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

All Your Sha Crystals Are Mine

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:57 PM

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Many times there is a argument within my head that can cause the brain to grind to a halt.   Usually this is wrapped around something that I have yet to understand with the market.

Sha Crystals have slowly become devalued as the Mists of Pandaria expansion matures.  From there start that a set of 10 for an enchant could cost thousands of gold,  to the much smaller amount that they cost now.

As I was looking through the Auction House I noticed that many of these valuable enchanting items were going for lower and lower prices.  Easily outstripping their value when processed by an enchanter.   So I decided to take a test run at one of the few basic premises that have brought gold into my pocket for many years.

I purchased all of the Sha Crystals with the low being 65g and the high being 85g.  Even at that price I could use them for enchants and come out ahead.  With the big three wrist enchants (Agi, Int, Str) going for a thousand gold a piece I could just drop them into making these and make a profit.  But my favorite strategy is to get the item to pay for itself.

After buy 30 of them (healthy investment) I listed up 10 on the AH for 150g a piece.  This paid for over half of the investment if I sold them this way.  If they didn't sell then I would just be out the AH fees and still process them into their enchants.

The next day I ended up selling three of them before being undercut so that netted me a quarter of my investment back.  If I had wanted to be more patient I could have worked half the batch of the Sha Crystals the same way and ended up just having the other half of the crystals be pure profit.  Ultimately I ended up multipling my investment by 4 (used a couple of them for personal enchants) and then went on my merry way.

But I was thinking of exactly why there was this complete imbalance to the enchanting system.  I have always tried to keep a 20% markup on my enchants.  This means to me that I won't list an enchant unless I can get 20% profit between the cost of the materials and the sale of the enchant.  So if it would cost me 200g to buy the items from the open market,  I would not make the enchant for anything less than 240g.  If the item goes for higher then that's just bonus gravy for the potatoes.

But in this case for lets say for the Enchant Bracer: Greater Agility it takes three Sha Crystals to make the enchant.  If you can purchase the crystals for 80g avg that sets the cost to manufacture at 240g.  By the 20% method it shouldn't sell for anything les than 288g.  On many servers this enchant goes for 1500g plus.  That is a huge markup on something that has little materials costs. 

So part of my brain wonders if this isn't just laziness for players.  Since LFR and Flex raids use a personal loot system instead of a need/greed you end up with less Sha Crystals being produced that way.  Regular and Heroic runs still can allot items to be sharded.  But the majority of raid crews just drop those into their guild bank or use for personal crafting.  This leaves the real access to Sha Crystals to be the DEing of Epic gear from Timeless Isle.

But with all those limiting factors and the shortage of areas to get crystals.  The mental game is back to square one.  Why are these so cheap still?   The one factor you have to add is the lemming effect.  Too many Auction house players will list whatever they can get out of an item.  Profit now instead of profiting later.  This especially happens with using semi automatic listers such as TSM or Auction Watcher.  Unless your paying strict attention and know a relative value for an item,  it becomes easier to just click and forget.

Timing is also involved when it comes to obtaining good market profit.  Tuesday is a major raid day on most servers because of the reset.  Everyone can get new loot and have to fill that new loot with enchants and gems.  So listing your best items at their most expensive price makes perfect sense.  More bang for the buck.  But Sunday and Monday can be attested by anyone who has been stuck in a bad LFR will tell you that Monday will probably be a slower day.  Less gear one and less updates to the gear.  That's when looking for the undercut deals to purchase becomes the better play.

These are normal and basic tenants to being a good gold goblin.  Look for strengths and weaknesses in markets and capitalize on them.  And never ever be the lazy player who just clicks and forgets.

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. 

Let The WOD Speculation Begin
It's Called An Epic Quest For A Reason
Chain Flipping
Taste of Streaming Raids and Kites
Monday Morning Raiding Quarterback
WOW:  Warlords of Draenor
Tomorrow Is Blizzcon
Glyph Me Once Shame On You
Days Of The Dead
 The Times Ten Challenge
The Blanket Method
Lost All Hallows Day
You Never Know

Chain Flipping

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 2:04 PM

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Okay kids.  First a story then the background and reasoning behind the story.

