My Sales for the week

I've been lucky enough to find a bit more time for the game this week, which has been refreshing.  Who knew running dungeons could be fun?  Anyway, here is my My Sales report for the past 7 days.

Nothing fancy.  Other than the Cinderbloom.  Was buying it for 15-20 gold a stack for inks, but when prices shot up I couldn't resist.  Enchanting mats have been selling quite well, though I'm keeping some set aside for scrolls once 4.3 goes live.  Cut gems, a few glyphs, same old stuff.

More to come.

The Guardian Cub problem

No, this post isn't moralizing about the ethic implications about "buying" wow gold.  Blizzard is adding it to the game, so we might as well deal with it's existence.  This post is about the value in wow gold of the Guardian Cub.

Let's take a look at Disgusting Oozeling for example.  The Undermine Journal says the value is between 7-8k on my server.  Which for a fairly rare drop is almost cheap.  Speculation has the Guardian Cub going for about 10k.  But why?  People point to the price of gold on the black market of about $10 for 1000 gold.  Well, that makes sense.  But is the item itself going to be worth 10k gold?

The rarity of the item is going to be close to nil, since anyone at all with $10 can have one.  Unlimited supply is going to kill the value of this pet.  Prices should be high initially for collectors, etc.  The cost should do nothing but come down a few days/weeks later once the newness has worn off, and people looking to trade their real world dollars into Warcraft gold will have to lower expectations.

That being said, if I see one on the AH on day one for a few thousand gold, I'll grab it and try to mark it up quite a bit.  If it doesn't sell, at least my collector can use it.

It's been a little slow around here

Updates are hard to do when there's almost no news on the gold front.  Once patch 4.3 hits the PTR, this will change. With patch 4.3 scheduled to be released within 3 months or so, the PTR is bound to be up soon(ish).

Until then, it's all gems and glyphs and the same old same old.

This week in MySales

I haven't done one of these for a while, so I thought it was about time to get back in the swing of things.

There are quite a few gems on the list, thanks to new 4.2 gear.  Glyph of Unleashed Lightning has been a steady seller around the 300g mark.  I'm trying to dump my Darkmoon Faire single cards now before the bottom completely falls out of them.  Honestly, I forgot I had any at all until I was looking through my paladins personal bank, which I rarely use for anything that I would sell.  Volatile Earth prices are starting to come back down to...earth.  Demand is still there, just not like it was a few weeks ago.  I can see the price rising again, but time will tell.

Dust of Disappearance is a champ, what can I say?

I've got a feeling next weeks report is going to look a lot different.

Gold Cap, nice to meet you

It's been a long journey for me, a little under a year or so, but the moment has finally arrived.

From last few months of Wrath, milling herbs like mad, preparing for the impending Glyphmas, to the first weeks of patch 4.2, I've made my first million gold.  I want to thank all the farmers bringing the ore and herbs to the auction house.  Without them, this wouldn't have been possible.

In other news, it's freakin hot.  I'm not leaving the house if I can help it, so I might get some serious gold making done.  My disenchanting is falling behind again, so I'll be working on that.  Celestial Essence prices are up, and so are Heavenly Shards.  It's time to capitalize.

The one where I show off my wallet

Not much new here.  Selling tons of gems still, the new pvp gear kind of fell flat, but the good thing about having so many characters is if something doesn't sell, at least one of my alts can use it.  Anyway, there is this little screenshot...

I think this is the first time I've gotten up to 900k, so it's pretty exciting.  Closing in on that million mark!

My project for the blog is taking a little longer than I first though, but it should be finished soon.  Keep watching!

Alts, Ideally

It's like this...with gold!

The topic for this month's Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival is creating your own ideal alt.  For me, alts are all about professions.  But there's so many to choose from?  Which professions would I want, and on what character?

For starters, there's the miner/herbalist.  Obvious choice is obvious.  Ever since Blizzard allowed you to track ore and herb nodes at the same time, this has been a very popular profession combo.  You could even add in Archeology to the mix and sell the keystones that you find.  Or just use them to grind out whatever item you want from that hellish profession.  I don't much care for archeology, or flying around in circles in general for that matter.  If I had one of these alts, it would have to be a druid though.  Not shifting from flight form to pick herbs is retarded OP.

