I'll Buy That For A Gold Piece

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 7:00 AM

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I love playing monopoly.   I've always used the grab corner areas and then start building strategy for my wins.  Thrills abound when the strategy works and heartbreaks occur when it happens to you.

One thing about monopoly is the idea of sore winners and sore losers.  At the end of it all, no-one truly wins at monopoly unless everyone has fun.

Playing the auction house has the same rules when it comes to winning and losing.  You can set your strategy and find out what works and what doesn't work, compared to other players.  That item that you get underbid on that you really, really wanted for your collection.  That sale that pushes you over your goal for the week only to just miss it because no one wanted to purchase it this week.

Both the auction house game and Monopoly can be very frustrating.  But that is also why it is one of the world's most popular games.  Frustration breeds learning how to play better.  Losing at games gives you the lessons needed to later on win.  What items sell and what items do not sell on your server of choice.

Many players choose not to challenge themselves with playing the auction house.  They will throw up a few items to pay for repairs, but anything beyond that is too much work.  Their prize just for participating is a small shiny trophy that everyone received at the game for showing up.  A gold goblin in training strives for the big trophy that only the highest achievers receive.

This week is going to be another week of winners and loser in the game of auction house trading.  I switched from just disenchanting everything in sight to dropping a lot of my green and blue gear on the auction house for sales.  Enchanting materials have dropped to a new low so it ends up making me more gold to sell the occasional pieces and then looking for vendor all of the rest at the end of the season.

Keeping up with my daily 'transmutes' from Leatherworking,  Engineering and Tailoring has kept me up on being able to profit both now as well as later.   The large bags (24 slot bags) produced both for standard items as well as specialty items are being sold at a good pace.  Netherweave bags have taken a drop down to regular levels so I have left those off the rotation for a few weeks to see if the market recovers.

As always,  I am still collecting specific items to resell with the next expansion.  Tailoring and Jewelcrafting still does not have a catch up mechanism announced so older materials will be in demand as players level their professions organically and not through the boosting mechanism.

With finishing another SOO flex 4 run for BOAs this week will be busy as we wait for the announcement of the new expansions beta key date.

Keep your head above water and keep off of my Boardwalk.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting


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
Cycle of Life
Road to WOD:   Finish Your Chores
Some Day I Will Learn
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

Not My Server.. No No No

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 2:22 PM

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Mommar here.

News flash.  Every server is different.   It has a different flavor,  a different style and amazingly different people.

Whenever people give tips and tricks on how to make gold there is always the fallout voice that says 'It doesn't work on my server'.   Transmog sales on one server might not happen on another.  High level raid gear and PVP sales might work on one server while on the other server, it becomes a barren wasteland of relistings for sales.

This is where you need to look at your sales and crafting practices and not always follow the same path.   Over the months just on JMTC we have offered hundreds of tips.  If you add all the other good warcraft podcasts,  journals,  email listings, then there are 1000's of tips floating out there on how to make gold in World of Warcraft.

The beauty of being a gold goblin is the ability to decide which ones worked at the time and place that you play on.  Finding the lay of the land on your server becomes key to your success.   Where I would love to say that I have my finger on the pulse of every server out there,  it is impossible for one person let along one journal to know everything.

But what is out there is the tools for you to learn how to interpret each tip and whether it will work in regards to your profit plan.  The plan you have developed over the months with your toon army to be able to create a profit flow that continually fills your needs and desires within the World of Warcraft.

So the next tip you see whether it is here (of course it is always here first, right?) or other places,  decide for yourself whether it will work on your server.  If you're not sure,  throw a few gold and see just what sticks to the wall and what ends up not putting gold into your pocket.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

Maintenance Of Your Toon Army: Garrisons

The Art of Negotiation: Warcraft Style
Cooking For Fun and Profit
Cycle of Life
Road to WOD:   Finish Your Chores
Some Day I Will Learn
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

Maintenance Of Your Toon Army: Garrisons

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:02 PM

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Mommar here.

If there is one thing I have said time and time again,   Time is money.   Granted, it isn't the most original of concepts (long before the Goblins adopted this idea).

