" Hey there.
So, my real life brother and I have been using some things from your blog and have made a killing over these last few weeks since Cataclysm was released and the money continues to stream in every day.
So far we have a 525 of every trade skill and at least one capped in every gathering skill. We're make tons on Shadowspirit Diamond cuts, Ebonsteel belt buckles, Sigils, and epic LW and BS pieces and combines, just to name a few.
But tonight I stumbled upon the greatest way to make money I think I've ever seen.
Step 1 - I bought up about 1100g worth of elementium ore (200 ore).
Step 2 - Prospected it for gems and got 49 green level gems and 9 blue level gems
Step 3 - Sent all the green level gems to my Alchemist
Step 4 - Cut all the blue level gems and listed them for about 1100G
Step 5 - Transmuted all the green level gems into Shadowspirit Diamonds (didn't proc any even though my Alch is a Transmutation Master, but each transmute already makes 2)
Step 6 - Sent 6 Shadowspirit Diamonds back to my JC
Step 7 - Cut the Shadowspirit Diamonds and listed them for around 3000G
Starting amount = 1100G
Ending amount = 4000G
A tip for this is to make a macro for trade chat saying, "WTB Elementium Ore, 85G/stack. Buying now or send COD." I'm not sure what Elementium Ore goes for on your server, but on mine it's hovering right around 100G for per stack. What this does is it allows people to have a sure buyer for their ore without having to worry about the AH 5% cut or being undercut by other miners. What it does for you is reduce your bottom line, making your business even more profitable. Now, instead of getting 4000G out of 1100G, you're getting 4000G out of 850G. You can also just go and mine it all yourself, though OFC this takes longer. Your best bet for mining is Twilight Highlands. Check out the Gatherer Addon and the WoWHead db from Norganna. It was recently updated with a lot of mining and herb nodes for Cataclysm.
To "diversify the portfolio" with this strategy even more, list green level gems that are going for a lot separately (these are usually going to be the gem that's needed for that day's Daily JC quest), and sell a few uncut Shadowspirit Diamonds (for other JCers who are still leveling up). Oh and never list more than about 3 - 5 of any meta gem. Don't flood the market! Lower supply increases demand. "
What an excellent reader e-mail! I have also been doing this, but somewhat to a lesser extent, I was going to make a post on this exact topic, but Matt outlined everything out so well and clearly that I thought that using his story/reader submission would be much better.
Right now the Mining/Alchemy/Jewelcrafting combo THE most deadly combination of professions to have right now. You mine your own ore, use Jewelcrafting to prospect the mine ore ( or bought ), send the common green gems, transmute them either Shadowspirits, or Transmute them into a rare gems, send those back to your JC and cut & list them at the AH. I've been doing this and it can make me 10,000g a day very easily.
Thanks again Matt, for sending this awesome e-mail in!
12 comments: on "The Best Cataclysm Profession Combination"
Anonymous said... January 5, 2011 at 8:47 AM
What I've been doing is herbing in Hyjal It seems to have fewer bots in it, as it's mostly cinderbloom, and they go for the rarer stuff. The life I take to Uldum once a day and transmute. Now you're all saying why waste a transmute on that? Well, it's a 100% air rate. And with transmute spec I can sometimes double my transmute. Truegold is nice and all but I can avoid dealing with idiots who want to barter on the price. I've been getting about 40 gold per air, and I can sell anything I put on the AH.
Now, you're wondering what I do with all that cinderbloom. The answer is, as long as there are gullible folks, I can have my scribe make fortune cards. All the blackfallow ink becomes cards, to be sold at peak times. The embers I sell as is or as ink.
I started Cata at 125,000 gold and am at 200,000 now. Not much compared to some I know, but I maxed out enchanting and JC'ing on another toon, and bought 310% riding for four toons. My baby alt is still working on BS'ing but 310% riding at level 80 made it easy to max out mining.
Euripides said... January 5, 2011 at 9:13 AM
Or you could buy the uncut metas for about 200g and cut/sell them. Also, if the sum of the uncut green gems you put into a single meta gem is higher than you can buy meta gems (which it usually is, on my realm), you're better off selling the uncut greens, and using the money to buy uncut metas.
Don't forget- every few days, one of the greens (for the JC daily) spikes up in price. I still sell some of them some days for 120g a pop.
