(Dis)enchanting. 4.0.3

All right, I know it's nothing overly new, but it's certainly an awesome way to bring in the gold and I thought I would share my thoughts and logic about how amazing disenchanting is for item shuffling. Jewelcrafting + (dis)enchanting was a classic combo in Wrath, and it's still a great way to shuffle ore into larger profit margins.

Right now ore has dropped to 100g a stack on my server, sometimes you can get lucky and catch it below that. Last week ore was 200g a stack. Suddenly prospecting has become profitable. But wait, now everyone is prospecting gems. While uncommon gems still sell well, especially for dailies, the rare gem prices are unreasonably low. I haven't bothered selling any of mine yet. I'll either donate them to my guild bank or save them for later epic gem transmutations or when there's higher demand for gems.

I have been selling my uncommon gems in singles and stacks for levelers (mainly Hessonite) and daily required gems. When the gems aren't in high demand I craft them, yes *all* of them into the misc, random enchant items. While Jasper Ring seems the most logical to make, and is clearly the most profitable, I've still found it worth my while to also craft Nightstone Choker, Hessonite Band, Alicite Pendant and Carnelian Spikes. Obviously Carnelian Spikes are the least profitable, so I only make this when the market price for the gem is low and will have a higher DE value than selling the gems themselves. Since Carnelian isn't in very high demand on my server, it's more profitable to DE them.

A stack of Greater Celestial Essence goes for about 700-800g market price at the moment (23g per Lesser Celestial Essence), and a stack of Hypnotic Dust is going for about 600g+ as well (30g each dust). So, each green that disenchants into 1-3 Lesser Celestial Essence or 1-5 Hypnotic Dust is giving me anywhere from 23g-150g. While a large variable, if we wanted to just take an average of that (1.5 for lesser essence and 2.5 for Hypnotic Dust) we'd be getting (34g+75g)/2 = 54.5g per disenchant.

Ok so you're thinking, "but the uncommon gems are worth so much more on the AH than 54.5g, even just for one gem." Well, that may be true on your server, but the only time gem prices hike up are the days when JC needs them. There just isn't enough demand for uncommon gems. Most people just prospect themselves or get someone else to prospect, since it's so much cheaper to do it this way. For example Carnelian is only worth 22g50s, but the market is flooded and there's a very low demand for the gems. All gems but Nightstone, which is the JC daily today, are roughly 22g on the AH B/O.

When you factor in the price of the ore, 100g for a stack or 4 prospects yeilding 2 uncommon gems nearly every prospect, and we won't count the rare gems into our equations. So 100g/8= 12.5g per uncommon gem. Zephyrite is the worst to get, but you can still sell it on the AH for a fair profit to levelers, and also when it is up for JC daily. So you *could* just post your uncommon gems up and hope for a demand. Or...

You can convert them into a market that doesn't have enough supply. As I stated above, the enchanting market is so dry at the moment. It needs more, and is generally a fairly healthy market. So when you think about it, you're turning 54.5g-(12.5x2) = 29.5g per DE profit. This is assuming all your DE's are done using two uncommon gems, and ignoring the price of the JC settings. So a stack of ore at 100g turns into 218g. You're already making a 100%+ ROI, and enchanting mats sell much quicker and easily than the raw uncommon gems are now. And at 22.5g market price for uncommon gems, you would only be making 10g off a gem costing you 12.5g. Still a fair profit, but why settle for that?

Well I really enjoyed getting into the maths of that. A bit worried that I made a mistake in there somewhere. Note my numbers are based on MY server's current market values, and I chose the lower end of the price ranges for my calculations.

Christmas 4.0.3

Merry Christmas to the West, and Happy Boxing Day to the East!

I had a wonderful Christmas, however the Holiday is not over for me until post-New Years, so my postings will continue to be sporadic.

This is an interesting time of year, and a lot of you may have been profiting off of vendor purchased items, Christmas attire, and all the new accounts coming into play. If you have time, farm, farm farm. I've been logging in and farming while I chat to all my relatives back home (thank god for Skype) and running around snatching up herbs and ore.

While the prices on my server are declining, others are anticipating an incline in prices again, or at least an increased demand on ores, bars and herbs. Either way, it's still a great time to profit from farming, and possibly the low prices on the auction house.

Just a reminder that Darkmoon Faire will be returning next week. You have about 7 days to start preparing some card decks if you're going for The Insane title, or just looking to try your hand at profiting from the trinkets. Keep an eye out, if the market seems flooded, be patient and hold back with your sales. The cards will sell to raiders and alts through the expansion, and most of them are looking to be fairly high on the better in-slot items for most classes.

I hope you all have, and continue to have, a very wonderful holiday season, whatever it is that you may be celebrating.

Fortune Cookies! 4.0.3 Cataclysm

I have found a new love. Yes, the delicious little Fortune Cookie.

At first I thought, "oh hey, a useful stat. So for my rogue that means agility. Oh wow this could be great for my hybrid characters as well!" So I made myself a batch or two of these. I was a bit concerned about using up so much Blackfallow Ink and my chance at 5000g from the Mysterious Fortune Card. And then I noticed used Fortune Cards in my bags, and I was thinking "oh crap, maybe when I cook them something is happening and I'm flipping the fortune cards!" No, my friends, I was not. Upon consuming my tasty treat and gaining my food buff I was getting my fortune card flipped as well.

So what does this all mean? Well, instead of just making the Mysterious Fortune Cards and selling to gamblers, why not up the value by investing some Simple Flour into it and adding a 90 stam 90 useful stat bonus to the gamble?

Lastly, these are the easiest buff food to make right now once you get the recipe. And possibly cheaper to produce than specific stat foods. The universal usage of these cookies makes them a very viable product for profit. All it would take is a bit of advertising in trade to get the idea out there.

I have noticed this has been a fairly talked about topic, but this is just my own little anecdote about how I came across my love of these. I might change my mind if costs change, but fish and meat has always been fairly expensive. If herbs keep declining in price, these may be the most profitable buff food short of feasts.

Gold and heroic dungeon grinds. Cataclysm 4.0.3

I've been so swamped with grinding rep, running dungeons and Christmas that I've hardly found much time to really focus on any gold-making. 

However, I've found JC to be the most profitable by far. If you can get yourself a cut that is desired, but no one else has, it's pretty logical that you're going to make a fair bit. Gem cuts that no one else has, or few people do, or even few people have the raw gems to cut, are going for about 300-400g on my server. Common cuts are going for about 115g. Either way, at 150-200g a stack of ore, even just prospecting and selling the gems you get is an easy win when you have little time. 

Cloth and leather are also a steady 150-200g a stack, and I'm really hoping they come down soon. Herbs range from 225g to a low of 60g a stack. If you're trying to make anything with inscription or alchemy I advise doing the herb farming yourself. People are posting items at incredibly competitive prices (at least on my server) and the only way to really stay in the game is to put the effort in yourself and wait for herb prices to decline.

Another gold mine if you're a farmer is to go and fish up all the new fish. They are all extremely expensive and extremely hard to find on the AH because who the hell fishes at the beginning of an expansion? Yea, well if you're waiting on slow-poke guild mates or dungeon queues, bust out that fishing rod and make yourself 250-500g a stack. While you're fishing you're also earning the That's A Lot of Bait guild achievement earning your guild the purchase of Seafood Magnifique, fish feast. 

Fortune Cookie is something that might be a great seller, especially for players that change spec frequently, and what I'm personally aiming for as far as cooking recipes go. The materials for the card are pretty simple to come by, and easily made if you're a scribe, the only risk is whether one of the cards you send to be made into a cookie is one of the ones that vendors for 5000g.

So, about those dungeons, eh? Yes, spending up to 4 hours (it's happened) in heroic dungeons is not fun, however, it's proof that the new content is at least a challenge until we get a bit more gear and can achieve larger amounts of dps, HP on tanks and greater mana pools and regen on healers. So whatever happens, stay chill, relax and enjoy the few points you do earn. Eventually we'll out gear the new content. If you really don't have the patience for it, do something else, seriously. Nothing is as big of a downer as some crabby pug at each other's throats.

