OK I ate too much

Christmas has come and gone and with with it being New Years Eve tomorrow I have run out of excuses not to post. I've no real excuse, just distracted by the game, life and recooperating some energy for the madness January will bring at work

Cataclysm has bought good things and bad things for me. I've spent the week doing a variety of things, not just gold related

Just in case you havent been told

There is now a AH and a bank in the Dwarven District of Stormwind. Its right next to a pub as well. Its got a vendor that sits between the three of them.

It is so much nicer than the trade district. Why would you not set your hearthstone there?

Announcement of a Christmas Experiment

*NOTE This post is not about selling anything on this site. I am not Markco.

I have the next 12 days off, and now that we have entered the Cata routine its time for me to test a few ideas that have been ticking along in the back of my head for the last wee while. I've decided that the break is a good opportunity to test one or two hypotheses to attempt to get some empirical data to work with.

I thought I'd announce in advance the first of these. The question to be test is his

Is it better to be a /trade seller, bark your AH wares or leave your AH wares to be found without advertising?

The Undermine Journal is closed, Auctioneer struggles on...

Many of you will have noticed that Auctioneer has been playing up in recent times. Getall scans returning incomplete results, impeding our ability to scalp as much gold as we would like.

POLL: What transmutation do you do each day?

Its interesting to me that my alchemist can transmute gems as much as she wants but the vast majority of transmute share the same 24 hour CD. The new truegold and volatile transmutes share the same cool down as BC and LK transmutes. It all seems very odd to me.

Truegold mats currently cost around 800-1000g on Cael. Bars have crashed to 1200g. Transmute fees have dropped accordingly. Not that I would sell mine but I do watch trade on occasion dont you know.

So which transmute are you guys doing each day? How about I set up a poll and see?

Ho! Ho! Bloody Ho!

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

Bah! Humbug!

You want it your way? You've Got It!

I got a comment on my previous post which hit a nerve for me.

Firstly please let me say that I would never dare tell anyone that the way they want to play WoW is wrong. If I was ever that arrogant I would hope someone would point it out and tell me to STFU.

Fortune Card - a followup to comments

People are right - 1k for 5 mins is not 12k an hour. I was just sowing a seed of doubt. Time is money friend.

I can however be better using the next 115 minutes that the seller used up being a trade whore.

Sure I might not have made 12k at the end of the two hours - but I personally dont see much enjoyment spamming trade and wearing the abuse. I'd sooner spend the rest of the first hour making 5k in the AH and the second hour running dying in a heroic or leveling an alt.

I personally have never lost sight of the fact that WoW is not a gold making game. I have one 85, and three more toons on the way. I've made a lot of gold since Cata hit and have most professions maxed. I know of people who have made a lot more than I have, but I'm very happy with where I've progressed to.

I've always hated /trade. We have three wonderful examples of pre-neandethal personalities who are the reason I often leave trade altogether. Being a spam seller does nothing for me. Big ups to the card seller for being able to cope.

Fortune Cards - a simple perspective

The Fortune Card debate ensues as expected. Like many others I am very surprised that Blizzard introduced them - its gambling and unfortunately there are some people who will get addicted. I fully expect Blizzard to withdraw them very quickly once the first compaints arise (which I have no doubt has already happened).

Holding The Line

The above picture depicts one of my favourite chapters from The Fellowship of the Ring, where Gandalf faced the Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm in the Mines of Moria. Although admirably portrayed by Sir Ian McKellen in Peter Jackson's movie, Tolkeins original prose always felt more emotive to me.

"You cannot pass," he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass."

Comfortably Numb

Hello,
Is there anybody in there
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone at home

Breaking the silence

With less than 24 hours to go, I thought I should post something.

I've been slack, I admit that. I took this week off from work (sad but true) and I usually post during my lunch times at work. Thus I've been quiet for a few days.

Over the weekend I've crossed off most of the remaining list. Outland herbs, or more importantly Ethereal Ink, is still a bane for me. I made a mistake when I exchanged my inks, when I should have changed all my Inks of the Sea, not just a portion. This has left me short of Ethereal Ink now the glyphs are all made, but I will struggle through.

The best laid plans of mice and men. But still, this one concern is not going to make too much difference over the next few weeks.

The main decision is how I intend to play out the next few days. Do I focus on gold or the game? To be honest, I hope that my plans will allow me to focus on the game whilst the gold looks are itself. Automation, the fact that addons shouldnt break and forward planning should mean I can enjoy the leveling experience whilst the coffers increase.

