Patch 5.4: Budgeting for the Patch

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:37 PM

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It is only days away from Patch 5.4 and the rush to whoop some Hellscream butt.   Players are going to finally get to see just how much work has gone into the last (possibly) patch for the MOP expansion and the end to an epic storyline.

If you have been keeping up with the joneses you already have a large amount of your materials stocked up for the two week push after the patch.  After purchasing your ore and your cloth and every item that can be sold for a buck you're raring to go.

But there are still a few that are looking at the last days to pick up deals.   The most important thing is to not get swept up in the hoopla of investment.   If you have already stockpiled you should be looking at just how much of your budget has been spent on your own crafters.  How much have you invested to flip for profits.  Whether it's in gold or percentage a budget can keep you from falling into the pit of overinvestment that players fall into. 

For the new patch I split my investments four ways.   I decided to budget 10,000g towards what I needed for my own crafters and 20,000g for resell.  The 10,000g was split among the four different raw materials (herbs,  ore,  cloth,  Misc), and the 20,000g was split among four investment types (weapons,  armor,  crafting flips,  Misc).   My goal with that two week period is to hit about 400% profit margin.  

Budgeting may seem tedious to perform.  Why not just throw money at something that looks good.  This ends up being a hit or miss strategy with more misses than hits.  The importance of being surgical in your investment is just as important as knowing what buttons to push when your raiding.

Speaking of raiding,  players are going to want to max out their justice points so tanks and healers can net a large profit just from offering to sell their services for gold.  Runs will be quick (especially with level 90's in good gear) so just grabbing a few sales from players and running 2-3 instances can net 1000g an hour easily (assuming 15 minute runs at 250g per player).

Budgeting your time is also as important as budgeting your gold.   If your not running instances look for flips and for sales.  Buying stacks off the auction house and barking in trade chat for a profit can net profits just as much as any other worth investment.  Just look outside the well worn box for what can bring in the gold.

This weekend will be interesting.  If you need me I'll be the dancing Tauren on the mailbox in Orgrimmar accepting tips.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up, and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

Get thee To a TradeSkillMaster 2.0
Patch 5.4 Prep:  No Sleep til Brooklyn
Customer First
You're Squishing My Items
The Ways of The Force Are Strange
It's a Date.. Maybe?
Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?

Get thee To a TradeSkillMaster 2.0

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:09 AM

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If you have ever looked over at Curse.com or Wowinterface.com there are a plethora (there is your quarter word for the day) of addons.   Addons that can change your view of the world.  Addons that can change how you attack,  defend, play pvp etc.   Just about anything you can dream about (other than farm for you).

One of the caveats I've always had is the attempt to automate gold making.  Addons can give you a large amount of information on the economy.  Addons cannot make those decisions for you with 100% accuracy.  No matter what the amount of information put into any gold making system,  there are peaks and valleys in a market that can cause hiccups in the system.

The other caveat I've always had with large money making addons is the idea that they are a jack of all trades and master of none. Addons becomes so large that it takes a college degree to be able to do the simplest of actions.  The Auctioneer addon fell into this trap.  The original version of Trade Skill Master also fell into this trap.  Both are excellent pieces of programming without the Blizzard API system.  But unless you spent hours and hours of tinkering most players would only use 2-3 parts of the system.

Now many journals ran reviews of the new Trade Skill Master.  I delayed mine the same reason that I delay jumping from one version of Windows to the 'upgrade'.  There are always bugs to work out even after an extensive beta testing.  Bugs are just going to happen with new software.  It is a part of having worked with computers for over 30 years (yes I'm that old).  I downloaded the beta version of the software and liked it.  Upgrading to the release version of the addon didn't change my like for the new interface and changes to increase productivity.   Now a couple of weeks ago version 2.1 was released that fixed many 'undisclosed software features' and made Trade Skill Master into a force to be reckoned with.

Sapu94, Bart39 and Drethic along with a large contingency of testers and developers have created the must have addon for any serious gold maker.  But fair warning:  It is still big and daunting.  It has a high learning curve to be able to put it through it's paces.  But it has improved many of the simple functions as well as made a complete overhaul for posting and storage.

There are already many tutorials and walk throughs on setting up your new toy properly.

TSM Official Forum from Sapu94
Cyan TSM has a good starting setup guide on TSM 2.0
TSM 2.0 video Tutorial by Phat Lootz

After you have all of your items ready for the patch day next week.  Take a look at TSM 2.0 and see if you're ready to take a dive into the deep end of the pool. 