Overview of the first week of Cataclsym.

First off, sincere apologies for taking my sweet time. I've had a very busy week and this month is about to only get busier as the holiday season approaches. This means I won't be posting as frequently as I'd like too, but I will be back into my normal posting schedule soon after New Years and hopefully I'll be able to write about some more detailed ideas. But for now I haven't even had a chance to go farming and check out new routes since the hotfix that nerfed all the nodes because I've been cramming to get my main to 85. I'm falling behind! So today's post is just some bits and pieces from my own experience in Cataclsym so far.

From my own experiences the best money-makers are the items that the rich can invest in and get richer off of. Hardened Elementium Bar is/was outrageously expensive on my server for a long time, and last I checked it did not change much. This was because Volatile Earth was really expensive as well, actually all volatiles were and still are, except life has dropped a bit (thank god). However, this crunch lead people, like me, who had leveled 6 professions in the first few days were able to profit by simply being the first to get there.

I made a fair amount off engineer crafted weapons, Truegold is an amazing investment with nearly triple return for me on my server. The Adventurer's Journal  were also selling well, considering the 10% bonus to questing XP.  Manual of the Planes and other inscription relics are also solid sellers, just watch out for market flooding. As soon as I can start gathering Chaos Orbs I'll be pumping out a few Overpowered Chicken Splitters since rogues can use them for single-target fights as a stat bonus, and I've seen a good few hunters looking for them. The biggest name of the game at the moment is item level, and of course everyone wants gear.

I had no luck with the DMF idea I had, mostly because of the bugs my main experienced and real life demanding my presence else where. But it looks like no one else made any decks either, which also disappoints me a bit, because I wanted one.

I don't have anything exciting for fresh yet, because, let's face it, it's only the first week. Making gold right now is easy, but takes a bit of craft to quickly pick up the flow of the market. Use your cooldowns wisely as well. I've been doing Transmute: Truegold and Transmute: Shadowspirit Diamond. Since shadowspirit diamond and Fire Prism require the same reagents, I don't bother with Fire Prism, since the meta gems are more valuable at the moment.

If you're a leatherworker, you should make some PVE gear. All I see is PVP gear on the AH, and I would really like something to wear on  my rogue that isn't a 305 ilvl green I got from questing. BS and tailoring too, will make an absolute killing once they start running heroics and crating items everyone needs to help them gear up, however, the sooner the better.

A bit of a side note:

The leveling content is pretty awesome, when it wasn't bugged out. Everything seems to be sorted now, so go back and unlock all the reps and enjoy the quest chains, this is what I've been doing while waiting on dungeon queues. The dungeons themselves are awesome, and I'm enjoying the challenge. Heroics are hilarious, and you have to have a good sense of humour going into one, especially if you're planning to pug.

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves. :)

Expansion day 2.

So when Blizzard gives you massive issues with your main... go farm.

I've farmed an insane amount of Obsidium Ore, and herbs with my DK in just a few hours. I was selling the Nightstone Choker and Hessonite Bands for 200-600g each, depending on the stats/ uncommon or rare quality and was on my way to getting closer to 525 JC (maybe server first) when suddenly I could not interact with NPC's anymore on my rogue. Very sad day for me. :( However, I'm saving myself some gold and making some in the mean time. Maybe now I will be forced to level my inscription up and just beg some really nice guild mates to grab me items from Twilight Highlands.

I did opt to send all BoE non-crafted greens over to my enchanter, but have not collected enough mats to bother leveling her up quite yet.

Sorry about the short, kind of pointless updates. I'm sure many people are too busy exploring the new content and making their own gold as well. Don't worry, I promise some more insightful stuff later on. Posting might be a bit sporadic with Christmas coming up as well, but I will still be posting as often as I can.

--Fractella

Expansion release 4.0.3

Firstly, yay!

I got to 82 last night, before getting surpassed by 5 other rogues for server first, decided I'm too old to stay up all damned night, and went to bed to get back at it in the morning. People are already level 84 after 7 hours of being away. So far that's only about 13-14 hours of total played time.


Ore is unsurprisingly high, but all of my sleepily priced jewelcrafting items sold, today I'll have to give it a bit more attention.

Any way, I don't have much advice for you, or any insight yet today, since I'm fairly distracted with all the sweet new content.

Cataclysm Normal Dungeons Overview

So while we're all waiting for the expansion to unlock, or perhaps the servers aren't working, or maybe the mail man was mean and lost your game box. Or maybe you just haven't thought about dungeons yet, being so occupied in the rest of Cataclysm. Here's something to keep you occupied.

Follow this link to MMO:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/2100-Cataclysm-is-going-live-THIS-WEEK!

They've put a lot of time and effort into bringing you a break down off all bosses. The videos might be heroic mode, but that just means you'll be over prepared for Normal mode.

Cataclysm BoE Drops List, for completionists.

You were totally thinking I forgot about these, didn't you? Well, I didn't, so here goes.

Fractella's Cataclysm BoE Drops List


** Disclaimer ** This is based on Datamined information and everything here is subject to change, or may be partially incorrect. It's entirely possible some of these items are not BoE at all, like wowhead says, and it's entirely like that some of these items are crafted. It's not my fault.

I'm going to kick this list off with some curious items. Not drops, but not crafted either,Valour Point vendors are selling off-tier boots that happen to be BoE. This could be a mistake, however, it's worth putting them here in the event that Blizzard does not correct this.


Valourous Quartermaster BoE Epics:


Boots of the Perilous Sea
Eternal Pathfinders
Fading Violet Sandals
Melodious Slippers
Moccasins of Verdurous Glooms
Rock Furrow Boots
Slippers of Moving Waters
Treads of Fleeting Joy
Woe Breeder's Boots

Epic BoE Cataclysm Armour drops:

Phase-Twister Leggings
Phase-Twister Leggings (Heroic)
Morrie's Waywalker Wrap
Hide of Chromaggus
Hide of Chromaggus (Heroic)
Pauldrons Of Edward the Odd
Bracers of the Dark Pool
Bracers of the Dark Pool (Heroic)
Fury of Angerforge
DONTUSEFury of Angerforge (Heroic) Yes, apparently that's what it's called.
Shadowforge's Lightbound Smock
Shadowforge's Lightbound Smock (Heroic)
Zom's Electrostatic Cloak
Ironstar's Impenetrable Cover
Ironstar's Impenetrable Cover (Heroic)
Treads of Savage Beatings
Treads of Savage Beatings (Heroic)
Heaving Plates of Protection
Heaving Plates of Protection (Heroic)
Corefiend Legplates
Drape of Inimitable Fate
Unheeded Warning
Tsanga's Helm
Corehammer's Riveted Gurdle
Corehammer's Riveted Gurdle (Heroic)
Gilnean Ring of Ruination
Signet of High Arcanist Savor
Blockade's Lost Shield
Heartbound Tome
Grips of the Failed Immortal
Icebone Hauberk
Blauvelt's Family Crest
Buc-Zakai Choker
Ritssyn's Ruminous Drape


Epic BoE Cataclysm Weapons Drops:

Chelley's Staff of Dark Mending
Chelley's Staff of Dark Mending (Heroic)
Claws of Agony
Claws of Agony (Heroic)
Claws of Torment
Claws of Torment (Heroic)
Crossfire Carbine The tool tip says Heroic, but the item level says normal.
Crossfire Carbine (Heroic)
Dragonwreck Throwing Axe
Maimgor's Bite
Maimgor's Bite (Heroic)
Maldo's Sword Cane
Maldo's Sword Cane (Heroic)
Soul Blade
Soul Blade (Heroic)
Theresa's Booklight
Theresa's Booklight (Heroic)
Krol Decapitator
Scaleslicer
Spinerender
The Twilight Blade

Jewelcrafting Epic and Rare BoE Proc's (Because I forgot)


Alicite Pendant
Choker Of Night
Pyrium Band
Hessonite Band
Nightstone Choker
Jasper Ring
Jasper Ring
Alicite Pendant

It's likely these items won't be as hot, considering the item level, or for the same reason they could be.

