Bye Bye... I Will Take Your Gold Now

Posted by Joseph Douglas at 12:33 PM

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Blizzard/Activision reported last week that they lost approximately 14% of subscribers in the past quarter.  Unless you do any type of investment in stocks and bonds this would mean very little to the masses.

But if you take a look at the loss of those subscribers it does show that players are starting to get burnt out again and look for other hobbies.  Many times this means players will go and stop paying their subscription,  waiting for the next expansion to arrive.

Other times players decide to completely leave the game.  This opens up a good opportunity for players to grab some extra items to sell,  resell or vendor.

Now this won't require a lot of work on your part.   All you would have to do is keep your eyes and ears open and talk to people who are leaving the game.  Talking to them to discuss what they plan on doing with their items when they leave.   Some will say no,  not interested.  Some will be more willing to give it to a guild member.  Others just want it done and over with.

Even if you are able to obtain one or two 'clearance sales' from players leaving the game your gold haul could be in the 1000's.  I've cleaned out guild banks and players for 1000's of gold in the past.

Just keep in mind that it's a negotiation as well.   Talk to them and explain to them the benefits of letting you liquidate the items for you.  Even throw in the idea of giving their guild x amount of gold.   Whatever points it takes to get them to let you take the heavy burden of emptying their items and pockets.

Also keep in mind that you should be fair with your offers.  If you can get all of their items for free that's great and wonderful.  But if your reputation takes a hit then you will pay more in the future.   That reputation is how people see you and treat you in your deals.

Looking for players leaving Warcraft can be a great opportunity to stack more gold into your future vaults.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

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
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

Patch 5.3: First Impressions

Posted by Joseph Douglas at 12:15 PM

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It's two days since patch 5.3 hit our greedy little computer hands.   Needless to say after the first day of bugs and fixes made its way through the system it was a success.

The new heroic scenarios definitely become a challenge at first.  The same with the new regular scenarios and added heroic quests.  It will take a couple of weeks before most of these will become much easier.

The content itself,  including the horde changes (no spoilers) were pretty good.   My biggest concern is the burnout factor that some of these will entail.  It took less than a month before the 'new' content of 5.2 became another grindfest.  With patch 5.3 not having as much new content as 5.2 contained,  there is a high chance that the wow factor will disappear quickly and everyone will be back to the wondering what's next.

PVP still has to shake itself out with the queueing issues for healers.  Also with the removal of one of the new battlegrounds of the random rotation a sure fire hit became a swing and a miss in a moments notice.

Still this patch will mature in the next couple of weeks which will help.   I was glad to see the upgrades to items returned.   Many players were running out of places to use their Valor points unless they were heavily into raiding.  Now there is a good funnel for extra valor points once a player has geared their toon.

Auction House has been doing well.  As always riding a wave of new shining items that people want immediately.  I was happy with the short investments I did in ore and in higher end crafting items for quick flips.   It's still early in the wave so this weekend will tell just how successful my gold goblin senses were.

Between now and the weekend I will be searching for players unloading their materials onto the open market.  Some players will be underwhelmed with the new content and look to leave the game.  So grabbing a good deal will become just as important as killing that latest mob.

Keep your head above the water.

Good Luck and Good Hunting

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
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

Post Patch 5.3: The Lineup

Posted by Joseph Douglas at 12:53 PM

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It's the day after patch 5.3,  and the world did not come to an end.   Cats and dogs are not laying together and the Mayans were still wrong.

One of the things I did before patch 5.3 is to change my lineup a little bit.  I kept my main characters but shuffled around some of the alternates and their professions.  

Mommar:
(The main man)

He will always be my main,  being a Leatherworker and Blacksmith since I started it's been a good combination of profession upgrades and the ability to gain patterns through dungeons and raids.

Move:

This is my farming toon,  having been my Skinner and Miner since I started her.   She also is my ranged player when I am bored with getting up in mobs faces and hitting them very hard.

Alt 3:  (you really think I was going to tell you who your competition was?)

This is my shaman Jewelcrafter and Engineer.   I inherited her from another player and arranged her professions to where I wanted them to be.   She also will do dungeons and the occasional raids to obtain patterns.

Alt 4:

This is my Druid.   Having flying ability has made her my Alchemist and Herbalist.  There was the thoughts of converting her to a different profession but I kept both of them for the time being.

Alt 5:

This is my Paladin.   She's one of my first pet projects because I became bored during the Cataclysm and wanted a different challenge.   Being my Scribe and Herbalist has made her play in the background since both inscription and Herbalism are most difficult professions to make profits in.


Alt 6:

My Warlock is my Enchanter and Tailor.   She has been a very steady moneymaker with bags and enchants though I have been lax in getting her leveled.   Still one of my top moneymakers since Burning Crusade. \
(I shake her a lot of extra coins on the mailbox)


Alt 7:

This is one of my two bank toons.   I keep her in Thunder Bluff for most of my flipping opportunities and the random big ticket items that I want to rotate for sale.  

Alt 8:

My other bank toon sitting in Tanaris.  I use her for flipping items between Horde, Alliance and vice versa.  I've also used her for food storage ever since Burning Crusade (anyone want some worg meat?)

Alt 9:

My Death Knight is in semi retirement.  I use him as my pet seller and the occasional odds and ends.  He is also my other Engineer.   One of my engineer has the goblin profession line and this one has the gnome profession line.   It is less of a problem than it was during the earlier expansions.

Alt 10.

My goblin shaman is my first that received the makeover.  Originally I took my own advice and gave her mining and Herbalism.  This has been profitable for both money and experience.  Recently I changed her mining profession to my second alchemist and started leveling her for the future transmutes.  

