White Ribbon - Heart of Gold

White Ribbon Campaign Website

Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name - Robert Louis Stevenson

It's all about timing...

Two weeks ago, there were posts galore on blogs and forums about the ever popular Dense Grinding Stone turn in for the Darkmoon Faire. The problem is, remember to buy the stones the week of or before the Faire is a crappy prospect. Why? Because somebody, almost always goes and bumps the price of Dense Stones up a ton. That's why timing, on this trick just like many others, is everything. Check your AH prices today. Dense Stones are selling on my server for 76s a stack. During the Darkmoon Faire, they go for over 5g a stack. Now, that may not seem like a ton, but unless you are nabbing super rare recipes, it can tank you profits. So what am I doing, well currently while I write this I am AFK crafting my Dense Grinding Stones, while listening in on vent as we try to (unsucessfully) pug a healer for BoT. Prior to that, I bought up all the stones under 1g per stack on the AH. This was over 30 stacks! So go man/woman go and buy your Dense Stones now!


Cheers- Brouck

I think I just made a big mistake!!!

So, I was just browsing the BOE Epic Gear on my AH for any great bargains, when I came across Pauldrons of Edward the Odd for all of 7k! I immediately thought woot, and bought them out.

Now here is where my mistake was made. I do things half assed, always have, always will. My big mistake was not doing my research ahead of time. So what is it I did? I went ahead and listed those bad boys without finding out just how rare they are. I posted them for 25k. Not bad I thought an 18k profit.

Well, in a matter of minutes I found out my auction sold. Now they are being barked in trade for 40k. Could I have really missed out on an opportunity for an extra 15k????

What do you think?

Cheers - Brouck

The Best Blog (post) Ever!!!

Alright, that might be a bit of hyperbole, but I have to go ahead and shout this out. When most people go to these gold making blogs, it is to try to get a quick fix, a new idea or get rich scam. Some of them can backfire epically (I'm looking at you advice to stock up on Tome of Polymorph Turtle and Icy Dragonscale). However, unless you're buying a gold guide (which I have yet to do, sorry Markco) your seldomly get long term advice in the quality of the following link.

The self proclaimed Worst Blog Ever came out with the most beneficial post I have read in recent months. And trust me folks, I'm all over these blogs, day in and day out.

Before you make the jump, let me tell you what Altos did that was so spectacular. In this post, you learn the ins and outs of AH PVP. He demonstrates how buying out and reposting for a profit of a mere 5 gold can be amazingly profitable (when done 400 times). He also gives great advice on stack size when posting, specifically how to take advantage of laziness in other players.

Overall it was a great read, and a must read for any apprentice gold makers like myself. Keep up the good work Altos and we'll have to change the name of your blog.


Cheers - Brouck

A funny thing happened on the way to the AH...

I wanted to get a quick apology post in to my readers. This week I have been pre-occupied from my blog and gold making ventures due to a merger of my guild with a sister guild. After losing our best healer to retirement, two kick-ass hunters, an irreplaceable tank and his healer buddy, our guild was absolutely gutted. Recruitment was a fledging effort, and raids were out of the question. Fortunately, we were able to merge with a guild looking for some high quality players for their second ten man group (soon to be a pure 25 raiding guild). Needless to say, I've been putting some finishing touches on my spec(s), gear and keybindings, and reading/watching up on boss fights. This has left me with little free time.

However, onto the post.

How was 4.0.6 for you? For me, it's been fair. Here's a list of my likes and dislikes.

Like:
Inferno Rubies: I bought 110 of these bad boys the night before 4.0.6 for 80g a piece (8,800 gold invested). After patch dropped, I was selling cut rubies (strength, agility and intellect) at 180+g each. I was making over 100% RoI on these bad boys.

Whiptail: As my previous posts have noted, I love buying cheap high level herbs, milling them, selling the inferno inks and converting the blackfallows into Mysterious Fortune Cards. With the new whiptail spawn rates in Uldum, prices have dropped significantly on the herbs, but remained steady on the cards and inks!

Uncut Metas: Shadowspirits hit a new high, with uncut ones selling for 100g more than prior to Tuesday. I have managed to sell just under 100, for a profit of around 10k.


Dislike:

AH Prices: All the rare JC and Enchant Recipes that have been posted on the AH are listed at insane, not even going there prices, with 25k being the cheapest I saw. There went any plans of buying one and selling the product. :(

That's pretty much it, I have no other complaints.

So how is 4.0.6 treating you?

Cheers - Brouck

What I've Been Doing Lately

After listening to the podcasts over at Auction House Junkies last week, I decided it was time to attempt to enter the Mysterious Fortune Card game.

The Setup:

I started with 400g and a level 75 scribe alt. I immediately invested in 2 stacks of Whiptail at 150g each. I was able to mill and convert to inks, scoring 3 inferno inks and a handful of cards. I posted the Infernos on the AH for 150g a pop (already clearing a profit) and then posted the remaining Blackfallows as Mysterious Fortune Cards.

Unfortunately, at the time, the Mysterious Fortune Cards were selling for 12g each, roughly a 50 silver profit over listing the inks by themselves. Still, I posted the cards, and dutifully went about barking my wares. Quickly, in fact way faster than I had anticipated I sold out.

Hmmm I said, maybe Cold was actually onto something.