Check out my Darkmoon Faire Cards post for info on Darkmoon Cards. These might be worth adding to your snatch as well.

You'd think we'd be done by now, but we're not, sorry. Because I love punishment, here's the uncommon armour and weapon drops.

Uncommon BoE Cataclysm Armour Drops:

Abandoned Dark Iron Ring
Abandoned Dark Iron Ring (Heroic)
Acanthia's Lost Pendant
Acanthia's Lost Pendant (Heroic)
Amulet of the Howling Watch
Band of Pleasant Pain
Band of the Virtuous
Barnacle Pendant
Barnacle Pendant (Heroic)
Binding Promise
Soul's Anguish
Charm of the Muse
Charm of the Muse (Heroic)
Immaculate Br'etc Signet
Impetuous Query
Impetuous Query (Heroic)
Nightrend Choker Purchased from vendor once Revered with Guardians of Hyjal
Ring of the Great Whale
Ring of the Great Whale (Heroic)
Kuang's Locket of Secrets
Heart of the Vile
Heartbinder Ring
Temple Band
Temple Band (Heroic)
Soulsurge Necklace
Eye of Heaven
Poison Vile Ring
Bottled Lighting
Lady La-La's Singing Shell
Unquenchable Flame


Just looking at the amount here, it's clear that the source for these object may change, or some may end up being BoP, but at the same time it's entirely feasible that all of these items are BoE.

Hope you enjoyed. Leave a comment if I've missed anything, or if there's any mistakes I should correct.

Thanks :)

The market, BoE snatches, and getting ready to roll in the gold. 4.0.3

See below/ full article for "Fractella's Cataclysm Crafted BoE List"

Alright, so we're just over 24 hours away from the Cataclysm launch. The markets are an unstable mess on many servers, and if you're on a server like mine, just plain not worth it, really. I thought I'd share a few things that are selling for me.

Snowfall Ink was going crazy this last week. I think perhaps because today was the start of the Darkmoon Faire. If you still have a stock of these doing nothing, try putting them up on the AH for a competitive price.

Vanishing Powder Yep, this baby sells for about 1g each, and is a consistent, if small, profit. For such little effort, why not?

Selective low-level mats. Enchanting supplies, bars, and leather have all been consistent sellers for me through this rough time on the AH.

Glyphs. Surprisingly, it seems while glyph sales have slowed greatly for me, I'm still making a few sales a day with my small stock and they are selling for 50g+ each sale. I think as time goes, the glyph market will be one where you need to watch your competition closer. I predict many people will be leaving the market, especially once Cataclysm drops in, and you'll see some business opportunity spring up again here.

Something I've already done, and I highly suggest the rest of you do as well, is to build a profession materials snatch list. I pulled up my sleeves about a week ago and made a post about Cataclysm Materials and I strongly suggest you check it out. I'd also appreciate dropping a comment here or there if I've missed anything, so I can keep the list live and updated through Cataclysm.

You should also check out some of these crafted BoE's and add them to another snatch list. They may be expensive, but you could probably make a bit of profit by flipping them, or maybe you need them for your own Character improvement. Keep in mind the blues will start appearing once people get their profession skills high enough, but Epic items won't start appearing until people make it to 85 and start to run heroics since they require a BoP Chaos Orb, which may be worth adding to a snatch list incase Blizzard decide to un-soulbound and act like Frozen Orbs do now. Only one Chaos Orb will drop per heroic run.

Fractella's Cataclysm Crafted BoE list.

Please keep in mind I am unsure of the recipe source for these items, but they are most-likely vendor recipes.

Leatherworking:

Epics:

Assassin's Chestplate
Chestguard of Nature's Fury
Belt of Nefarious Whispers
Corded Viper Belt
Stormleather Sash
Dragonkiller Tunic
Lightning Lash
Twilight Scale Chestguard

Rare:

Razor-Edged Cloak
Twilight Dragonscale Cloak
Cloak of Beasts
Cloak of War

Bloodied Dragonscale Chest
Bloodied Leather Chest
Bloodied Scale Chest
Bloodied Wyrmhide Chest

Ok so there's a good bit more to these PVP Bloodied sets, but you get the picture by now. Just do a quick Wowhead search if you want to snatch these.

Leatherworking will also create "Tsunami" (mail) and "Darkbrand" (leather) sets. They are uncommon and rare items that display a random enchantment when crafted. If you choose to put these on your snatch, I suggest taking caution when purchasing.

Tailoring:

Epic: 


Belt of the Depths
Breeches of Mended Nightmares
Dreamless Belt
Flame-Ascended Pantaloons


Rare:


Emberfire Robe
Fireweave Robe

These are the PVP sets made my Tailoring.

Tailoring will also create "Deathsilk" (Dps) and "Spiritmend" (Heals) sets. They are uncommon and rare items that will display a random enchant when crafted.

Curiously I could not find any cloth crafted backs in the Wowhead of MMO databases.

Blacksmithing:


Armour:

Epic:

Elementium Deathplate
Elementium Earthguard
Elementium Girdle of Pain
Elementium Stormshield
Hardened Elementium Girdle
Hardened Elementium Hauberk
Light Elementium Belt
Light Elementium Chestguard


Rare:

Bloodied Pyrium Breastplate
Ornate Pyrium Breastplate

These are the PVP sets made by Blacksmithing.

Blacksmithing will also create "Redstell" (Dps) "Stormforged" (Healing) and "Hardened Obsidium" (tanking) uncommon and rare items. These will display a random enchantment when crafted.

Weapons:

Epic:

No known Epic weapons from Blacksmithing crafting at this time.

Rare:
lvl 85:
Elementium Bonesplitter
Elementium Gutslicer
Elementium Hammer
Elementium Poleaxe
Elementium Shank
Elementium Spellblade
Forged Elementium Mindcrusher

lvl 81
Cold-Forged Shank
Decapitator's Razor
Fire-Etched Dagger
Lifeforce Hammer
Obsidium Bladespear
Obsidium Executioner

Note lvl 81 items do not need Chaos Orbs.

Inscription:


Relics:

Epic:

Tattooed Eyeball

Rare:

Notched Jawbone
Silver Inlaid leaf
Manual of the Planes
Runed Dragonscale
Etched Horn

Off-hands:

Epic:

None at this time.

Rare:

Divine Companion
Dungeoneering Guide
Battle Tome
Book of Blood
Lord Rottington's Pressed Wisp Book

Jewelcrafting:

Rare Weapons:

The Perforator

Rare Jewellery:

Ring of Warring Elements
Eye of Many Deaths
Entwined Elementium Choker
Elementium Moebius Band
Elementium Guardian
Elementium Destroyer's Ring
Brazen Elementium Medallion
Band of Blades

Cataclysm T- 2 days: Are you ready? 4.0.3

Cataclysm is in about two days. It's on everyone's mind as we're buying up Wrath items while people clear out space for the incoming expansion. We're all pondering the best choices of action, which toon/profession to level first and how we're going to do it.

So I thought I would go over a few things that I may have touched on, and other bloggers are talking about as well.

Basic preparations:

I wrote a post about where to find trainers and familiarizing yourself with Stormwind and Orgrimmar. Check it out if you're Alliance, but also if you not sure if you've thought of all the important NPC's you'll need to find on release day and beyond. "Now the world has changed..."

A few questions we should be asking ourselves:

Have you cleared your banks of items you will no longer use and hold no "keep-sake" value to them?

Have you stocked enough cheap mats to feed back into the market later?

Have you left yourself with enough room, even in character banks, for new materials and item storage?

Have you stocked up each toon you plan on leveling with appropriate elixirs/flasks, buff food, scrolls, fort scrolls, drums, potions, enchant scrolls/ mats or reagents? New uncommon gems will likely flood the market within a few days, so I would not concern myself with too many gems.

Have you bought Master Riding on all characters, especially your farming toons, ready to buy Flight Masters License?

Have you prepared your characters with a quest log of dailies to hand-in in ICC to give yourself a head start?