This weekend there was a call on trade chat for some fuel iron either in a bar or in ore form.  Usually I will message the person to see exactly how much they are looking for.  If it is one or two bars then i will end up just dropping them on the Auction House for the going price and tell them they are there.   Generally i don't try to gut the person but I have a good off hand knowledge of the value of items.

This time I decided to talk with them for a bit.   They were looking to level up their Blacksmithing and so I told them exactly how much I had left (91 bars and 80 ore).   They made me an offer that was reasonable then they gave me an option.  Take the gold or would I trade for two Living Steel Bars.  Now this wasn't going to become lets make a deal and I wasn't in a fancy costume.   But I did know the general value of Living Steel and it's listing price on the Auction House.  I expanded my mental notes and remembered that Living Steel Belt Buckles were going for considerably higher.   So I had multiple options.  I could take the gold.  I could take the trade for the Living Steel bars and also make the Living Steel Belt Buckles for a profit.   I could even take the gold,  Buy the Living Steel bars and then make the Belt Buckles (or any comparable item for profit).

The idea is that from one trade instead of just taking gold I opened up multiple options to make even more gold from one trade.  This to me is the basic idea behind chain flipping.  You are taking one item instead of straight gold and building more profit into the item.   Ultimately you can squeeze 2 to 3 times the amount of gold from the trade than if you just take the gold itself.

The big push for this is a knowledge of the market.   Fel Iron ore and bars are not in demand other than leveling or the occasional transmog item.  So their value is purely based on their rarity.  If there are 15 stacks on the AH then your stacks of Fel Iron are only worth that.  But if there is none on the AH then this is where your negotiation ability comes into play.

Also with this you can get a decent idea of approximately what the person is going to use the items in trade for.  If they are buying only ore,  then it could be either leveling Jewelcrafting,  Blacksmithing or Engineering. If they are asking only for bars,  then you can limit this get a good guess that they are using it to level their Blacksmithing or Engineering.  It also gives you the level that they probably are in that field.  You could work out a trade that is more useful and flexible than just asking for gold for your items.  This doesn't take into effect someone wanting a specific item made or are making it for themselves.  But your educated guess can net you a tidy profit over and above the straight market value.

So keep this in mind the next time you do a trade.   What do they want it for?  What are your needs in that field.  Open up the negotiations for the possibility of getting a trade.  You have something they want and they easily could have something that you might want.   Expanding your sales and production opportunities puts you that much higher in the gold making food chain.

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. 

Taste of Streaming Raids and Kites
Monday Morning Raiding Quarterback
WOW:  Warlords of Draenor
Tomorrow Is Blizzcon
Glyph Me Once Shame On You
Days Of The Dead
 The Times Ten Challenge
The Blanket Method
Lost All Hallows Day
You Never Know

Be Prepared

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 8:55 AM

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Mommar here.

Saturday is one of the days that is set aside for raiding with my Guild.  We are the definition of casual in the idea that we only get together one day out of the week to do an organized raid.  Other days we are on our own to pick up runs to gear up,  play around in different groups or just relax and finish up dailies.   Where it is enjoyable it also means we probably won't be on the progression list that high anymore.

Part of my job here is part cheerleader (no you cannot look up my skirt),  part wow financial 'guru' and a part humorist.  Most of my guild members know that I write for this journal and occasionally I get some flack for doing it.  Stick and stones and such,  assuming they are not epic sticks and stones because those tend to hurt.

One thing that my guild members have gotten to be is very self sufficient.  Having many of them been playing this game for years they have almost all have multiple toons with multiple professions.  With extra gold reserves they also have the ability to buy what they want if they cannot craft it themselves.  This can be both a blessing and a curse. 

So from that large buildup came last night's run.  We did a flex run and finished up the first four bosses in Seige of Orgrimmar.  As we progressed,  players received their loot which of course excited some and irritated others.  A couple of my guilders wanted to equip the items immediately but wanted to enchant the items first.  So on a break they jotted over to the local auction house to pick up the required enchant.

One of the things that I"ve kept up on is the current professions for most of the guilders that I run with or spend time with.  So I knew that one of the players on the run was an enchanter.  With the access to both personal and guild banks being readily available (guild perk + Argent Gruntling for the win).  The guilder popped up to his stash,  grabbed an extra enchant and offered it to the fellow guilder for free.  This may seem very strange to many because many guild charge each other for these type of services.  That has never been the way that we run when it comes to professions.

