20 Minute JP Run

Since I'm farming Justice Points for my toons now (none of whom have really been made Raid Ready yet), getting a fast run here and there has been my goal.

One of my tank buddies was free so my son grabbed his healer (pushing hard to get to 85 before he leaves for college Sunday) and we queued RDF.

Vortex Pinnacle is not one of my favorite dungeons but when it popped our tank said "let's try to knock this out quick". I grabbed the stopwatch, hit start and said "go".

We were off and running--literally. The tank went on a dead sprint. He chain pulled every group. Before we could burn down one set of trash he was off to the next set. We stopped only twice in the whole instance--both times to rez a fallen comrade. Never once did Chavon have to stop for mana. Pro heals from my boy!

Result? A 20:37 run.

You might have had a faster run. Please tell us about it if you have. Definitely, this was a record for me. 

About Damn Time: Gold Capped At Last

All I can say is "woot" and "thank god". 

I was chasing the final 75k gold or so since Thursday. Finally Sunday I just said "screw it" and decided to camp the AH all day. Result was a 40K gold day and this final tally when I opened my mail one last time around 1:10 am server time. 

Please Don't Abuse Your Guildies

I don't have a great computer. It was pretty awesome about 3 or 4 years ago but now it is barely able to keep up. For WoW this means low FPS and long load times. I don't do 25 mans because the video lag is so bad. Hell, some 10 mans are unplayable.

Occasionally when I log on, as soon as the load screen disappears and I can see my character, I will notice other players attempting to interact with me. Might be a group invite, or a wsp, or some guild chat comment. 

Such was the case last Saturday afternoon when I logged my Warlock, Teimsar. He is a max Scribe/Tailor, and it was time to restock some Spellthread and bag options. 

PUG Loot Solution

One of the biggest frustrations I have faced in the last month has been the Random Dungeon Finder. 

I took the last month off from the AH to work on my alts. I rolled an Orc Mage and leveled her to 85. I have been working on my main server alts, gearing them, running dungeons. Then I focused on my Druid (now 85) and my Shaman (also 85 now).


We all know the RDF system is fucked up. Blizzard knows it too, bribing tanks to get them to run more randoms. The Satchel of Medoicre Goods is not enough to help this situation a lot. Bottom line: tanks get insta-queue, healers (like my Shaman) get fairly good times, and DPS get screwed. 

Saving Time With Trade Skill Master

I have never been a big fan of Trade Skill Master. My original perception was that it was hard to learn, offered limited flexibility and was geared primarily to Glyph production and maintenance of Glyph auctions. Since I wasn't active in Glyph sales I shied away from TSM.

My opinion hasn't changed that much. However, I did decide to try my hand at Glyphs since I know all but 4 of the patterns. So far, TSM has proven very useful in both producing Glyphs and maintaining their auctions. It was fairly cumbersome to learn but has proven surprisingly nimble in managing Glyph auctions as well as my other regular postings.

Today I stumbled upon an application for TSM that proved a huge time savings for me. It may also help you make more gold by reducing needless AH searches.

Shopping For Value

Whether you are an Enchanter looking to craft scrolls or you are a goblin looking to turn a quick profit, buying gear to Disenchant for materials has always been a good way to generate Enchanting materials for resale or personal use.

Don't overlook the recent price spikes in Greater Celestial Essences and Heavenly Shards.

Gold Advice for a New Friend

We all know how horribly disappointing it can be to run PUGs. You never know if you will get the guild group with 4/5 on vent and running at top speed or the noob group with the tank that just specc'd and (like I had last week) has a mixture of DPS and PvP gear--without a single piece of tank gear at all.

Today I was fortunate to find a super cool group with solid DPS, a great Tank and almost pro Heals. (I was healer btw, lol). The group got along so well that we all exchanged REAL IDs and have friended each other for future runs.


During one bout of down time between runs, Fenrisulfr (Vashj) and I struck up a conversation about gold. This post is dedicated to Fenri with tips for him--but it applies to so many players today that I hope all my readers will enjoy it. (Or should I say both of my readers? lol)

Geruk (Velun US) Steps Up: For The Horde!!!

Yesterday I needed a break from the gold grind.

I went to a random server (almost random, anyway) and rolled up a Female Orc Mage. Why? Several reasons: never played an Orc, very little Horde experience at all, and mages really rock.

I met a totally cool player who reinforced my bias that awesome people are everywhere in WoW.