Have you researched zones to know what levels they are recommended/ gated for, or found some beta info on node positions?

Have you researched quest lines, or dungeons for boss information?

Have you equipped your farming/ gathering toons with bags appropriate/ large enough for what they will be gathering? What about Enchant Gloves: Gatherer?


If you're planning on going for server first 85, or atleast powering to get there, you should considering taking consumables to carry you the whole way, bank space, plan a rough sketch of how you're going to get there. But very importantly, for the love of gaming, don't fill your body up with crap. It will make Fractella very sad :(. Please look into foods that are good for you. Don't eat anything with high simple carbs, be that flour or sugar. Make sure you consume protein, whether that means slices of cold cuts right from the packet, or left overs, or scrambled eggs.

My own plans are to whip up a yummy quiche if I have time to keep in the fridge, home-made iced tea, and a hommus-type bean puree my family loves to dip veggies in. Eggs, beans, chicken, fish and veggies are all great items to have on your "sleep deprived" diet, and prepare them ahead of time so you can just grab and continue leveling. Potato chips, soda, lollies/ candy should not even be a consideration. Yes, I freaking said no chips, got it?

If you choose to consume caffeine, the healthiest choice is tea. The caffeine in tea acts differently, releasing slower over time and reducing a "crash", so if you can make yourself some hot cups of tea (or home-made iced tea without sugar), do so. If you can't stand tea and prefer coffee, don't add the sugar and drink plenty of water so you don't dehydrate yourself and lower brain function. Stay away from energy drinks if you are serious about doing this.


A few other blogs you should check out:

Sterling's Realm first 85 post is more than excellent and very informative.
Trading with Zoxy has some quick info on questing and some thoughts on preparation.

Cataclysm: Darkmoon Faire Card Trinkets Guide.

In a few weeks every level 85 will be looking to fill out their gear slots in order to gain them spots in raiding guilds, pugs, or even to make the first "scouting" teams into the new Cataclysm raid instances. Before you can set foot into these raids, you must gear yourself with crafted items (a topic for another day), Justice Point items and Heroic dungeon drops. The majority of items that drop from Heroic Dungeons in Cataclysm are item level 346, while some crafted items can bring you up to item level 359, which is the same item level as Normal mode Cataclysm raids.

One of the wonderful items people will be looking to equip is trinkets. The only profession that produces trinkets everyone can use, is Inscription. The new Darkmoon Faire Card trinkets are item level 359. The same level as items purchased for Valour Points (obtained by running Daily Heroics, 10/25 man raid boss kills and also has a weekly cap). This makes the Darkmoon Faire Card trinkets even more desirable.

So, now that we've established the demand, let's look into some other details.

Darkmoon Faire starts Dec 5th, and ends Dec. 11th. Cataclysm launch is Dec. 7th. This gives us 3 days to level up our Scribes to 525, which is when you can perform Darkmoon Card of Destruction. Or, we can wait until Jan. 2nd when the Darkmoon Faire returns. I doubt anyone will be doing any serious raiding until January, and since the cards are a jump up from even Heroic dungeon level loot, they will still sell. However, having them before everyone else could mean massive profit. If you're an Insane seeker like me, this is a win-win situation.

Guide to crafting Darkmoon Faire Trinkets: 

Firstly, you should be sure to check out Kaliope's Inscription Guide and El's Inscription: Cataclysm for the most exclusive glimpse into 450-525 Inscription leveling and information. However, I suggest saving as much Inferno Ink as possible, using recipes that require Blackfallow Ink instead, where possible. This gives you more materials for making cards.

Secondly, you need to understand what you are getting yourself into and the risk you may be taking in doing so. There is a LOT of mats required within a very small window, and they may be difficult to obtain in such large quantities, or at all. It may be entirely not worth it depending on the price of herbs/ your farming skills. There is also a great bit of chance here, so you will certainly have to make a great deal of cards. I would assume that you're entire time spent those few days will be between farming/ milling herbs and crafting cards and making decks. It's a big commitment, and certainly not for the light-hearted. However, this guide is also relevant if you choose to wait for the second Darkmoon Faire, and DMF Cards will certainly be just as valuable.

Thirdly, you will need a ton of Volatile Life, each card requires 30. I suggest supplementing this with herb farming your brains out, since you need herbs for the ink any way. Volatile life drops 15-30% from herb nodes, and a 20% drop from an NPC called "Wailing Weeds" in Hyjal.

Each card takes:

10x Inferno Ink

30x Volatile Life

1x Resilient Parchment

You will get 1 of 8 cards from 1 of 4 suits of cards:

Winds: Which combines to become Hurricane Deck which can be handed in at the Darkmoon Faire for Darkmoon Card: Hurricane (Agility) or Darkmoon Card: Hurricane (Strength) Melee trinket.

Waves: Which combines to become Tsunami Deck which can be handed in at the Darkmoon Faire for Darkmoon Card: Tsunami. Healing trinket.

Stones: Which combines to become Earthquake Deck which can be handed in at the Darkmoon Faire for Darkmoon Card: Earthquake. Tanking/ PVP trinket.

Embers: Which combines to become Volcanic Deck which can be handed in at the Darkmoon Faire for Darkmoon Card: Volcano. Caster dps trinket.

Blizzard have really stream-lined the cards for us this time, as you've likely noticed, there's a card for everyone. In an ideal world every 85 on the server would be looking to buy a Darkmoon Card. Perhaps they will. I'm unsure of the BiS qualities for these items, however, because of the unavailability for other trinkets, and the Gearscore (derpscore) people or "ilvl snobs", I really feel (and certainly hope) these trinkets will be desired.

The Darkmoon Card: Volcano looks the most promising to me, even OP really. The other trinket procs are alright, however the raw stats look to be worth the trinket alone.

A few hurdles to note if you plan to do this big rush:

Ok and also a bit of a gold tip: Limited vendor items in Twilight Highlands.

While you won't be gated until level 84 to get these items, you need access to an 85 that has done the required quests to phase Twilight Highlands. There is a vendor who sells a few limited items to get from 515 to 525. It's only 10 levels, and you should get multiple skill ups for these recipes, but you should grab as much of them as you can. These items are Preserved Ogre Eye, Scavenged Dragon Horn, Silver Charm Bracelet. Keep in mind you may be able to find these items on the AH, but likely for a fairly inflated price. Not many will have access/ know about these items right away, but getting to them first would be a strongly recommended idea.

Along with the benefit of getting the cards first, you will also have a 525 Scribe all ready to craft up some off-hand item love. Done well I think this whole ordeal could be a fun grind, and very profitable.

-- Fractella, the (almost) Insane.

Looking at BiS enchants for Cataclysm.

Being a melee dps (Rogue) I often can see a bit focused on my own class, and it's true, I do what I know best. However I wanted to discuss a few enchants every enchanter should be picking up right away once you get there.

The new melee BiS weapon enchant is Landslide. (Effect featured in the post image) It is BiS for rogues to dual wield this pretty little enchant, and I'm going to take an educated stab (no pun intended) that Ret Paladins, Cat druids and dps Warriors will be choosing this enchant as well. It grants a nice flat 1000 Attack Power for 12 seconds.

It's also very likely that Power Torrent will be the new caster (dps and heals) BiS enchant. However HeartSong and Hurricane may be sought after by casting classes as well.

Now, depending on tanking dodge caps, I foresee Wind Walk to be a very common BiS tanking enchant. It's also likely that some may consider this enchant for PVP as well.

Now, that aside, you will still sell old Wrath enchants until people reach Heroic dungeon level and Tier 11. Most people will not want to spend the gold to pay for the new expensive enchants until everyone is raid ready, so I suggest saving a few Wrath materials for some BiS enchants when everyone is swapping their gear around.

**However, the new enchants WILL sell and are more than worth your time and effort to craft them and post, just be careful about market flooding because the demand will be slow at first.

Most classes will be concerned with hit rating during their climb to Tier 11, as the combat ratings and requirements shift and become more demanding for the new bosses we will face. Haste and mastery are also well sought after by most classes, while tanks will likely be focusing on dodge. Any enchant that gives these (ok so like all of them) are worth grabbing up.

