Patch 5.4 Prep: No Sleep til Brooklyn

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:33 PM

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Mommar here.

In theory this will be the last week of prep work before patch 5.4 lands on our doorsteps.  That means this is the last week for your Barrens dailies to obtain those last items you want from Darkspear Rebellion Quartermaster.   Just remember that some of the items such as Griftah's Authentic Troll Shoes will no longer be available.   Some of the items like Gahz'rooki's Summoning Stone and Raptorhide Boxing Gloves will still be rare drops from the Kor'kron in the Northern Barrens.

Valor and Justice points will not be reset (thank you).   What is a major change is that all of the reputation items up to the new raid reputation (Shaohao) will be available for justice points.  Also included is that reputation for these gets thrown out the window.  That pretty much means the majority of the gear (other than weapons) that is crafted will do a serious drop in price.   The main goal will be the addons (enchants,  armor patches,  enchants) that will be in high demand as players jump from newly minted 90's to raid worthy for just a few instance runs.

Another thing to make sure to grab in the next week is your Mantid Artifact Sonic Locator if you plan on doing any Archeology with the new patch.  It will become much more difficult to obtain this nice little toy after next week.

If you haven't stockpiled your leather, ore and other raw materials for the new transmutes:  your in a little bit of trouble.  With the key to new patterns being the new daily profession transmutes,  there will be a serious shortage at first as players look to burn through their stockpiles.  Anytime there is a major change in the professions transmutes/crafting the economy starts bouncing up and down.  Make sure to send your farmers and extra treat this week to have them all on the same page.

The last thing to do is to double check all of your absolute need addons.  Look at the addon page for your go to addons on Curse.com  to verify that your addons are going to be updated.  If the author has announced they won't be updating anymore then it will be a good time to look for the replacement. 

This next week will be active times to both empty out your items that will take a huge hit and also look to flip some commodities.  Use the Zero Balance Investment as one of your major weapons this week and come out on top. 

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. 

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:   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?

Customer First

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:58 PM

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Mommar here.

Early in my working career I worked for a software company as tech support.  Calls during the day included how to turn on the software,  how to install it,  how to use it etc.  Most of the calls were easy to field.  I just needed to phrase the information in a way that the caller could understand.

Part of my job was also to sell to customers after we had solved their problem.  Many times this included an upgrade to the newest version of the software.  Other times this included offering them other pieces of software that they might find just as useful.

The perfect opportunity to double your sales is to just inspect what equipment they are currently wearing.  If it's a new player they might be willing to take a little advice and buy a gem cut from you.  Viewing what they have at the point can lead you to upgrading a green item they have to a blue or even epic item in just a few clicks.

The key to being a good gold goblin starts with customer service.  Your knowledge and ability in the field of sales can help lead you into multiple sales from the same source.  Players might not know what you carry and offering one or two items can turn a simple sale into your gold mine for the day.

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. 

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:   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?

Patch 5.4: Golden Lotus Beatdown

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:27 PM

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Mommar here.

When starting Mists of Pandaria the biggest grind was obtaining revered with the Golden Lotus faction.  It was a long grind of finishing dailies.  After finishing the first set if you had a high enough reputation you could go to the next set.  Ultimately reaching revered and unlocking other quest hubs for Shado-pan and August Cestials.

Patch 5.3 unlocked the necessity to have revered reputation with Golden Lotus to have access to new quest areas.   With 5.4 the Vale of Eternal Blossoms gets a complete remake.   Assuming you call a place that looks like it was blown up with an atom bomb a remake.

The Golden Lotus after patch 5.4 is going to be an old school's reputation beat down.   Elite mobs giving you 200 reputation.  Lesser mobs only give you 5 rep per kill.   But fear not for there are a lot of mobs to kill in the area.

You also have access to the daily farmer order if you have leveled your farm high enough to have access.   Also there are random mobs that drop tokens that will give you rep.  Don't forget to also pick up your Grand Commendation of the Golden Lotus to increase your reputation grinding.

But don't forget to try your hardest to hit exalted before patch 5.4.   The achievement http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=7315/eternally-in-the-vale will not be available after patch 5.4 drops.  And many players are already going to be farming this area for the new Profession patterns.  So there will be a lot of players running around this area killing things that it might become frustrating to get that last couple of mobs to become awesome with The GL Corps (yes,  I said it.).