In World of Warcraft this is translated to how much time does it take to make your gold.  Anyone can make gold if they try.  The determination is whether it is the simplest of ways (working on quests,  selling raw materials) or much more complex methods (Incarnations of the Saronite shuffle,  flipping items etc.).   Each of ways can make gold,  it mostly depends on how much time you have and just where you place your resources.

This is going to become even more important when the Warlords of Draenor open up its portals for business.  Many people will be running around the new version of Draenor when the expansion hits the shelves.  New items and new materials to craft and sell.  But one of the biggest changes with the garrisons and how they affect the market.

Remember that everyone will be able to create Garrisons.  It appears that they will be able to start creating them early in the expansion.  Halfhill had a limitation, you were required to complete and ultimately had to hit level 90 before the farm could be put into full motion.  Garrisons won't have this limitation it appears.  We already know that Garrisons will have all of the major and minor professions,  if not in a limited capacity.  This will probably mean that a regular miner who can get x amount of ore per node attached will be competing with a non miner who can get their own ore if they are patient.  The same thing applies to all of the other professions.

The other thing to keep in mind is that through the different notes and Alpha testing there is already been reported to have garrison only recipes.  The specifics are still wondering before a wall of silence from the testers.  Supposition basically says to the casual player they will not be needing as much raw material as has been sold in the past from the Auction House.

But don't panic just yet and start  creating an army of scribes.  There will still be a high demand for all of the professions.  Many players are impatient and let their gold they have accumulated overpower the time to create the materials and items on their own.  It just means that as a gold goblin you will have to be more shrewd with your time management. 

So as we start to count down to the beta release and full release of Warlords of Draenor,  keep your time management in mind.  How much time are you spending to obtain your raid necessities?  How much time are you spending to obtain that uber mount you want.  And how much time are you spending running around the dollars trying to find another dime.

Time is money.  And I've got my money on my time.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

The Art of Negotiation: Warcraft Style
Cooking For Fun and Profit
Cycle of Life
Road to WOD:   Finish Your Chores
Some Day I Will Learn
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

The Art of Negotiation: Warcraft Style

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:23 PM

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There are two sides to every deal.  The buyer and the seller.  Seems simple enough, doesn't it?   You have the buyer who wants to obtain something for the least amount of resources (gold,  time,  effort).  You have the seller that wants to get the most resources for the item/time they are offering.

I added gold,  time and effort into the equation because in the negotiations of World of Warcraft all three become commodities.   Your time and effort can easily replace gold simply from questing or running raids/instances.   Effort is just how much you will go somewhere to obtain what you want from the other person.

I ran into this yesterday as I was in negotiations to purchase another guild.  I needed one as a hiding place for a couple of my up and coming toons.   It was a 4 slot guild that had 'some items' still in the bank.   Not going into specifics the seller offered in general chat the guild for x amount of gold.

There are certain questions I always ask when purchasing the guild.

1)   What is the name of the guild (don't really like inappropriate names for guilds I own)
2)    Does anyone else still belong?  (This is important because there have been some guilds that were sold
       Without other members knowing until they logged out the next day.)
3)    What level guild is it?   (The higher the level of the guild the more lucrative that the benefits can be)
4)    What items still exist in the guild bank (if they are good items you can easily recoup your investment)

So I offered what I considered a fair price opening up the negotiations.  Generally, I half the price that they offer unless it is an extremely good opening salvo.   They counter offered and then I accepted at about 75% of the original price they wanted.  Win/Win right?

So I logged over to my toon that would take over the guild I contacted the seller.  After a delay they informed me that someone had offered full price.   Disappointed that the seller didn't keep his word as far as the deal for a measly couple of gold I just thanked him and went my merry way.

But here is the thing to keep in mind.   I have said it many times that your word is your bond.  It may seem very fleeting when dealing with online gaming.  Players do not have the direct attachment to their toons that they have to their real lives.   If I make a deal with someone, then I expect them to keep up with them.  That expectation goes both ways.  I have sold items that others came along quickly and offered me twice as much gold.  I had to tell them the item was sold simply because my word was more valuable to me than ethereal gold.

I'm also someone who believes in Karma.  If you do good things then good things will happen to you.  If you do things that are questionable, then the questionable things will occur.  This may seem like an old concept, but it is one that has ruled both my gaming and my real world life for years.

