Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Alchemy Goddess - To follow or not

Of the "mixing" skills, Alchemy is without a doubt the most useful. Not only that, it's also the easiest to level.

So is there really a point to following the Alchemy goddess?

Chances are that of the mixing skills, unless you're heavily focused on some other mix skill, you'll end up spending a lot of time alching, and leveling the skill whether intentional or out of necessity. Alchemy product is needed for most of the other skills, so it becomes something you do regularly, like harvesting.

This necessity leads to leveling the skill just out of necessity alching, which has led to the question of whether or not the alchemy goddess is really needed to assist leveling?

The answer is that unless you are hell-bent on being a top-level alchemist, probably not.

However, that's not the only thing to consider. Think about this: how's your overall doing? Need some more pickpoints?

If you alch a lot, whether you're wanting to increase your alchemy skill level or not, those alching points are going to your overall as well, leading to more pickpoints.

Most of the other mixing skills are minimally used in comparison to alchemy, which leads to more experience. An additional 20% experience on such a heavily-used skill can go a long way towards getting those pickpoints faster.


Of the mixing gods, the Alchemy goddess is really the only one to offer that additional bonus. (Well, Potion goddess comes in a good second, though only if you're heavily into potting in the first place.)


So, should you take the Alchemy goddess or not? A quick checklist...

Pro (yes is good):
- Do you alch a lot compared to other mixing skills?
- Does your OA matter to you? (getting more pickpoints as quickly as possible)
- Did you recently reset? (alching a lot to regain that OA, with goddess makes it go much faster)
- Are you wanting a high alchemy skill level?

Con (yes is bad):
- Are you hurting for gold coin? (The Alchemy goddess quests are among the most expensive in the game, if you take her on you'll need to keep her quite a while to make it cost-worthy)
- Are you absolutely needing to follow Mortos (attack) or Zarin (crafting)? (They are her enemies, unable to be followed if you follow Elandria)


As everything in the game, the choice to follow her is up to your needs. Hopefully this will better help you decide. Personally, I followed her, and became a top 50 alchemist with her additional experience as well as got my overall up quickly after a reset, and found it very much worth the cost.