I admit I am looking forward to the next few days, and will post about the experiences when I can But to be honest, I don't know how much I'll be around to post - I've guild rep to get, and levels to grind and AHs to scan. But don't stress, I'm not going anywhere. It'll be nice to actually have something to post about other than conjecture and guess work.

Let the good times roll people. Enjoy the next few days, savour ever minute of the new quests and the new gmae. From what I have seen on the Beta, Blizzard have done us proud.

Knowing what really matters

Today is a sombre day for New Zealand. Today we remember the 29 men who lost their lives in the River Pike Mining Tragedy. At 2pm I stood alongside my colleagues in silence as we remembered those that had been lost  in the explosions that changed the lives of so many in a town called Greymouth and in the country as a whole.

The effect of changing drop rates

I'm going to harp on again about why there is never any certainty in WoW when it comes to gold making opportunities.

NEWS FLASH! Recipe: Savory Deviate Delight

News Just In

The drop rate on this item has increased dramatically in the Northern Barrens.

I've snagged 8 today for under 150g on the horde side and flicked on Alliance side for 700g+

Wont last long - get in before it becomes widely known

4.0.3a - how was it for you?

The world has shattered. And there was money to be made for some. Mages are rich and getting richer. But enough about them, how was it for you?

300 and Breevok is still going

Long time readers will know I like to celebrate posting milestones on this blog and this is my 300th post since I first started putting my thoughts down in September 2009.

This post contains little to do with WoW and nothng to do with gold -  those posts will be written and posted later today. But for now I wanted to explain how Breevok, the name, came into being.

And so we wait....again!

Nice cinematic. Its good to see it in Hi-Definition and in full screen. But the servers are down, due to come back up in 90 minutes unless there is another (likely) delay.

This reminds me of 4.0.1 - except this time I went to work for the morning (afternoon off providing I do the reports I have to so this wont be a long post)

So what did I due in the hours prior to shut down? Actually I was pretty efficient, until the last 15 minutes but more of that later...

4.0.3a goes live tonight *meh I was wrong - sue me*

OK so the shattering awaits us within the next 24 hours. The World of Warcraft as we know it will change forever, and whether we like it or not we are going to have to adapt.

I accept I was totally wrong yesterday when I said it would be the 30th - See? I am human after all whatever others might think :)

Instructor Razuvious - want a challenge? Go try him since 4.0.1/4.0.3!

Saturday night - 23 intrepid raiders formed a group to attack Naxxramas with the aim to get "The Immortal" achievement before it's removed forever in a couple of weeks time.

We started in the Military with Instructor Razuvious, in case the two priests brave enough to do the mind control screwed up and we had to leave and reset the instance. As it turned out it was a good idea we did....

Patch 4.0.3a and the issues that will arise for golbins

OK 4.0.3a is near - I personally doubt its Tuesday (Pilgrims is on) but the following Tuesday - the 30th of November.

Opportunities for making gold before Cata hits

Many of you will be stocking up for Cataclysm, benefiting from the ridiculously low prices that others are dumping items for on the AH. But don't forget your nest egg as well - we all want to be gold rich as well as asset rich come the 7th of December.

There are ways to be making profit pre-cata, and its important to remember this. I admit that the AH-flip (buy low/sell normal) is bringing in less and less as prices are generally dropping across the board on most servers. But as prices fall new opportunities arise...

So how much gold is enough?

 

Just got a late comment on a recent post from Vayaz. He runs a new gold making gold (check him out and give him your support) who raised the following point for discussion

They implemented the new gold cap for a reason, I suppose. And it was not that some auctioneers (well, most of them) had saved 214k gold and more.

I'm just not sure how much gold the average player is supposed to own (nowadays, most have either like 50-80k or nothing at all, it seems), but I don't doubt that 999k will not be too hard to get for anyone who's into gold-making!

It's a very good question. I currently sit at 385k across my 10 toons on Cael. I have a lot of stock and, if I liquidised my assets, ballpark calculations would say that I have about a million gold locked up in items stashed in banks.

Preparing for the Cataclysm Glyph War

Firstly apologies for the absence of a post yesterday. The data required for this post look me longer to gather than I'd anticipated.

The glyph market is a fickle thing. When 4.0.1 hit the industry of glyph making entered a new phase and the gold coffers swelled. Life was good. Alas I still don't think we will see the likes of, what many call, 'Glyphmas' again in the near future.

Did they change the audio file for receiving gold?

I just emptied my mailboxes and vendored a couple of items. When I received my gold it sounded...erm...tinny.

Has the WoW economy been infiltrated with fake coinage?

This is a very worrying thought... perhaps this is the true Cataclysm that lies ahead, conterfeit money destroying the wealth of the goblin populus?

Waiting for Cataclysm...