Some extra thoughts:

Keep in mind that all groups will be focusing on their primary stat: Agility, Strength, Intellect. But when you considering purchasing enchants for your Enchanter, or maybe flipping, you should consider the deeper value of that enchant to the classes you are marketing.

For example:

Enchant Boots: Major Agility VS. Enchant Boots: Assassins Step
or 35 Agility vs 25 agility. Most classes that will be taking these enchants already have movement increasing talents, but would also rather take 35 Agility over 25 + some movement increase. So it's likely that both will sell, but the 35 Agility will be more popular among the hardcore raiders, and :"Assassin's Step" may be more popular among those who think it sounds cool.

Another example of this:

Enchant Boots: Mastery and Enchant Boots: Lavawalker

It may be worth considering that it could very well be the opposite for these enchants. However, it's a 15 point hit this time instead of 10, so the higher mastery rating may still win.


A few side notes/reminders:

It's Blog Carnival Day at JMTC! Unfortunately I did not manage to submit anything this time around, but there's some really great posts, you should check it out if you haven't. Perhaps I will submit something next time. :)

Cold's Gold Factory Win a Pet Code Contest Donate a $1 into the pot up to 3 times and enter a draw to win a pet code from the on-line pet store! Really cool idea just in time for the Holiday season.

Also, Cataclysm is in 4 days. *Squeel*

Dungeons and gearing up in Cataclysm

Just a quick glance at Wowhead's data mined information to give us an idea of what to expect gear-wise when we begin our journey to Tier 11.

80-82 Dungeons:

Blackrock Caverns
Throne of Tides

These two dungeons will be the first dungeons you will encounter at level 80. Both drop item level 279 blues in normal mode. Yes, that's 2 item level points above your precious Heroic ICC gear. However, they might not be worth the upgrade.

For example:

Sanctified Shadowblade Pauldrons Rogue T10 ilvl 277
Caridean Epaulettes Which are a 279 leather shoulder drop in BRC.

Based on the normal stats alone, this is not a worthy upgrade. You'd pretty much have to be coming into these dungeons in ToC normal 10 man gear for any of this to really even be considered as an upgrade.

82-84 Dungeons:

The Stonecore
The Vortex Pinnacle

Now these two dungeons drop 316 item level blues in normal mode. A whopping 36 item levels over Heroic ICC gear.

To compare:

Helm of Numberless Shadows
Sanctified Shadowblade Helmet

The raw stats are better. However, the new helm has no gem slots, needs to be enchanted, and the green stats may not be exactly desirable for you. But, these items are worth consideration, and will likely be an upgrade for most gear under 277 ilvl from Wrath.

84-85 Dungeons:

The Lost City of Tol'vir
Halls of Origination
Grim Batol

These dungeons drop item level 333 in normal mode. A very large leap up from our 277 item level gear. So let's compare.

Hieroglyphic Vest
Sanctified Shadowblade Breastplate

Finally! Something that is clearly an upgrade to 277 gear. Set bonuses and theory crafting aside, this would be a very considerable upgrade.

I believe it is safe to assume that you could entirely bypass using dungeons at all until level 84, and then it might be a good idea to run a few normals to familiarize yourself and grab a few upgrades before leaping into Heroic level dungeons. It's also entirely likely that Blizzard will have an item level requirement for Heroic LFG queueing like they have done with the recent 5 man H ICC dungeons (HoR, PoS, FoS).

Another note, please remember that hit rating, expertise, armour and dodge ratings will need to be increased in order to actually damage and do your job. Also don't forget reforging! So keep these things in mind when you pass on something. If you can't clearly say that piece of gear isn't worth it, need on it and take it.

You will certainly need to use your JP to purchase vendor upgrades, and run Heroics in order to attain a desirable item level to jump into the first raid.

TL;DR: 80-82 dungeon loot = meh, 82-84 loot = on the fence, 83-85 and beyond = Upgradez! Also, make sure you do your dungeons.

Just for you, a list of the first Cataclysm raids.

Baradin Hold
Blackrock Mountain: Blackwing Descent
Bastion of Twilight
Throne of Four Winds

Alchemy's Cash-cow.

So yesterday while working on my massive list of Cataclysm wonders, I got to get a little upcloseandpersonal with many of the new trainer-learned recipes and profession products. Something that really stood out to me was the Alchemy: Transmute Truegold recipe. It appears that Alchemists are the only profession masters that can produce this hot little bar that is used in both Blacksmithing and Engineering recipes to create new Heroic-dungeon level BoE epics.

The recipe requires:

3x Pyrium Bar
10x Volatile Fire
10x Volatile Air
10x Volatile Water


Pyrium Bar is attainable two ways:

Mining: Smelt Pyrite Requiring 2x Pyrite Ore
or
Alchemy: Transmute Pyrium Bar Requiring 4x Elementium Bar and 4x Volatile Earth

The rarity of these materials will heavily influence the price, as well as Alchemy transmutation cooldowns. I would assume that the mining route to Pyrium Bar would be the best bet, and will influence the price of the Truegold Bar. But ultimately, it's going to be the Alchemists deciding the price for the Truegold bars.

Cataclysm Profession Material List

I won't be posting anything here today, because I spent all morning working on a thread on the Consortium Forums called Cataclysm Profession Material List. I'm a Wind Trader on the Consortium forums, and I thought it was my turn to do a bit of grunt work. So I complied this list while working on my own materials snatch lists in preparation for the coming expansion.

I hope you enjoy.

What is batch posting?

Here's some additional information for those of you that are unfamiliar with batch posters and the how and why they work.

So what IS a batch poster?

A batch poster is an addon that does a live scan of the auction house for every item you have programmed into your groups, calculates a posting price for each item based on the settings for the group it's in, gets you to confirm the posting, and continues to queue up more items.

Batch posting allows you to put any item in your bags, and group them up to be sold at similar prices. The best example of this is glyphs. There's so many glyphs, and it just makes it easier to use a batch poster to do the work for you. You can also set it up to recognize your alts, and add white listed characters to prevent you from undercutting affiliates if you wish.

So how exactly does this work?

Batch posting other items.

Let's just go ahead and call it. The market is crazy, and varying incredibly server to server, and even day to day. As I've already noted, many things are extremely expensive on my server, and in extremely low supply. While other servers are the opposite, where people are madly dumping items they believe will be obsolete in Cataclysm. Lucky for those servers.

In the meantime, I've been experimenting with batch posting. You know, the strategy for glyphs, using a  batch poster like AuctionProfitMaster or ZeroAuction. Except, instead of posting glyphs, you're posting other things.

You could use this for flasks, food, enchanting materials, ores, cloth.. anything really. I've chosen to use it for gems. I think when you have many different versions of the same item, or cuts of gems, this will be helpful in getting all your items up on the AH.

I've experimented with TBC uncommon cut gems, and WotLK uncommon cut gems. I had a bunch left over from leveling a Jewelcrafter and thought, why not? Instead searching the price of each item and listing manually, or even using Auctioneer to help with pricing, I figured it would be simpler to just use my batch poster. This has saved me lots of time posting the items, and they are selling.

So, why not use this in Cataclysm?

The only way for this to really be very efficient is to make sure you place uncommon, rare and epic gems in different groups, as there will be a notable difference in price of each tier. The amount you post each time would have to depend on your supply and how often you plan to post each day. If I'm prepared to be undercut, and will be posting frequently, I will probably post 2 at a time, and maybe trying to have 6 of the popular gem types at any time. I might increase my stock this if demand is higher.

Just be cautious of where you put your threshold and fallbacks. In the first few weeks or months of Cataclysm, it's pretty much anyone's game, really. So I suggest setting both fairly high, as there is plenty of gold to earn.

Tip: Be sure to update your boundaries every day, especially until the market stabilizes. Also watch your competition and spend a little time scoping out your competition. Batch posting will fail you if you don't pay attention. It's a tool, meant to help, not do the work for you.