So the moral of this little story?   There really isn't any.  Not everything needs a moral,  unless you want to add one of your own.  

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

Cooking For Fun and Profit
Cycle of Life
Road to WOD:   Finish Your Chores
Some Day I Will Learn
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

Cooking For Fun and Profit

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:20 PM

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The basic sales techniques to make gold in Warcraft is crafted through either Jewelcrafting,  Leatherworking,  Blacksmithing, Inscription or even the Tirion of professions,  Engineering.

But many gold goblins forget that you can make a lot of gold, leveling and selling cooking supplies.  Middle level buff food as well as max level raiding food was making gold by the bucketfuls for many players.  It took time,  supplies and some farming obtain enough points with all of the different Halfhill residents to get the best recipes.

We already have rumblings that there will be similar gold making strategies with cooking during the WOD expansion.  There is already some ideas of just what raw ingredients will be needed and combined for in demand recipes.

So that's the good news.  The bad news?   Remember how you have never leveled fishing on any of your toons?   From the alpha notes and others who have played the game,  fishing is going to be heavily linked to your cooking.  Again the same happened with the Mists of Pandaria expansion..  It was possible to level your cooking without needing a high level fisher,  but it became that much more expensive.  

The other not so fun news is that many of the already revealed recipes have components that are obtained via Herbalism.  Most players who have inscription have an herbalist running around grasspicking,  but the others gold goblins abandoned Herbalism to level a more profitable profession.  

Warlords of Draenor are lining up to be a different headed beast when it comes to making gold.  Less mass production and more selective production of items.  If this trend continues, then a skilled gold goblin will need to learn how to mix and max professions in their toon army to keep profit margins high.

Still having 3 plus months of Pandaland exploration to go there is plenty of time to maximize your secondary professions on multiple toons.  Fishing and cooking could easily become the hidden goldmine that gold goblins exploit to their advantage.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting.

Cycle of Life
Road to WOD:   Finish Your Chores
Some Day I Will Learn
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

Cycle of Life

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:05 PM

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When Blizzard announced during the Wrath of the Lich king expansion that there would be motorcycles to be crafted a collective squeal of glee passed along the frozen tundra.

Engineering, who had been the red headed step child of warcraft professions received a big boost in crafting proficiency.  Players could order to have the Mechano-hog or Mekgineer's Chopper crafted for them.  I still keep one of these on the AH for the occasional sale.

Well, if you recently just crawled from under your tax deadlines and read on MMO-champion you saw that Blizzard has sanctioned Paul Junior Designs to make two different types of choppers.  One for the Alliance and one for the Horde.   The contest has stated that whichever design wins, then that bike will be put into the game for the faction.

This could easily be a good thing for players who feel left out.  Older mounts become forgotten if they are out of the limelight.  The hogs that are currently available are still relatively expensive to craft and purchase.  Ranging from 16k to 25k many players who look at seeing these the price tag and get some type of sticker shock.

So I have already started to collect extra materials to be able to craft more of these when the demand starts to pick up.   If you have forgotten the materials you need to collect:

12 Titansteel
40 Handful of Colbalt bolts
2   Artic Fur

The rest of the items are BOP in the K3 port in Storm Peaks area.   Don't forget that some of these BOP parts can be skinned from Flame Leviathan if you have an engineer at the party.

Titansteel no longer as a transmute timer attached so it can be crafted as long as you have the materials.  To make the Titansteel you need

3 Titanium Bars
1 Eternal Fire
1 Eternal Earth
1 Eternal Shadow

The most difficult item to obtain from this are the Eternal Fires.  If you have some extra Frozen Orbs you can purchase them from Frozo the Rennowned in Dalaran.  Farming them is also possible with multiple areas having mobs that they can be farmed.   Here is an article written that shows some good points as well as tips on farming these elements.   Here

If for some reason you do not have the pattern yet, then it also becomes easy to obtain.  Just have your engineer to profession level 450.  Grind up your Horde Expedition  reputation to exalted and then purchase the pattern.  Basically, you will be finishing the quests that are in the Wrath of the Lich King area and then working through the dailies surrounding the entire continent.  Remember the word easy is very questionable from time to time.

