You sure... look again... and again... and again.
The lovable little amateurs who state "Gold Guru, but there are no deals on my server, sorry your strategies just don't work," are few and far between, but they tend to be a vocal minority in the jmtc community. What I say to them is this... "Go try again." You think this site rose up out of nowhere on lies? You think people are making up their gold intake on the jmtc forums and the blog itself? Course not, they take the ideas and either follow them correctly or better yet, develop new ones.
I have to apologize to those that are long time followers of this blog and players who have at least made very good attempts at making use of my gold making strategies. That being said, the people who are "not getting it" are not stupid people. I argue a lot with Euripides on Call to Auction who is a fantastic guy, father, and bright player. However, I cannot tell you how many times he has said "oh that doesn't work on my server" and I wanted to take my microphone and bang it against my forehead! It is such a blanket statement, completely and utterly based on personal opinion with no factual evidence! Now, obviously it is possible for a server to not make a certain strategy likely or viable, but it's pretty rare. Everything is a balance, so if one strategy is broken it's often because another one is actually more profitable on that particular server.
To what degree a strategy is profitable is certainly server dependent, but it's very rare for something to be 50% profit on one server and -50% on another. If you find that a strategy on this site does not work on your server... find out why and milk the reason if you can.
As long as you take action other than crying for help, you're stepping in the right direction.
I tend to write these style posts when I get lots of people all saying the same thing and I have to herd them all like cattle to the jmtc forums for re-entry into normal gold making society.
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Leoricsbride said:
Hey what's up?
I've just had this crazy idea about some kind of "scientific research" on how to increase your profit while AH'ing.
What's happening in 14 days? On march 30th? It's gonna be the full moon over America and that side of the world.
Don't press X!!! This is not a joke lol! I have something to back up what I'm saying.
At my job, during full moon and a couple days before, the number of call we receive doubles (at least). It doesn't matter if it's Sunday, Tuesday or Friday, people just go frenzy when the moon is full. It's not only about people fighting in bars or people getting drunk, it's just stupid or random stuff. Like a car going Westbound on the Eastbound highway, rescue on a lake because this dude was fishing at midnight, 2 people falling down the stairs at the same time in that 300 population village, etc. I've never believed in this full moon stuff until I got my job there.
So anyway, here's what I was thinking. Do you think people are enough influenced by full moon to buy like crazies and be careless or do mistakes while AH'ing? I wouldn't be surprised if there is some kind of link between full moon and a bigger cashflow in the AH during full moon.
As I said, it's gonna be full moon in 14 days and it's giving us just enough time to prepare your bloggers to test this. Maybe you could write a blog and suggest people to dump as twice as many items as they do during March 30th night and give us a feedback the next morning? What do you think? Your foreign bloggers won't be able to participate in this study but I'm sure the majority of people visiting your site are from North America, right?
Aight bro, let me know
cya
It's funny you mention this kind of thing Leoricsbride, because I have read several studies which have proven that crime rates and unusual crimes tend to go up on full moons. There really is no scientific data as to why this happens, just the fact that it does tend to happen. Will players react just as strangely and post items for unusually low values? Perhaps dump whole guild banks on sheer spur of the moment thinking?
Only time will tell... those that find great deals will swear it was the full moon, those that don't will say it isn't true. I'm staying neutral, but I will be selling some off hands that turn people into wolves, hehe :)
Hi Marcko
Dont know if this mail be will read or if you already know this, but Bag
of Jewels, the 24-slot JC bag, is a nice way for easy profit. I dont sell
it in large quantities, but since there is no competion at all they go for
100 gold a piece (50-60g profit). I sell about 4-5 a week.
Kind regards
Mcschnitzel, Dragonblight EU
Thanks for the email Mcshnitzel, although I have covered this sort of thing before it never hurts to remind people!
There are not all that many ways to get rid of snowfall inks (darkmoon faire cards, off hands, or runescrolls) and of the ways to get rid of them selling them right back to the auction house is usually the least profitable.
Option 1: If you have too many snowfalls
Try to sell them for sub optimal prices during this week and the next for the darkmoon faire. You will have much more demand for the items but will probably have to sacrifice a little profit in exchange for lots and lots of bulk sales.
Option 2: You have no snowfalls and want them for crafting
Buy them now when people dump them just to get rid of their surplus snowfall inks for those making cards in the faire. If you are one of those people trying to buy them now is the time to do it. During the week of the faire prices can skyrocket randomly if there is not enough supply to handle the sudden spikes in demand from card makers buying hundreds of inks.
Obviously if you have eternal lifes your best time to sell is this week and during the faire. Have fun!
When it was announced that Icecrown Citadel would be reducing tank dodge by 20% I immediately thought... "Hmmm I wonder if the gem which increases dodge will go up in value..." Much to my surprise, it didn't. I did not have the Subtle Cardinal Ruby cut at the time, purchased it and started pumping out gems after the first ICC wing opened. I'm still sitting on those rubies and am usually the only poster.
It's times like these where you really just have to pick yourself up and say oh well I made a mistake, better luck next time. I did not invest a huge fortune into these, nor did I rely on them as one of my main sources of income (I'm stating the obvious here for those that make the mistake of doing just that with items they are unsure will sell).
Maybe it's because my server has one horde side guild even doing ICC and none on alliance side that I know of. Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, this is just one example of times I've failed in world of warcraft, and there are many many more of them! Sometimes people look at success and see nothing but the reward... I look at success and see the pile of failures holding the person up at that pinnacle which they achieved. Can't succeed if you don't fail a lot first. Unless your name is Markco, in which case success kind of is in your blood.
Suggestion box Friday is your chance to be the blog writer, it's when I, the gold guru, defender of small kittens, last bastian of protection pvp, and all around good guy... markco, step down from my primordial, saronite plated throne and allow you, the adorable amateur a shot at making heads or tails of the world of warcraft auction house.