I didn't post yesterday. I had nothing to say. Today is different. I am posting. Alas I still have nothing to say.

The King Is Dead

And so is Arthas. Woot. That is all.

Are the any risk free investments for Cataclysm?

This week I have asked my readers think about the logic behind the choices they make, to consider the 'what ifs' and 'buts' of their decisions. But are there any 100% risk free purchases to be made when getting ready for the next few weeks?

Pristine Black Diamonds

OK change of pace - and a direct piece of guidance.

With the announcement just made from Blizzard (read here) that the "Insane In The Membrane" achievement has been changed yet again, with the the Shen'dralar requirement being the only thing removed - then if you haven't already - dump your Pristine Black Diamonds whilst you still can

PBDs have been selling for crazy prices (I sold my stacks cheaply for 500g a pop about a week ago) on all servers - but with the Shen'dralar requirement now gone (come Cataclysm) the PBDs are, well, limited in their use and will plummet in price.

I am sure the majority of you, who not going for the Insane title, have already sold your stocks, but for those that havent - time to sell before the masses find out.

PS Same advice goes for Librams as well :)

Bank Space - a limiting factor for Cataclysm preparations?

One thing that the Netherweave Bag posts did get me thinking about was bank space.

There are many many posts in the gold-blogsphere about how much gold you make per hour. How farming is not an efficient use of time etc etc.

But as we all prepare for Cataclysm, a new factor is needing to be considered - gold per bank slot....

Responsibility - The Netherweave Bags Post and Why I Posted It

Its funny - this blog over the entirety of its existence has been based around experiments that I run to test hypotheses. But some people don't get that.

Yesterday's post was an experiment - which produced results. My apologies for treating the readers as guinea pigs, it was disrespectful - but many of your came through and can be proud with your responses

Alas, some didn't pass, and its to those that I write today's post...

The netherweave bag - what fate awaits you?

 FOREWORD - This post was written for an explicit reason.
It is important that you read this post as well.

Ahhh the old faithful netherweave bag - our favourite 16 slot friend. How we love thee.

Is it ever too late to enter the glyph market?

Can you make gold as a low level scribe? This was a question I asked myself on the weekend, and the answer is quite emphatically -YES!

OK you win. What Breevok is stocking up for Cataclysm, and why if Markco wants to promote his thoughts on my blog then he's open to being corrected when he gets it wrong :)

OK. You win. You want to know what I am doing to prepare for Cata? So be it.

Dammit Cameron - stop making comments I feel I must respond to! ;-)

Cameron Baillie just made another comment on yesterday's post. I'll respond to each part as we go.

Playing your cards close to your chest

Yesterdays post received a comment I thought deserved a response:

Cameron Baillie said...

You are all very aloof with the items that you are stockpiling, any chance of posting what those are to promote more discussion? eg. I'm stockpiling netherweave for bags/professions as well as things like infinite dust and greater cosmics (as well as snatching the lowbie enchanting mats if i see them cheap).

Its a good question, and one I've asked myself numerous times over the last few days...

Shhhh! I'm hunting wabbits!

I don't know about anyone else, but for me an eerie silence seems to have descended over Azeroth. Last night I did the Elemental Invasion event on both my mains, and got the "Tripping the Rifts" achievement on Puraa. No doubt over the next week or so, I'll take all my toons through and get both things done. But ultimately it's just another stocking filler - a pair of socks when you know the puppy you are getting is still out of your reach for a few more hours.

So we sit and we wait. Under five weeks to go and little to do to fill the void.

POLL RESULTS - Impliment Plan B

 The question posed was:

What profession should Cynicism max out before Cataclysm?

The results were interesting:
Blacksmithing - 10
Herbalism - 6
Mining - 4

Therefore 50% thought that a maxed blacksmith would be the best thing to do before Cataclysm. My thanks to everyone that voted. However, I am not listening to the readers - but I havent taken the profession you think I have.

Bringing the hunter into focus

Following yesterdays post about how much I love the priest in 4.0.1, my thoughts turn to Puraa, my hunter.

I am ridiculously fond of Puraa. She officially became my main about 6 weeks ago, but whereas the transition through 4.0.1 was a doddle for Sardonica, Puraa had a very different experience.

POLL - Clarification

Chad commented yesterday "It's not like you can have more than one gatherer gathering at the same time, so once you're level capped (or as high as you plan to get for the near future) then I do not see any advantage to having more than one farmer."

 Just a quick clarification as I get the feeling  that I didnt make the situation clear

Smiting Gives You Wiiiiiiings!!!!

I havent really talked much about 4.0.1 outside of the AH. Now that things have settled I wanted to write two posts about my beloved mains Sardonica and Puraa - the priest and hunter.

