What I did on My WowCation

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:10 AM

0 comments View Comments

Mommar here.

If you noticed there was about a week's worth of silence from camp JMTC.  This was the week that I had decided I wanted to unplug from World of Warcraft to reset my mental buttons.

I ended up doing some reading (Go and read the Dresden Files).  Played a few games (Marvel Heroes mostly) and just relaxed with some movies. 

Even as I was gone, I kept a basic eye on what was occurring with World of Warcraft.  There are enough sites out there that give keen insight on play styles,  Raiding achievements and even the occasional laugh.   So without logging in myself I could enjoy some aspects of WOW.

There were a few things that I did learn (or relearn) as I did my quick Wowcation.

1.   The grass may look greener on the other game.  But it still takes work to become good at it

2.   People will still ask you what you think of the warcraft expansion,  even in your church

3.   Having Warcraft dreams when you're on your vacation is just creepy.

4.   Garrosh is still a pain in the buns to drop Epics,  even if you are not playing

5.   That awesome mount you want,  but can't get to drop still haunts you.

6.   Friends on World of Warcraft still are amazing.

One of the reasons I had decided to unplug was just because I wanted a little bit of a break.  Sometimes the running name joke of calling it 'World of Farmcraft' is too accurate.  When everyday is the same schedule it can easily feel like a job.... With less pay.

So as you're looking to recharge your batteries between now and the opening of the portal to the Warlords of Draenor,  think how you want to spend your Wowcation.  Spending it with family?   With Friends?  With the Pet?  Or plotting world domination in 32 bit color?

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting


Old Vs New:  The Great Debate
Soap Box Derby
Discipline:  The Most Hated Word in Gold Making
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?

Old Vs New: The Great Debate

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:18 PM

0 comments View Comments

Mommar here.

The Alpha client has hit the greedy hands of friends and family (bet you didn't know just how many friends that Blizzard employees did you?).

That leaves a great hole in the lives of gold makers.  Players are itching for the new content.  Once the beta starts arriving,  giving access to new content and new conquests,  Pandaland will become the 'old news' of the water cooler.

With information trickling including the cost of important items it's now even more important to be frugal with your purchases.  Garrisons will not be built in a day,  and they are going to cost a pretty gold piece.  Patterns ranging from 1000g to 5000g on the alpha servers.  That's a lot of gold for an
item that many players are going to want.

The closer we get to a beta client,  the more your time and money management will come into play.  By the time the beta rolls around, you should be looking to have all of your PVP gear sold as well as many of the items that won't carry over to the next expansion.

Now don't look at this as the rats deserting the ship.  You probably have at least a month or two months until the beta goes live.  Alpha shakes out a lot of the bugs and gives the developers a good taste of what is in drastic need of fixing.   But it does signal the changing interests of the normal player looking for the next big fix.

Right now I've been concentrating on selling Transmogrification items as well as items that enhance new gear.  Gems,  enchants and belt buckles.  Also continuing to keep my engineer burning their timers everyday for the Jard's Peculiar Energy Source to be able to craft the two pets now and during the next expansion.  There is a possibility that these as well as the other profession timers will not have a daily timer on them come the next expansion.  I just am hedging my bet in case it remains part of the normal Engineer daily rotation.

Bags are still selling out continually.  There is a logic to this.  Yes, you receive 4 bags when a player uses their boost up to 90.  But the bank still remains bagless.  So every 90 that is boosted retains the sales opportunity of 8 new bags.  That means keep 16 slot bags on the AH can get some continual profit into the coffers.  18 slot and higher bags are expensive and players are less likely to look to buy these bags for their banks.

Do not forget the specialized profession bags.  You have many players who are farming leather and herbs.  Leather especially is plentiful in the different zones and it is a royal pain to have to run over to a mailbox/vendor to dump your bags for the next round of farming.  36 slot Leatherworking or Enchanting bags should pick up as players revamp their toons into new gathering professions. 

Opening of the Alpha client for Warlords of Draenor hasn't eliminated the possibility of sales.  But it does require a sharpening of your abilities and being quick witted the closer we get to the next expansion.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting



Soap Box Derby
Discipline:  The Most Hated Word in Gold Making
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

Golden Days

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:40 AM

0 comments View Comments

Mommar here.

Timeless Isle is a gold mine just for even the casual player.  Spending an hour finishing up the dailies can net you easily 200-400g.  As compared to the thousands that can be made through crafting and manipulating the auction house this might not seem like a lot.

