To prospect or not to prospect...
Average Prospecting Results for Titanium Ore
- Uncommon Gems - 6 per stack.
- Rare Gems - 1 per stack.
- Epic Gems - .75 per stack.
- Titanium Powder - 3 per stack.
Click to Continue Reading...
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Undercutting is an art form in its own right. Some players undercut by 1 copper, others by 10-50% of the original price. Some use the Quick ...
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Hey Markco, Just wanted to tell you another gold tip. With patch 3.1 the JC pattern Citrine Ring Of Rapid Healing no longer requires 2 eleme...
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Cataclysm has been out for quite some time now. People are tired of heroics and are now running raids, this creates a demand for one item th...
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Guest Post By Deepcut From Warcraft Gold Analysis My name is Deepcut, and I currently play on the Eldre'Thalas realm. After seeing al... -
So I've recently started up a new game; Runescape. Now don't be all like Mageshadow, WoW is better than Runescape because I know tha...
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Update: Silly me didn't read the fine print and Blizzard slid a low ball in, You can't stockpile valor for 4.2 as it will be conver...
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Scott Alan Smith is a Crook! Edit: Screen shots and proof/explanation of the cookie stuffing Scott has used in the past are present a... -
Hey Marcko, Was soloing Dwarfageddon earlier today and I noticed the dwarves you kill drop the Lovely Charm. You get 10 of these and tur...
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No, it's not. Buying low and selling high is supposed to be easy and intuitive. However, for many world of warcraft players it just d... -
Post by Kammler from Kammler's Korner One of my favorite movies is the 2004 King Arthur (Clive Owen, Keira Knightley) Not only is it...
Average Prospecting Results for Titanium Ore
Click to Continue Reading...
The auction house can be a little intimidating at first.
Why are you afraid of the auction house?
When you tell someone that they shouldn’t be afraid of something your words usually don't do anything to comfort them right away. Think back to when you were a small child and your parents told you not to be afraid of the dark because there was simply nothing to be afraid of. Did you stay scared that night after they told you there was nothing to be scared about? Probably spent the next hour searching with your eyes for unknown monsters behind every bookcase and within every shadow. It’s a simple fact of life that telling someone there’s nothing to be afraid of is a useless proposition.
How then should I go about killing the fear of the auction house within many of you? If I say there’s nothing to be afraid of then you will probably go on continuing to avoid the auction house while ignoring my posts on the subject.
Snowfalls are good for something!
"Hey Markco,I used to craft epic armor, but a couple of days ago I started working the auction house as an "Addon Abuser".
Well I thought about using my snowfall inks I get from milling and not just sell them to pay for the herbs,
so eventually I started using the snowfall inks for Runescrolls of Fortitude, which sell for 35g for a Stack of 5 on my server.
So when I buy Icethorn of the ah for about eight to ten gold a stack, I double my money before I crafted any Glyphs.
When I started the idea on the weekend, I sold 5 stacks in the first 20 minutes. During the Week they sell okay.
Just wanted to leave my advice here, since I used a lot of your advices as well.
Sincerly,
Dantol"
Dantol is spot on but he should also look into selling his runescrolls in stacks of 1, 2, 5 and 20. Many players choose to sell their snowfall inks for 5-10 gold a piece but that is far less gold than they are truly worth. Pricing of snowfall ink directly effects how much profit you can make on your glyph business as well as how low you can set your glyph threshold. Let's say you can sell a 5 stack of runescrolls for 35 gold, that means that your glyphs are practically free and pure profit! You could even set your glyphs to a 1 gold threshold and make a profit, though I wouldn't recommend that because it would be a waste of time posting them. Interesting concept huh? We discussed this to death on multiple episodes of Call to Auction, if you haven't looked into that podcast and are serious about making gold... well you should start now!
Have you sold Runescrolls on your server?
This weapon is almost as legendary as I am.
"Hi Markco (checked the spelling several times)
The last week after getting my warrior to 80, and starting on the Shadowmourne quest, I've been thinking. Everyone loves orange stuff, and Shadowmourne is as orange as you can get it. I guess there will be people who would like to get their hands on a legendary axe, even after cata hits. Atm Primordial Saronite is going for 430-500 on my server, and they are still dropping in price. You need 30 Primordial Saronite for the axe. It doesn't drop that much in ICC and the other way to get it would be by trading frost emblems and after cata hits live realms, there wont be anyone farming these emblems anymore. My point is: its gonna be really hard for people to get Primordial Saronite for their legendary axes. Could Primordial Saronite be something to invest some gold into for the distant future? Will the supply be so low that it increases the value even though not that many people want it anymore?
Cheers
Spiff"
Haha I appreciate the spell check Spiff. You bring up a very interesting point. No one is going to want to farm the primordial saronite and if there is ANY kind of demand for people grouping up and wanting to start the chain for this weapon then I could see the price rising to 2k gold+ per saronite. That demand will most likely come from guilds trying to earn guild experience which will be awarded for each new legendary a guild creates. This will make all your primordial saronite in cataclysm worth far more than it is today.
It's an interesting idea for sure, just look at the price of mats for vanilla legendaries like blessed blade of the wind seeker and there isn't even guild experience to act as an incentive yet. I plan on buying out all the primordial saronite on my server the last few weeks of the expansion.
When I'm not out killing alliance I'm making a killing on the auction house.
Gold Blogging Carnival Next Week
It is imperative that you go troll every blog you'd like to see participate in the carnival next week, September 2nd, and ask them to send me a link! All a blog needs to do in order to become a part of the carnival is to email me a link to a post they've made which answers the question: "How do you turn 1,000 gold into 2,000 gold?" I am accepting posts from any blog writer, not just someone who necessarily specializes in wow gold blogging. See here for the previous wow gold making blog carnival. Please be sure to send me a link to the post by September 1st or else it's not going to show up on the carnival!
Blogging carnivals are a great way to accomplish two simple yet mutually beneficial tasks: amazing content for the readers as well as sharing of readership for blog owners. This kind of collaboration promotes cross pollination of ideas and allows blogs which would normally struggle for months before building an audience to just explode overnight.
The Wow Gold Blog
From lots of hard work (guest posting, guest podcasting, increased effort on normal posts, collaboration experiments, etc.) I have managed to score some very big points with several search engines including google, yahoo and bing. These sites are now sending over 1500 people per day to the blog and greatly increasing the size of the community here. Please show these new members of JMTC how awesome this community really is whether that's on the forums, youtube, facebook, twitter, the IRC or anywhere else. See the social media tab for more information.
Also, last night we recorded Castaclysm live with our first guest host: Big Bear Butt! We hope to have the show up on Castaclysm.com within a day or two.
Wow Life
Leveling toons, making gold, testing strategies, etc. Not much to report here except that I've found a new favorite pastime: Prospecting Titanium Ore. I usually manage to make around 200-300 gold per stack of ore from prospecting and then cutting gems along with selling titanium powder. The uncommon gems can net a surprising amount of gold as I mentioned on my jewelcrafting post not too long ago. Let's say I get 4 titanium powder and 6 uncommon gems, depending on the day and the gems that's worth around 220 gold per stack of prospected ore! I'll have more information regarding prospecting titanium in a post next week.
Real Life
What would a Markco's corner be without some interesting real life goings on? Well I decided to focus on running like I did a few month's back because well it's fun and I don't like to gain weight. Who does really? I tell you what though the benefits of running 3+ miles per day are amazing as I'm more focused and better able to deal with the stress of working both my real job and this blog. I've been working 9-10 hour shifts each day to put out a new version of a word tool I've been working on at my day job. It's actually kind of cool because we get to strip microsoft word down to its bear bones and redesign it from the ground up through xml and vba. Only problem is now when I open up word I see code in my mind instead of icons. Kind of freaky actually.
How was your week?
My living room. I need to clean up huh?
Hey Markco!
It's Joeystar1, from Quel'dorei (and the forums). I've been following you for about a year, and have built a gold empire of 110k (I'd be well over capped by now if I hadn't kept buying the new craftable epics for my toons each patch). First of all- thanks for all you've done, not only with the tips but in creating a great community in the forums (where I have about 150 posts).