But one thing that can be taken away from this is to always be prepared for a sale.  I have said it many times you never know when you can make a sale.  You cannot carry every enchant with you wherever you go.  But you can easily carry the materials in your bag for one or two weapon enchants. As a leatherworker you should always have a stack of Magnificent Hide to craft a new armor patch for a player. 

A gold goblin never stops hustling when it comes to being prepared.   In today's game there are more and more players learning how to make gold.  This spreads out the opportunities to everyone to make gold in the strangest of places.  Keeping your eyes open and ready can add more profit to your portfolio.

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. 

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

Poor Poor Spirits of Harmony

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:39 PM

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Mommar here.

At the beginning of Mists of Pandaria the number one item that players with crafters wanted were the Spirits of Harmony.    These were it,  these were what you needed to make the big bucks.   Almost all of the level 90 armor and gear required these.  They were (and still are) BOP so they would never see the auction house steps.   You farmed them from either Half Hill or from killing mobs, and you hoarded them like they were air.

Now fast forward to today.   Most of the gear that is crafted from these are barely worth the time.  Yes some will sell to the occasional player but being three patches from their introduction most players consider them worthless.

But the shrewd investor knows this isn't completely true.   Some of the crafting items do sell to newly level 90's.   Professions such as Jewelcrafting can craft the Sapphire Cub pet to sell on the AH.  scribes (that's the inscription profession for those playing the home game) still have a group of powerful level 90 staves that can be crafted and sold for a decent profit.

But what about the non crafters.   They just show up in your bag and sit there,  taunting you.   Making you feel less of a player if you don't put them to use.   Your answer is here.   From the beginning there was a vendor in the Shrine of the Two Moons (on the upper deck) there is a vendor named Danky.   Danky gets ignored most of the time because he only has materials for sale.  Stacks of leather,  Stacks of ghost iron ore.  But one of the most important things he sells is Black and White Trillium Ore.

So this again seems a little strange.  A non crafter really cannot use trillium ore for anything.   Why just trade one slot filler for another?   This is where you contacts come in handy.  You can either drop these on the AH (some servers have these listed for 15-20g a piece) or talk to your favorite miner to have them smelted into Trillium Bars.

With the higher demand from Alchemists and Blacksmiths for Trillium Bars  the prices have been steadily rising for these materials.  Time for the non crafters to get into the profits for those leftover abandoned spirits of harmony.

If profit is not your forte these lone poor Spirits of Harmony can be exchanged in the same area that you get your daily archeology quests for Restored Artifact.  If your working on older expansion archeology projects these can give you a boost in your progress of finishing up.

So take those much maligned crafter materials and give them a new place into your heart.   Let them bring profits and fun into your life.   Or at least some profit into your collection.

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. 

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

10 Rules To Price My Golem.

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:40 PM

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Mommar here.

Okay,  I will be honest that there really isn't going to be 10 rules.   But I happened to like the ABC show and felt it worked with the title.

The Sky Golem is the second high cost mount that was introduced with the Mists of Pandaria expansion.   Similar to the Jewelcrafting Jeweled Onyx Panther,  this mount will end up being a high expense/high profit mount for the profession.

So on with the rules

1.   It takes 30 days to make enough materials to make this mount.

Assuming you have both an Engineer and an Alchemist you can make these materials yourself.  Both are set on a 24 hour timer with the Jard's Peculiar Energy Source being BOP.  Now there is a work around using a Spirit of War for an accelerated crafting time but they are so expensive that it would be a waste to use these to get the item one day faster.  The Living Steel can be purchased from the AH but,  if you are already needing 30 days to craft the Energy Source it makes just as much sense to use that time to make your own Living Steel Bars.

2.   It's going to be in high demand.

 Everyone wants a fricking transformer.  Even someone starting out in the game and seeing this fly around will want to know how they can get it.  Supply and demand decide the prices on items.

3.   There are many more engineers out there than most people know.

Many players have alternate toons that have engineering on them.  Between Cataclysm and MOP very useful and profitable items were introduced.  Plus those wonderful toys that early engineers get can make the game enjoyable.