If this works out well in Cataclysm, I'll likely be carrying this concept over to flasks, crafted cloth, and other finished products. It doesn't make sense to really bother with it for single items like raw ore, bars, crafted armor or weapons, etc. So use it wisely, and you'll save yourself some time, and be able to spend it leveling other professions, keeping a closer eye on competition, or enjoying the expansion!

I'd love feedback on this. Do you think it's a poor idea? Do you think it's great? Have you thought of this yourself? Maybe you've read this idea elsewhere. I encourage those of you reading to leave a comment. :)

10 days to Cataclysm.

Achievements, quests and drop rates.

As many have reported and probably read, 4.0.3a has shaken up the markets a bit with changes to drop rates on formerly rare recipes and items. An example of this would be Recipe: Savory Deviate Delight, which was a rare drop in the Barrens, but now drops fairly frequently.

I've also noticed the drop rate of uncommon items has increased during some achievement farming. I did a quest chain in Darkshore to obtain Withers a new non-combat pet, if you are horde you do not have to do the quest line. If you're Alliance, you to Darkshore and pick up a quest near the flight master. You go on a pretty epic journey saving Nightelves and gathering reagents, saving a bear, and eventually fighting against the Darkspear trolls before being sent back to the new Darkshore Alliance quest hub, Lor'Danel, and receiving your pet.

If you haven't tried out "Peacebloom vs Ghoul", especially if you are a fan of Plants Vs Zombies, head up to Hillsbrad, just south of the Dalaran crater. Once you work your way through the short quest chain and defeat the end boss, you get Singing Sunflower.

Also, I've been working on Wintersaber reputation, and I've noticed the drop rates for the provisions quest is about 90% now, I'm getting tons of uncommon items. However, the Furblog mobs you need to kill seem to be fewer, perhaps it's worth trying to farm in other places? Also, you can't get to the appropriate giants without the use of a flying mount, or jumping to your death and taking rez sickness to revive on the other side of the gorge. The mobs are located right outside the gates of Hyjal, a bad placement, but only a temporary inconvenience.


On to some gold maybe?

Yea, there's not much to say here, really. Glyphs are selling alright, prices seem to be going up slightly, but it does seem that a few of the serious glyphers picked up on the ink changes, although I have seen a fair bit of rage and QQing in trade.

Herb prices haven't really dropped much, if anything there's fewer herbs than ever on the auction house, so no stock-piling herbs for me. However, saronite keeps dropping in price. Gems have increased in price.

My opinion, is that right now, it's best to not freak out and dump items, they WILL sell... eventually. Just horde away anything that won't sell now, don't buy anything unless it's a safe buy, aka : vendor price, or high demand leveling material. Check out any Cataclysm profession guides to get an idea of materials that might not be used any more or as much for lower levels.

Otherwise, really, go and enjoy the game before you're up to your eyeballs in farming, power-leveling and fresh 80+ content.

Now that the world has changed...

Quick gold tip:

Meta gems have been changed, well a few anyways. A very popular meta, Relentless Earthsiege Diamond now "requires more blue gems than red gems". Unfortunately, the majority of classes that prefered this meta have more red than blue gems on their gear, because they are agility stackers. This means that rogues, hunters, and I believe cat druids will now all need to change their meta. Gem of choice seems to be Thundering Skyflare Diamond as a temporary replacement. A blue post has said that the gems will be reverted back, but not until the next major patch as it cannot be hot fixed. So there's a bit of an opportunity to make a little gold. Anyone serious about the game will likely swap to this alternative meta gem.

Warning to Horde: The following is more Alliance specific, but you can get some general ideas from this.

In preparation for Cataclysm, I decided I should spend some time wandering and familiarize myself with the new Stormwind. First things you should do is go find the following:

Class Trainer and Professions trainers

Some specific trainers:

Fishing Supplies/ Quest giver  The trainer is standing right next to her.

Cooking Quest giver and likely trainer The vendor is right near him.
And because we're not sure: Cooking trainer.

Flying Trainer

Justice Quartermaster and Valour Quartermaster 

Guild Vendor

Archaeology Trainer Appropriately in the Stormwind Library.

Check out the food and drink vendors because they already have the new tier of consumables for 80 and 85. You can also pick up and complete the fishing and cooking dailies for rewards, but you will not gain profession levels from this, and you will not be able to learn the new recipes until Cataclysm, when the next level of each profession is available.

Some of these NPC's won't have anything to sell you yet, but when you talk to them it's obvious that there will be things in those trainer lists or vendor boxes.

Then find an Inn to set your hearth to. There's a few options here. The Trade District is nearest the flight paths, a bank, an auction house and some trainers and also very central in Stormwind. Old Town is nearest the Justice Point and Tier 11 vendors, as well as rogue, warrior and hunter trainers. Lastly, and my choice, is the Dwarven District. 

Other than not being near the flight point out of Stormwind, the Dwarven District's inn seems to be the most ideal place. There's an AH, a bank, the tram, harbour, and close to Old Town where my class trainer is along with the JP, VP and T11 vendors. Also, this is closest to the portal site, at least once you can fly. I'm pretty sure you can fly in Stormwind once you learn flying in the Old world, but don't hurt me if I'm wrong.

For me, my engineering trainer is right outside the inn, the anvil is close by as well, however, the jewelcrafting trainer is along the canals near the Trade District. Oh well, you can't have everything. 

Also, you are able to go and learn the location of one of the first new dungeons available in Cataclysm: Blackrock Caverns. You can discover the entrance by going to Blackrock Mountain. If you follow the link to wowhead.com the top comment will give you adequate instructions on how to find it. This is necessary to queue up for the dungeon if you desire to enter dungeons while questing. I suggest doing this in guild groups to save time. Gear ilvl in this instance is 279 for normal. The other instance people are talking about for 80-81 is The Throne of Tides but you will have to discover it once Cataclysm opens, as it is located in Vashs'ir.

If you're interested in leveling fast, or farming, I suggest starting off in Hyjal. However, if you're wanting to beat some crowds, discover the new instance, and do some interesting quest lines, start off in Vashj'ir.

Personally, I plan to level at a quick pace, but I will not be rushing for server first. I prefer to enjoy the expansion and not burn through it so fast I don't have a clue about what is going on. That being said, I have more than enough leveling to do, so I should experience the lore and plots by the time I have my army at level cap. And probably will accomplish a lot of farming along the way.

So, what's your plan? How are you getting ready for the coming expansion that's 2 weeks away?

Patch day 4.0.3a! New Azeroth.

Just a short post today folks, so let's get right into it, shall we?

Yes, Blackfallow Ink is the new currency for Ink Trader Jessica Sellers in Dalaran. Yes, Ethereal Ink is 10 Blackfallow Ink. No, Vanishing Powder is not gone, but we can still sell on the AH for a good profit.

Wrath herbs have already dropped 30% over night on my server, as well.

The new Azeroth looks amazing. Take some time to go out and explore the world a bit, maybe scope out some of the new nodes, and familiarize yourself with the new gaming world.

Deathwing approaches!

I heart patches! Major patches always bring some interesting things to the table, like instances, Tiers of gear, unfair buffs, massive nerf bats and let's not forget the broken add ons, bugs and of course the goodie bags of surprises Blizzard like to toss in.

So a quick few reminders you're bound to see everywhere else:

Jessica Sellers in Dalaran will no longer be willing to trade your crappy Ink of the Sea for lesser inks. She will only be accepting Blackfallow Ink, which will not be attainable until Dec. 7th.

There will no longer be portals in Dalaran or Shattrath, so it's probably best for you to set your hearth stone to Stormwind or Orgrimmar. Apparently Deathwing strikes here the hardest and you're bound for some surprises when you log in.

Alright and just a bunch of new stuff. I'm pretty excited for this. I've been playing in the same boring old Azeroth for a good 3 years now, and I'm looking forward to all the changes. Personally, I'll still be working on making some gold, but I'm with all the others who intend on leveling an alt or two in the time between The Shattering and The Cataclysm.