Anyways, I was interested in writing a guest post for you (though you might call it a "user mail" since I don't have a blog myself). It's about why WoW and the real world economies are NOT the same thing, like most people say. Here's the text that the post would use (feel free to add on an introduction if you like):
One of the most common things you hear from people is how the WoW economy is just like the real world economy. They're wrong. There are several important ways in which the WoW economy is drastically different, and these are things that drastically alter how you should play the AH. You might know about a lot of the things I'm going to bring up, but not in this context, and hopefully by thinking about it this way you'll be able to better utilize the auction house.
1. There is no variance in quality with WoW goods.
This is probably the most recognized difference between WoW and the real world, as it’s probably the most important.
I’ll be using the example of ice cream, just to keep you all interested. In the real world, let’s just say that my favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry, and I want to go out and buy some strawberry ice cream right now. Where can I get it? There’s Baskin and Robbins, Carvel (if you’re out on the East Coast), as well as some varieties from Dreyer’s and similar companies at my local grocery store. Who am I going to choose? I know that I like the Baskin and Robbins variety the most, so chances are I’ll be buying my ice cream there, even if it’s 10% more expensive than the version at the grocery store. The name of the game is having the highest quality product.
Let’s take this same situation in a WoW context. I’m a mage, and I need a Glyph of Molten Armor. Where can I get it? There’s one seller on the AH, there’s another seller on the AH, there’s another seller on the AH. (We’re going to ignore trade chat and other methods of buying goods, as most mass-marketing in WoW happens in the AH, in terms of selling produced goods). Who am I going to choose? One seller’s glyph is no better than another seller’s glyph to me, so I’m just going to buy the cheapest glyph. The name of the game is having the cheapest product.
You can see why this difference is a big deal. If you want to sell stuff, chances are you need to have the lowest price to do so. There are a few exceptions, on goods like Netherweave Bags that move in a heartbeat. But in general, you need to try and keep your goods at the cheapest price, whether this means undercutting more often or at more strategic times, after your competitors log off.
2. WoW goods are all housed in one place: the AH.
Again, we’re going to ignore trade chat, as it won’t be fun advertising your glyphs one-by-one (or even by linking inscription) all day. We’ll also ignore buying glyphs the neutral AH because it has very few goods, and the possibility of the buyer crafting his own goods, because then the seller is not part of the discussion in the first place.
I’m going to change our scenario real quick. Let’s say my favorite ice cream is Dreyer’s for now. Where can I get it? I know I can get it at two supermarkets in my town, one of which is a five-minute drive from my house, the other of which is a 20-minute drive. From whom am I buying? The closer supermarket, for sure. Even if the supermarket further away has the Dreyer’s ice cream for a dollar less, I don’t want to waste my time and I’ll be spending money on gas anyways. Chances are I wouldn’t have even known that the prices were different without having looked it up beforehand. In the real world, you can find goods in many places, so location is a very big factor.
Now consider the same situation in WoW. Let’s say I want to buy my Glyph of Molten Armor. Where can I get it? Well, there’s the AH…and that’s just about it (assuming I don’t want to craft the glyph myself). From whom am I buying? Well, now I have a nice listing of all the prices, with all of the goods in one place. I’m going to buy from the cheapest seller. In WoW, you’re probably only going to find goods in one place, the AH, so price is again the key.
The message here is much the same as with the first tip: have the lowest price and you will have the most sales.
3. In WoW, there is no such thing as a tariff on goods.
A tariff is a tax paid on imports. If there’s a 15% tariff and the goods you import are worth $100, you need to pay up $15. In the real world, you’re penalized for bringing in outside goods.
The closest situation to importing in WoW is using the neutral AH to move goods between factions, and the closest thing to a tariff is the 15% AH cut on the neutral AH (normal cut is 5%). But this does NOT work like a tariff. If you post up something for 100 gold and someone buys it to give back to you on the other side, you will lose 15 gold. However, if you post up something for 1 copper and someone buys it to give back to you on the other side, you will lose NOTHING. In WoW, you’re not penalized for bringing in outside goods.
There are a couple pitfalls with the neutral AH, mainly that it’s possible to have your goods intercepted if you’re not working with someone who knows what they’re doing. I encourage you to read up on the process before you invest too much into it. But the point is, you can only gain from transferring goods from a faction with lower price to a faction with higher price.
4. In WoW, there are no antitrust laws.
An antitrust law is something that prohibits a monopoly. The U.S. has stringent antitrust laws; if you know you’re American history you know that it was a big debate in the middle of the country’s history, but it was decided that to uphold competition and protect the buyer, you could only control a certain amount of any given market. In the real world, you cannot completely dominate a market.
Luckily, this doesn’t exist in WoW. You can force your competitors out of business by undercutting them ruthlessly, controlling supply lines, jack up the prices, and swim in the gold you’ve just made. In WoW, you can completely dominate a market.
This is another important secret to success with WoW gold making: go for broke, or you’ll be just that. If you put enough effort into it and are smart about what you do, you can double, triple, quadruple your profits. I also encourage you to read up on how to control a market.
5. You’re not working in WoW from 9-5 (I hope).
When you go to work every day, you are spending the bulk of your day to make profit for you or your company. In turn, your efforts give you a salary, which you need to put food on the table for you and your family. In the real world, you have a lot of time to spend, and things REALLY matter.
Unless you’re crazy, have a lot of time, or have a boring job, you probably aren’t spending the bulk of your day playing WoW. If you fail, or make a big mistake that costs you a lot of gold, you can still have a nice warm meal and make all the gold back the next day. In WoW, you have a lot less time to spend, and things don’t matter so much.
What does this mean? First of all, you need to be as efficient as you can with your limited time. Develop a routine, get in touch with farmers to sell you goods consistently so you don’t have to go looking all the time, and use the right addons. The second part of this is that WoW doesn’t matter all that much at the end of the day. You might be thinking—is this guy trying to tell me to give up my gold-making, so he can hoard it all for himself? No, but that’s what you should try and do to your competitors: make them give up gold-making. Make their efforts hell. Make their profits disappear. Make it not worth their time anymore. They’ll eventually quit competing with you, because they know that it’s just a game and at the end of the day, they can make no gold and still have that nice warm meal.
In Conclusion
I hope you’ve got something out of this post. If you treat WoW markets like real-world one, you will do a lot worse (and drive yourself crazy playing too long). But most importantly, make sure to have fun out there, and take a swim in the summer heat every once in a while. Your mind (and your computer’s cooling fans) will thank you.
Happy gold-making,
Joeystar1 of Quel’dorei
I don't accept tips.
Why You Have No Excuse
There have been several posts on this blog regarding how to setup enchanting macros and create a crafting que for your enchanting scroll business. With dream shards at 2-5 gold a piece as well there really is no excuse to not be selling enchanting scrolls (bah I don't not hate double negatives!). Most scrolls sell for 10-30% profit and the mats can all be obtained if you have a blacksmith who can craft cobalt war axes and a jewelcrafter who can prospect saronite ore for gems which then can be turned into disenchant fodder in the form of rings. The rings will give you dust and the axes will give you greater cosmic essences. All you have to do is snatch up cheap abyss crystals and dream shards once in a while along with eternal earths, eternal airs, titanium bars, titansteel bars and crystalized water for several popular enchants.
Since dream shards are so cheap and that's all you need to buy new recipes you can easily pick up a recipe and have it pay for itself within 1-2 sales. Take the time to setup your addons and watch how just 30 minutes of crafting, disenchanting, enchanting and posting can make you thousands of gold each day.
Which Enchants to Sell
Not sure on which to craft? Here's a quick list of level 80 enchants I sell:
- Enchant Bracer's Major Stamina
- Enchant Weapon Blade Ward
- Enchant Boots Greater Assault
- Enchant Boots Tuskar's Vitality
- Enchant Bracers Superior Spellpower
- Enchant Chest Powerful Stats
- Enchant Cloak Shadow Armor
- Enchant Cloak Wisdom
- Enchant Weapon Accuracy
- Enchant Weapon Berserking
- Enchant Weapon Black Magic
- Enchant Cloak Titan Weave
- Enchant Gloves Armsman
- Enchant Weapon Mighty Spellpower
- Enchant Bracers Greater Assault
- Enchant Cloak Greater Speed
- Enchant Chest Exceptional Resilience
- Enchant Chest Super Health
- Enchant Gloves Crusher
- Enchant Cloak Major Agility
- Enchant Weapon Exceptional Agility
- Enchant Boots Greater Vitality
- Enchant Shield Greater Intellect
For the Comments
What is your excuse for not getting into the enchanted scroll market if you have an enchanter, blacksmith and jewelcrafter? Even if you don't have all three you can still make 10-15% profit on the scrolls just buying up the materials and crafting as long as you stay away from the flooded ones on your server. Demand for these skyrockets on raiding nights as well as on tuesdays during prime time.