Still there was a major problem, there were many people who have obviously heard that Mysterious Fortune Cards were profit turners and therefore post obscene amounts at marginal prices. In order to clear a major profit, I had to do something about the competition.

I decided to avoid the bark my competitions cards out philosophy. Rather, I sat on my cards, and just continued to mill for Inferno Inks, being that I was assured a profit off of those alone. While doing this, I kept a close eye on the Mysterious Fortune Card market. And you know what? there were NONE moving.

It's pretty much a fact on my server, if you're not barking your cards, you're not selling any cards.

So I let the competitions cards sit, for 96 hours. All while I flipped Inferno Inks. Finally they gave up, because nobody was buying their wares. I was able to start listing cards at 30g a pop, and I was selling over 100 a night (I'm very half assed and bark for roughly 20-30 minutes).

All the while, I kept on flipping those Inferno Inks. I cannot tell you how important that is to making gold with this strategy. If you can find stacks of Whiptail or Twilight Jasmine, that sell in the range of 1 Inferno Ink on your server, that is your golden goose my friend. Skip the Cinderbloom and go for the Gold.

Cheers - Brouck

UFC 126 and how to apply it to WoW.

Last night, I had some guys from work over, as well as my brother and brother-in-law to watch UFC 126. It was a fantastic card, that was well worth the $54 bucks I plopped down to see it. After it was all said and done, I thought to myself, man, I wonder how I can write about it in my blog, and connect it to Gold Making. So here it is; my observations from UFC 126.

Observation 1: If you have a good product, people are willing to pay outrageous prices for it. As I said before, I plunked $54 bucks down to rent the fight. I was willing to spend an extra $10 just to get it in HD (I have a high definition TV, I better watch fights in HD). This means three things in WoW.

1) If your product is good/great then you can charge an inordinate amount of gold for it and people will still buy it. This is where flipping epics can become so profitable.

2) People will pay more for an enhanced product. Once again, flipping epics is where it is at. When I flip them, I make sure to fully gem and enchant the gear before posting it on the AH. That way, when someone else undercuts me, people will look at the two items and take the pimped out one.

3) If you get people hooked on something, you can gradually raise the price of that item without much fuss. The UFC fights used to be $40, then $44, now I'm paying $54. Next year it might be up to or over $60. And you know what, I''LL KEEP BUYING THEM. I use this same strategy on Mysterious Fortune Cards (MFC). (Stay tuned for tomorrow's full post on my MFC strategies). When I first got into the MFC game, they sold for around 12g on my server, if at all. After some hard work and barking, I consistently sell them for 30+ gold. It's key, get em hooked cheap, and raise prices over time.

Observation 2: From the John Jones vs. Ryan Bader fight. Size/muscle sometimes is everything. Jones (a local boy for me) was absolutely huge, and dwarfed the already large for 205 Bader. It was amazing to see Jones manhandle Bader for the first round and a half, until he finally submitted him. In WoW, size has the same effect. Only it is the size of your gold that matters. When I invest, I invest heavily. I want to have the size in my bank to be able to buy out all the materials I need for investment, and be able to control the market I'm in. If I'm making 20g off a manuever I use, I want to have enough gold to make 200 of those manuevers, not 2. Weild your gold powerfully and wisely, and make it work for you.

Observation 3: The Anderson Silva, Vetor Belfort fight was highly anticipated. At one point early on, Silva tried his usual, dance around the ring, and almost got caught. That's when he switched it up, and finished Belfort with a jaw dropping front kick to the face, an unheard of idea. Silva was willing to change it up and try something new, and by doing so was able to win in spectacular manner. The same should be said for us Goblins. When our "usual" routine isn't working, examine the market and see where a "change of gears" will make us profit. I did this recently when I made a switch from the Shuffle to Inscription for gold making.

Hope you enjoyed the post, and enjoy the Superbowl.
Cheers - Brouck

How I Dealt With a Bait and Switch

Two days ago in trade, someone posted they wanted to sell Hurricane Deck for 11k. Spotting a good deal, I immediately took action, only to discover I was involved in a bait and switch.

No sooner had I agreed to his deal than he bumped it to 12k. Here is where I made my first and only mistake, as seen in the picture above. Knowing 12k is still a great deal, I said sure. And I would just need to transfer gold.

He did not immediately respond, so I continued on my way to grab some parchments when he came back with this.

At this point I was pissed, he was looking to increase his sale by 2k over what he posted in trade. Immediately I put in a ticket. In a whisper back I informed him.

"no, you originally posted 11k in trade, that is what you have to sell at, this is called baiting and switching and is against ToS. I'm reporting you as we speak"

A minute later I received his response.

"Okay, I'll sell it to you for the 12k"

Still fuming I politely responded "No, I'll keep my ticket in."


Clearly at this point he was scared. He offered to sell it to me for the original 11k and asked if he did would I take out the ticket. I agreed only to have this happen.

As you can see I stood firm at 11k. He took off, and I reported again that I had screenshot the entire event and my ticket was still in. Reluctantly he returned and finally made the trade, for 11k. I gave him a stern lecture about Baiting and Switching and kept the ticket in after modifying it to tell the whole story.

So there you have it, that was how I dealt with a bait and switch situation. What would you have done differently?

