ALTOs Gold"ish" Advice- The Worst WoW Blog Ever!

Diablo3 Hacked? Even Authenticators Didn't Save Them!

2012-05-21T17:05:00.000-05:00

WoW. Reports are showing that 1000'ish accounts were compromised and/or lost yesterday during a downtime on servers. Scary part? Many of them were supposedly using Blizzard Authenticators....

*Edit- @Sapu94 tweeted a link on another Article with a Blue Response:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149539239

I was tossed a link through a DM that started this whole thing (and you know from reading my blog, I am proudly 110% supportive of any conspiracy theories...) :

What, you can't read that? Okay, further investigation of these reports bring up a more "english" friendly and updated post:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-21-diablo-3-accounts-hacked-gold-and-items-stolen

A few quotes from this article:

"The reports coincided with the EU Diablo 3 servers going offline on Sunday afternoon for around four hours, preventing players from logging in (error 33). It has been suggested that the EU servers were taken offline following a SQL injection attack, but this remains unconfirmed.

One theory suggested by players on the Battle.net forum revolves around hijacking session identifiers, which would allow hackers to take over accounts without alerting Blizzard's authentication server. Again, this remains unconfirmed."

More info on this post on the D3 forums: "I was not hacked, Diablo III was"

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149538944

An actual real reporter for a website who was hacked:

http://www.examiner.com/article/accounts-on-diablo-3-hacked

iMax hacked- posted on official Blizzard D3 forums:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149008932

With the RMAH coming next Tuesday (supposedly), I really do not like this happening, as I don't give my RealID away (always cautious with anything like that), I absolutely have an Authenticator, and run multiple virus/malware programs on my computer. Better safe than sorry.....

But in this case, it seems that folks, even with all the security setups you may have.....are absolutely fucked. Because it seems that individuals were not necessarily hacked, it was Blizzard that was. I seem to remember the last time I thought blizz was compromised.

Enjoy D3 folks, I know I am!

*well, until I get haxxored

Alto.

If you are not subscribed to RSS feed via email (my posts go directly to your inbox so you don't miss a post!) you can click the Orangish RSS feed up top or go direct here:

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Ultimate Diablo III Site, Free D3 Guide, Maps and Forum Access!

2012-05-10T07:48:00.002-05:00

TLDR: Searching for Diablo 3 Tips, Tricks, and a Free Guide to boot? Look no further, and ol' buddy of ours, Adam "The Doll" is back after his engagement with a great looking site for Diablo III.

A few words about his guide that I got a kick outta:

Our guide is currently on sale.....for 100% off!

This guide is SO free, you can't afford NOT to buy it!

We will never charge for our guide, not even if you double dog dare us!

Those that know Adam, he was on the podcast I was a part of for a short time (Addicted 2 Azeroth), he was a "guru" in the weekly WoW meetings at the "old" JMTC, and anytime you see him post a tweet (@dollada06), grab your popcorn as something is about to set sail.

As you might have guessed, I have been away from the blog and WoW in general for some time. My daughter is growing like a week (nearing three years old), and I am prepping for multiple back surgeries and it's tough to sit or stand too long, so any computer "work" is out of the question, unless it's short lived. I did however want to strike up the blog for those that are getting into Diablo III to show you about a site that has caught my attention.....

www.freediablo3guide.com

Sexy, huh? Although there aren't many posts currently, knowing Adam, there will be quite a big push during the coming weeks, so make sure and bookmark, follow through google, RSS feed for new posts to your inbox, well....you know the drill.

There are a few great things right off the bat. Look at the tabs available to click. First, you have the link for the FREE Diablo III guide:

You might notice that it's through fileswap, which, for some folks, an automatic red flag is waving in the air. I am trying to convince him to use standalone pages for his guide (similar to what I have used for my WoW Guide and 4.3 Update), we will see if he goes for it.....until then, you have to fileswap.

Next tab, you will see the forums link. A ton of great information as well as an amazing group of folks there at The Sancuary (which is a great info site all in itself- In fact, it'll be one of my main resources for the scoop on Diablo Tres):

Going down the line, next tab you will see quick access to the Diablo III map:

See? Told you it was a great site! What is it missing? Nothing....but I am sure Adam will figure out a few more tabs as time goes, so keep posted.

Since I haven't been in the area much, do you have some favorite sites you are leaning towards? Do you have forums, podcasts, or other D3 info you would like to share? Do you have a blog you write about strategies in Diablo III? I wanna hear about them! Shout out in comments!

Thanks for reading as always,

Alto.

If you are not subscribed to RSS feed via email (my posts go directly to your inbox so you don't miss a post!) you can click the Orangish RSS feed up top or go direct here:

Get ALTOs Gold"ish" Advice- The Worst WoW Blog Ever! delivered by email

You can always follow me on twitter as well for the most recent gold making tips: @Altosgold

What happened to my sales? Where is everyone?

2012-04-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post today, mentioning the dwindling of sales/auctions/players across the board.....don't QQ just yet.....

Stats across the board are declining since the MoP Beta invites were sent out, and blizz stats of 10 mil players, 200K have beta access.

Quick math says 2%. But what that two percent tells us is they are the "lifers". A majority of them are ones that have played nearly every part of the game over the last 6 plus years. Out of those in beta, a good portion have multiple toons, multiple professions (hint, hint). Now they are playing and searching every part of the beta, taking a break from the current game.

And it's only gonna slow down once again, as word is that this week there will be two more 100K waves going out for beta. Even more (or less) competition, but also more (or less) sales.

Sure, folks are going to flip back and forth from beta to live, live to beta. But unless they are a true AH whore, this is where you can niche even further...

Another issue not even factoring in the next few additions of accounts to beta access is the ever nearing event....Diablo III. I think we can also accurately predict that there will be a good sum of folks at least trying their hand at the Real Money Auction House there, causing some more long time players to move over to the blizzard game that started them in WoW, Diablo....

So what are your plans? How will you make this a positive for your AH sales? Or are you in Beta and don't even have time to read this? Are you gonna pay a dime to only end up with a fart or you gonna slide under the door and take a free shit?

Alto.

*In case you were wondering what that last sentence was it's easy. Ask your parents/grandparents about going to an airport back in the day. "Here I sit all broken hearted paid a dime and only farted"....don't think they are nuts if they sing the jingle....

If you don't have one, well....you used to have to pay 10c to open the door (or at some places, it was to get a few squares of shitter paper) to drop a loaf. Yeah. 'tis true.

What I was trying to say is...are you gonna be like everyone else, do what everyone else does, and see that it doesn't work like expected? Or are you going to find a way around the "norm" and work the system to your advantage?

Spare a square? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller....Buuuueller?

Problems Downloading Pandaria Beta- The Ultimate "Fix"

2012-04-01T08:55:00.001-05:00

With all the issues folks have, getting stuck on "Updating Setup Files" where the download would stick at 10%, then 32%, then 40%, etc was the one that I had problems with from the beginning.

FYI, THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE! It just happens to be April 1st, and I wouldn't do that to you guys!

After deleting and restarting 8 times, and being hesitant to call Blizz and bitch about it (knowing there is an easy hour plus wait time), I decided to look around the internets to find a fix. I did it so you don't have to....see? That's how much I love you folks!

Please go through each step I list in order, and if you have done Step 1, then go to step two. If you have done Step 2, go down the list. If you skip a step, you might have issues still. Follow them all, and you are good to go!

One thing before we get started....kill your firewall on your computer and try to download again (just remember to reset it after download is completed). This is the first issue that falls on folks. If you are running multiple anti-virus programs, stop them for the time being. After the download is complete, don't forget to allow the antivirus to run properly! Blizzards specs on patches/etc can be very picky, and by doing this you completely eliminate the issue with this causing the error.

Another quick test is CTRL-ALT-DEL and check if you already have a background Agent.exe running. If so, kill it off, and try downloading again.

STEP 1

It sounds cheesy, but open the WorldofWarcraft Beta Setup (it's a .exe file you get from your battle.net download page) by right clicking and use "run as administrator". If it opens and shows you a "Updating Setup Files" and freezes, go to Step 2.

STEP 2

Now delete your "World of Warcraft Beta Setup icon (once again, it's the .exe file). You can find this by going to START and search for World of Warcraft Beta folder. Go ahead and delete the icon (only the icon) and at the battle.net site (where you get the beta download) when you pick the windows icon and the save window pops up, use DESKTOP. Now, right click and run as administrator.

IT WORKED! Great!