Home sweet home. What are we having? Gnome? Mmmm.
I remember the first time I entered Orgrimmar on my warrior. All I could think was wow... this place is huge, look at all the buildings and people! As a new player I focused on getting my quests done, exploring the city and then moved on to other areas to keep leveling. I missed out on major gold making opportunities I wish I'd known about back then.
Example video from my youtube channel.
How to Make Lowbie Gold
First off, sell any meats you collected while leveling up to this point on the auction house. Outside Durotar were lots of boars which I had killed for a quest and then just vendored the meat. What a mistake! Those 5 boar meats could have netted me 5-10 gold on the auction house. Second, while moving through the city I never even thought of clicking on the enchanter trainer,and if I had bothered to do so I probably would have seen some strange dust and lesser magic essences for super cheap, not to mention a handful of limited supply recipes. Had I bought these items and resold them on the auction house I would have netted an easy 3 gold for the dusts/essences and up to 20 gold each for the recipes. If I was feeling really adventurous I could have also bought a few copper rods and posted them for those too lazy to run to their enchanter trainer. Finally, there was a troll walking around with snakes trailing him of various colors. Buying these and reselling them for a few gold each would have easily pushed me over 15 gold on my first character without even breaking a sweat, probably even 35-50 gold actually. Maybe then I would have been able to buy some nice gear and saved some time leveling.
For the Comments
There are plenty of ways to use low level materials and vendor items to make gold in major cities the first time you enter them, do you have any other tips you'd like to share? Also try this strategy and tell me how it goes for you. It takes minutes to yield quite a bit of gold for a lower level character.
Note: I ran this experiment on seven servers where I got some money on a new character and ran them to major cities (didn't have the meats and just purchased items if they were available at the time I arrived) and the results were 17 gold, 9.5 gold, 9.4 gold, 26 gold, 114 gold (someone desperate bought both my enchanting recipes for over 45 gold each), 11 gold and 8 gold after waiting a few hours to see what had sold. Not too bad if you ask me and I didn't wait for everything to sell!
Are you prepared for the coming glyph storm?
Understanding the Cataclysm Glyph Change
Soon glyphs are going to be one time use items which teach you a spell in your spell book. This new ‘spell’ will then be turned on or off based on which glyphs you’d like to have at any given time, meaning that once you buy a glyph you then know it forever and can switch it out at any time. Some people believe this is going to kill inscription, I do not. In fact I believe this is the greatest thing that could happen to inscription since the bastard profession was created.
Glyphs in 4.0 and Beyond
When 4.0 is released and the new glyph functionality is created an army of hurried buyers are going to hit the auction house looking to buy every glyph they don’t currently own (or even those as well depending on how it is implemented). You’ll see buying up of glyphs like you’ve never seen before and then… it’s not going to crash. Sure buying will slow down somewhat, but think about how glyphs are purchased today: randomly when someone hits 80 or wants to switch roles that doesn’t have dual specs (they could also be juggling three or more specs/roles). This buyer will grab no more than 3 minors and 3 majors per spec. Now think about how many glyphs you’ve purchased since wrath was launched for each of your characters. Was it more than 30? Probably not. Guess how many you’ll be buying if you want to get every glyph your class will ever need… it’s closer to 40. Following my reasoning, glyphs would continue to sell randomly without predictable demand however glyph purchases would be in massive groups instead of 6 or less at a time.
- Start stockpiling inks. Thousands of them. Why stop at what you need for the release of 4.0? Why not stockpile for the whole next expansion? NOTE: Ink of the sea will not be tradeable in the current beta for all inks so be sure to actually do the exchange and craft the glyphs prior to cataclysm's release and possibly even 4.0.
- Prior to the release of 4.0 start creating your glyphs. Have 20 of each glyph ready to go if you’re serious about supplying the next wave of buyers on a scale we have never seen before. It’s going to be BIGGER than when inscription was released.
- Learn to use QA3
- Learn every Minor/Major glyph you can through daily research.
- Learn all the glyphs from books of glyph mastery as quickly as possible. The books are cheap now, they will be super expensive in cataclysm.
Imagine a new glyph industry where you supply players with every glyph their class can have in the game for a set price. We'll call this idea a "Glyph Kit." The service of providing glyph kits would be done via trade chat and probably for a decent profit. Wouldn't you pay 200 gold now if this new glyph system was implemented to have all your glyphs crafted by a single scribe and not have to worry about finding them on the auction house one at a time? Depending on the class that would be around 5.71 gold per glyph. Not bad! Maybe you should start creating these kits now so when 4.0 is released you can sell glyph kits for obnoxious profits.
I wrote to Cold that I do not believe twink gear from instances would be worth stockpiling for cataclysm since the new boa gear being released would probably be better than any x9 items (new boas for leveling 80-85 will probably be better than current boa gear at all levels). He seems convinced that the current twink gear will be changed to more valuable stats and sent me this guest post to try and convince you that stockpiling twink gear for cataclysm is a good idea. I wouldn't want to avoid sharing a possible gold strategy just because I dissagree with it! Here's his post:
A Guest Post by Cold of Cold's Gold Factory
Thank you very much Markco for allowing me to contribute as a guest poster and thank you for the post you did at Cold's Gold Factory. This post will build upon the information presented by Markco's Original Guest Post.
After doing some research of my own, I must say that I highly disagree with Markco's statement that we shouldn't stockpile BoE items to flip to twinks once Cataclysm breaths life back into the near-dead twinking community. I also disagree that most twinks will just use BoA heirloom items instead of BoE blues. There are already many twink items that blow the BoAs out of the water.
Just a sample:
19's: Cruel Barb, Shadowfang, Assassin's Blade, Venomstrike, Tunic of Westfall
29's: Master Hunter Rifle, Torturing Poker, Raptor Hunter Tunic, Robes of Argul
There are a number of twink items that are getting overhauled due to the stat changes coming in Cataclysm. As a result, the value of these items may be going up or down in the case of a nerf, like Shadowfang is getting. Here is a selection of Old and New forms of items that are definately going to be seeing an increase in value. If you see them cheap, then snatch them up and sell them for big profits come Cataclysm when the demand for twink items explodes. I myself just bought 3 Blacken Defias Belts for under 10g each, and some others on this list for around 25g. Previously when twinking was big, many of these items sold for hundreds. Couple that with a demand spike and cataclysm inflation and you can turn a pretty nice profit. Like always planning ahead is the best route. So here are my choices for stockpiling:
Blackened Defias BeltBinds when equipped
Waist Leather
50 Armor
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 17
Equip: Increases attack power by 18
----changes to----
Blackened Defias BeltBinds when equipped
Waist Leather
59 Armor
+9 Agility
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 17
Gloves of the FangBinds when equipped
Hands Leather
52 Armor
+5 Strength
+6 Agility
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 14
Item Level 19
----changes to----
Gloves of the Fang
Binds when equippedHands Leather
58 Armor
+6 Agility
+8 Stamina
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 14
Enduring Cap
Binds when equipped
Head Leather
88 Armor
+16 Intellect
Durability 60 / 60
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Equip: Increases spell power by 8.
----changes to----
Enduring Cap
Binds when equipped
LeatherHead
120 Armor
+7 Intellect
+24 Stamina
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Shadow Hood Crafted by Tailors
Binds when equipped
Head Cloth
37 Armor
+11 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 29
Item Level 34
Equip: Increases spell power by 6.