Cheers - Brouck

Making Gold With Limited Time

This post is written for the Blogging Carnival over at JustMyTwoCopper.org

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These are three of the simplest tips I can give for someone with limited time.

For Alchemists:

Simply set Hearthstone to your preferred banking location. Then take a portal to your desired zone of transmutation for living elements.

Hyjal - Fire
Deepholm - Earth
Vash'ir - Water
Uldum - Air

Make your transmute, come back, post on AH and profit.

For Miners:

Check prices of pyrite ore and pyrium bars. 2 ore = 1 bar. If ore is selling @ 10g per ore (typical on my server) and bars are selling for 30g per (again typical on my server) simply buy out all the ore and smelt. Take Cold's advice and smelt and afk log for the night, that way, when you log the following day, you have nice stacks of pyrium bars ready. Post the bars in stacks of 4 and buy up more pyrite ore, repeat process! I made 10k alone on this, in the past 4 days!

For Scribes:

Check the prices of Inferno Ink. See if it is remotely close (or higher than) the price of a stack of the following:
Twilight Jasmine
Whiptail (your best bet)

Again, I'll use my server's prices as an example. 1 Inferno Ink goes for 150g. Whiptail stacks sell at 180g (roughly). I buy all stacks Whiptail within 50g of my target price for Infernos (150g). Mill all the herbs (takes a minute max with a macro). Convert pigments to Inferno Inks and Blackfallow Inks. You should get at least 1 Inferno Ink per stack of Whiptail and 4-7 Blackfallow Inks. Post all inks on AH, and repeat the process the following day.


There you have it, three simple tips for making a quick buck.

Cheers - Brouck

What I Do While Shuffling

As I stated yesterday, the obsidium/elementium shuffle requires copious amounts of time. Typically I spend an hour or two working on the simply spamming my macros. When doing it, I suggest listening to Auction House Junkies Podcast.

For those who do not know, auction house junkies is run by Wes from Capped By Cata and Cold, Colds gold Factory from So far they have had two podcasts, which I listened to this afternoon while doing all my shuffling activities.

So far they covered Mysterious Fortune Cards, and the Obsidium Shuffle in depth. Both podcasts are roughly 45 minutes and provide an easy listen with a good amount of humor, mixed with specifics on different markets. It's nice to hear voices of the people behind the blogs.

Go over there and give them a listen, especially if you involved in something as mind-numbing as the obsidium shuffle.

Cheers- Brouck

Frodo Potter and The Macro of Shuffle

By now I think most people are familiar with the Obsidium or Elementium Shuffle. For those who aren't, the simple steps are

1. Buy cheap Obsidium and Elementium (my thresholds are 60g/stack for Obsidium and 70g/stack for Elementium)
2. Usually* prospect ores into gems
3. With the gems do the following:
Jasper - cut into Jasper rings/ sell raw gems on daily day.
Hesonite - sell on AH (if prices are low, convert to hesonite bands)
Alicite - convert into Alicite Pendants
Carnellian - make Carnellian Spikes
Nightstone - wait until daily, and sell in groups of 3 at gouging prices
Zephyrite - wait until daily and sell in groups of 3 at gouging prices

4. DE rings and necks and sell raw enchanting mats.

Now there are obviously places to deviate from this plan and continue to make coin. I know I do my fair share. But primarily, I stick to this scheme.

Which leads me to: Macros

The biggest problem with the shuffle is the time invested to prospect and de the mats. Here are a few suggestions to make life easier.

1. For Prospecting, keybind the following macro:
/cast prospect
/use obsidium ore
/use elementium ore
/use pyrite ore

Just hit this repeatedly until all ore is processed. Make sure to have full stacks or multiples of five.

2. Have enough settings for what you want to craft first.
3. With the exception to Carnelian Spikes, craft next to a mailbox, that way you can mail out to your DE'er
4. Use the following macro for DE'ing the rings, necks and/or spikes

/cast Disenchant
/use item:52306
/use item:52307
/use item:52308
/use item:52309
/use carnelian spikes

Step five is to simply profit. Remember, not to undercut too sharply.

Abyssal Shatter is Back!

So prices today on my server went as followed:

Greater Cosmic Essences: 7g each
Infinite Dust: 3g each
Abyss Crystal 6g each

Can you guess what I did?

Yep, I bought a stack of crystals for 120g, and shattered them into 95 dusts and 34 essences.

They yield a total value of 285g for the dusts and 232g for the essences. Once they sell, it represents a total of 517g in a matter of mere seconds. With a profit of close to 400g.

What are you waiting for? Go see how the market is on your server.

Cheers - Brouck

Nerf to Enchant Off-Hand Intellect in 4.0.6

One of my nice little niche items has been scrolls of Enchant Off-Hand Superior Intellect, which has raised the intellect on off-hand items (including shields) 100 intellect. It has been announced that they will be nerfed in 4.0.6 to only +40 intellect. While it will still be the best choice enchant for shields and off-hands for casters, I expect a drop in sales to occur. Here are my recommendations:

Sell off your existing scrolls now before they drop.

Expect Staves to raise in demand: I'm looking at you, Chelley's Staff of Dark Mending. If you see one for cheap enough on your AH it may be worth investing in.