IT DIDN'T WORK! $%#$!
This means that you got the "Updating Setup Files" freeze screen. Let's do another step...

STEP 3

Now it's gonna get a bit interesting, but bear with me...

First, we need to have access to see hidden files on your 'puter. Most Windows applications will allow you to go to START- CONTROL PANEL- APPEARANCE AND PERSONALIZATION- FOLDER OPTIONS

Then go to the VIEW tab and make sure the button at "Show hidden files and folders" is clicked. Apply, then ok.

STEP 4

Now, find your World of Warcraft Beta folder again. It is probably in your C: Program Files, but might be elsewhere. What we are doing now is renaming your battle.net folder to battle.net1 (to rename it, right click, go down the list to RENAME, then just add a 1 at the end). Simple huh?

Remember Step 2? Delete your .exe icon, go to battle.net again, get a new one. Right click, Run as Administrator, and rock on!

Not sure why this makes a difference, but it does..../shrug

STEP 5

You should be able to download again at this point. If there is still an issue (god forbid), please restart your computer....

STEP 6

One more fix.....but it'll work....

In the OPTIONS- DOWNLOADER PREFERENCES (found on the upper left of the screen shown)- Enable/Disable P2P Transfer and try it again. This will slow your download, but is the end all/be all fix.

LAST STEP....I PROMISE!

Green Launcher Icon. Find this icon, right click, and move the icon to your desktop for easy launch of Beta.

Daaas it! Let it download away, and getcha self into BETA BABY!

Alto.

MoP- Mists of Pandaria Beta

2012-03-31T07:46:00.001-05:00

I have my invite! No, not bragging, but telling. As you know, I try to keep you all updated on scammy emails, and in case you were wondering if your invite is legit, I have added screenshots to verify. Of course, the battlenet account info page is the #1 way to know 100%, and I have that image toward the end of the post.

You will also notice on your battlenet account screen you will have the ability to download. A few easy steps to follow:

GETTING STARTED

1. Get the Installer:

Log in to your Battle.net® account. Click the "Account" tab, then click on the "World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria" tab under "Your Game Accounts". Download your client by selecting "Windows" or "Mac".

2. Install the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria client:

Run the installer. Wait for the "Checking for Updates" and "Updating Setup Files" windows to complete, and click "Install".* Scroll down to the end of the Beta Test Agreement, and click "Agree".

*If you would like to install additional languages, click the "Change" button next to "Selected Languages" and check all applicable boxes.

3. Run the Game:

Wait for the install process to complete and the "Play" button to light up. Press "Play" to enter the game.

Look forward to updated information coming your way as soon as possible. I will try to get my stream at justin.tv rocking asap!

(you can follow at http://www.twitch.tv/altolycus)

I will be messing with it over the weekend, and other than bits and pieces here and there, I will be going live early this week. While streaming, keep in mind that if you have specific questions, I will do my best to answer them (problems with your server, questions on beta, setting up addons, etc.). My stream won't be for me, it will be more for you and helping you with individual attention to help you make gold.

I will also be linking my stream to my twitter account (https://twitter.com/#!/AltosGold) so you can also see then when I will be streaming through the wonders of twitter. And in case you miss my streams, I will be posting them here as well, with commentary.

Looking forward to seeing ya'll there!

Alto.

Charm of Good Fortune, New Valor Point Uses, Random Pandaria Info

2012-03-27T17:04:00.001-05:00

While reading a blue post today (yeah, it is our good ol' buddy Ghostcrawler), I liked a bit of what is in store in Pandaria. Below are some changes you might not have read up on yet, and if you are like me when I read them, I am actually surprised, and happy about them. Let's hope they pass the Beta and make it to Live.....

IT'S ALWAYS A LONELY HUNTER, ISN'T IT?

The personal loot system will initially be used for Raid Finder and for world bosses. We want to use it for world bosses because we want it to be fairly easy to form PUGs to take down these bosses when they're up. If my raiding guild is about to take on a world boss, and some lonely hunter is asking to join the group (it’s always a lonely hunter, isn’t it?), it would be nice to be able to bring him on without worrying about that jerk taking loot away from me or my friends. We want to foster a “the more the merrier” attitude with world bosses.

I like this idea, but it is sure to get some QQ'ing. I am sure you can think of a few...

CRAFTSMEN AND ELDERS DAILIES:

The way it works is like this: We have two major Pandaren factions, the Elders and the Craftsmen. Completing daily quests and scenarios for each group earns you one of two currencies. The Craftsmen tokens are spent mostly on cosmetic items. The Elder tokens are spent mostly on power items. The intent here is to let players who want some optional content to be able to devote time to both Craftsmen and Elders, while more min-max focused players or players who don’t want such a time commitment can stick to Elders. The Elder tokens can be used to purchase head enchants, some nice purple items, and the kind of gear you’ve come to expect from factions. However, they also sell an item called a Charm of Good Fortune. Imagine you can complete a quest once a week to buy one Charm for 25 Elder Tokens. You also might be able to save up a few charms, but you won’t be able to hoard them until the next tier of content.

Head Enchants, epix, and blues (maybe even mounts and pets?) have usually come from gaining reputation. But a charm of good fortune is a really cool addition, hopefully they find a happy medium, maybe a couple days worth of dailies. A weeks worth for just some mats? Not my grind. Did I mention I hate questing? No? Okay. I DO.

CHARMS OF GOOD FORTUNE/Bonus Roll:

If you have one or more Charms of Good Fortune, then whenever you kill a raid boss (in Raid Finder, normal or heroic) then a new UI window will pop up asking if you want to spend your Charm on a bonus roll. If you click yes, then you’ll instantly get another shot at that boss’s loot table! You will always win something from the bonus roll, such as a pile of gold, gems, or flasks.

However, you also have a small (but not miniscule) chance of receiving a piece of epic loot. As with the personal loot system, the item will always be something designed for your current spec. Also, just as with personal loot, the game doesn’t analyze if you already have the item, if the item would be an upgrade for you, or if you prefer axes to swords or anything like that.

"Small but not minscule?" That tells me NO WAY YOU WILL EVER GET PURPLES. And really, why can't the game tell if it's an upgrade? They can read my hard drive at any time (per the TOS), but they can't figure a code to tell if my ilvl400 is a better shoulder than the ilvl401 that dropped? Now I am QQ'ing. I was hoping it didn't come to me bitching. Oh well. It's nearing the end of the post anyways....

VALOR POINT CHANGES:

In Mists of Pandaria, Valor will be used to power a new feature that allows you to increase the item level of your existing epic items. This means that each week, you can become a little more powerful, hopefully allowing you to kill that boss that has eluded you thus far. There will be a bit of a game in trying to decide when to upgrade your gear versus hoping for a new piece to drop from a raid boss, but our plan is that even heroic gear can be upgraded slightly in this way.

I really like this more than other ideas soon to come as it will feel like you are getting a little buff for the extra time you play versus "oooweee, I got enough for some boots to sell- /2 here I come!". Well played Blizz, well played.

Alto.

MoP- Mists of Pandaria Database Info

2012-03-21T22:25:00.008-05:00

Ghost Iron Ore, Manticyte Ore, Trillium Ore, Engineering Pet- Pandaren Dragonling, Shadow Pigment, Darkmoon Card of Mists/Serpents/Cranes, River's Heart, Wild Jade, Vermillion Onyx, Imperial Amethist, Sun's Radiance

Just a quick post, WoWDB has datamined new Pandaria loot:

Here's the link to many of the new ore's, herbs, and etc. (Item level 90'ish)

http://www.wowdb.com/items?page=237

Wowhead has updated their datamines as well:

http://mop.wowhead.com/search?q=date%3A2012-03-22#items

MMOChamp also has some blues and epix for a quick look:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/2696-Mists-of-Pandaria-Beta-Items-Epic-and-Rare

Remember, if you are not subscribed to RSS feed via email (my posts go directly to your inbox so you don't miss a post!) you can click the Orangish RSS feed up top or go direct here:

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You can always follow me on twitter as well for the most recent gold making tips: @Altosgold

Also, Wowinsider has an updated "new glyph" page as well....

http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/03/21/mists-of-pandaria-beta-new-glyphs/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Free WoW Gold Guide - No fluff, No buff. Seriously.

2012-03-18T07:57:00.000-05:00

Making gold in WoW. Some folks need a nudge. There are many paid gold guides out there that state "make 10K in a hour", "make 50K a day, automatically", "craft one item, buy from these vendors". You name it, there is someone selling a product. My guide is no longer for sale. Until Panda releases, you will not see a price tag on it. Why? Nothing new is out there for gold making that isn't free written on a blog somewhere.

