Phats' Weekly Lewt Review 12/28

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are having a great and relaxing holiday!  Today as always I'm going to bring you my latest gold making escapades in the past week, in hope of helping you, and/or letting me vent a bit (you'll see below).

Tailoring
Tailoring has been really good for me the past few weeks.  I am still burning my daily CD, and selling both the crafted PvP sets and the Imperial Silk crafted (ilvl 476) gear.  Both at an amazing profit.  I actually can't keep the Imperial Silk crafted gear on the AH long enough to replenish it with my daily cooldown, which is nice!  I'm tending to craft only the gloves now, as both gloves and robes sell for about the same on my server, and gloves take 2 less cooldowns.  If I work up 6 cloths before I sell a pair of gloves though, I will make the robes.  As for the PvP gear, for some simple calculations I figure each PvP piece takes about one stack of Windwool (ie. 4 bolts) on average.  This means that for anywhere from 20-40g I can craft one piece of PvP gear.  That means Selling it from 150-350g is well worth my time!  I'm also crafting Netherweave Bags while AFK because the profit margins are strangely high on my server right now.

Alchemy/Farming
As I mentioned a few weeks ago when 5.1 dropped, I started planting Enigma Seeds.  I'm now using them to make flasks with the rest of the herbs that come up, since my 90 is an alchemist.  Just adds a little bit of value to my Lotus, but well worth it, as they both sell just as quickly for me.  Also, I've been using a spreadsheet to calculate my minimum Living Steel method (since TUJ doesn't account for procs from transmuting).  It's going well, but my profit margin is only about 100g on any given day, with procs taken into consideration.  With 4 alchemists, this means 400g/day so I can't complain for what little work I do to get it.

Burned at the BMAH
So recently I saw a Battered Hilt on the Black Market Auction House.  The starting bid was 15k and I know I can probably get anywhere from 25-30k on my server for such an item, and I figured if it didn't sell, I could use it myself, I've always wanted to do that quest line.  I won the bid at 15k and got the item, only to see that I had purchased the Alliance only version on my Horde character.  So I almost instantly opened up a ticket with a GM.  I got my response within 48 hrs, and I was not very pleased with it. They said 2 things: 1) They would not change the item to the Horde version and 2) They would not refund me the gold I payed for the item.  Bummer.  So I'm out 15k, it's my own fault but I figured they'd at least swap it for the Horde version, but what can you do.  Lesson learned, watch out for faction specific items on the BMAH.

That's about all for this week, it's been a lot of sales I figure because the college and high school kids have off this week through New Year's, and I've gotten a noticeable increase in sales, which is always welcome.  I will try to do another post some time before 2013, but I'm not sure that I will have the time.  In any case, I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

What 5.1 Brings to (and takes away from) the Table

5.1 brought some changes as a patch, noted in the Patch Notes, but has also brought around some stealth changes that were not anticipated.  I'm going to go over some of the ones that I think are important to us as gold makers, feel free to chime in if you think I missed one or want to add!

SoH + Node Nerfs
In the official Patch Notes, they noted that 1 SoH will only get you 2 Golden Lotus now (as opposed to 3).  Also, you can now purchase SoH for 600 Conquest Points if you're a PvPer.  Now this significantly decreases the value of your SoH, consider growing some of the higher value plants on your farm instead of Motes!  Check out my previous post here for more info on determining what your SoH is worth.

Also, Blizzard announced that all nodes in Pandaria have gotten a 50% nerf.  This is pretty big, as they're trying to make the ore/herbs more valuable (see the post).  This is good for us as both crafters and farmers.  Assuming that we make the same percentage return regardless, having the mats cost more means that for each thing we craft we're getting more gold.  For farmers they're getting more for their work, for crafters they have to do less work to make the same profit.  It's a win win situation for all of us!

Pet Battle Changes
There are a few major pet battle changes that I think (sort of) impact the gold making community, one is that for completing the full chain (EK + Kalimdor, Outland, Northrend, and Pandaria) you are rewarded with 3k.  For me this is nice because I enjoyed the pet battles to begin with and it gives me an excuse to go finish the quest line!  Also, a reward from the bags for completing these quest now includes the Flawless Battle-Stone which can be sold on the AH.  This item will automatically upgrade your pet to rare, which is a helpful thing for players with pets that are only uncommon (learned from items), or for the ones in the wild they're too lazy to hunt for.

