Last posted total: 23,022g 46s 55c
This week's tota: 23,617g 97s 15c
Liquid income: 595g 50s 60c
Post pattern is due to change. Weekly numbers will still go up (earlier in the week), but more random blurbs about the businesses.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
And Now for Something Completely Different
It's a maintenance morning once more, and my numbers don't look great. This refers to my gold count, which had dropped to about 22k, and my arena points, which are still at 700. I'm hoping the rumors of a one-week Season 8 delay are true, so I didn't just throw away 14k honor, or effectively 300g.
The gold has a good reason for the drop, however. The buying/stockpiling of epic gems is continuing, with only a few at a time being posted as the market price of certain cuts crests around the 200g mark. My ink reserves are almost completely stockpiled, just 10 stacks short of being able to do my weekly mass-recraft. It burns through about 800 inks every time I restock, and over 200g worth of parchment (at Revered).
The main reason the gold is so low, however, is because of friends.
One of my best friends started playing WoW around the same time I did. We server-hopped as other folks in our social circle started playing, hit mid-20's (just high enough to never want to restart), and quit after several months. Eventually, I ended up on the server on which I currently play, and when my friend got back into the game after a long hiatus, he followed me there.
Now, he has a fresh 80 Warlock and a computer not quite powerful enough to tolerate Dalaran. He's an Enchanter/Herbalist, which is a bit frustrating; he posts scrolls intermittently, but my desire to not be a complete jerk keeps me price-matching him instead of undercutting. So it's a little hiccup in my posting routine and a few more bits of information that need to be considered when I go to liquidate my Enchanting mats. I sell him mats and vellums at production cost when I have spare material lying around.
It's the Herbalist bit in which I'm most interested. I pay him a decent price under my buying threshold, in the neighborhood of 17-18g/stack, for Adder's Tongue and Icethorn. He has a job where there's lots of downtime and farming is about the only activity he can commit to, so he has a decent rate of herb-gathering.
So, for hitting 80 this week, I bought his epic flying, on the condition that he'd either repay me over time, or send me the 275 stacks of herbs equivalent. It's not entirely a loss, unless having 27k instead of 22k would enable me to make a substantially higher amount of money, but it does skew the week's numbers.
New Frontiers
Aside from pushing further into the markets in which I'm already established, this week saw some more odd items get posted, a mass-Jewelcrafting marathon (Holy Posting Fees, Batman!), a few epic gems go up, and a reset of both Belt Buckles and Lichbloom, with the latter being more successful.
A few farmers had posted Lichbloom well under its normal price, in the 20-25g/stack range. I bought them all out, reposted 1g under the next stack at 40g, and sent the six errant pieces of Lichbloom to my alt.
My alt then posted each individual Lichbloom at 29g/ea. Five sold within the hour. I'd feel bad, except that the buyer was a level 58 Death Knight. See also: banking toon. Incidentally, she's a heavy poster of herbs, and I've bought a lot of stuff from her in the past.
Buying Thresholds, Relative Profits, and Scams
I've noticed an interesting phenomenon of late. Let's use Titanium Ore as an example.
Titanium Ore is steadily on the Auction House at 285g/stack. In Trade, some of the bigtime Jewelcrafting moguls post macros buying at 265g/stack, 270g, etc. They post this whether or not someone is advertising "WTS [Titanium Ore] 250g/stack."
The interesting bit is that if the price on the Auction House drops to their limit, they'll just change the macro until prices go back up. 265g/stack courtesy of Auctioneer Thathung? "WTB Titanium Ore 260g/stack COD any time." Same story with Saronite Ore, or Lichbloom, or what have you.
They're not interested in the price of the goods as an absolute, nor are they considering profitability vs. time when they're setting these prices.
They're looking at the relative price of the goods, the instantaneous value of the commodity, and offering less than that instantaneous price, because that must mean they get a good deal.
I've noticed the reverse when buying epic gems from somebody. They'll be unloading a stack of 20 Cardinal Ruby, say, and I whisper them offering 2.5k/stack. The reply? 2550. 2600. Some marginal, insignificant increase, to show that they're getting more than you think it's worth. That's just fine and dandy. I'll actually pay 130g/ea, since I'm turning around and posted Bold Cardinal Ruby at 190g/ea. My limiting factor is stock, not gold, and while the seller wins this pissing match, I still turn one heck of a profit.
Which brings me to a conversation I had last night with a seller, moving epic gems.
[2: Trade] Mule: WTS [Cardinal Ruby] other epics PST
[W To: Mule] WTB Cardinal Ruby / Majestic Zircon in bulk, 2.5kg/stack
[W From: Mule] Cardinal Ruby 130g, Ametrine 100g
[W To: Mule] How many do you have?
[W From: Mule] 5x cardinal, 2x ametrine
[W To: Mule] I'll take all of them.
[W From: Mule] Hold on, I may have a buyer.
[W To: Mule] I'll throw an extra 50g on to your pricing, and meet you in Orgrimmar.