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

Patch 5.4 Prep:  No Sleep til Brooklyn
Customer First
You're Squishing My Items
The Ways of The Force Are Strange
It's a Date.. Maybe?
Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?

Patch 5.4 Prep: No Sleep til Brooklyn

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:33 PM

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Mommar here.

In theory this will be the last week of prep work before patch 5.4 lands on our doorsteps.  That means this is the last week for your Barrens dailies to obtain those last items you want from Darkspear Rebellion Quartermaster.   Just remember that some of the items such as Griftah's Authentic Troll Shoes will no longer be available.   Some of the items like Gahz'rooki's Summoning Stone and Raptorhide Boxing Gloves will still be rare drops from the Kor'kron in the Northern Barrens.

Valor and Justice points will not be reset (thank you).   What is a major change is that all of the reputation items up to the new raid reputation (Shaohao) will be available for justice points.  Also included is that reputation for these gets thrown out the window.  That pretty much means the majority of the gear (other than weapons) that is crafted will do a serious drop in price.   The main goal will be the addons (enchants,  armor patches,  enchants) that will be in high demand as players jump from newly minted 90's to raid worthy for just a few instance runs.

Another thing to make sure to grab in the next week is your Mantid Artifact Sonic Locator if you plan on doing any Archeology with the new patch.  It will become much more difficult to obtain this nice little toy after next week.

If you haven't stockpiled your leather, ore and other raw materials for the new transmutes:  your in a little bit of trouble.  With the key to new patterns being the new daily profession transmutes,  there will be a serious shortage at first as players look to burn through their stockpiles.  Anytime there is a major change in the professions transmutes/crafting the economy starts bouncing up and down.  Make sure to send your farmers and extra treat this week to have them all on the same page.

The last thing to do is to double check all of your absolute need addons.  Look at the addon page for your go to addons on Curse.com  to verify that your addons are going to be updated.  If the author has announced they won't be updating anymore then it will be a good time to look for the replacement. 

This next week will be active times to both empty out your items that will take a huge hit and also look to flip some commodities.  Use the Zero Balance Investment as one of your major weapons this week and come out on top. 

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

Customer First
You're Squishing My Items
The Ways of The Force Are Strange
It's a Date.. Maybe?
Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?

Customer First

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:58 PM

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Mommar here.

Early in my working career I worked for a software company as tech support.  Calls during the day included how to turn on the software,  how to install it,  how to use it etc.  Most of the calls were easy to field.  I just needed to phrase the information in a way that the caller could understand.

Part of my job was also to sell to customers after we had solved their problem.  Many times this included an upgrade to the newest version of the software.  Other times this included offering them other pieces of software that they might find just as useful.

The perfect opportunity to double your sales is to just inspect what equipment they are currently wearing.  If it's a new player they might be willing to take a little advice and buy a gem cut from you.  Viewing what they have at the point can lead you to upgrading a green item they have to a blue or even epic item in just a few clicks.

The key to being a good gold goblin starts with customer service.  Your knowledge and ability in the field of sales can help lead you into multiple sales from the same source.  Players might not know what you carry and offering one or two items can turn a simple sale into your gold mine for the day.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

You're Squishing My Items
The Ways of The Force Are Strange
It's a Date.. Maybe?
Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?

You're Squishing My Items

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:49 AM

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Gamescon in Germany is almost done.   All the beer,  all the gaming and lots of little tidbits getting released.  

Game Director Tom Chilton,  the grand poohbah of giving us little tidbits of information was asked about item squishing in future expansions.   The basic idea of item squishing is to compress the numbers so that the damage numbers don't become so ridiculous they blow up the game itself.

A good dps during Burning Crusade could crank out 4 digit dps regularly.  As the expansions and stats on items became larger and larger,  the minimum 'good dps' numbers increased exponentially.   To the point that during Mist of Pandaria you saw burst dps that went into 6 digit (yes gang,  that's 100,000+) numbers.

So why talk about this now?   What's the benefits to the gold goblin for item squishing?   Anytime that there is a change in stats on items it brings looking for the best stats to have into play.  With new expansions (and in theory new races) you have lots of players looking for the best weapons to purchase to go back to uber god (or goddess) status.  The basic philosophy of I have what you want and I'm going to charge you a lot of gold for it becomes prevalent again.

