Breaking The Million Gold Barrier

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:58 PM

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Mommar here.

Hopefully there was a pleasant Memorial day weekend in your past.   Ending up playing around on Warcraft for a little bit on different servers than my main.   Wanted to get a feeling for other economies than my home one.

One thing that always brings back memories is reading people's recollections of meeting their goals.  When I first started WOW I thought 10,000g was a fortune.  With that I could buy anything I wanted and play better in my guild.  This was when Burning Crusade came out and money was more difficult to make.  

The mountain felt like it moved each time I was about to reach my goal.   I would hit the 9500g mark and someone would need a 'loan'.  Or I ended up with a rough day of raiding and my repair bill came up to 100g or more.   It was nerve racking trying to scale up that mountain and fall down just a little bit more.

I have told the story before of when things clicked money wise for me.  A friend of mine offered me a pattern Pattern: Bracers of the Green Fortress.   It was in high demand for plate tanking classes and the materials were easy to get.  I sold a large amount of these for profit.  This is when my thirst for finding deals and making gold really popped up.

After I broke my 10,000g set goal I knew that i could do better.   Hitting 100,000 came about 3 months later after I added two more crafters to my lineup.   As the expansions continued I increased the pile of gold I sat upon while still holding onto my beliefs in being honest in my trades and being loyal to my friends and guild mates.  

My 1,000,000g mark was broken somewhere during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.   My Jewelcrafter brought in what could only be described as stupid amounts of gold just for a few button clicks.  As my WOW career continued I found the need to make larger goals for myself.  Instead of making number goals I changed to making goals for what each toon could create.  I wanted each of my toons to be able to make a 1,000,000g by themselves.  I still haven't accomplished this goal (11 toons with some of them having not leveled beyond level 5 makes this one a tough one to finish).

Blizzard introduced achievements which became a very popular quest for players who were burnt on the daily grind.   Very few gold making achievements are listed,  so the need to create our own became a form of self entertainment.   Plus 1,000,000g is a nice round number to be able to say.

So when it feels that your goals are not achievable,  keep in mind that anyone can make gold with the right knowledge and patience.   If you need an example just look at me.  I did it and when I first started I didn't even know you needed a shield for tanking (I miss my old guild sometimes).

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Bye Bye... I Will Take Your Gold Now
Post Patch 5.3:   The Lineup
Patch 5.3:   It's here... well tomorrow
Patch 5.3:  Preparing for the Arrival
Patch 5.3:   Grasspicking World Order
Patch 5.3: Bring Out Your Miners
Enchanting add-on for quick flips
Prepping for 5.3:   Profit lines

Realities Of Making Gold
How Does Free Gear Effect The Market?
Pre Patch 5.3 Setup
Patch 5.3 on the Horizon
Old World vs New World Profits
Bad Bad Robot.. The Warcraft Edition
Strengthen Your Google-Fu

Just The Tip Please

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:48 AM

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One of the Major income resources for crafters is doing custom crafting for players.   Advertising your crafting wares so that others can have items produced.   It is advantageous because it mostly uses their mats,  as well as doesn't require listing and relisting of items on the auction house.

But a big misnomer is the requesting for a 'tip'.  A tip is generally considered an addition to the price of making an item.  A set amount from the menu to say I will craft it for this price.  The tip portion isn't something that is required (even in restaurants that have a 6 person party addition to the order isn't a tip,  it's a service charge)

Every so often you will see verbal squabbles of people arguing about whether a required amount is a tip or that working for the kindness of others is a better method.   To me,  I've always gone with the idea that for bigger ticket items (weapons,  armor etc.) that a set amount negotiated is going to be more valuable than depending on the generosity of a buyer.   Occasionally you may end up giving someone a better than average tip,  but then that is counterbalanced by the cheap person who only gives you 5 gold for making their new leather PVP set.

