Alchemy!

[Aadora]

Pretty much... not called that, just a mechanical prosthetic arm as far as I know.

[Kage]

... Why didn't I know this.. Dam my ignorance!

[flammos200]

Techno-magi/priests/warlocks can make them. They're not fully mechanical, instead being a fusion of magic and technology.

But Tinker's Arms are fully mechanical and can serve as substitute limbs, if any are missing, or as an extra arm coming out of a backpack.

I went batskittles with techno-magical prostethics at one point. 'Tis fun.

As for transmutation, I'd argue that it -does- have practical, in-combat applications. The first of them being Polymorph. Sheeping stuff is literal transmutation, for instance. Alchemical transmutation is a whole different thing to Arcane transmutation, tho', and is the change of a substance and its properties into another substance complete with its properties.

From what I know, discussions on Alchemical Transmutation in the past have suggested that it takes quite a long amount of time to actually transmute things alchemically - thus accounting for the cooldown that transmute abilities have.

[Aadora]

But either way... a few things people have said summed up:

You wouldn't be able to change the shape. If you have a sword of metal, and transmute it to stone... you would have a similar sized wooden sword.

Also, if you change one metal to another, or whatever it is you decide to do, it would come out weaker or stronger...

If you change a very compacted metal into gold per say, the metal would become weaker... if you change a very "Not so compacted" sword from like, gold to iron... it would still not be as strong as a sword forged from iron normally. Because it would have the same, what's the word... density? I'm not good with science.

But pretty much what I am trying to say that those metals that are filled with pockets of air, wouldn't be filled in. An example, is that if you make a hollow ball of metal, and transmute it into wood, it would just be a hollow wooden ball. It wouldn't fill it in so it's not hollow. So just imagine that on a much smaller scale.

[Piroska]

Well in that sense.. Couldn't alchemy be used to turn copper into gold?

Yes, though in the past the community generally expressed a wish that constraints be placed on use of transmutation. In other words, it probably shouldn't be used frequently and with little effort.

[Reigen]

I do so at the assumption that the Kirin Tor and almost every city out there would declare turning things into gold as illegal as crap. I also assume bankers would be hired to be able to tell if something had been transmuted and refuse to take anything they think might have been. Otherwise everyone would be running around rich, most of all mages.

S' my take on turning things into gold at least.

[flammos200]

Well in that sense.. Couldn't alchemy be used to turn copper into gold?

Yes, though in the past the community generally expressed a wish that constraints be placed on use of transmutation. In other words, it probably shouldn't be used frequently and with little effort.

Same stance was taken on Conjuring Gold Coins, yup.

Basically "Yes, it's doable/possible. But don't do it, or we will have words and they will not be nice ones."

[Dae]

The only in-combat anything I could really see WoW alchemy being possibly useful/in feasible amounts in is with bullets. Then, though, I don't really see how that would be all that useful, either unless you are very creative or have an extensive understanding of ballistics and could take advantage of the aerodynamics of different substances...?

[Xigo]

Well, there's always alchemist's fire, if that exists in WoW.

IE: Fantasy Grenades.

And a REAL goblin would be able to taste the difference between false and real gold. That's why they bite gold coins. Yup. Totally.

[Rigley]

Well, there's always alchemist's fire, if that exists in WoW.

Aye! Used by the forsaken in one quest I know.

I'll note that the alchemy in WoW mostly revolves around potions and the like; thus there are indeed few -weapons- made through alchemy, though you can certainly make grenades capable of inflicting negative effects via potion brews and the like, or maybe an alchemical squirt gun or something.

...

But yeah. More often than not WoW's alchemy will be based on buffing-- I think bombs [rather, vials made to release the concoction upon shattering) are about the only immediate idea which springs to mind, apart from normal poisons or injections with bad stuff.

...This may have all been already covered, of course. In which case oh well! Redundancy.

[c0rzilla]

Pretty much... not called that, just a mechanical prosthetic arm as far as I know.

At one point she did! But, it is now gone, arm healed through mysterious means.

The arm wasn't quite comparable to that seen in FMA. Its close-to-natural movement was through a focus of will via Light. She had to worry about infection constantly, and thus daily, or twice-daily cleanings were required. It was not as sturdy as you think it would be at first. If she ran into someone with am EMP? Game over. Ghoul chews on it? Circuitry ripped out.

S'yeah. Quick summary/comparison of that, though I know little of the finer details of FMA auto-mail.

[CappnRob]

Transmutation in WoW is more of a science than anything else. You change one material into another.

You know.

How -real life- alchemy was "supposed" to have been like.

[Kage]

Well FMA is the same way. Alchemy was about equal exchange. You take water and change it into oxagen and hydrogen or another version of it with just those elements, of the same amount.

-Edit-

Another way to look at it is the example like in the show. You take a broken clock with all the pieces and make a transmutation circle and remake it into the fixed clock.

[Kaghuros]

WoW magic doesn't work like that, because exchange doesn't need to be equivalent in the universe. Mages can literally convert energy into matter. Transmutation alchemy isn't based on any form of mass or density. As far as we've been shown it turns on one "classical alchemy metal" or "magical essence" object into another, sometimes even one object into two or three other objects, defying the conventional law of conservation of matter.