----changes to----
Shadow HoodBinds when equipped
ClothHead
73 Armor
+17 Stamina
+5 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 29
Item Level 34
Silver-lined Belt
Binds when equipped
Waist Leather
55 Armor
+9 Intellect
Durability 35 / 35
Requires Level 22
Item Level 27
Equip: Increases spell power by 5.
----changes to----
Silver-Lined Belt
Binds when equipped
Leather Waist
70 Armor
+14 Stamina
+4 Intellect
Durability 35 / 35
Requires Level 22
Item Level 27
Glowing Magical Bracelets
Binds when equipped
Wrist Cloth
21 Armor
+8 Intellect
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 26
Item Level 31
Equip: Increases spell power by 4.
----changes to----
Glowing Magical BraceletsBinds when equipped
Cloth Wrist
40 Armor
+12 Stamina
+3 Intellect
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 26
Item Level 31
Resilient Cap
Binds when equipped
Head Cloth
37 Armor
+11 Intellect
+4 Spirit
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Equip: Increases spell power by 2.
----changes to----
Resilient Cap
Binds when equipped
Cloth Head
71 Armor
+17 Stamina
+4 Spirit
+2 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Resilient RobeBinds when equipped
Chest Cloth
45 Armor
+11 Intellect
Durability 70 / 70
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Equip: Increases spell power by 5.
----changes to----
Resilient RobeBinds when equipped
Cloth Chest
88 Armor
+17 Stamina
+4 Intellect
Durability 70 / 70
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Magician's Mantle
Binds when equipped
Shoulder Cloth
32 Armor
+9 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 20
Item Level 25
Equip: Increases spell power by 5
----changes to----
Magician's Mantle
Binds when equipped
Cloth Shoulder
57 Armor
+14 Stamina
+4 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 20
Item Level 25
Razor's Edge
Binds when equippedOne-Hand Axe
25 - 48 Damage
Speed 2.40
(15.2 damage per second)
+4 Strength
+2 Spirit
Durability 75 / 75
Requires Level 18
----changes to----
Razor's Edge
Binds when equipped
Axe One-Hand
Speed 2.40
26 - 48 Damage
(15.4 damage per second)
+4 Strength
Durability 75 / 75
Requires Level 18
Item Level 23
Equip: Improves hit rating by 2.
Feet of the Lynx
Binds when equipped
Feet Leather
63 Armor
+3 Strength
+8 Agility
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 19
Item Level 24
----changes to----
Feet of the Lynx
Binds when equipped
Leather Feet
77 Armor
+8 Agility
+5 Stamina
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 19
Item Level 24
Forest Tracker EpauletsBinds when equipped
Shoulder Leather
78 Armor
+5 Strength
+11 Agility
Durability 60 / 60
Requires Level 26
----changes to----
Forest Tracker EpauletsBinds when equipped
Leather Shoulder
105 Armor
+11 Agility
+8 Stamina
Durability 60 / 60
Requires Level 26
Item Level 31
This is just a sample to get your mind thinking. Some of these will be highly sought after. I included the shadow hood to show how you uncommon craftables will be getting boosted as well. So plan ahead and snag some cheap BoEs to flip. I would stick with twink items for the level 10-19 and 20-29 Brackets since these are the most commonly twinked. Thanks again Markco for allowing me to contribute.
19's: Cruel Barb, Shadowfang, Assassin's Blade, Venomstrike, Tunic of Westfall
29's: Master Hunter Rifle, Torturing Poker, Raptor Hunter Tunic, Robes of Argul
There are a number of twink items that are getting overhauled due to the stat changes coming in Cataclysm. As a result, the value of these items may be going up or down in the case of a nerf, like Shadowfang is getting. Here is a selection of Old and New forms of items that are definately going to be seeing an increase in value. If you see them cheap, then snatch them up and sell them for big profits come Cataclysm when the demand for twink items explodes. I myself just bought 3 Blacken Defias Belts for under 10g each, and some others on this list for around 25g. Previously when twinking was big, many of these items sold for hundreds. Couple that with a demand spike and cataclysm inflation and you can turn a pretty nice profit. Like always planning ahead is the best route. So here are my choices for stockpiling:
Blackened Defias BeltBinds when equipped
Waist Leather
50 Armor
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 17
Equip: Increases attack power by 18
----changes to----
Blackened Defias BeltBinds when equipped
Waist Leather
59 Armor
+9 Agility
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 17
Gloves of the FangBinds when equipped
Hands Leather
52 Armor
+5 Strength
+6 Agility
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 14
Item Level 19
----changes to----
Gloves of the Fang
Binds when equippedHands Leather
58 Armor
+6 Agility
+8 Stamina
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 14
Enduring Cap
Binds when equipped
Head Leather
88 Armor
+16 Intellect
Durability 60 / 60
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Equip: Increases spell power by 8.
----changes to----
Enduring Cap
Binds when equipped
LeatherHead
120 Armor
+7 Intellect
+24 Stamina
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Shadow Hood Crafted by Tailors
Binds when equipped
Head Cloth
37 Armor
+11 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 29
Item Level 34
Equip: Increases spell power by 6.
----changes to----
Shadow HoodBinds when equipped
ClothHead
73 Armor
+17 Stamina
+5 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 29
Item Level 34
Silver-lined Belt
Binds when equipped
Waist Leather
55 Armor
+9 Intellect
Durability 35 / 35
Requires Level 22
Item Level 27
Equip: Increases spell power by 5.
----changes to----
Silver-Lined Belt
Binds when equipped
Leather Waist
70 Armor
+14 Stamina
+4 Intellect
Durability 35 / 35
Requires Level 22
Item Level 27
Glowing Magical Bracelets
Binds when equipped
Wrist Cloth
21 Armor
+8 Intellect
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 26
Item Level 31
Equip: Increases spell power by 4.
----changes to----
Glowing Magical BraceletsBinds when equipped
Cloth Wrist
40 Armor
+12 Stamina
+3 Intellect
Durability 30 / 30
Requires Level 26
Item Level 31
Resilient Cap
Binds when equipped
Head Cloth
37 Armor
+11 Intellect
+4 Spirit
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Equip: Increases spell power by 2.
----changes to----
Resilient Cap
Binds when equipped
Cloth Head
71 Armor
+17 Stamina
+4 Spirit
+2 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Resilient RobeBinds when equipped
Chest Cloth
45 Armor
+11 Intellect
Durability 70 / 70
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Equip: Increases spell power by 5.
----changes to----
Resilient RobeBinds when equipped
Cloth Chest
88 Armor
+17 Stamina
+4 Intellect
Durability 70 / 70
Requires Level 28
Item Level 33
Magician's Mantle
Binds when equipped
Shoulder Cloth
32 Armor
+9 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 20
Item Level 25
Equip: Increases spell power by 5
----changes to----
Magician's Mantle
Binds when equipped
Cloth Shoulder
57 Armor
+14 Stamina
+4 Intellect
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 20
Item Level 25
Razor's Edge
Binds when equippedOne-Hand Axe
25 - 48 Damage
Speed 2.40
(15.2 damage per second)
+4 Strength
+2 Spirit
Durability 75 / 75
Requires Level 18
----changes to----
Razor's Edge
Binds when equipped
Axe One-Hand
Speed 2.40
26 - 48 Damage
(15.4 damage per second)
+4 Strength
Durability 75 / 75
Requires Level 18
Item Level 23
Equip: Improves hit rating by 2.
Feet of the Lynx
Binds when equipped
Feet Leather
63 Armor
+3 Strength
+8 Agility
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 19
Item Level 24
----changes to----
Feet of the Lynx
Binds when equipped
Leather Feet
77 Armor
+8 Agility
+5 Stamina
Durability 45 / 45
Requires Level 19
Item Level 24
Forest Tracker EpauletsBinds when equipped
Shoulder Leather
78 Armor
+5 Strength
+11 Agility
Durability 60 / 60
Requires Level 26
----changes to----
Forest Tracker EpauletsBinds when equipped
Leather Shoulder
105 Armor
+11 Agility
+8 Stamina
Durability 60 / 60
Requires Level 26
Item Level 31
This is just a sample to get your mind thinking. Some of these will be highly sought after. I included the shadow hood to show how you uncommon craftables will be getting boosted as well. So plan ahead and snag some cheap BoEs to flip. I would stick with twink items for the level 10-19 and 20-29 Brackets since these are the most commonly twinked. Thanks again Markco for allowing me to contribute.