Discussion:
There are literally thousands of blogs out there which discuss making gold in world of warcraft. However, there is always room for improvement and there is always a blog idea which doesn't exist yet. What type of blog, focused on specific topics you care about, would you like to see that is currently not out there regarding gold in world of warcraft? Specific professions, classes, arenas, etc. feel free to list any topics you'd like to see combined into a new blog. Perhaps someone reading will see what you wrote and start one!
If you are interested in starting a blog, and need a little inspiration... check out this post I did about blogging.
Ok perhaps the title is a stretch and should instead read as: "Make gold by letting nothing go to waste like the Native Americans did." Everything you touch or produce should be used in making gold to some degree. Let nothing go to waste! If you are prospecting and have lots of uncommon gems just taking up space, make them into disenchanting fodder or cut them and sell them! Don't just let items sit in your bank and rot until the next expansion when you do some random spring cleaning. Are you milling and have tons of snowfall ink taking up space? Ever consider selling off hands, runescrolls, or just selling the inks at half price just before and during the dark moon faire?
Do you have any items that are getting vendored or just piling up in your bank?
Comment on your situation and perhaps the readers here can pull together to help you out like they always do :)
We all need to vent sometimes and I don't mean ventrillo! Well at least I hope you don't vent on ventrillo because the record button is always in reach... Anyways, we all have our moments where we get really pissed at our fellow auctioneers for their intentional or even unintentional actions. Someone posting five hundred armor vellum III's for 2 gold each (cough guilty cough) may piss you off big time, but it's important to understand that getting mad does not help the situation either. Ask yourself, why did that person do something so rash? What was/is their goal? How can I react? The appropriate response is sometimes just to do nothing! Let the market correct itself and jump back in during the next cycle. Sometimes you should move on and try another market for a bit and then come back when it's profitable in the days or even weeks to come. Perhaps the person who did it will realize that they are making minimum profit and such tactics are not worth their time? Maybe that person has a lot of real life stuff going on as well as maintaining an awesome gold making community for world of warcraft and posted the auctions as an example for a post?
Next time you get "walled" as I like to call it where an entire page (50 items) or more appears and undercuts you severely, be sure to ask yourself:
- Should I respond?
- Can this person maintain this?
- Am I wasting my time and should I temporarily move on to another market?
Markco,Just wanted to know, what modivates you to keep on working the AH and making gold, when you have more than you ever will need? At one point I hit 115k, but I just can't seem to make myself want to keep at it... I just wanted some advice.Thanks,CMillhttp://cmill-ions.blogspot.com
Great email CMill! Motivation always is either dependent upon a need or a joy in life. If you find that making gold in wow is a fun, joyous occasion in which you need nothing other than the sound of incoming money to fuel your efforts, the more power to you! However, for most people it comes down to a need; i.e. epic flying or a new carbine, etc. If you are one of the many people who make gold to fulfill a need, odds are you will lose your motivation once the gold required for that need is surpassed.
Myself, I find that I love to find new ways to make gold in an effort to master the world of warcraft economic system. Because that is my motivation, I have difficulty staying on any one gold making method for a long period of time. Thunderion, from the castaclysm podcast, likes to call this phenomenon "Productive ADD." What's funny is that he's spot on; I literally move from productive idea to productive idea with great intensity. I only ever return to a method of gold making to try and tweak it or bring some new look at my old ways.
Thanks to my personal love for finding new ways to make gold and reevaluate the old ones, you get the crazy and often illogical rantings that make up the just my two copper posts.
Which is why guest posts are always wanted, and emails like this where you ask me an open ended question make great posts for me and awesome links for your site. Thanks CMill!
So what motivates you to make gold? Joy or Need?
Attention Call to Auction listeners!
The following has been decreed!
At 7:30 PM eastern time on Sunday, the 28th of March, there shall be a give away unprecedented in the history of WoW gold podcasts.
Faeghleis is trying to decide what to do with his gold before his retirement until Cataclysm. He has decided to give a 20,000 gold prize to the lucky, skilled, intrepid, valiant, lucky character who wins our contest!
Old world materials for all professions from skill level 1 to 50.
Early outland materials.
Twink weapon and chest enchanting scrolls.
Wrath enchanting mats.
Let's look at my reasoning behind these items.
Old world materials for skill level 1 to 50, particularly herbs used in alchemy for goblins, will make a lot of money early on in cataclysm. Players making their goblins or worgs will focus on powerleveling professions either as they level or once they hit 80, so I am not going to be trying to sell everything during the week of the release. Regardless of how well stuff sells, I will save 50% of my goods for inflation to kick in. This way my copper ore going for 5 gold a stack will probably be worth 10 gold or more per stack later on in the expansion. Next we have outland materials, since I assume outland will not change very much and all the materials from outland will not also be found in the "new" azeroth, these materials should go up with inflation. Twink weapons and chest enchants will sell great the first few weeks of cataclysm and I expect to sell a hundred or so of these babies. Firey, crusader, health to chest, etc.
Wrath enchanting mats are a bit tricky and a total gamble on my part. I believe that inflation is going to take hold of these materials later on in cataclysm and so you will see decent prices that are atleast more than what they are now. I expect the rate of inflation to be 2 to 8 times the current values we are seeing now. That means that if I am correct that 100 infinite dust for 90 gold now will be worth as much as 720 gold in cataclysm about midway through.
From April 1st to 5th I will be releasing a much more thorough analysis of what to buy for Cataclysm, expect some great information and how to get started right away!
What are your thoughts on cataclysm? Comment!
"Hi,
I'll often see something like: [Trade]: WTS [Ametrine]*4 400g [Cardinal Ruby]*1 120g
This is a great deal on my server, so I buy it immediately, and then what often enough happens is they will then put other items in trade, and whisper me a great price. If I wait too long, usually because I'm unfamiliar with the items or because I don't consider it that much of a deal, they'll whisper me a lower price until I think it's acceptable. They'll repeat this until I've spent 10-20K gold and they have nothing else. Usually near the end they'll trade me a couple of harder to sell items at a really low price, and sometimes about 100-300g worth of items for free.
