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.