Discipline: The Most Hated Word in Gold Making

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:04 PM

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Mommar here.

Discipline is one of those words that brings memories to the forefront.  Whether it's talking about how your parents raised you,  or the need to control your actions and choices to reach a higher goal.

Since I don't know how your parents raised you,  nor do I really want to know I'm wanting to talk about the latter.  Fun toys all the time come up for sale or auction.  Players wanting to get rid of BOE pets,  gear,  transmogrification items tempt the best of Gold Goblins in spending their hard earned gold. 

I was sitting on the Black Market Auction House deciding if I wanted to raise a big higher for an item I wanted.  This last week I was on a pet collecting march and one of the rare Trading Card Game pets came up.  The Banana Charm was up for bid,  with the price when I arrived at 21k.  That's a hefty amount of gold for a pet,  but I was in a spending mood plus it's an 80 dollar real money pet if you buy the card from ebay (or other sources).

So I sat there thumbing through the web while I waited for the auction to end.  I was outbid once,  twice (nope,  not three times a lady) by someone who obviously wanted this pet too.  I used all of my auction house techniques other than calling them bad names (they were Alliance) and then proceeded to make a decision.

I had enough gold I could drop a 100k bomb on them and knock them out pretty quickly.  But that is a seriously overpriced payment for a battle pet.  Or I could discipline myself into saying this is the amount I'm willing to pay and no more.  So mentally I set that price,  and then walked away.

As I logged on this morning I found myself the owner of a new Banana Charm and the pet that comes with it.  Frankly, it doesn't always happen like this.  Someone might want the item a little bit more than I do.  Items such as rare mounts tend to get a lot of interest and spirited bidding.  The key is to discipline yourself into knowing just what you want and what it is worth to you.  If you have higher plans for your gold (Spectral Tiger anyone) then you have to look at each purchase you make and how much that will delay your ability to reach your goal.

My Achilles heel is helping others.  I probably have given up a million gold simply by not charging my guildmates for items.  Giving materials that could be resold for bundles of gold is one of the simple pleasures I get out of life.  If I know you then I will probably help you.  But there is a limit to any generosity because I have plans of my own.  I have goals I would like to reach gold wise and purchases in the future that will be my next expectation.

So finding balance and discipline in every transaction goes to the heart of being a Gold Goblin.  Keep this in mind the next time you bid on your own Banana Charm.  Not just looking at it in how much gold your spending,  but how much time it will delay you from reaching your true epic expectations.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

Crashing The Market
Pet Battling For Profits
Prime Time Professions
Retrain Your Gold Instincts:  Trigger Words
It's Patchy McPatch Day
Timeless Coins They Are A Changing
I'll Buy That For A Gold Piece
The Value of Garrosh BOA's
It's Monday Already?
Adopt A Warcraft Child Today!
Welcome To The Tuesdaydome 
Not My Server.. No No No
Maintenance Of Your Toon Army: Garrisons
The Art of Negotiation: Warcraft Style
Cooking For Fun and Profit

Crashing The Market

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:01 PM

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I was gluffing around Orgrimmar, getting ready to run through some old raids when an interesting chat discussion came along.

Paraphrasing,  two players were taunting someone else for a advertisement they had been barking for cheap glyphs.  In their advertisement they bluntly stated that they wanted to crash the inscription market to bring 'cheap glyphs to all'.

I had spoken about this before the first time that I watched an inscription market crash and burn.  Of all of the different markets, inscription is really the easiest to crash.   Herbs on many servers are at dirt cheap prices.  Being able to craft hundreds of glyphs,  listing them at inexpensive prices and still being able to net a small profit. 

To crash any market you need to have a base amount of gold sitting unused.  Mostly because it would be impossible once someone has bought out your first round of glyphs to have that many herbs stockpiled.  I probably shouldn't say impossible but ultimately you will run out of raw material and either have to purchase extra or go and farm them.

A conglomerate of players would find crashing the market easier simply by one or two funneling the herbs into the scribe.  That way the scribe can be keeping the product artificially low.  