A Deathknight enchanter would rank on my list of ideal alts.  DKs can steamroll dungeons up to at least Wrath level easily.  All you have to do is pick a dungeon that drops items that disenchant into the dust/essence/shard that you desire and go to town.  As much as I hate farming ore/herbs, I love going back and revisiting old dungeons and raids.  What can I say?  I loves me some nastalgia.  I actually had this alt for a while, until I decided I needed a third alchemist.

I'm very certain this last one is also popular.  Jewelcrafting/Enchanting.  I have these two professions, yes.  But they are on seperate characters,and it wastes a fair bit of time mailing things around for The Shuffle.  If I had it to do all over again, my jewelcrafter would be an enchanter to boot.  I have to say that would be ideal for me.

As it stands right now, I have a fairly good alt for my playstyle though.  Jewelcrafter/Inscriptionist.  Most of my purchases of ore and herbs get prospected and milled, so I can spend most of my "goblin time" on this character.  I can browse the AH for deals on other items while processing the raw materials.  It's not optimal, but it works.

What about you?  What would you say is your ideal alt?

Patch 4.2 and Recruit A Friend

Here are the patch notes from June 24th.

Check them out.  But what I want to mention is this little tidbit of information.

Recruit-A-Friend now grants bonus experience and levels up to level 80.

Hold on a second...80?  Very nice!  This makes me want to keep that free account offer they sent for "a friend" for myself even more.  If you have been waiting around to utilize the RAF program because you could only drag an alt along to 60, then Merry Christmas in almost July.

Patch 4.2 stuff

The time has come.  Are you ready?  Have you stockpiled enough?  Is there such a thing?  Ready or not, here it comes.  (I'll miss you keyring!)

Here's a quick rundown on items you should have been stocking up on already. If you haven't, better move quick!

-Inferno Rubies
If you don't have a jewelcrafter, don't worry.  These will still sell raw and uncut.  If you DO have a jewelcrafter, be ready to start cutting and posting.

-Inferno Ink
New Relics?  Don't mind if I do...

-Volatile Fire/Volatile Water
All that new PvP gear has to come from somewhere.  Don't worry about finding the new recipes, your old ones get a free upgrade.

-Truegold
Supplies seem to be dwindling, and with an upcoming increase in demand, keep your eye on prices.

-Enchanting Mats/other gems
Item enhancements are going to be hot with point system shuffle taking place.  Be ready to capitalize!

Sure there are other crafting items that are going to sell well, but I think these are going to be movers and shakers.

What are your stashes looking like in the days leading up to Patch 4.2?  Do you think you have enough?

What you can learn from time off

I've been dealing with some RL stuff the past couple days, but it's nice to log on to 20k+.  It's even nicer that with TSM and Auctionator, I can be fully restocked and posted on the AH in less than an hour.  Addons can mean the difference between slaving away for hours or a business that pretty much runs itself.

It's been said before, but...

TradeSkillMaster can be scary to look at when you first install it.  You look at all it can do, all the groups for crafting and posting, and you just think, "where do I even start?"  Take the time to set it up correctly.  I myself followed Zoxy's guide.  It may take up to an hour, perhaps longer, but that is an investment in your gold making business that you will not be disappointed with.

Auctionator is such a boon.  I used the buy feature a lot for herbs and ore to get them all onto one page.  The sell tab is amazing for items you don't have in groups and allows you to buy and post from one screen.  That feature alone is worth the installation in my view.

What addons do you use for your auction house business?  How do they help?

TradeSkillMaster - Accounting

I had heard something about this being in the works, but I'm not certain I new this was in release.  TradeSkillMaster Accounting module is like MySales on crack.  Accounting tracks all your sales (including stack size!), all your AH purchases, it's searchable with filters, it just seems amazing.  I'll have some more info on this later, as I just installed it.  (It can import your MySales data into it as well)  This will be a major boon to tracking your expenses and income.  Download it from Curse here.

