• Vanishing Powder (skill 75). It requires Midnight Ink to make.
• Glyph of Faerie Fire, (skill 120).
• Glyph of Tiger's Fury, (skill 120).
• Glyph of Death Wish, (skill 150).
• Glyph of Feral Charge, (skill 150).
• Glyph of Blind, (skill 180).
• Glyph of Intercept, (skill 250).
• Glyph of Lacerate, (skill 330).
• Blackfallow Ink, (skill 425), and remains orange until skill 450 (which is very helpful to those leveling Inscription between 425 and 450).

1 new Northrend Inscription Research discovery is possible - Glyph of Living Bomb. Minor Research discoveries include Glyph of Furious Sundering (Glyph of the Treant is also expected, but not yet confirmed). A Book of Glyph Mastery can be used to discover at least Glyph of Colossus Smash (Glyph of Vanish is also expected, but not yet confirmed).

Note that the recipes for all existing glyphs now use 3 inks (of the same type), increased from 1 or 2 before.

All recipes requiring skill 445 or higher cost 2g to train (before reputation reductions).

Only the 2 "Alchemy and Inscription" vendors in the Twilight Highlands (Una Kobuna in Dragonmaw Port for Horde, Casandra Downs in Highbank for Alliance) sell the unusual items used to make relics - Bleached Jawbone, Deathwing Scale Fragment, Preserved Ogre Eye, Scavenged Dragon Horn, and Silver Charm Bracelet. These vendors are only available after the initial Twilight Highlands quests have been completed. These quests require at least level 84. Alternatively, these unusual items can rarely be found in Flame-Scarred Junkbox, pickpocketed by Rogues.

New Non-Trainable Inscriptions

Recipes for the 2 of the Origami items are reported to be world drops from Cataclysm zones - Technique: Origami Rock (skill 490), and Technique: Origami Slime (skill 480). The source of Technique: Origami Beetle is unknown.

Appendix: Pre-Cataclysm Glyph Conversions

The table below shows patch 3.3 glyphs that are expected to convert into something different with patch 4.0. This comes from comparing raw data - specifically item IDs.

Glyphs that are not shown below are expected to be usable glyphs in patch 4.0, with the same name as before - but perhaps with a different function when applied.

Learn More

• Cataclysm Inscription Recipes from the Beta Realm - Kaliope details trainer Inscription recipes.
• Leveling Herbalism 450-525 (BETA) - Guide to leveling Herbalism 450 to 525.
• Cataclysm: Inscription Preview - Official preview.
• Inscription Leveling: +3 Slingshot - Introduces the new multi-skill-up system, and explains why it can make leveling more complicated for Dwarves.

Archive Comments about Cataclysm

Below are readers' comments about "Cataclysm":

Cataclysm Inscription

1. Shifty, April 2010:

   I would just like to start by saying hello to all fellow scribes. Thanks for viewing my post.

   Now, with the upcoming Cataclysm release, I've been wondering about glyphs in Cata. I'm afraid that the current glyphs will still outweigh the new ones (if they create new ones), keeping the market for glyphs the same, which is good for some servers and worse for others.

   I don't think Blizzard would make the new glyphs OP, making them a definate need, maybe they would, who knows? How do you guys see Inscription in Cataclysm? Rare glyphs maybe? EPIC GLYPHS?

2. Thay, April 2010:

   Hard to say, they could start making glyphs that are Level restricted.
   At the moment the only restriction is that of when you get the talent, this may change in Cata.

   Also a lot of the current Glyphs will need to be re-done or removed since they are re-building the talent trees.

   This gives us the possibility of Glyphs affecting Mastery's as well.
   Oh, and of course there are all the new talents from 81-85 that can be brand new Glyphs.

   Eg Smoke Bomb - Minor Glyph of Smoke - Add green dye into the smoke to make the smoke bomb be green.....

   This is aside from the new Lv85 off-hand items and other craftables that they can add.

3. el, April 2010:

   This is going to be interesting for a couple of reasons:

   Many of the features that we originally thought would go into Inscription appear to be going into Archaeology instead. So I doubt there will be anything radically new in Cataclysm Inscription.

   Glyphs have never been tiered. There's no progression from a lesser stat to a better stat - each glyph does something entirely unique, and most scale with spells anyway - a glyph "gets better" because your other gear got better. While new/changed spells and abilities will occur in Cataclysm, it is hard to see how there will suddenly be hundreds of new glyphs added. Unless large numbers of old glyphs are retained in spite of having no purpose (like the Warlock Glyph of Souls - a spell for which mana is irrelvant, because it isn't used in combat).

   Inscription was poorly balanced relative to the rest of the economy. Not only the low demand for glyphs compared to the ease of making them. But also the way Old Azeroth herbs were just as likely to be required for a "good" glyph as Northrend herbs. Lack of flight in Old Azeroth meant that auction prices for low-level herbs could be higher than Northrend-level herbs, which never fitted the logic of the rest of the game. The Ink Trader leveled prices, but ultimately just diluted the herb economy, by making all herbs rather similar (for Scribes, at least). That could be addressed in Cataclysm, which is logically a good opportunity to rework pre-expansion elements of professions.

   Lastly, the role of a minor glyphs could be reviewed. I know for a Warlock, it's a real struggle to fill 3 slots with anything that even sounds like it might be useful. In contrast to (depending on spec' and role), some major glyphs we are more-or-less game-changingly essential. Minor glyphs could become more like diluted versions of major glyphs. Or they could become entirely cosmetic.

1. Tayluca, September 2010:

   In regards to training new recipes, can anyone confirm how we will learn the new recipes? i.e All of them from the profession trainers, book of glyph mastery or maybe a new type of mastery book in the xpac, drops from instances, etc? So far all I've seen is info from the profession trainers. Should I be stocking up on book of glyph mastery despite having all current recipes just in case?