My guide was new. No guide before [the one you see below] covered topics that I hit on. It was new strategies. I ran folks through what I did and what I used to make my millions. But as time passed, it seemed that people just copied and pasted my information into their guides. I was the innovator, they are the imitators. Just look at the dates of screenshots and you will see. Right now, I know of six guides that have the same exact information in theirs, charging you money for it.

For some time now, I have had links to this guide, but I feel that it is time to give it to you kind folks in a blogpost. As I mentioned, this was written nearly a year ago, so information is just that, a year old. You might already know the tips within, but any way you look at it, if you like my writing here on my blog, you will enjoy the guide.

This guide was originally a template for my coaching program: in other words, when someone is new to goldmaking and didn't know much about "seek and destroy", I would refer them to this. It teaches the basic tools to get you into the gold game, and by utilizing the information inside, you will have a jump start on your competition. It's fairly simple, broken down by addons, websites I use (and how you should use them), and a few tactics I have employed to be successful.

Those that have purchased my guide, I will have a Pandaria expansion, although I am not sure how/what/when/where I will be doing so (no guide is currently for sale). There have already been quite a few changes, and with the Beta time fast approaching, I will be getting the nitty gritty of the new gold making possibilities just as I have every patch since I started this little blog. Like this guide, I will provide information that is new. That people aren't aware of. That isn't posted a thousand times on a thousand blogs. Just keep tuned in and I will update as I go....

Now this isn't saying that I will not complete updates in the future, you can see the 4.3 Update is already considered "old" by most standards (you can see the original date on the TuJ part- March 28, 2011- Has it been a year already? WOW!) . Feel free to utilize the tools inside, but once again, the info is nearly a year old, so take it with a grain of salt...With that being said, there are still some things that you might not be aware of...check it out!

Yeah, I know. It's tiny print. What you can do is scroll to the bottom, and you will see something like this:

See that "zoom in" plus button? Sure. Yeah, that one. Click it a few times to read on the page. Better?

Remember, if you are not subscribed to RSS feed via email (my posts go directly to your inbox so you don't miss a post!) you can click the Orangish RSS feed up top or go direct here:

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You can always follow me on twitter as well for the most recent gold making tips: @Altosgold

Altos Goldish WoW Guide. Blog

SoR Scroll of Resurrection Requests and Invites

2012-03-12T08:58:00.002-05:00

With Blizzards new SoR (Scroll of Resurrection) in place, there are quite a few more players returning with a "free" level 80, a week free gametime, and a "free server/faction change to YOUR server. The "referrer" gets a sparkly mount (Spectral Wind Rider (H) or Spectral Griffin (A) for doing so. In case you were looking for a spot where subscribers and [non]subscribers reside, look no further.

Blizz is so determined to assist in this process that they set up a page on the battlenet forums to help in doing so:

Scroll of Resurrection Requests (Sticky)

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/4139868835

As you can see, there are quite a few pages of folks that have done this already. A few options I have read up on are:

* If you want this to happen quickly, upon contact with your SoR invite, to get your mount faster, purchase them a Time Card at the BlizzStore.

* You can only send out ~~one~~ two "invitations" per day.
EDIT- One per in-game and one on battle.net

* Upon your SoR being completed (purchased gametime) you will get your mount via in game mail:

From: Spirit Healer
Contents: Spectral Crate

I am lopsided on this, but it seems that Blizz is doing their part to get more playing. Since Q1 is ending, they are boosting their subscription numbers to help their bottom line and keep their investors happy. I understand this.

My small complaint is blizz took away the "achievement" pets for logging in on Blizz's b-day, but adding the ability to purchase via battlenet store. Now, they are more prone to giving items to people that haven't played before (RaF) and existing players that have quit the game (SoR).

Business shows that the happy people (those that keep a subscription) aren't as needy as the disgruntled folks (i.e quitters). Once a quitter, always a quitter. As stated above, they are just boosting numbers.

Why not have positives for the consistent? I enjoy the game, will probably have a lifetime subscription (give or take) and will continue to play either way. But you know what? A little bonus here or there for just being me would be nice. Throw us a bone without making us do anything. Greedy? Sure.

Look at Marlboro, a product that is known to kill people. They have you addicted already, have no need to give freebies, yet they send me coupons every month. The have loyalty programs that give me something in my mail for my birthday every year. They have giveaways and promotions nearly every month on their website. I have a recurring subscription with them too. A pack a day. And they know at any time I can switch to another company. So they give perks to keep me. Until I quit smoking, they will have my business.

Wow? They take 16 bucks a month. I am addicted to playing. Loyalty programs? Nope. Birthday gift? Nope. Promotions? Sure, if I buy something extra. Giveaways? Only if I do extra (see RaF and SoR). Can I quit and play something else? Sure. But I really haven't. Yet....

Yes. I did just compare WoW to smoking. Hate me.

Alto.

WTB Content besides the AH- 50K for Rusted Drake?

2012-03-11T11:01:00.000-05:00

Since my seek and destroy in the local AH has slowed to a somewhat boring grind, I have stepped out and play the game a bit (oh no, of course still selling in the AH...but just posting, not dealing with undercutting and/or profession crafting). This post is kind of a mix of a few thoughts, as I haven't posted in a week, so bear with me...

If you are getting "bored" with WoW as we know it, why not follow a few tips on what I have been doing, it might just spur your interest...

I decided to work on Achievements (Explorer). One hint as you are swimming around Vashj'ir, take the high road....Hop on any flying mount and explore above water. You still get the achievement, and you save an absolute ton of time (it kinda takes away the "exploring" part, but whatcha gonna do?)

One plus if you are working on this is you get a title, get to see a few things that you might have missed, such as seeing our buddy vile from Vile's Golden Auctions while running in Wrath....

I wonder though. I never saw Vile in this light. /shrug

I met up with a few players on my server a couple weeks back and gave a few tips to them (A link to my free guide and a farming spot in Hyjal I love for some quick gold). In return for my help, they have taken me under their wing and have brought me on as a temporary guildie inviting me on running some old school Raids (Uludar, Sunwell Plateau, The Battle for Mount Hyjal, etc). Due to my hiatus in WoW for most of Wrath, and not being really guilded (and raided) since Vanilla, this was great fun, and I was (is) having a blast.

The night they got me my Rusted Proto Drake, I decided to give back a bit, buying them each Mechano Hogs for helping me out. One of them, let's just call him M, also got a Traveler's Tundra Mammoth so he could get his 100 mounts Achievement. Little does Killer know, he is getting one next Mount I get....shhh. Don't tell him though. I figured it would be a nice surprise..

Here is where the 50K for the Rusted Drake comes in. No, I didn't really pay 50K for it, but I feel that it's the least I could do, and it felt good doing it. If you have that big chunk o' gold lying in wait for someone or something, do something with it. You might be surprised how much someone enjoys a little bump....

After glorifying my time spent, I clicked on my battlenet for my main. As I was looking, I noticed something kinda cool. You can click on your professions and see what you are missing. Then sub-link to an info page (somewhat like wowhead, but on battlenet pages).

I saw that I needed the Rituals of the New Moon (5 min of farming got it for me- you read right, it turns you into a wolf) and after 5 minutes of farming Silverbrook Trappers in Grizzly Hills, bam! Got it! One more item to add to my repertoire of goldmaking. If you don't have it, get it. After all, who doesn't want to be a wolf? Okay, wrong question. I really don't want to be, but maybe someone else does...

That's about the gist of it, running old content, transmog sales, glyph sales, and some random schtuff thrown in.

Is there something special that you are doing in the lagtime before MoP? Got any other ideas for me to work on? Lemme know! I am always up for some new ideas!

Oh, and FYI, I have been reading up on Pandaland, and see some great changes [for goldmaking], so look for a post this week on tasks I am working on (can you say Archaeology? I can...It's a boring grind, but I feel that Blizz is adding some changes, and I don't want to miss them!)

See you soon,
Alto.

How to Solo "Farming": Fiery Warhorse, Blue Proto Drake and Raven Lord

2012-03-04T07:45:00.003-06:00

Every now and then, I get requests for my "daily ritual". And although most days are similar, I have seemed to change them up since 4.3 (and the introduction of transmog).