Where morally crashing a market could be seen as reprehensible,  financially it can be a very strong strategy.  There are 150+ glyphs.  Only about 30 of those actually making a large amount of profit.  The others end up dribbling profits since they are not in high demand.    So let's say you take the 10 highest profitable glyphs.  You can live healthily off of those 10 glyphs and then crush the rest of the scribe market.  Many players run away from markets that aren't quick 'list and profit' type of markets.  This leaves only the die hard players who know how to fight back.

Ultimately a market will snap back simply because the planning on keeping the market artificially becomes boring.  Even the best of intentions will get someone only so far.  But the damage has been done when a player leaves the market for easier and more fertile ground.

With Warlords of Dradnor,  inscription is going to have some changes in different glyphs.  Many of the more powerful glyphs will be given to players in their book as they level.  New Glyphs will become important to players,  with the 'best set' of glyphs yet to be determined.

Don't let the chain rattling of someone determined to sew anarchy into the mix to remove you from the scribe market.  Look at how the scribe market has always reacted to incursions and be prepared.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

Pet Battling For Profits
Prime Time Professions
Retrain Your Gold Instincts:  Trigger Words
It's Patchy McPatch Day
Timeless Coins They Are A Changing
I'll Buy That For A Gold Piece
The Value of Garrosh BOA's
It's Monday Already?
Adopt A Warcraft Child Today!
Welcome To The Tuesdaydome 
Not My Server.. No No No
Maintenance Of Your Toon Army: Garrisons
The Art of Negotiation: Warcraft Style
Cooking For Fun and Profit

Pet Battling For Profits

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:58 PM

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Every profession can make a profit.

This should have been written into your mantra from day one of your adventures in Azeroth.  We have talked about it many times how each profession can make some profit (yes even fishing and Engineering).

Even the quasi profession of Pet Battling can make a profit.    It just takes some planning and some time to rake up major gold.

I started off the Pet Battling profit making journey by leveling one of my pets to level 25.  The reason this is important is because you cannot add to your journal any level 25 pets that are purchased until you have hit level 25.  In this case I leveled up my Anubiseth Idol.  He dropped for me on one of my runs through Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.   Took me about 3 hours to level (I took my time over the weeks, so that would be three hours of actual pet battling time).  During this time I also added to my collection through the different leveling zones.

After he hit level 25 I picked up a couple of pets that I knew could be repackaged and sold.  When looking for the future captives of other battlers I wanted the more rare pets that people weren't stacking on the AH.  This cut out a lot of the holiday pets and easily purchased pets.  I decided to power level my Ghostly Skull (found in the Dalaran sewers).   While power leveling him from level 1 I dropped in one of my higher level pets to protect just in case there were issues with taking on the wrong type of pet.

Leveling Bobtheskull (yep,  that's what I named him) took about an hour and a half.  The basic idea is to throw him quickly into the ball from the start,  let him have one round (and make sure he survives) then drop the hammer for one of the higher leveled pets.  After you win all of the pets that are used in combat receive the XP (and any bonus XP for the pet being a higher level). 

Profiting with Bobtheskull is where you have to learn the way your server works.  If you have a strong pet battling group then you can drop your newly minted level 25 on the market for the going rate plus a premium for the time it took to level your toon.  The more rare the pet is,  the higher the sales price the pet should be put in.  So a pet such as Lil' Bad Wolf from Karazhan should be placed at a higher cost than one that can be purchased and sold quickly.

There are two paths you can take when selling your pets.   You can go for the quick turnover on sales.  If it takes your pets an Avg of an hour of game time to level and you sell them quickly then you are filling the need quickly.  The problem with this theory is that there is a limited amount of players willing to pay for higher level pets.  Once that quota is full (the ones that actually have the money to spend on a luxury item) then the sales will dry up.

The other thought process is to make sure that the pet is going for a higher price.  Even at 10x the sales cost of a lower level pet.  This will put a higher profit in your pocket and still keep the demand intact.  Basic sales technique says that if your item is continually out of stock then you raise the price to meet the demand. 