HUMAN IN ORGRIMMAR KILL IT!!!one1!!
I've never seen. I usually wouldnt tell anyone this tip but I wouldn't mind
a free gold guide :P
The particular item being sold is Orb of Deception
This can fetch up to 3,000g
This is a rare world drop, except the rare spawns in the Dire Maul arena
have a fair chance to drop it. What I do is I take one of my 80s that I dont
play. In this case, my mage. I log off in the arena and everytime I hop on
WoW to do my banking etc, I'll take a peek on him. Even when the rare does
not drop the Orb of Deception, he drops 2 boe blues which can often fetch a
fair price on the AH
- Scy"
As an addendum to Scy's email, I'd like to make the point that these items are incredibly easy to flip for 150-300% market value. The reason I'm saying this is that you don't necessarily have to farm Orbs of Deception in order to profit off them. In fact, these items are constantly being put up for cheap because there is so little competition, meaning that posters are posting "blind" so to speak without a concept of market value.
Nice post Scy, I'm sort of shocked I've never discussed this before on the blog... anyways thanks for a good tip and no sorry no free gold guide. I only give out about 1-3 freebies per month to people who don't ask for it in the first place. The best time to look for the rare spawn is as soon as a server comes on line and then every half hour afterwards for the next four hours or so.
Hello and Welcome!
First off, I’d like to say welcome to the thousand new readers/subscribers! Since there are so many of you newcomers it’s probably worthwhile to go over the major parts of this blog as well as upcoming events.
A word of advice for those seeking gold making knowledge: try to participate in more than just the blog. There are plenty of places to learn here besides my tutelage and it's important to note that this blog has grown so much not just because of my auction house skills but also due to the incredible influence of the community here. Check out some of the sites in the Social Media tab to see what I’m talking about. If nothing else, go visit the wow gold forums and look at the membership count, then after you stop drooling look up your professions and see what tips are present there. Don’t be shy about signing up, although you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
If you have suggestions, gold tips or questions to submit feel free to visit my contact page.
If you have suggestions, gold tips or questions to submit feel free to visit my contact page.
Every 2nd Day of the Month I run a Blogging Carnival
Well ok, I ran one last month and it was a huge success so I’m going to try to run another September 2nd. If I continue to get tons of great posts from other sites then the blogging carnival will live on. It reads like a giant newsletter and it’s fun to discover new blogs while learning about your favorite gold making topics. This month’s topic is “How to turn 1000 gold into 2000 gold” and no Darkmadbat from the facebook fan page, it is not simply a matter of multiplying by 2!
Friday is Markco’s Corner
This is the day when I share with you some of my real life activities as well as my thoughts on the progress/future of JMTC. I try to ask questions about what you’re thinking and this is probably the best time to drop a comment to get my attention as well as the community’s. Sometimes I sneak a gold tip or three into Friday’s post but usually I stick to news and feedback. Prospecting titanium is so worth it right now... *cough* ... woops look at me unable to control myself.
Podcasting
I do quite a bit of podcasting, appearing on other shows and also co-hosting two of my own. You can listen to these golden windpipes on the call to auction or castaclysm podcasts, as well as my youtube guides. For those call to auction listeners out there who were tired of our random schedule we appear to finally have one again! With the addition of Bigjimm to the podcast we can now record even if one of us is busy.
The Blog
I have been speaking with several prominent world of warcraft players who are interested in interacting with Just My Two Copper in some way. These collaborative discussions could branch off into interviews, podcast oppurtunities or even live discussions which you all could participate in.
Wow Life
I spent some time leveling up toons stuck at 70 towards the 75 mark for cataclysm profession requirements but mostly I concentrated on the usual gold making shenanigans. My jewelcrafter is just rolling in money right now as titanium ore has hit the floor but gems have remained around the 120-200 gold mark depending on the day of the week and how many crafters decide to post. As the expansion wanes more and more players quit the auction house game and start waiting for cataclysm which means more money for the patient and persistent gold makers! I made use of the site Wow Prospector and I loved it so much that I became a sponsor. Basically you put in your server and what you'd like to prospect and they do the math on whether you should prospect or not. I absolutely love this tool! You can even enter your own values for items and then calculate whether it's worth it to prospect or not.
Real Life
Went to a baseball game for my birthday (quarter century!) and went out to eat with family/friends. I also had to deal with the facebook spam that happens to everyone with a facebook account on their birthday (only playing, it’s fun). We won the championship in hockey at my local gym which was pretty cool as well. For those who don’t know I tank in real life as well as in game (goalie).
If you see this then you are 10 seconds from death.
- Step 0: Get auctioneer and scan every 12 hours if possible.
- Step 1: Go kill boars or crawlers.
- Step 2: Look at the auction house for the items you picked up.
- Step 3: Ask yourself, what is someone willing to pay for this item? Would I buy a piece of boar meat for 1 gold if I needed to skill up my cooking?
- Step 4: Analyze the values on the auction house and ignore ridiculously priced items while buying up really cheap ones. Use auctioneer to see how the values match up against market value using the PCT column.
- Step 5: Relist your items but do not flood the market. Estimate how many you think you'll sell in one day or however long you list your items for.
- Step 6: Using trial and error, see how many sell and when depending on day of the week and amount posted as well as competition present. It's a learning experience even at this level.
- Step 1: Buy vendor items such as enchanting mats or pets.
- Step 2: Analyze the auction house. Post one to two of each pet but no more.
- Step 3: Manage your inventory based on how many pets you can sell in a week. Do you only sell two snakes per week? Buy two to three each week to keep your stock up.
- Step 4: Cancel pets when you get on the auction house that are below the lowest value as long as you're still making a profit. Buy out pets below or darn close to vendor value.
- Step 5: Experiment with posting more expensive than normal when there is no competition.
- Step 1: Figure out if you can get the mats for an item cheap through trade or the auction house by looking every day. Learn when the cheapest deals appear when demand becomes bigger than the supply of the materials in question. Stay completely stocked, buy out all items below the price you're willing to pay for it.
- Step 2: Figure out what range you'd like to sell your items at. Undercut down to your range and buy out people below your range.
- Step 3: Craft and sell. Keep as many on stock as possible of high selling items.
- Step 4: Let some undercutters exist if your market has steady demand. You don't have to be the lowest price to sell in a 48 hour period on most items.
Picking briarthorn is better than sitting around picking my nose!
Many readers here send me messages, tweets, make posts on the forums or find some other way to get in touch with me because they are stuck at a certain amount of gold. It could be any amount really, I swear I've heard everything from 5 gold, 1,000 gold, 20,000 gold, 140,000 gold, etc. They all say the same thing even though they are at completely different levels of success.
How can someone who is at 140,000 gold join in saying the same complaint as a person struggling to break 5 gold, namely "I can't get higher than my current amount"? Let's look at the factors involved which could cause someone to conclude that they are "stuck" at a certain level of gold.
Living Within Your Means
Living within your current means is an important part of the game. Just like everyone's gold intake is different, so too is the amount of money they can spend without losing gold. There are definitely a few ways you can curb the excessive spending and start living within your means:
- Don't upgrade gear you know you will replace soon.
- Ask guildies to make you gear, enchant items or cut gems.
- If you must upgrade something that will not last a long time, ie outland/northrend leveling pieces with gem slots, buy uncommon gems instead of rare or epic ones.
- Go pick up vendor items instead of buying them on the auction house, even if it may take some time to go get them.
- Avoid using the same gear for multiple purposes and having to constantly switch gems and/or enchants.
- Pick two specs and stay with them. If you do not have dual specs be sure to make that your first priority if you are wasting money on respecing.
- Avoid spamming potions and eating feasts when it is just not necessary (ie when learning a pve fight for the first time or when you out gear instances).
The issue of living within your means is but one reason why a player might make the comment that they are "stuck." Another reason could be that they are not doing everything they can to make gold. There are several simple things you should do while leveling, questing and instancing.
- Loot everything and sell what you can on the auction house instead of to the vendors. If you are a tank try to still loot mobs that are yours without running ahead. Figure out the loot order of the mobs and know when you can run to the next pack since none of the current mobs on you will drop loot.