- Log in to Main. (if transmogs auctions have ended on AH toon, I log in there first, posting all transmogs for 48 hours, and sit and relist - about 40-45 minutes with one smoke break- I fluctuate on daily sales, but if I don't hit 6-8K in my inbox it's a rarity).

- Open mail, collect funds (this is my scribe and jewelcrafter- really only sells glyphs)

- Repost ended auctions, do an AH scan to recup data and craft all glyphs over 50g profit (normally around 20-30). About 10 minutes total.

- Take the portal to blasted lands from Org.

- Rare Rotation by @faidtastic.

- Now, take the portal to BC.

- Flightpath to Shatt- Take rare route (through NPCScan) and make my way to Sethlikk Halls for a quick Reins of the Raven Lord Mount (don't know this guy, but he was the first video link when I googled. And, I didn't watch it, but meh, peeps like video, so here you go!)

Oh, and by the way, make sure you have one of your rep tabards on (double duty, kill two birds with one stone, jumbo shrimp, whatever). Currently, I have the Bilgewater Cartel equipped so I can get the poor man's Chopper, the Goblin Turbo-Trike.

- Now, I equip my Kirin Tor ring for a quick portal to Dalaran, and take the FP near Utgarde Pinnacle for a Skadi Run to get the Blue Drake. A very easy solo. Once again, a video added for reference, have no clue who it is....

- This consists of my daily, as you can only run heroics once per day. So until I get them, these will be ran as much as I can (I unfortunately don't have the time to log in every day, but I try. WoW is my "keep me sane" medicine.....)

- On Tuesday's, I have two more dungeons that I run:

- Karazhan for a chance at another mount from the first boss, Attuemen (the Fiery Warhorse Reins). Once again, easily soloed

- Now you might wonder why I don't list Magister's Terrace and Kael'thas Sunstrider for the Swift White Hawkstrider. That's what got me in this mount trouble in the first place. I was just doing a transmog run when I happened upon it. And after getting the links above, I noticed he drops a pet too, so I guess it's back in my weekly rotation....Phoenix Hatchling. I will get the Mini Ashes. Yes, I will...

So there you go. My rotation. Of course, there are other things that pop up (like the Scholo chest run or the "even better" UBRS run), but for the most part, that's my deal. Not focusing so much on goldmaking (other than the transmog drops from above), unless you include the normal stuff (gems here and there, enchants, some recipe and pet flipping).

More of my time lately is playing the game (LFR) and my solo runs. My days of hanging in Org most of my online time is over for now. Doing the things in game that I have slacked on.

Are you doing solo runs for mounts/pets? What are you soloing? Did I miss something? I would love to add another solo to my regime, whatcha got? Did you even read this far, or did you give up? Holler up, lemme know!

Do Servers Matter When Pricing Items? Does Rarity? Or?

2012-02-29T09:31:00.000-06:00

Ahh. Walmart. The king of Retail.

This post is in reference to @GrayzBDF reminding me about a comment left on a post from a while back Transmog Items How To Price For Your Server. I started writing a comment there and it just got too long...So here it is, in all it's ADD riddled glory.....

If it were only this easy to read your AH....

Does your sales reflect a Wal-Mart mentality or a mom and pop's County Market? Wal-Mart stores are constantly redefining pricepoints, stock, vendors, locations of sales, etc. County Market? They do one thing. Try to stay in business and be competitive with Wally world so they don't have to close their doors....Who's business model do you most likely mirror in WoW? Are you a leader on your server or a follower? Is it better to be either one? Or in the middle?

As a Logistics Manager, I see quite a bit of the who's/what's/where's/ and why's of distribution. I have worked with half of the top10 3PL companies. One of which was Wal-Mart. Below, I explain some of the things that you might not know about the inner workings of companies and how it applies to my sales in WoW. Business platforms, whether in game or in RL, are extremely similar. Is your AH PvP successful? Or are you struggling to keep up? Is your mindset on pricing automated, or just a guess? Let's look a bit deeper....

WM Price-points/ Location Based Pricing:

Go ahead and hit walmart.com. When you are searching, they will ask for your zip code. Why is that? Two reasons: One, they collect records online of what Joe from Kokomo searches for (best items for resale- or most popular), and combines that data into what goes on their shelves. They have a whole team that adjusts prices based on per capita. Lower population/lesser household income= lower prices. Higher income area? Higher prices. Or you can see it as "x" item is searched for more in Chicago than it is in the suburbs. So it can be seen as that 52" plasma might be priced $50 more downtown than in the sticks....

A good example of "location based pricing" is Keelhaul's (The Mogfather) setup. Whether he is aware or not, he follows this for the most part. His main servers are high population (location). His pricepoints follow suit (high profit). This can be thought of as why some servers demand such prices where as other servers you can be lucky to get 10% of the same amount.

PoS- Point of Sale

This is taken at the register. Walmart decides their stock by what is sold at the store. When you buy a bag of Cheetos, the scanner tells the store that (1) Cheetos bag, 20oz, sold at 2pm on Friday for 2.18. The data is then compliled against all the other bags of cheetos sold. Next week, you might not see a 20oz bag due to you were the only purchase at that store for that size. However, data shows that they can sell a 24oz bag for .98 more and have a higher profit margin. Or the flipside that they can sell you "cheeto-heads" 4 4oz bags and profit 1.29 more. So when you go into wally for your fix this week, you only have the option of 24oz or 4oz. Get it?

A prime example of this is selling by stacks or singles, with adjusting pricing as you see fit based on sales. Why list 200 individual pieces of Whiptail when you can price 10 stacks at a 10g more per stack and they sell faster? Or vice verse, why try to sell a stack of 10 Glyph of Shockwave when sales show to sell 10 "stacks" of 1? Pricing and selling items, although in some cases extremely basic, are things we do everyday, without thinking twice.

Similar Goods:

Most GenX readers can remember seeing all yellow cans of beans or corn when they were younger. This, my young pups, was the generic brand. Walmart introduced something similar, the Great Value brand, for their stores a few years back. This allowed them total control on pricing goods, not having to rely on "x" company stating they needed to follow "x" pricepoint (i.e some companies will not allow stores to price below a certain amount if it is in a "flier" or a "ad").

Now Joe can get his Cheetos in Great Value brand, saving .75 per 20oz bag. Little does he know that although he is saving .75 per, Walmart is profiting more due to lower initial cost as well as more sales due to the discontinue of name brand at that size. Win/win. But then of course you have someone else that, no matter what, will pay for the Cheetos brand only, and wouldn't be caught dead eating a "lesser brand" (although some great value brands are packaged in the exact same location with the exact same goods inside as the name brand).

We can see a similar position with Transmogrification. Some folks are just fine with an item that has ten "look-alike" recolors. It tastes the same, looks the same, but is way cheaper than buying a "name brand". Some buyers are more top end, and will pay more to stand out in a crowd wearing their Hyperion set (insert "Sexy and I know it" music here), and wouldn't be caught dead in the generic [insert any bloody anything here] set.

To follow up, even though an item might be a "rare" drop, doesn't necessarily mean that the selling price is the same as one with the same drop rate. One might be ugly and one might be hot. You don't decide that, Blizzard RNG and your buyers decide that....

Most folks on most servers do not know about rarity of items. If you are a transmog seller, you know what I mean. You log on your toon, and you get mail or tells or /2 sets afire with comments "Why do you price that level 30 item for 1K?". Knowledge is Power. You know that it will sell, albeit sometimes later than sooner, but you stick to your guns.

So what was this post for other than a drawn out comment for a previous post? Knowledge. The more you understand why prices are what they are, and how to decide what item is worth what, the better off you are. One server might allow much higher prices on gems, and their glyphs are 10g each, while another server might allow glyphs for 500g and gems are worthless. The more you can decipher your server and what markets do what, the better off you are.

Now go to TuJ or your local AH, look at your professions versus pricing, and see where you fall. Are you going to be run out of business (profit) by a more demanding Auctioneer? Or are you going to see a niche that no one else is in and define your own profits? It's up to you. I wish you the utmost success!

Alto.

Error Downloading Patch 4.3.3? How to Disable & Uninstall 64 bit Client

2012-02-27T18:51:00.002-06:00

A few posts back, you probably read about How to Install 64 Bit Client for WoW and went ahead and rocked it like I did. Well, now we have to un-install it otherwise we can look forward to errors upon 4.3.3 tomorrow (Scroll down and I have the how to uninstall if you don't want to hear me blabbering). Go figure.

Don't fret, word is they are working on another update to the 64 client, so we will see it soon, and of course, I will do my best to ease the pain for you for a successful install.