POLL - Are you sure you really wanna do that? Really really 100% sure?

Other things I did over the weekend, well firstly I got 6 levels on Cat's priest. She equipped the special offhand that she uses (aka Puraa) and ran through EPL, Stratholme, hit 58 and smashed half of Hellfire to bits. About an hour per level and the priest hits 61. The intention is to get that toon to 80 prior to Cata, so we have a maxed Tailor and a second enchanter.

The weekend that was....

Long weekends rock. Seriously, they really do. It was Labour Weekend in New Zealand, which resulted in a free Monday which allowed Catreann and myself to put in place some plans for the next few weeks until Cata is released.

 

The Future's Bright. The Future's Orange.

The last week has taught me a lot. Its now 9 days since the patch, I've got enough to see me through into Cata and I am tired. So very tired.

This struck me as odd

On an old post Working against yourself - should I be concerned? I received a late comment overnight:

In response to the final question I posed "Do I do myself a disservice giving people a heads up on what/how/why/where/when I do certain things?" I got this:

Yes you do. You're a smart human being. You should expect that it's very probable that competitors may have set an eye on your blog to read your thoughts/tactics/strategy etc.

So, post a specific content AH-related post after the success of it. Don't to tell to strangers about things you do in the present, tell them about things you've done in the past...
Your Friendly Anonymous.

"How Odd" I thought to myself. The original post was written over a month ago, but warranted a response now?

Missing/Uncraftable Glyphs in 4.0.1

There are a number of glyphs which are currently not able to be made:

• Glyph of Mage Armor
• Glyph of the Long Word
• Glyph of Armors
• Glyph of Vanish

There may be others I do not know about at this stage.

Mage armor is the only one of the four which was makeable before the patct hit - and therefore there other three have never existed much to the annoyance of mages, rogues  and paladins.

The oversight of the three new glyphs will be fixed in a forthcoming match as confirmed here: but no news on Mage Armor. Keep buying them cheaper when you can (prices 250g and climbing on cael!)

The Glyph Seller Shuffle

I mentioned on Friday that I was going to split my glyphs into type 1 and 2 and have differing selling strategies for each. Last night as I took stock of the situation I realised that what was important for me was not what was available to the masses and what was only available to the few, but survival through this weekend.

Trilbin's 5 minutes of Fame at the Undermine Journal

I've spoken of the Undermine Journal before - its a wonderful site which allows snap shots of many aspects of a servers economy.

Glyph of Mage Armor

Well well well.

The Glyph of Mage Armor is interesting. Seems those made pre patch exist - but its bugged in 4.0.1

Not a single scribe has been able to make one since. And its an awesome mage glyph.

Until this is hot fixed I think there is gold to be made right here!

Can I come out yet?

Day two of 4.0.1 was indeed another fruitful one with 25k+ in sales.

Its interesting because of the number of part time scribes who have suddenly come out of the woodwork is quite phenomenal

And so it came to pass...

Taken from Domino Part One - In The Glow Of The Night - Genesis

In silence and darkness
We held each other near that night
We prayed it would last forever.

Glyphs for sale - 100g each. Grab a bargain whilst you can!

Thankfully I'm still able to work with QA3. Auctioneer is toast atm but Norganna and his team are working on it.

So far I've sold 300+ glyphs at between 25-100g each. 10k in 2 hours. That I can live with.

Edit: 450+ glyphs, 15k in 2 hours

Herbs are not available - a total of 130 herbs (not stacks) currently on the AH. If you dont have inks (and you will need a lot with each glyph now using three) you are going to struggle to stay competetive.

How long the mad rush will last I dont know - personally I'd wait a while but most people arent patient and are buy their glyphs right now!

Another update shortly

So we sit and we wait

Yeah its true, I took a days leave for 4.0.1.

Servers were meant to be back at 8am in New Zealand. Then 10am. Now midday.

Downloads are complete, patch is installed. So I sit and I wait for the servers to come back online.

Dishes are done. Washing is in the machine. Done all my finances for the month.

And still I wait.

In less than three days...

Yes yes yes. I know. In less than three days (in all likelihood) patch 4.0.1 will hit.

The closing of a couple of experiments

I've closed down the glyph experiment and the resale experiment. I am doing this for differing reasons:

The Glyph Experiment

• Has been run for 5 weeks and have enough data to draw conclusions
• Got distracted over the weekend and missed a days worth of data
• Recording data is time consuming
• Requires regular posting times to get accurate data which is restrictive

Resale Experiment

• Run for a week which shows me what I needed to know
• VERY time consuming
• Low gold/hour income