Mr. Bigglesworth (image from Wowhead)

It's also useful to note that a few pets have been added to the game, I'm not going to go too in depth into these, but a lot of raid pets have been added, the reward for getting them all being the much coveted companion, Mr. Bigglesworth, from Naxxramas!  If you want to read more about these pets check out Wowhead's article here  I think this will encourage some players to get into the new pets as this is one awesome vanity pet that's hard for anyone to pass up!  Another nice addition for Tailors is that they can now craft 2 new pets, the Imperial Silkworm and Imperial Moth, which can both be created by using your Imperial Silk Cooldown.  A potential extra profit/reason for tailors to burn their CDs every day!

Darkmoon Trinkets Upgradable
Another nice feature they added in 5.1 is the ability to upgrade epic items with valor points.  Previous to this Darkmoon Trinkets were BiS, and now they are upgradable as well, helping ensure their value for at least a few more DMFs!

The one last thing that may be of value is that we can now enter old raids by ourselves, and some solo friendly changes have been made to some bosses.  This could be useful if you farm raids, but was not essential, just makes your life (slightly) easier.  So, what is your favorite or least favorite part of the new patch?

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

First Look: 5.1 PTR

World PvP
If you haven't read it already, check out the current 5.1 PTR Patch notes.  Blizzard is doing a lot of great things with 5.1, including heating up the Horde vs. Alliance conflict the way they have been saying they would.  For gold making I think this will be a great boost.  They're adding 2 outposts, one for each faction that reward rep and have objects to capture.  They are also awarding "commendations" for slaying the opposite faction on the shores.

This is really going to boost PvP in Pandaria, and I think it's going to be absolutely amazing for the crafted PvP gear market, because people who normally wouldn't care about PvP Resil/Power as stats will suddenly be very interested in it.  This will also provide a boost for the enchant/JC enhancements for PvP as well.

Battle Pets
There were also some changes to battle pets that tweaked my interest, the first being that there will now be tokens that drop from wild pet battles that can be used to upgrade pets from grey/common -> uncommon, or uncommon -> rare.  Better yet, they're not BoP, so they can be sold on the Auction House.  This is going to be a very interesting thing to see progress.  Basically it makes any uncommon pet you could sell into a rare, and will allow Pet Battlers to capture uncommon pets instead of hunting for rares, and upgrade them for a price.  This is interesting to me at least, because I've been dabbling in the pet battle system.  They're also adding a 3,000g reward for going through the entire quest chain and defeating the "Grand Master" NPC Pet Battler of Pandaria.  At the very least it will get more people interested in these things!

On my server, I've just seen the first level 25 battle pet posted in the auction house, a Winterspring Cub (of all things).  The seller is selling it for 15k with a 10k bid, which I think will be interesting to see if it pans out.  That's all from me for now, just wanted to get a quick post out about the gold making changes in 5.1, there are other cool features though, check out the Blizzard post I linked at the top! How do you think 5.1 will impact your gold making strategy?

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

Calculating the Value of Spirit of Harmony

Okay so you've been farming Motes of Harmony, both literally with the Tillers, and also by killing mobs and receiving drops.  Now you have a decent amount, but is it worthwhile to use it for a craft?  What's the price point for one of these things?  These are the questions I'm here to answer.

Point for Comparison
Since we have a vendor that will trade Spirit of Harmony for various goods, we can calculate the "Opportunity Cost" of using a Spirit of Harmony in a craft.  9 times out of 10 on any given server the conversion from 1 Spirit of Harmony -> 3 Golden Lotus will be the most profitable, BUT if you would like to compare the other options as well, The Undermine Journal has a neat tool for doing so for you.

Once on your server page, simply hover over Consumables, then select Elementals.

Click to Enlarge

After doing so you should see a page similar to this one, which will multiply by the number you can buy from the vendor by the current going rate for each item.

