Allocating Time Effectively

Posted by Aleithia at 8:00 AM

Declining subscriber numbers. Patch 4.2 fatigue. New expansion news. All of this adds up to a weaker (though still profitable!) economy. So how should we spend our time? Factoring long-range planning into our daily gold-making routine can help us make more gold over time.

Common Time Sinks
There are lots of things that take up our time when making gold, such as:

• Daily Routine
  Any serious gold maker will have a certain list of tasks that need to get done on a daily basis in their business. Clearing mail, posting auctions, purchasing materials, and crafting products are all examples of daily routine tasks that need to be done.
• Weekly/Monthly Tasks
  Some things don't need to be done every day, but instead can be grouped into bulk activities that happen regularly, but not daily. Milling/Prospecting large quantities of materials, crafting larger quantity items that can easily be stored in large quantities (for example, Gems/Scroll/Glyphs in stacks versus armor in singles), and bank/bag maintenance (clearing out useless items/materials or things you never get to so you have room for the more profitable stuff) are examples of frequent but not daily tasks.
• Long-Range Planning
  Big gold is made by planning ahead for patches, expansions and other game changes. Leveling new characters and stockpiling for patches are examples of long-range planning.

If you want to use your time most effectively, you'll be dividing it between these activities (and possibly some others that I haven't thought of) based on what's going on in the market. Where you allocate your time changes based on where the most gold potential is to be found. Lately, I've spent much more of my time preparing for patch 4.3 and Mists of Pandaria than I have doing my daily routine. Some days I don't even bother posting auctions because I know the value of those goods will be so much more after the patch.

In addition to prepping for 4.3, I've also been getting ready for Mists of Pandaria (yes, really). For me, that means leveling some new characters. I'm working on another Alliance toon to bring my level 85 count to 5 on Alliance side. I'm also working on leveling a Horde character to 85 to get into more serious cross-faction arbitrage and to have a steady source of income on the Horde side.

How are you spending your time right now? Have you started thinking about Mists of Pandaria planning yet?

I consider myself a somewhat casual auctioneer. I can be found via Twitter @Aleithia3. I also like getting email at Aleithia AT jasonthedce DOT com. Send me your questions and I'll try to write about them on the site.