You can expand these ideas to your farming for those that one an extra type of income.  Paying a premium for your farming group for resellable pets can allow you to keep a different revenue stream together without tying up all of your time.  The important thing is to keep an eye on how your pet sales market is functioning.   A poor pet battling server can have you placing highly profitable pets on the market and having to list them time and time again.  A strong market can allow you to resell pets and even look at flipping pets that are listed by unaware sellers of their value.

Expanding your profit pyramid into Pet Battle sales can give you another road to profit as your other professions begun to wind down with the end of the Mists of Pandaria expansion

Good Luck and Good Pet Hunting

Prime Time Professions
Retrain Your Gold Instincts:  Trigger Words
It's Patchy McPatch Day
Timeless Coins They Are A Changing
I'll Buy That For A Gold Piece
The Value of Garrosh BOA's
It's Monday Already?
Adopt A Warcraft Child Today!
Welcome To The Tuesdaydome 
Not My Server.. No No No
Maintenance Of Your Toon Army: Garrisons
The Art of Negotiation: Warcraft Style
Cooking For Fun and Profit

Prime Time Professions

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 10:52 AM

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Mommar here.

Get ready for a big shock.

Professions and crafting is one of the major backbone elements to your gold fortune.   Okay,  so it isn't that big of a shock.  The basic tenant is that if you don't craft you don't make gold.

I've shown over the months of talking to you that you could technically make gold without ever needing a crafting profession.  Between questing,  gathering and reselling you can make a large amount of gold.  Add onto this a network of crafters you can request items to be made and resold you never have to have a crafting profession of your own.

But then a man with a bad leg could technically walk around without a crutch.  It will be slow,  tedious and painful, but it is possible.   Every so often the popular question is 'what is the best gold making profession?".  It could easily be on repeat for every time it is spoken in forums and in game.  Players want to know what profession to jump to making their small fortune. 

But choosing that first profession is a personal choice.  Three rules that I set up when I tell anyone what profession they should choose.

1)   Choose a profession that looks beneficial to your character.

A freshly laundered Druid will get more benefits out of having a Leatherworker/Skinner than they will have a Blacksmith.  The same for a warrior running around with the tailoring profession.  This doesn't mean that you shouldn't ever have a profession that seems odd for the class,  but as a first profession look at what will be the most beneficial.

2)  Do not choose a crafting profession till you are close to the maximum level of the expansion pack.

I have always believed that the first two professions a player should take are gathering professions.  Mining/Herbalism/Skinning are all very strong base professions to have when you look to start building a gold fortune.  With the benefits of receiving experience points with each gathering node/skinning mob you get, the quicker leveling opportunities along with sales.

3)   Market conditions can tell a lot about what professions to choose.

Just looking at the market and seeing what sells will answer a lot of questions on the best profession that you take.  This is affected, especially if you have someone teaching you the ropes on what to sell and where to sell it.  Most players do not have a guru sitting around with them helping them to not make mistakes their first time out.  Looking at the conditions of the market should tell you what will be the best items to sell from the crafting professions.

4)  Have fun

The biggest item when choosing that first profession is to choose one that you will have fun with.  Even with the removal of profession quests there is a certain amount of enjoyment of crafting that plate item to strut around your home city to wear.  That uber awesome sword that people go ooo and ahh about.   Or just simply flexing your crafting muscle to raise your ilvl gear to shock and awe factor.  Making gold with professions, isn't just about putting items on the Auction House to sell.  Making gold becomes a new profession in itself.  If you are not having fun doing it,  then you will slowly drift away.