What this table shows us is that for every Spirit of Harmony you have, you can trade it for about 880 gold.  So if a recipe you're crafting has say 6 Spirit of harmony, and the raw mats + 880*6 = raw mats + 5280 is less than the price that you could get for that item, don't craft it! Now not everything is as black and white as say the LW or BS that NEED this in their Epic crafts, some professions have CDs that you can ignore by using SoH, and others have recipes you can buy with them. So the question for those professions is "Is having this extra CD/recipe worth the gold that these SoH are worth?" or "Is this PvP recipe worth 880g?" For example, on most servers an additional Living Steel CD for your Alchemist is NEVER worth the price of the 9 Golden Lotus I could get instead.  So it's just something to keep in mind.

Additional Valuation
So, you thought that was it huh?  Unfortunately for you it's not!   We have another problem because if you're Revered or greater with the Tillers, you have the opportunity to grow these from the ground!  Is it worth it?
Okay so make sure you've done the above step, which way is worth more?  What's a SoH worth to you? Let's say like the above example your server had the SoH worth 880g to trade in for Golden Lotus, but your LW craft for example takes raw mats that sell for 720g and 8 SoH, but you can sell it for 34k.  TUJ even does THIS math for you!

Click to Enlarge

Since it's worth crafting we can calculate the value of your SoH to be (Selling Price) - (Other Mats) = 34k-720g = 33.3k divided among 8 SoH = 4,162g per SoH!!  So it's definitely worth it for you to craft this item instead of trade it to the vendor.  On the other hand, if you determine the opposite, such as an Alchemist, that it's not worth it with your 90's professions, it's only worth 880g.

Now here comes the interesting (and slightly annoying) part.  Each plot in your farm grows 1 Mote of Harmony (1/10th of a Spirit).  To the LW each plot is worth 416.2g (very nice!), but to the Alchemist, it's only worth 88g.  Not that great...could you get more planting something else?

Currently the other Revered seeds won't (on most servers) get you something worth more than 88g, as they are the most basic of Raw Mats for professions.  BUT, right now there is a very high demand for vegetables!  So back to TUJ to check: Consumables -> Cooking

Click to Enlarge

You will be able to see a chart like this:

Note the price and that each plot will grow not one but five of these each day.  *Note: Ginseng is sold by a Tillers vendor. Basically multiply any of these numbers by 5 and you'll get more than that 88g.  Juicycrunch Carrot would be my go to because Intellect lovers are always my best buyers, but also note that Jogu the Drunk, for a fee, will tell you which one of these to grow each day to harvest 8 the next day.  So one of these will get a x8 multiplier instead of x5.


Now that I've thoroughly bored you to death, get out there and start getting THE MOST out of your Spirit of Harmony!! If you remember to reply after checking, leave a comment with your 2 primary professions and how much your Spirit of Harmony are worth!

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

Top 5 Professions to Level ASAP!

Today I figured I'd do a post on what professions I personally will be leveling as soon as possible.  Mists releases at midnight on the west coast US, which is a relatively ungodly 3 AM for those of us on the east coast.  That being said I'm still considering setting my alarm and having a pot of coffee on hand, but right now it looks unlikely. Once I do eventually log, I am going to focus on leveling my professions before stepping into Pandaria.

Living Steel

My main focus though is the new "Truegold", Living Steel.  This new alchemy cooldown is used in 28 recipes, all but 10 of which will be craftable at launch, given the crafter has the correct (and in some cases absurdly high) amount of Spirit of Harmony in some cases.  This precious metal is used in many crafts.  16 total are required to craft the new JC Epic Mount (which will require Exalted rep to get all recipes for), 1 is required to craft the new Belt Buckle, as well as quite a few needed for the BS and Engineering Epics.  Let's just say there's going to be quite a demand for this item, especially from those elite raiding guilds on your server.

