My advice to any shaman who is thinking about starting alchmey is to run away while you still have plat in the bank. Atm I have my skill at 265 and yes Im gonna take it to 300 but imo its just not worth it. (hypocritical yes I know, but Im already at 265, I just have to finish it, and now im getting guild funds for ingrediants). If your only doing it to make the new pots then just buy them from the npc vendors, trust me its probably cheaper and its much easier then getting the skill up to make the 10 pots. I will admit its nice to be able to provide guildies with Gate Potions or Healing X Potions, but I can honestly say I've spent more plat on alchemy supplies then I ever did on baz gear. Not to mention the now hours I've spent killing frogs
in Old Seb for a few lily's. I have spend whole days in Seb just to farm enough lilys to make a weeks worth of Healing X Potions and 4 skill ups. Too much effort, time, platium, and aggrivation.