Keep in mind that choosing that first profession is a personal choice.  Everyone has an opinion about what to choose the same as everyone has a... well you know the rest of that saying.   Choosing your own profession path and your reasoning behind it is why every character is different, unique and enjoyable to come back to time and time again.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting


Retrain Your Gold Instincts:  Trigger Words
It's Patchy McPatch Day
Timeless Coins They Are A Changing
I'll Buy That For A Gold Piece
The Value of Garrosh BOA's
It's Monday Already?
Adopt A Warcraft Child Today!
Welcome To The Tuesdaydome 
Not My Server.. No No No
Maintenance Of Your Toon Army: Garrisons
The Art of Negotiation: Warcraft Style
Cooking For Fun and Profit

The Care and Feeding of Trolls

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:47 PM

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If you haven't finished a Garrosh kill yet then turn your head away because I'm going to spoil something big for you.  Are you turned away?   Really?  No Peeking!

Vol'jin is the new leader of the Horde.

See,  I told you not to peek.  But this isn't about that version of trolls.   Those cuddly loveable bezerking trolls that have been both good guys and bad guys in the Warcraft mythos.

This is the other version of trolls.  The ones that jump into conversations with a radical comment just to get a reaction.  You know,  the guy that jumps on trade chat and says 'all [insert race] are horrible people'.   Yep,  everyone has seen one that just enjoys watching the chaos.

I have said many times through writing that players should be allowed to play the game they want.  As long as it doesn't directly interfere with another person's enjoyment.   With the ability to turn off channels,  block users and if all else fails, report them to the powers that be no one has to deal with trolls.

But I think it's important to know how to help a Troll.  Trolls are lost, lonely and just need a big mental hug.  Of course, that's why they act out in front of everyone else.  Go to a 1st grade class and watch for the kid that flicks the ear of someone else.  The one that makes funny faces at the teacher behind their back.  They just need a hug right?

So here are some tips to help with raising a troll right.

1.   Laugh at them.  Now remember, we're not laughing with them because the odds are what they say isn't all that funny.  Laugh at them.  Make sure they know you are laughing at them.  You wouldn't want them to starve for attention so make sure that everyone knows their inadequacies.  Make sure to tell their guild leader that they are lonely as well.  They are showing such a fine example of teamwork and playing that I am sure their guild is very proud of them.

2.   Do not use logic around a troll.  It confuses them and makes them feel small.  Remember hugs not logic when it comes to feeding trolls.  Don't point out that if they spent as much time actually playing the game than saying non-sensical things they would probably be much happier.  Logic has been painful to a troll just like Kryptonite to Superman.    You wouldn't want to confuse them with facts because that would just make them feel stupid.

3.   Please please please do not ignore Trolls.  Remember I told you that they are already feeling lonely and ignored.  You wouldn't want to feel even more ignore would you?   So take your time from making gold and interact with a troll.  Whether it's in the game or on the forums.  Help save a troll from their useless life and insignificant attempt at humor.   Save the world,  talk to a troll.

Sorry,  need to take my tongue out of my cheek and go make some gold today.

Good Luck and Good Troll Hunting

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

Garrosh Is My Friend
You Lost That Alpha Feeling
Too Many Coins On My Hand
We All Make Mistrakes
World Without The Auction House
Not So Smart Loot
It Was A Great Day
WOD:  Prepping For The Storm
Special Brand Of Stupid
Silver And Gold Have I None
Worth What Someone Will Pay For It

Have You Hugged Your Yak Today?

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:30 PM

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Mommar here.

Let's face facts.  Having a large pile of gold is a good thing in a game such as World of Warcraft.  It opens up a lot of options for toons.   Gearing a toon quickly to raid level just requires a quick visit to the Auction House and perhaps a few visits to players with select professions.  Want a pet?   Buy it from the AH.  See something you want from someone,  drop a few pieces of gold and it is yours.  When it comes to gold,  if you have you you like it,  when you don't you want it.

Mists of Pandaria brought into the game one of the best mounts when it comes to usefulness.  The Grand Expedition Yak was introduced and quickly sought after by gold goblins everywhere.  The ability to not just buy basic provisions and sell your gray items would have been awesome just by itself.  Being able to drag along a Reforger for all of your gear changing needs was icing on the cake.   The 120,000 price tag without any time of discount was definitely a kick in the gold teeth.  But once you had it the usefulness was apparent.

