Nightmare Tears & Prismatic Sockets in WoW Patch 4.2

"It's not new, but the Nightmare Tear (prismatic gem) is selling like hotcakes to all the higher levels that are getting new gear with prismatic sockets and don't know that you can put any gem into them... Easy 450-550g a pop for these on my Horde server (<250g each on the Alliance side). Been selling 2-5 a day. Yes, each one requires a dragon's eye, but I've been able to buy them fairly cheap (<150g each most of the time) so far and actually those prices are falling after a brief spike over 200g."  - Matthew

Nightmare Tear

Good ol' Nightmare Tear.  You remember the Nightmare Tear prismatic cut from Wrath of the Lich King?  I've had a few reports submitted of people selling these like crazy since the release of World of Warcraft Patch 4.2.  There are no armor pieces dropping from the new content that include prismatic gem slots.  The wave of gear from new content always leads to more gem sales and players are looking for a gem to slot into the sockets of their new armor pieces.  Blacksmiths can create prismatic (or uncolored) sockets for 2 of their pieces of gear and the Blacksmith crafted Ebonsteel Belt Buckles also create a prismatic socket when added to a belt item.

Prismatic Gem Sockets
Prismatic Gems can be placed in a red, blue, or yellow gem socket.  Foolish players believe that prismatic gems are the only option for filling prismatic sockets.  A wise player understands that a prismatic gem socket can hold any color gem.  Newsflash: You don't have to put a prismatic gem into a prismatic socket.  I believe players are getting pismatic gems and meta-gems confused.  A meta-gem has to be placed into a meta-gem slot, but a prismatic gem can be placed into any slot.  Only one prismatic gem can be used per WoW character, since they are unique.

Selling To The Foolish
The World of Warcraft player base as a whole tends to be uninformed and ignorant, as evidenced again by the rush of sales for old outdated prismatic gems for the new gear.  Be sure to take advantage of this unexpected rush before these foolish players are enlightened by their guild mates that know better. 

I have been consistently buying cheap priced Dragon's Eyes in order to sell Nightmare Tears.  I have previously been selling these to leveling characters and higher level twinks.  Since the Patch, this market has been welcoming more and more buyers.  Although these buyers are foolish players that probably don't know any better, I'll continue to take their gold.  If no one is supplying the Nightmare Tears on your server, then test out the market and see if there are foolish players waiting to line your pockets as well.  Other than buying the Dragon's Eyes from the auction house, another great source is from your Jewelcrafting profession since there is no cooldown on Icy Prism anymore.

Is your server also full of fools?

Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal Return To Value

Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal

Oh how I loathed thee...

If you were using your jewelcrafter during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion era, then you probably hated Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal as much as I did.  These were useful for damn near nothing, yet they continued to pile up as a bi-product of the Saronite Shuffle.  The Saronite Shuffle was the way to shuffle Saronite Ore back in Wrath of the Lich King, similar to how we currently shuffle Obsidium Ores. 

The problem with the Saronite Shuffle was that it wasn't as efficient as the current Obsidium Shuffle.  Today you will see bloggers and players complaining about their stacks of Zephyrite gems and what to do with them, but this is nothing compared to the problems we had finding uses for Dark Jade and Shadow Crystals.  The Dark Jade could be sold on days when it was required for the Dalaran jewelcrafting daily, but unlike the current Cataclysm JC dailies, only 1 was required.  This method wasn't the most effective way to unload the tons of Dark Jades, as all Saronite Ore prospectors were also accumulating stack after stack of Dark Jade and Shadow Crystals.  The only other option was crafting the focusing crystals, which never caught on over here at my server.

Both Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal continued to pile up in guild banks and character banks everywhere.  Some players would resort to just vendoring these gems as they were next to worthless.  There wasn't a way to shuffle them into jewelry for disenchanting for a profit.  The only real use of Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal was in the daily cooldown for crafting Icy Prisms, but being limited to 1 per day didn't help the massive stockpiles of Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal.