- Find a way to add dailies into your gaming experience. This could be to get rep with a certain faction or succeed at some sort of achievement. My brother got lore seeker and made probably 25,000 gold from item drops and questing income.
- When posting on the auction house, don't just use whatever value the game puts in for you or even auctioneer. Manually set the price after shift clicking on the item and pressing enter to search the current values.
- Don't just post for the lowest value, if you know the market then post what the item is worth and allow demand to take out the undercutters.
- Use all of your professions to make gold, in fact you can simply search under the profession's name and find dozens of tips on this blog for each I'm sure.
For the comments, what is your current "wall" that you're "stuck" at and can't get past?
Ok so I don't always buy my alts the best gear in the world...
I decided to finally sit down and write about the top ten items I see rising in price during the upcoming Cataclysm Expansion that you can start stockpiling immediately. In the comments section feel free to naysay any of my top ten or suggest your own additions you deem better than my own list.
Item #1: Saronite Ore
I spoke about stockpiling saronite ore for cataclysm already on Ferraro’s blog, but let me reiterate the main reason to start stocking up on saronite: Transmute Titanium. Alchemists (and there will be a lot of new goblin alchemists) are going to be chomping at the bit for fast, sure fire skill ups getting those last few skill ups before they can use the new cataclysm materials. Transmute titanium is the answer to all their leveling issues.
Economic Analysis: Saronite ore can be purchased for near vendor price currently which means that there is very little risk behind buying the ore and crafting it into bars while preparing for the expansion. Low risk, Medium reward.
Item #2: Pets
With the changes to Azeroth scheduled to be released when cataclysm goes live, it is possible that several vendor pets and rare drops could disappear forever. Two examples of the pets I’m referring to would be the black tabby cat or ancona chicken. Since these items will sell even if a vendor is added to stormwind and orgrimmar (there are plenty of vendor items that sell for 200-400% markup!) there is almost no risk involved in stockpiling pets for cataclysm. With all those new characters I’m sure there will be a quite a few achievement hunters among them.
Economic Analysis: Since pets will sell regardless of who sells them you will get at least some money back in the worst case scenario and have priceless pets in the best case scenario since the playerbase will no longer have a source to get more of them. Medium risk, High reward.
Item #3: Netherweave Bags
Netherweave bags ALWAYS sell. I have no doubt in my mind that the market for these will explode when the first goblins and worgens step foot inside the auction house.
Economic Analysis: 99.99999% chance of profit stockpiling these beauties. Low risk, High reward.
Item #4: Infinite Dust
This item falls into the category of leveling materials that what will be required to reach the skill ups necessary for cataclysm level enchanting. I expect that they will rise in price over the course of the expansion to sit around the 4.5 gold mark per dust. With inflation it could get even higher and since you can occasionally find dust as cheap as 50 silver this is an easy investment with very little risk involved.
Economic Analysis: The price cannot possibly get lower on infinite dust as it is going to be required to level up efficiently prior to cataclysm skill ups in the expansion. Low risk, High reward.
Item #5: Lesser Cosmic Essences
Greater Cosmic Essences sell for about 20 gold each and their lesser cousins for approximately 9 gold each today. I expect these to go up to around 30 gold for greaters and 15 gold for lesser. Pure speculation based entirely on guesswork, it could turn out that infinite dust is all you need to level through the wotlk skill ups in cataclysm in which case saving these would be pointless.
Economic Analysis: Chances are the lessers will still be very valuable in cataclysm but be accepting of the fact that you may take a loss with this investment! High risk, Medium reward.
Item #6: Cobalt Bars
Cobalt is going to be essential for engineering and blacksmithing leveling (jewelcrafters will most likely prospect the cheaper saronite ore unless of course no one entering saronite zones in cataclysm because they stay in starter wotlk zones changes that). Having a healthy stockpile will probably net you decent returns in Cataclysm and if you asked me to guess… oh you are asking me? Ok well in my humble and experienced opinion cobalt bars will sit around 50 gold per stack in the expansion.
Economic Analysis: Medium risk, High reward.
Item #7: Alchemy Leveling Kits
Ok so this really is a collection of items but the idea is that you gather all the materials needed to powerlevel someone from 1 to 450 alchemy and you sell it. The only problem is that leveling requirements and recipes could change drastically in cataclysm. There’s no guarantee that your stockpile will even work! However, the rewards for doing this are massive, in saving someone the time to gather the materials themselves they will often be willing to pay THOUSANDS of gold more than the items are worth as a whole. I’ve sold alchemy and blacksmithing kits for 4k profit and come cataclysm I wouldn’t be surprised to see kits worth 2.5k going for 7-8k gold easily.
Economic Analysis: High risk, High reward.
Item #8: Enchanting Scrolls for BOA Gear
Low level characters wearing their fancy smancy BOA gear have no reason NOT to enchant it. Although many people have boa gear already, there is still the chance that they decide to create a character on a new realm or a class which does not have the BOA gear already. In either scenario they will need enchants and lots of them! Popular ones will be speed to boots, enchant chest health, enchant chest mana, firey, crusader and spell power to weapon. There’s still plenty of time before cataclysm to get a healthy supply of these into your guild bank and ready for the wave of new levelers eager to enhance their characters.
Economic Analysis: Low risk, High reward.
Item #9: Borean Leather
This is an item I’ve not seen anyone talk about when preparing for cataclysm. That’s a good thing too for people wise enough to start stockpiling it today as I predict prices for borean leather will reach the 35-55 gold mark per stack during the expansion. Right now it goes for about 20 gold a stack so that’s a pretty nice profit margin if I’m right! No matter what the price should remain as high as it is today so you will at worst break even or at best double your money.
Economic Analysis: Low risk, High reward.
Item #10: Crystallized Water and Earth
These are super cheap right now (buy in eternal form, not crystallized since it’s cheaper) and are needed by engineers to level engineering into the cataclysm skill up range. Again, this is an item I’ve not seen anyone suggest stockpiling and I expect it to be quite valuable come cataclysm, maybe even 1-3 gold per crystallized element. Considering the fact that these go for less than 50 silver that’s quite a lot of profit! The only downside is that if these don’t sell you will pretty much be stuck with them as they won’t be necessary for any other leveling professions when cataclysm hits.
Economic Analysis: Medium risk, High reward
The simplest way to make gold with borean leather as a leatherworker is to take 60 borean leather and turn it into 10 heavy borean leather, then trade those in at Dalaran for an arctic fur. The easiest way to determine if a stack of borean leather is worth buying for this purpose is to multiply the stack by three and see if the value is cheaper than an arctic fur. Usually the arctic fur is worth about 115-140% of the value of the 60 borean leather.
Heavy Borean Leather can be turned into many things, all of which can be very profitable and only the mammoth mining bag requires faction rep to craft. The drums of the wild, drums of forgotten kings, pack of endless pockets, nerubian leg armor, jormungar leg armor and heavy borean armor armor are all profitable items to craft with Heavy Borean Leather.
Arctic Fur, if you choose not to sell it raw, can be crafted into three epic leg armors which sell for a little more than what you'd get just selling the arctic furs straight back to the auction house after trading in your Heavy Borean Leather. The epic leg armor kits are Icescale, Earthen and Frosthide leg armor.
Heya Ugly.
I think that mages, FOK rogues and swiping druids will get the most from this trinket since they could literally aoe pull forever if the mobs are 2-3 shotable. For many players running around with max gear every mob in the game outside of instances is pretty much two shotable.
Do you have this trinket? Have you tried aoe farming with it or just grinding?
Ooooh Shiny!
Speaking of which, how would you like to add another 100-500 gold to your jewelcrafter's daily income? You may not realize this now but after a few days of experimenting I'm sure you'll come to realize that uncommon quality bloodstones and chalcedonies are your new best friends.
Whether you obtain these shiny rocks through prospecting or arbitrage, try selling five of each of the following bloodstone gems for 10 gold a piece: delicate, fractured, bold and runed. Also post ten solid chalcedony gems for the same price. I've had mixed results with +mp5 and +spirit so I tend to just stick to the sure selling +stam gem.
