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.