Usually they trade me items at about 40-75% of market price, and it's usually high demand and possibly farmable Northrend items like Titanium Ore/Bars, Titansteel, Dragonseyes, Spellweave, Eternals, Primordial Saronite, epic gems, Darkmoon Cards, a handful of enchanting mats, occasionally herbs or cobalt or saronite, maybe some flasks or enchanted scrolls.
Is this a normal occurrence? Sometimes it will be a level 80, sometimes a level 1. My thoughts are it is 1) A gold farmer getting rid of items in bulk 2) A hacked account dumping items 3) A server transfer getting rid of their items ASAP.
This usually makes me a decent amount of money, but it does makes me wonder.
Anonymous, Ysondre-US"Your analysis of the situation, Mr. Anonymous, is probably spot on that the seller falls into one of the three categories you listed. All three have one thing in common: the seller wants to sell his stock as quickly as possible. It is extremely wise of you to look at your current sizeable investment as a great deal, even if you only have a thousand gold remaining after making it. This is an important point because many people will read your story and say: "well that works great when you can drop 20k gold on a bunch of deals." If you are one of those people then please take a moment to consider the fact that it takes money to make money, and most auctioneers are selling items which yield 20-50% of their investment. So that means that if you want to make 5k gold a day you need to invest a solid 10k-20k gold into your mats. Now there are certainly markets which yield 100%-300% profit all throughout the various professions, but I wanted to make the point that you definitely require money to make more money. With that in mind, if you saw cardinal rubies selling for a great deal but only had enough gold to buy a handful, you still should go buy that handful knowing that you will make a decent amount of gold after cutting and reselling them. Obviously don't go nuts and invest all your gold in one place, but be aware that just because you can't buy every deal you see doesn't mean you shouldn't avoid deals in the first place.
Markco,
I've been doing the "modified saronite shuffle" (buying cheap gems and eternal earths, crafting rings/necks, and vendoring them for a 50s-1g profit) as a way to make some quick gold while getting back on my feet after a server transfer. When I first got to the server there was a plentiful supply of sub 4g eternal earths, and I snapped them all up. But now, the prices seem to have skyrocketed. For the last week or so, prices aren't getting below 6g or so (where I'm at break even or losing gold depending on if I can find VERY cheap gems). I've built up a large supply or orange/yellow/red gems (500+ sitting in my bags atm), but I have NO eternals left. I don't want to get stuck with all these gems, but the prices on the eternals would leave me at a fairly large loss if I bought them, and farming up enough eternals would take forever, and I don't have the time for it.
Is there something I can do to either A) bring the price of eternals down or B) repurpose my gems. Gem prices aren't high enough for me to make a profit on selling them off. I probably don't have enough gold (a bit over 6k) to manipulate the eternals market, and I don't have the time to farm up eternals.
I have access to 450 JC/LW/Mining/Skinning - not sure the LW/Skin are much help here.
Thanks,
Stig
I checked my server the day of this post just to be sure and the eternal earths had not changed one bit since frozen orb changes were announced. As I explained to Stig, I believe this was simply a strange move by locals on his server attempting to raise the price of eternal earths to that of frozen orbs. Now this is an impossible task because even though frozen orbs are technically worth one eternal earth (technically not because this is not the best value for an orb), some person(s) believed that it was wise to buy them up and relist for the price of a frozen orb.
If this theory is incorrect, then the only explanation is that you are just buying too many and creating additional demand for the earths and thus the price goes up. You could stop buying them for a few days until the price gets back down to below what you're looking for. Perhaps even several people have decided to do exactly what you're doing and they will most likely stop buying as well while they wait for the price to go down.
I would suggest that Stig makes use of trade chat to help get eternals a little cheaper, and offer slightly more than the 4 gold normal that he is used to. Regardless of why the earths are cheaper, you should make use of trade chat and wait for the prices to drop again.
Thanks for the question Stig, anyone here have additional thoughts/comments they'd like to add?
Suggestion box friday is your chance to be the blog writer, it's when I, the gold guru, defender of small kittens, last bastian of protection pvp, and all around good guy... markco, step down from my primordial, saronite plated throne and allow you, the adorable amateur a shot at making heads or tails of the world of warcraft auction house.
Haha I love that openning line, it never gets old.
Anyways, I would like today's comments to focus on podcasting and questions you might have for either one that I participate in, as well as ideas for future shows. The shows are Call to Auction and Castaclysm.
Otherwise, you may comment on anything if you'd like.
Also, I'm scrapping the Art of Gold Contest as no one seems to want to participate :(
If you have a bank alt with no guild associated with the character than you may want to keep an eye out for players "LF Signatures." I do this when I try to make 1k gold on a new server with just a banking toon and it is very nice to get some easy starter cash. Sometimes you can even make 5 gold from a desperate guild leader, and that's not half bad considering they come to you and all you do is click sign charter and accept trade! Don't worry about not getting paid, if they refuse to pay you then you can cancel your signature and they get nothing (please be nice and let them make the guild before leaving it).
Flip High Priced Items for Large Profit
This is a guest post by Will from WoWConfidential.com Where he runs a blog posting daily WoW gold making articles.
Auction house buying and selling is one of the best ways to make gold in WoW and can be done very quickly if you utilize the /auc getall command to scan the auction house in a couple minutes.
However for those with deeper pockets there is a more lucrative side to buy low sell normal that isn't done on the auction house but is actually accomplished via the trade channel, a channel I usually avoid since it takes up valuable time to barter when you could just throw the items on the AH and move on with your gold making.
This method entails buying up high priced items with lowball offers via the trade channel but you must know a few vital things before partaking in this risky but potentially extremely profitable activity.