If you don't want to go through all of these static,  you can find a friend who has the pattern and split the profits with them.  They might have even forgotten they have the pattern and don't want to take the chance on crafting one unless someone else puts up the money.

The World of Warcraft version of hogs can be an exciting item to sell.  Hopefully this new Blizzard contest will add some noise about older mounts that can be crafted.  Adding more of that good good gold right into our greedy goblin hands.

If you want to see the video for the first installment of the Azerothian Choppers series here it is

 link

Good Luck and Good Biking

Road to WOD:   Finish Your Chores
Some Day I Will Learn
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

Road to WOD: Finish Your Chores

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:37 AM

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One of the most difficult things to do is to keep motivated.  Wait,  I think I've said that over and over again.  You probably get the idea that the next 3-4 months will be a little bit more of a drag for the average player.  Many players will be logging on less and less during the week as the Mists of Pandaria expansion gets a little bit less shine on the content.

Getting prepped for the next expansion, Warlords of Draenor, can add a little bit of purpose to your gaming life.  One of the prep items is your long abandoned farm in Halfhill.

You remember Halfhill?   The place that was o so awesome at the beginning of MOP?   Finishing your daily runs to open up new land to farm.  Yes,  that's right World of Warcraft had become World of Farm Craft.

So why should these plots of land become important in your future setup during Warlords of Draenor?  One item that will continually be able to be made are the Motes of Harmony.  Right now most players have a stockpile of these things in their inventory.  Turning them in every so often for cash and prizes from the different vendor.  I spend many of them on the Black and White Trillium ore for crafting purposes.   Come WOD this won't be as important.  Except that material could easily become much more scarce come WOD.

Look at the logic.  We know that there are massive changes coming with WOD when it comes to gathering.  No longer will players be needing to go to older expansion zones to gather items.  This could easily mean that items such as Trillium ore and herbs become that much more valuable.

The other thing to look at is your own crafting needs.   Engineering has received a long term blessing because they have pets that can be crafted.  Right now they are much more expensive due to the length of time to craft (Jard's Peculiar Energy Source) and many people not continuing to craft these during the next expansion.  Older crafting pets can be a good source of income with the next expansion.  For 10 minutes of work a day (farming your crops,  replanting) and then finishing your daily you could easily next a large amount of coin.

Other professions might not be as lucky when it comes to pets, but they still have opportunities.  Simply just flipping purchased ore and herbs on the Auction House can add more money into your coffers.   Where the main profit making of these items might not always be available,  alternative options of selling can add much more profit into your bank.

Many players will just start with a clean slate when the WOD expansion opens its doors.  Taking advantage of your knowledge and your preparation can give you that gold making advantage that others won't have.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

Some Day I Will Learn
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

Some Day I Will Learn

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 10:04 AM

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Mommar here.

Another Tuesday has come and gone,  resetting the loot tables for Garrosh runs as well as world bosses.  With the change in the most recent hotfix that made world bosses taggable by everyone celestial runs have become a lot easier.  Running in there,  tagging an active mob that players are already killing and getting credit (along with your world famous Bag o' Gold) makes running 7 players through the grinder that much quicker.

After the success of adding more gold (and the occasional piece of gear) to my alts I then look to tackle the wonders that if flex 4.  Having said it many times I like to get my flex 4 runs done early in the week simply because the better players during this time and my chances of success are that much better.

So I popped open the Oqueue extension and watched the filling of run requests.  Words like 'quick' 'easy' 'no noobs' (my personal favorite) flash through each group loading up.  Usually I ignore most of these simply because they rarely are quick and if you only have 3 players in your group how do you really know it will be quick and easy?  To borrow a line from a favorite movie of mine "... Quick and easy is how you bake a cake,  no run a multi-million dollar business such as ours ".

I queued up for a couple of seemingly interesting groups forming.  They were listed as being run by 10/14H (shorthand for 10 of 14 bosses down in heroic) and waited to see if I got invited to the dance.   Getting my magic golden ticket I was ready to go.  I bring my own food and go and repair before I even queue.  Similar to my views on queuing for groups on the Timeless Isle (be on the island,  be ready to go, don't expect summons) etc.