Those that remember the beginnings of the game where a single gold was similar to pulling teeth to obtain.  Players who had thousands of gold in their coffers were rich beyond belief.   Expansions opened up more areas to obtain gold through crafting,  auction house manipulation and doubling of quest rewards when max level was reached.

But at what point does it stop being exciting to obtain gold?   I remember struggling those first 40 levels to obtain enough for my mount.  This was long before Blizzard basically gave you a mount as you hit level 20.  I would squeak as much profit as I could from hit or miss auction house sales and farming items to craft.  Running around Orgrimmar because someone offered a tip for me to craft something from my book.  Each 1g to 5g tip going into my wallet towards my so wanted mount.

Fast forward to now, and gold is not a problem for many.  It isn't even a measuring stick of just how good you are because a player can stumble bumble their way around the world of Pandaria to kill mobs and finish dailies for gold.  The Auction house bristles with large amounts of armor and gear, pets and mounts that are at inflated prices. 

This is where setting personal goals become more important than just looking at the bottom line numbers.  Many players set their sites on a larger than life mount that they want.  With the Black Market Auction House those hard to get mounts become available from time to time.  Mounts from the Collectible Card Game to drops from old instances.  Even just setting a goal of starting from scratch and working your way up to the top.  Anything that gets your mind motivated to go farther and keep your goblin ways from slipping by the wayside.

So what is your goal for the month?   For the next three months?   Are you prepared for the next expansion and just what gold opportunities will be there?  

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. 


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

The Barrens Feel So So Barren

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:22 PM

0 comments View Comments

One of the parts of Mists of Pandaria I have enjoyed the most is the epic storyline with how much of a pain in the butt Garrosh has become.   From when he took over as leader of the heart and a small 'skinning' raid to the beginnings of the epic conclusion to the storyline sometime in the future.

Patch 5.3 brought the next step to the Garrosh's quest for a refocusing of the Horde to Durotar and the Barrens.   Since I was busy playing on another server with low level characters I had not taken a look at the storyline til a couple of days ago.

Your first steps start with a letter (the post office department in Warcraft has to be losing money somewhere) that takes you back to Pandaria.   After finishing a couple of quick scenarios you're sent off to talk to Vol'jin in Sen'jin Village.

I"m not going to bore you with the details other than most of these directed quests are relatively easy.   But after you talk to Vol'jin the first time if you look a little bit to your left you will see my favorite word.   Quartermaster.   Quartermasters always have interesting things that might bring more profits to my pocket.  And this one is no different.

So as I was thumbing through the different items most of them were personal bind on pickup gear that probably wouldn't be able to be resold.  But then I stumbled upon an interesting little item.

Gahz'rooki's Summoning Stone

Okay.  So this suspiciously looks like a new pet.   New Pet generally gives good profits.  Especially for players who don't participate in storylines.   It requires one Radical Mojo which can either be obtained from the weekly quest provided after finishing the directed plotline.

But look at the logic here.   This is going to be one of those areas that will end up disappearing sometime in the future.  At some point the Darkspear rebellion will no longer be in rebellion (at least we hope so) and that means no more quartermaster.  Oooo I am starting to like the sound of this one.   Disappearing quartermaster,  possibility of a rare pet that won't be obtainable anymore (anyone hugging their Spirit of Competition yet?

So what to do,  what to do.   A quick jaunt over to Theunderminejournal gives me the average mean of 700-1500g per pet.  Not a bad profit for about an hour and a half of work.  But I look at what the future might bring.   How difficult would it be to start to finish a dual profit campaign.   700g is nice but I like to be a gambling person.  And at some point there will be a new influx of players who want this pet.  

So I started working the auction house to see just how much on my home servers they were going for.   Not surprisingly they were hitting the average cost of around 900g.   I can invest a few thousand gold to flip the market and end up with my favorite Zero Balance Investment strategy.

This was my thought process from just a simple idea of what the future might bring in a pet.   The other items are very similar (if you notice,  the items from the Darkspear Rebellion Quartermaster are BOE,  it's the mojo that is BOP) you can drop some of these on the Auction House for the extra lazy players as well.  