Cheers - Brouck

Monday Hangover

Does your realm do the same thing my realm does? Everyone knows that Saturday and Sundays are great "buy" days in World Of Warcraft as weekend warriors are practically falling over themselves to sell all of their wares to the masses. It makes for good buying, but terrible selling, as everything has been undercut "to the ground" as Ghostcrawler would say.

But Mondays, well Mondays are the worst. It is impossible to make sales on my realm for any real profit as there are still many people posting at high undercut levels, but none of the quality goods you want are available for purchasing.

For example, I try to find one or two BOE epics every weekend cheap and flip them later in the week. But my main gold making commodity is via the shuffle, and today gems and enchant mats are still being posted at insanely low prices. For me, Monday is a throw-away day.

Things I do instead on Monday's include:
Level new toons
Focus on gearing current toons
Preparing wares for Tuesday's raiding rush.


So.... What do you do on your Mondays?

Protect your investments!

A thread on the Consortium website brought me to think about this very quick, but important tip. I probably should have included it in my three tips for new goldmakers post for Cold's Blogging Carnival.


Get an Authenticator! Seriously, there is no excuse not to.

Many people take the, my account will never be hacked approach. Or the, I'm safe online I don't need to worry about getting hacked theory. And many of them, after getting hacked, immediately go out and get an authenticator. There is no reason what-so-ever to not do so now. I have had one for two years now (a stocking stuffer from "Santa") and have not had my account hacked.

I know there are instances when Authenticators have been hacked, but they are few and far between. Do not let your hard work go to waste, get an authenticator now.

Cheers- Brouck

80-85 Experiment Results!!!

I know, I know I have been sidetracked by other posts. But, I did not forget, Shiftybrouck proudly dinged 85 a few days ago and without further ado, here are the results.

At 84: 3,354g

At 85, prior to vendoring all my goods and AH sales: 5,123g

At 85, after gear and boe's vendored: 6,028g (poor screen shot)

At 85, after selling my Herbs and Leathers: 10,578g

A far cry from the 17k people had been discussing in trade. But it is important to remember two facts:
1. I was in a level 9 guild earning 10% more experience per kill and quest
2. I was rested the ENTIRE TIME I leveled.

Hope you enjoyed the adventure

Cheers- Brouck

Don't Be This Guy

Today's JC daily was A Present For Lila on Arygos. Dutifully I went to post my 10 stacks of Nightstone (I post 10 stacks at a time and post more after they've been sold or undercut). Much to my chagrin, I found this

All in all, Mr. C posted 20 sets of Nightstone, 3 each for that price, 115g. When he (she?) posted, she simply undercut the lowest priced Nightstone (of which there was one for 36g. So what is the problem? Well obviously his wares moved, and moved quickly. If that was his goal, then he succeeded.

EXCEPT: Dailies provide us with a great opportunity to gouge people at the AH. Listing gems, at 69% of the going rate is not gouging anyone. By taking a little more time, and scoping the scene out for an extra two minutes, he could have easily listed those Nightstones for at least 180g per stack of 3. His initial set up cost him over 1.3k gold.

Remember, being the first one in for the day sets the standard, to make the most money, aim high and if you have to post more low. Don't be this guy.


Cheers - Brouck

Thank You Zoxy (and How To Get Wowhead Mouseovers To Work on Your Blogspot Blog)

Last night, after posting the message about Maelstrom Crystals, I checked to see if any other Bloggers had posted about it. Zoxy, had done so at almost the same exact time as me. While reading Zoxy's site, I noticed something. The mouseover links from Wowhead were working.

I must confess, I have unsuccessfully been trying to place the right piece of html in my blog to make this functional. I searched online, in different forums and on different blogs, yet none of them worked. After my twing of jealousy towards Zoxy disappeared, I sent the illustrous blogger a question about it via the Consortium Forums.

Being a true class act, Zoxy immediately sent me very concise directions, which I will in turn pass on to you.

Step 1: In your Design Tab, open a new gadget/widget. Select the HTML one.
Step 2: Copy and paste this line of code directly as it appears.

script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.wowhead.com/widgets/power.js"

Step 3: Do not give your gadget/widget a title, this lets it be hidden and run behind the scenes.

Step 4: Save and profit. When you want to link an item, simply go to the wowhead site, look up the item and copy and paste the hyperlink in.

Cheers - Brouck

If you are having difficulty with this please feel free to leave a message.

THIS JUST IN: ALCHEMISTS STONES NERFED

It has been reported on two sites, the Consortium and WoW Insider that Lifebound Alchemists Stones may nolonger be disenchanted into Maelstrom Crystals.

All credit to Aeg and Arminias for posting this information there. As Aeg cautions, go and buy out all the Maelstroms you can now, as they will surely jump back up in price.

Cheers - Brouck

Three Tips For Breaking Into Gold Making

This post is being written for Cold's Blogging Carnival for this month. Once again, if you have not taken the opportunity to read the posts over there, you are doing yourself a dis-service.

Without further ado, on to the tips.

1. USE THE INTERNET
In his Little Green Book on poker, Phil Gordon congratulates players who want to become skilled, as they have already taken the first step, buying a book on being a better poker player. Well, the internet is your book, and I congratulate you for already taking the first step to being a goblin, reading gold making blogs. There are many fantastic Blogs, Just My Two Copper, Cold's Gold Factory and Trading With Zoxy to name a few. Make sure to read the comments as well, and do not be afraid to ask questions. In addition there are great forums for your perusal, Markco has one on JMTC and the Consortium is fantastic. The internet, and these sites are a tremendous learning tool to help you improve. Use them early and often.