Primordial Ruby

A JC's Best Friend

My second focus will be leveling Jewelcrafting acquiring all of the Jewelcrafting Primordial Ruby base cuts (Delicate, Bold, Brilliant) ASAP.  These cuts will be learned through research or doing Golden Lotus Dailies at Revered.  **Here's the thing to consider with Jewelcrafting though**, they're scaling gem cuts this expansion.  This means they're scrapping the Cataclysm (and previous expansion) model of say 40 base stats total for all gems. Instead, the off color gems will have more base stats to compensate for the lack of Primary stats (Int, Str, Agi).  This doesn't concern me because I think during the first few weeks people will still be following their old gemming ways, and I'm not too worried about these not being HOT sellers.  I may however stop once I get the Brilliant cut, so I can diversify.  The more colors of rare gems I can cut the first few weeks the better.

Without Further Ado, my list:
Top 5 Professions to Level (IMO)

1. Alchemy
• As Stated above, Alchemy transmutes will be used in many recipes, so I will be focusing on leveling the Alchemy my 4 Transmute Masters as soon as possible, to get these xmutes on the AH before the price drops 1 copper!
2. Jewelcrafting
• Again as stated above I want to take good care to learn as many cuts as possible, as soon as possible, and you can start researching once you hit 550, so after that I'm going to stop and focus on other professions.  It's also useful to note I have 2 JCs for double the research possibilities.
3. Tailoring
• Tailoring also has a new daily cooldown that will be added, which again will be craftable at only 550, so getting my 2 Tailors up to burn their daily cooldowns is necessary as soon as possible again.
4. Inscription
• Once again, Inscription is another profession has a once daily cooldown (525), which is a necessary material for Darkmoon Cards(600).
• This makes the individual Darkmoon Cards way more valuable, and will focus trinket seekers on getting individual cards as opposed to full decks.
• Take into consideration that there is also 3 BoA Staves that require 20 of these first daily CDs to make.  Priorities!!! **Note that you can acquire 7 per week doing proffesion specific (level 600) weekly quests, so this is where maxing your Scribe comes in handy.
• I'm not sure if you need to be a certain level to access the area, if so you will need to obtain that level as well. 
5. Mining
• This may seem like a curveball to some, given my (and most gold makers) "Gathering isn't the best GPH" stance.  I still agree with this, and think my profession leveling order above will payout the most, but my go to craft, Living Steel Transmute requires 6 Trillium Bars EACH, each of which require 2 of each color of Trillium Ore (so needs 24 raw ore total, 12 of each color).

• This bar cannot be smelted by Miners until 600 Skill Level, which can only be obtained by farming nodes (no smelting skill ups), so you KNOW the bars are going to be in high demand, and are also going to be very expensive for the first few weeks. By having my own miner smelt the bars, I can cut my costs, and acquire some ore for the transmutes.  It's a win win (except I don't want to level my Tauren Druid, but oh well).

So this is it, my master plan.  If anyone is curious I will be leveling my Mage (Tailor/Alchemy) to 90 first after all this, and starting my farm ASAP, so my mage will be the first one to be able to benefit from the Tiller's Bonus Spirit of Harmony, which is nice because then I'll have the option to choose between the most profitable of the two daily CDs (Tailoring/Alch) that character can craft, based on established AH prices. 

So that's my plan (and suggestion) on which Professions to level first.  Which professions are you planning on leveling up first?

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

Your Guide to Spirit of Harmony

***If you're here looking for a guide on farming Motes of Harmony, check out this post!!***

Spirit of Harmony
(via Wowhead)

Remember all the way back in Cataclysm when crafted items were made with Volatile Air, Fire, Water, Life, and Earth? It seems like just yesterday that multiple elementals were the norm, but Blizzard decided to scrap this system for a simpler one.  Spirit of Harmony, which are essential to about every major crafting profession, are the only elementals in MoP (for now at least).  They can be created by combining 10 Motes of Harmony which are random world drops from 85-90.

The bad news for your low level crafters though is that they are BoP, so any alts not yet in Pandaria will not be able to benefit from them.  

Which Profession Benefits most from Spirit of Harmony?
This is an debatable question, but here's the breakdown (number 1 are the ones that cannot truly benefit, then the rest of the professions follow in alphabetic order).
*Right now on wowhead, the only way I can see to sort what can be crafted using this item by each profession is to go to this link and type in the profession name.