You might have seen the post on WoWInsider (left) about this. Or the post on Battle.net (right) about this. But as usual, they are both mirror images of each other. I really don't understand why the professionals at WI don't explain anything other than a cut and paste from Battlenet. /shrug.

Since they won't take the 10 minutes to show you, I will. Just like the install, it's not hard, you just have to open up a few folders and delete a few files (this walkthrough is for pc, not for Mac- Mac users have one file, the ----WorldofWarcraft-64.app---- that should be easy enough). A simple two step process will get you where you need to go.

Step 1:

Open your Warcraft folder, it should look something like this (I pre-sorted by name for easier search):

For ease of explaining, I moved them to the bottom of the list. The three files are:

Battle.net-64.dll

Movie Proxy

WoW-64

Step 2:

Delete. Seriously. That's it. Once you find these three icons, right click on them and delete. You are done. Now just do a quick test to see if it worked.....

Now, open your wow client (your WoW logo) and on your login screen, you should see something like this (note the 64 changed to 86 again). If it shows 86, then you are ready for the patch this week! See, that didn't hurt, did it?

Now, make sure you are on my RSS feed (only my posts go into your inbox through your email address- no spam, no nothing but great Alto'ish posts!) and when the 64 bit comes back out, I will post on "how-to" again (I am sure there will be a multi-step process again).

WoW Goldmaking - Livestreams Incoming!

2012-02-26T11:52:00.004-06:00

World of Warcraft goldmaking is a game all it's own. There are plenty of PvP and PvE/raiding livestreams, why not some dedicated to Gold-making?

If you follow me on twitter (@AltosGold), then you might have seen me re-tweet some live "podcast" style streams on justin.tv.com. What I am liking about these is they have a chat pane next to the stream and you can holler back and forth between the others watching as well as talking with the "streamer" themselves.

I think this will start being more and more available, but currently, there are ~~two~~ three that I know of, flux and faid (and SAPU! Bossman of the great addon, TSM!). And if you don't know about them yet, now you do.....

Edit 1:26 CST 2/26/12: Live stream with TSM inc!

The one, the only, no competition here: SAPU! The man behind the addon, TradeSkillMaster (TSM). There is no introduction needed here, our favorite gold making addon founder and creator just added a twitch.tv (http://www.twitch.tv/saputsm).

~~The first~~ The next one I am covering is Flux (Jim) from PW:G. Plenty of topics, quite a few how-to's, and some random cats on the screen here and there. A few weeks back he tweeted (is that a word?) he started a stream. This is an addictive new option for the gold-making community, and knowing Jim, he will put alot of focus on it. Just follow him on twitter, as he posts there when he goes live.

PWG has been rocking his for a few weeks now, you can find him at http://www.twitch.tv/jimyounkin. You can find more on Jim through the links below:

Blog:

PowerWordGold

Podcast:

PW:G Podcast

The next one is faids' (@faidtastic). She just started her stream at http://www.twitch.tv/faidtastic, and since she is so knowledgeable in basically every area of WoW, I am looking forward to seeing more of what she pulls off. Her blog and youtube are both great sources for gold tips:

Blog:

Nerf Faids: http://nerffaids.blogspot.com/

YouTube:

Faidtastic: http://www.youtube.com/faidtastic

Why are you still here? Clicky, clicky and go see what I am talking about!

Truesilver Shafted Arrow Pricing - Plus Updates & Randomness

2012-02-16T10:31:00.001-06:00

Love is in the Air! Love is also getting more gold in the bank! I hope that you are taking advantage of the new "investments" we have available this holiday with the Truesilver Shafted Arrow and Swift Lovebird both sellable on the AH.

No, no, no. Don't be thinking "just another post on the friggin pink bird". This is more of a reminder to you about investing.

As with any other "flip" or investment you toss your gold at, this can be risky. Those that keep updated with Twitter or are even just keeping track of your AH or /2 Trade can see the dramatic price difference from day one. I purchased a Swift for my main for 35K on day one (now I am picking them up for 12K). Bad investment you might say. Nah, it wasn't. It was a purchase. I kept that one. =)

I have too much gold not to buy things on impulse. That's one of the great things about being successful in goldmaking. You want something? Buy it. No need to think twice.

Since then, I have purchased a handful of both items for future sales, and now is the time to start cracking on your investements on them as well.

Since the Truesilver Shafted Arrow is so much cheaper to get (40 Love Tokens vs. 270 for the Swift Lovebird) you will see these drop to a all time low on Saturday and Sunday (the last days of the event). As people are pushing to get rid of their saved up tokens from the last two weeks, and use them before they lose them, cheapness will ensue.

Since they are much easier to get, and so many folks that want one already have one of them, don't expect your 500g purchase to net 20K profit on the Arrow. I am expecting 20K'ish plus profit on each of the mounts however....

I would recommend buying up a few, tucking them away in a little corner of your bank and forget about them for a few months, and then reviving the economy by dusting them off and posting them on the AH. Cha-ching! Profits, baby, yeah!

For an instant play by play of pricing, use these TuJ links below for the most updated information and sales/selling prices around the world (i.e servers):

Truesilver Shafted Arrow
Swift Lovebird

Now whats an update post without talking about Heart of the Aspects?

Yeah, I still bought one (literally five minutes after the MMO post that it was for sale). I didn't buy it to be unique, I bought it because I wanted it (and since my first flight, I really don't even use it. Too much flapping and whatnot). I have tried and tried to get my "great white buffalo" (see the reference there, hot tub?) Ashes of Al'ar, and have yet to get it. I sometimes go out of my way in Hyjal just to get a glimpse of the NPC Rare Mob Blazewing and view it in awe hoping that someday I will have my own.....off topic there. Sorry, my adderall hasn't kicked in.

Now some quick love to some fellow bloggers (and Twitter buddies) for some great recent tips (follow them on twitter using the links on their name for some great ideas about goldmaking):

farli_wow:

He linked a video about farming Scholo for the chest "run". It's a great way to get some transmog gear, it has once again became part of my daily ritual (in and out a few times with the reset done in about 15 minutes- Go do it!).

faidtastic:

Two things. Faid is double cool recently!

One, a few days back, faid had a little show of all her cool toys in WoW. The one I thought was kinda slick (and only a few quests to get) is the Rainbow Generator. About 20 minutes will get you the trinket, and it's kinda funny to use it and sprout a big'ol rainbow at your target.

Two, faid's trick on farming Blasted Land rares. (dont forget to use her macro- she has it below the video). You can generate quite a bit of gold from this, as you basically double your items every rare spawn (their drop, plus a Imperfect Draenethyst Fragment or a Flawless Draenethyst Sphere that you turn-in to get more greens/blues):

Flux ran through it on his new streaming video the other day so I gotta give him credit as well (I am liking his livestream on twitchtv, so check it out!)

And a shoutout to EPP (Epic Penny Pouch) on his post covering a little used and very niche Inscription market for transmog. Check out his post here: Swords Decks for Transmogging. I am so surprised I have not done this! Or even heard folks doing it! It's nice to learn a new goldmaking scheme! Thanks bruddah!

Alto.

Selling Transmog Items- How to Price For Your Server

2012-02-13T09:00:00.001-06:00

There has been quite a bit of discussion on Transmog since it's release in 4.3. I am covering how I am still making profits despite competition, despite overpricing and underpricing, and how I decide what price to sell what item at.

Sure, there are many other bloggers that have said their piece, many folks on twitter chatting about this issue or that issue, so I figured it's about time I cover my AH PvP technique.

Currently, I have just over 1K items on my transmog banker. Sure, that might seem like alot, but you must take this into the equation: I don't pay more than 20g for any specific piece unless it's a "top tier" like Hyperion, Glorious, Lofty, Vanguard, and Jade to name a few.

I post in 48hr increments. Sure, it's double the AH listing fee, but that saves me time, which is more important than an undercut here or there.

I check the AH when I log in using my shopping list from a previous post: Alto's Transmog List using Auctionator. If anything shows up under 20g, I snatch it up. 2 minutes to do. Like I mentioned above, I will slide from that rule, but for the most part, that is my position.

Some recent AH sales over the last few weeks.

During the week, I price lower than weekends. 90% of my transmog prices are 500g or less (other than the Breast or Chestplates, which once again 90% revolve around the 1500g) I also group the prices somewhat by "packages", i.e. Bloodfist set is 500g each, Sundered is 425g, etc. This allows the midlevel transmog folks the opportunity to get a nice set of mog for under 3K, which I see as a fair price....