2. KNOW YOUR SERVER
It cannot be underestimated how incredibly important this tip is, especially if you take the first tip to heart. Sometimes, you will read a tip that sounds so good, you hop online and immediately invest into it, only to find out it is perfectly worthless on your server. I'll give you an example, on some servers, the 2-H Agility enchant goes for 2-300+g profit. On mine it sells for a 50 gold loss. If I were to sink a bunch of money into that idea, without knowing my server, I would have been in the hole. It's also important to identify popular raid guilds and times, other AH players and farmers. Knowing your server makes all the difference between a good goblin and a wanna-be goblin.

3. Don't Fear Add Ons and Macros
At first Add Ons and Macros can be intimidating and confusing. But as Goblins say, "Time is Money Friend" and Add Ons/Macros save you oodles and oodles of time. I suggest at least a mail add on, auction mod (such as auctioneer), lil' sparky's workshop and some form of a quick auction for add ons. Additionally milling, prospecting and disenchanting macros make a world of a difference. Go to www.wowinterface.com or www.curse.com for you add ons, after doing some research first of course. Macro's can be either made by yourself, or found online in the various forums.

There you have it, 3 simple tips to make you a better goldmaker.

Cheers - Brouck

What Cam Newton has to do with WoW Economics?

For those of you who did not know, I am a huge fan of sports. More so, I am a huge fan of the NFL Draft. Nothing is more enjoyable than sitting and speculating about top NFL Draft picks. It is my skills there, that can help me translate to WoW Gold Success.

Today I'm going to explain what Cam Newton has to do with WoW Economics. Cam Newton, the Heisman winning QB from Auburn is set to enter the NFL draft. There is speculation that he will be the first QB taken. If that is the case, he will sign for a lot of money. Now, how does this apply to WoW?

Well, Newton is a relative unknown. This year, his first of seeing any major playing time, was a complete success at the college level. However, history has shown that these "one year wonders" often bust out in the Pros. YET, that does not stop someone from paying a premium price for them. This is because nobody wants to be the one to "miss the boat" on something.

The same can be said for WoW. When new recipes, pets, or boe's begin to drop, people will pay a premium for them, despite knowing whether or not they will be any good. Think of the Elementium Geode, when these bad boys first started appearing, people were paying up to 10k for them. Now they barely sell for 1k.

The moral is simple, if you get a rare drop, specifically a new one (think of the new recipes in 4.0.6 that will be dropping), post it on the AH for an outrageous amount of gold. There is a good chance you'll sell it. That being said, do not be "that guy" who is willing to buy at outrageous prices on an unproven commodity.

Cheers - Brouck

Deal of the Century!

So, I know that this is not the place to brag, but I have to tell this story.

After I did my daily AH scan this evening, I noticed 12 stacks of Obsidium Ore for 60g a pop. Naturally, I snatched them all up, with the knowing about the 54g threshold. After doing so, I immediately received a whisper.

Mr. M: need any more?
Me: @ 60g a stack?
Mr. M: ayep
Me: How many stacks you got?

Now for an interlude. I know Mr. M's a big time AH player. In fact, he dominates my server. He is easily the richest man on Arygos. Every day he posts tons of stacks of raw goods, mostly orbs and herbs. But here is the kicker, he says he's having trouble moving his Obsidium and that he has "a couple hundred stacks of it" in his gbank.

Finally we broker a deal over 440 stacks of Obsidium all at 60g a pop. Sure I invested well over 25,000 gold. But this to me is a no brainer.

That is just a sampling, now I have to spend my time diversifying this investment.

What do you think?

Cheers - Brouck

Gold Experiment Update: Level 83

Level 83 has come and gone on Shiftybrouck with no real new revelations.

As the screen shot indicates, I reached 2,278 gold by level 83. At this point, I have a few observations of note:

1. The toon I am leveling has had rested experience the entire time thus far, meaning I am leveling faster than my first dash from 80-85.

2. Shiftybrouck is part of my guild, which @ level 9, has Fast Track allowing for 10% more exp. per kill and quest.

3. I am getting significantly less green drops than the first two times I leveled 80-85.

All this adds up to getting less gold than I had anticipated. 10k, which seemed a low estimate to me to begin with, now seems virtually unreachable. All in all, I think I will plateau out around 8k.

Remember this is being done only by selling quest rewards/vendor fodder and posting any drops on AH. I have not included any of my tradeskills.

So question time. Should I continue the experiment the way I am, or should I list my herbs and leathers on the AH as well?

Cheers - Brouck

Day Late and A Dollar Short: A Tardy Entry to Cold's Gold Factory Blogging Carnival

Well, I must admit, I lost track of time. This post has been on a sticky note, attached to my screen and I never got to it. This post was to be included in Cold's Gold Factory Blogging Carnival; What is One of Our Favorite Farming Spots in Cataclysm. If you read my blog, then I'm sure you already avidly follow Cold's. If not, check it out for great information. But I digress, my favorite farming spot, is one that I have yet to see written about.

Heroic Lost City of Tol'vir

I know what most of you are thinking. What? Farming in a heroic? But please hear me out.