So does this mean I'm saying jump out there and buy a bunch of items right now in the long term hope that we can make lots of gold?   Nope,  not at all.  But I would keep an eye on the market and if you see some blues or even epic BOE items on sale to take a few chances.  

In the next week gold goblins are going to be busy prepping for Patch 5.4.   Collecting materials and getting ready to drop into new zones and raids.  But that mental backburner can always be busy thinking whats ahead with the next expansion.  Item Squishing might be your new best friend.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

The Ways of The Force Are Strange
It's a Date.. Maybe?
Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous

The Ways of The Force Are Strange

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:27 PM

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Most of the time I've kept topics on this journal based around World of Warcraft.  At times I've delved into other areas including Diablo 3,  Marvel Heroes and other games.  Mostly trying to share little nuggets of what each of these games has taught me.

Blizzard has just dropped the closed beta to their new online card game Hearthstone.  It looks interesting and can be fun.  But anyone who has been a veteran of closed betas knows that you have to be careful about scams.

There are some very interesting offers for beta keys going around with different journals.  Wow insider and MMO-Champion have already started offering beta keys as different prizes.  It brings new readers into a journal.  But one thing that always burns me is when people offer to sell their keys.   And Blizzard has the same attitude.

Blizzard has always had a 'we catch you,  we nuke you' policy when it comes to selling anything that isn't approved by them.  Selling Characters,  items,  beta keys,  etc.  Anything that they don't approve of you selling they will nuke you from high orbit just to make sure.  That includes both the seller and the buyer.   On the surface it isn't that big of a deal.   Great,  I got banned from a little card game.  But sooner or later Blizzard is going to take a major whack at these sales and ban entire battle-net accounts.  That means you lose access to not just Hearthstone but also to World of Warcraft,  Diablo and even future games.  You start all over with a brand new email account,  brand new keys etc.  Not really worth it to get to play a game earlier than everyone else.

So be smart about when you see these 'sales'.  Decide if it's worth the risk of everything you've built up to now just to get an early start on a game.  If you feel it is,  more power to you.  I will continue to hope that the beta key fairies show me some love.  And that they are redheaded fairies.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 


It's a Date.. Maybe?
Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous

Patch 5.4: It's a Date? Maybe?

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:39 PM

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So one of the powers that be (Tom Chilton) in an interview on a german fan site (yes,  we are multicultural here) that the 5.4 patch has been pushed back to September 10th (11th for the gang in Europe).

This gives everyone about 2 1/2 weeks to get moving on finishing their goals leading up to the new patch.   This new date isn't etched in stone but the background downloader kicked in a couple of days ago so the waiting was upgraded to 'sooner if not later'.

With all the changes that are going to occur with the new patch,  finishing up your honey-do list becomes that much more important.   Even my list has a large amount to work on:

-   Max out Valor/Justice Points on Three toons

-   Max out Honor/Conquest points on one toon

-   Finish Dailies in Barrens for Radical Mojo for armor upgrades

-   Look for deals for gahzrooki

-   Buy supply of Exotic Leathers and Ghost Iron Ore/Bars to cover daily crafting burn

-   Finish off leveling two crafters to 90 (yes I have been slacking)

-   Prepare to craft new glyphs (need more inks)

-   Gear up two farmers to farm new areas with 5.4

-   Keep addons updated (more on this later in the week)

-   Work with TradeSkillMaster 2.1 (Definitely more on this later in the week)

All of this along with listing auctions and flipping for profit.   It will be a busy two weeks waiting for the patch to download.   What is on your agenda to get finished?

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 


Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous

Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 9:53 AM

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I have never fooled myself into the belief that I am the best World of Warcraft player around.  Over the years I have become better at playing certain toons.  But there is one class that has escaped my ability to be anything more than subpar.

Just like the majority of players,  when Blizzard introduced the Death Knight I ran out and rolled one as quickly as I could.  Starting to level her (I chose a Tauren Death Knight) It ended up feeling like a spam fest to me.  I would learn a rotation only to have it changed with another patch.  Doing my due diligence I researched the different options and playstyles to see which one would end up being the least complicated.

If you have been seeing some of the videos that get posted up,  Death Knights seem to be able to solo anything.  Even before the end of Cataclysm they were shown soloing bosses.  They were unstoppable in PVP and every raid group seemed to want to have at least one DK in their pocket for tanking duties.   But my poor lowly DK was feeling left out because she was crippled by the guy behind the keyboard controlling her.