Alt 11:

My Rogue rounds out my lineup.  He originally was going to be a Jewelcrafter and Engineer but there is an internal debate with the lineup on whether I will ultimately need a third Alchamist.  Engineering is enjoyable but having three in the lineup is not always cost effective.  There are now very few Engineer only items available other than helms.

When I set my lineup I wanted a combination of enjoyable game play and money making opportunity.  My Druids became very strong farmers due to the flight capabilities and not needing to drop out of flight form to pick up herbs.

My hunter is my skinner because while I'm mowing down one mob I can set my pet to tag three or four more for killing and processing.

Keeping an eye on your lineup and adjusting based on the economy and available gameplay is to be expected.  The change should always be welcome with the right planning and budgeting.

Good Luck and Good Hunting


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
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

Patch 5.3: It's here... well tomorrow

Posted by Joseph Douglas at 12:13 PM

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Mommar here.

Tomorrow is patch day for 5.3.   The race will be on to get the new achievements and new scenarios.   I"ve always prescribed to the wait and see what happens when it comes to the first day of a patch.

This isn't my first rodeo when it comes to new patches.   Four expansions with at least 4 patches in each expansion has taught me a few things.

1.   Be prepared to wait.

Problems with the patch will happen.   Some patches have had little problems other than a few bugs but none of the patches have ever been implemented that didn't need any type of quick fix.

2.   Update your add-ons for the next week.

During the first week of the patch you should just add the time to your daily progress to update your add-ons.  New items and additions to the UI interface wreck havoc on add-ons.  Especially anything that changes buttons or customizes how the interface looks.

3.   Players will want the best equipment and upgrades as fast as possible.

With the new shield heirloom items as well as new pvp weapons and cloaks,  players will want to add more power to each item.  This means not just direct enchanting will get a boost but also the materials will get a healthy boost at the start.   Later on when the excitement is done and everyone is back to their reputation grinding prices should go back to their stable amount.

4.    People will be grouchy.

Any problem with the patch will cause a ripple effect in the attitudes of many players.   WOW has an instant gratification game in many ways.   Players are getting used to the idea of login,  go to a certain place and loot loot loot.   This works to a certain point.  But if something goes wrong,  then players will tend to grumble and rant that things are too difficult or it takes too long.  Keep this in mind and do not let it drag down your attitude.

5.  There is gold out there.

New content brings back players into the fold.  They want to see the next part of the storyline.  So players who want some downtime will jump back into the fray and look to see the new shiny fun items.   Look to sell to them.  Gems,  Enchants,  patches,  crafted quality weapons and armor.   Return players can add a bit of coin to your coffers.

6.  Have fun.

It's a game.  Treat it that way.  If things get too frustrating,  then go and read a book and come back tomorrow.   The game has been here for over 10 years,  it will be there for another day.

Good Luck,  Good Hunting and see you on the other side of the patch.


Patch 5.3:  Preparing for the Arrival
Patch 5.3:   Grasspicking World Order
Patch 5.3: Bring Out Your Miners
Enchanting Addons 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
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

Patch 5.3: Preparing for the Arrival

Posted by Joseph Douglas at 12:30 PM

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Mommar here

The powers that be announced in a tweet (yes,   people still tweet in this world and not just Kanye) that the new patch (patch 5.3) would drop on the 22nd of May.

Good news for those that are looking for new content and new opportunities.   Bad news for those that dislike new and shiny things.   If you haven't started downloading the patch in the background make sure to turn on your Wow starter screen before you go to bed tonight.

Between now and then will be a great time to pick up a few items to prepare for the oncoming patch storm.  There were very few direct changes to professions other than the mining and Herbalism.   With new heroic scenarios,  pvp battlegrounds and other changes this is going to feel more like a maintenance patch at first than a huge influx of content.

For the gold goblin in all of us there will be opportunities to flex our fingers and get to the gold grabbing.   New equipment always means new chances to sell item enhancements.   So having a good stockpile of enchanting supplies and raw materials (Living Steel,  Magnificant Hides) for patches will set you up.  Don't forget your conversions so that you're not just buying Hides at high prices when you can convert lower leathers to what you want.  

50 exotic leathers = 1 magnificent hide
1 daily Magnificance of Leather/Scales gives you the same Magnificent hide at half the cost (25)

If you're like me,  the Jewelcrafting market has been steady but not stellar.  Most of this is from the big 4 gems (+agi,  +str +int +stam) been up and down like a yo-yo for sales.  Just when I flip the market to a good price I like (200-250 per) someone runs in to quickly undercut it at drastic prices.   So in my bank there are a few extra red gems that need a good home.   Keeping an eye on sales and seeing just where the market rolls will let you get rid of some excess inventory.

Inscription is going to be an interesting beast to keep an eye on.  As I explained earlier with the introduction of the third specialization for their characters,  players are going to want to fill holes in their glyph book so that they can be a triple threat (tanking,  dps, pvp) or any other mixture.   The inscription market is depressed so it will be tricky to decide whether to craft/flip glyphs for players to purchase.  Or to just take the profits from other professions and walk away.   Keeping an eye on the secondary markets (herbs, alchemy) to see just what happens with their relationship to inscriptions.  

Excitement is always in the air with a new patch.  And new adventures await for the brave who take the plunge into new markets.   Keep your eyes on the prize and see you on the other side.

Good Luck and Good Hunting


Patch 5.3:   Grasspicking World Order
Patch 5.3: Bring Out Your Miners
Enchanting Addons 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
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