I, like many others out there, hate farming. I only find farming fun, when I am accomplishing something else in the process. Enter Tol'vir. This instance is a blast. Every day, my guild and I run Lost City on Heroic. Our reasoning, it takes 45 minutes or less. In those 45 minutes, on my tailor, I am able to collect roughly 80-100 pieces of Embersilk Cloth. These sell for roughly 100g per stack on my server for a total of 400-500g. Additionally, I am usually the only crafter in my guild that makes this run, leaving the Chaos Orb free for my pickings. I charge 1,000 gold per orb when I craft people something.

Add on to that vendor fodder for another 20-30g, and I am clearing a profit of over 1,400g in a little less than 45 mins. All while gearing my character to be raid ready.

Are there any instances you prefer?

Cheers - Brouck

Levels 81 and 82 an update.

The first to levels are in without too much to write home about.

At level 81, I had 371 Gold, 69 Silver and 94 Copper as can be seen above.

At Level 82, I was up to 864 gold, 10 silver and 40 copper. This was 864 gold purely from leveling, looting, and vendoring quest items and grey vendor trash.

After Level 82 was reached, I nabbed a free port to SW from a very nice mage who's name I sadly forgot to write down. There I posted the following items on the AH.

2 Volatile Air @ 59g 8silver 50 copper - sold
1 Dragon Flank @ 2g 39s 85c - not sold yet
Green Ring @ 86g - sold
8 Volatile Fire @ 245g 70s - sold
Green pants @ 135
Green Hat @ 54g 50s (of the monkey) - sold
Green Helm @ 63g (of the undertow) -
1 stack of ember cloth @ 80g - sold
5 ember cloth @ 20g - sold
4 Volatile Earth @ 58g 50s - sold


Bringing my grand total from AH sales and leveling/vendoring goods to

1,473 Gold 54 Silver and 98 Copper

I expect the amount per level to increase at an exponential (though not off the chart) rate, due to the increased amount of quests and experience required for each subsequent level.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers - Brouck

80-85 Gold Experiment

While posting auctions today, I found myself staring at the trainwreck that is trade chat. In it, people were trolling about the usual, having too much gold, not having enough gold, etc. etc. That's when one comment strung a chord with me.

stated : Dude, you make like 12k just from leveling from 80-85.

Naturally an argument occurred, people claiming you make no where near that, others arguing you make twice that. I decided to experiment and settle the argument for myself.

It just so happens I have a level 80 Night Elf Druid, Shiftybrouck, parked in Mount Hyjal right now. I have removed everything from his bags, with exception of his gnomish engineering knife. Shifty is an herber/skinner who will send all herbs and skins to my bank alt for safe keeping.

The plan is simple. Level Shifty to 85, while vendoring all grays and bop greens/blues. I will always pick the gear that sells for the most gold when there is no gear that improves my dps. Additionally I will be posting any sellable goods on the AH and gathering that gold. I will try to post updates per each level.

Here's a screenshot of Shiftybrouck right now.

Any guesses on what the final total will be?

Cheers - Brouck

Meta-tines Day

When 4.0.6 drops, so will three new Meta Gems.

Agile Shadowspirit Diamond - Agility/3% Critical Damage
Reverberating Shadowspirit Diamond - Strength/3% Critical Damage
Burning Shadowspirit Diamond - Intellect/3% Critical Damage

Each gem requires three red gems equipped for it to be active.

According to wowhead.com each meta recipe is "unbound and can drop from any Cataclysm creature".

Additionally, Chaotic and Relentless Meta Gems will be fixed to require three red gems.

So the question is, what should the plan of attack be from now until the day the patch drops. Here are my current plans.

1. Stockpile Inferno Rubies and cut equal amounts of Bold, Brilliant and Delicate. Post them all midnight before patch hits (@ 150-200% markup). I'm hoping to post a minimum of 20-30 of each kind.

2. Stockpile Uncut Shadow Spirit Diamonds and Earthsiege Diamonds . Post at midnight before patch hits (@ roughly 150-200% markup). Plan is to sell between 20-25 of each.

3. Stockpile 20 of each Chaotic Shadow Spirit Diamonds and Relentless Earthsiege Diamonds. Post at midnight and sell.

4. After the patch drops, I'll be taking my ret pally over to our favorite embersilk farming spot in deepholm, equipping a potion of treasure finding and farming until I get at least one of the new cuts. Periodically switching to my bank toon to see if any recipes have shown up on the AH.

5. Afterwards, I plan on learning, and creating as many meta's as I can, and listing them for major profit.

Now, I know it is unlikely that I will have one drop for me, which is why I'll be keeping tabs on the AH. This is such a new/rare recipe, that I will likely not be the only one farming for it. There is a possibility of running a monopoly on the items via your AH toon. Simply camping the AH and buying out the recipes as they come in, only to flip them for more via barking in trade. This will require a substantial amount of gold, but it can be done.

Surgery and such

I have to give my apologies for yesterday's and today's posts being short and of lesser value to the reader than I desire to give. I had knee surgery two days ago, and sitting at the computer desk for any long period of time has become excrutiatingly difficult for me to do. That being said, I have one minor tip for all of those interested in the Mysterious Fortune Card game. Two weeks ago, when it was all the rage for bloggers to talk about their Mysterious Fortune Card strategies, most, if not all, forgot to mention one beautiful fact about this opportunity.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A LEVEL 75+ TOON TO DO IT.