"Fair price? What the hell are you thinking? You are an AH'er Alto, get with the program! Milk these items for as much as you can!"

Nah. If it was RL cash, of course I would have a different mindset. But this is a game. Look at The Mogfather for example. He said he has made over 1.5 mil off transmog items, and gave it all away. Sell to the rich, then give back to the rich through giveaways for the best transmog sets. So in other words, the folks that are paying thousands of gold have a chance to get thousands back. Although we are doing basically the same AH game, transmog, we do it in two complete opposite directions. Keel sets his prices to what he wants out of them, I set my prices to adjust with the market and to get consistent sales, in other words, I set mine to the majority of the buyers.

I sold quite a few of the more rare or top tiers at the release of 4.3. Since then, I see the same auctions posted by the same sellers that I did a week into the patch still trying to get their 10K on the Glorious Chestplate, or the same cat trying to sell his Lofty Set for 5-7.5k each piece. What do I do?

More of my AH sales on a Low/Mid Pop Server. =)

Continue snatching up the pieces at 20ish gold and mark them at my 1k or 1500g pricepoint......and guess who buys them? The folks that don't want to pay the 5k for his. Here you might ask why I don't list for 4.5k and barely undercut him. Sales, my good watson, sales. This is why Wal-Mart is so huge and is destroying their competion in sales and causing others to file bankruptcy. More sales at better prices= better bottom line. When you take sales from other AH'ers, they don't want to deal with you, and give up. You win.

While he is posting the same items for months, with maybe a sale a week, I am raking in around 8K per day on weekdays and 12ish thousand on weekends. Who is smarter? The people trying to get top dollar or the ones that have more sales? There are plenty of folks better than me at AH'ing, but I think my sales show I walk the walk and talk the talk.

I have hit 1.1mil (600K+ on transmog alone) since patch 4.3 (I have stopped counting, but here's a mysales since the patch). You can see that I have multiple tier pricing, some as low as 150g.

If you learn anything from this post learn this:

Servers vary widely on Transmog markets. Adjust your prices accordingly to your sales reports.

Weekends will always be the "better" sales times, as there are more potential buyers. When setting prices, don't assume that if someone sold "x" item on twitter for 3K that it will net that on your server.

Unless you see proof, you can't always believe what you hear. Be wary of what advice you take from who. You can feel fairly secure in listening to me, as my methods are tried and true. I know methods that work. I tell you my methods. Use them or someone else will.

Profits are profits. Anytime you flip something for 5g for 100g, you are profiting. 5g to 500g? Yeah. Alot more. 5g for 1K? You will never see a profit like that again, don't think that it will always happen.

Transmog items are very niche. Your buyer for "x" item at 3K might only log on once a week. The buyer(s) for "x" at 1K might be on daily. The old addage "Price it higher and it will sell" is true, but the lesser price brings more buyers. Most "average" folks are aware of the top transmogs now by name, so being the most expensive on the AH isn't what it was a month ago. Think about it.

How Much Is The Swift Lovebird Worth?

2012-02-07T11:46:00.003-06:00

What is the Swift Lovebird worth? How much do I sell it for? How much is my time worth? Really, how rare is it? Those are some of the hardest questions in pricing items in WoW. Selling a semi-rare BoE like the Swift Lovebird is really a huge guessing game. But if you have the right tools, it's not that tough of a choice...or is it?

If you price it too low, and it sells fast, then you miss out on profits (and god forbid, someone else makes more profit than you!). On the flipside, if you price too high, you have folks undercut you and they get the buyers that could have purchased yours. I will not tell you your price, but if you use the tools I give you below, you can get a good idea of how I decide, then adjust to fit your needs!

First, you need to gather all the information you can:

USING THE UNDERMINE JOURNAL

*Edit- Wanna see something interesting? Click the link below and click the picture so you can see the prices- Compare- In six hours since this post went live, the overall price dropped nearly 10%.

Check TuJ (The Undermine Journal). Go to your server, search for the item. On the top of the page, you should see something similar to this:

At the bottom of the chart, you will see an option to click for "Check for Worldwide Stats" (or just click on that link...lol). Do that if you haven't already. Here you will see how many are for sale across every server (in this image, 2414). A few bars down, you will see the "Mean" (43,758g) which tells us the average posted price for two weeks. Below that is the "Standard Deviation" (27,035g) which is the difference of the current price "average" now and the "mean" average of two weeks (this tells me that the price is declining since the mounts release, and in my eyes, hasn't hit a "low" or a pricepoint yet).

*note this is not what they are selling for, it is what they are priced at. BIG DIFFERENCE!

Using this as a gauge for an "estimated" value is just that. Estimated. But it is a tool that you want in your garage...not shoved away in storage. Now back to my ADD raddled post...

Since we have that, that shows me a few things. Like I mentioned, the price is dropping. It hasn't hit "bottom" yet. That is when I will strike. My guess is on my med-pop server, it will be 20K by early next week. I will invest for the future and buy up 5'ish at that price, and more if they lower in price.

USING THE "HOW RARE IS IT" MODEL

When looking at investments in "rare" items, I roll with the "how rare is it" model.

Since this mount is only available two weeks of the year, that leaves...math here....50 weeks that you cannot get it.

Also, not everyone will be keeping/selling their mount. They will be using it on their toon(s).

Most folks are scared of investments. If they do keep them for resale, they will watch the prices (auctions) like a hawk, get worried about their gold being tied up, and sell (at times for a loss of their initial investment). Don't be that guy. I didn't get the gold I have today by losing it, being worried about flipping, or going off a hunch that "x" item will give me profit. Neither should you. You can quote me that you will see that happen, so watch your prices and adjust accordingly.

WHAT MY TIME IS WORTH?

Let's say that I was going to sell a Swift that I just farmed up. I used my strategy I posted on yesterday, Unlimited Spawn Farming: Lovely Charms. Figuring on 400 Lovely Charms per hour, needing 270 for the Swift Lovebird, that's just over 6 hours. Using the AH, I can figure that my time is worth around 10K per hour (an hour posting/reposting/crafting nets around 10K a day). Let's figure the low end at say 8K. Six hours times eight thousand gold is 48K.

So on a minimum, I would not resell the item for less than say 50K.

"You so crazy" you say. I heard it. It's okay. I am. But it's this type of thinking that I use. Those that may have spent 20 hours getting the 270 needed only post theirs at maybe 20K. Yeah. 1K per hour. But they are happier than a pig in shit getting that 20K gold. /shrug. Do I look down on them for that? No way. That is what their time is worth, and they are happy. So am I, because I just bought them out and will end up selling their mount for 100K this summer. We both win!

DO I KEEP IT OR SELL IT?

If you have read up to here, you know what I would do. Here's my advice: If you are going to use that gold for something worthwhile (another investment, upgrade gear, etc) then go for it. However.....

If you are selling it just to have gold in your bags, DON'T DO IT! It is not worth it, as you will be kicking yourself in the ass each time you look at the AH in the upcoming months seeing your mount you sold for 30k today going for 100K+.

You will wish you listened to my advice....

There aren't too many mounts in game you can resell (see Poseidus) unless you factor in TCG. I know, I know, it's only a ground mount. But it's epic. It's purple (okay, pink). Folks that haven't logged in during this holiday season and log in a month from now will not hesitate to dump their gold on it, seeing it as a "new" mount, and it's nothing for folks to drop big bucks on mounts, especially now that gold is so easy to make.

I hope that gives you some insight on pricing your mount, if you are going to sell it or keep it, and a bit of an idea of how to figure out your time's worth when judging your farmed items.

Alto.

There are comments below that hit on a few points I did not cover, so make sure and read them! Sometimes, the comments are better and more informative that my posts! =)

Unlimited Spawn Farming: Lovely Charms for the Swift Lovebird BoE

2012-02-06T20:13:00.003-06:00

Hey folks!

There have been a few posts so far on folks best farming spots for Lovely Charms (so they can get the elusively pink Swift Lovebird - it's BoE and sell-able in case you have been under a rock the last few days), so who am I not to add mine? Here's the list I know of so far:

Cold's Gold Factory - Best Place to Farm Lovely Charms
Power Word: Gold - How to Farm Gold and Lovely Charms In Deepholm

At first, I tried my luck at my Favorite Farming Location In Hyjal, and it only netted just over 100 Lovely Charms in an hour (but I did get a nice drop while there, Formula Enchant Bracer-Mighty Intellect- sold for 14K overnight).