[W From: Mule] 900g? Let me check with competition.
[W From: Mule] Bid is 910g.
[W To: Mule] Ok. He can have them. Thanks anyway.
*Head to Org AH, check some prices*
Mule has invited you to a group.
[Mule]: Org bank.
*Trade complete; +5x Cardinal Ruby +2x Ametrine, -900g*
[Mediocrates]: Thanks. Glad the "buyer" backed out. Have a nice day.
There's never a real bidding war. The other guy is just trying to squeeze a few more gold out of you. I offer a bit extra for an immediate sale and I'll travel to the guy if he's selling at a good price, but don't let them into your wallet with that whole "Someone else wants to buy, what are you offering?" nonsense.
Weekly Update tonight after maintenance/work, with a quick business report.
The gold has a good reason for the drop, however. The buying/stockpiling of epic gems is continuing, with only a few at a time being posted as the market price of certain cuts crests around the 200g mark. My ink reserves are almost completely stockpiled, just 10 stacks short of being able to do my weekly mass-recraft. It burns through about 800 inks every time I restock, and over 200g worth of parchment (at Revered).
The main reason the gold is so low, however, is because of friends.
One of my best friends started playing WoW around the same time I did. We server-hopped as other folks in our social circle started playing, hit mid-20's (just high enough to never want to restart), and quit after several months. Eventually, I ended up on the server on which I currently play, and when my friend got back into the game after a long hiatus, he followed me there.
Now, he has a fresh 80 Warlock and a computer not quite powerful enough to tolerate Dalaran. He's an Enchanter/Herbalist, which is a bit frustrating; he posts scrolls intermittently, but my desire to not be a complete jerk keeps me price-matching him instead of undercutting. So it's a little hiccup in my posting routine and a few more bits of information that need to be considered when I go to liquidate my Enchanting mats. I sell him mats and vellums at production cost when I have spare material lying around.
It's the Herbalist bit in which I'm most interested. I pay him a decent price under my buying threshold, in the neighborhood of 17-18g/stack, for Adder's Tongue and Icethorn. He has a job where there's lots of downtime and farming is about the only activity he can commit to, so he has a decent rate of herb-gathering.
So, for hitting 80 this week, I bought his epic flying, on the condition that he'd either repay me over time, or send me the 275 stacks of herbs equivalent. It's not entirely a loss, unless having 27k instead of 22k would enable me to make a substantially higher amount of money, but it does skew the week's numbers.
New Frontiers
Aside from pushing further into the markets in which I'm already established, this week saw some more odd items get posted, a mass-Jewelcrafting marathon (Holy Posting Fees, Batman!), a few epic gems go up, and a reset of both Belt Buckles and Lichbloom, with the latter being more successful.
A few farmers had posted Lichbloom well under its normal price, in the 20-25g/stack range. I bought them all out, reposted 1g under the next stack at 40g, and sent the six errant pieces of Lichbloom to my alt.
My alt then posted each individual Lichbloom at 29g/ea. Five sold within the hour. I'd feel bad, except that the buyer was a level 58 Death Knight. See also: banking toon. Incidentally, she's a heavy poster of herbs, and I've bought a lot of stuff from her in the past.
Buying Thresholds, Relative Profits, and Scams
I've noticed an interesting phenomenon of late. Let's use Titanium Ore as an example.
Titanium Ore is steadily on the Auction House at 285g/stack. In Trade, some of the bigtime Jewelcrafting moguls post macros buying at 265g/stack, 270g, etc. They post this whether or not someone is advertising "WTS [Titanium Ore] 250g/stack."
The interesting bit is that if the price on the Auction House drops to their limit, they'll just change the macro until prices go back up. 265g/stack courtesy of Auctioneer Thathung? "WTB Titanium Ore 260g/stack COD any time." Same story with Saronite Ore, or Lichbloom, or what have you.
They're not interested in the price of the goods as an absolute, nor are they considering profitability vs. time when they're setting these prices.
They're looking at the relative price of the goods, the instantaneous value of the commodity, and offering less than that instantaneous price, because that must mean they get a good deal.
I've noticed the reverse when buying epic gems from somebody. They'll be unloading a stack of 20 Cardinal Ruby, say, and I whisper them offering 2.5k/stack. The reply? 2550. 2600. Some marginal, insignificant increase, to show that they're getting more than you think it's worth. That's just fine and dandy. I'll actually pay 130g/ea, since I'm turning around and posted Bold Cardinal Ruby at 190g/ea. My limiting factor is stock, not gold, and while the seller wins this pissing match, I still turn one heck of a profit.
Which brings me to a conversation I had last night with a seller, moving epic gems.
[2: Trade] Mule: WTS [Cardinal Ruby] other epics PST
[W To: Mule] WTB Cardinal Ruby / Majestic Zircon in bulk, 2.5kg/stack
[W From: Mule] Cardinal Ruby 130g, Ametrine 100g
[W To: Mule] How many do you have?
