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.