Then while perusing around the internet I overheard the chatter of Rokir in Icecrown. So I tried. And succeeded. At nearly 400 p/h (I ran for 20ish minutes and got 130...so X3= 390). Please forgive my video, it's not a strength of mine (and the music I put on there got deleted due to copywright...go figure). At least it gives you the idea of who/what/how/where to pull this off:

You might notice during the video I barely have time to loot, and you really don't need to (the mobs from what I have seen are 10'ish silver with the exception of a few slower spawns that just kinda fall into my range of fire)...that is, unless you want to give up free gold...

Basically, just kill Rokir when he pops (try to allow him to spawn his green ooze-looking things) and kill everything in sight. There is a crew that spawns in front of him that is about a 30'ish second spawn after death.

Also, for the next two'ish weeks, you can do your "daily dungeon" for your Heart Shaped Box for a chance at the other pink mount, the Big Love Rocket. Don't fret, there are a few other toys you can get in the box, like a Toxic Wasteling, a Vile Fumigators Mask, a Forever Lovely Rose, or The Heartbreaker.

Happy Farming!

Alto.

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Inscription and Books of Glyph Mastery Changes Incoming.....Again

2012-02-03T22:30:00.001-06:00

Running around and hitting my It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know post, I was searching and reading up on Pandaria when something popped ...Crithto made my speculation sonar go off....(yes, I even received the static fuzz through my tinfoil hat). Not that I haven't speculated off blizz posts in the past that hinted at anything BoGM...like this time. Or this time. Or this time.

Anytime a "blue" comments on previous "inside" information as well as future "changes" I start using a lot of quotation marks....huh-what? Read on a minute and you will see what I mean....

What this post told me:

Mists of Pandaria was a twinkle in the eye of Blizzard back in May 2010 (not really relevant, but interesting nonetheless)

During the Pandaria discussion, there was chatter about removing Glyphs all together (the blue post says this, not I).

It was then they decided to killing off Prime glyphs, Major glyphs being manipulated so the added "procs" if you will didn't affect talents (hmmm.)

Minor glyphs were also morphed into something more interesting (see, I don't use "quotes" on everything!).

They (blizzard) are once again discussing Inscription changes for glyphs (and the who's and how's discovery of them)...

Here's the kicker: GLYPHS THAT ARE LEARNED SOLELY THROUGH BoGM ARE PLANNED TO BE LEARNED THROUGH NORTHREND AND MINOR DAILIES. yeah, I used caps. do you see? do you see?

There has been quite a bit of honest and reasonable feedback. I appreciate all of you for sharing and for being patient while I worked to follow-up with the developers for more information.

Back in May of 2010, we began tossing around ideas about how to improve Inscription. But at that time, Mists of Pandaria was still in the early stages of character talent development. As that was hashed out, it directly affected how we were then able to approach potential Inscription and glyph changes. As a matter of fact, at one point during the discussions, glyphs were going to be removed altogether. That then evolved into the idea of Prime glyphs being removed, Major glyphs being adjusted such that their added bonuses did not affect talents, and Minor glyphs being revamped so they felt more interesting.

Have no fear, I have been assured that Inscription and glyph discovery are being actively discussed in preparation for upcoming changes with Mists of Pandaria. This comes with one albeit relieving caveat: Glyphs that are now learned solely through the Book of Glyph Mastery are planned to be available through the Northrend and Minor research dailies.

Is this just another total speculation? If they get rid of glyphs (doubtful), what would Inscription be without them?

I could see Inscription possibly being able to craft recipes for the other professions (marrying with dropped BoE or BoP), maybe something that adds stats to weapons/etc (similar to Enchanting), the ability to "buff" talents on the tree (similar to what glyphs currently can do), or maybe create maps of some sort for treasure finding (similar to Archaeology or stand alone Treasure Chests).

Or, it could just be another Blue post that gets me all riled up. That is probably it. Or is it?

How To Setup/Install The 64bit WoW Client 4.3.2

2012-02-01T22:57:00.002-06:00

Wow. 64bit does make a difference! If you are having issues installing the "beta'ish" WoW 4.3.2 Client, take a few moments and read up:

After having some quest issues since Tuesdays Patch, I hit up BlizzardCS on twitter about another issue (yes, as in multiple). @DragonBearJoe hollers back asking if I had the 64bit installed.... I completely forgot about them adding in in the latest patch. Hmm. Time to get to work!

So what do I do? Get right over to battle.net and look for it....I go into my account, nothing specifically stating a 64bit option.

Nowhere. Huh. Another tweet and a quick google search gave me the WoW BattleNet Blue Post that has the download....good. Now to test....

Huh. The say in the first paragraph to put it into the WoW Directory. BLIZZARD, IS IT SO HARD TO SAY WOW FOLDER? Or maybe give us an image to go off of? Jeezus. I am not the smartest, and you know how many questions you would save by making a video....or posting pics....something?

So heres the play by play:

1) Go to http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3988300405.

2) You will see the option: Build 4.3.2.15211 - PC link, Mac link . Choose your poison.

3) You will see the download screen pop up. Next, you will see the zip folder. It'll look something like this:

4) Now open your WoW Folder. It should look something like this:

5) On your Zip Window (see #4) Extract files to whatever your WoW folder is (should be called...wait for it....World of Warcraft- see image #5). You can click the "Extract files to" and dump them into the main folder (#5)

Almost done. Now, upon your login screen, You will see a little "Options" on the upper left hand side....click on it. Go down to Game Preferences. Make sure that the last option, "Launch 32 bit Client" is disabled (okay, unchecked).

An easy way to check to see if it grasped (well, it should have if you followed the directions above) is to go to the next screen where you toss in your login info (in other words, hit PLAY).

As long as it shows the Release x64 in the lower left corner, you are good to go!

Now, just log in as usual (meaning using the normal click on the logo to log in). If for some reason you are having issues, you have followed all the steps, then right click and run as admin. If it still doesn't work, check to see that your computer is on.....

Finale? It's better. Much better. My latency is clear, I have little to no lag at all, and loading screens are much faster. Think of Nintendo vs. N64. I think....anyways, if you only have 2g, you wont see a difference. Basically, from what I understand, using the 64bit gives full access to at least 4g, making things flow much faster. But as usual, I may be wrong. I am sure someone will say so below.

Hope it helps!

Remember, if you are not subscribed to RSS feed via email (my posts go directly to your inbox so you don't miss a post!) you can click the Orange'ish RSS feed up top or go direct here:

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You can always follow me on twitter as well for the most recent gold making tips: @Altosgold

World of Warcraft Optimization Screen - Whaaat?

2012-01-31T17:26:00.002-06:00

So I was logging in a few minutes ago, and happened upon this WoW Optimization screen. Huh. Never seen this before...My first guess after reading the screen is there is a new "Warden" in effect. I feel, for some reason, that Blizz has just violated my laptop. In a way, I feel violated....

What makes it even funnier is that they have a nice red shiny cop light in the lower right of the page...Blizzard Patrol?

Ya'll might remember my post on SOPA/PIPA, or you might remember when I blacked out my site. I am against this type of behavior.

I know it's not good to assume anything, so maybe I am just getting fuzzy for no reason, but this pisses me off. I don't know if I am bothered that Blizzard feels I am too dumb to optimize my 'puter myself (which I am not by the way....), or if they are using this "no choice" option to prey into my files.

Of course, I do not run a bot. I do not use any 3rd party programs in game....but what do they consider 3rd party? What if I happen to have a .exe file on my 'puter but it doesn't affect WoW? Say I get pulled over for going 70 mph on the road, that's 15mph over the speed limit. Okay, I was speeding. Write me up. But just because I have a vette doesn't mean I speed, right? Or would Blizz figure that I do and will Warden gimme a ticket?

Wait, twitter alert.....

"does CKS count"? (I think he is referring to Consortium Key Sender)

Maybe yes, maybe no....I hate that I do not have an answer yet. I do not use it, but I have known about it, it's basically a key sender file...Blizz is strange. We can only wait to find out what they feel is "legit" or what is "illegal".

Searching through Battle.net, I have found little in terms of information, only questions...It may be just my "ITS A CONSPIRACY" coming out, but things like this need to be mentioned...

I will add to this post as I find more, and will re-tweet it when more is found. If you know anything about it, holler in comments!

Alto.

Updates:

Just googled it, and saw that WoWInsider has some info (starting to read comments now)

MMOChamp

Remote Auction House (RAH) + Transmog = GOLD!?