After finishing off Garrosh and receiving my bag of nothing I logged onto my Hunter to see if she wouldn't be as successful.  Being a Hunter generally I get chosen to run belts on Seigecrafter and end up killing the engineer for the Garrosh kill.  Luckily, there was another hunter that volunteered to go.  Both Seigecrafter and the Bugs went down pretty easily.  Then it was time for the main event.  Even the trash between the bugs and the Garrosh went down pretty easily.

Having high hopes that this would be a 1 shot kill we got set up.  Lately the big strategy is to stack up on the spot just in front of Garrosh and kill the weapon as it pops.  Seems to make things a lot easier because of less required running around and more DPS on the boss.  But the RL decided that we needed to dance for the run.

First attempt we died pretty quickly.  Second attempt we made it a little bit further and then the tirades began.  Players blaming tanks,  tank blaming healers and my little 170k dps sitting there deciding if it was time to call it a night and try the next day.

But being a little bit stubborn I stuck it out and we went at it with 11 people.  Now generally the sweet spot I have seen is 13-14 players (or a full 25 grouping) when it comes to being successful.   After the fourth attempt being a complete and utter failure I decided it was time to retire from the group and check on some auctions.  Politely I thanked them for the attempts and went on my merry way.

Moral of the story?   Even heroically attuned players are not always successful.  Maybe I should have gone with the quick and easy cake.   mmmm Cake.

Good Luck and Good 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

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

Garrosh Is My Friend

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:18 PM

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Mommar here.

Every week,  even if I'm looking to do other things to cleanse my pallet of World of Warcraft, I go and finish my flex raid runs on Garrosh.  The pets that drop from the two bosses previous to him are bonuses but my main goal is to obtain the BOA's that he drops from time to time.

I have two toons that are Garrosh worthy. (I refuse to be carried through a Flex 3 or Flex 4).   If I cannot do 125 dps then I need to upgrade.  This is just my personal view of raids and other raid leaders will have different views.

The thing I find a little funny is the cursing that occurs after the Garrosh kill happens.  Many players are in the same boat that they only reason they run Seige of Orgrimmar is for the BOA gear.  Obtaining one of these items sets a toon up for leveling if not all the way up to heroics.  I can see the frustration that people will have when the item they need won't drop.

Having played this game for years I have gotten used to grinding for gear that is useful.  During the Burning Crusade expansion I lived in Terrokar working on heroics for as many times as I could scrape 4 other people to run.  Shadow Labryinth was where I lived and breathed easily for 2 months plus just to obtain one or two pieces of gear.

This is why I switched to making sure that I had gold to craft the items that I needed.  Even now there are belts that can upgrade players over and above what drops in Timeless Isle.  As the Mists of Pandaria expansion matures gear becomes less and less important.  With the Alpha notes having been seen, it is obvious that the quest for gear will change completely.  Main stats will no longer be as important as the secondary and tertiary stats.

So as others curse and gripe about how Garrosh has stiffed them again (I know,  stiffed isn't the word that they use) remember that the benefits of having the entire summer for Garrosh runs gives players plenty of time to fill in the BOA weapon slots that are desired.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

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
Please.. Wait.. I Wanna Tag
WOD: Waiting Til The Fall?
Boost Me, Buy Me, Pay Me Gold
Save That Boost for a Rainy Day

Lent.. Mighty Lent... Super Lent

We All Make Mistrakes

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:06 PM

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Mommar here.

A school principle of mine used to tell his students 'I'm perfect,  I don't make mistrakes'.  When your 12 years old this is way too thought provoking.  But as I've become older I can see the wisdom in what he was trying to impart.

This weekend I took a look at a couple of weak markets and decided to flip them.  I grabbed 32 Magnificent Hides at an average of 125 per hide.  With the daily burn for leatherworkers and the glut of exotic leather sitting on the AH, to me these were still undervalues.  I double checked some of the bigger ticket items that were created by them (Angerhide Leg Armor,  Shadowleather Leg Armor) which were hovering at about 550 per.  This could turn a nice quick profit and set me up for future profits.  Along with listing some of the leg armors I also went ahead and tripled the cost of the Magnificent Hide themselves and dropped them on the AH.