Oh, I also completely forgot about Pilgrim's Bounty! Well, no, I didn't really, I had it in the back of my head, but since I'm so busy with other things at the moment, I shoved it to the side. Right now is a great time to farm turkies and sell them to people cooking for the Bounty. Another option is to sell tracker snacks for folks doing The Turkinator achievement. Or, just go level cooking on  your alts!

Alright, well apologies for my short, not-so-awesome post today folks. I'm knee deep in herbs, pigments and inks for trading. See you in the new Azeroth.

To glyph or not to glyph...

I was one of those that "got rich fast" via glyphing. I was lucky enough to have an awesome friend who helped me a little with my initial investment, by giving me a few bank tabs worth of inscription materials to use my own brains to work with.

My strategy was to make 20 of each glyph that I knew, and restock when that stack dropped to 10. I started off  only knowing the recipes you were taught from the trainers as I leveled my scribe up, but I sold all the glyphs I made. Once I reached cap level, I would just keep my supply up and craft a stack of each new glyph I learned from the cooldowns and books.

I had 3 bank toons for this. One was my main banker and only carried 3 classes in 32 slot scribe bags, so there was room for my odds and ends. I had two more toons devoted to glyphing alone, one with blue-spectrum, and one with red-spectrum classes. I did this, because it made it easy for me to visually see what glyphs needed to go where, and also whether I made a mistake and sent the wrong glyph to the wrong toon. Not that it's a big issue, but I have serious organization issues and inefficient use of storage drivers me bonkers.

I'd log into each toon in a rotation first thing. Postal would run and empty mail while I surfed forums and blogs, then QA3 would auto post everything for me. I had my threshold set to whatever would give me a 100% ROI depending on prices it was sometimes higher than 100%, and my fall back was set to 30g. When I finally rolled over to my main bank toon, after I posted up glyphs, I would then snatch up all herbs and inks within my price range, ship them over to my scribe and spend a goodly amount of time milling and restocking.

ProTip#1: Restock before the weekend. I would often make more sales over Friday-Sunday than I would during the rest of the week. Be sure to check in and make sure you're not incredibly low on anything.

ProTip#2: Empty your mail box, scan and repost as often as you can. The more posting I did, the more gold I made.

I might go into WHY this strategy another time, or else this post will be even more monstrous than it already is.

And then Blizzard fully announced the 4.0.1 changes. Glyphs are now a one-time-use-only item. Oh noes! The feelings over all were quite mixed, but I was one of those that knew the market would die down, but still survive. For two weeks prior to Glyphmas, I crafted my little heart out. I had a massive stock of inks and was scoring amazing deals on herbs (5g per stack!). I stocked 40 of each glyph, 60 of the ones I knew were very popular. I suddenly watched a small investment blossom into my first gold cap and beyond. I made over 180k  within 4 days of that event.

And since 4.0.1, I haven't made a single glyph for profit. But the glyphs I'm still posting (only a small handful on one toon) are posting and selling for anywhere between 20g and 180g.

Tomorrow is likely 4.0.3a where more than a few interesting changes will occur to inscription and Azeroth as a whole. It seems the scribe vendors have fallen off their rockers and no longer sell or trade items relevant to level 80 and Wrath of the Lich King. Vanishing powder will no longer be purchasable from any vendor, but still craftable by scribes. Ink of the Sea will no longer be full currency for other inks, so seriously do your trading today if you intend to stay in the glyph market after patch.

My consideration is this:

I have two days to sort my crap out, mill my brains out, and then I can take it a bit slow. Or, I can just not bother, miss out on some gold from a rush of bored players leveling alts to check out the new Azeroth. Hmmm. Oh and don't forget glyph sales into Cataclysm. Hmm.

To glyph, or not to glyph?

Pecking order of professions.

Patience is a virtue. My consumable experiment has gone well, but I doubt it will go over well in any mass. But, I still think I might work on a small stockpile of fish and Northrend meats to sell later for people leveling cooking.

After feeling a bit silly for getting confused about profession leveling in Cataclysm, especially since I'm normally quite thorough with my reading comprehension, I now have a more clear understanding of what is going on and can start to speculate on exactly what order I'm going to be leveling my characters. I was enlightened by a fellow poster at The Consortium, who pointed out some important bits from two reputable sources. The first source is a  post made by WoW insider about a week ago, and I also get a lot of my information from Kaliope's blog but I obviously missed some key articles.

It's understood that you will be able to train Illustrious Grand Master level profession at character level 75, however, a few professions (Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting, and Leatherworking) will be gated (cannot purchase recipes from city trainers) at profession level 500 until you do a quest chain at level 84 that unlocks Twilight Highlands. Twilight Highlands phasing will reveal trainers and recipe vendors for at least some professions. This leaves the other professions to be leveled to 525, unless there's some last minute changes. Engineering and more importantly Tailoring are two that I'm half expecting to change. I know this is making a lot of people groan, but you know what? I totally like this idea. Plus, it allows me to solve the puzzle of omgwhatdoIfreakingdoaboutthisproblemIhave?!

So, based on this beta information we can speculate a few key things. I should worry about leveling my characters with with BS, JC or LW first. I should then worry about the characters with gathering professions second, and lastly the ones with professions that aren't going to be gated to max crafting level. So where does this leave me?

Well, it looks like I'm in luck here. The only character with a confirmed gated profession is my main. Yay! Now I have an even more justified reason to level her first, and that will bring me to a max level Jewelcrafter and Engineer. That leaves me with herb/mining likely second on the list, however hesitant I am about my DK, I really do want to get back into the groove with her for Cataclysm. My third toon will likely be my tailor/enchanter, however I may decide to level her second instead of my farmer for the simple fact of recipe access. Lastly, will likely be my scribe/ alchemist. I think this is a bit of a risk though, but at the same time I have a fall back. 

Since I'm the gold-savvy family member, I get to call the shots, so since it will be my hard earned gold leveling a few certain other people's professions, I will have access to these. Leatherworking/ Jewelcrafting and a Scribe/ Herber. Pretty awesome wild card huh? And I don't even have to level the characters myself.

Also, on that note, I'd like to just say that having a large guild is going to be massively beneficial to any entrepreneur, especially in the early days of Cataclysm when no one has the same professions. Generally guild members means good deals or "your mats no tip". All this along with the guild leveling perks that eventually kick in (also another reason why I might hold off on my farming toon right away) is a pretty good deal for having to put up with people. So, if you're not in a guild, GET IN ONE.

Now, really, there's going to be so many people looking to max their professions. Look at my main for example; both professions consume ore and volatiles (I think that's the new elemental crafting unit). Miners are going to be making a KILLING. Because of this I've considered forgoing questing on my DK and every time my rogue hits a new level, I'll put in a good hour or two of farming (while everyone else is questing) with my On a Pale Horse and well-invested 310% mount speed. Hopefully this will put me ahead of the questing droves, and I can skirt high-level mobs trying to eat me while I gather some mats.

See, I'm still all over the place! But, at least I've shared some of my ideas and thought them out myself here.

PS. I'm still working out my design, so let me know if something is hard to read or looks funny, and forgive me if the blog looks totally different every time you visit.

Consumables!

So, remember my post a few posts past where I talked about consumable speculation?
Well, I decided to go ahead with a few consumables, mostly Elixir of Might Agility and Elixir of Mighty Strength. I purchased Adder's Tongue and Goldclover for roughly 20g per stack, so I can make 10 elixirs (without procs) out of 40g work of herbs. I was selling elixirs in stacks of 5, for 30g each. And yes, every single one sold in the first posting. Pulling in 60g - 40g investment = 20g profit with Agility, but strength was much more profitable since it only requires 2 of one herb type, instead of 2 herbs each of 2 herb types.

 I've watched again, and no one else has posted any consumables. However, today I've posted some again and I'm going to see what happens. So far my competition is nearly non-existent. It's Friday night, so I'm ready to make more if they sell. But, even in the small batch, it's minimal effort for a quick investment return and with little competition, it's guaranteed profit if the demand is there.