How to Find a Flip
Many high ticket items are announced for sale by players in the trade channel because they are so excited to have won a roll on a high priced BoE that they know can fetch upwards of 10k and are eager to get rid of it so they can buy up the other items they always wanted.Most of the time you can count on people broadcasting items in trade chat to be a bit on the desperate and impatient end, many of these items take a little bit of time to sell since the niche of players that have 10k on hand to buy them are few.
You can usually lowball these offers but the trick in negotiating is to know what your profit margins are and most importantly to know inside and out the average price and demand for that particular item.
Know When To Flip and How Much
The most important element of a successful high priced item flip is to be very sure of the items current value and if the price trend is stable (headed up, down or steady).There are a few ways to accomplish this:
- Obviously step #1 is to first check the auction house for the item and see if there are any lower auctions than the average.
- Download the addon Market Watcher and run scans daily on a few high priced items, this will show a graph of the average and lowest priced item currently on the auction house in a graph. If the line is stable for a few weeks you can be sure the item won't drop dramatically, if the graph has extreme high's and lows be sure to grab it at the lowest point possible.
Stable - Battered hilts sell for 10k or more almost always.
Unstable - Artic fur can go from 25g to 75g overnight.
- By following these graphs you will start to develop a feel for the item and know what constitutes a high price, an average price and a good buying price. You are now ready to act on any flipping opportunities announced in trade chat.
Figuring out a Price
Armed with this knowledge you are now ready to act on a flip, here's a quick case study of a typical flip:Battered Hilt
Price: Sells consistently for 10k - 11k gold on my server, never seen it below this price on the auction house.
Auction House Cut: 5% or 500g
Acceptable Profit: 2,000g
Spot someone in trade channel announcing a high priced item you're looking for.
Sometimes people will be tough, just know you're desired profit margin and don't go below that, reply with a polite "no ty" they will either accept your offer or hold onto the item.
And other times you'll get a desperate seller accept the offer right off the cuff
In the latter case, I knew I already had 1 battered hilt now for 8k and decided if I was to pick up another I'd go lower to 7.5k, looks like it worked.
Potential Profit gained in 15 minutes of buying/selling flipped items: 4,500g
Suggested High Priced Items to Flip
Here are some suggestions I have based on current market conditions, make sure you keep in mind to not invest more than 30% (or a large portion) of your total gold amount into flips.Battered Hilt
Primordial Saronite (Item is on a downward trend on most servers, buy at a very discounted price)
ICC BoE's (These always fall in price a week before new content patch, so stop flipping or expect dramatic drop in prices beforehand)
Rare Gems (not usually found at a discount but a very stable and easy to flip item. Keep in mind that when Honor token change comes in effect that there will be a flood of players turning in tokens for gems thus lowering the price)
Darkmoon Card: Greatness and Nobles Deck (People desperate to sell Nobles Decks when the Darkmoon Faire isn't on, hang on to these until you can convert them to cards)
Rare Companion Pets - ex: Razzashi Hatchling
Bulk Sales of Eternal Fire/Eternal Life - You'll sometimes see players shouting in trade WTS 20 STACKS of eternal fire fast PST, great buying opportunity to lowball and offer 50% of value. (keep in mind frozen orb trade in change incoming 3.3.3)
That is it for now, good luck with your flips and be sure to take into consideration speculation on item demand and not to buy up items just before a major content patch, unless you know that item will go up in value. Markco discusses major shifts in item prices and patch speculation on his podcast Call to Auction.
This was a guest post by Will from WoWConfidential.com Where he runs a blog posting daily WoW gold making articles.
Kudos to anyone who gets the title quote, that is one of my favorite video games of all time.
Gold making strategies that rely on secrecy can be fun, but they don't last forever. Isn't it ironic that players often seek "secret" ways to make gold or methods that require a limited number of participants from extremely popular websites? Even your humble auction house guru understands that he hurts his own profits when he reveals a "secret" way to make gold. But that is why 99% of my strategies that I use are not reliant on a limited number of participants. My readers here understand, or are well on their way to understanding, that becoming an expert with simple methods which anyone can use is the key to success in making gold in world of warcraft. Yet still so many players search for that secret method which if it truly is good always gets nerfed eventually. Then the vicious cycle of looking for secret methods continues...
I am going to start viewing other gold making sites and critiquing their 'secret' strategies, similar to the way I dissected wow.com and mmochampion.com 's posts on making gold. I will however try my best to be objective and the goal of this exercise will be to educate readers here, not to demean the writers of these sites. You see, these people are good people who want to provide interesting information, but the ironic qualities in sharing secrets (thus no longer making them secrets) are definitely not lost on this auction house guru.
There's a part of wow that I love to take advantage of, and I like to call it the Mid Life Leveling Crisis! Everyone goes through this crisis at some point in their career, in fact we tend to go through it smack dab in the middle of leveling a profession (hence the name)! So you have everything but that stack of adamantite ore, that citrine, or that handful of mountain silversage and being a savy wow player you decide to take a short cut and use the auction house. Low and behold your item is there... but it's over 800% market value!!! Cursing under your breath you buy the item and I see "A buyer has been found for your auction of..."
I consider this market to be the most valuable method for a player who has no professions and would like to learn to use auctioneer to make gold. The items tend to sell in about 24 hours and you can make many times what you bought them for through resale scans (hint bidding is a good idea on 12-24 hour items).
How do you handle the mid life leveling crisis? Do you take advantage or fall victim?
This is going to be one of those long winded lecture posts. You know the kind where you can see the steam coming out of the author's ears as well as the love pouring out of his heart?