Dropping in a couple of hours later I had sold three of the leg armors, but all of my relisted magnificent hides had been undercut almost immediate.  The undercuts had dropped them to even lower costs to what I had purchased the original batch.

Wait Mommar,  you're saying all of this was a mistake?   In one way of looking at it it was a mistake in that I did not take into my mental calculations the cost of the exotic leather itself.  Also not taken into respect was just how many Magnificent Hides that leatherworkers were still sitting on.   So instead of calling it a mistake let us call it a half win.  In the long term I will be able to get about 2x the amount of gold that I invested.

The other market I took a look at and decided to reset was the bag market.  Netherweave bags had been a hotbed of sales for me.  Usually, clicking to 500g a day in sales just from the stock I still had sitting in my bank.  Recently the market had dropped to 12g a piece (still profitable, but not so much that I was willing to again list some bags).  I looked at some other bags (the 24 slot bags crafted from higher level tailoring materials).  The Illusionary Bag and Royal Satchel will be strong come the next expansion.  Players get the automatic 4 x 24 bags with their new level 90, but they have 8 slots in their bank to fill with new shiny bags.  Most will buy 16 slot bags but some will spring for a couple of the 24 slot bags for their new toys.

Both the Illusionary Bag and Royal Satchel have tailored daily timers using Dreamcloth and Imperial Silk respectively.  Dreamcloth is on a weekly timer while Imperial Silk still sits at a daily timer.  Collecting the materials and taking a few minutes to craft and sell these have added some nice coin into my pocket.

What may seem like a mistake at first can be turned into a success just from taking a deep breath and seeing potential instead of just instant profit.  Time is gold and gold is time.  Both will happen if your patient and look at not just short term sales but long term sales.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

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
Please.. Wait.. I Wanna Tag
WOD: Waiting Til The Fall?
Boost Me, Buy Me, Pay Me Gold
Save That Boost for a Rainy Day
Lent.. Mighty Lent... Super Lent

Who Is Your Nemesis On the Gold Market

World Without The Auction House

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 9:22 AM

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Growing up I used to sneak in and read my brothers comics.  My money went into other items that I wanted (usually involving too much sweets).   He liked buying comic books and reading them over and over again.   They still sit in my parents' closet in need of being bagged and boarded.

One of both of our favorite series was the 'What if' versions that both Marvel Comics and DC had.  They would ask the obvious question for the title 'What if'.  What if Wolverine had forks on his finger.  What if Superman had a cold vision.  Things that were good, sometimes for a laugh or a quick adventure.

Diablo 3 got my mind to thinking of what if World of Warcraft did not have an auction house.  The introduction of the Auction house in Diablo,  including the real money auction house changed the scope of the game.  It made the need for massive amounts of gold almost required to be able to play at a high level.  Gold ended up costing more and more, both in real money and time as players tried to get the best gear.  If it didn't drop or couldn't be crafted then you just went out and bought for obscene amounts of money.  Sound familiar in regards to our friendly beloved WOW?

But what truly happened if the WOW auction house didn't exist?  Or it limited to only trinket items and the occasional non equipment.  Could a game survive in that type of atmosphere?   Diablo has become a game more for the materials than the actual gold.  You can make a large amount of gold in finding different places to farm.  Selling unused equipment is also available.  But for the most part gold becomes a non factor in playing Diablo 3.  Would the same occur with World of Warcraft where gold was only used for vanity items and not necessary for gameplay?

Do not take this as me being a proponent of removing the Auction House from the game.   There is a large difference in the raid/progression style play that Warcraft has against the pick up and beat something down style that is Diablo 3.  But sometimes it is a good thing to take a look at why something is important to learn how to master.

The Warcraft auction house doesn't just give you access to high quality weapons, but also to high equality enhancements.  It also gives you an opportunity to sell those enhancements and items to others.  Diablo 3 anymore, only allows you to take care of your own personal needs.  Both games, share a repair cost,  with the high the equipment levels you have the higher the repair cost.  Both hold legendary items,  though against some popular raid beliefs they aren't just handed to you in Warcraft.