The patterns are even useful for selling to alternates as well as personal use.  Also remember that with patch 5.4 much of the gear that was available for valor points will now be sold for Justice Points.  This will put a huge boost on newly minted 90 players getting them into raiding that much faster.

Lots of exciting changes are just around the corner with patch 5.4.  Now is the time to push through the boredom and get your lineup set for the last phase of Mists of Pandaria.  Working smarter and not harder is the key to being the best gold goblin you can be.

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. 


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

Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Four Levels of Wow Activity

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:31 PM

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A friend of the Journal emailed me and asked me a question.   They wanted to know what I did when I just didn't feel like logging on to wow that day.

I had those days.  Many times it's the edge of being burnt out on the day to day activities that happen with World of Warcraft.   Not wanting to enchant one more scroll.  No interest in crafting one more piece of offer.  The thought of finishing an instance just makes me cringe.

Warning players that this is not a job.   You may have 'responsibilities' that you should do when you decide to log on is one thing.  But the minute that logging on to play a game becomes a job,  that's when it's time to reevaluate just how valuable your time is.

What I ended up doing is setting four different levels of logging on.  Each day might be different depending on what I want to do.

Minimum Day:

This is a day that the only thing I do is burn down my profession timers (Inscription,  Enchanting,  Blacksmithing,  Leatherworking,  Jewelcrafting etc.).   Depending on whether I have the materials at my toons fingertips of having to buy them from the Auction house, this generally takes me 20 minutes to complete.

Average Day:

On this day I'm going to go and finish everything for my minimum day,  plus list 10 items from each profession.  This requires a little knowledge of what has the highest profit margin.  This does not include any new crafting,  just list the top 10 items I have online.   Usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to finish all of these.

Maximum Day:

On one of these days I am finishing up all of my listings for all of my professions.  I might throw in some of the higher profit crafts to make.  Also working on some flips that I see need to be done.  Also included is all of the profession timer burns and also running a few instances.  I allot 1-3 hours for these days.  This also allows me to return to relist items and run instances/farm for points.

Overachiever Day:

These are my marathon sessions.  I have drinks at the ready,  popcorn to graze on and locking in for a long day of leveling,  profession grinding,  crafting,  instance running and buying/selling.   I do allow myself small breaks to refresh my brain when needed.  The longest I've done one of these sessions is 14 hours.  These are the ones I've limited because it feeds into that burn out feeling that happens the longer an expansion matures.

You have every option to decide what time frame works for you.  You might include a farming time that the only thing you do is farm while watching/listening to a movie.  Maybe you're just farming the Auction House for deals and flips without worrying about anything else.  You are in control of your own time allotment.  And your time is just as valuable as your gold is.  

Just remember,  this is a game and not a job.  If it becomes a job,  ask for a raise.

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. 

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
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Patch 5.4: Preparing your Farmers

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:02 PM

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Let's face facts.  Part of the game with World of Warcraft is farming.   Whether it's farming for materials,  pets,  gear or just something to do.

We have talked many times about having an army of farmers feeding you material.  Depending on the size of your operation you might have one for each raw material.   For a small operation you might have one very dependable worker feeding everything you need.   Just like any other worker,  treating them with respect becomes important as your relationship matures along with the expansion.

Many players are experiencing burnout through four patches to this expansion.  This can happen even more to your farmer who has killed the same mob 100's of times.  Mined the same piece of real estate many many times.   Overall that dependable farmer might be seeing less excitement in feeding into your profit making machine.

This is where you can open up your wit and wisdom and make sure you are treating them well.   Have a spare pet that you think they might like?   Wrap it in a nice gift wrapping and send it to them for being loyal.  Let them know that they are just as important to your profit making operation as anyone else.  Do they need  gear for their alternate toons?   Can they use a new mount?   The more you know about your co-worker the better you will be able to select the perfect gift to remind them they are important.

So why is it important to keep this type of relationship through a slower time?   Because the next expansion is just around the corner.  Have to think that Blizzard will be announcing soon (next 3 or so months) the title and information for the next expansion.  Having your farmers locked into your business model for this and future expansions can save you headaches later on.   Looking for new farming players is a headache that you can do without.

It also becomes just as important as you are entering patch 5.4 territory.  Starting your selective stockpiling of materials early will set you ahead of the grading curve.  Waiting to the last minute might leave you out in the cold.

So be nice to your co-workers.  Treat them well and they will be loyal.

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. 

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
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay

Patch 5.4: Easy Gear.. Easy Go

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:35 PM

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Mommar here.