With Warlords of Draenor and saying goodbye to the Reforging utility the Yak loses a little bit of its shine.   It hasn't been revealed just what will happen with this multi player useful mount.  But as my mind was rattling along I came up with some possible suggestions to the powers that be:

1.  Portable Forge/Anvil Carrier

This guy only has one purpose in life.  Lug a 200 lb Anvil that on request drops a combination forge/Anvil for all your Blacksmithing needs.  Basically this would be a free version of the Thermal Anvil.

2.  Portal Carrier

Ever wanted your own pocket mage?   One that can make a portal to certain cities and zones?   Even if the portals were on an extended cooldown just being able to occasionally zip from one area to another would be very useful.  Being able to create one that party members could use would be even more valuable.

3.  Mirror to your Garrison

This would be much trickier to pull off.  One of the things with Garrisons that we know of is that you will be able to level up your minions/followers to cover professions that you do not have on your characters.  Unless they have a high level access point the odds are that you will have to return to your garrison to have access to these professions.  What if your friendly neighborhood yak could give you access to them?   Set up a vendor that allows you to set your professions on their missions, collect the gear and even have them craft something for you on the fly.

There are many options that can be done with the traveling yak circus to replace the usefulness of the Reforging ability.  Hopefully Blizzard will reward the players who sank the money into this awesome mount and encourage players to return to the plains of Pandaria for their own thundering yak of usefulness.

Good Luck and Good Profit 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. 

Leave Your 'Tude At The Door
Going Looney over the Lunar Festival
Cleaning Out The Closet (Achievement Edition)
WOD: Future Catch Up Zones
Ebay Warriors Prepare For Battle

The True Cost of Goods

Pitty Pat Sales

He's Not Heavy... I Will Carry Him

Prideful Goes Before the PVP Sales (Season 15)

1k gold by level 10

WOD Speculation:  Future of Jewelcrafting

You Can't Make Gold????

Post WOW Holiday Hangover
A Christmas Eve Tale

Monday Morning Nickelback

Targeting Sales

WOD Speculation:   Future Gold Making

Santas Rotten Little Helper

Leave Your 'Tude At The Door

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 2:40 PM

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Mommar here.

If you want to refer to my 'career' with World of Warcraft, I should be thankful to many of the people I have met in and out of the game itself.  There are people even to this day that I consider close friends,  others that I have had the honor of meeting even if it was for a fleeting moment.

But then some weeks tend to be more difficult than others.  To the point that you start to wonder whether the reputation,  gold and experience is truly worth it.   As I have said before, I am running some of the older Mists of Pandaria raids for gold and reputation.   There is this mental itch I have that when I see a non exalted reputation I must finish it off.   In this case I do all of the Throne of Thunder raids i can get during the week.  These raids include the dreaded LFR that everyone finds so tasty on the brain.

Most of the time these go off without a hitch.   Poke Durumu in the eye with a big pointy stick,  ride Tortos like a bronco even get a little shock to the system with Lei Shen.

But this week seemed to be a cavalcade of grumpy players.  Players looking to pick fights for the smallest problem.   Then a full blown meltdown if there was a wipe.  Remember this content was the new shiny raids not 6 months ago.  Most players are overgeared for the content, but there is still a certain amount of possibility of dying a horrid game death.   But no one really signs on to be the target of someone's abuse.

Having spent easily 10,000g on repairs over the years I have been playing, seeing a raid fail to a boss is a normal experience.   You just pick up,  look to see what can be fixed and move on.  If nothing can be solved, then it is time to leave the raid and go find something else to do.   But there are times I feel I am in the minority when it comes to this attitude.

