Nesingwary Success Story: From Beggar to Goblin in a Day

I was monitoring trade chat the other day looking for good deals when I noticed a player (who I shall call 'beggar') yelling "Can someone please give me 25g? I really need it."

I watched as the usual trolling occurred. 

"Get a job." 

"Go quest somewhere like I did." 

"If you can find me in Twilight Highlands I'll give you 50g." 

There were some 'more colorful' replies as well.

I sent a private tell, however. "I'm not going to give you any gold but I can teach you how to make your own."


"Really," he replied, "how much will that cost me?"


"Nothing", I answered. "All for free."


"Kk. I'm all ears."

Funny how an offer to help someone is always viewed with skepticism. Maybe it is a function of our society, or maybe just a reaction to the state of the WoW game itself. Seems like everyone is trying to make a buck.


I made Beggar an offer I hoped he would accept. He was a L59 Paladin. 


The Foundation


Me: If I can teach you how to make your own gold in the next few minutes you have to promise not to beg anymore.


Beggar: Yes, if it works.


Me: Has begging ever worked?


Beggar: No, but I don't know what else to do.


Me: Ok, no matter what, this will work better. And less flaming in trade. 


Beggar: Lol.


Me: I need to ask a few questions--this toon is L59. Is this your highest level toon?


Beggar: Yes.


Me: Where are you questing? Outland? 


Beggar: No, Burning Steps.


Me: KK, what are your professions and what levels?


Beggar: I never really leveled them. I have 54 Mining and 62 Leatherworking. Is that bad?

Me: Not really. What is your gold goal? Don't say 'I just need a lot of gold'. Give me a number.


Beggar: I need flying and training, maybe some equipment, so 600g or so.

This went on for a while (I'll spare you the chat format discussion). He had 12 slot bags and one 14 slot on his main. He had just over 40g on him at the time. He usually just earned enough gold in quests and drops to buy a gear upgrade in the AH. If he got a green BoE drop, he would throw it up in the AH. He had no real addons installed.

Suggestions

Based on what he told me about his situation, I told him he should be able to earn 600g in eight hours. He thought I was lying, and again asked what I was selling. I ROFL'd a bit at that. I told him he needed to do some groundwork first to set the foundation--which would be the most time investment--he could move to Outland. Once there, he would find it a short time to meeting his goal.

My suggestions were:

• Make an AH toon. Run him to SW. Mail 20g to the AH toon from Beggar.
• Invest in 12 slot or 14 slot bags for the AH toon.
• Install Auctioneer, do a scan.
• Invest in 16 slot Netherweave bags for Beggar. 
• Drop Leatherworking, learn Herbalism.
• Go to Wow-professions and download the guides for Mining and Herbalism.
• Level Mining and Herbalism to Outland levels--300 for Mining, 330 for Herbalism.
• Send gathered Ore and Herbs to AH toon when bags are full--list those in AH for best price.
• Travel to Outland, run the quests in Hellfire--mine all the Fel Iron, Felweed and Dreaming Glory that you come across. Send to AH toon for listing when you get full stacks.
• Keep BoE greens for later.
• Keep running through zone for more Ore and Herbs to list--farm some.
• Read some gold blogs (and I named 3 or 4 to start with).

Notice that I avoided a lot of more advanced strategies. No flipping, no specialized crafting. This was just basic AH 101 to get him off and running.

We friended each other and he set off to begin his journey.


Every few minutes for the next hour I got updates. 


"Hey, this is Beggar's AH toon, just saying hi."


"Found cheap Netherweave in AH. Had some in my bank too. I hired a Tailor to make bags. I spent a total of 19g, got 3 Netherweave and 3 Runecloth."


"Had a bunch of crap in my bank--put it up on the AH. Auctioneer is great!"


Progress


Since I had some other stuff to do on my alts, I monitored Beggar with my different toons for the next couple of hours. His AH toon definitely had some auctions up--I saw quite a few actually. I was also able to follow via /who to watch as he moved through lower zones leveling his professions.


Before I logged for the night I jumped back on my main to check his progress 'officially'. It had been almost 4 hours since our first conversation in chat.


By this time he told me he had leveled his professions enough to visit Outland. Had just begun the quests there. He said nothing had sold in the AH so he was disappointed. I reminded him that he was pretty much done with the foundation--he had an AH toon now and more bag space. He had leveled his professions and was in the best zone to begin his gold making efforts. He had a bunch of auctions ready to go.


I explained it might take some time to sell stuff but it would. He also said his guild mate had Enchanting and had DE'd all these greens. He had listed a bunch of Dusts and Essences too.

Beggar said he had a full bar to go for L60 and he wanted to knock that out before he logged for the night. I said good luck, and went to bed.


...The Next Day


I had a couple of work related things crop up the next day, and some family stuff in the evening. I ended up not getting back on until very late that night. Truth told, the only reason I logged at all was to do my JC daily and to check on Beggar.


As soon as my load screen popped, I had a private tell from Beggar. 


He was pumped! He said almost all of his auctions sold overnight, and he earned over 300g from just his low level Ore and Herbs from leveling and the DE mats from the greens he cleaned out of his bank. He also had a bunch of Fel Iron Ore and Felweed posted as well. He said he followed my posting strategy--listing stacks of 5s and 10s to satisfy Prospecting and making bars. 


He had live auctions for 80 Fel Iron Ore (small stacks) worth 225g and 40 Felweed for 150g. He said, "if all this sells I will be over my goal today. That's about 8 1/2 hours. Never thought it would work but damn, this was so easy."


"Wish I had met you before. I would have been so much better off. Why don't more people do this?"


We chatted for a bit more and then his RDF popped. I finished my dailies, updated my auctions, and logged for the night.


Epilogue


In the days since, Beggar and I have remained in contact. He did sell those first few auctions and hit his 600g goal in about 10 hours. Ok, a little over my estimate but I didn't really consider the time it took him to quest. 


At the end of the night last night he had over 2,500g on hand and about 100 auctions going on. Beggar has told me numerous times how much he appreciated the tips. In fact, most of the Fel Iron Ore I saw posted today was his.


It was great to take a beggar and turn him into a goblin. The best part, however, is that he has  taken to telling other people. He told me last night that he has a guild mate "in training" now. Not only has Beggar become a goblin but he has begun spreading the word. I find that very satisfying.


All the comments on my original and follow up posts about the April 15 Challenge have left me thinking. Why do I do this? What do I enjoy about blogging? 


Hands down, this is what I enjoy. I like helping other players--by and large not noobs either--with their first steps down the gold earning road. 


I'm going to take some time off for the next couple weeks to redesign my site and message. I will most likely launch by May 1 with a new message, format and style. 


Thanks to everyone who took time to comment. See you all back here soon.