4.  I can make it and you can't.

This may sound rude, but Warcraft is not a popularity contest.  Where I believe you can be honest and generous most of the time,  it is not my job to provide someone with cheap items.  The Jeweled Onyx Panther required a player to obtain exalted status with the Order of the Cloud Serpents plus purchase the materials.  The main material that was BOE (you can always buy and bring your own) was the Orb of Mystery. Unless you were one of the lucky ones that had it drop for you the upfront money was between 72,000g and 80,000g.  That by itself prohibits the Jeweled Onyx Panther to be a cheap mount to purchase.  Instead of needing the reputation to craft this you need to have the pattern drop and then remember your daily timer for 30 days.  Players who purchase this item are paying for time instead of up front materials.

5.  Players will craft the Sky Golem for themselves first.

This goes hand and hand with supply and demand.  Starting with the Mechano-hog (or alliance version) from Wrath of the Lich king,  engineers finally got a cool item for themselves.  Alchemist received a cool mount during the Cataclysm campaign.  This is another status item for Engineers to be able to show off with.  So this will limit just how many will be available for the 'normal' non engineers.

So why is it important to know how to price your Sky Golem?  Because we are about halfway through to where the first ones will be born.  Players are already looking to have ones crafted on the cheap.  When the Mechano-hogs were first crafted and it cost 14k in materials players would want one crafted for 9k,  10k,  12k not realizing just how much of a loss that would be.  Even today I will get messages asking me to craft a Mechano-hog bike for 10k.  I explain to them the reasons why that isn't possible and they usually will nod in acceptance.  I have had some that argued with me that I was just trying to rob them and that I wasn't being fair.  Usually I laugh and place the hog on the AH waiting for another sale (I have sold 3 since the end of Cataclysm for 10k profit).

See,  I told you I wouldn't make it to 10 rules.    But I think it's just as important to know now as when the golem first roll off the production line of just where to price them.  Some players will look for a quick profit not knowing the goldmine they sit on.  If a player can afford to buy a mount for 50k,  with just a little bit more work they can afford to buy it for 75k.

Keep this in mind when your ready to craft that first of many transformers to add into your family.  How much is your time and effort worth?   How much do you think is too much profit?

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. 

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
You're Squishing My Items
The Ways of The Force Are Strange
It's a Date.. Maybe?
Kill The Death Knight.. Kill It Now
Time to Remodel The Financial House
Sense Of Entitlement

Patch 5.4: It's a Date? Maybe?

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:39 PM

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

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

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

-   Max out Valor/Justice Points on Three toons

-   Max out Honor/Conquest points on one toon

-   Finish Dailies in Barrens for Radical Mojo for armor upgrades

-   Look for deals for gahzrooki

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

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

-   Prepare to craft new glyphs (need more inks)

-   Gear up two farmers to farm new areas with 5.4

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

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

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

Good Luck and Good Hunting

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


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

Bad Bad Robot.. The Warcraft Edition

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:29 AM

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The Gang at Blizzard introduced a future pet for the Engineering profession.   It helped that the picture was data mined earlier by an industrious crew that tear into PTR code with a vengeance.

Blizzard has done an excellent job with each patch of Mists of Pandaria to add weapons and items to be crafted by Blacksmiths,  Tailors and Leatherworkers.  Unfortunately Engineer crafted items have been slower to be delivered and the Inscription profession has been almost completely ignored for addition items.

One of the best ways to keep players excited about professions is to add new items for them to craft,  both for personal use as well as sales.   We all know that my gold goblin mind revolves mostly around what can be sold for a profit.  In this case I expect the new Engineering Pet to be in demand.

We can only speculate on what will be required to craft this soon to be popular pet.   If the powers that be stay on track with previous crafted items we can speculate on what will be needed.

Trillium Bar (my guess would be 4-6)
Spirit of Harmony (Probably 1,  maybe at most 2)
Exotic Leather (4)

Of course I do not have a magic 8 ball to tell exactly what might be needed.  At some point the PTR will have this pet and we will know the exact amount that will be required.  But giving a decent heads up on what might be possible can help with being prepared.  As with many pets,  crafting and selling these will have a very short peak life.   Once a player has one (or even two) of these for their personal collection the demand will take a serious drop.   That first 2-3 weeks will become very important for sales opportunities and being ready.