Noob,  idiot,  *&*$ and other words that would get you punched out in the real world get slung around as normal conversation.  My raid can joke with me and tell me I'm weak sauce, but everyone has their limits.  Lately my patience to have to listen to people go off for silly reasons has become less and less.  Most of the time players will just direct it at the random player, but occasionally someone will shoot their mouth in my general direction.   One raid i ended up dying due to poor tanking/healing and was accused of taking 'too much damage'.  If I had failed in the mechanics I would have completely agreed with them.   The wise player knows they are never 100% perfect, but in this case every movement out of raid damage was done correctly. Seemed this player also didn't understand how an arms warrior works when well geared.   Hearing 'why is the warrior doing so much AOE damage' finally got me to respond.   After explaining in a slow, precise matter that an arms warrior has 3 different cleaves that automatically go off you will get AOE damage.  Along with this explanation was the fact that this player needed to be more worried about their low dps (under 100k) than putting the blame on everyone but their own shoulders.

Later this bothered me not because of the words I had used.  What bothered me was that I had let his rash silliness get to me and take away my enjoyment of the raid.  There will always be hotheads,  always be players that troll for attention.  There will always be players to be carried with a dps wheelbarrow.  Raid wipes will occur no matter the skill of a group.   But my attitude is what I choose it to be.  I can choose to react or I can choose to walk away.   Either choice is viable and functional.

The same goes for the good days and bad days of making gold.  Our attitudes attach themselves to whether we can be successful or not.  Making lots of gold is fun.  Making lots of gold in the game without losing all mental sanity is even better.  So enjoy the game with a good spirit and less stress.   And remember there is always the choice to turn off the game and take a breath.  It is a game and you make the choice of what attitude you bring.

Good Luck and Good Gold 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. 

Going Looney over the Lunar Festival
Cleaning Out The Closet (Achievement Edition)
WOD: Future Catch Up Zones
Ebay Warriors Prepare For Battle

The True Cost of Goods

Pitty Pat Sales

He's Not Heavy... I Will Carry Him

Prideful Goes Before the PVP Sales (Season 15)

1k gold by level 10

WOD Speculation:  Future of Jewelcrafting

You Can't Make Gold????

Post WOW Holiday Hangover
A Christmas Eve Tale

Monday Morning Nickelback

Targeting Sales

WOD Speculation:   Future Gold Making

Santas Rotten Little Helper

Surviving the Raid

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 10:09 AM

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Looking for raid is one of the most popular ways of upgrading gear.  The difficulty is medium for most players,  making it very easy to grab a quick raid through the first or second tier of a current raid area.

With 25 man raids being created you will get multiple levels of attitudes when it comes to playing warcraft.  Players with varying amount of skills and abilities joining together for a common good. 

Okay,  that's the nice way of putting it.   Let's face facts,  LFR can stink from time to time.  Undergeared players joining to obtain fat loot the easiest way possible.  Players who are at the top of their game showing their dominance by explaining how everyone sucks unless they pull 100k dps.  Players who are barely there,  looking for a good excuse not to have to finish up their work for the day.  Even players who have imbibed a little too much adult beverages and are proud to announce the fact to the entire raid.

It's a part of the natural occurrence when it comes to raiding to have to have a thick skin.  Sometimes you run into players who are willing to be patient.   Attempting to improve players by explaining options and making the average player into a great player.  I was privileged when I first started raiding by running into a group that helped me become a much better player.  That one patient person allowed me to enjoy the raiding experience instead of turning me off for the rest of my gaming career.

Then on the flip side it was the snide and devious comments of others that had me walk away from raiding for a bit.  Players who had become full of themselves and their importance in life that name calling became their calling card.  At that point in my life I needed World of Warcraft as my outlet for entertainment due to recovering from a serious illness.

The reality is that you will have different types of attitude when it comes to raiding.  There will always be players that are better than you.  There will always be players that are not as good as you.  Players come and go and even in the raiding life that player that's calling everyone a 'noob' will be gone and probably never seen again.

Your attitude and how you carry yourself is a personal choice.  Until players are able to punch people though the screen (hopefully never) then they are just words.  There is no dishonor in walking away and looking for another raid to avoid a Warcraft bully.   They just are not worth the time or the effort to try to change.

Now back into the breach goes the fearless 25.  Mommar needs a new pair of pants.

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. 