There is no real set amount for value on your crafting expertise.  It many times depends on the health of the economy on the server.  If you are familiar with the materials market you can get a general idea of how much an item costs on the Auction house then subtract the material cost if you had to provide the materials.   Then subtracting a percentage based on the client providing the materials can give you a good idea of how much to charge for crafting.

Another option is to just set your prices based on cost analysis.  If an item is valued at 50g.  Then asking for 5g a piece to craft (10%) is not out of the ballpark.  If an item costs 10,000g then asking for a 1000g crafting charge (10%) is also viable.   The percentage can vary depending on the market,  but crafting the 10000g item for 5g is noble eyes of some but not good economically in the long term for your money goals.

Knowing how to tip is very similar.   Good tips can create good relationships.   Creating another addition to your go to cartel is you need items created.  Also these relationships can net sales if your client is looking for someone to have something crafted.   This technique of keeping relationships viable and active through a good tip might net you one or two sales only.  But that is one or two sales less that you have if you try to be cheap and don't provide the gratuity.

There are many traps and falls that can occur from simple items such as tipping.  Walk straight and know just a few rules to being a good vendor,  and a good Gold Goblin.

Good Luck and Good Hunting



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

Previous Entries

Patch 5.2:  Prepping for the rush
How Do You Effect The Market?
He's So Great He's A Fivefather
Patch 5.2:   Farming For Rep.. With A Farm?
Archealogy:   Digging up stuff for gold
Phoning It In....
Daily Quota Buying
Who Are You Feeding Sales Too?
Taking Advantage of 5.2 PVP Gear Changes
Patch 5.2 Prep:   Will players be returning?
Sales Triage
Lost In The Guild Traffic
Finally the end of Cataclysm
Preparing For the Future:   Alts 101
Anonymous Gold Goblin 

Gold To Burn

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 9:47 AM

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I enjoy receiving email from readers.   Usually in involves asking me questions on what to do in their specific situation.   Is there any "secret tips" I can offer that will jump start their goblin skills.

With many of the conversations I have,  there does seem to be one similar ingredient into their difficulty.   The thinking that it requires gold to make gold.

Now,  Warcraft and MMO's have many similar ideals that we have in the real world.   Working gains money,  money can buy items we want.   The biggest difference is that I cannot go outside and look for a big yellow exclamation point over someone's head to get a quest.  Applications and interviews do still seem to be the normal approach to making money in the real world.

But in the World of Warcraft,  the key to making gold is to not just work hard,  but to work smart.   Retraining your mind into understanding that you can put 100 different auctions to sell,  but if noone wants them,  then they will not sale.  But you can add 10 items on the AH that are in great demand and make more money than you ever thought possible.

My biggest technique is to try to find the niche markets that few are in,  and to dominate that market.  My biggest money consistant money maker has been the leatherworking and blacksmithing PVP gear.   Two to three were in that market on the two servers I play on,  while almost 100's of people were posting up Gems.  I still post up Gems,  and the money is consistant.  But my PVP gear is still the number one slot that keeps me swimming in gold.

Each server is different,  and that's where a gold goblin has to change their mindset to look where to spend the gold to burn.  Even in the case where someone has only 1k gold,  one or two good flips of items can double that gold in a heartbeat.  

Having gold to burn is nice,  but it's the mindset of looking where to burn that gold to become a raging inferno,  adding more and more gold into your goblin loving pocket.

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 "@Dragonbearjoe" or leave a comment here. You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice.  

Past Entries
I'm gonna tell you a secret
Life with no AH
Yakity Yak
The Auction House Blues
O Brother Where Art thy professions
Come Back Players... Come Back
Measuring the AH of a "Wow Killer"
Gold: It makes a player better
Get thee to an Engineer
Darkmoon Faire Returns....  Much rejoicing
Prepping for MOP:   Dinner Improbable
Random Dungeons:  A Concert of Errors
Patterns
Save the children.. Save Azeroth

Grey,  the new purple

Have you posted epics today?

Netherweave Cloth: It's math time