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.
Now let's look at the prices of the worst possible gems on my server. For me that would be uncommon shadowcrystals, forest emeralds, and Eye of Zuls. On my server Eye of Zul can sell for 75 gold if you ignore undercutters and allow server demand to remove them (I think people buy these for epic cloaks more than anything else). The forest emeralds are not worth selling or using in transmutes over other gems so I cut and vendor them for 4.5 gold each. Uncommon shadowcrystals are difficult to get rid of and I usually sell them for about 3 gold each either in the form of focusing lens or cut gems. Titanium powder goes for a good 25 gold each but usually I can jack the price up to as much as 40.
Ok these were my bare bones horribly impossibly low ball odds worst case scenario values.
ZOMG MATH!!!one1!!
- 6 uncommon gems x 3 gold = 18 gold.
- 1 rare gem x 4.5 gold = 4.5 gold.
- .75 epic gem x 75 gold = 56.25 gold.
- 3 titanium powder x 25 gold = 75 gold.
Bare minimum gold = 153.75.
Keep in mind that I'm usually seeing around 200+ gold per stack I transmute so these numbers are so ridiculously worst case scenario it's not even funny. Is prospecting worth it on your server?
Further Reading:
Posts Related to:
Jewelcrafting
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prospecting
14 comments: on "Prospecting Titanium Ore: Math and Results"
Ishkandir said... August 31, 2010 at 8:29 AM
Well, it [i]was.[/i]
I saw stacks going for 150-160g per stack consistently a couple weeks ago (and snapped them up quickly), but my guess is some people frequent this blog and/or have discovered wowprospector, and so they've been buying it up to where it now stands at around 200-210g per stack.
Since I've had little success selling the powders after about a month of trying, I'm perfectly happy selling my stockpiled stacks of Titanium Ore to everyone at 60g of profit per stack, and acquiring my epic gems another way.
Anonymous said... August 31, 2010 at 9:28 AM
On my realm the gems prices are higher, so I get a good profit prospecting ores, cutting rares & epic gems and vendoring uncommon ones.
I use this method to learn ALL JC recipes in just two months.
I begin with only 5K, and made daily between 5 and 7K.
today I've made 50K from this source.
ps: I play with AH, so I made more gold.
ps2: My realm is a fully one, so the market is hot.
Anonymous said... August 31, 2010 at 9:30 AM
Nope :(
On my server:
Stack of Titanium ore = 220-300g
6 uncommon gems x 3g = 18g
1 rare gem x 7g = 7g
.75 epic gem x 100 gold = 75g
3 titanium powder x 27g = 81g
181g from prospecting
My auctioneer says market for titanium=227, prospect value=207g
In fact the auctioneer searches for prospecting and disenchanting NEVER display results.
I make my money from cutting and selling epic gems and farming the orb of deception and black tabby.
Anonymous said... August 31, 2010 at 10:44 AM
I'm on the same server as you on the Alliance side and I can tell you its not worth it right now. There just aren't enough supply. The Titanium ore I see is way over price compared to the horde side, which I'm also on as well xD
I check everyday and buy out if it seems worth it but as of late it hasn't been.
On the flip side, gems seem to be really high priced, but the problem is the demand isn't there, every now and then I'll sell all the gems I have listed, but for the most part the demand simply isn't there.
I'm debating on sending stuff cross faction and selling my stock that way.
someguy said... August 31, 2010 at 11:39 AM
So....here is my question. How would you change the formula a little if you wanted to find out a different value? If all things were created equal, and you were basing the price on items based on the core price of the titanium ore do you have a formula to generate "your cost" for each item.