750k Gold: New Milestone, New Observations

I'm a few days delinquent in publishing this post. I hit 750k on May 20 just before bed, during my last mail sweep of the evening. I meant to get this post out for Tuesday but life intervened. 

Some interesting trends have recently become obvious to me, and hopefully these observations will help you in your gold acquisition efforts.

Remember to Blog Responsibly!

OK, I admit it.

I'm old.

You young whippersnappers with your Tweets and your Internets and You Tube and such.....you just confuse me.

I don't Tweet because I don't think anything I'm doing RIGHT NOW is just so damn interesting that you or anyone else would need or want to know about it.

I don't Facebook because everyone I want to talk to is either living in the same house with me or available via telephone or email when I need to communicate.

It mystifies me as to why anyone would want to publish private info like a birthday, likes and relationship status on the Internet. Anyone can see it. Forever.

Forget the stories about employers not hiring people because of what was on their Facebook page. Forget the stories about employers firing people because of pictures on Facebook.

Whatever you put out there in the cyberworld is there forever.

I vividly recall when email became the new "IN" thing in the business world. My employer actually published guidelines on how to write and send an email. I wish I had saved the booklet.

It contained priceless stuff like "write your email formally as if you were writing a business letter" and "never send an angry email; instead, save it and come back the next day to make sure it still makes sense". Oh, and the very important "facial expression and voice tone do not translate well in an email. You might mean to be funny but the recipient might be offended."

I guess no one had invented "lol" yet.

Anyway, there have been some very public disputes lately in the gold blog community. I'm not going to re-hash them or link them here. If you are reading this email I'm sure you linked here at some point from one of these sites.

One blogger is miffed about a program another blogger started that seemed to flame out or fail somehow. Another blogger jumps in to defend one party or the other. Soon after, yet another blog pipes in defending the first one.

The reason I don't get Facebook and Twitter is the very same reason these disputes are so depressing.

Privacy.

My generation believed in discussing things "man to man" (or "face to face" if the masculine image is somehow not PC here).

Have a problem with your boss? Don't email him. Knock on the door, go inside and talk it out. Have trouble with your gf or bf? Don't break up on Twitter--go out, discuss it and if you have to end the relationship, do so with some dignity.

Some things should just be said privately. If I have a problem with a blogger's topic, I really think about the comment process. I still don't "email mad".  (Most of the time) If my comment looks like it is going to rile someone up then I hit "cancel" and send an email. Or, I don't comment at all.

Today I broke that rule and made a public comment on a blog. I thought I was defending a fellow blogger who I perceived had been disparaged by name. I felt a public slight should be called out publicly.

That was wrong of me. I should have handled it privately. I let my emotions get the best of me and only made things worse.

If you are reading this and you know who you are, please accept my apologies. I have already sent emails but wanted to address this topic, well, on a bigger scale.

So, next time you get ready to Tweet or Facebook or whatever you young folks do give it a second. Wait. See if your comment really advances the discussion or only becomes a diversion into a new, unintended and horribly wrong direction.

Had I taken my own advice I don't think this whole issue would have blown up.

Demand Side Economics

Goblins require that someone "need" our items. We can supply all we want but if no one is buying what we list, we don't make any gold.

We often look at gold earning through this lens--"what can I supply that will sell for a profit?"

We might even ask, "Of all the things I can possibly sell that will earn a profit, what can I list that will make the best profit in the shortest time?"


These questions frame the analysis from a supply standpoint. Let's quickly look at this picture with the demand lens to see if additional ideas are discovered, and if so, if they are helpful.

Best. Week. Ever. ((4.1, Oh How I Love Thee, Let Me Count the 77,000 Ways))

Prior to 4.1's drop I prepared to move away from gold earning and return more to game playing. The mindset is different. Go cold turkey? Nah, that's a recipe for disaster. Gradually wean off the golden teat? Seemed more realistic but requires more willpower--something I have been known to lack in the past. 


Somewhere in the middle....gradual reduction in AH time coupled with more dungeons and questing....that should do it.


Seems like a plan.....then by Saturday the whole thing went to hell. I was back to full-on AH activity. The result?


Best. Week. Ever.

Quick Tip: WoLK Enchanting Materials

If your server is like mine, finding Infinite Dust and Greater Cosmic Essence can be a real pain. The AH prices of Infinite Dust are 6g-8g each and GCEs are going for 15g and up. Sometimes one can find WoLK greens for cheap enough to buy and DE for your own materials but just about everyone is onto this tip, so it is hit or miss. Mainly miss for me lately.

