My 5.3 Preparations

Since 5.3 is dropping tomorrow I just figured that it's finally time to actually answer the question I've been putting off for weeks (not that I have a complex response, sorry), "What are you doing to prepare for 5.3?" as well as "What are you stockpiling for 5.3?"

Nothing.

Okay I'm not doing "Nothing" per say, but I'm not stockpiling, nor am I doing anything super secret or innovative in preparation for patch day tomorrow.  I'm crafting ahead of time, at least a full stack of each cut of gem, especially the PvP related ones, as well as 1 of every Crafted Dreadful piece, enchants, belt buckles, the usual, nothing out of the ordinary.  As with any other major patch, more players will be coming to the game, more people will be getting gear, and more people will be buying enhancements for their items.

The one thing I am doing that may be (but probably isn't) slightly innovative is crafting some epic WotLK PvP cuts.  Who knows how these upcoming PvP changes will effect the 70s bracket, but I know regardless the gems will sell, just hoping they sell at a faster rate after the patch drops.

That's really it.  Just prepping as if it were any other patch, doing the basics.  Will be very interesting to see how the economy changes, but I'm honestly mostly interested in playing through the new story line for the first time.  Hope you all have a great patch day, and if you're doing something special for the patch, feel free to leave it in the comments!

Cheers,

Phat Lewts
If you enjoy my blog follow me on twitter, @PhatLewtsGold

Enigma Seed Herb Rates

Over the past few months I've been keeping track of the rates of herbs of Enigma Seeds I've been planting on my main.  Today I'm going to share that data with you, as I figured my readers might find it useful, but please take it with a grain of salt.  These aren't guaranteed rates, but just my personal data, that I'm using to approximate how much the 5 minutes of planting and tending to crops is worth to me.

Golden Lotus

I've been tracking Golden Lotus for longer than the complete set of herbs, so I've made it it's own separate table.  I started recording data in Patch 5.1, and have separated the data because I've found the disparity in averages to be notable, although it does not necessarily imply that the rate was actually changed from 5.1 to 5.2.  Also, all data today is based on planting 16 plots of Enigma Seeds per day.  

Patch	Total Golden Lotus	Days Recorded	Average per Day
5.1	190	42	4.524
5.2	181	34	5.324
Total	371	76	4.882

Remaining Herbs

I started recording the other herbs when I realized that the value of these herbs was not quite negligable, and I was curious as to what their drop rate was.  I've only been recording this set for 25 days, so again not the greatest sample size, but the variation per day is small enough that I thought it would be good to share.  I will probably update these at some point in the future, but here's what I've gotten as an average so far.

Herb	Rain Poppy	Green Tea Leaf	Silkweed	Snow Lily	Fool's Cap
Per Day	6.56	4.8	5.88	6.92	7.84

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

If you enjoy my blog follow me on Twitter, @PhatLewtsGold!

Phat's Weekly Lewt Review 5/15 - Guild Bank Purchasing Bonanza

My weekly review is a day late, but as of yesterday I was up 50k on the week, pushing my grand total above 2.5 million liquid gold!  It was a relatively boring week in gold making, but yesterday I purchased a guild bank which distracted me to the point of not getting my weekly review out, and I thought it would be pretty interesting to have as the main focus.

Guild Bank Shenanigans

Yes, shenanigans.  So yesterday while milling some herbs on my scribe I notice in trade chat that someone is selling a level 24 guild with 5 tabs, and the stuff in the tabs.  Whenever I see something like this, I log right off, and hop on my unguilded toon to check out their guild banks to see if I can get a good deal.  So I whispered the guy, and I was the first one to bite (also keep in mind that this all worked out a lot better than it normally does).  I got an invite to the guild and asked for full permission to see the tabs, and he obliged.  I then used Sapu's amazing macro from The Consortium forums to approximately value the guild bank.  11.3k, not too shabby.  I did a few things that I also read on this guild bank purchasing thread on The Consortium, such as finding out his motivation for selling it (he was transferring servers with friends, and it seemed legit as he was only one left in the once active guild), and finding out how much he wanted for it before making an offer.

He told me he wanted 15k.  Yes, 15k for a level 24 guild with roughly 11k of mats in it, but of course, I did not offer 15k.  I responded with "There's not much of value in the guild bank how does 10k sound?"  He said that's good.  I took one last piece of advice I learned from that thread, asking him if he would  be willing to do half before and half after he transfered GM to me.  Not that it was some huge sum of gold I would mind losing, but he also agreed to this, and traded me the guild.  After sorting out all the tabs, getting vendor trash vendored, 24 hours of auctions, and CoDing mats at the cost I'd pay for them to my relevant alts, I now have 6k liquid on the alt, and about 7k in auctions, half of which are useful, and the other half are things I'm hoping will sell in a few postings.