Based on Wowhead percentage values, you get the following from Titanium Ore:
Ametrine 4%
Cardinal Ruby 4%
Eye of Zul 4%
Dreadstone 4%
Majestic Zircon 4%
Kings Amber 4%
Scarlet Ruby 4%
Monarch Topaz 4%
Sky Sapphire 4%
Forest Emerald 4%
Autumn's Glow 4%
Twilight Opal 4%
Shadow Crystal 25%
Dark Jade 25%
Huge Citrine 25%
Chalcedony 25%
Sun Crystal 25%
Bloodstone 25%
Titanium Powder 59%
What would your cost per item be in this case if your titanium cost 200G?
This may be easier to work with on something with less variations like a DE, but is still a similar formula.
Notched Cobalt War Axe
Cost = 14.9G (based on cobalt ore)
Greater Cosmic Essence 75%
Infinite Dust 20%
Dream Shard 5%
I can get the DE value of each item (based on AH prices) by using a formula similar to the following
(Item Chance x Expected outcome) x AH value
example
Greater Cosmic Essence
(.75*1.5)*14.95 = 16.82
Once you break down each piece you add them together to get your DE value of the item based on AH values.
I want to know MY cost for each crafted reagent from the base, not the value of the item based on current market.
I've been working this one out in my head trying to find a solution for a few days or so, and you so happened to post this which lead me to the discussion.
Uriul said... August 31, 2010 at 12:12 PM
It's worth it, by the math; but only if I use every gem to its full potential, and even then it doesn't make much (20g/stack on average). It's just not worth my time for all the different steps involved unless I could do it in bulk, and there's never that much cheap ore.
Markco said... August 31, 2010 at 1:08 PM
This is the bare minimum, you will almost always make far more gold from prospecting than what I used. Getting a more valuable epic gem alone pays for the whole stack.
Zifmia said... August 31, 2010 at 2:10 PM
OK, reversing this for ridiculously best case on my server:
Stack of titanium costs 200g
Cardinal ruby sells for 120g
Scarlet ruby sells for 30g
Titanium powder I never see on AH (although I could use it since I am just starting JC)
ZOMG Math:
6 uncommon gems 18g
scarlet ruby: 30g
.75*cardinal ruby: 90g
=138g before powder
So I guess I would be breaking even if I decide the powder is worth 20g or more to me.
Yes, I can cut the rubies, but I could buy them to cut also.
Wow-prospector says my only options for slightly profitable prospecting are tin(??) and adamantite (and adamantite is completely based on hitting the golden draenite lottery).
Scott said... August 31, 2010 at 2:49 PM
/agree with what Zifmia seems to infer. Prospecting is not a big money maker. At least on my server it's a loser or at best break even. When talking epic gems the best way for me to make money is:
- get them from transmuting
- get them from triumph emblems from farming heroics
- get them from AH when they drop to a low enough price for a nice profit from cuts.
- get them from advertising in trade - "Buying [insert favorite epic gem here] [insert low price here] pst...
Then cut and sell them for 30-50g profit each on average.
Unknown said... August 31, 2010 at 3:30 PM
@Zifmia You are making the assumption you're going to see a Cardinal Ruby in every stack. You won't!
Scott said... August 31, 2010 at 3:41 PM
forgot to add:
- get them (epic gems) from PVP honor
Dick said... August 31, 2010 at 3:44 PM
Prospecting and selling the gems isn't worth it. Only make money if you cut the gems into something useful. But outside of epic gems, it's hard to sell any of the others. So overall, the gem market is kinda dead outside of cut epics. But I'd never prospect anything less than titanium, definitely not worth it.
Zifmia said... August 31, 2010 at 4:37 PM
@madjack
That's why I said "ridiculously best case".
Unknown said... November 23, 2010 at 2:54 PM
Titanium stacks on my server (Bladefist-Horde) have been selling for a ridiculously low 100g a stack, so I've been buying as much as I could get. My last purchase was for 35 stacks, which netted me 121 titanium ore and 57 epics, luckily about 75% of these were majestics, kings and rubies: the number of epics alone far exceeded the 3500 I spent on the ore. I don't know how long this market will hold up in cata so I got while the getting was good.
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