1. Mining, Herbalism, Skinning, Enchanting
• Relatively no benefit.  These professions can use the Spirits to trade for these raw mats, which is not terrible, but any profession could do this.  
2. Alchemy
• Using 3 Spirits of Harmony, an Alchemist can get an extra transmute CD for the day Riddle of Steel.  (this is the Truegold of Pandaria)
3. Blacksmithing
• Most notably requires 8 Spirits of Harmony to craft ilvl 476 epic gloves + chest (first level of craftable epics).
• To craft ilvl 496 items it requres 2-3 Spirits of Harmony as well as 8 Blood Spirit, an item gained from disenchanting raid armor (not available first week).
4. Engineering
• Staying true to Engineering's roots, it is used in recipes that create cool things (mounts, daily CD robot, etc) for the owner, as well as scopes, a gun, a pet, and a Pandarian Wormhole Generator!
5. Inscription
• The new Darkmoon Cards require 10 Spirits of Harmony or a weekly quest reward to craft more than one per day! This will lead to more scribes trading cards to get full decks rather than grinding a ton until they get a full deck.
• Cool Addition: Scribes can now craft any of 3 new staves that are Bind on Account, requiring 20 daily cooldowns.
• The 4 Inscription weeklies to get the CDs faster: avoiding the daily cooldown by doing weekly crafts, requiring 4-6 Spirits of Harmony per.
6. Jewelcrafting
• Not Needed for the cool new mounts!
• Two new vanity pets require 3 Spirits of Harmony each.
• If you didn't know already, JC now requires a daily CD to discover new cuts (you pick which color you want to discover).  You can do more the one per day using 3 Spirits of Harmony.
7. Leatherworking
• Similar to Blacksmithing.  Again click here and search Leatherworking to see all the recipes, again gloves and chest
8. Tailoring
• With 3 Spirits of Harmony, Tailors can avoid their Daily Cooldown, to craft epic items faster.
• The epics require 4-6 of the daily CDs to create, again more for the 'upgraded' ilvl gear.

Farm Your Motes!

Like I said above, the Spirit of Harmony are created by combining 10 Mote of Harmony. If you get to revered with a new faction in Pandaria, The Tillers, you will be able to get over 1 full Spirit worth a day by "cultivating a farm".  If you're interested in learning more about this, check out wowhead's Tillers Guide, it's a very comprehensive preview of what you can expect. Basically once you get revered you can obtain Songbell Seeds and cultivate them (only taking a few minutes every day) and not have to grind out Motes from random mobs in Pandaria.  This should certainly speed up the process for any of you looking to get your hand on Spirits of Harmony ASAP.  

Which profession are you leveling first, and which one do you think has the coolest use for Spirits of Harmony?

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

I Tailor Made This Post for Tailors

This is it.  Want to make gold with tailoring?  Try these!

Cooldown: Dreamcloth
Tailoring is a unique profession, even vs. BS/LW, because Tailoring has a unique set of cooldowns (that are usually removed by the next expansion).  The current tailoring cooldowns are for Dreamcloth.  One cooldown for Dreamcloth, Dream of Chaos recently had it's cooldown removed.  This one requires 8 Bolts of Embersilk Cloth (Equivalent to 2 stacks of Embersilk Cloth) and 4 Chaos Orbs.  The other cooldowns you can only cast once per week, and require 30 Volatiles (Air, Fire, Life, etc.).  The test here is, if you can get the Volatiles for cheaper than 4 Chaos Orbs, then do that cooldown.  If you can't (Volatile Air *cough cough*) then don't burn that cooldown.

Now for profitable uses of the Dreamcloth! other than acquiring the new Dragon Soul patterns, Dreamcloth can be used to craft Powerful Ghostly Spellthread and Powerful Enchanted Spellthread.  These are BiS leg enchants for most casting classes and sell pretty regularly, but don't forget you do get your own for next to nothing!