If you look at the new isle of Timeless Isle previews on MMO-Champion and other sites then you will see that the words 'easy' and 'powerful' are being slung around for an easy armor set to obtain.

For your average gold goblin this will create cringes and whimpers of lost sales as players get their acts just to 90,  slap a little bit of PVP gear and then grind till they are at 496 armor from the isle.   But fear not loyal goblins,  all is not lost.  It will still be possible to make lots of gold in the next patch if you strap on your thinking cap and be prepared.

Profit margins can live many times based on non-motivated players (the polite term for lazy).  There will still be a time requirement to be able to grind a full amount of the Timeless Isle gear for raiding.  Most players will not want to eat that time just running around gathering chest and killing mobs.  They have had 3 patches worth of this mechanic.   But many players will grind out one or two pieces of gear,  then look to crafters and the auction house to replace the rest.

What will be required is to look at what gear is in demand.  The boots and gloves slot have historically been weak sales.  Where chestplates and legs still tend to dominate armor sales.  They give the most bang for their buck,  when each gold will become more critical to the player.  Gold may be flowing for more players,  but the majority still live paycheck to paycheck (or instance to instance).  The middle ground will be players that have enough to spend on gear,  but not enough to be able to craft it themselves.   That's the happy land for gold goblins to ply their wares to others.

Patch 5.4 will also be a good time to break out your trade chat barking skills again.  Players will be looking for your crafting skills as well as your BOP materials (Spirits,  Bars etc.) as well as the new time locked crafting items that will pop up in 5.4.  A well placed note of 'I am available to craft your item) can net you a quick turnaround on gold.

Don't forget the accessories as well.  As we get closer to the end of the road for Mists of Pandaria players will be looking for your epic enchants instead of just your bargain basement enchants.  So spending a few extra materials to craft that belt buckle or weapon enchant will put you in a new gold category.

Patch 5.4 might be the last major patch for MOP,  but it will be far from the last chance for gold goblins to add to their pool of money to swim in.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

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
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay
What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Let The Stockpiling Begin

My Precious Transformer

Bang The Drum Slowly

Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash

Prepping for Patch 5.4: The Beginning

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 11:57 AM

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In probably less than a month the powers that be will unleash patch 5.4.  Unless there is a drastic change in the landscape it will be the last patch for the pandaland expansion.   It brings the end of our trip to seeing fuzzy bears,  fuzzy logic and fuzzy gameplay.   But all is not lost.

Patch 5.4 will also bring a lot of opportunities include a new isle area to explore.  The last raid tier for the expansion and the finish of the epic story of Hellscreams rule.  If your a lore junkie like me this will be a fun patch to enjoy.

There will also be a lot of opportunities for gold making.  Players will be looking to ramp up not just for tier raiding,  but also getting their alts ready to run lower raids and instances.   All of this time looking for gear and items to buy.

In the next few weeks there will be a lot of journals and blogs talking about getting prepped for patch 5.4.  All of them will have good bits of wisdom (some more than others) so keeping your options open and looking all around will help with being prepared.

A few things to look at between now and then to take advantage of the new patch.

1.  Have your profession toons playing at lvl 90.

This may sound like a no brainer but some of the professions (such as inscription) didn't require you to reach level 90 to maximize it.   With the changes and drops for new recipes for Blacksmithing,  Leatherworking, Engineering and Tailoring you will need to be at your maximum level to take complete advantage of the patterns.

2.  Have your toons hearthstones in different areas.

My Hearthstones are set in different areas depending on the access I have in the bank and the Auction House.  Some would say that this isn't necessary because you can jaunt anywhere very quickly.  But remember that just after the patch you will have 1000's logging in at the same time.  All of them might be sitting right on the top of the Auction House or Mailbox and make it annoying to access your items.   Having your hearthstones set in different zones (Dalaran,  Silvermoon City,  etc.) can relieve a lot of the frustration of seeing 20 people dancing on the tip of the mailbox.

3.  Have someone sit on the mixed Auction House In Tanaris.

On many servers this has become a lost art to 'snipe' players transferring items across factions.  You hate it when it happens to you,  but love it when you can snag something nice for yourself.  It's also still a very valuable area to sell items that are faction specific.  The cat cage business from alliance to horde still nets a tidy sum to many.