As I was going through my toons again it struck me that other than selling pets and a few supplies I hadn't played my DK through either Cataclysm or Mists of Pandaria.  7 other toons got my attention while my little dead eyed girl sat in Dalaran waiting for her chance.  One that probably wasn't going to happen in the near future.

Everyone has lost toons.  Ones that struck a fancy for a bit but weren't as enjoyable as they seemed at the start.  Deciding whether to delete them to roll another class,  or just let them sit in the hopes that they can be entertaining again after tweaking and changes.  The decision to delete can be a tough one.  Especially if they are the link to your storage guild you have then sitting in.  What is the payment that I am willing to make to change class and toons.  I could take all of the materials in the guild and mail it to another toon.  After that delete my mad cow and then roll another toon.  Then find another guild,  buy all 7 slots and then reload all of the materials back into the guild.  

This would seem like a huge waste of gold and time just because I'm not feeling like bringing out the uber god of death to the field of play.   But then I could always suck it up and see what the thrill that other players are finding.   Level her to 90 and the go PVP with her?   Let her run around when I"m bored and smack mobs for farming duties.   Re-purposing her from sitting on her buns and let her wreck havoc.

It is also not like I need to make these decisions now.  There is nothing wrong with having her sit a little bit longer deciding if I want to keep her or not.  I already have the other 10 toons to babysit for one reason or another.  But the longer she sits there without any purpose,  the farther she will need to level once it's her time to come out and play.

Decisions decisions decisions.  But isn't this just another part of the game along with making gold?

Good Luck and Good hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 


Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous


 

Time to Remodel The Financial House

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:24 PM

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With Patch 5.4 just over the horizon the next few weeks will be very important with what items you purchase for use.  Just as important will be getting your house in order for the upcoming patch and beyond. 

I have talked many times about your lineup of professions and how important they can be.  Do you have all of the professions covered?   Do you have all of the farming professions covered between your alt army?   Where do they sit when it comes to leveling and access to patterns?

Goblins cannot assume that they are ready just because they show up every day.   With the changes in daily timers for all of the professions.  For changes in farming the different areas for patterns and access to new recipes.  These should be put into your mental picture of just how your team needs to be set up.  Is your Blacksmith's inability to farm continually going to affect your access to future patterns?  Can your farmers keep up for the demand both from your own money factory as well as others that you service?

Just sitting down with your trust paper and pencil and jotting down your lineup will help.  Knowing what changes you need to do in the next two weeks will get you a goal to accomplish in the upcoming two weeks.

As the scouts say,  be prepared.  Or as our faithful enemy from Outlands repeated over and over again.  YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!!!


Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 


Sense Of Entitlement
Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous

Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Sense of Entitlement

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 10:58 AM

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Mommar here.

When I started playing World of Warcraft it was a very creative,  difficult game to master.   I've given you many stories of my questionable calls when playing.  Just as everyone else who plays WOW,  there is a steep learning curve on how to play.

As the game progressed through expansions it became easier and easier to obtain epic items.  At first it was only during raids and very high level of reputations could you get the ultimate in purple gear.  Later expansions opened it up to crafting,  making epics more and more available. 

Now it feels that you only have to shake a stick and an epic falls from the trees.  This is both a good thing and a bad thing.  The good is that it can make the game enjoyable to play.  Setting up the idea that players talent isn't dwarfed by the luck of the epic drop.

The bad thing is that there builds a sense of entitlement for epic drops.  As Patch 5.4 approaches this will become more and more apparent.  How many instances will you run where someone will start cursing up a storm because 'their drop' didn't happen.  Or worse,  they lost the roll for that drop and it's all your fault.

This is why I like making gold.  Where I might not be able to be the most epic of items with gold.  I can put together a nice set of gear just from crafting and buying.  My ability to make gold in the game is the only limitation that I have.  It can relieve the pressure of waiting for 'my drop' to happen.  This doesn't give you everything in the game of course.  Just read my not so legendary search for the Reins of the Raven Lord here and you can feel some of my phantom pain.

