Discovery

Every time you perform a transmute or make a potion, an elixir, or a flask, you have a small chance to "discover" a new recipe. This new recipe is learned automatically. When you discover a recipe, your character will perform an animation, and a message describing your discovery will be visible to nearby players of both factions.

Requirement

• It is generally believed that you can only make a discovery when using a Burning Crusade recipe.

Not Requirements

Based on reported examples of discoveries:

• You don't have to be physically located in Outland
• You don't have to have a mastery
• You don't have to have 375 Alchemy skill
• You don't have to have reached level 70
• You don't have to use a yellow or orange recipe (even grey recipes have been reported to trigger discoveries)
• You don't have to be making a related potion (for example, to discover  [Flask of Shadow Fortification], you don't have to make a  [Major Shadow Protection Potion] or  [Elixir of Major Shadow Power]).

It is generally believed that transmutes are discovered while making transmutes and that new potions/flasks are discovered while making potions, flasks or elixirs. However, there is at least one report of discovering a transmute recipe while making an elixir. It may be the case that the item made doesn't affect what is discovered, or it may be that the chance for making a transmute discovery is reduced when making a potion.

The exact chance to discover a new recipe is not known, and cannot be known without disclosure from Blizzard or extensive analysis collected from logs. From discussion on the official World of Warcraft professions forum and via comments on the recipes at sites such as thottbot, most players seem to believe the discovery chance is tiny. One estimation was 0.01% prior to patch 2.1. In the patch notes for 2.1, the discovery rate was described as being increased significantly. However, the new chance is still not known. One estimate is 0.1%, but there is no evidence for that number.

The Cauldron recipes will only be discovered when making a related item. For example, producing enough Major Shadow Protection Potions will allow you to discover the corresponding  [Cauldron of Major Shadow Protection]. It appears that Cauldron discoveries occur with a much higher frequency than other discoveries. Comments on thottbot for the Cauldron recipes report that only 1-5 batches seem to be required before the discovery is made. One estimate for the discovery rate is 30%.