Morpherdru said... January 5, 2011 at 12:13 PM
So far, ive been doing a similar thing for two days where i buy ore, cut and sell rares, but i turn uncommons into neck/rings to de and the red and blue uncommons get transmuted to their rare counterparts. I then turn the enchant mats into enchant scrolls to sell.
Finally, as euripides says, its cheaper for me to buy the meta gems than to transmute them even when I factor in the average proc chance/effect.
Anonymous said... January 5, 2011 at 12:37 PM
I'm jealous of Matt's server's prices. Undercutting has been pretty fierce on my server. Austere and Chaotic go for 300-400. The 3 blue quality cuts I have usually sell around 50g. Keep in mind though that I am a raider first and auctioneer second, so I buy my cuts based on my raiding needs, not how well they would sell. But, even the rarer (yet still useful) cuts don't fetch nearly as much as the OP stated.
Don't get me wrong. Even on my server there's still gold to be made from Prospecting+Xmuting+Cutting. But the profit margin is small, the undercutting wars are fierce, and the supply far FAR exceeds demand as there are not many people raiding at the moment. I'm just going to wait out until the markets settle down a bit and the demand start to catch up as people get more geared. In the mean time I'll keep an eye on the AH and buy out anything that's a good deal.
Anonymous said... January 5, 2011 at 3:19 PM
To have 10k worth of crafted items all fed by ore that you farm yourself requires a lot of time.
I averaged 12 stacks an hour before I gave up. If you're 'easily' making 10k in a day, you're probably burning through at least 25-30 stacks of ore, putting your daily shuffle between 2.5 & 3 hours, when you include the time spent farming.
If that's your cup of tea, I won't begrudge you your afternoon cup, but I don't think I'll be staying to share it with you.
DVL said... January 5, 2011 at 7:08 PM
Awesome post I can't quite convert it to use in my case though as I don't have 525s across the board as a result of getting into Cataclysm a little late.
I still do the prospecting and selling of raw gems on the AH though not much as I hold onto some for the JC dailes which I clearly need.
Jeremy said... January 5, 2011 at 7:20 PM
Shadowspirit Diamonds take 18 green gems to make 2 of them. To get 6 without procs you would need 54 of them, not 49 as you say.
Anyhow if prices for cut gems just don't cut it on your server (pun intended), then if you have an enchanter you can try making jasper rings and alicite pendants and DE'ing them. The will give you at least 1 if not more hypnotic dust or lesser celestial essences and its usually worth it.
Also, hessonite and nightstone still sell for high prices on my server so i usually throw some on the AH too to pay for more elementium ore.
Lastly, I still havent figured out how to use up my carnelian and zephyrite.
Occasionally as one commenter said, they are needed for the daily and the prices go up a bit.
Eventually id like to use them to make ocean sapphire and inferno rubies but the herbs needed for those are way too high.
Keep the good ideas coming. Wish I had an enchant/alchemy combo person because it would be awesome to sell maelstrom crystals for such a cheap price on the alchemy trinket mats.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Anonymous said... January 5, 2011 at 8:41 PM
Jeremy
A jewelcrafter can make fist weapons with carnellian and then have them de'd to get 2-3 greater essences.....best use for this colour. On my server the essences sell for the same amount as 3 red gems.
Anonymous said... January 5, 2011 at 8:49 PM
@jeremy
3 carnelian = carnelian spikes = 75% 1-3 escences / 25% 1-5 dust
Wiggin said... January 5, 2011 at 9:57 PM
I've been simply buying cheap ore and selling the green gems. I can usually make a 50-100% profit on my investment.
I don't know how you can sell blue gems for 1000 gold, unless this tip was written 2 weeks ago. Blue gem prices have been tanking as people fight for market share (including myself) few gems are above 120g and some are as few as 40.
Darren said... January 6, 2011 at 1:49 AM
The trick is to sell them all, DE mats, gems, and meta gems. It's way too easy to flood the market. There's still 200 stacks of cheap elementium on my servers begging to be DE'ed but I'm already oversupplied. Also, the meta gem market especially tends to be volatile so there's a bit of risk there too.
Tim said... June 21, 2011 at 2:53 PM
wow, great strategy. I don't have an alchemist, but I'll have to level one up just to work this combination.
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