Profiting from a simple plot driven storyline,  and learning how to take advantage of new areas becomes second nature once you have done it once or twice.   Just keep an eye on your server and see if the economy can support it.   And as always your milage may vary so don't go too deep in the hole just to end up on the other end of a bad deal.  Sometimes just taking the gold and run is as good of a strategy as any.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

My Favorite Addon
I Need More Fun Sales
Toxic Sales
Engineering Love With 5.4
Why Warcraft Needs Microtransactions
The New Face of Opportunity
Bring Out Your Pets
Bring On The Next Wow Killer
The Value of Material Assets
PVP Sales Are Not Kind To Me
Finding A New Rhythm
Breaking The Million Gold Barrier
Bye Bye... I Will Take Your Gold Now

Old World vs New World Profits

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 10:47 AM

1 comments View Comments

Mommar here

The past couple of days I've been busy with other projects so had to cut down my time playing World of Warcraft.  Finishing my daily chores and a little exploration to get my lock up the unlocking of the gates quest eaten up a lot of my time.

I did spend a little bit of time doing some quick flips of items,  including my biggest pet peeve when it comes to markets.   Ghost Iron Bars should never,  ever be sold cheaper than the ore itself.   So I took a little of time to flip the market for what I was most comfortable pricewise.

In the past month I've gotten a little bit lazy when it comes to farming,  taking that little bit of profit off the top to spend on materials instead of farming them myself.   The measurement of the value of my time makes it much more cost effective than spending a couple of hours grabbing product for all of my daily timer crafts.

That doesn't mean that I don't do any farming in other areas.   Old crafting materials are starting to make a comeback and keeping an eye on enchanting materials.  Where the basic ore still tends to sell lower than I like,  a nice burst of demand for dust and celestials from both Wrath and Cataclysm areas bring in a nice profit.

The key to this is not abandoning old world techniques,  including the Elementium shuffle to generate profit.  Mists of Pandaria made it much more difficult to generate gold with the combination of an Enchanter/Jewelcrafter.   It required more juggling and decision making than just what was given during Wrath.   The same applies now,  except that crafted items for the most part are not going to sell well on the Auction House in the 80-85 range.  These areas are leveled through very quickly and players take their new toons into higher areas.

I've preached the idea of knowing your market and also knowing your conversion of materials.  What is that price point that will allow you to generate a quick profit,  against letting items sit there to deteriorate in demand.   That mental toolbox being put to the test.

Test yourself this weekend and see just where you think old world profits can be squeezed from.

Good Luck and Good Hunting



Bad Bad Robot.. The Warcraft Edition
Strengthen Your Google-Fu
Go To Sales
Weekend Warriors
Possible Glyphmas With Patch 5.3?
The Green Parade
Lions,  Tigers and Cooldowns O My
Snakes in the Playground
Craft Me Some Pants.. Or Something Else
Flipping the BMAH off
Dear Blizzard:   Noblegarden Edition
Throwing A Line
Prepping For the Death Of PVP
Patience is a Virtue.
I Choose You....: Reputation Choices
Thunderforge Ready for Business

Minimum Profit Potential.

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:35 PM

0 comments View Comments

Mommar here.

Yesterday as i was puttering around Orgrimmar a player was emptying out their guild bank.   Items they were selling were mostly junk items,  some even from the beginning of World of Warcraft time.

As they were listing items some gems came up.   Mostly gems from Wrath (Alicite,  Dark Jade etc.).   Now one of my favorite old markets was the Wrath version of the shuffle.   Taking a combination of Alicite,  Dark Jades or the other gems during that time frame and craft rings/neck pieces.   At that point you could decide either to vendor them or to sell them.

In today's market most of these items sit on the AH with the occasional sale.  Quickly they become vendor bait or Disenchanting bait.   Still even with those decisions made an interesting profit can be made with a few non thinking crafting decisions.

But it did bring up the mental Roll-a-Dex to decide just what the limit in my quest for profit would be.  In everything i have shared with you,  one of the biggest decisions that a gold goblin has to make is determining what is worth their time.  Is crafting an item to sell for 100g just as valuable as crafting one for 1000g.

I dislike immensely being non productive when I'm playing WOW.  Either I'm doing dailies on my main or my alts,  crafting for others in my unofficial clan,  sorting through items to sell or gazing longingly at the auction house and new mounts showing up (500,000g for a Feldrake brought a little drool).   The continual question for me is am I using my minimum profit potential on all I sell.

Next time that you look at something and say 'that's not worth my time',  decide whether that small amount of profit might add up to a large fortune.   Every little step gets you to the top of the gold pile.