The final thing to look at for where the auction house in Warcraft differs than from Diablo is that you have the option of playing it or not.   This may seem like a counterproductive idea vs what I said earlier.  But with dailies,  questing and vendoring items, as a player you do not have to step anywhere near the auction house for your day to day expenses.  But to be the very best player,  even a little bit of auction house ability can put you farther up the food chain game wise than others.  Especially at the beginning of patches where access to high level patterns are limited.

So take a look at your patterns in the Auction House and imagine yourself without access to the sales or the purchase ability.  Respect can lead to mastery of something that is necessary for your playstyle.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

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
Please.. Wait.. I Wanna Tag
WOD: Waiting Til The Fall?
Boost Me, Buy Me, Pay Me Gold
Save That Boost for a Rainy Day
Lent.. Mighty Lent... Super Lent
Who Is Your Nemesis On the Gold Market

It Was A Great Day

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:23 PM

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Having been playing World of Warcraft for years,  I have developed little quirks about myself.  One of them is when something finally drops when I have worked for it.

Since the start of the Timeless Isle patch I have been working the rare mob Houlon to have her drop the Reigns Of The Thundering Jade Cloud Serpent.  Having read in one of the Blizzard notes that you were only guaranteed a loot drop once each day from rares (yes,  I know it's possible to get more but they said guarantee),  I had been farming her every day.  Each time I was on the isle and the timer came up I joined 10-30 of my favorite strangers for the quick 2 minute kill and loot.

Finally the mental trumpets played and wallah,  I see in the loot window my next pet.  Being excited I added it to my collection,  dragged it onto my tool bar with some other mounts and then found out that you can't fly it on Timeless Isle.  Really, Blizzard?  Had to get that one final tease in didn't you.

But putting that aside, I started looking for my weekly Garrosh runs.  My hunter has an easier time of getting a better run than my Warrior does.  I would probably link it to Melee DPS being less popular than Ranged DPS or just blind luck.  Either way a couple of weeks ago, my Warrior had obtained his uber mega blade of awesome;  Hellscreams Decapitator.  In my own mental battle my hunter was getting a little bit jealous of him lugging that big shaving axe and wanted her own new BOA toy.

After finishing the first two bosses in one shot (hitting 3 and 4 on the dps respectively) we approached Hellscream.   The first try got him down to 12 percent before the fickle finger of fate disconnected a healer and a tank.   We regrouped,  no one started with the great noob debate and we went after him a second try.  Finally he went down,  and the loot window popped up and there it was:

(it's so pretty)

After doing a little bit of a happy dance in front of my computer (thankfully not having the camera on at the time) I zipped over to my jewelcrafter/engineer to get the enhancements done.   Two Delicate gems and a Lord Blastington's Scope of blowing things up and I was set for the next adventure.

But then I ran into a problem.  What was next?   I work better with a goal in mind.  Both of my main raiders now have their epic capes.  They are both exalted with the Grand Pooba of the isle.  My Warrior is exalted with everyone except for the furry little tribe in la la land.  I have all the coins that I could want,  and all of the gold I really can want (I know.  Blasphemy).  So what's next in the land of Mommar?

Do I make more gold.   Well of course I do.  That's half the fun.   Do I try to go for a 3rd epic cape.  Absolutely not.  No more grinding stones and lost information and you can go find that stuff yourself you little toad dragon.  Do I continue to raid and even look to jump into some regular runs instead of flex raid runs?

There is always a question of what motivates someone to continue to strive to play this game.  The next 6 months some people will decide to take some time off.  Some players will go and continue to work on their game.  Some are playing with new boosted level 90's.  Some are even leveling toons the normal way for a challenge.

So many things that can be done.  So many motivations that still are out there for the picking.  Archaeology looks like it might need to be dusted off and played with some more.  Pet battling (gotta catch em all, POKEWOW).

But one day,  one glorious day I got to run naked through the main horde cities on my new mount with my new weapon in my hand.

This is my weapon,  this is my gun.   This is for.... What you should join the military to hear the rest

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting

WOD:  Prepping For The Storm
Special Brand Of Stupid
Silver And Gold Have I None
Worth What Someone Will Pay For It
Please.. Wait.. I Wanna Tag
WOD: Waiting Til The Fall?
Boost Me, Buy Me, Pay Me Gold
Save That Boost for a Rainy Day
Lent.. Mighty Lent... Super Lent
Who Is Your Nemesis On the Gold Market
Keeping up with the Black Market Auction House
I love me some Oqueue In The Morning
Will They, Wont They, Will I Care?