I found that the most economical way to make something to "farm" and DE for my own Infinite Dust and GCE is Shadowmight Ring. It is a L162 ring that DEs into 4-10 Dust (75%) or 1-3 GCE (20%). There is a 5% chance for a Dream Shard.

Materials are 1 each Eternal Earth and Eternal Shadow. The recipe is taught by any JC trainer at skill level 390. 

On my server, the Eternal Earth go for about 9g and the Shadow for about 17g. If you buy them at these prices the margins are close to break even, but can be a fall back method for making your own mats if the AH is either sold out or too expensive. 

Today, I still came out ahead. I buy Earths and Shadows any time I see them at a good price. I bought 45 Earth today for 3g each and 80 Shadow for 7g-9g each. 

I made and DE'd 45 Shadowmight Rings and received: 238 Infinite Dust, 18 GCE and 1 Dream Shard.

From an availability standpoint this option worked great. I couldn't find any GCE in the AH and I needed 15 for crafting scrolls for resale. The Infinite Dust in the AH was very pricey at the time, and limited--only 5 stacks at 140g per stack. 

From a pure gold earning standpoint this would be a very profitable effort as well. My initial investment was 495g (45 Earth at 3g each--135g--and 45 Shadow at 8g each--360g). At market price of 6g, the 238 Infinite Dust would be worth 1,428g. The GCE would be worth 234g at the usual price of 13g each. 

That would have been 1,167g profit for about 5 minutes work. [((1,428+234)-495) = 1,167].

So whether you need a way to generate Infinite Dust and GCE for your WoLK recipes, or you need a good way to earn some gold by making and re-listing these materials, the Shadowmight Ring might be a good option for you. Buy the materials for the right price and the profits are decent. Even at market rates you can keep your business going if the WoLK mats are in short supply.

500k Gold Milestone and General Thoughts

Woot!

I hit 500,000g on April 15 after flirting with it for a week. I could have banked 500k a lot sooner but kept getting distracted.

I got to 490k then decided to train Engineering for my Shaman. That took a few thousand gold. I crept back up to 490k-ish and began playing Rift more and more, leaving my AH toon with hundreds of expired auctions mid-week. Soon thereafter I got to 495k but spent a few thousand to get all the Blacksmithing recipes. Finally, on when my Warlock hit 85 and I needed to upgrade his gear to do heroics so there went another few thousand for Dreamcloth and other gear.

Eventually, I just said "screw it" and pushed on through. 

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."

April 15 Blogger Challenge--Don't Forget

Don't forget--the April 15 Blogger Challenge is coming up. If you write a blog and want to participate just publish your "Server Success Story" on 4/15. 

Based on the comments from the original post this may be a non-event. 

Gemmageddon and the 4.1 Horsemen of the Jewel-pocalypse

Warning! This post contains imagery that may offend some people. If your religious views are so strong that you may become upset at a humorous view of God, WoW and Blizzard please do not read any further.

________________________________________

April 15 Gold Blogger Challenge: Server Success Stories

First things first: this is not a Carnival. JMTC and Cold's Gold Factory both do a super job with monthly theme-related posts. Instead, this challenge is designed to illustrate via real in-game examples how our gold tips can help a total stranger.

Interested? Read on......

Leatherworking Can Be Profitable

I met a guy in trade chat the other day, Garahadar, who was looking for someone to Enchant a weapon. His materials, small tip. I think it was Mending but I don't remember now. We struck up a conversation. Seems his situation is very similar to Phuggly's: needs to earn gold and has little working capital now. 

I gave Garahadar some basic tips--quick hits, if you will. Then I offered to construct this post to help him with ideas about how Leatherworking might be an income generator. 


The more I worked on this last night, the more I began to question whether this profession has any serious gold making potential. I decided that Leatherworking can be profitale but the old strategies may not work today.Moreover, the application might be more appropriate for non-Goblins.

Auctioneer Help Anyone?

I am a longterm Auctioneer user. I have noticed that since Cataclysm release the data files seem to be more bloated. I need to perform the dreaded /auc clearscan all .

I'm looking for some answers which I can't seem to locate anywhere, including the Auctioneer site.

If I clear all the data, will my Skillet and MySales data go away too? Is there a way to preserve sales data that is used by these addons and still remove all the data Auctioneer has warehoused?

Skillet keeps very useful stats on how many of an item I have sold and for how much total revenue. This info is super useful in determining if I need to make some irregular item to sell.

Any thoughts out there? I love Auctioneer but losing all this valuable info every time I have to "clear the decks" seems like a very big sacrifice.