4.   Know your strategy from the start.

Will you rush out to the new zones to grab the new patterns?  List items on the Auction House when you first log in?  Sit and wait for the 6 hours of resets that will happen with the new patch?   You have multiple strategies that you can use when the patch hits live.  Choose one and execute it with the knowledge you have to be flexible at times.  A reed bends in the wind and does not break (yes,  watched way too many kung fu movies when I was growing up).

5.   Enter with an open mind.

Too many players have already decided how they feel about a patch.  All of the changes to glyphs and abilities has marked this patch to some as the demise of warcraft.   But if you go in with an open mind to have fun,  you will be surprised at what occurs.

Keep looking for more information and updates as we march on Orgrimmar.

I want to the cool sword to cut off Hellscreams ponytail

Good Luck and Good Hunting

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
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay
What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Let The Stockpiling Begin

My Precious Transformer

Bang The Drum Slowly
Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash

The End of a Pricing Era

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:58 PM

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Mommar here.  I play multiple games on different platforms.   Most of them are played from my PC.  On Facebook I play Marvel Alliance.  I also play Marvel Heroes on my PC.  Just about every game has opened up the idea of having microtransactions.

Microtransactions are items you can buy inside (or even outside) the game that will offer you different bonuses,  costumes and even advancing in levels.  In some cases such as Marvel Alliance to be one of the top players you end up having to sink some gold into buying new and advanced weapons.

I've written about this before in Why Warcraft Needs Microtransactions.   The one caveat that I've always had about World of Warcraft is that it should stay with cosmetic items to purchase.  Items that do not have an actual effect on ability.  Blizzard just introduced it's own ingame store to introduce purchases from inside the game.   This means you should be able to buy your in game pets,  new shiny transmog helms and other items to make your character look spiffy.

But on the PTR's they have also introduced potions that can affect how you play inside the game.  It looks at minimum there will be new potions to give you faster leveling ability.  Other potions could easily be added to give you more temporary health,  Attack power and any other stat.   This could easily kill the transmute market for players with more pocket money that others.   But it also could drive the market even higher because it puts these potions (Potion of Luck anyone?).

But this does create a dangerous curve that happens with many of these games that have in game microtransactions.  It tilts the game towards those with more cash instead of evening the playing field.  There have already been many complaints about the 'dumbing down' of wow for the casual player.  Players who put hundreds of hours into their character in leveling,  obtaining gear and working their professions getting lapped by someone with a hundred dollars to spend.

I"m curious just how much they will add onto the in game purchase system and just how much effect it will have on the hard core player.  And just how much profit will this add to the coffers of the corporate company.

If you want a quick preview of the new in game purchase system go to Wow-Insider and watch the short video.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

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
Only Worth What Someone Will Pay
What i learned from Marvel Heroes....
Patch 5.4: Arise Scribe Arise!!!!!
Walking On The Dollars

Let The Stockpiling Begin

My Precious Transformer

Bang The Drum Slowly
Five Rules For Dating My Gold Stash

Enchanting Addons for quick flips

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 8:00 AM

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Each of the addons I have in my arsenal serve a distinct purpose.   Using addons such as Spartan for my look and keybinding to Trade Skill Master for my general Auction house interface.   Every addon does a specific group of tasks that are useful to me.

One that I use continually is called Enchanting Shuffler.   Using this combined with either TSM or the Auctioneer package allows me to get a quick screen shot of the enchanting materials market on your server.

Where TSM is very useful for general overall information.  The bigger it becomes,  the more of a learning curve that is necessary to make it very useful.  With the volatility of enchanting materials on servers from time to time,  having up to date information can be crucial.

Where running a full TSM scan (or using the automatic scanner add-on they provide from the TSM website) is a good benefit if you're working on all of your auctions.   Having a small quick view of the enchanting market can show you where the market if flows that day.   

Keep this in mind and install it and give it a try.   Knowing your conversions (5 to 1 for each enchanting material level in MOP) will give you a quick view of just what is the cheapest way to obtain materials.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Prepping for 5.3:   Profit lines

Realities Of Making Gold
How Does Free Gear Effect The Market?
Pre Patch 5.3 Setup
It's Childrens Weak... I Mean Week
Patch 5.3 on the Horizon
Old World vs New World Profits
Bad Bad Robot.. The Warcraft Edition
Strengthen Your Google-Fu
Go To Sales
Weekend Warriors
Possible Glyphmas With Patch 5.3?
The Green Parade
Lions,  Tigers and Cooldowns O My
Snakes in the Playground
Craft Me Some Pants.. Or Something Else
Flipping the BMAH off
Dear Blizzard:   Noblegarden Edition

Prepping For Darkmoon Faire

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 8:00 AM

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The Darkmoon Faire is less than a week away.  Not much has changed since the introduction of Darkmoon Island.  