[W From: Mule] 5x cardinal, 2x ametrine
[W To: Mule] I'll take all of them.
[W From: Mule] Hold on, I may have a buyer.
[W To: Mule] I'll throw an extra 50g on to your pricing, and meet you in Orgrimmar.
[W From: Mule] 900g? Let me check with competition.
[W From: Mule] Bid is 910g.
[W To: Mule] Ok. He can have them. Thanks anyway.
*Head to Org AH, check some prices*
Mule has invited you to a group.
[Mule]: Org bank.
*Trade complete; +5x Cardinal Ruby +2x Ametrine, -900g*
[Mediocrates]: Thanks. Glad the "buyer" backed out. Have a nice day.
There's never a real bidding war. The other guy is just trying to squeeze a few more gold out of you. I offer a bit extra for an immediate sale and I'll travel to the guy if he's selling at a good price, but don't let them into your wallet with that whole "Someone else wants to buy, what are you offering?" nonsense.
Weekly Update tonight after maintenance/work, with a quick business report.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Week 3 Update
Last posted total: 22,319g 56s 55c
This week's total: 23,022g 46s 55c
Liquid income: 733g 10s
As it turns out, the Prelude to the update is going to exceed the length of the update, as everything essential's already been covered.
The Random Crap (tm) toon pulled in about equal numbers today, with Enchanting mats posted at Auctioneer's automatic undercut of about 5% selling early and often.
The Scribe pushed a full stack of Snowfall Ink on the empty market, which is a promising sign that, yes, there is life in that particular niche. The best part, though, was selling 24 of the 25 posted Eternal Belt Buckles around the 40-45g mark, in under 24 hours with a server maintenance occupying part of that timeslot.
The inks and belt buckles are responsible for the largest midweek income (about 3k) and pushing the liquid total for this week into the black, even after clearing out some 70 stacks of herbs from the AH just before recording.
Next week should be a more accurate representation of the earning power of these characters, as the massive Blacksmithing leveling deficit will not be altering the numbers. It should be a good week, too, with a large backstock of herbs ready to go, a new market with plenty of Eternals in the bank, and extra Enchanting mats from the aforementioned grind.
This week's total: 23,022g 46s 55c
Liquid income: 733g 10s
As it turns out, the Prelude to the update is going to exceed the length of the update, as everything essential's already been covered.
The Random Crap (tm) toon pulled in about equal numbers today, with Enchanting mats posted at Auctioneer's automatic undercut of about 5% selling early and often.
The Scribe pushed a full stack of Snowfall Ink on the empty market, which is a promising sign that, yes, there is life in that particular niche. The best part, though, was selling 24 of the 25 posted Eternal Belt Buckles around the 40-45g mark, in under 24 hours with a server maintenance occupying part of that timeslot.
The inks and belt buckles are responsible for the largest midweek income (about 3k) and pushing the liquid total for this week into the black, even after clearing out some 70 stacks of herbs from the AH just before recording.
Next week should be a more accurate representation of the earning power of these characters, as the massive Blacksmithing leveling deficit will not be altering the numbers. It should be a good week, too, with a large backstock of herbs ready to go, a new market with plenty of Eternals in the bank, and extra Enchanting mats from the aforementioned grind.
Prelude to the Weekly Update
Another atypical week, which seems to be becoming the norm.
I signed up for an overtime shift, and then added another, and worked my double, and ended up on a 31-hour shift at work. Kind of crazy. My bosses caught it about 14 hours in, and sent me home for a break. Needless to say I didn't get much playing done over the weekend.
This week was also the last week for Arena Season 7, so there was a lot of time spent getting in what ended up as 45 games in 2's. Much success and failure and frustration and lag, but ultimately, my partner and I finished the season at 1915 rating, and after the maintenance today I'll have my Relentless helm.
The end of the Arena season also meant that there's likely to be a spike in item enhancements in the coming few weeks, as gearing up begins again. I picked up about a dozen Dreadstone at a decent price, but missed out on a few other good deals due to really confused, really socially awkward sellers. Apparently learning the market value of an item and advertising in trade is drastically more complicated than hitting the 'Trade' button, but there's still plenty of time before the Wrathful gear starts rolling in.
On the subject of item enhancements, I'm now the proud owner of 45 Eternal Belt Buckles. My Scribe finally finished leveling Blacksmithing to 415, and I'd moved probably a dozen buckles last night before logging. The incoming gold will start covering the cost of leveling it in the first place.
Seriously. 1.4k gold for Cobalt? I thought Thorium was bad.
I've also set up a former twink as my Random Crap (tm) seller. He pulled in about 1k yesterday, by just unloading leftover Blacksmithing mats, the DE mats from the grind, and fish. Lots of fish.
I think Auctioneer Thathung may be getting annoyed by the smell. Or not. I'm not sure what the baseline odor in Orgrimmar is like. Fangtooth Herring may be an improvement.
Fishing continues to be surprisingly profitable, if you can stand the tedium. A few more epic gems and Porcelain Bell this week. I'm currently overstocked on Diamond-Tipped Canes. I'm not sure anyone's ever said that sentence before.
Despite all that, it was the worst week so far for liquid income, with Alt-O-Holic telling me that I was around the 21k mark last night. Between the leveling grind and trying to stockpile epic gems, it was a break-even week. The actual numbers will be posted tonight, after I get out of work and the servers come back up.
It's been hard holding on to enough inks for my weekly Inscription restock, with the supply on the Auction House hovering at 1-2 pages per herb. I even sunk so far as milling the lower-tier herbs last night, and still ended up about 400 inks short of what's needed for the requeue. On the bright side, several of the big competitors have either diminished or dropped off completely. There was no Snowfall Ink posted last night, and my competitors "friends" list has been empty for a few days.
Netherweave Bags have also returned to their "normal" price, so my Tailor is back into that market more actively again.
With the token business summary complete, the proper update will come in this evening, complete with numerical analysis, which is a word-y way of saying I'm going to add and subtract some numbers. Maybe throw in a chart.
Graphs are neat.
I signed up for an overtime shift, and then added another, and worked my double, and ended up on a 31-hour shift at work. Kind of crazy. My bosses caught it about 14 hours in, and sent me home for a break. Needless to say I didn't get much playing done over the weekend.
This week was also the last week for Arena Season 7, so there was a lot of time spent getting in what ended up as 45 games in 2's. Much success and failure and frustration and lag, but ultimately, my partner and I finished the season at 1915 rating, and after the maintenance today I'll have my Relentless helm.
The end of the Arena season also meant that there's likely to be a spike in item enhancements in the coming few weeks, as gearing up begins again. I picked up about a dozen Dreadstone at a decent price, but missed out on a few other good deals due to really confused, really socially awkward sellers. Apparently learning the market value of an item and advertising in trade is drastically more complicated than hitting the 'Trade' button, but there's still plenty of time before the Wrathful gear starts rolling in.
On the subject of item enhancements, I'm now the proud owner of 45 Eternal Belt Buckles. My Scribe finally finished leveling Blacksmithing to 415, and I'd moved probably a dozen buckles last night before logging. The incoming gold will start covering the cost of leveling it in the first place.
Seriously. 1.4k gold for Cobalt? I thought Thorium was bad.
I've also set up a former twink as my Random Crap (tm) seller. He pulled in about 1k yesterday, by just unloading leftover Blacksmithing mats, the DE mats from the grind, and fish. Lots of fish.
I think Auctioneer Thathung may be getting annoyed by the smell. Or not. I'm not sure what the baseline odor in Orgrimmar is like. Fangtooth Herring may be an improvement.
Fishing continues to be surprisingly profitable, if you can stand the tedium. A few more epic gems and Porcelain Bell this week. I'm currently overstocked on Diamond-Tipped Canes. I'm not sure anyone's ever said that sentence before.
Despite all that, it was the worst week so far for liquid income, with Alt-O-Holic telling me that I was around the 21k mark last night. Between the leveling grind and trying to stockpile epic gems, it was a break-even week. The actual numbers will be posted tonight, after I get out of work and the servers come back up.
It's been hard holding on to enough inks for my weekly Inscription restock, with the supply on the Auction House hovering at 1-2 pages per herb. I even sunk so far as milling the lower-tier herbs last night, and still ended up about 400 inks short of what's needed for the requeue. On the bright side, several of the big competitors have either diminished or dropped off completely. There was no Snowfall Ink posted last night, and my competitors "friends" list has been empty for a few days.
Netherweave Bags have also returned to their "normal" price, so my Tailor is back into that market more actively again.
With the token business summary complete, the proper update will come in this evening, complete with numerical analysis, which is a word-y way of saying I'm going to add and subtract some numbers. Maybe throw in a chart.
Graphs are neat.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Week 2 Update
Last posted total: 16,674g 78s 36c
This week's total: 22,319g 56s 55c
Liquid income: 5,644g 78s 19c
A day later than I'd have liked for the update this week, although the total above is taken from Altoholic's summary yesterday. I didn't want to write another bland business report like last week, and it was tough finding the creativity to write anything significant after the post-double-shift crash that is Monday morning/afternoon. 16-hour overnight shifts can be draining!
Story time..
One of the paramedics with whom I work is a newly-joined WoWista on Stormreaver-US[A]. He's been at it for about two months now and has a fair bit more gold than I do, although I think his playtime definitely exceeds mine, what with his stories of multiple accounts and RAF and multiple near-max level characters. I even catch him playing in the ambulance every so often (between calls during downtime, of course).
Smart guy and a former computer programmer to boot - he's planning on transferring some toons to other servers where the markets have crashed and transferring back with low-cost mats for resale. Clever, granted, but I'm not going to spend actual cash to generate gold.
When I was training to become an EMT, I was on. Destroyed every exam, memorized a tremendous amount of material, got all the practical skills down. I was a lifesaving machine. I'd get a bit more anxious during the exams, but come out on top every time.
Fast forward to my first few weeks of on the job training at my current job, and I was nervous and inconsistent. I'd convinced myself that actually doing the job in the field was so different from what I'd learned in the classroom (and it is, to be fair, pretty different) that I'd tossed out most of what I learned and mostly just emulated the people around me. The aforementioned paramedic was one of my training officers, and talking to him now reminds me of how I allowed my own perceptions and doubts to diminish what was something I'd have otherwise had an easy time doing.
Segue!
A similar mentality has come into play in this whole gold cap business. You can read all the blogs in the world, and emulate them as best you can, but when it comes down to it, sometimes it's hard to clear out all the moderately-priced Adder's Tongue, or drive your competitors out of business, or spend a few thousand gold power-leveling Blacksmithing to make bulk Eternal Belt Buckles.
Keeping a close log on it in the form of Adventures in Adequacy helps though, and I recommend keeping out-of-game notes on your progress for your own gold endeavors, whether that's hitting the cap or paying for your first epic flying.
That said, let's take a look at how the professions did this week, and understand the drop in weekly income from this week to last.
Glyphs have been the big moneymaker, pulling in about 3k over the weekend and a steady 500-1k per weekday. All told, I'd be on pace for the cap in about six months just focusing on the Inscription market. The main reason for the sudden increase in income for Inscription is finally downloading and installing KTQ (designed by Kevmar) to run alongside Altoholic and LSW. If you're in the Glyphs industry and don't have this mod yet, get it. AH-Whoring has a fantastic guide on how to set it up, so even if you shy away from AddOns and macros, you'll get it down in no time.
The only issue with KTQ at the time of this writing is that Altoholic has changed one modifier in its scripting which makes KTQ effectively non-functional. There is allegedly a revision in the works to amend this problem; in the mean time, what I did was track down an older version of Altoholic (early December-ish) and use that instead. It works just fine, and now I'm keeping 10 of each glyph up for the cost of a little bit of button-spam while I drink my morning coffee.
There's a new competitor on the Inscription market, and boy is he aggressive! He's tapping into the classic markets - namely, Snowfall Ink and Runescrolls - and is on a Level 1 Alt so I'm not sure of the experience of the actual crafter. I think I have a bit of an advantage in having my poster/crafter as the same character and a few months of research under my belt, so my strategy is to just keep all my glyphs stocked and undercut him on the Snowfall Inks. I'm up to about 50 stacks of Snowfall banked, so the drop from 15g/ea to 9g/ea still generates break-even herbs, and it's far more valuable to me to cut his profits than maximize my own.
Jewelcrafting was a non-entity this week, although I'm eying those Titanium Ore stacks. With more careful monitoring I intend to pick up some epic gems and move the popular cuts, and my first attempt at that on a grand scale will be emphasized in next week's post.
Enchanting has been steadily supplied by "employing" a former guildie as a farmer. He hits Sholazar Basin and grinds humanoids, sending all the cloth and BoE's to me. I pay him about 6g/stack of Frostweave Cloth, and 8-12g/ea on the BoE's. He pulls in around 200-250g/hr in his grind towards epic flying, and I get cheap mats. A few scrolls have moved this week - Berserking remains temperamental, swinging from 550g to 400g in a few days, while Enchant Bracers - Major Stamina is my new favorite seller.
The chief reason for the decline in income this week, however, was the continued Blacksmithing grind. I've just purchased a large quantity of Mithril and Thorium Bar to power my Scribe through the 200-300 range. Judging by the market over the past few days, it'll probably another 2k or so to get into Belt Buckle range, where all those saved Eternals and Saronite Bars can finally be put to use.
Tailoring was slow but steady as always, with bags down to 13g/ea and stacks of Netherweave Cloth increasingly more difficult to come by. The backstock of bolts I've generated from clearing out the AH several times will keep me crafting for at least another week or two while new players in the Netherweave Bag market stabilize prices.
I'm monitoring Trade chat for Battered Hilts, which are ranging from 8-13k on average. Likewise, Primordial Saronite is fluctuating to the toon of 1.7-2.1k depending on buyer/seller and time of day, and it may be worth cashing in some Emblems for a quick turnaround.
The goal for next week is 10k income less whatever the Blacksmithing grind costs, although I'm not going to let that hold me back from a good investment or bulk purchase. It's time to really get the ball rolling, and that just means a more diligent effort.
This week's total: 22,319g 56s 55c
Liquid income: 5,644g 78s 19c
A day later than I'd have liked for the update this week, although the total above is taken from Altoholic's summary yesterday. I didn't want to write another bland business report like last week, and it was tough finding the creativity to write anything significant after the post-double-shift crash that is Monday morning/afternoon. 16-hour overnight shifts can be draining!
Story time..
One of the paramedics with whom I work is a newly-joined WoWista on Stormreaver-US[A]. He's been at it for about two months now and has a fair bit more gold than I do, although I think his playtime definitely exceeds mine, what with his stories of multiple accounts and RAF and multiple near-max level characters. I even catch him playing in the ambulance every so often (between calls during downtime, of course).
Smart guy and a former computer programmer to boot - he's planning on transferring some toons to other servers where the markets have crashed and transferring back with low-cost mats for resale. Clever, granted, but I'm not going to spend actual cash to generate gold.
When I was training to become an EMT, I was on. Destroyed every exam, memorized a tremendous amount of material, got all the practical skills down. I was a lifesaving machine. I'd get a bit more anxious during the exams, but come out on top every time.
Fast forward to my first few weeks of on the job training at my current job, and I was nervous and inconsistent. I'd convinced myself that actually doing the job in the field was so different from what I'd learned in the classroom (and it is, to be fair, pretty different) that I'd tossed out most of what I learned and mostly just emulated the people around me. The aforementioned paramedic was one of my training officers, and talking to him now reminds me of how I allowed my own perceptions and doubts to diminish what was something I'd have otherwise had an easy time doing.
Segue!
A similar mentality has come into play in this whole gold cap business. You can read all the blogs in the world, and emulate them as best you can, but when it comes down to it, sometimes it's hard to clear out all the moderately-priced Adder's Tongue, or drive your competitors out of business, or spend a few thousand gold power-leveling Blacksmithing to make bulk Eternal Belt Buckles.
Keeping a close log on it in the form of Adventures in Adequacy helps though, and I recommend keeping out-of-game notes on your progress for your own gold endeavors, whether that's hitting the cap or paying for your first epic flying.
That said, let's take a look at how the professions did this week, and understand the drop in weekly income from this week to last.
Glyphs have been the big moneymaker, pulling in about 3k over the weekend and a steady 500-1k per weekday. All told, I'd be on pace for the cap in about six months just focusing on the Inscription market. The main reason for the sudden increase in income for Inscription is finally downloading and installing KTQ (designed by Kevmar) to run alongside Altoholic and LSW. If you're in the Glyphs industry and don't have this mod yet, get it. AH-Whoring has a fantastic guide on how to set it up, so even if you shy away from AddOns and macros, you'll get it down in no time.
The only issue with KTQ at the time of this writing is that Altoholic has changed one modifier in its scripting which makes KTQ effectively non-functional. There is allegedly a revision in the works to amend this problem; in the mean time, what I did was track down an older version of Altoholic (early December-ish) and use that instead. It works just fine, and now I'm keeping 10 of each glyph up for the cost of a little bit of button-spam while I drink my morning coffee.
There's a new competitor on the Inscription market, and boy is he aggressive! He's tapping into the classic markets - namely, Snowfall Ink and Runescrolls - and is on a Level 1 Alt so I'm not sure of the experience of the actual crafter. I think I have a bit of an advantage in having my poster/crafter as the same character and a few months of research under my belt, so my strategy is to just keep all my glyphs stocked and undercut him on the Snowfall Inks. I'm up to about 50 stacks of Snowfall banked, so the drop from 15g/ea to 9g/ea still generates break-even herbs, and it's far more valuable to me to cut his profits than maximize my own.
Jewelcrafting was a non-entity this week, although I'm eying those Titanium Ore stacks. With more careful monitoring I intend to pick up some epic gems and move the popular cuts, and my first attempt at that on a grand scale will be emphasized in next week's post.
Enchanting has been steadily supplied by "employing" a former guildie as a farmer. He hits Sholazar Basin and grinds humanoids, sending all the cloth and BoE's to me. I pay him about 6g/stack of Frostweave Cloth, and 8-12g/ea on the BoE's. He pulls in around 200-250g/hr in his grind towards epic flying, and I get cheap mats. A few scrolls have moved this week - Berserking remains temperamental, swinging from 550g to 400g in a few days, while Enchant Bracers - Major Stamina is my new favorite seller.
The chief reason for the decline in income this week, however, was the continued Blacksmithing grind. I've just purchased a large quantity of Mithril and Thorium Bar to power my Scribe through the 200-300 range. Judging by the market over the past few days, it'll probably another 2k or so to get into Belt Buckle range, where all those saved Eternals and Saronite Bars can finally be put to use.
Tailoring was slow but steady as always, with bags down to 13g/ea and stacks of Netherweave Cloth increasingly more difficult to come by. The backstock of bolts I've generated from clearing out the AH several times will keep me crafting for at least another week or two while new players in the Netherweave Bag market stabilize prices.
I'm monitoring Trade chat for Battered Hilts, which are ranging from 8-13k on average. Likewise, Primordial Saronite is fluctuating to the toon of 1.7-2.1k depending on buyer/seller and time of day, and it may be worth cashing in some Emblems for a quick turnaround.
The goal for next week is 10k income less whatever the Blacksmithing grind costs, although I'm not going to let that hold me back from a good investment or bulk purchase. It's time to really get the ball rolling, and that just means a more diligent effort.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Week 1 Update
Last posted total: 10,210g 53s 24c
This week's total: 16,674g 78s 36c
Liquid income: 6,464g 25s 12c
What a busy, strange week this was! With a tentative goal of capping in April, this is behind the linear pace I'll need to be setting, but not terrible considering the irregularity in my posting/crafting. Holidays and work ate up a lot of time and kept me away from the computer quite a bit.
Inscription:
More success dealing with the undercutters as I carpet-bombed five of the ten classes' glyphs. Liquidated a lot of Ink of the Sea and finally posted some Snowfall Ink around 13-15g/stack, dropping down to 10g/stack when the same undercutters posting 1c under my glyphs did the same with the Snowfall Ink. These alone were responsible for around 1k income during the week.
I mass-crafted every glyph up to a stack of 10, to more easily track the best sellers and decide where to focus my efforts. I intended to post the full complement, but ran out of inks midway. The numbers posted above reflect post-restock gold, and I've got almost a full bank tab ready to go for Priest through Warlock.
Tailoring:
Pricing a bit more aggressively early in the week, buying out the odd 12/13g bags and posting at around 14.4g/ea. About fifty stacks of bolts ready to go, twenty bags sitting on the Auction House, and repeated clean sweeps of the indefatigable Netherweave Cloth.
I also received a shipment of Frostweave Bags from my arena partner, while my Tailor works her way up to 65 to max out the profession.
Enchanting:
Great profit margins from a few Berserking/Stats scrolls early in the week, although competition has driven the former down from 500-600g to low 400's. At that point, after the AH cut, I'm better off pushing the mats back onto the market. This week I'll be expanding my scrolls from 2-3x of 2-3 different enchants to cover a wider base.
Jewelcrafting:
Slow with almost non-existent profit this week. Focuses have been on the other professions.
Blacksmithing:
Part of the reason for the sub-par weekly income is that I started leveling this profession on my Scribe. I'd stockpiled the first 100 points or so worth of mats ages ago and they were eating up precious space, so the 427 Skinning was dropped and the BS grind is currently stalled at Iron due to the price of ore/bars. Trying to outsource the mining to friends in exchange for glyphs/enchants.
I'm keeping an eye open on the Battered Hilt market which is fluctuating wildly; saw one being sold in trade for about 9k the other night, with the two on the AH hovering around the 12-13k mark. I'm not sure of how well they're moving yet, because the sellers haven't changed in the last few days and my monitoring of that market has been intermittent at best, so my faith in the investment and flip doesn't justify the risk right now.
This week's total: 16,674g 78s 36c
Liquid income: 6,464g 25s 12c
What a busy, strange week this was! With a tentative goal of capping in April, this is behind the linear pace I'll need to be setting, but not terrible considering the irregularity in my posting/crafting. Holidays and work ate up a lot of time and kept me away from the computer quite a bit.
Inscription:
More success dealing with the undercutters as I carpet-bombed five of the ten classes' glyphs. Liquidated a lot of Ink of the Sea and finally posted some Snowfall Ink around 13-15g/stack, dropping down to 10g/stack when the same undercutters posting 1c under my glyphs did the same with the Snowfall Ink. These alone were responsible for around 1k income during the week.
I mass-crafted every glyph up to a stack of 10, to more easily track the best sellers and decide where to focus my efforts. I intended to post the full complement, but ran out of inks midway. The numbers posted above reflect post-restock gold, and I've got almost a full bank tab ready to go for Priest through Warlock.
Tailoring:
Pricing a bit more aggressively early in the week, buying out the odd 12/13g bags and posting at around 14.4g/ea. About fifty stacks of bolts ready to go, twenty bags sitting on the Auction House, and repeated clean sweeps of the indefatigable Netherweave Cloth.
I also received a shipment of Frostweave Bags from my arena partner, while my Tailor works her way up to 65 to max out the profession.
Enchanting:
Great profit margins from a few Berserking/Stats scrolls early in the week, although competition has driven the former down from 500-600g to low 400's. At that point, after the AH cut, I'm better off pushing the mats back onto the market. This week I'll be expanding my scrolls from 2-3x of 2-3 different enchants to cover a wider base.
Jewelcrafting:
Slow with almost non-existent profit this week. Focuses have been on the other professions.
Blacksmithing:
Part of the reason for the sub-par weekly income is that I started leveling this profession on my Scribe. I'd stockpiled the first 100 points or so worth of mats ages ago and they were eating up precious space, so the 427 Skinning was dropped and the BS grind is currently stalled at Iron due to the price of ore/bars. Trying to outsource the mining to friends in exchange for glyphs/enchants.