I'm on a (Sea)horse

I had the opportunity to get an item I hadn't seen on my side of the AH today.  Namely, the Reins of Poseidus mount.  As far as myself and The Undermine Journal know, it's never been on the Alliance AH.  Big props to Alto for hookin a brotha up.

In other news, I'm caught up on milling and going to be taking a big chance on DMF cards.  Herbs and Volatile Life are dirt cheap, and I aim to take advantage of it.

Gem sales seem to be down at the moment, but that's nothing to worry about.  When people start picking up new gear in 4.2, they should rebound.

One last thing.  If you are new to the gold making biz, check out Goldgrub's Goblin Academy.  With articles by some of the best gold bloggers around, it will be an extremely valuable resource for those beginning the journey to gold cap.

The Littlest Pet Shop and others

Want one of these?  Think pet collectors will?  You better start stocking up now on your companions to sell in the AH, because 4.2 adds rewards for the achievements The Littlest Pet Shop, The Menagerie, and Petting Zoo.

More info about the newest PTR build (14179) can be found here.

Jewelcrafter's Delight

Cut gems now stack to 20.

Just let that sink in.

About the only negative I can see with this is players that stayed away from selling many cuts because of bag space issues might be inticed to enter the market.  Other than that, this change is amazing.

(Think this change was announced a few days ago, but I just found it this morning.)

How has no one told me about this item?????

Or maybe they did and I wasn't paying attention.

Flintlocke's Woodchucker

The item really speaks for itself.  Love it.

Hypnotic Dust. It got kinda high.

I've been keeping an eye on it, selling some off here and there.  With the "shuffle" (if you can really call prospect/cut/vendor a shuffle) nerfed, dust prices have skyrocketed.  Before 4.1, they were selling for about 4-6g each.  Last week they were going for about 10-12g each.  This week?  17-20g each.  And they still sell.  Ore is still plentiful and cheap, so what gives?

People are lazy and/or don't have the right combination of professions.  Use this to your advantage.

Adapt and evolve is the name of the game.  Who's in?

Don't forget! Transmuting gems can be profitable

With gems selling as fast as they are, I find my stash of hundreds of each rare gem waining.  I had almost forgotten about transmuting gems other than Inferno Rubies.  Ember Topaz are selling especially quick this week, and I'm hard pressed to keep them in stock.  But I have tons of Hessonite, and Cinderbloom is cheap.  Good thing I have an alchemist of 4 on hand.

There was almost no solid profit to be had with transmutes before now, but opportunity knocks!

I think I like these patch trailers too much

Since I watch them at least a few dozens times when they are released.  I don't know what I'm going to do when Raimi and his team get around to putting out the Warcraft movie.  Anyway...

The Obsidium Shuffle or: How I learned to stop worrying and love Hypnotic Dust

The data mined fix is in.  Uncommon cut Cata gems are getting a price fix from 9g to 75s.  Huge citation needed there.  But if this comes to fruition, how will we make money from all that cheap ore?

I remember a time when I had to complete the shuffle to be profitable, crafting rings and necklaces to disenchant for dust and essence.  It appears that will soon be the case once more.  I think a lot of players are going to abandon this method for greener pastures (at least for a while), and can see dust and essence going up in price a bit.  This will probably make it as profitable as it is right now, you just have to put in a little DE time.

All is not lost folks.  It's just not going to be quite as easy (or guaranteed) as the golden age.

Laziness, my ugly side

I think I have at least one of every "rare" pattern in the game.  You know, the Lifelike Mechanical Toads, the stats to chest, the arcane bombs, all that jazz.  Thing of it is, I don't even remember which guild bank I have them in.  Tonight begins project clean sweep.  A cleaning out of the banks.  There really is no reason for me to have 1000 or so of each uncut uncommon cata gem.  This is where it starts, cut, vendor, cut vendor.  At least I can do this part mostly afk.