The answer to someone saying "I can't use the resale scan, all the auctions no longer exist when I go to purchase them!" is one of the following:
- You are being too selective with your bid buyouts
- You are full of crap
Now the first option I can help you with, the second I can't! I think that secretly people are saying with the quoted statement: "This method for making gold can't work for me because I have my own way that gets me some extra cash and I don't want to think that there is another way I haven't thought of or succeeded with." Please, for your own sake, break the bonds of this mentality! If you do this then you will have more fun and possibly will eventually come up with something to share with the community here! I certainly do not believe that I have all the answers and I've been open to criticism of my ideas since day one. Try to test something more than once and push yourself to find a way to make a strategy work for you (in this case resale scans). It doesn't hurt to take a step back and review if perhaps you are missing an essential credential or fundamental concept for a gold making strategy either.
Perhaps you are focusing on buyouts with too low a PCT? Maybe you are walking away from your PC and coming back too late for the scans to matter (possibly hours or even a day later without rescanning)? Perhaps you do not quite understand how resale really works? Are you trying to buyout items such as infinite dust which fly off the shelves very quickly if they are low enough?
The fact of the matter is that someone on your server is doing fine with the same strategy or auction house method that you are failing with. If you take a step back and reevaluate the situation you'll be surprised how differently you can approach a problem. Same is true with the real world.
Heroics via the dungeon finder have been a huge game changer for world of warcraft. Most people absolutely love it (myself included) and there are definitely ways to profit from using it. Here's a list of how to make some monies off the dungeon finder tool.
- Need on the frozen orb. Every single time I run a heroic at least one or two people don't do this, but the other three do. Don't miss out on a nice chunk of change!
- Skin, mine, and herb everything you see. Loot first, ask questions later. If there is a miner/skinner/herbalist than you can say "ok you get the next node" and seriously do alternate with the person, but otherwise go to town and assume you're fine.
- Loot every mob you can. As a tank (especially a dps tank) I tend to avoid looting. Don't be a nub like me, instead loot every single thing you see.
- Use your professions to convert your loot into better items. You know the drill, but many people simply dump unmodified goods on the auction house from heroics since it's not a full stack for whatever reason. There's nothing wrong with holding onto an handful of items until they are a full stack if that's your reasoning.
Did you check out the Art of Gold Contest?
Discussion Topic:
Quick Question for you JMTC fans... How big do you think the JMTC community actually is? There are currently 2413 subscribers to the blog, 2926 registered forum members, 2409 youtube subscribers, 606 twitter followers, hundreds if not a thousand Call to Auction subscribers, almost 200 subscribers for the brand new Castaclysm, and 800 JMTC Digest subscribers. That's not including the thousands of people who read/listen/watch without subscribing. If the gold guide counts, you can tack on another 1,000+ "members." Just how deep do you think the rabbit hole goes? Judging by the number of people who visit each of the sites daily and factoring in the probably that at least half of the people who subscribe do not actually visit the sites they subscribe to, I would guess that JMTC has reached the 6,000 to 10,000 member mark, but there really is no way to know for sure. Whether there's 1 person listening or 10,000 I'll still be here to post, but it is fun to take a step back and marvel at the sheer volume and diversity of this community. Oh and I forgot Xfire friends, but I rarely ever get to do that anymore (don't worry I'll try soon).
Community Spotlight:
What should Castaclysm talk about tonight? This guest post was written by thunderer from Castaclysm and I hope you listen in tomorrow when the new episode is up as well as listen to the past three episodes that we produced together with jhaman... well read on for more information on castaclysm!
CASTaclysm: A World of Warcraft Podcast is the essential audio source for all things WoW. It represents the cataclysmic smashing together of thoughts and voices of 2 PvP/Arena Gladiators (one of whom is a well known gold-making master) and a PvE Hero.
Thunderer, who hosts the show is a broadcast radio talk show host by day, and CASTaclysm Podcast host by weekend. He has leveled multiple toons to max level (a warrior and a Paladin), and has achieved the PvP titles of "Flawless Victor", "Gladiator", and "Battlemaster". Additionally, Thunderer has been involved in the WoW blogosphere for some time, including designing and launching the wildly popular "Just My Two Copper", which is the number one source for gold-making tips on the planet. Thunderer's foray into the WoW fan community includes hosting live coverage for Warcraft Radio as well as national broadcast affiliates while at Blizzcon 2009 in Anaheim, California. With seven years of experience in the broadcast radio field and four years experience of playing every facet of World of Warcraft since the original game, Thunderer steers the CASTaclysm ship with a steady, confident voice.
Jhaman is known on the CASTaclysm Podcast as the "glorified fact checker." Jhaman entered into Azeroth midway through Burning Crusade, and since that time has conquered end-game bosses and hard modes in PvE that many players never even get to experience. His understanding of the various World of Warcraft classes and abilities is often considered unrivaled, and he brings the humility of a constantly learning player to his performance on the podcast. But don't let that fool you. Jhaman has the credibility to bring down the hammer on any discussion and the dignity to admit when he's wrong. His consumption of WoW fansite material rivals the most avid of WoW news followers, but allows for WoW fans everywhere to identify with the voice of this experienced player.
Markco is a host that some would consider needs no introduction. Beginning in late 2008, Markco set out to conquer the gold-making empire he saw within Azeroth, and his adventures have all but made him the titan of the entire gold making WoW universe. Markco's attitude is one of fierce determination for success, and his many in-game accomplishments and real life achievements have made this man a well-known "bastion of awesome" in the blogosphere. Markco is the Publisher of "Just My Two Copper", a blog he began with only a handful of readers on the trials and tribulations of winning at gold making in World of Warcraft. From a handful of readers to thousands of satisfied daily followers, Markco has truly made a stamp on the WoW community. In addition to the blog, Markco has extended his green, orcish hand to nearly every popular realm of the internet, reaching out and connecting to the average player wherever they might meet. His commercial endeavors have also resulted in one of the most dominant and successful gold guides on the planet, "20kLeveling". Markco's in-game accomplishments include extensive end-game tanking, multiple max level toons, dominating multiple server economies, and achieving "Gladiator" status among many other PvP achievements. Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street personally acknowledged Markco's successes amongst the first Prot Warriors to achieve Gladiator. Suffice it to say: We have certainly not seen the last of the great Markco.