So keep this in mind when you start storing your nuts and bolts for a later sales day.  Maybe putting away one or two of your Ghost Iron Bars or Trillium bars on the possibility of being prepared to craft for the masses.

Good Luck and Good Hunting


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

Go To Sales

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:37 AM

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Mommar here.

Since this journal started many people have viewed different strategies on how to make large amounts of gold.   The reality of it is that making gold is not rocket science.  It's keeping a balance between a strict regiment of ventures.   Whether you are taking chances on a large ticket item,  or clicking your way through small transactions over a long period of time.

None of these strategies are rocket science.   They may seem that way from time to time,  when writers through numbers at you.   Buy this,  sell that,  spin around three times in Stormwind and hope that someone wants to pay you gold.

But each profession has a 'go to' item that continually sells.  Leatherworkers have armor patches,  Blacksmiths have belt buckles, tailors have bags that continually put gold in your gold goblin pockets.   Sometimes these profits seem small,  a miniscule portion of a larger wanted a fortune.  But this is the stabilizing function of your long term goals.   Any type of financial structure, whether it's stocks,  bonds,  gold market or even collecting pennies will be much more successful if you have a base to build the portfolio upon.

World of Warcraft is a game,  it should be treated as a game with winners and losers.   Making gold in this environment is just another way of keeping score.   In any game you will have your star players,  and you will have your durable rugged players that you know will be there every day you take the field.   Your 'go to'  sale items are those rugged players that might not bring the big money into your coffers,  when the score is counted can equal just as many points as the star players.

My current list of my 'go to' sales are.

Tailoring -  Netherweave Bag
Engineering - Ghost Iron Dragonling
Blacksmithing - Living Steel Belt Buckle
Inscription - Tiger Claw Inscription
Enchanting - Enchant Weapon - Windsong
Leatherworking - Stormscale Drape
Alchemy - Potion of Luck

One thing with all of these items you should notice.  None of them require the Spirits of Harmony to craft.  We have talked before about the value of these Spirits of Harmony and saving them for high profit items.   You also might have your favorite items that would fit into this baseline profit making idea.  Each server is different but the theory still holds it's truth.

Keep your baseline sales items strong as you delve into riskier ventures.   As your profits rise you will be much happier and when the high end items start to cool,  you will still be plugging along to your gold goblin goals.

Good luck and Good Hunting


Weekend Warriors
Possible Glyphmas With Patch 5.3?
The Green Parade
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Thunderforge Ready for Business

Thunderforge Ready for Business

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:49 AM

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Mommar here.

If your server has been keeping up with the rest of the gang,  the Thunderforge should be open for your Blacksmithing and engineering goodness.

Both professions get a new daily cooldown to craft either a Lightning Steel Ingot or Stabilized Lightning Source.   Both are necessary for the patterns that are learned by finishing your new daily profession ritual.  The important part to remember is that similar to another profession cooldown items these are BOP so will be worth a lot of gold for players looking to have things crafted using them.

The other important part is that both of these new profession cooldowns will effect Ghost Iron Ore/Bars on the open market.   Now here is where your knowledge of your server becomes very important when determining the crafting options that you have.

Players are starting to look at getting the best bang for their buck when it comes to purchasing equipment.   The weapons crafted with the Lightning Steel Ingots will be very powerful.   And you end up learning how to craft the original weapon that is 'reborn'.  The ilvl will be 463 so it won't be in high demand for its power (all raid tier weapons will be of higher ilvl).  The demand will come from the look and aesthetics  of the item.

Engineering gets a little less love but might end up being a little bit more in demand.   With three new recipes including a new companion pet (Pierre) and the new Mount (Sky Claw) collectors will have both of these in high demand.   Very similar to my favorite mount the Mechano-Hog players will want to have these crafted at the cheapest amount possible.  Keep in mind that with both of the Ingots and Lightning Source being BOP you control just how much you're willing to sell them for.   Negotiations will become very important and do not be afraid to walk away for another day.

(added 3:30pm)

Looks like Engineering got the short end of the stick again.   Players are reporting that the plans are not dropping for the engineering doing the quest.    Perhaps they will hotfix this but once again,   Engineers become the red headed step children).