These red and blue gems (color not rarity) will almost never return to your mailbox unsold if you use a 48 hour timer. Good luck and comment on your own success or lack there of with these gems.
ZOMG PROTECTION GLADIATOR RUNZ!!!one1!!
Next Blogging Carnival
The next blogging carnival will be on this topic:
How can you turn 1000 gold into 2000 gold?
The scope of this question is not limited in any way, you can use any tactics you wish to blog about. The Blogging Carnival will be scheduled for Thursday, September 2nd. Simply send in a LINK to a post what you've written regarding this topic (you can write one now and publish it before the 2nd, then send me a link). Here's how the last one went if you're interested. Also, don't be afraid to send in youtube videos as well for this, that will help diversify the information I present on the 2nd of September. For blog writers everywhere this is a tremendous opportunity to share readership and reach a larger audience as well as network with each other.
Real Life
Thank you for your kind comments, emails, tweets, facebook wishes, etc.
Blog Discussion - The Mats are Too Expensive
Here is a conversation I had with myself today:
Self: "Marcko, or however you spell it, I can't sell frostweave bags because the mats are too expensive."
Markco: "This is the inexperienced and brutal opinion (usually) of someone who is actually a very intelligent and thoughtful person but also one who doesn't truly understand how the auction house market cycles work in wow. Yes it's true that today, at this moment, calculating the price of frostweave bags will be a zero sum game. You will find that the mats are as expensive or possibly more than the price the bags are selling for."
Self: "So I'm right? They aren't profitable today?"
Markco: "What if I told you that tomorrow when you looked the same would hold true, and the next day and the next day?"
Self: "HUH?!"
Markco: "Stop scratching your head and think about it."
Self: "Wait Markco I thought you said they were profitable, are you saying they aren't?"
Markco: "I'm saying that you are correct that the mats are more expensive than the final product's price."
Self: "How then can you state that it's profitable to sell frostweave bags?!"
Markco: "Simple my adorable yet naive auctioneer, the price of frostweave bags is 45 gold today but tomorrow they will be 70 gold and the mats will reflect this price. Therefore if you buy the mats the day that the bags are 45 gold you will then be able to craft and sell at 70 gold."
Self: "Oh wise and benevolent gold guru, couldn't I just flip the bags and relist instead of crafting? You know, buy low sell normal like you always say?"
Markco: "Of course!!! You should however look for farmers dumping materials such as dust and cloth to construct your own bags. I also find that there are far more mats available than there are bags on the auction house. It's probably a good idea to mix buying the bags as well as the mats on days that they are cheap and if it's more profitable to sell the mats than the bags you can keep a stockpile of both at all times. Diversity is the key, if all you do is stockpile mats then it's like trying to sell all your products through a little funnel. You may not make quite as much selling bags as mats but if you sell both you will make more and faster than if you were to just sell one or the other."
Blog Redesign
I am officially done with the blog redesign at the moment and will leave everything the way it is for now. It was a huge time sink getting to the current version but thanks to all the emails, forum posts, tweets and facebook suggestions I can say that you were all a very big part of the final design. Thank you!
With blog redesign out of the way I can focus 100% on the two things I am actually good at: Collaboration and Content. I'm going to start 'wowing people' on this blog again. Watch out >:)
Starcraft 2
I made gold league on my first 5 games ever played! Apparently rushing with terran by flying your barracks into an opponent's corner of their base is a legitemate 1v1 strategy! I caught several players rushing me but they left their probes undefended to my 6 or so marines hiding in their base. By the time their units came back I would have their probes decimated and sometimes I'd even win the marine vs whatever fight right there in their base. I've also developed a marine/helion to battlecruiser strategy which works really well in 2v2 because I have access to several key terran units to provide utility for my partner. At any moment I can shift production to vikings and I have speed on the ground with helions to counter protoss and zerg melee.
Well bad news for me atm... my macs logic board committed suicide so can't play for at least a week... which left me with just the remote ah app to make money :-(
But it got me scanning the AH looking for bargains and i came up with the following thoughts...
Given that the cataclysm is going to re-face the entire world... of warcraft... I am going to try and store some items i think will no longer be available to acquire ever again... namely non-combat pet drops...
Because of the many zone/level changes I forsee a chance that certain semi-easy to obtain pets (such as the various hatchling dino's and black tabby) will either be a lot harder to obtain or possibly (and here's what i'm hoping for) that they vanish COMPLETELY from the future game...
Now i am trying to stock up 5 of each of these pets... not an overly difficult task... as i see at worst they'll sell for what they currently sell for or maybe less, but given that they've been farmed by me for no outlay other than time, its all profit... if they vanish or become harder to obtain it could be plausible for them to become virtually priceless to pet collectors, even selling for, dare i say it, 100k+ gold in the future... i know this is speculation but i thought it might be worth, along with storing the required stuff for professions, looking at where these tradable rare drop items, which effectively are completely unaffected by game mechanic/class/profession changes, are currently and how cataclysm can effectively make you very rich from patch day...
Basically identifying things that are available today in the old world that, come cataclysm upgrade day, will instantly become finite resources (ie people have to have had them in their bag/bank) and value will exponentially continue to increase as they're used up...
We've never seen a gold making opportunity on the scale that cataclysm will bring as things WILL vanish from the game... and given the nature of the pets in-game the risk is that you make slightly less gold for the free drop than you may have... so it would at worst be a profit loss not a cost to your gold balance (unless you just buy them off the AH lol).
Just a thought that i've not seen anywhere else...
Dreadker"
This is definitely not something I thought of when it comes to what will disappear come cataclysm. Great ideas Dreadker and I hope for your sake that the pets do disappear so you can make lots of gold off your idea.
Saronite ore is one of the primary crafting materials in world of warcraft and thankfully blizzard made it fairly easy to stockpile while farming or else prices would be ridiculous for many items, including titanium bars. Here is a quick chart of how to use titanium bars to make gold.
Buy Saronite Ore on the auction house, Smelt into Saronite Bar, Transmute into Titanium Bars, and finally Craft Titanium Rod, Titanium Weapon Chain, Titanium Plating and Titanium Shield Spike. You could also smelt titansteel.
The real trick to this is getting cheap saronite ore, which on most servers is just a matter of checking the auction house every time you log in. For every stack of saronite ore you will get 10 saronite bars and 1.2 titanium bars before alchemy transmute specialization. I may be doing the math slightly wrong here but you will get about 1.44 titanium bars per 10 saronite bars with transmute spec. You can use those numbers then to determine the profitability of the five items I’ve suggested you craft in this post.
NOTE: There are little 20's next to the ore because I pasted the images from wowhead, those do not have any significance on the post or diagram whatsoever.
| This post has been brought to you by raiding for noobs. Please check out my review of their product here. |
I think this image is implying that worgens are raiding noobs.
I was emailed by Raiding for Noobs and asked to do a review of their newest product Raiding For Noobs Guide [referral link]. I get these kinds of emailed pitched products a lot and have turned down many in the years I've been blogging. In fact, if I decided to post every affiliate link that had ever been sent to me I'd probably have a good fifty of them. Raiding for noobs sparked my interest because I had not seen a raiding geared guide in probably a good year or so. Most guides in wow are gold, pvp or leveling instead of raiding which is interesting since pve is the main focus of this game
Here are my thoughts on the qualities of this raiding guide:
Timeless
I was blown away by this guide! It reminds me so much of my gold guide in that it teaches you how to think and not just what's the wrong way to play but more importantly why it's wrong. This guide should be called the Raider's Bible.
Accurate
I didn't find anything I disagreed with from my raiding experience and learned a thing or two myself. I've been playing for 5 years, that speaks to the quality of the guide. For someone like myself who has a medium level of raiding experience this guide was definitely a huge improvement on my knowledge of pve.
In Game Addon
The coolest part of the guide is the in game talent addon, showing you the right pve specs
from a dropdown menu within the game itself!
Addons
The list of recommended and optional addons was thorough, saw several I'd never heard of before and I look forward to testing them all out.
Which Professions are best for raiding?
Didn't even think of this until I saw it in the guide and I study professions all the time!