Every week, these three "Titans of Talk" deliver the latest in WoW news in a way that allows listeners to consolidate their WoW news consumption to a humorous and contemplative look at the way things are shaping up in the cataclysmic world of Azeroth. The show's niche coverage includes in-depth arena, PvP, and gold making observations that listeners cannot find anywhere else.
Listener questions and comments are fielded every week, bringing the community's presence right into the hallowed halls of the CASTaclysm Podcast itself.
CASTaclysm: A World of Warcraft Podcast achieved quick and early success in catapaulting to the top of playlists everywhere. CASTaclysm has been featured on WoW.com, iTunes Top 25 Video Games Podcasts, and Just My Two Copper. TotalBiscuit, the WoW podcasting community's "Original Shock Jock", and host of the world's most popular solo-hosted WoW podcast, "Blue Plz!" had this to say about CASTaclysm: "It's scientifically proven that most WoW podcasts suck, so imagine my surprise when I find one that doesn't... CASTaclysm."
CASTaclysm: A World of Warcraft Podcast airs weekly, and is available for subscription via iTunes, and can be found online at http://www.castaclysm.com.
Thunderer is the host of CASTaclysm: A World of Warcraft Podcast, available on iTunes.
You probably read the above title and thought, "Who isn't careful with the auctions they bid on, is that what everyone's favorite gold guru is talking about?" Actually, my young apprentice, I was talking about when you create auctions, be careful and make sure that your bid price is higher than the amount of profit you'd like to make off the item. Auctioneer has a terrible habbit of placing items with extremely low bids and this can leave yourself open to serious financial losses (and for someone else huge financial gain). I've noticed this happens frequently the first time I post recipes, trade goods, and sometimes for weapons/armor. The reason I believe auctioneer does this is that it sees items which only have a bid value with no buy out and then factors them into the bid calculation for the item.
This has been a public service announcement from JMTC. Happy Auctioneering!
When I got home from my six mile run I was surprised to read this article about Just My Two Copper which subsequently blew me away. It also got me thinking about the author's blog and the hundreds of ones like it throughout the wow blogosphere. The author is Bigjimm, who blogs with Zekta and both write for Phase 3 Profit, a blog I love to check in on whenever I have the time to do some wow gold research, and has been a member of the JMTC community for quite some time.
His article praises my work on this here wow gold blog and makes the claim that all other bloggers who write about making gold are playing for second place. Bigjimm, it is with great thanks that I am writing this post and I want to give some advice to not only you but every other wow gold blogger out there who looks at JMTC and wonders if they are writing for second place.
I'm going to drift away from the usual gold post today because I want to make a point about blogging. I've been doing it for quite some time and I have seen my share of bumps, writer's block and hate from the wow blogosphere (sometimes deserved, sometimes not). Bigjimm makes the point that most people who write about gold now end up writing something that I've already written or covered and sometimes this is very true. With the inception of the JMTC gold forums, now pretty much every gold making thought that can be thought is tucked away somewhere on the forum boards, on this blog, the youtube, the twitter, the podcasts, or anywhere else within reach of the JMTC community.
Bigjimm, I'm begging you and every other blogger for the sake of this community to never write for second place! You are writing to the same community that I am, and to be fair, your content is excellent. Perhaps you are wondering then why did Markco succeed as rapidly as he did? (who doesn't love talking in the third person?) Maybe I should leave that to those people curious enough to buy the book on my blogging adventures, but I'll shed some light on it in this article and explain further why you should ditch the idea that you are writing for second place. First off, I created a community focused on the idea of making gold in wow. Second, I expanded to every social media outlet I could find, since wow is a very social game. Third, I always wrote as if I was the best out there, playfully calling myself the gold guru and doing my best to live up to that expectation. I did not care if I failed, because I was and still am having so much fun building the JMTC community and providing quality information to the wow gold making community. I was always open to criticism and willing to implement excellent suggestions from the community. That's what it's about, having fun and taking everything in stride.
You see Bigjimm, if you don't have fun blogging, you don't succeed. And I'm trying not to lecture right now, because I don't doubt that you do actually have fun blogging, but what I'm saying is very true. When Gevlon attacked my terrible sales pitch and blew my proposal way out of proportion, many people thought I was done as a blogger. When I made the terribly uninformed accusation that wow.com was stealing my content (it most likely wasn't) many thought I would never see another link. When I made a host of other mistakes during my naive blogging career, it was the fact that I enjoyed writing that kept the site going, and still keeps me going today. It was also the community, have you seen their puppy eyes when they ask for help?... just can't let them down!
The second part of the answer to why you shouldn't write for second place is how I truly became well known. I worked my ass off for hours every night and wrote exciting content that applied to current game events as well as new approaches to very tried and true methods for making gold. My bid low, sell normal method was not something truly inspiring or intelligent, but it was one of hundreds of new and interesting ways I came up with to look at old methods for making gold. The articles I wrote on upcoming patches and how they would affect not just primary markets but secondary and tertiary ones as well were also a new approach to writing about wow gold. Sometimes the most simple of articles made the greatest impact, since so many people who knew the information took it for granted. Every day I come up with new things to write and if I write from now until I die there will still be things left unsaid. The trick I've used is to not look at what someone else writes and say "wow that's really good" but rather "ok what are they missing here; what could of been better?"