The biggest tool you have is your mind.  And making gold in this game,  obtaining epics and enjoying the game is completely dependent on that tool.  So the next time that someone throws an epic tizzy because they didn't get their drop for the 50th time.   Take a peek at that epic sword you bought and enjoy the rest of the run.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 


Patch 5.4:   Golden Lotus Beatdown
Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous

Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Patch 5.4: Golden Lotus Beatdown

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:27 PM

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Mommar here.

When starting Mists of Pandaria the biggest grind was obtaining revered with the Golden Lotus faction.  It was a long grind of finishing dailies.  After finishing the first set if you had a high enough reputation you could go to the next set.  Ultimately reaching revered and unlocking other quest hubs for Shado-pan and August Cestials.

Patch 5.3 unlocked the necessity to have revered reputation with Golden Lotus to have access to new quest areas.   With 5.4 the Vale of Eternal Blossoms gets a complete remake.   Assuming you call a place that looks like it was blown up with an atom bomb a remake.

The Golden Lotus after patch 5.4 is going to be an old school's reputation beat down.   Elite mobs giving you 200 reputation.  Lesser mobs only give you 5 rep per kill.   But fear not for there are a lot of mobs to kill in the area.

You also have access to the daily farmer order if you have leveled your farm high enough to have access.   Also there are random mobs that drop tokens that will give you rep.  Don't forget to also pick up your Grand Commendation of the Golden Lotus to increase your reputation grinding.

But don't forget to try your hardest to hit exalted before patch 5.4.   The achievement http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=7315/eternally-in-the-vale will not be available after patch 5.4 drops.  And many players are already going to be farming this area for the new Profession patterns.  So there will be a lot of players running around this area killing things that it might become frustrating to get that last couple of mobs to become awesome with The GL Corps (yes,  I said it.).

The patterns are even useful for selling to alternates as well as personal use.  Also remember that with patch 5.4 much of the gear that was available for valor points will now be sold for Justice Points.  This will put a huge boost on newly minted 90 players getting them into raiding that much faster.

Lots of exciting changes are just around the corner with patch 5.4.  Now is the time to push through the boredom and get your lineup set for the last phase of Mists of Pandaria.  Working smarter and not harder is the key to being the best gold goblin you can be.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 


Four Levels of Wow Activity
Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous

Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Four Levels of Wow Activity

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:31 PM

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A friend of the Journal emailed me and asked me a question.   They wanted to know what I did when I just didn't feel like logging on to wow that day.

I had those days.  Many times it's the edge of being burnt out on the day to day activities that happen with World of Warcraft.   Not wanting to enchant one more scroll.  No interest in crafting one more piece of offer.  The thought of finishing an instance just makes me cringe.

Warning players that this is not a job.   You may have 'responsibilities' that you should do when you decide to log on is one thing.  But the minute that logging on to play a game becomes a job,  that's when it's time to reevaluate just how valuable your time is.

What I ended up doing is setting four different levels of logging on.  Each day might be different depending on what I want to do.

Minimum Day:

This is a day that the only thing I do is burn down my profession timers (Inscription,  Enchanting,  Blacksmithing,  Leatherworking,  Jewelcrafting etc.).   Depending on whether I have the materials at my toons fingertips of having to buy them from the Auction house, this generally takes me 20 minutes to complete.

Average Day:

On this day I'm going to go and finish everything for my minimum day,  plus list 10 items from each profession.  This requires a little knowledge of what has the highest profit margin.  This does not include any new crafting,  just list the top 10 items I have online.   Usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to finish all of these.

Maximum Day:

On one of these days I am finishing up all of my listings for all of my professions.  I might throw in some of the higher profit crafts to make.  Also working on some flips that I see need to be done.  Also included is all of the profession timer burns and also running a few instances.  I allot 1-3 hours for these days.  This also allows me to return to relist items and run instances/farm for points.

Overachiever Day:

These are my marathon sessions.  I have drinks at the ready,  popcorn to graze on and locking in for a long day of leveling,  profession grinding,  crafting,  instance running and buying/selling.   I do allow myself small breaks to refresh my brain when needed.  The longest I've done one of these sessions is 14 hours.  These are the ones I've limited because it feeds into that burn out feeling that happens the longer an expansion matures.

You have every option to decide what time frame works for you.  You might include a farming time that the only thing you do is farm while watching/listening to a movie.  Maybe you're just farming the Auction House for deals and flips without worrying about anything else.  You are in control of your own time allotment.  And your time is just as valuable as your gold is.  