I'm keeping an eye open on the Battered Hilt market which is fluctuating wildly; saw one being sold in trade for about 9k the other night, with the two on the AH hovering around the 12-13k mark. I'm not sure of how well they're moving yet, because the sellers haven't changed in the last few days and my monitoring of that market has been intermittent at best, so my faith in the investment and flip doesn't justify the risk right now.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Business, Competitors, and Really Really Long Crafting Queues
Netherweave Bags are solid and efficient. They've been responsible for, by volume, the most successful auctions I've had since unloading hundreds of Infinite Dust back in the pre-3.3 days when they were worth something.
It's basically printing money. I'll buy any stack of Netherweave Cloth off the Auction House for up to 10 gold. Each stack turns into the exact number of bolts necessary for one bag. Add 45s for the Rune Thread, mark-up to 15g/bag, and mass post on the Auction House.
I've posted up to 50 at a clip and every one has sold, even when I get undercut. I'm on a High-population server, and the demand is incredible. There are only 2-3 other semi-casual Netherweave Bag sellers on my faction as well.
Unfortunately, though, they take forever to craft. Good for the blog, bad my poor little Mage, crafting away in Orgrimmar. Bag after Bag for hours a day, little 16-slot Nike's in a Chinese sweatshop.
Slow couple of days so far:
Glyphs made a lot over the weekend, but it's been back and forth undercutting between myself and the two other big producers on the server. The daily income yesterday was down to the 200g mark.
Jewelcrafting is dwindling as well. I need to break into the epic gem market - some success with the odd under/overpriced Ametrine for a good profit, but I'll need a bigger stock to compete with the major producers. As you can probably tell from the first post, I made a lot of my starting bankroll off of the Saronite Ore Prospect -> Craft rings -> DE chain. Sold out of reds, vendored all the cut greens, and the remaining few stacks are disappearing fast. I don't intend to pick it up again, as the mats market has dropped substantially. Might be worth playing around with in the spreadsheets, but for now I'm just pushing the pure-profit leftover gems.
Enchanting has been intermittently successful, with good margins on my two bestsellers - Berserking and Powerful Stats - but fierce undercuts. It's another one that's going to require careful monitoring to get the most out of.
Oddly enough, the biggest moneymaker in the last day? Fishing. Completed the daily and earned myself not only the Diamond-tipped Cane, but a Brilliant Stormjewel. For some reason, these can move at 20-40g above its King's Amber counterpart. Style points, I suppose, or over-reliance on the Auctioneer PCT function.
The plan for today:
Burn through those inks and get a large backstock of glyphs going.
Level the Tailor to 65 to break into the Frostweave Bag / Frostsavage Set / Duskweave DE markets.
Netherweave Bags! More! Work harder!
Update: As though reading my post and literally asking me to put my money where my mouth is, three pages of Netherweave Cloth just posted. It's going to be a long night in Chinatown, my fiery friend.
It's basically printing money. I'll buy any stack of Netherweave Cloth off the Auction House for up to 10 gold. Each stack turns into the exact number of bolts necessary for one bag. Add 45s for the Rune Thread, mark-up to 15g/bag, and mass post on the Auction House.
I've posted up to 50 at a clip and every one has sold, even when I get undercut. I'm on a High-population server, and the demand is incredible. There are only 2-3 other semi-casual Netherweave Bag sellers on my faction as well.
Unfortunately, though, they take forever to craft. Good for the blog, bad my poor little Mage, crafting away in Orgrimmar. Bag after Bag for hours a day, little 16-slot Nike's in a Chinese sweatshop.
Slow couple of days so far:
Glyphs made a lot over the weekend, but it's been back and forth undercutting between myself and the two other big producers on the server. The daily income yesterday was down to the 200g mark.
Jewelcrafting is dwindling as well. I need to break into the epic gem market - some success with the odd under/overpriced Ametrine for a good profit, but I'll need a bigger stock to compete with the major producers. As you can probably tell from the first post, I made a lot of my starting bankroll off of the Saronite Ore Prospect -> Craft rings -> DE chain. Sold out of reds, vendored all the cut greens, and the remaining few stacks are disappearing fast. I don't intend to pick it up again, as the mats market has dropped substantially. Might be worth playing around with in the spreadsheets, but for now I'm just pushing the pure-profit leftover gems.
Enchanting has been intermittently successful, with good margins on my two bestsellers - Berserking and Powerful Stats - but fierce undercuts. It's another one that's going to require careful monitoring to get the most out of.
Oddly enough, the biggest moneymaker in the last day? Fishing. Completed the daily and earned myself not only the Diamond-tipped Cane, but a Brilliant Stormjewel. For some reason, these can move at 20-40g above its King's Amber counterpart. Style points, I suppose, or over-reliance on the Auctioneer PCT function.
The plan for today:
Burn through those inks and get a large backstock of glyphs going.
Level the Tailor to 65 to break into the Frostweave Bag / Frostsavage Set / Duskweave DE markets.
Netherweave Bags! More! Work harder!
Update: As though reading my post and literally asking me to put my money where my mouth is, three pages of Netherweave Cloth just posted. It's going to be a long night in Chinatown, my fiery friend.
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