My goal is to have the banks mostly sorted by tomorrow evening.  My advice to you is this.  Don't let the guild banks get too out of control.  Just as in real life, it is easier to keep it clean as you go then to wait until it is a total disaster and do it all at once.

The Great Chicken

I have no idea why, but ever since I saw it for the first time, I knew that Magic Rooster Egg had to be mine.  Luckily enough, while scanning the auction house before work, one appeared.  62k gold.  Or it may have only been 52k.  Honestly, I don't know.  I clicked buyout so fast I didn't really get a good look.  The fact remains, I have it.

Speaking of TCG mounts, a few weeks ago I flipped a Wooly White Rhino I bought for 52k, for 95k.  Sure, it took a couple weeks to move, but you cant argue with that profit!

The Agile Shadowspirit Project

It was a huge success for a long time.  I sold over 50 of them for about 1000g a piece.  Great profits!  Until other folks started getting into the market, undercutting me as soon as I posted.  What's a goblin to do?  Well, make them pay of course!  Prices were slashed, in half at first.  500g each.  A few followed, a few hated.  A few price drops later, I was moving them as fast as I could cut them for 275g.  The profits weren't as good as when I had started, but neither was the market.  All in all, the 2000g I spent on the recipe was worth it.  Hopefully the 20k gold the competition spent on it was not.  You no take my market!

Agile Shadowspirit Diamond! Oh yes...

I just picked up this cut from the AH for 2000 gold, which is a steal, since I would have paid at least 5 times that amount.  I've sold 2 of them in the past 10 minutes for 1200g a piece, so I've essentially paid for it already.  As far as I know, I am the only one with it Alliance side, so it should make me quite a bit of gold until it becomes more common.  Keep on searching for the design folks, it's worth it.

My server is just full of gold...makers.

Warcraft Econ has a section called the Hall of Fame.  It features players who have amassed a certain amount of gold (250k, 500k, etc etc).  The other day I saw Êxcess made the 250k club.  Hey cool, he plays the horde side AH on my server.  Well today, WarcraftEcon featured Altolycus, also horde side my server.  I've been reading Alto's blog almost since the beginning, and I never even realized we played the opposite side of the same coin.

I guess it's a small world (of warcraft) after all.

At least these two aren't stealing my profits.  But I have to wonder exactly how many gold collectors reside on Ghostlands-US.

30k worth of Elementium Ore on the wall, 30k worth of Elementium....

And I just had to scoop it up.  60g a stack is just too good.  I'm bringing over 3 alts from another server to join my gold mill later this evening as well.  All and all, today was a good day.

I hit a personal milestone as well the other day.  I joined the 500k club!

I'll have a more informative post soon, I promise.

New Alchemist Stones

Quicksilver Alchemist Stone
Volatile Alchemist Stone
Vibrant Alchemist Stone

Volatile Life will probably be pretty hard to come by once the patch rolls around, so if you can find it cheap, you could probably make a little extra flipping it.  Flask mats are also changing to 2 more Volatile Life, and a few less herbs.

Just a little something to watch out for.

Three weeks since MySales install

I installed the MySales addon three weeks ago.  I'd been meaning to for a while, but I never got around to it.  This addon is amazing for tracking what exactly it is you are selling.  I had no idea I had moved so much Volatile Earth, especially since I had only got into the market this week.  I was bored and decided to prospect some of my stockpile of Pyrite Ore that I had acquired when it was around 150g a stack.  Little did I know the profits I was falling into.  Anyway, the MySales screen...

-11k in Volatile Earth all from prospecting Pyrite Ore

-7.5k in Volatile Air from Transmuting (life bought for 5g, air sold for 40ish)

-4k (had some more sales since the screen) in Infinite Dust from DEing JC rings (shadowmight mostly, eternals stockpiled @ 1.5g snatch)

-Greater Celestial Essence and Hypnotic Dust from the new shuffle

It goes on, you can pretty much tell where it all came from.

 Obviously this isn't all profit, and doesn't count in person sales (most of my Darkmoon Cards), but it's an idea of what I'm doing.  Cataclysm has treated me well.  Hope it has and will continue to do the same for you.