With patch 5.1 there is an introduction to a few new pets,   a new battle trainer daily.  But most important this is going to be the first Darkmoon Faire that the corresponding cards will be upgradeable.

Every Darkmoon Faire since the introduction of the expansion has ended up with many of the materials used to craft the Darkmoon Faire decjs become highly in demand.   Herbs used to create become super scarce during this time.  From the Pandarian herbs used to mill out Starlight Inks to the cards themselves.  

This next week leading up to December 2nd your prime goal should be to both gather and purchase herbs for resell.  For Scribes,   continuing to do your daily Scroll of Wisdom creation will become paramount for your gold goals.

Keep in mind that upgraded cards will become BOP and non-tradable so unless you want to use it for personal use,  don't be tempted to give buyers and extra jump on an upgrade.

I'm continually asked what addon I use for most of my auctioning.   One of the addons I use continually is the Trade Skill Master addon.  One of the large benefits of this addon is both the shopping addon and the destroyer addon.  I use the shopping addon to get a good idea of just how much it would cost me for every ink i will use in a project.   It will give me an average price based on the cost of a stack of the item I'm purchasing.

The destroyer module makes milling/disenchanting/prospecting a one button operation.   This saves me time (and we know time is money) in production of materials for crafting.

A fair warning,   the entire module is very intricate and there is a high learning curve.   Reading the website,  the tutorials,   practicing and then reading everything again will keep you from listing items for 5 cents accidental.

In the next 4 days being prepped to sell the products used to create cards will net you a good chunk of change towards your gold goblin goal.

So be ready and prepared and let the crafting 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

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

Throwing Rocks At Pets

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 8:00 AM

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Mommar here.

Patch 5.1 is on the horizon,  and it brings a new wrinkle to the pet battle game.  

With the new patch there are stones that will be dropping from wild pets and pet tamers that will allow you to upgrade pets.  Many of the are BoP so won't be able to be resold (though the upgraded pets will be able to be upgraded).

The stone that should be looked at for investment purposes is the Flawless Battle Stones.   These are the only stones that are being added into the game that are BOE.   Their investment potential is going to be based on three different criteria.

1.   Strength of Pet Battles on the Server.

Just like investing in PVP or PVE items for resell.   A server has to have a strong pet battle scene to be healthy.   The best way to look at this is at http://www.wowprogress.com and see where your server ranks.  If your server is weak on pet battles,  then the sales opportunities for Flawless Battle Stones will be low.

2.   Cost and rarity of stones

Even in a healthy pet battle scene on a server,  some players are stingy on reselling items.   This will be the first item other than caged pets that will be available for sales on the open market.  Players might want to hold onto them and see just where the market lies.  Or instead of sales,  use the stones to strengthen their own pet army.

3.   Auction house issues.

Many of the auction addons had difficulty handling caged pets.   This had to do mostly with the way that Blizzard tagged the cages to be different that the uncaged pets for sale.   It is possible that with this stone there may be issues of listing or buying them.  So be prepared to update your addons as quick as possible or even look to buy and sell these and other items sans addons.

This will be a good opportunity to get a piece of the pet battle pie.   Upgrading gear has always been a part of Warcraft,   and upgrading your sales will put more gold in your goblin pocket.

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. 

Good Luck and Good Hunting

Patch Me Now

Old World Farming
Shake Off The Bad Days
Secret Of  My Success.html
Know Their Roles
Flipping Off The Competition
Kyparite: The New Pyrite
Pilgrim's Bounty For The Educated
Is Your Cartel Happy?
Brawlers Guild: Your Killing Us Here
Change of Scenery
Mists of Pandaria in 5 words

When Numbers Lie

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:49 PM

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Mommar here.

Many of my resources when working the auction house in wow is based on add-ons.  I use add-ons to make crafting of items easier,  to tell me what is in my inventory on different toons and even obtaining information from off site pricing listings such as Theunderminejournal.com.

Would I be able to function without these?   Probably,  but then I would have to depend more on hard research than at the fingers information.  Which can be a blessing and a curse.