How to be a raid leader
This part of the guide was extremely thorough and well thought out. It will show you exactly how to build a casual, medium or hardcore guild from the ground up. I wish I had this when I created Free Beer Tomorrow Onyxia back in the day.
Pve Rotations
Excellent rotations which make use of a mixture of priority as well as macros.
Gemming
Everything you need to know about the stats required for raiding as well as how and when you should gem certain ways in your raiding career.Raiding for Noobs is 91 pages of pure raiding knowledge, pretty much everything you need to be a professional raider. Comes highly recommended from the staff here at Just My Two Copper. Man I wish I had staff or at least interns to fetch me coffee. Maybe a hot secretary or three. Know any?
Note: This article does not count for today's gold making post, you can find that at Making Gold with Titanium Bars.
Land of bottomless pits, big shrooms and space goats.
I wanted to open your (and hopefully other people's) eyes to a particular vendor item that I've been selling well recently. "Formula: Large Prismatic Shard" http://www.wowhead.com/item=22565/formula-large-prismatic-shard is available from only 3 vendors (Silvermoon, Exodar and Shattrath) and as a limited quantity item, meaning there will only be a maximum of 2 on sale at once for anyone to buy from vendors. This has been selling BRILLIANTLY on the Auction House for me. I know there have been a lot of posts about people detailing complete lists of vendor items to buy, but this has been something special for me.
After parking my primary banker in Exodar to reduce lag issues, I took a run round to the trainers. I found this item at the Enchanting Supplies in Exodar, next to the trainer. It is bought for just over 5g. Having not tried reselling Vendor items before, I put it on the Auction house for 15g to begin with. For every one I sold, I increased the price a little, and have now settled on a "maximum" price of selling this formula for 165g. I tend to put it on for a 48 hour auction with no competition, and within that time it sells.
I have no idea what the attraction of this formula is, I've levelled enchanting to 450 on two seperate characters and had no need for this formula to level. Checking the prices of Large Prismatic shards and Small prismatic shards on my server, I can't see any major profit from learning the formula either. Perhaps it's just enchanters wanting to complete their skillbook, or do you think I'm missing something? Can you or any of your readers enlighten me as to why this is selling so well?!
I think I've made over 1500g from this item already in pure profit. Not bad for 30 seconds of running to and from a vendor for 160g profit each time.
Dave"
Mats = 100 gold and Price = 175-300 gold.
Oh one more thing, Gevlon completely puts off spell threads in his post as being a worthless way to make gold with tailoring since so many people try to do it. This couldn't be further from the truth. The profit ranges on spell threads (including the rares) is often 20-50 gold a piece and the brilliant spellthread (requiring reputation to learn) can sell for 100-200 gold profit each.
Diversity is the key to every profession. Sell cloth, sell bags and sell threads to avoid putting all your eggs into one basket like Gevlon tends to do. It's also important to improve upon the manner in which you go about collecting materials for your crafting professions. Be sure to explore every avenue for obtaining mats before stating that a market is not profitable on your server.
Inscription Part Two
While we're on the topic of fail Goblin strategies, I recently received an email from yet another player who has taken my advice on how to deal with undercutting goblins in the inscription market... buy them out using the knowledge of which glyphs are the most popular against them.
"Hi Markco!
Ive been a reader for a few months now and you've made me a great deal of gold, thank you!
I wanted to drop a line to you a while back about how to deal with deep undercutting of glyphs, goblins, and these terrible 5g and under glyphs. Finally I figured it out; Why go through the hassle of trying to find suppliers, spending hours crafting and mailing and positing, when I can just buy these under priced glyphs and post them at a more appropriate price? So every once in a while I do my /getall and purchase every glyph 4.99.99 and under, then repost them at my threshold.
Nothing but win... all day long. I haven't crafted a single glyph in weeks, and its been nothing short of miraculous. The attached screen shot isn't my crowning achievement (purchased at 99s and sold at 75g) but it does show that a little persistence and patience will pay off every time.
Thanks Markco!
Rob from New Jersey"
Rob continues...
"This is a perfect example of your buy low sell normal mantra that's worked wonders for me. I've never really invested into flipping and I'm not great at market control, but I've managed to make my money easily enough.
-Rob"
The first 20 or so comments on this post have been very interesting, here are my thoughts on them (too big for a comment):
It takes 45 seconds to make a netherweave bag so that's 75 bags per hour. A bag should make at least 3 gold profit each, but on many servers you can post at 48 hours and make 6-20 gold profit.
If you count afk crafting time (something most goblins completely write off as not counting towards gold per hour) at a minimum of 3 gold profit you will make 225 gold in an hour crafting 75 bags. If you make the more normal value of 12 gold per bag then you will make 900 gold per hour. Also, the demand for these items allows you to post for several gold over the lowest person at 48 hours and still sell quite often.
Netherweave cloth that goes below 6 gold a piece could be purchased by anyone and turned into netherweave bandages to be vendored for profit. I doubt cloth remains at all times at 4-5 gold a stack on his server, it sounds like a complete lie made up to simply write off netherweave bags. Every day I find people posting netherweave cloth for cheap from leveling in outland, but that doesn't make it the 100% PCT value in auctioneer nor does it stop me from buying all the cloth I see below 7 gold a stack. NOTE: I messed up here, it takes 40 cloth for the 20 bandages so it's really 3 gold per stack. Even still, seeing 4-5 gold netherweave is ridiculously cheap, you may want to consider crafting and disenchanting items from the cloth.
Bag markets MOVE quite a bit throughout the week. One day netherweave bags could go from 20 gold to 10 gold and frostweave bags could go from 40 gold to 70 gold. Materials tend to reflect this and go up and down to about the cost of a bag. The trick is hitting the peaks with bags and buying mats during the valleys.
With regards to frostweave bags and infinite dust, on some servers the dust you create on your own can be sold for more gold than you would get back using it on fostweave bags. However, getting back to diversity, it is better to not put all your dust up and instead sell some dust in the form of bags in order to get gold back faster from your initial investment. If you want to talk about absolute best use of infinite dust well enchanted vellums are the real winner but it's far better to diversify and make gold from multiple markets.
Rob continues...
"This is a perfect example of your buy low sell normal mantra that's worked wonders for me. I've never really invested into flipping and I'm not great at market control, but I've managed to make my money easily enough.
-Rob"
The first 20 or so comments on this post have been very interesting, here are my thoughts on them (too big for a comment):
It takes 45 seconds to make a netherweave bag so that's 75 bags per hour. A bag should make at least 3 gold profit each, but on many servers you can post at 48 hours and make 6-20 gold profit.
If you count afk crafting time (something most goblins completely write off as not counting towards gold per hour) at a minimum of 3 gold profit you will make 225 gold in an hour crafting 75 bags. If you make the more normal value of 12 gold per bag then you will make 900 gold per hour. Also, the demand for these items allows you to post for several gold over the lowest person at 48 hours and still sell quite often.
Netherweave cloth that goes below 6 gold a piece could be purchased by anyone and turned into netherweave bandages to be vendored for profit. I doubt cloth remains at all times at 4-5 gold a stack on his server, it sounds like a complete lie made up to simply write off netherweave bags. Every day I find people posting netherweave cloth for cheap from leveling in outland, but that doesn't make it the 100% PCT value in auctioneer nor does it stop me from buying all the cloth I see below 7 gold a stack. NOTE: I messed up here, it takes 40 cloth for the 20 bandages so it's really 3 gold per stack. Even still, seeing 4-5 gold netherweave is ridiculously cheap, you may want to consider crafting and disenchanting items from the cloth.
Bag markets MOVE quite a bit throughout the week. One day netherweave bags could go from 20 gold to 10 gold and frostweave bags could go from 40 gold to 70 gold. Materials tend to reflect this and go up and down to about the cost of a bag. The trick is hitting the peaks with bags and buying mats during the valleys.
With regards to frostweave bags and infinite dust, on some servers the dust you create on your own can be sold for more gold than you would get back using it on fostweave bags. However, getting back to diversity, it is better to not put all your dust up and instead sell some dust in the form of bags in order to get gold back faster from your initial investment. If you want to talk about absolute best use of infinite dust well enchanted vellums are the real winner but it's far better to diversify and make gold from multiple markets.