That's right, in case you did not already know, you can make those cards at 450, and the spell is learnable without training Illustrous Grand Master Inscription. That's why I have my level 66 hunter, planted firmly in SW grinding out cards when they are profitable. While I'm missing out on the big Darkmoon Faire card game, I'm finding it still easy to make money and allow me to focus on my enchanting toon to get to 84 and Twilight Highlands, which he did last night.

Another caveat about Mysterious Fortune Cards, check before you post. If you see a bunch on sale for 20-25g, buy blackfallow inks instead of listing your cards. I have found that the price of the cards, lowers in direct relationship to the price of the inks, on my server at least. Wait until it is more profitable to sell. People selling 10 cards and 20g each are only earning a 40 or 50g profit. Bark those out, and then post yours high.

Cheers - Brouck

Fury of Angerforge and 4.0.6

Patch notes for 4.0.6 were released today, and I pulled at least one piece of gold making information from it. Currently, Fury of Angerforge is a broken trinket. The stacks simply build too slowly and in a disjointed manner, so much so that people have actually bagged it in favor of their Mark of Khardros or Heart of Solace  instead.

However, 4.0.6 plans to fix all of this:

" The Fury of Angerforge internal cooldown has been drastically reduced so this trinket will build up charges much faster."

 

So what does this all mean? Personally, I have added it to my snatch list for now, in hopes of grabbing cheap while it is broken. Then listing for a massive profit when the patch hits. I haven't had luck yet, but maybe you will.

 

How about you? Have you found any potential gold makers in the recent patch notes?

 

Cheers- Brouck

 

Tailoring from 480-500: a different approach

I like many of you, enjoy using http://www.wow-professions.com/ when leveling a trade skill. It is almost always the cheapest and quickest means of leveling up any profession. It is also a great tool for any gold maker, as one can choose a single mat required to level a profession and attempt to control that market (a post I will make at a later date). But today I wanted to talk about leveling Tailoring.

Of all the trade skills I have been leveling, Tailoring has been the most resource-exhaustive on the list, even more than Blacksmithing. One with a relative low ROI as well.

From levels 480-500, Wow-professions.com has the following recommendations
480-485 - 5 Spiritmend Leggings
485-500 - 15 Spiritmend Robe

The total mats coming to 110 Bolts of Embersilk and 40 Eternium Thread for an average cost of 3,145g!

Due to an influx of people leveling their tailoring, I have found that it is impossible to sell either of these on the AH for more than 25-30g. Valuing them on the high side of 30g each yields a return of 600g. Creating a net loss of 2545g.

Disenchanting does not leave one with a much better option. the Leggings have a 71% chance to give between 1-4 Hypnotic Dusts and a 29% of 1-4 Lesser Celestial Essences. 5 DE'ed leggings will yield approximately 3 Lesser Essences and 10 Dusts. Likewise the 15 Robes disenchant into (roughly) 27 Dusts and 10 Lesser Essences. This leaves one with 32 Dusts and 13 Lesser Essences, an AH value of 740g. A net loss of 2405g.

Meanwhile, I decide to craft two Otherworldly Bags and two Hyjal Expedition Bags. The mats here total 58 Bolts of Embersilk, 80 Volatile Life, 16 Hypnotic Dusts, 16 Greater Cosmic Essences and 2 Dream Shards. All said, a total cost of 2498g. I was able to sell each bag for 400g a pop, creating a net loss of only 1,298g.

This is a savings of over 1,100 gold! Until there are any other options out there, I feel this is the best way to go from 480-500.

Cheers - Brouck

Trouble With Transmutes

The past few days, I have spent trying to figure out the most lucrative manner in which to blow my transmute cooldown. As a half ass gambler, I wanted to use my transmute in a manner that produces the greatest amount of gold, based on the least amount of luck (or procs).

The way I see it, there are only four widely used ways of burning one's transmute CD.

1. Buy all mats for Truegold, transmute (hope for procs) and post on AH.

2. Offer your Truegold transmute to the masses, for a fee (including procs)

3. Offer your Truegold transmute to the masses, for a lesser fee, keeping any procs for yourself to put on AH

4. Transmute: Living Elements in Uldum and post Volatile Airs on AH.

We're going to look at these four methods with Wowhead's Prices and Average Prices from my server

First Wowhead


1. Truegold Mats include 10 Volatile Fire @ 17g/each, 10 Volatile Air @33g/each, 10 Volatile Water @ 4g each and 3 Pyrium Bars @ 24g/each. For a grand total of 612 gold. Wowhead lists Truegold at 927g. Bringing our total profit to 315g (927-612).
315g x 7days = 2205g/week
1 proc = 3132g/week (likely)
2 proc = 4059g/week (probable)
3proc = 4986g/week (unlikely)

2. The average transmute CD giving away procs sells for between 250-300g. We'll assign it a total of 275g.
275g x 7days = 1925g/week
Price remains same regardless of procs.