Icy Prism Cooldown Removal

Then things changed.  With the release of World of Warcraft Patch 4.1, came the removal of the Icy Prism cooldown and many of us rejoiced.  Why?  Because now we had a way to utilize all of those extra Dark Jades and Shadow Crystals.  I never sold any of my Shadow Crystals or Dark Jades to the vendors.  I tucked all of my stacks away in a guild bank and let them sit.  I originally planned on selling the stacks to players leveling Jewelcrafting as a new Profession in Cataclysm, but sales didn't work there either.  So back in the bank they went.  Since the removal of the Icy Prism cooldown, I have been making great profits in the Wrath Jewelcrafting gems markets.  There aren't many competitiors, if any.  I am glad that I saved these horrible gems from Wrath because they are now useful in crafting Icy Prisms.  My old stacks of both Shadow Crystal and Dark Jade are almost completely exhausted.

I'm not just using them for my own Icy Prisms.  As other players got fed up with these gems and vendored them at the end of Wrath of the Lich King, I have been able to sell some of my gems on the auction house as singles for other JCs looking to make Icy Prisms.  These same Dark Jades and Shadow Crystals that at the end of Wrath couldn't be sold for a single gold piece, are now selling on my server for 8-10 gold each.  This is why I like to stockpile materials that may be used eventually, as opposed to vendoring then to save the bank space.  (When you have 6-7 guild banks, space isn't a real issue anyway.)  If you are a stockpiler or a hoarder, be sure to periodically clean out your banks, as you don't want items decaying in your banks.

Sometimes its good to be a hoarder, as Blizzard may make a change that will allow you to profit from your stockpile. 

Anyone else been unloading these darn Dark Jades and Shadow Crystals?

Profit From Icy Prism, Frozen Orbs, & Wrath Gems

Icy Prism Cooldown Removed

Icy Prism Cooldown Removed

Since Patch 4.1, the cooldown on the jewelcrafting item Icy Prism has been removed.  Jewelcrafters used to be restricted to crafting only 1 Icy Prism per day, but we can now craft as many as we like.  Icy Prism can be a very profitable option for making in game World of Warcraft gold with your Jewelcrafting profession.

Icy Prism Materials

• 1 Frozen Orb
• 1 Chalcedony
• 1 Dark Jade
• 1 Shadow Crystal

Finally we have a way to dump the Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal gems, which are pretty useless, unless you are able to sell focusing crystals on your server.  I have tried it before and they just don't move.  I tend to end up vendoring the Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal when I need bank space, but I am glad I didn't get rid of too many of them as we finally have a use for them with the Icy Prism cooldown being removed.

Profiting From Icy Prisms


Opening an Icy Prism will provide you with multiple rare Wrath of the Lich King gems as well as a chance to get an epic Wrath gem and / or a Dragon's Eye.  There is profit to be made, depending on how cheap you can get frozen orbs and the required uncommon gems for the Icy Prism creation.  I just bought about 40 Frozen Orbs price as 6-8 gold each, which is an excellent price.

Wrath Gems Are Still Selling

Believe it or not, the Wrath of the Lich King gems do still sell.  Of course they sell much slower than they did last WoW expansion, but there still is a demand for the old gems.  Why?  The uncommon gems from Cataclysm require a minimum item level of i285 in order to be socketted.  This means leveling characters won't be using Cata gems until their gear is of high enough level, so they have no choice but to use the older gems in their gear as they level.  There are very few gem sellers in this market on many of the servers, so don't dismiss it as not worth your time.

The rare gems from your Icy Prisms can be cut and sold on the auction house to leveling characters.  I tend to stick to some of the most common cuts for each color that are more likely to sell, instead of selling a wide variety in each color.  If you get an epic gem, then you can sell those for a nice amount also.  The dragon's eye is what you are hoping to get in your Icy Prism.  They can be combined with 5 infinite dust to create the Nightmare Eye +10 to all stats gem which sells for 200+ gold each.  There currently is no Cataclysm equivalent for this prismatic gem and it has always been a highly popular choice to stick into helms that have a gem slot as they are great for helping with meta requirements since they count as each color of gem.

So those of us with extra gems from the saronite shuffle have a new way to profit off of all of the previously near worthless green and purple Wrath uncommon gems.

Anyone else been profiting from the Icy Prism cooldown removal?