Good Luck and Good Hunting


Previous Entries

Lions,  Tigers and Cooldowns O My
Snakes in the Playground
Craft Me Some Pants.. Or Something Else
Flipping the BMAH off
Dear Blizzard:   Noblegarden Edition
Throwing A Line
Prepping For the Death Of PVP
Patience is a Virtue.
I Choose You....: Reputation Choices
Thunderforge Ready for Business
Determine Value: Spirits of Harmony
Hearthstone:   The New Wow Killer?
What Days Do You Sell?
Loot Pinata
Taking Advantage of The Market
The Inportance of being Hot(fixes)
Don't Fret Young Farmer

Profit Calculation 101: GPH

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:54 PM

1 comments View Comments

Mommar here:

There are sometimes that when you get started with being a Gold Goblin you need to build your base first.   The easiest things to forget are the basics,   walking over dollars trying to find another dime.

In this case we're going to look at calculation of profit when it is in regards to your per hour investment.

Most players when they are leveling can do between 12-15 quests and hour.  With the avg income being around the 200g mark.   We're going to use this as a baseline.

Regular Questing = 200 gph (gold per hour)

Now,   if your up to your dailies,   finishing 15 dailies in an hour is not unheard of.   So the avg of those being in the 15g range (remember this is avg,  so depending on which ones you are doing your milage may vary.)

Now with both of these you need to include vendored items,  and green/blue items that will drop for either resell or disenchanting.   lets place this in an avg of another 50g per hour

So along with your dailies of 200gph or your regular questing take in of 225g,  add another 50g to give you a grand total of 250g (275g) per hour.

When it comes to crafting,  our calculations become a little bit more difficult.

Calculation of GPH will depend specifically sales.   So you won't know your GPH til after everything has sold for that cycle.   Lets assume that you spend half an hour per profession to gather materials,  craft and list on the AH.   So any sales that occur after the sales cycle (always use the 12 hour cycle for sales)
=
Your calculation ends up being [(Total Sales} - (Cost of material) ] x 2 = GPH
(you multiply the entire formula x2 because your using a half hour base for your crafting time)

Example

Sword of Ubersmacking sells for 9,850 (this is minus the Auction House cost).  Your cost to craft was 4500 gold in materials purchased.

With this first formula we get

[(9850) - (4000)] x 2 = 11700 GPH.

This formula works for many items that don't require BOP items (Spirits of Harmony is a good Example)
it also sets your baseline for how much your gold and time your investing and how to use your time wisely.

But there is a hole in this formula when you get into more advanced items.   There is no calculation for the cost to gather the Spirits of Harmony.   It may take an hour if your planting Songbell Seed on your farms in Half Hill.  Also there are farming lanes in many of the zones that can produce a total of 1-3 per hour.  To fully calculate your GPH you have to add the time it took to produce these Spirits of Harmony.  As of Patch 5.1 these cannot be purchased via gold.  The only way to obtain is to farm them or gather them as your leveling.  

If you look at your dailies in another way,  being able to gather Mote Of Harmony add value to your GPH when it comes to questing/dailies.   The higher the areas that you are working on dailies,  the higher percentage of possibility of having Mote Of Harmony to drop.   Either way whether you choose to farm directly or to work on dailies as your gathering Mote Of Harmony this has an effect on both your GPH through questing and your GPH for production.

I know what your thinking,  Mo,  that's a lot of math there.   What is it really telling us?   As I've said before, your time is valuable when it comes to logging onto Warcraft.   And knowing just where your time is being spent in regards to how much gold your making is just as important as going to the mailbox and gathering the coin.   This has a large effect on players with limited time to play.   Where 30 minutes to some players just the tip of the iceberg for playtime.  Some players only have an hour to get everything done they want too,  including making gold for the future usage.

In no way do I expect people to keep retentive listings of just how long they spend farming,  and how long they spend crafting.   But getting a general look of exactly how you are investing your time can give you hints on maybe switching to another area to obtain a higher GPH.  A higher GPH can place you faster onto the track of getting your goals done.  

Just keep in mind one idea.   Do not let formulas completely dictate how you play the auction house game.   Being a Gold Goblin isn't just about plugging in numbers,  it's about knowing your business and knowing what others want.  That takes experience and thinking outside the box.   A formula is a tool,  and a tool is no better than the person using it.

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

THIS IS GOLD MAKING!!!!
Prepping For Darkmoon Faire
Limited Item Is My Favorite Word
Patch Me Now
Old World Farming
Shake Off The Bad Days
Secret Of  My Success.html
Know Their Roles
Flipping Off The Competition
Kyparite: The New Pyrite
Pilgrim's Bounty For The Educated
Is Your Cartel Happy?
Brawlers Guild: Your Killing Us Here
Change of Scenery
Mists of Pandaria in 5 words