3. The average transmute CD for Alchemists who are non-transmute specced or keeping their procs is between 200-250g. We'll assign it a total of 225g
225g x 7 days= 1575 g/week
1 proc = 2502g
2 proc = 3429g
3 proc = 4356g

4. 15 Volatile Life @ 8g = 120g
15 Volatile Air @ 33g = 495g
Profit of 375g x 7 days = 2625g/week
* Calculating Procs gets more tricky as blue posts have stated the proc is in now way related to the zone you are in. Therefore I am using a composite average of the five volatiles, which works out to be 14.2g
1 proc = 2838g/week
2proc = 3051g/week
3 proc = 3264g/week

Clearly using Wowhead's data choice one is the way to go. The data however changes slightly when using the average prices found on my server

Fires 27g

Water 20g

Air 48g

Pyrium Bar 44g

This totals the mats to be 1082g.

Truegold is valued at 1336g. Making a profit of only 254g

Where as Life is valued at only 9g x 15 =  135g Making Transmute Living Elements profit = 585g

Choice 1: Buying mats and selling Truegold.

1778g per week

1 proc = 3114g

2 proc = 4450g

3 proc = 5786g

Choice 2: Selling Truegold CD in trade with procs

Remains the same 1925g/week

Choice 3: Selling Truegold CD in trade keeping procs and listing them on AH

1575g per week

1 proc 2911g

2 proc 4247g

3 proc 5583g

Choice 4: Transmuting Living Elements in Uldum for Air

4095g per week

*Avg. proc = 24.6 * 15 = 369

1 proc = 4464g

2 proc = 4833g

3 proc = 5202g

What this data all boils down to is whether or not you think you will proc at least three times in a single week. My own personal experience is that I proc once, maybe twice a week. Therefore on my server, I'm sticking with choice 4, and marching my butt to Uldum every night.

Cheers - Brouck

Holiday Hangover

Were you online at all during traditional working hours 8 am to 5 pm today? Did you notice anything different from the past few weeks? Maybe less anal spam, Chuck Norris jokes and nerd rages? Yep, that's right, today schools across America re-opened their doors and millions of students and teachers returned to the classroom. The holiday season is over, in game and out, and I have the latest update(s) on how it may effect the economy on your realm.

1. Small Egg/WinterVeil Leftovers Overload. Go ahead and check your AH, are small eggs back down to 40 silver each? Probably, being that many would-be gold makers caught on late and have too much surplus. If they are buy them up for Children's Week. Also be sure to check for other holiday gold makers; clothes, pets (vendor and Winter Veil) and any of the other moneymakers (recipes)

2. Time is money, and with more players having less time, they will have less gold. This means niche, or non-neccessity markets are going to take a hit. When I logged this evening, I discovered I sold very few Mysterious Fortune Cards. Expect this profit maker to take a major downward spiral. I won't sell or craft them unless I'm making at least a 10g profit.

3. Since time is money, if you're a heroic geared tank, you've got a decent cash cow. Players with two hours of gametime a night do not want to spend their first 45 mins in a queue for heroics. I have seen tanks commanding up to 250g per person. So if you're thinking of running Heroic Deadmines, throw out a flyer in trade and make an extra 1,000g.

4. Lastly, the times are changing, people with less time will be looking to gear up quickly since raid season is right around the corner. This means your crafted BOE's will never be more valuable then they are right now. Keep your eye open in trade, or even bark your services. Judge it on your server, but you should be getting at least 1k per orb.

Cheers - Brouck

The Midnight Hour

2.bp.blogspot.com

This entry is written as part of the Best of the Month Blog Carnival, over at Not So Secret Society. If you haven't perused the writings over there, I highly suggest you do.

Many players are looking for ways to exploit the basic tenet of a supply and demand economy. While performing my evening routine, I came across a lightbulb moment. After being caught up in my routine, I realized it was 12:04 am, therefore my Transmute CD was fresh and ready on my Alchemist. I immediately logged onto him, only to discover I was three volatile water's short of the needed mats. Dutifully, I marched down to the AH to buy some.

The AH was crowded, especially for the lateness of the hour, but I thought nothing of it. I entered my search into and found a handfull of the volatiles at 12g a pop. I tried buying out the first, but the auction was gone already, same with the second and third. I quickly realized there were many others just like me grabbing their transmute mats now at midnight. That got my half ass mind working. Immediately, I went to my snatch list and grabbed all volatile waters under 15g. Which turned out to be 65 waters. I reposted the waters in stacks of 10 for 200g a pop, or 20g a stack. I pocketed the remaining volatiles for my own transmutations. Sure enough, before I even had to time to finish my transmute, my screen was blinking with "A buyer has been found for your Volatile Water". Six times. I had almost immediately sold out. This confirms my idea, that buying low and selling at normal at the right time will yield immediate positive results.

 

Cheers - Brouck

Introductions and explanations.

I figured for my first blog, it would be important to tell you a little bit about the intention of this blog. It will function like any other gold making blog that is out there, with tips, tricks, ideas and information on my journey to earn as much gold as possible.

I started getting involved into serious, half-assed gold making right as Wrath of the Lich King was winding down. I had already achieved Kingslayer on my main, and gearing up other toons simply was not providing me with any sort of challenge. I had always read Markco's blog for quick hit ideas on maintaining an average level of gold. I decided that being a AH powerhouse on my realm would be my new endeavor.

Leveling through content, farming the same old raids and heroics simply do not capture my full attention like playing the AH does. I have had a few ups, and a large number of downs on my journey thus far. I look forward to being able to share my future ones (and maybe even some from the past) with you.

Cheers - Brouck