• Darkmoon Faire quest, Writing the Future, from Sayge, the fortune teller on Darkmoon Island. Bring 5 Light Parchment, then use the items provided by the quest. Rewards +5 Inscription skill, Darkmoon Game Token and 4 Darkmoon Prize Ticket. Not daily, possibly monthly.
• Glyph of Shadow – new Priest minor glyph learned from Minor Inscription Research.
• “Bloodthirsty” relics become “Vicious” – similar items with improved stats, re-using the old recipe.

• Profession skill cap rises to 600.
• Cooking specializations: For example, “grilling may create Strength food.” Choose a specialisation or “learn all.”
• Inscription’s prime glyphs “might go away”, with more major glyphs instead.

“We will be changing the discovery spells so they can teach all possible glyphs, and the books will simply provide a no-cooldown method to do the same thing.”

From Ask The Devs #7.

In Public Test Realm news, patch 4.2 will add 3 new trained relic recipes, and a new glyph, Glyph of Unleashed Lightning, which is learned from Northrend Inscription Research.

• Inscription vendors in all major cities now also trade inks.
• New Glyph of Frost Armor, learned from Northrend Inscription Research.
• Forged Documents and Dust of Disappearance use less ink (both of which mean leveling takes fewer materials).
• Adventurer’s Journal can now be used every hour (down from 4 hours).
• Technique: Origami Beetle now drops (from at least creatures in Uldum).

• Glyph of Dark Succor, trainable at 275 skill.
• Technique: Glyph of Colossus Smash, sold by Inscription vendors in Twilight Highlands (465 skill to learn).

• Leveling 425-525 uses new Cataclysm pigments and inks. Like WotLK, the final 25 skill points are tough to power-level. Update: Power-leveling is a little easier – Runescroll of Fortitude II now gives skill-ups, and Twilight Highlands vendor items are no longer sold limited supply.
• New Cataclysm Products include Relics, Mysterious Fortune Cards, and Adventurer’s Journals. New sets of Darkmoon Cards can be made at 525 skill. No Glyphs require Cataclysm.
• New tier of Scribe-only shoulder enchants at 500 skill.

El’s Inscription has been updated with changes. For full details, read about the Cataclysm.

Multi-Skill-Ups

Before patch 4.0.1, recipes that were displayed as orange were guaranteed to give 1 skill-point when made. This has not changed for all recipes. However (with patch 4.0.1) most glyph recipes give 3 skill-points each time the glyph is made, so long as the recipe remains orange.

These recipes are displayed in the Inscription interface with a small upward arrow and a number indicating the number of skill-points (illustrated). They will be shown on El’s pages as “3⇑“.

3 skill points instead of 1 does not make leveling Inscription 3 times as easy: Glyph recipes in 4.0.1 use 3 inks, instead of 1. The overall volume of inks (and herbs) required to level (up to 350 Inscription skill) is similar to patch 3.3. Northrend leveling unfortunately relies on glyphs that are yellow, so will require more materials than before.

Leveling Slingshot

Multi-skill-ups occur while the recipe is orange. As soon as the recipe becomes yellow, skill-ups only happen sometimes, and then only gain 1 point. If you make an item when your skill is 1 point below the number at which the recipe turns yellow, you will still gain the full 3-point bonus.

For example, if the recipe turns yellow at skill 145, making the glyph at skill 144 will gain 3 points (leveling to 147). However, if you had made the same glyph at 145 skill, you would only gain 0 or 1 skill points (remaining at 145 skill, or leveling to 146) – a worse skill-up result than making the glyph at 144!

A “Slingshot” describes using the +3 bonus to the greatest advantage. In the example above, a glyph made at 144 skill slingshots straight over 3 points of yellow recipe, potentially saving 9 or 12 inks. This matters where there is no new orange recipe at skill 145.

Unfortunately, the Slingshot is not ideal for Dwarves: Finishing previous leveling at a precise skill (like 144) can require careful planning. Often the decision must be taken 10 or 20 skill-points earlier, which is a lot to calculate. For Gnomes, the Leveling Slingshot adds an extra piece of strategy, which can reduce the amount of materials to level Inscription.

The Inscription leveling guide has been updated for patch 4.0.1.

• Each glyph recipe requires 3x ink, so producing glyphs costs (in herbs) at least twice as much as in WotLK.
• Most glyphs (recipe, item, or applied) should convert directly into new Cataclysm glyphs during the next live patch (before Cataclysm).

Goblin investors may spot an opportunity for profit, by creating glyphs before the patch, and selling them after! But be careful: A few named glyphs convert into “Charred Glyphs” – junk items worth only 50s. Details are incomplete and untested, but here is a list of expected conversions.