Also don't forget to do your transmute daily for Blacksmithing the same day that you finish up the quest to obtain the plans.   That will put you one day farther to obtain that very soon to be a hefty priced item.

Keep your head up,  your hammer quick and let the fun begin.

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

Determing Value: Spirits of Harmony
Hearthstone:   The New Wow Killer?
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Taking Advantage of The Market
The Inportance of being Hot(fixes)
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Patch 5.2: First Take
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Patch 5.2:  Tap That Mob
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Determining Value: Spirits of Harmony

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:42 PM

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When Mists of Pandaria expansion was released Spirits of Harmony was the original crafting material necessary to make high end armor and weapons.   As the expansion continued different spirits were introduced (Blood Spirit,  Haunting Spirit etc.).    In this discussion we're going to talk about the Spirits of Harmony.

If you have done any dailies in Isle of Thunder you should have a decent amount of Spirits sitting in your inventory.  While finishing my dailies I usually end up with between one and three a day.   Combine this with having my farm in Halfhill producing 16 motes of Motes of Harmony I generally can end up with 5 or more per day to work with.   As with any crafting mat,  the higher the mob killed generally the better chance of having one of the Motes of Harmony drop for you.    So at level 87 mob will probably not have as plentiful a loot table when it comes to Motes of Harmony as does the level 90-92 mobs sitting in Isle of Thunder or Isle of Giants.    Now I'm sure someone will point out that this is faulty calculations because they know if they sit farming in one place for long enough they will stock up on motes.   Your milage always may vary depending on what farming technique you have.

The easiest way to determine the value of your Sprit currently is based on your professions.   Blacksmithing, Tailoring and Leatherworking has the most outlets to determine value.   Here's an example.


Masterwork Ghost Forged Blade
(prices based from theunderminejournal.com)

This item takes

Ghost Iron Bar x 12 (88g)
Kyparite x 30  (88g)
Spirits of Harmony x 5 (to be determined).

If the sales price of this ends up being 5000g then you walk away with a profit of 4700g.   Rough math would show that each of those spirits of harmony = 900+ per.   Technically they aren't truly worth 900g because if you were only able to sell the weapon for 4000g that would lower the value per Spirit.  Also you are not including labor time and the amount of time it cost to farm.   Still this gives you a baseline value of what a Spirit would cost.

The assumption also has some difficulties with the idea that you put a sword in the Auction House and it's guaranteed to sell.  Anyone who has sold on the Auction House knows this isn't always true.

Let's look a higher value item with our base calculations.

Bloodforged Warfists

This item takes

Blood Spirit x 6 (4798g)
Living Steel x 6 (2982g)
2 Spirits of Harmony

If our sales price for this ends up being close to the mean Avg sale (22000g) then you end up with a much larger profit (14220g) per Spirit of Harmony).   Again this becomes a rough calculation based on how many sales you are able to obtain.  The farther along that the raiding schedule becomes,  players are less apt to buy high end items instead of just waiting for looking for raid items.

Many of the new patterns that drop from the new profession mechanics also use Spirits of Harmony for their crafting.  Being ilvl 522 these will be in high demand.  The problem being the availability of Haunting Spirits which are only obtainable from Disenchanted 522 raid items.   The Haunting Spirits aren't available from disenchanting looking for raid items which will put a kink in obtaining them for crafting.

So what sparked this expedition into simple math?   It was an advertisement found in trade chat a couple of days ago.  A player was advertising the creation of a Masterwork Phantasmal Hammer.   The player had all the materials and was willing to pay 250g per Spirit used.   This would net a profit of 250 x 5 = 1250g.  Not a bad amount of profit.   But if you do the simple math you can see that it isn't such a good deal.  When I can take 4 of those Spirits of Harmony and craft a Bloodforged Warfist and net almost 6-7 times the profit.

Determining value for your Spirits of Harmony can be as easy or as difficult as you make it.  It all depends on  just how much research you put into your sales.   And how much your time is truly worth.

For me,  I don't roll out of bed unless 250g is involved.

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


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
Patch 5.2: First Take
Do you Own Your Tree?
Patch 5.2:  Tap That Mob
Patch 5.2:   The Great Ghost Iron Ore Rush
5.2 Watch: Capping Justice Points
Language People.  Language
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?