I was posting up items on my bank toon and had a couple of Prospector's Woolies in my inventory.  Much to my interest my add-on (http://tradeskillmaster.com/) was listing these at a value between 3500 and 4500g a piece.   That's a nice chunk of change for a low level item.   So looking at a little research I found that it was part of a semi popular transmog set Gypsy Garb (Recolored).

This definitely peaked my interest because transmog sets do sell from time to time.   So I listed the item at a 'discounted' price of 3500g.   12 hours later I relisted it for 3500g again.   Relisted the item for 3500g after 12 hours ad nauseum(you get the point).

Does this mean that it will fail to  sell for 3500g at some point    I'm a very patient person and 3500g is worth a lot of relisting.  But it did spark something in my brain about the price listing that some addons will show.   At the beginning of Mists of Pandaria there were many level 87-88 items that were being priced at 50,000g or even more.  One of my guild mates was lucky enough to obtain one of these and was asking how much to price it at.    Offering my supposed wisdom on the item I suggested he ignore what the add-on price offered and put it at a reasonable amount of gold.   The item later sold for 10,000g and he pocketed the amount.   Could he have received the 50,000g that the item was supposedly worth?  Maybe,  but it was a long shot that players would want to spend that much gold for an item that would be replaced relatively quickly as they reached level 90.

Accurate information is the plank that a gold goblin will create their view of the auctioning world.  Accurate information can come from many sources.   That information should be processed by a gold goblins wisdom and past experience.   So when something doesn't quite seem to fit,  the odds are that it doesn't.   So when that big bonus item drops into your lap,  look at the numbers and see if they are really telling the truth.

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

Arrow to the Knee
Must Have Farming Equipment
But How Much Is It?
You Just Can't Fix Stupid
Trick or Treat Time 
Can Pokewow be saved?
Buying Patterns For Investment
How Not To Influence People
Long Term Plans
The Measure Of A Goblin
Pulling the Deal Trigger
The Vikings Are Upon Us
Dailies For Second String
Flipping Out To Survive
Resetting The Plan
Discipline In the Ranks
The Professions Race To 87
Junk In The Trunk
I bought My Gear on Ebay

Pricing A Guild... Pawn Star Style

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 12:25 PM

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 A couple of days ago a friend of mine approached me.   They informed me that a friend had a guild
to sell.   Ever since Warcraft implemented Guilds and Guild banks,  it's been a good way to obtain extra storage slots.  

Buying a guild is a negotiation.  Many of them are empty of items,  just ending up being purchased for the storage area.  But in this case the guild itself contained multiple items.   Some were vendor bait (poisons,  vendor materials,  items that would never sell).  Also contained in these were some sellable items.

Working through my mental progression of what the items were worth,  and where they would be best used for,  I came up with a suggested value,  then slashed my offer by 40%.  Negotiation brought to you by History Channel and Pawn Stars.

So here is a quick guide on how to value a guild bank for purchase.

• Each slot gets a base value.   Slot 1 being 100g,  Slot 2 being 250g,  Slot 3 being 500g   (this was a 3 slot guild bank I was purchasing)   Value + 850

• Add any gold still contained in the bank  (yes,  I have purchased guilds that the bank still had money in it)

• Add value for any items still in the bank (items to be vendored can generally be counted as zero)  Addons will be helpful to get a quick value of the item.  But be careful because sometimes an item may come up as being very valuable,  but it might not sell on your server. 

• Add up all that value,  then decide on the discount that you feel is appropriate.   I used 40% simply because all the items that were in the guild bank to purchase I could craft myself at about that price. 

• Look at the level of the guild.    If you are using a leveling toon for this,  or have an interest in building a guild.  A higher level guild will give you a jump start for success.    

• Be prepared to walk away.   Sometimes people just feel that their time is more valuable.   You have an advantage over the seller.   He wants a quick profit over his sale.    The odds are that he isn't going to want to continue to look for a buyer.   There will be more guilds available.  And they might be worth more than what the seller wants at that point.

• Enjoy your new guild.   And your new prosperity

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

Noblegarden:  It wasn't that lucky for the rabbit

1% Rule

Ore report ... dig dig dig

Loot rule changes in MOP
Cleaning out your closets
5 habits of successful goblins
Its all in the bag
They call me the mad hatter
Should I sell or should I use
Upgrade your game, and your sales
Cruising around

Didn't I just read that there?