By writing this way, I wrote for the same community everyone else did but with my own personal style and spin on wow gold making. In order to follow in my footsteps you need to do the same. You need to find interesting and personal approaches to age old methods of making gold. I didn't truly build this community, I simply put a name on it and gave it a place to roam each day. If I die tomorrow and the blog fades into nothingness, this community will continue to roam until it finds a new home. I wouldn't even call it a home, but rather a favorite meeting place. Now that so many wow blog enthusiasts are in one place, you can hop on my shoulders and write directly to them on the JMTC forums, your blog, and anywhere else. There is plenty of room up here at the top of the wow gold blogging mountain, and I have paved the way for many more to join me. What you have to do is be Bigjimm the Billionaire, write till your fingers bleed, spend hours every day just digesting and thinking about wow gold making, becoming a member of the same community you slowly build, and always looking for the next big risk to take.
As Patrick and Sean said about the interview I did with them on How I Wow: "It's as if for Markco gold is not the goal. Excellence is the goal." That is how I approach my life and the wow community has seen how that level of motivation can turn a crap site with 1 follower (Thunderion) into the juggernaut (to use Bigjimm's verbage) it is today. Motivation can weather the storm and it can truly allow you to do anything, as long as you're having fun along the way.
Keep blogging Bigjimm, and blog for first place amongst the great community here. Break big news, make mistaken predictions about icy dragonscales, get accused of tax evasion by Tobold, get vilified by Gevlon, please be smart and be nicer than I was to wow.com, mispell your own name, and most importantly... get profession cooldowns mixed up on a monthly basis! In other words take tremendous risks and have fun! It all works out in the end and the more risky you are, the more adventurous, the more it will come out in your writing and suddenly a community will form around your ideas as well that is attracted to your way of looking at the game they love to play.
Bigjimm's Billionaires... I can see it now! I hope you can, and every other blogger out there. Because if you don't aim for the highest pinnacle, you will never reach it. Perhaps you, the person reading this load of hot air I call a post, are going to be the next big wow blogger. If you need help, send me an email, give me a guest post or take advantage of the new social media I've created for gold making in world of warcraft: Just My Two Copper.
Thank you, the community and especially Bigjimm! Rock on JMTC. I don't just hope to motivate you to make gold in wow, I hope to inspire you to improve your life in the real world as well. All great things must come to an end, and even the mighty Markco will eventually disappear from the pages of wow history. But while I'm on the front page and living large, I'm going to have one hell of a good time.
~ Markco: Gold Guru, Last Bastian of Prot PvP, and Podcast Specialist
I have been making about 500 gold profit a week from iron bound tome sales, even with up to three people competing with me. Those 4-6 sales a week are due to new pve alts trying to fill the oh so elusive off hand slot and save badges for tier gear. Do you have any idea how many people still tell me and will tell me after this post that these are impossible to sell? What is it with everyone thinking that things have to sell in the same 12 hours they post them, or that having someone undercutting you means you can't sell your product? I don't say that to put the people that say these things down (after all Euripides on the Call to Auction told me flat out that these never sell and I still respect him for his gold making skills), but rather I say this to explain that if one person is succeeding at making gold and you are not, then you might want to pick there brain on the subject.
So here, I'll do some of the picking for you:
First off, the profit margin on these things is ridiculous. I am making literally 150 gold profit per sale. Next, many people assume this market is pointless and whenever the vast majority of players aren't doing something, you can bet that I am. Engineering for instance is a great money maker, but no one will tell you that because they have all heard it isn't. Finally, unless there are more than 2 off hands below your price yours will most likely sell in a 24-48 hour period. On my server after some time observing this market I've found that on average about one sells every 12 hours. So if I put it up for 24 hours and there are two underneath me, I will undercut. That's no a smaller server with less demand, so if you have a higher population server then you will want to adjust your tolerance for undercutters accordingly.
The tough get going! If you write me an email that looks like this. To make things interesting, I made it a madlib!
Write down a Negative Verb, Present Tense.
Write down an Expensive item in game.
Write down an Inexpensive item in game.
Write down a Negative Adverb.
(*NB: NOT ACTUAL EMAIL*)
Dear Marcko, Marko, Marco, Guru Gold Guy,
I can't make gold because my economy [Negative Verb]. People undercut each other instantly all day long. I can't make gold. Help! This [Expensive Item] is impossible to craft to make gold! Also, this [Inexpensive Item] has fallen below vendor cost! These are just two examples of how [Negative Adverb] unprofitable my server's economy is. What should I do?
Thanks!
First off, I won't ever make fun of you for sending this kind of an email. There's no such thing as a stupid question in my mind. We all start off like this and I don't mind if you spell my name wrong either. It's actually pretty funny if I don't catch it and then post the email on the site at a later date.
Next, I want you to think about what it is you are saying. How could anyone possibly make gold under your scenario? I didn't elaborate much in the example email but a lot of people will go to great lengths to tell me how bad their server's economy is. Your economy is NOT BAD! I say that in all seriousness and in the nicest way possible. Instead of looking at your economy as an absolute good or bad, look at it as a living, breathing animal. This animal cannot be tamed, EVER, but it can be influenced by intelligent use of bidding, buying, crafting, modifing and reselling. Before you can ever be successful with the auction house you first have to get over your incorrect way of looking at your economy.
Everyone, and I mean everyone looked at their economy in wow and even the real world this way at some point in their lives. There's no way to force someone to see their world differently; instead it has to be discovered. I can yell all day long and stomp my feet in a terrific display of orc superiority yet my words will always fall on deaf ears until you open up to the idea that maybe your world view needs to change.
Don't worry, that's why I'm here. Keep sending the emails and I will keep answering them with helpful information to get you on the right track.
If you are thinking about sending an email like the one featured today, please look at my Helpful Wow Gold Forums. Feel free to ask for help but please be very specific with your professions and server prices. More information is better than less. Also, look around for other people with the same professions and how they make gold.
sabot7726 asked on the JMTC forums under Rags to Riches:
I was wondering what the big time money makers do in a typical gold-making session because I'm curious if my routine is the norm or if I'm wasting a lot of time.
I typically get home from work and do something like this:
1. Log my alchemist, do my daily xmute, make as many flasks as I can from the herbs my farming character got and send to a bank alt.
