New Meta Gem Pattern: Tough Lesson(s) Learned

credit: www.uhnd.com

Playing on my Pally last night, who has max JC and Ench, trying to decide what Meta pattern to buy with my 4 Jewelcrafter Tokens. Thought it might be a good time to use The Undermine Journal to see what patterns were selling well. 

I did a search for "Shadowspirit Diamond" and at the very bottom were the three patterns for the new 4.0.6 Metas. Since I had not set up notifications for any of these patterns, I thought I would double check the AH to see if any of the new patterns were listed. 

Agile Shadowspirit had no current auctions listed, but had sold three times on the server--twice for 50k gold and once for 39,999 gold. Burning Shadowspirit had not been listed at all on the server.  

Imagine my surprise when I clicked on Reverberating Shadowspirit and saw this:

Really? 300g? Someone obviously got the drop, didn't have a JC or know the rarity of the pattern and popped it in the AH for what they thought was a good price. After all, no historical data in Auctioneer or anywhere else would have helped determine pricing.

So I wondered "how long ago did that happen?", and scrolled down the page to see:

At the time I did this, the graph illustrated it had just happened. Like minutes ago. Now I was pissed.

I'm not going to embarrass the player, but at the bottom of TUJ the sales are listed and include the seller's name. I searched and the player was still on-line. Turned out to be a L81 Warrior. 

My initial reaction was to lash out. I felt like if the player had listed for a more reasonable cost the pattern might still be there. Not only did this pattern sell for 300g, but I also missed the sale be less than 5 minutes according to TUJ. I had not set notifications in TUJ so I was upset at myself too.

Conversation was pleasant enough--all private tells, not in /2:

Me: hey did you list a JC pattern in the AH recently?

Player: Yes, about an hour ago. 

Me: Oh, do you know if it sold? 

Player: Hold on, I'll check--I'm right by the AH. 

Player: Yes, it sold about 5 minutes ago, you just missed it.

Pause. At this point I had second thoughts. Why risk pissing someone off? There is something to be said for letting people muddle through their own ignorance. Then this:

Player: Sold so fast, guess I should have asked more. If I get another one I will let you know. 

Really? 'If you get another one'? Wowhead puts the drop rates around 0.02%. I was still resisting the temptation to symbolically punch this person in the mouth with the actual value. But then this:

Player: Is it rare?

Ok, I couldn't resist anymore. Obviously this person thought he undercharged and suspected I must know more about the value. He was trying to find out more, right? So I should help out, right?

Me: Trust me, you don't want to know.

Player: No really, I can take it. 

Me: It is one of 3 JC patterns that came out in 4.0.6. Probably the rarest item in the game right now.

Long, long pause. Then this exchange:

Last chance, I thought, if he wanted to simply ignore the whole thing.

Player: Sure, I can take it. Lol, I know I screwed up. How bad?

Me: I think you could have gotten upwards of 35k gold. Maybe 50k.

Long pause. 

Player: Uh, ok. Whatever.

He thought I was blowing smoke.

Me: Tell you what--when you log off tonight go to wowhead.com and check how rare it is, then go to underminejournal.com and see how much they sell for on this server. I'm not making it up.

Player: Ok, I will. 

Selfishly, I felt a little better because I think the player may have learned a lesson. Sorta felt good to smack dat ass, so to speak.

Then I realized that I'm the one who should have learned something--if I had my notifications set up properly I would have had a shot at buying this pattern. As it was, I just happened to find out after the fact--immediately after the fact--but still, it was more my fault than his. 

Now my notifications are set up. I wonder if the player learned anything too.