So I'm only down 4k liquid gold for the guild at the moment, and I'm going to flip it pretty soon, my main decision being whether or not to get it to 25 before selling it (it's half way already).  More to come on that as it unfolds.

Other Flipping

I actually flipped another item this week that's of note, just because I think that it's an interesting aside.  I got an in game mail from someone asking for a 476 piece I had on the AH for 5k (it was posted at 10k).  This actually sounded like a nice deal because I had it up for a while, and who knows how long they will even be in demand for with 5.3 inching it's way around the corner.  Being who I am though, I decided to test the waters.  I mailed him back saying "Really sorry, but I'm not willing to go any lower than 6,500" and attached them C.O.D. for 6500g.  What do you think happened?

Screenshots of the Week

Got a few screenshots this week of people being silly, or odd sales in WoW.

The first, a strange sale, 3x Enchanting Vellum, you won't believe the price.  It got accidentally thrown into a group I made when I used the word Enchant to move items into it, needless to say it's staying.  

The next one is an odd interaction I had with someone from my transmog toon this past week, the item in question is this.

Last but not least, someone demonstrates a great way to convince me not to sell him something.

That's all for this week, hope you enjoyed my off topic weekly review!

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

If you like my blog follow me on twitter, @PhatLewtsGold!!

It's Not Profitable on my Server

Today I'm going to write about one of the most common and equally most illogical arguments I see from people either new to gold making or new to a particular market - "It's not profitable on my server".

Reasoning
I honestly wish that people would just stop and think about what they're saying for a moment before making such a daft claim.  This is the assumption you're making about the seller when you say a market is not profitable on your server: the guy selling it is spending his own time to craft this plethora of items, all solely for the joy of losing gold.  As the saying goes "There's a method in the madness."  Just because you don't know how the market is profitable on your server does not mean that it isn't.

Research
Zerohour touched on this  in his most recent post (which is well worth the read), one of the most important and useful aspects to gold making is digging your heels in and actually learning for yourself about how something works.  If prices are lower than your calculated thresholds for a certain profession or flipping market, take a moment and check out The Undermine Journal's page for the base item(s), or the profession page.  Check out the fluctuations in price, know when mats are cheapest, and better yet, set up market notifications!  Both TUJ and Wowuction have email alerts, and utilizing these properly can be key to maximizing your profit potential.

If you are new to a market don't just assume it's some easy to master beast and that you understand all the aspects of it.  Read about the topic, learn about how other's maximize their profits, and figure you what you're doing wrong.  Find the happy medium that is your own personal method, and master it.

Dominating Markets
Once you've figured out how to craft at a profitable price, only half the battle is won.  I misleadingly named this section, because your goal is not to dominate the market, your goal is to partake in the market, and make sales, but don't have it in your mind that you need to be the cheapest all the time.  People could spend their lives in so called "undercutting wars" and not be a penny richer (in fact would probably be quite a few gold poorer) for it.  Post heavily on days that mater, reset days (Tuesdays or Wednesdays for US/EU) and the weekend.  These days see the biggest influx of player purchasing, and should see the greatest influx of your own crafted goods if at all possible.  Don't worry about dominating the market on a Monday afternoon, it's just not worth it compared to high volume days.  Save your reposting for high sale days as opposed to a pissing contest between you and your main competition.

Conclusion
Again let me reiterate, just because you don't know how a market is profitable, doesn't mean that it is not.  Do the legwork specific to your server, and you'll find that you will be able to make much more gold in the long run.

This week I was able to catch up on some gold making podcasts, and I have some recommendations for anyone who is interested.  Eviscerated had two great guest spots in the past weeks with Zerohour and Wowprofitz, be sure to give them a listen if you have the time, they're great interviews.  Also, GoblinRaset came out with a 2nd episode of the Happy Hour Roundtable Podcast, which can be found here.  I enjoy listening to these guys weekly, and I hope you do too.

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

If you like my blog follow me on twitter, @PhatLewtsGold!!

Phat's Weekly Lewt Review 5/8

Getting this one out a day late, but numbers reflect the week ending on 5/8.

Another week another...42k.  A mediocre showing, putting me just short of 2.5 million liquid, but considering the level of crafting I did this week and the weeks previous, I'd expect more, but I'll get into that.

Breakdown of Incomes
Below I'm going to do a rough breakdown to give you an idea of where I made the most gold this week.  The highest income comes from my main which is not only a function of how much they sell but how many times per day I am able to post auctions (usually post max of once/day from other alts).

Gems/Leg & Shoulder Enchants/Tailoring PvP gear- 37k
DMF Trinkets - 16k
Alliance Flipping - 8k
Horde Flipping - 8k
Enchants - 6.5k
Glyphs - 4k
BS PvP Gear - 3k
Engineering Products - 1.4k

Slumps and Ruts
Based on my numbers, and other's tales of current gold making, it feels as if we've all hit that "end of patch slump".  That time in the patch where less people are playing (approximately 14% less), less people are getting new gear, and sales dive a bit.  I think that it's majorly the reason why my sales numbers are low, but for me it's even worse because I get in a rut when I don't make sales.  For me low sales translate into low motive for posting, which translate into less postings and even lower sales.  It's a vicious cycle!  Regardless, I've still been posting from my main a lot to make up for the lack of reposting on my alts.  I'm hoping for 5.3 soon, and that it revitalizes the market.  Only time will tell.

Facepalm of the Week
Today's facepalm of the week is brought to you by Cataclysm Epic Gems.  For all your out of date gemming needs, pick Cataclysm Epic Gems!

That's all for this week, keeping it short and sweet.

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

If you like my blog follow me on twitter, @PhatLewtsGold!!

Finding your Gold Making Niche

So during GoblinRaset's Roundtable Podcast that I recently participated in, we talked about our favorite "Niche Markets", and today I wanted to write about a similar topic, finding your own niche within the gold making World (of Warcraft).  

Be sure to check out the episode of The Drunken Mogul's Happy Hour Podcast Episode 1 here.

Finding Your Niche
If you've listened to the show, or when you do (*nudge nudge*), you'll notice that we don't all have the same methods to making gold.  Erogroth for example tends to focus almost exclusively on flipping markets, with a bit of professions mixed in.  Others tend to do a bit of everything, like Jim Younkin or myself.  Profitz on the other hand likes flipping greens while learning markets such as JC, Tailoring, and Engineering.  Finally, there are others like Thairus who excel in markets most of us avoid, like Engineering.

The point is that everyone in the above examples has a different spread of combos of professions and flipping that they use, but they all make gold efficiently.  Is there an optimal spread?  Yes I do believe that there technically is, but that it varies based on server, and more importantly the individual.  Everyone has different time constraints and interests within the game, and your job is to find your best fit in the gold making world, your own niche.

One Man's Trash
Just because your favorite blogger doesn't like selling glyphs, doesn't mean that glyphs aren't a great way to make gold if attacked from the correct direction, take this post for example.  Try out markets, and stick to the things you enjoy, and work well for you on your server.  Take everything with a grain of salt, and trust your own results first and foremost.  Blogs and websites have tons of useful information on making gold, in fact I'd imagine just about every legitimate method of making gold in World of Warcraft has been discussed at length somewhere already.  The value (in my eyes at least) from reading everyone's different perspectives, is that you can get a sense of what works and what doesn't, and evolve your own gold making method as a hybrid of those that work.  Take my enormous transmog list for example.  You don't need to use such an enormous list to have success flipping transmog, but it's what I do, and it works for me.  There are honestly items you could cut out of that list, and refine it to your own needs, or you could find another list, from someone who already has refined their method.

A Niche Market
Talking about finding your gold making niche, I can't not include a niche within a market, so let me refer you to my past post on Icy Cloak.  Since the initial post I've sold roughly 7 of them, making it well worth the time it took to camp the recipe and craft it.  Below is my priest modeling the cloak.  A similar model can be obtained with JP, but people just don't take the time to do their research!

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

If you enjoy my blog be sure to follow me on twitter, @PhatLewtsGold!!

Phat's Weekly Lewt Review 5/1

This week's review is going to be relatively short, not a very eventful week.  I once again slacked on restocking my crafting professions, and I am only up 31k on the week, mostly because I've spent time gearing my newly 90 Disc Priest with my time in game, which I have enjoyed thus far.  I guess the healer queues make it a bit less painless, and I still feel like a dps with Atonement.  Below is the highlight reel of things I did this week in game related to gold making.

Investing in the Alliance
I spent a lot of gold on my Alliance toon this week.  The character is at 78 and I started getting the mats for leveling professions to 600 once I get 80 (more professions to neglect!).  I also bought that alt 280% flying, because the Outland speed is just a bit too slow for my taste, time is money, long term investment yadda yadda.  I also invested roughly 10k into blues in the twink market this week, which all should flip relatively quickly.  I'm down roughly 8k for the week on the Alliance side, but I'm sure to make that up within the next week.

Transmog Confusion of the Week
I post transmog on 2 different servers, controlling 3 factions worth of transmog markets, so I tend to get whispers, especially when I speak up in trade.  Well someone on my alt realm started barking Cardinal Ruby in trade for 1k gold each, I couldn't help but let people know that they're purchasable for 220 JP as well as in the AH for under 100g, and I got this as a response from a different toon in trade:

At the time I was reposting my transmog, and I didn't see the guy's name once, so I can't imagine he was remotely buying any decently selling items.  It astounds me how little research some people do before "diving" into these markets.

You Scratch My Back...
Last but not least I wanted to mention something that I did this week as a favor to one of my suppliers, which I think is great for what I'm going to call "supplier morale".  I look for suppliers from my bank toon, the one that deals in and is known for transmog and leveling gear.  One of my current suppliers of Ghost Iron asked me if I had a certain piece for transmog, and I did not, so I told him I'd keep an eye on it on both the Horde & Alliance sides of the AH, and I set up a wowuction.com email alert specifically for the item.  Two days after I set it up I got the email saying it was on the Alli side, and I snatched it up, and my supplier was ecstatic as he had been trying to farm the green for a while. He sent me a few stacks on the house (for a 35g investment on a piece of gear).  Happy suppliers = easy gold making.


Cheers,

Phat Lewts

If you enjoy my blog follow me on twitter, @PhatLewtsGold!!

Thoughts on Pricing ilevel 502 Reborn Weapons

Blacksmiths have had time to get their 30 Lightning Steel Ingot, and the 502 Reborn Weapons have finally started to hit the market (I'm still 1 CD short).  If you're unfamiliar with them, check out this past post I did on them.   The big question on everyone's mind (at least everyone with a Blacksmith) is "what kind of price can I actually get for these?"  Right now the weapons are hovering around 70k average across servers according to TUJ, which in my opinion is a bit higher than most people will be willing purchase it for.  Let's take a look at some of the facts.

Know Your Market
The person purchasing this weapon is purchasing it for one of two reasons.  Either they want the ilevel boost on an alt, or they want to use it for transmog, simple as that.  Most mains have been in ToT on LFR for at least a few weeks now, and probably already have (at least) 502 weapons.  Aside from those with absolutely disposable income, most people won't pay 70k for such an item.  Let's be reasonable, for that price if they wanted it that much, it would have been cheaper to level a Blacksmith for the cooldowns and make it themselves, drop Blacksmithing, then relevel their old profession to max again.

Estimating Cost
I crunched a few numbers, and I came up with a minimum bound on the cost of these items, and I just want to share with you my methodology first.  The weapons have 3 base components, 300x http://www.wowhead.com/item=72096/ghost-iron-bar, varying numbers of http://www.wowhead.com/item=72104, and 18x http://www.wowhead.com/item=76061.  For my analysis I chose to value each item at their current "market price" as if you were buying them off the Auction House (the price you could have gotten for them had you not used them to craft the weapon).  For SoH I used the value of 2x http://www.wowhead.com/item=72238/golden-lotus as the floor price of SoH (they are most likely valued at more, but I wanted a MINIMUM).  Below are the base prices followed by the price to craft the final i502 version of each weapon.

Weapon	Approx Crafting Price
wowhead.com/item=94579	10,128 g
wowhead.com/item=94585	11,069 g
wowhead.com/item=94591	10,128 g
wowhead.com/item=94586	12,010 g
wowhead.com/item=94580	12,915 g
wowhead.com/item=94592	12,915 g

As you can see this minimum varies from 10-13k for the weapon, plus value of the 30 days worth of cooldowns it takes to craft the weapon.  These are the floor on the approximate price, making the assumptions stated above.

Okay Phat, Get to the Point!
That being said, the price range I'd expect for these to actually sell for on most servers is between 30k-55k depending on competition and demand.    If you haven't crafted it yet, start barking your CD in trade chat.   Have links ready for all the models, and say you'll craft any for a set price.  I'm aiming for 50k myself.  Going to craft one though, http://www.wowhead.com/item=94580, that my DK could use if it doesn't sell, and post it for ~2 weeks then use if it hasn't sold.  This is mostly because I want to get a nice 2H weapon for my alt Blood DK and I need an excuse to use it instead of sell it, I'd highly suggest selling the weapon in trade, you can use the wowhead links above to link them in game.  Are you going to use your CD or sell it, and if you're going to sell it, how much are you aiming for?

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

If you like my blog follow me on twitter, @PhatLewtsGold!!