2. el, September 2010:

   So far, everything we know about is trainable. However, there are no new glyphs yet, and only very minor changes to pre-Cataclysm Inscription.

3. Yoco, September 2010:

   Due to bugs I lost all my recipes before even being able to use my inscription skill for the first time, and I assume the same is true for many other scribes on the beta.

   Using northern and minor inscription research taught me recipes, but those were recipes my live character already knows, not truly 'new' recipes. I have no idea if those forms of research, or the glyph mastery books, will teach new recipes, but testing that may take a long time. I did notice that some glyphs are mentioned in the new glyph tab of the talent window that I haven't seen a recipe for yet (and are not taught by the trainer).

   I haven't seens any 'new' kind of research or books yet.

4. Tayluca, September 2010:

   Thank you El and Yoco. I was not extended a beta invitation this time around so I'm even more grateful for this site and other's like it. I've enjoyed reading all of the updates you've all been posting very much. Thanks for your hard work!

5. el, September 2010:

   One possibility is that Book of Glyph Mastery will also drop in Cataclysm zones. This is logical for 2 reasons:

   1. There will be less (player) activity in Northrend, so fewer books would end up in circulation, forcing people to farm Northerend mobs, which is precisely what new expansions never encourage - they'd much rather you were in new zones.
   2. The number of glyphs has fallen slightly, and shows no sign of increasing. I listed a few specific glyphs that have been removed (technically Charred) here. Where new glyphs have been added, they are conversions of old glyphs**.

   (I will try and post a full list of glyph conversions later, but the data is still very buggy, and sometimes the recipe names don't match the name of the glyph made, which makes it hard to be sure what is bugged and what is intended.)

   (** Normally there is no change to training method - the main exception is where the type of the glyph has changed - for example, a major glyph that has become a minor, may now be learnt from Minor Research, not a trainer, and vice versa.)

6. Hagu, September 2010:

   In 10 (or 3 or 17 ...) days, 4.0.1 will hit. I am confused.

   In the "month" between 4.0.1 and cata, is your current-best-guess-subject-to-change:

   We can train our max prof level to 525, we can learn to make, for example, the scrolls, but we can not make any because the ink cant be made cause the herbs are not yet in the game?

   Does and armor vellum I, II and III all transform 1-to-1 into the new vellum when 4.0.1 hits?

7. el, September 2010:

   4.0.1 is absolutely riddled with bugs at the moment. I'd be surprised to see it on live realms so soon.

   Training above 450 requires the Cataclysm expansion. There are only a couple of genuinely new recipes on the PTR - all below 450, using existing inks. The big changes are to existing recipes - the glyphs themselves and the volume of ink needed.

   Vellums appear (from the data) to either automatically convert to the new vellum, or become "Ruined Vellum", which has a "Use: Restore to a useable Enchanting Vellum." So it looks like no vellum will be lost - you may just have a lot of clicking to do.

8. Hagu, September 2010:

   Thanks for everything in general as well as the above reply in particular.

   Re "4.0.1 is absolutely riddled with bugs at the moment. I'd be surprised to see it on live realms so soon." - I was working off the MMOC Nov 2 date. Today's Amazon date seems more credible at the moment.

   So prior to 4.0.1 we need whatever stockpiled we want, dump soon-to-be charred glyphs

   during 4.0.1 there is little to no new recipes to train? Just selling transformed glyphs, new cookie cutter glyphs and filling up completionists' glyph books.

   cata day: train, learn new glyphs, sell to goblins/worgens levelers

   cata plus a month or so: a pretty small part of inscription sales is glyphs would be my guess

   Thanks again.

9. North, December 2010:

   So what are the impressions of Inscription so far in Cata?

   I made good money from Darkmoon cards (Nobles) soon after WotLK released, but the cards are not selling as well this xpac. This is likely because the BiS trinkets are easily obtained from other sources.

   I find this similar with the OH items / relics, and although I have sold the blue items I crafted while leveling inscription, the basic mats that generated them would probably have netted me more in the current econ.

   I'm interested to hear other's experiences. I'm not interested in micromanaging large volumes of glyphs on AH, so am I sunk in regards to cashflow this xpac?

10. Reynn, December 2010:

    North wrote:

    So what are the impressions of Inscription so far in Cata?

    Basically I've made a few relics/off hands for myself, alts and friends/guildies. They aren't selling since they aren't anywhere near BIS and the mats are prohibitive compared to the effort needed to get the alternatives.

    I've made enough cards for my own volcano deck, but the extras aren't selling well. Worse, the prices for those that do sell are plummeting. I managed to sell a few at 2k, but now prices are quickly dropping to a bit more than 1k. I was lucky so I only have about 10 extras after getting my deck.

    Honestly, the best money maker right now is selling the inks. But even that isn't as good as just selling the herbs!

    The "permanent" glyphs in Cata really undercut 90% of the reason that inscription is a profession. Kinda wondering how long I'll keep it unless they make it suck a bit less. /shrug

Stupid Question

1. Earthenware, January 2011:

   Sorry about this, but where does my Scribe learn new glyphs in Cataclysm? The trainer in Org doesn't have any for me. Do I have to go back to Northrend Research and Books of Glyph Mastery?

2. el, January 2011:

   There is no new way to learn glyphs in Cataclysm... but there are also very few new glyphs in Cataclysm.

Cata fishing dailies (Alliance)

1. Hoddie, July 2010:

   Hitting a Walleye
   Diggin' For Worms
   Rock Lobster
   Big Gulp
   Thunder Falls

   Hitting a Walleye

   Loot window
   Quest map
   Handing in
   Completion

Comments now closed.