2. Log my JC, do the daily for a token, cut whatever gems look low based on QA3 summary, process any cheap saronite I find on the AH
3. My JC is also my enchanter so I DE any greens I happened across and make a few scrolls based on what's low in the AH.
4. Log my miner and do my daily titansteel CD, maybe a couple laps around somewhere for some more ore.
etc
I realize I could hire tons of farmers and really build up a money making machine but I also play at 6am server time since I work all night, so it hasn't been easy even finding people on :p
Just curious what the millionaires do instead? What order do you do what in?
This was a great question and it got some good responses. The thread just goes to show you how organized some players are for making gold in this game. Post in the comments section or on the thread with your own list of what you do.
If you don't have your own list of what order you perform actions with your characters to make gold then you had better write one down and stick to it! You'll save tons of time and become way more efficient at making gold in wow.
Check out episode 3 of castaclysm: a world of warcraft podcast, as Jhaman, Thunderion and I talk about everything world of warcraft related :D
Here's a quick strategy I found and made a short video about. Horde grabs the workshop and then takes all their demolishers to the far west of the alliance base. If you position the demolishers behind the hill shown in the video then it is impossible for the guns on the tower to reach you. What's more, melee will have to run from the alliance portal and around the hill in order to reach the demolishers, making it an excellent defensive position. A crafty balance druid, fire mage, or ele shaman could chuck people off the cliff and into the sea as well.
This strategy is way better than taking docks and trying to use the glaives damage wise and it's far easier to defend the demolishers in the position shown in the video.
Discussion: The Art of Making Gold Contest
I've been brainstorming for a while now as to what I would do for the next JMTC gold guide contest. As you all know the past two contests went really well and provided the community with lots of fun gold tips in the form of youtube guides. This time around however I'd like to break into a completely different medium: Art! This includes all types of art: drawings, models, digital art, cakes, ANYTHING you can think of that is art. Now the art can't just be about anything however, it has to relate in some way to making gold in world of warcraft. Therefore you could draw a picture of two characters fighting over a titanium node, draw a scenic shot of the orgrimmar bank or anything else you can think of that in some way relates to gold or the process of acquiring it. The art must be of something in the game with no pictures of people or places in the real world. This does not mean you can't take a picture of something you made and send it in such as a cake or model or whatever.
The winners will receive a free copy of the 20kleveling.com gold guide and if they already own the guide they will win $25 instead (sent to their paypal account). I will create a page on the site where I will display all the artwork as it comes in, and then I will judge along with Jhaman and Thunderion from the castaclysm podcast to decide the top two pieces of art.
Deadline for all entries will be May 1st, and you may submit up to three entries but only your best will be counted towards the final decision. Winners will be announced May 7th.
Good Luck Everyone! - Visit the page for the contest entries.
This was an absolutely hillarious prank we played back in the day during burning crusade. Lots and lots of people were injured in the making of this film. Halaa Raid Summoning Prank FTW!
In quick auction 3 there are two settings called threshold and fallback for your items. Every so often the lowest priced item on the market will fall below your threshold (lowest price you're willing to sell at) and so quick auction will decide to post your item at your fallback (price you consider market value or whatever you want to set it at). My fallback for high profit meta gems are 125 gold. Every so often I will see my meta gems sell (as well as tons of other items that I won't list here) for my fallback price eventhough there are plenty of items below my price on the auction house.
Why does this happen? It's simply really, the buyer didn't even look at the prices to compare them, but rather purchased the first item in the list. Depending on how their sort was created (auctioneer's name, etc) it is possible for the highest priced item to show up first. Also, keep in mind that with items like meta gems, glyphs, and other large categories, players are often sorting through a list of assorted items with similar names to what they are looking for. Mine could simply be the first one they spotted and therefore the one they purchased.
Due to this buyer mentality (particularly among people who are low on game time) it is actually worth your while to post a single overpriced item along with your normal postings for each item type. Have you seen this phenomenon as well?
Hyacinth Macaw - This item is obtained from the booty bay pirates and will occasional appear on your auction house from someone farming the bloodsale buccaneers for their pirate title. When you see this item realize that it usually goes for a minimum of 5k gold on a small server and as much as 10k on a larger one. I've picked this up for 500 gold from a happy farmer and resold for literally 5k gold.
Information and Experience are the greatest tools as an auctioneer, so keep learning, keep reading, keep experimenting, and keep expanding your knowledge (Most importantly, keep visiting this blog, forum, etc!).
Gold Tips you should pay attention to for Patch 3.3.3...
Tons of free honor for marks - Gem prices will tank temporarily.
New Engineering Pets - Watch for Mithril bars, heart of fires, core of earths, and truesilver bars to disappear from the auction house.
Sun Crystals will slowly rise in price as they are being made part of the scourge JC daily.
Calcedonies and Dark Jades will plummet in value as far less will be purchased for icy prisms.
Many Glyphs that took 2 inks of the sea to craft will now require 1 ink. Expect the markets to change but not too much. Changes to icy touch and flame shock will make these glyphs in high demand for the first week of the patch as players experiment with glyphs and specs.
If any of the Eternals on your server (perhaps fire or air) are more expensive than frozen orbs then they will decrease in value to match frozen orbs.
Tailoring Cooldowns and location restrictions removed. However, the demand for tailoring epic recipes will increase with changes to material costs and frozen orbs being used to get runed or crusader orbs. Expect prices to drop at least slightly, so sell your cloth prior to the patch.
Titansteel Bar cooldown removed. Sell your bars prior to the patch. Like tailoring cloth, the bars will have higher demand but this demand will not be enough to save titansteel bars from dropping lower than the current price.
Crusader Orbs may actually go up in value, as they will take 6 frozen orbs. Depending on where frozen orbs settle crusader orbs could see a 10-40 gold boost in value.
Check out the wow podcast: Castaclysm Episode Two on Patch 3.3.3 as well!