Just remember,  this is a game and not a job.  If it becomes a job,  ask for a raise.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

Patch 5.4:  Preparing your Farmers
Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Patch 5.4: Preparing your Farmers

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:02 PM

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Let's face facts.  Part of the game with World of Warcraft is farming.   Whether it's farming for materials,  pets,  gear or just something to do.

We have talked many times about having an army of farmers feeding you material.  Depending on the size of your operation you might have one for each raw material.   For a small operation you might have one very dependable worker feeding everything you need.   Just like any other worker,  treating them with respect becomes important as your relationship matures along with the expansion.

Many players are experiencing burnout through four patches to this expansion.  This can happen even more to your farmer who has killed the same mob 100's of times.  Mined the same piece of real estate many many times.   Overall that dependable farmer might be seeing less excitement in feeding into your profit making machine.

This is where you can open up your wit and wisdom and make sure you are treating them well.   Have a spare pet that you think they might like?   Wrap it in a nice gift wrapping and send it to them for being loyal.  Let them know that they are just as important to your profit making operation as anyone else.  Do they need  gear for their alternate toons?   Can they use a new mount?   The more you know about your co-worker the better you will be able to select the perfect gift to remind them they are important.

So why is it important to keep this type of relationship through a slower time?   Because the next expansion is just around the corner.  Have to think that Blizzard will be announcing soon (next 3 or so months) the title and information for the next expansion.  Having your farmers locked into your business model for this and future expansions can save you headaches later on.   Looking for new farming players is a headache that you can do without.

It also becomes just as important as you are entering patch 5.4 territory.  Starting your selective stockpiling of materials early will set you ahead of the grading curve.  Waiting to the last minute might leave you out in the cold.

So be nice to your co-workers.  Treat them well and they will be loyal.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbear @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice. 

Patch 5.4:  Easy Gear.. Easy Go
Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Patch 5.4: Easy Gear.. Easy Go

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:35 PM

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Mommar here.

If you look at the new isle of Timeless Isle previews on MMO-Champion and other sites then you will see that the words 'easy' and 'powerful' are being slung around for an easy armor set to obtain.

For your average gold goblin this will create cringes and whimpers of lost sales as players get their acts just to 90,  slap a little bit of PVP gear and then grind till they are at 496 armor from the isle.   But fear not loyal goblins,  all is not lost.  It will still be possible to make lots of gold in the next patch if you strap on your thinking cap and be prepared.

Profit margins can live many times based on non-motivated players (the polite term for lazy).  There will still be a time requirement to be able to grind a full amount of the Timeless Isle gear for raiding.  Most players will not want to eat that time just running around gathering chest and killing mobs.  They have had 3 patches worth of this mechanic.   But many players will grind out one or two pieces of gear,  then look to crafters and the auction house to replace the rest.

What will be required is to look at what gear is in demand.  The boots and gloves slot have historically been weak sales.  Where chestplates and legs still tend to dominate armor sales.  They give the most bang for their buck,  when each gold will become more critical to the player.  Gold may be flowing for more players,  but the majority still live paycheck to paycheck (or instance to instance).  The middle ground will be players that have enough to spend on gear,  but not enough to be able to craft it themselves.   That's the happy land for gold goblins to ply their wares to others.

Patch 5.4 will also be a good time to break out your trade chat barking skills again.  Players will be looking for your crafting skills as well as your BOP materials (Spirits,  Bars etc.) as well as the new time locked crafting items that will pop up in 5.4.  A well placed note of 'I am available to craft your item) can net you a quick turnaround on gold.

Don't forget the accessories as well.  As we get closer to the end of the road for Mists of Pandaria players will be looking for your epic enchants instead of just your bargain basement enchants.  So spending a few extra materials to craft that belt buckle or weapon enchant will put you in a new gold category.

Patch 5.4 might be the last major patch for MOP,  but it will be far from the last chance for gold goblins to add to their pool of money to swim in.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning
The End of a Pricing Era
Patch 5.4 prep:   Do You Know Where Your Tailor Is?
The Pitfalls of Trade Barking
7.7 Million Customers and Nothing Sells
Priorities in PVP Gear Pricing
Prep for Patch 5.4: Long Term Goals
Weekend Is Here
Take Me To Naxx
Profit Anonymous
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay
What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Let The Stockpiling Begin

My Precious Transformer

Bang The Drum Slowly

Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash