Analyzing Overall Gold Making Trends in World of Warcraft

If you haven't already be sure to check out the latest episode of The Drunken Musings Podcast with GoblinRaset and myself over at The Drunken Mogul: Episode #11: Vanna White.

Looking Back
If you plan on playing during WoD, now is a particularly good time to look back on some of MoP's most wanted mats and products on The Undermine Journal to understand how life cycles work throughout a WoW expansion. One favorite of mine is one I like to call "The Batman". See if you can guess what this is a graph of without me telling you (global graph).

Click to Enlarge

So have you guess what this item is just by looking at the graph? Something that has Quantity available spikes during a certain part of the month (hint the 2 spikes are a week apart), and increases in value between spikes, while decreasing value overall.

While you might not have been able to pinpoint the exact trinket from this graph, this is the overall trend for none other than the Relic of Chi-Ji, here's the TUJ page if you want to play along at home.
The "Batman" looking spikes (particularly in the EU graph) show that the quantity (and hand ins) spike during the first and last day of the Darkmoon Faire. So what can we take away from looking at this? Well the trinkets are worth a LOT if you happened to get one completed by the first DMF. In this case the expansion was released roughly 2.5 weeks before the final day of a Darkmoon Faire, so unless RNG was friendly, you either needed a boatload of Scribes (as well as a boatload of then expensive herbs), or to pay an arm and a leg for the cards you were missing. If you got it done though, you were in an elite club, with only 1/3rd of the overall created by the next DMF, and almost all selling.

Anything else you notice? In the time between Faires, especially during the first ~8 months the supply decreased and prices went up. Let's take a look at Dec 2012 - Jan 2013:

So what do you notice here? During the Faire, prices decline linearly, but after the end of the Faire, prices rise until the next fair as supply dwindles down. In general I would start selling my trinkets about 1.5-2 weeks after the end of the faire, and I'm glad that there's graphical evidence to support my madness.

There's probably even more you can glean from this graph, but take the time and look back on markets that are going to have big impacts in WoD, and see how they develop and change throughout the expansion. I may do more analyses, but I highly suggest taking looks yourself and thinking about what you can do with that information. Drawing your own conclusions is essential to becoming a top level gold maker in WoW!

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

MoP in 2 Months!

So it's officially official that MoP will be released in 2 MONTHS.

I must say I am VERY surprised it is coming out so soon, but for gold making, there couldn't be better news!  When news of Mists coming out so very soon hits the public, people will be flocking back to the game to level alts and prepare their characters for the new expansion, so look forward to increased population on all servers in the upcoming 2 months leading up to MoP.  I'm going to go over some things I'll be looking out for in the coming month.

Cata Twink Gear
The 77-80 market is not going to be replaced by anything in MoP.  There will most likely be a substantial decrease in the amount of this gear available to buy and resell, but I wouldn't worry about dumping it all the moment you log on today.  It's still a viable market come MoP, levelers will always want to buy gear, no matter how much the gold making community and advice givers in general advise against it.

Now on the other hand, if you have been dipping into the 83-84 Cata gear market, there should be a RED FLAG coming up.  SELL, SELL, SELL!!  Cut your prices in this market, still sell at profit, but you want to dump all this stuff as fast as possible.  In the same way Cataclysm created the 77-80 Twink market, Mists of Pandaria is creating an 83-84 Twink Market.  Here is a list of all the items that are 83-84 BoE added in MoP and (some are) worlds better than whats available as an epic at level 85 right now.  Keep this gear in mind when you start leveling your 85s on September 25th!

Inscription
There's been a lot of rumors floating around about inscription recently.   Going back to the Cata pre-expansion patch, we saw that you were no longer able to trade inks until the release of Cata.  Been stockpiling Blackfallow?  Start trading them in!  If you haven't been stockpiling now is the time to start, it is almost too late to ensure a great distribution, but you don't want to miss out on (what could possibly be) Glyphmas 2.0.  Make sure you keep up to date on all the OFFICIAL changes that will be made (what glyphs will be changing over, which ones are being left in the dust, what inks you'll need etc.).  If you're hardcore into inscription and you want to keep up to date on all the official changes and nuances, I'm not your man.  Make sure you follow Croda's blog marketsforgold, his main focus is glyphs, and glyphs are my least favorite market.

Stockpiling
Again, getting late on this but there are still ways to start stockpiling now.

Pets are a great way to stockpile, especially the Elementium Geode as I had suggested in previous stockpiling posts.  I plan on coming out with a post based entirely on stocking up on pets for Mists, so I'm not going to delve into it too much, but for more of a read check out Cold's post Get Out While You Still Can!

Cataclysm mats are another great thing to stockpile.  With the influx of players, raw mats on the AH should at least increase in volume, if not decrease in price as well.  For selling a few months into Mists, raw mats are a great thing to stockpile long term, especially Hypnotic Dust, as it will be needed to level Enchanting more than Cata Essences.  


WANDS!
The wand slot will be removed in 5.0.4, and wands will be made a "main hand" caster weapon, with stats to match.  I wrote a post that you can find here about the best BoE wands to stockpile for this.  Again with the influx of players for Mists, you may start to find more of these wands on the AH, and should add them to your overall mogging searches.

This is just a small slice of the pie, but hopefully some big topics that you can start (or already are) hitting on.
What is your biggest goal to get done before the MoP release in 2 months?

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

Lull Gold Making

Before I get to the actual post I'd just like to take a moment to mention that a great blogger in the gold making community, Nev (aka Helen), author of Auction House Addict, has recently been diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  She is cutting off her hair to donate, and raising money for charity while doing so.  So, I just ask you to read her recent post on her experiences, and consider donating.

This is a post for Cold's Gold Making Carnival which comes out July 11, 2012.

This month Cold asks:
"What Do You Recommend Players Do During The Current WoW Lull To Benefit Gold Making In The Future?"

1. Stockpile for MoP
I recently did a post on this one, if you're interested it can be found at this link.

For a TL;DR Version, here's my short list:

1. Argent Tourney Pets (and other rare pets if I see them on the AH)
2. Elementium Geode
3. Swift Lovebird (already started selling these off at profit)
4. Mogging Wands
5. Don Gonzales' Shiny Shield

You can also stockpile some profession mats, but at this point it's all speculation, but hey if the price is too good to pass up, go for it!

2. Revive Your Professions

This one may seem obvious to some, but if you have stopped Jewelcrafting or Alchemy, or anything for that matter, look back into your markets.  Use theunderminejournal.com to check your professions on your server to see what's profitable.  Recently I realized that the price of cut Inferno Rubies nearly doubled since I left the JC market on my server, from 90g back to 180g.  This will probably not be the norm on a large server, but an unused Truegold CD could never hurt for a future investment! (Vial of the Sands mat)

3. Level an Alt.

Hey, everyone else is doing it.  If you're looking for entertainment within the game that also adds to your gold making arsenal, explore a new class.  If you haven't yet, LEVEL A DK.  I know it may be painful for some of you, but it's one of the best ways to level a gold making toon fast, start at 55.  Getting to 60 isn't hard, and 60-70 is pretty fast as well.  Getting to 80 isn't as much fun but I came across a fun leveling strategy that may help you kill the time:

Recently when I was playing on Magtheridon - US for a scavenger hunt hosted by stormspire.net, I leveled a DK to 85 (mostly to solo The Sunwell (not recommended)).  When I hit 77 I decked my DK out in Cataclysm leveling gear and went to Violet Hold.  I was able to solo that dungeon (and undoubtedly others) and get 25% XP, and about 175g in liquid gold and Frostweave Cloth.  So an hour soloing a dungeon can net you 75% of a level and about 600g, depending on the instance you try.  Just a fun challenge for all you soloers (or not) out there!

4. Get Into Flipping Markets

Use theunderminejournal and check out your server's Great Deals page:

Use this to try to get into some new flipping markets, and find great deals you might not otherwise be looking for!  Always a fun tool to use!

What NOT to do:

Don't drop your gathering professions to level up a crafting profession now.  I know you have the time, but gathering professions will be at their PEAK of goldmaking potential when Mists is released, now is a terrible time to drop them (granted you're willing to use them when MoP comes out).  

On the other hand, if your gatherer is a toon that you don't think will be a 90 anywhere within the first few months of the expansion, by all means drop gathering for crafting.  Pandaria zones will require you to be 90 before you can fly in them, and a gatherer without flying might as well not be a gatherer at all!

Don't stop making gold just because you think inflation will go crazy.  Earning gold along with stockpiling is the best way to keep your supply up and ensure maximum gold come MoP!  

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

Wand Mogging List for Mists of Pandaria!

As promised in my previous post, I've made a list of wands that would make for good transmog come MoP.  The reason I think wands will be a great thing to stockpile for Mists is because they will become a main weapon for caster's in MoP, and no one is using them for transmog right now.  

Theresa's Booklight

Torch of Austen

Gwyneth's Runed Dragonwand

This list includes all unique looking BoE wands that could be sold on the AH for mogging, come MoP when wands are going to become caster's main weapons.  I also only included items that are currently able to be transmogged, ie. they have some sort of primary or secondary stat on them, assuming the mogging rules won't change come MoP.  

Wand of Allistarj

Wasteland Wand

This is by no means a guide to mogging wands, but a guide to buying BoE mogging wands to resell in the future.  Without further ado, here are your lists, in both TSM and Auctionator formats:

Auctionator

***Mogging Wands

Wand of Allistarj

Wand of Arcane Potency

Torch of Austen

Antenna of Invigoration

Crystalized Ebony Wand

Wasteland Wand

Gwyneth's Runed Dragonwand

Incessant Torch

Nightmare Ender

Torchlight Wand

Wand of Dark Worship

Cyu's Ornate Wand

Theresa's Booklight

TradeSkillMaster

s1@13065,18338,37824,59460,13004,66920,55823,21801,35652,36665,67104,50472,25283$@

Wand of Arcane Potency

I chose all of the wands based on unique models, but the price point you are willing to buy at should be based on your perception of how well it will sell in Mists.  IMO these will be a great inflation buster as well as stockpiling investment.  Just a side note to those interested:  Although Crystalized Ebony Wand and Wasteland Wand share the same model as many other BoE wands, I chose them for this list because they are the only BoE models that are black.  Hope you enjoyed the list!  

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

MoP: Millions of Profit

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

Recently Farli from The Overcut put out a post about how he theoretically plans on making 1M Gold in MoP.  I too have a strategy for making tons of gold when the expansion comes out, but there are a few road bumps in the way that I think that I, as well as most, will have to deal with.

Leveling
If you are an experienced gold maker, you know that there are very few times when farming is a viable (in terms of gold per hour) way of making the most gold in game.  The first month or so of a new expansion is one of those times.  For me, gold wise, the best thing for me to do would be to get my farmer  (mining/herb) to 90 ASAP, get Pandaria Flying, and start farming.  This is easily the best source of not only profit, but materials to level my Alchemy/Jewelcrafting alt, which is my first priority.

This is NOT an easy task for me, and probably not most.  My main isn't my Tauren Druid farmer.  My main is a Belf Mage that I love to play, but does not need to be max level to get the most out of her professions (Tailoring/Alchemy).  Will it be hard to put my main on the back burner?  Yes.  In fact I'm considering going after server first 90, which although daunting, and not likely, is something I think I'd have fun going after.  The thing is once you spend all the time leveling, when you could have been leveling your farmer, it cuts into your profit.  So the real question is what matters more to you in game?  Now in the long run will maybe 20 hours or so really cut that deep into your pocket?  Probably not.  But herbs and ores are going to be insanely expensive the first few days, and the faster you can get your hands on them, the better it is for you.  Just something to consider.

MoP: Money or Pandas?
Another thing that may cut into your money making on the first few days is Pandarians.  If you are like me, you most likely won't have access to the beta, you will probably want to get the full Pandarian experience first hand within the first month of the expansion.  My advice for this (from a gold making standpoint) is to hold off as long as possible.  Every decent or better gold maker out there will tell you that time is money, and gold per hour is a very REAL thing.  Every minute that you dedicate to leveling a panda is worth 16g 33s for every 1k gold you make per hour.  If you end up (theoretically) making somewhere around 10k gold per hour the first week of the expansion, every minute you play a panda is costing you over 150 g!!!  Just something to consider.

My Battle Plan
From launch my goal is going to be to get my main professions maxxed ASAP.  My (loose) priority is as follows, again with (considering) doing the "max the gatherer first", but not including it in the list:

1) Alchemy/JC
2) Enchanting
3) 2 other Alchemists
4) 2nd JC (for faster tokens (more cuts = more gold))
5) Tailoring
6) Inscription
7) Blacksmith
8) Whatever's left.

That's just my loose order, not necessarily static, and based on market price.  What's yours?

Cheers,

Phat Lewts