You talk to much... losing the sale

Five things you should be selling: Cooking Edition

Five things you should be selling: Engineer Edition

Trade Skill Master Goodies

Posted by Aleithia at 8:00 AM

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If you've been auctioning for a long time, you've undoubtedly heard about (and been using) the addon Trade Skill Master. Well, sapu and the gang have recently released their first "release" version, officially moving out of Beta. With the release came an entirely new interface and design. Here are some of the cool new features, or old features that I'm just discovering with the new interface. For a more comprehensive video guide to TSM, you should check out Faid's post.

Custom Post Scans

I've talked about multiple profiles before. The basic idea was that I could limit the items I was scanning for by setting up different profiles that contain different groups and pricing structures. If you right-click the Post Auctions button, you can create a custom post scan. Basically, this allows you to only post certain groups, or even just a few items in the group. Maybe you're not interested in posting your entire cycle and just want to do enchants and gems. Now it's easier than ever to do it.

Custom Cancels

Right-clicking Cancel Auctions also produces a custom process. It has the same functionality as the custom post scan, limiting the groups you want to scan for. It also has the option to cancel only items with short (30 minutes), medium (2 hours) or long (12 hours) durations. In my auction groups, some items are posted for only 12 hours total because there's high competition and I want to re-post more frequently. Some items I only post once/day for 24 hours, or even 48 in a few rare cases. One frustration I've had is posting auctions before leaving for work, then returning home and posting again, except not all of my 12 hour auctions are expired. I don't want to cancel everything, and now I don't need to. I can custom cancel short duration auctions and leave up my longer ones.

Automatic Database Updating

I love having up-to-the-minute data. I regularly update my Undermine Journal Addon so I can have accurate pricing that isn't dependent upon me logging in and scanning hourly. Now, TSM author Sapu has a separate program that runs in the background outside WoW and updates your AuctionDB data. Read this post for instructions. Some people are concerned about running executables from users, but I've had it running for a few days now with no problems. It worked right out of the box for me.

These are just a few of the hidden gems I've found. How is the new version working for you? Any tips to share with your fellow readers?

The secret of my success

Posted by J.E. Douglas at 6:21 PM

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In the past few weeks there have been more and more messages arriving at the JMTC office Midwest campus.

Some end up being thanks for tips,  some are comments about my style (or lack of).  And even the occasional spam from a African princess looking for love in all the wrong places.

But one of the most popular ones are looking for tips on how to make more gold.  Many of them lately being of the "I'm just restarting to play wow again,  and I need to make 5-10k gold every day.

I thoroughly enjoy helping people making warcraft gold.   And having 2.3 million in the bank seems to say that I am semi decent at it.    With the different methods,   economic builds,   elementium shuffles and other strategies that we talk about all the time here.  There is one ideal that should be put into any gold sellers mind as being their mantra:

I supply,   they demand.

Everything gold related expands on this ideal.   You have consumers that want products,  you have methods to make these products and to supply them.    The rest is a matter of learning the mathematics behind the sales.   What can I sell to someone,  and what will they pay for it.   This seems like a simple idea,  but you build your millions based on this one statement.   Everything else is extra curricular on what you do with your money.

The other answer  that seemed to be a popular answer from others have been you need to have TSM or another favorite addon to make gold in the game.   It was even presented at one point that you needed to have the Android/Iphone app and two accounts to make gold in warcraft.  Where these ideas do open a lot more opportunities.  They really are in no way required to make lots of gold in the game.  It takes time,  and knowledge and even a form of discipline.   The addons make things a lot easier.  But just like science.  If you do not have a baseline knowledge of how the warcraft economics work,  you are limiting your gold making opportunities

Gold making should always be fun in the game.  It can easily become a game into itself. one that you know the score by hearing the ringing of the coin purse as you answer your mail.  IT's a basic skill that will open up areas that you never believed possible.    Gearing alts quickly,  buying that stronger piece,  buying your way into mount runs.   The only limits are what your mind can develop.

There is no truly easy button to press to make gold.   Everyone has an opinion on how it's done,  and sometimes they are right,   sometimes they are wrong.   The decision has to be your own on whether you want to try something with the chance of failing.  Or just look at that 85k mount you have always wanted and not be able to afford it.

Good Buying and selling

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.


Secret of my success

Straight to the hearth

Dont flip out

Go invest young man

Engineers do it with Power .. and Portals

Happy New Tear

Tip the light fantastic

Tis the season to be goblins

My rod shall comfort thee.. and make gold