Diversify Wow Gold (Part 2)

Posted by Markco at 8:00 AM

Author: Aleithia

Last time we looked at diversifying our investments for short-term churn and 2-3 week investments.
Now it’s on to the longer term investments, including the next expansion!

Patch-Time Stock

Prices tend to decline over the life-cycle of a patch. They are strong in the beginning as people gear
up and need new enchants. There are fewer sellers as casuals go back to more time playing than gold-
making, coupled with more people buying: Auctioneer Win! I like to start stocking up on these items
when it feels like we’re 6-8 weeks away from a patch. This might include some of those same items in
our short-term churn category, but they might also include finished goods.

As we were nearing the end of 4.1, I stocked up on already cut Inferno Rubies from my competitors who were selling too low. The bump in price with 4.2 allowed me to turn a profit with almost no work. Nearly all base-line materials were affected when 4.2 came out. As they say on Battlestar Galactica: “All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.”

This category is a little more risky. You might hit it big (Infernos), or you might miss big (Volatile Fire/Earth anyone?). This is not quite throw-away money, but it’s certainly not anything I’m counting
on getting back completely. Don’t invest too much here if you can’t sustain the earlier investment
categories. Don’t cripple your business investing here.

Long-Term Speculation



While some items only go down in value with time (Maelstrom Crystals), other items start low and build in value. When Cataclysm launched, I immediately started leveling my professions. Guess what? Others had the same idea. Scrolls, flasks and potions were going for dirt cheap on the Auction House as people tried to make back some of their investment. I picked up several copies of enchanting scrolls I’d need on my characters during Cataclysm. Barring new enchants being released, or stats getting re-balanced, I’m largely set on enchantments. And most of them cost only a few gold.

I’m wishing I had purchased more as the prices on those enchants are well above the few gold mark
right now. Next expansion, I’ll definitely be purchasing as many as I can. Sure, there’s some risk involved, but it’s a relatively small amount capital, so it’s well worth the risk.

Stocking Up For Patch 5.0

News Flash: Another expansion is coming! With a new expansion comes shiny new enhancements. We’ll see an exodus of sellers from the previous one. Case in point: Wrath gems and enchants are still going strong. I regularly sell Cut Scarlet Rubies for a 30-50g mark-up. The same is true for enchants from the

Wrath era. Thanks to the new iLevel requirements in Cataclysm (Gems/Enchants often require iLevel
300 gear or better, meaning they can’t go in older gear), sales are strong for Wrath enhancements. I
expect they’ll keep this system for the new expansion as well, meaning Cataclysm-level enhancements
will continue to sell, but there will be less competition.

So I’ve already started stocking up on inventory. I’m choosing to focus mostly on enchanting mats and
gems. It’s a small investment now, but will build with time as prices crash near the end of the expansion and people dump all their “worthless” Cataclysm materials.

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