Darkmoon Faire Dead?
Golden Days
Tip For Timeless Isle
Be Prepared
Poor Poor Spirits of Harmony
Not Enough Loot On My Hands
10 Rules To Price My Golem.
Timeless Isle Tagging Is For Rich Chumps
Bring Me the Alchemist
Welcome To Loot Pinata Island
Last Minute Buys and Sells
Patch 5.4: Mental Preparation
You Found What????
Hearthstone:   The Beginning
Patch 5.4: Budgeting for the Patch
Get thee To a TradeSkillMaster 2.0
Patch 5.4 Prep:  No Sleep til Brooklyn
Customer First

I'm Not Dating My Guild

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 9:15 AM

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Sometimes you just have to step outside of making gold in World of Warcraft and learn to enjoy the game.   Enjoyment of the game and the people involved is truly what should keep people coming back for more.

My Guild as working on a flex raid in Seige of Orgrimmar.   We had picked up a few players in open raid and were progressing relatively well.   They fit in pretty well with our banter and slung a little bull around when necessary.

Around the last of the raid night one of them commented that he had a date and was needing to get ready.  Of course there was the necessary mocking and announcement that some female was more important than the raid.  It was all in jest because many of the members of our guild are couples including a few that live together.  Anyone who has lived with others for long periods of time will tell you that 'date night' is one of the lifeblood of a good relationship.  But this isn't a dating journal is it?

So after the prerequisite banter the player left for his date.   We continued on for a little bit longer then called it a night.  So I told you this part of the story so I could share another different view of the same story.

The boyfriend of a friend of mine was playing one of the Star Wars MMO.  As he was playing she took the time to go and shower.   Not to be graphic because this is a PG blog, but she stepped out of the shower and wore a towel and little else.  Coming up behind him she wrapped her arms around him.  His announcement that he was 'playing his game' took the steam out of what should have been a much more exciting night than the digital killing of mobs.

So why is this an important ideal to remember?   It won't be that long before those purples and awesome gear that drops in this raid instances will became the cannon fodder for every vendor and enchanter.   It may be 3 months or it may be 6 months before the next expansion but that sense of accomplishment will be replaced with a new adventure.   Your friends will be the next day or even the next week.   That relationship might need that power boost at that point. 

So if your friend comes up behind you,  wraps their arms around you and whispers in your ear.   Tell them to hold on a sec,   get on vent and then tell your digital friends that you will see them next week.

That's when you really win the game.

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. 

Golden Days
Tip For Timeless Isle
Be Prepared
Poor Poor Spirits of Harmony
Not Enough Loot On My Hands
10 Rules To Price My Golem.
Timeless Isle Tagging Is For Rich Chumps
Bring Me the Alchemist
Welcome To Loot Pinata Island
Last Minute Buys and Sells
Patch 5.4: Mental Preparation
You Found What????
Hearthstone:   The Beginning
Patch 5.4: Budgeting for the Patch
Get thee To a TradeSkillMaster 2.0
Patch 5.4 Prep:  No Sleep til Brooklyn
Customer First

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


 

The Value of Material Assets

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:33 PM

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Any Gold Goblin worth their salt will tell you they like having assets.   With man speak this is translated to 'I like having stuff'.   The entire goal of our gold goblining (is that a word?) adventure is to make more gold than we really and truly need.

But lost in the translation many times is the advantage of not just having liquid assets but material assets as well.  I am a self professed packrat.  Rarely do I just toss something away.  Even venturing the limitless amount of food that is available from drops and quest rewards.  If it won't sell on the Auction House for a pretty penny it can sell to the goblin vendor I have to lug around on my might might yak of doom.

Material assets are also very valuable when it comes to bartering.    There are those times that no matter how much gold you have,  the item you want isn't available on the Auction House.   And no matter how much gold you throw out there,  the item isn't for sale.   This might seem strange because who would turn down a cubic ton of gold thrown at their feet.   But the value of anything is only worth what someone is willing to pay.

The key to bartering is to not just add items but also add services.  With a Blacksmith I can craft the entire PVP set for someone.  At some point gold becomes relatively meaningless.  But if I can trade for raw materials I can make more than the value that the item would be for just straight gold.  Ore and rarer herbs is especially useful for this idea.   2500g is a nice profit.  But give me 50 stacks of Ghost Iron Ore and I can make much more than 1000g in profit.

