Project Lore

There are some pretty big things changed or added in the new patch 3.3 build that didn't make it to the patch notes, some of which discovered on the PTR, others announced by blue posters.

• Kalu'ak Fishing Derby (held on Wednesdays): "The Kalu'ak hold a fishing derby every few days in Northrend. Be the first to catch a Blacktip Shark and win respect with the Kalu'ak, and an amazing prize!"
• Master Angler of Azeroth: "Win the Booty Bay fishing contest or the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby." Hopefully this will replace Master Angler of Stranglethorn in the meta-achievement.
• Titles for killing Arthas: 10 player heroic: "the Frost Ender"; 25 player: "the Kingslayer"; 25 player heroic: "the Light of Dawn".
• Transmute: Titanium no longer has a cooldown.
• New enchant: "Enchant Gloves: Angler: Permanently enchant gloves to increase fishing skill by 5."

So I'm going to guess that the fishing contest and Enchant are somehow related. Perhaps the Kalu'ak sell the enchant at a certain reputation level? I'm also going to guess that the fishing contest rewards Kalu'ak reputation to come in line with the other reputation changes we've been seeing. All in all, this is something that I would have loved to have in the game earlier and fleshes out fishing, as well as the Kalu'ak, even more. As for the Transmute: Titanium change, this is going to be huge. The transmute is the first one that Alchemists learn, and by performing it, they have a chance to learn an eternal elemental transmute, such as Transmute: Eternal Earth to Air. This is the only way to learn the eternal elemental transmutes, and I imagine alchemists that leveled post patch 3.2 have been performing epic gem transmutations instead, as they are more profitable. However, the fact that Titanium can now be transmuted in bulk may turn some heads. This is going to drastically change prices on gems and ore. The transmute takes 8 Saronite Bars and turns them into 1 Titanium Bar. On my server, 8 Saronite Bar (made from 16 Saronite Ore) run you about 15g, while a Titanium Bar (made from 2 Titanium Ore) runs you about 32g. The demand for Titanium is largely rooted in the demand for epic gems, as one of the few places to obtain epic gems is from prospecting Titanium Ore. Players who want Titanium for things like enchants (Titanweave), Engineering, or other crafts for high-end gear, now have to pay top copper because Titanium is largely being used to make epic gems. On the flip side, Saronite has "bottomed out" in price; its price is being held steady by people who are turning it into enchanting materials by crafting it en masse into gear and disenchanting it. There is still huge downward pressure on the price of Saronite, as players farming Titanium also come across lots of Saronite. Since the supply of Saronite is so high and it has no real use to players anymore, its become very cheap. With this change, the cheap Saronite can be turned into Titanium in bar form only. This is going to destroy the status quo on the price of Titanium and Saronite, as cheap old Saronite can now essentially be the reagent for Titanium-based recipes. As such, the demand and price for Saronite ore and bars is going to go way up. The price of Titanium bars will likely be lower than the price of the ore required to make it, and as such no ore should be turned into bars. The price of both will lower significantly. As such, epic gem prices will decrease nearly proportionally to the decrease in the price of Titanium Ore. Here are my predictions in price changes effective 3 weeks after patch 3.3 hits:

I base this off the assumption that there are lots of people on your server farming Saronite/Titanium and there are enough people privy enough to how to make money to turn Saronite into enchanting materials. This also does not account for the increase in demand for gems in the short run as players get new gear at a faster rate right after the release of a patch than months into its lifespan, and it may take a few weeks for the market to respond. Do you agree or disagree with my analysis?