Vicious PvP Gear
Right now the Vicious PvP gear market is pretty hot, believe it or not.  No, it doesn't actually have to do with PvPers.  People are leveling alts, and once they hit 85 they want to get their Vicious gear ASAP, to get into HoT heroics.  To get all the patterns for the PvP gear, be sure to visit the tailoring vendor in your capitol city!  These patterns all require Bolts of Embersilk Cloth along with Volatile Fire or Water.  I personally like to craft 2 of each of these and keep both at the AH at any given time.  My fallback price is 849g each when there are none on the AH and I'm willing to go as cheap as twice the cost of mats.

Bags
Yes, the age-old tailoring money maker.  Bags are not my favorite item to craft, mostly because on my server right now, the only bags with a decent profit margin are Netherweave, and they take FOREVER to craft.  However if you are truely looking to diversify your Tailoring gold making strategy, bags are always going to make you gold.  Check your server's prices, and utilize your rare(ish) bag recipes, such as Luxurious Silk Gem Bag, a reward from Molten Front dailies.  Bags really round out well your tailoring profit potential, and shouldn't be overlooked, especially profession specific 36 slots!

Transmog!
You'd be amazed at how some craftable items are great for transmog, one of my favorites is Mooncloth Robe.  For mogging, the fastest selling thing you'll be able to craft is a robe, so go through everything you can craft as a chest piece, and start from there.  Rare recipies on the AH can turn into great profits, as are unique models such as Arcanoweave Robe.  Here is a list of all the rare and epic chests for tailoring.  Also, beyond chests, if you have the willingness to farm some adds in Karazhan every week, I think these gloves look simply amazing.

So that about wraps it up for me. Sure there are other things you can craft for profit, but after a while it's best to switch to a different profession to maximize your gold making potential. What are your favorite items to craft on your tailor to make gold

Cheers,

Phat Lewts

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

Tailors: Icy Cloak Recipe!

Follow me on twitter @PhatLewtsGold!
Disclaimer: This gold making method is NOT for the feint of heart.

UPDATE:  I've managed to sell this cloak Horde side for over 3k gold!

Requirements: Tailor and Alchemist (Only needs to be @ skill 200 which requires level 20)
Suggested: Tailor, Alchemist, and Herbalist

This is what the Cloak in question looks like:

 

For transmog, this cloak is not unique, in fact there are many other places to get it, but the one thing in your favor is that this is the only way that produces a BoE version of the cloak, AND this recipe is not available to the Alliance at all.  (Also, Priests love this cloak and it's cheap to make)

Step 1: Getting your Recipes

Pattern: Icy Cloak is sold by a vendor only friendly to Horde players, Ghok'kah.  This and the other recipe are Limited Supply so they may not be there right away, and may require some camping to obtain!

**If you are going to transfer this to the Alliance and you have an Alliance tailor/alchemist now would be the best time to transfer this recipe as the next one can be obtained by Alliance or Horde

The other recipe you will most likely need is Recipe: Frost Oil, as Frost Oil is a reagent required to craft the cloak.  This one is sold by Bro'kin, and again will require a decent bit of camping as it is Limited Supply.  

Step 2: Getting your Mats

The mats for Icy Cloak (other than the Frost Oil that you're going to make) are all pretty common and cheap to buy off your Auction House.  The Frost Oil may provide a bit of a problem and this is where having an herbalist will really help you.  The one annoying mat is Dragon's Teeth.  This does drop from a lot of low level instances (Maraudon mostly) so there may be a bit on your AH if the low lvls were smart enough to post it.  If not, the herb nodes are only located in the Badlands.  Get all your mats together and craft the cloak!  

Step 3: ?????

Step 4: Profit

List the cloak on the AH for a reasonable price (I'd suggest 500-1,000 g depending on the size of your server) and wait for it to sell!  

Observations/Comments

This pattern is not available to the Alliance so flipping the pattern on the Alli side (or getting it on an alt over there) may be even better than crafting the cloak.  There are very easy ways of obtaining a cloak that looks like this but hopefully people will see yours in the AH and say "Hey that looks good, and I'm willing to pay the price to not do research" and you'll be all set.  

Good luck camping vendors!

Cheers,

Phat Lewts  (@PhatLewtsGold)