Also add to the idea that creative bartering can be enjoyable all by itself.  It's easy to craft,  place on the AH and then pick up your profits the next day.  At the beginning the numbers are exciting as they tick into your coffers.  But later making gold becomes a chore.  Bartering can sharpen your wits and your abilities to enjoy making gold once again.

So the next time you talk to a player about crafting an item,  quote them a price in materials instead of gold.  You will be surprised at just how valuable your materials can be.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

PVP Sales Are Not Kind To Me
Finding A New Ryhthm
Breaking The Million Gold Barrier
Bye Bye... I Will Take Your Gold Now
Post Patch 5.3:   The Lineup
Patch 5.3:   It's here... well tomorrow
Patch 5.3:  Preparing for the Arrival
Patch 5.3:   Grasspicking World Order
Patch 5.3: Bring Out Your Miners
Enchanting add-on for quick flips
Prepping for 5.3:   Profit lines

Realities Of Making Gold

Language People. Language

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:34 PM

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As we are in the home stretch to patch 5.2 it's difficult not to remember the trials and tribulations to come.  With a one new Raid instance and another world boss many players will be returning to the old dungeons to maximize their reputation with different groups in the game.   This will follow with many players having run these instances time after time after time after (you get the idea).

The interesting part is that there are a few that are looking to return to the game or even start to play in Pandyland.   New players and returning players get to run into the wall of attitude that happens from time to time.  The expectations that players who are relatively overgeared for instances are 'carrying' the team.

No one will ever accuse me of being the best player in Warcraft.   But I hold my own.   Even then I will make mistakes,  especially with some of the short cuts that players will take instances.  Skipping mob groups to speed up their collection of Valor tokens and reputation.   The majority of players are good sports and will get a little grouchy then moving on.  But occasionally you just run into someone wanting to qualify as the Richard of the week (Think nicknames people).

But they also have a right to play exactly the way they want too.   They can gripe and fuss and yell noob as many times as they want.   The same rights and privileges I have to completely ignore them,  or even laugh at their 'greatness' in a made up game with made up items.

And that truly is the key to remember.  Ultimately the only thing that is real with Warcraft are the people behind the keyboard.   Whether they really are not that good,  or you run into the #1 player in the world in your instance group.  Real players have real issues.  The guy griping and complaining might have 4 keys balancing on their knee and a wife who lets him half an hour a day to play.  Or they could be a 14 year old who is failing at math and health class.

Even if they are none of this,  feeding fuel into the fire never solves anything.   The best way to handle a bully in an instance is to ignore them,  find out if you are in error and then fix the problem.   And if you find that it's truly not tolerable.   Drop the instance and go onto the next one.   There are plenty of daily quests,   action house duties or even sitting in the middle of trade chat.   All can be just as exciting as listening to a blow-hole shooting their mouths off about how awesome they are in a game.

Now,   If I can only remember to hit that stupid bugs soft spot,  then he won't yell at me again.

Good Luck and Good Hunting


Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbearjoe @ 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. 

Previous Entries

Patch 5.2: Know They Economy
New Leatherworking Pattern.html
Patch 5.2: Jewelcrafters
Patch 5.2: Thanks Uncle Blizzard for the Valor
Something Stinks In The Air
Get a Grip On Your Pricing
Patch 5.2:  Prepping for the rush
How Do You Effect The Market?
He's So Great He's A Fivefather
Patch 5.2:   Farming For Rep.. With A Farm?
Archealogy:   Digging up stuff for gold
Phoning It In....
Daily Quota Buying
Who Are You Feeding Sales Too?
Taking Advantage of 5.2 PVP Gear Changes
Patch 5.2 Prep:   Will players be returning?
Sales Triage
Lost In The Guild Traffic
Finally the end of Cataclysm
Preparing For the Future:   Alts 101
Anonymous Gold Goblin