The Importance of Quick Decisions

Special Brand Of Stupid

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 1:00 PM

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It happens to everyone.   At some point the day will come when you hit that edge of hearing the same repetitive words over and over.  Whether it is your little sister telling you to wake up,  your parents telling you to go mow the lawn.  It will happen to you at some time in your life.

To set the scene,  I believe in being helpful in World of Warcraft.  You will not see me running around places jumping up and down like a hyperactive chichuaua looking to do good deeds.  But if I'm running past someone who is killing a mob I will take a few steps back and help out.  Usually a wave is thrown in my direction or a thank you.  Not a big deal but if it helps someone I score one in the win column.

One of the ways many people on servers is answer simple questions over the trade channels.   This happens especially when it comes to the rare monsters that pop up on Timeless isle.  Chants of 'when is Houlon', 'Timer on Houlon' etc happen all the time.  A quick answer is given and everyone moves on.

But occasionally you get one person that seems incapable of looking up anything.  For the next two hours you hear questions like 'Is there any rare up'.  'Where is [Insert Timeless Isle Rare]' or my favorite one of the bunch 'Please wait for me'.   Patience still kicks into the game play that answering these questions are easily answered, even if they become monotonous.

This weekend where I had to draw the line was arguments that happened when it came to some answers that I 'helped' with this weekend.  One of them started with the timer on Houlon.  I had helped with the kill on my hunter and was running to finish up some of my dailies.  If you have looked up Houlon on Wowhead you know there are three spawn points that she can pop up at.  The most common spawn pop is just past the bridge on the upper side of the hill.  But occasionally she will spawn further up the hill or even all the way past the second bridge.  In this case she popped on the first spawn point, but wasn't tagged.  So she popped up at the second spawn point and was engaged.  After the kill a player asked 10 minutes later about what the timer was on Houlon.  Trying to be helpful I told them that she had already showed up and was killed.  For some reason the person proceeded to try to argue with me that I hadn't killed her and that they had been at the spawn point all the time.  Then explaining that there are still three spawn points they responded with 'I know where she spawns.  Obviously they didn't cause if they did, they wouldn't have been griping about waiting for her.  Sometimes you just cannot win and it is better to retire from the field of stupid and do other things with your game time.

The other event that proved to me that there is a special brand of stupid was the incessant amount of questions there were about where rare mobs were.  I use an add-on called rare coordinator to keep track of timers on the island.  When a rare is announced on the add-on coordinates are also included in where the rate is.  Some of them, such as the Emerald Gander, can only give general area directions.   Most players get the coordinates and hopefully they are close enough to get there and get a tag on the mob.   But occasionally people miss their chance and have to wait til the next round.  What ground I was the complaining that no one waited for them to arrive.  No one waited for them to be escorted to the promise land of the rares and let them get the first shot.   Coming off as a requirement that everyone should help them to obtain all their goals, including the mount form Houlon because they had just arrived on the island.  The answer to this is a resounding NO.   No one truly owes anything, anything other than to let them figure it out themselves.  When people take their time to help,  be nice and say thank you.  Otherwise, there are information websites such as wowhead and mmo-champion that can give 90% of the answers.  Expecting someone to walk you through everything is insane.  Not being grateful for the help that people offer and complaining just gets other to shut up and leave you to your own ignorance.

Not everything is bad with helping.  But sometimes helping is to let people swim in the deep in for a bit til they learn to at least float.  

Okay, time to put my soapbox back up.

Good Luck and Good Profit Hunting.

Silver And Gold Have I None
Worth What Someone Will Pay For It
Please.. Wait.. I Wanna Tag
WOD: Waiting Til The Fall?
Boost Me, Buy Me, Pay Me Gold
Save That Boost for a Rainy Day
Lent.. Mighty Lent... Super Lent
Who Is Your Nemesis On the Gold Market
Keeping up with the Black Market Auction House
I love me some Oqueue In The Morning
Will They, Wont They, Will I Care?
The Importance of Quick Decisions