However, the herb prices are unrelentingly high. There's an ever decreasing supply and obviously steady demand with the need for raid consumables and the glyph market. I'm really thinking that this isn't as profitable or awesome as I had thought, at least on this server, but mostly I'm testing the demand for consumables not the profitability. Maybe if herbs take a massive drop in value (heh, yea right) I'll snatch up a bunch and try again later. But if they take a hike, which is what I'm expecting, I'll be slapping up my reserve stock.

So my new speculation is to pull out my trusty little fishing rod and go fishing. Anyone have a suggestion on a good show to watch while waiting for that "sploosh" of a caught fish? Between foods that solo buff someone, or mats that are required for feasts it may be a fair investment, even for the later future, to sell for people leveling their cooking profession.

Most people will probably choose to be efficient and make a food they can use themselves or will be valuable to others, so hopefully, Dragonfin Angelfish will be a desired item. If not, it's still time put in for my damned Sea Turtle mount. Other meats to consider are the Nettlefish, Rhino meat, Glacial Salmon, Chunk o' Mammoth and Mussle-Back Sculpin. All of those are used in the Gigantic Feast and Small Feast items that are the bottle neck from 425 to 450, and lead into the making of Fish Feasts. I wouldn't *make* the feasts, just sell the mats, and I also wouldn't make the food unless you knew there was a demand.

Just a note though, in Cataclysm you will be able to use Cataclysm mats at cooking skill level 400, so it's a risk and a bit of a hope that people will be still wanting to use Wrath mats to level past 400. There's only two recipes on beta so far though. It's likely to be easier to buy/ fish up the Wrath mats to level, so there will still be a value in them for people looking to level, or even for the guild achievement Time to Open a Restaurant which requires 10,000 feasts to be laid, however the recipe reward is granted for the 5,000 feasts achievement, but some guilds are packed with achievement junkies.

Alright, so I think I'm rambled enough for one day, and much more than I expected to. Hope you enjoyed reading.

Which toon?

As the next expansion nears, I'm sure the majority of players are asking themselves "what do I want to do in the expansion?" I know I am. I have 4 level 80's that all have professions that are fairly valuable. I have a JC/ Engineer (main PVE, Rogue), a Tailor/ Enchanter (Druid resto/boom), a Herb/Miner (DK Frost/blood) and a Alchemist/ Inscription (Mage). ( I fund toons with the rest of the professions in exchange for use). So, my most obvious choice would be my rogue, I definately want her to 85 because I'll be playing her the most and want to get her geared up and ready. However, my DK will be a massive money-maker, if I can handle farming for hours instead of getting rep and gear for my rogue and starting in on that pesky achievement-whoring fever I have. The druid and mage are both enjoyable as raiding alts, and both their professions are needed and valued in my gold-making.

So there's only one choice to make here. Level, level, level, and level some more until my eyes bleed. Ok no, not really. I guess the biggest thing is to know yourself and your play style. It would suck quite a bit if you spent so much of your first play hours powering your farming toon, only to get them up to a good farming level and not want to farm. It could also go where you just aren't interested in playing a class that has really important professions on them. Or, like me, you wish you could log into your account 4 different times, on 4 toons, and /follow and then you wouldn't be chewing your nails and freaking out about omgwhatdoIfreakingdoaboutthisproblemIhave?!

*Breathes deeply* Ok, so it's just a game, and I've been stock-piling gold-making stuff to carry me through so I can enjoy it. But oh man. I'm just really excited for something new. I've accepted (and you should too) that you just can't level everything at once. Ultimately, you should let your heart decide for you and level the toon you know you love the most. Or, if you're cold hearted, go ahead and level that farmer, because I'll be the poor sucker paying through my nose for your cold-hearted farmed goods.

My pre-Cata doing.

So, after my last post about using your brain and thinking, I thought maybe I might be nice and share what I'm stockpiling and other small things I'm doing pre-expansion.

I'm currently holding on to a full bank tab of Saronite Ore, a bank tab of cloth, and cheap Eternals.

Not really much is it? Well, I never bothered with the pets, and I've been rather busy with achievements. The only other things I'm considering are Cobalt ore, borean/ heavy borean leather and a few stacks of each of the Northrend herbs. I'm being overly cautious, on purpose. I know that when the expansion comes out I want to focus on Cataclysm stuff. Why? Well, since I'm into raiding etc, I'm going to need many of the new things Cataclysm has to offer for my 4 (yes, 4) raiding toons, plus the other 3 80's belonging to family members that my bank has adopted. I don't want to be putting all my efforts into clearing out guild banks so I can fill them with new stuff, so I'm sure to leave room open.

Pre-expansion, however, I've noticed there's a serious lack of elixirs on our server, so I put out a little test with a few stacks and a few singles of different elixirs and they all sold. So, I'll be back at that again. I also scoped out the rune scroll and drums market, unfortunately they look fairly flooded, but I'll keep my eye on them for now. The food markets is interesting on this server. There's always a fair amount of cooked products, but never any of the raw meats. I'm pretty sure a few people have this market dominated, but I'm also keeping my eye out on it.

Why am I doing this? Well, there's many people who aren't bothering any more with making sales, so there's markets with big gaping holes in them. Why have I chosen these certain markets? Well if you haven't noticed the pattern yet, I'm looking at consumables. I can sell them now, and I'll also be able to sell them right into the first week of Cataclsym. There will be many people wanting to power level to 85, and will suddenly think about consumables last minute. If you can get a few friends to have a discussion about server first leveling over trade chat during peak hours, this may help increase the demand for your products. Any crafty AH pvpers will have already considered this, or just don't care at the moment.

Just a few things I've been thinking about.

So, in my speculation about stock-piling and what's coming up, I've thought of a few general things to consider in general when considering stock-piles.

Is there anything better that will replace end product in Cataclysm? A great example of this is weapon enchants. I heard someone in guild chat mention stocking up on mats for Mongoose because it was the best enchant. This is a terrible mistake, and obvious this person didn't look anything up. There's quite a few very good (while bland) enchantments coming out in Cataclysm.

Will people need this to level a profession? Is it a popular material in leveling a profession? Can I provide enough of said material to make someone want to purchase my item to fill their leveling needs? Is it a bottle-neck material? There are some items out there, that will always sell because they are always needed for one or more professions, but are also abundant in the game. There are also items out there that leveling guides list to use, and recipes that need to be purchased from a vendor. There are also items that are not easily found, but some people will buy them up (this is higher risk) if there's enough to level a profession if the end product is worth-while, or if there's a lack of other things, this works great in a bottle-neck. And then of course there's mats in bottle-necks. A good example of this is alchemy. In order to max out 450 alchemy, you need to transmute meta gems, so the materials for these are a worth-while investment. However, with Cataclysm coming out, it's always good to stay on top of whether these materials will still be desired for leveling, or bottle-necked.

What about achievements? There are many achievements that require consumption of items, wearing items while dancing under the influence, or reputation hand-ins as we saw with Insane in the Membrane, or Sporeggar. These are often items worth adding to a snatch list to be purchased at a low-price and flip for extremely easy gold. Let's not forget the upcoming guild achievements that may use a substantial amount of consumable items.

I've been looking at a few items lately, especially Saronite Ore, to keep a tidy little stock-pile of for Cataclysm. Eternals are another item I think is worth stock-piling, especially Life, Water and Fire. Shadow is a bit more common from mining, but worth holding on to.  Making money off these items is all about supply and demand however, so you need to be sure you know your server's markets.

Saronite Ore can be sold raw, in bars, transmuted to Titanium bars and further made into Titansteel which is used in mounts that will still be sought-after in Cataclysm. It can also be prospected and turned into gems that Jewelcrafters need to level, and Alchemists need to x-mute for levels. Yellow epic gems are used to make the engineering Jeeves which may be desired.

Eternals are used in everything to level, especially the 4 I listed. Earth isn't used as much, but can be used to create infinite dust in Cata if there is a demand for it on your server as well. Frozen orbs are also needed for a few items, and can easily be traded for Eternals. I'd keep my eye out in Cata to use Frozen Orbs as a flipping item.


Any ways, just my thoughts, probably not the most original things, but a good process to get your brain thinking.