2012-01-27T23:16:00.000-06:00

As a follow up to The Mogfather's Interview, Keel took some time to explain his "how to" on what he does to make an insane amount of gold (read below) and even made up a video (midway through the interview is the link).

Read it, watch it, and go do it! Gold is out there for the taking...are you gonna get it or is the next reader?

Tell me a bit about how you search for your items, do you use an addon? We see quite a bit of images from RAH. Talk to me….

Well the thing is I got so accustomed to searching for the pieces I was looking for with the iPhone RAH interface, that when I actually had some time to get in-game and search the auction house I lost my way. I even downloaded Auctionator after seeing Jim’s video over at Power Word: Gold, and it was like entering a foreign country. With the iPhone, I had everything I needed for searching and that’s really the critical aspect of what enables success in the transmogrification market; you’ve gotta find those items.

With the iPhone, I can do a quick search at Starbucks, on the subway, at the airport, at the grocery store, etc. Whereas to sit down in front of a desktop and fire up all of these in-game mods and use Mogit and blah, blah, blah it takes a long time. If I was still in college it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but that was 15 years ago and I have a family now so time is the most precious thing. That’s why the majority of my work is done via the RAH on my phone.

If you had to choose between doing all of your work via iPhone or doing it in-game, which would you use going forward?

Wow that’s tough. You know, it’s going to sound crazy but I’d pick the iPhone. Again, it comes down to time and my availability to get in front of a computer and do this sort of work for an extended period of time. This is the #1 reason I haven’t been able to build new tools on my blog, it takes “sit-down” time, and I just don’t have that right now.

So the only time I could really get in-game and look around and post some items would probably be late in the evenings and during that time everyone’s on and the competition has already snatched up the Jade boots that were sitting there, the Saltstone legs, the Black Velvet Robes, etc. So I think I’d have to go with the iPhone.

At least that way I could guarantee that I would stay ahead of the competition and ahead of the game going forward. I’d have the flexibility to log in anytime, anywhere and snatch some amazing weapons and gear with very little risk of someone else getting to it before me because the majority of the time it would be off-peak hours. Posting hundreds of items would be horrific, of course, but I’ve done it before.

It’s time consuming and you always hit that max of 200 transactions a day with the subscription. But it can be done. And if I’m only playing in the top tiers at that point, I might only be throwing up say, 50 auctions or so. But even that would be enough to net me about 10k a week with very little effort.

Let’s get into the juicy of it….Are there any tricks you use to using the iPhone RAH that you could share with us?

Sure, I’ll give you the top things I love about the iPhone RAH.

• The visual icons of the items are big, bold and in color. When you’re on a bank alt in-game, typically everything has a shade of red over the icon, so it’s very difficult to search quickly by scanning the icons to know what’s there because they’re all the same shade of color. And if you’re using a mod that’s text-based, well then you’ve got to slowly read each line of text as fast as you can. With the iPhone, I generally don’t need to look at the text anymore because I’ve learned to recognize what the icons look like of the key pieces. So I can zip through about 50 items in less than a few seconds and know exactly what’s there because it’s much easier to scan pictures with your eyes than it is to scan text.

• Scanning is all done on a single, bottomless page. This is the part that makes scanning quickly via iPhone an absolute breeze. So if you’re using the in-game AH interface, you have to search page by page and scroll down within each of those pages. In Auctionator there are no pages but you still have to scroll down. And if you have Mogit installed, it’s a visual mess because as you’re scrolling, the Mogit interface is flashing like a strobe with all the different pieces constantly equipping in the preview window. This makes for a very difficult search because there are so many distractions. With the iPhone, I can just sweep my thumb a few times in a broad stroke over the screen and I’ve scanned the entire selection of Plate currently up on the AH. It’s smooth, no extra pages to muddle through, and the icons are in a nice, simple layout so it’s easy to interpret quickly.

• You can group items together and not have to sort through them. So like if there are 50 Imperial Plate belts that someone has crafted and put up on the AH, in-game you have to slowly sift through all that crap before you can see what’s really there. Well on the iPhone it’s only listed as a single line item and you can just scan over it effortlessly. So your options aren’t cluttered up. It’s just one big, consolidated list of what’s available and you can pick and choose.

• The posting feature has memory. If I post a Vanguard Girdle for 5,000g today and it expires in 48 hours, all I have to do next time around is just hit “Create Auction” and click the Vanguard Girdle and the iPhone automatically returns to the settings I last set for that auction. So if the default is 12 hours at 1g, when I click the Vanguard Girdle, it will update to 48 hours a 5,000g and all I have to do is hit “Confirm”. So though it might seem like going through 100 auctions and posting them on the iPhone would be time consuming, if you’ve done it at least once with the items (which I have for the majority of my intentories at one time or another) then it just becomes a breeze of select-confirm, select-confirm, select-confirm, done. And speaking of the memory it has, it also recalls prior searches you’ve done. One trick I like to do from time to time is just type in a single letter at a time and run through the alphabet to scan for the key pieces that could net a major profit. So I’ll type in “A”, and it will list Alabaster, “B” and it will list Brutish, Bloodfist, Boulderfist, etc. You get the idea. But this makes for very fast searching. You don’t need a list elsewhere on your phone that you swap applications and copy/paste. Just do a search for it once and you’ll never have to do it again – unless of course you uninstall your app. Then you’ll need to input your searches all over again.

• I can dynamically take screenshots that are simple and legible and post them directly to Twitter from anywhere. This is relevant to me because I communicate a lot of what I do directly to Twitter. And with the iPhone RAH screenshots, it’s incredibly easy to do. If I try to do that in-game, well then I’ve got to import the screenshot into Photoshop, trim it down, resize it, make it legible so readers can make out what’s really there and before you know it I’ve lost 5 minutes doing that. And in the end, the pic isn’t going to be near as legible as the one from my phone.

When there’s something new that’s never been on the AH before, the iPhone has to load the graphic for the icon so it initially appears as a blank box. So when you see that blank box – it’s an insta “WHOAH, slow the scanning down, what’s that?”. This is a particularly useful feature when scanning weapons and it’s how I found unique items like the Spiked Battle Axe, the Conifer Staff and more.

If there is any downside to the iPhone RAH it’s the fact that you need to input your password and authenticator code each time you log into the app if it’s been closed or running behind the scenes for more than like, 30 seconds. So if I get a text while I’m surfing the RAH and I swap out and answer it. If I’m out there for more than 30 seconds and I return to the RAH and find something I want to snatch – it’s not a “snatch” process.

It then takes me about 10 seconds to input my password, hit “Confirm”, then press yes to auto-import my authenticator code from elsewhere on the phone, and then wait for a few moments for the system to log me in. And I have – repeat – I have lost two major items during this lag. I was faced with a set of Exalted legs and a Tyrant’s chest piece that someone nabbed before I could. I came across them and got hit with the “enter your password”/ authenticate / wait 10 second stall. So I’m like, beating on the phone, tap-tap-tap to get things to confirm so I can grab these items that are sitting there for 5g a piece. No dice, “auction no longer available.” So in the thousands of items I’ve purchased via iPhone RAH, I have lost two to someone else. Which isn’t a lot in the scheme of things, but that delay once you first log into the app has been a fatal one for me twice now, ugh. So frustrating. Other than that, smooth sailing.

Most AH’ers have a schedule they use. Maybe they can only log in once a day. In your experience, is there a better time than others?

Definitely early morning, Eastern Standard Time. I’d say just about every other day I find another piece of Lofty, Vanguard, Exalted or some of the other big items right around 7am. This was the case on all of the servers I frequented as well. It was like walking into homes the night after a party and just finding money laying on the ground. Party was over, everyone had bailed and gone to sleep and nobody was up as early as I was (you have to do that sort of thing when you’re a father of two). Toughest time to find unique items is definitely at night between about 6pm EST – 11pm EST. And I know these timeframes because I’m looking down and checking my iPhone throughout the day and these are the easiest/most difficult windows I’ve found.

Ok, deserted island question….If you could only target 1 plate, 1 mail and 1 cloth set, which and why?

I mean the Glorious/Vanguard/Lofty model is the easy answer for Plate. But I suppose if that’s like RSTLNE from Wheel of Fortune (I’m dating myself, aren’t I) and it’s a given, then I guess I’d go with the Bloodscale. I’ve probably sold over a dozen of those sets and they continue to sell, despite a lot of competition and despite the fact that pieces continue to pop up on the auction house. The items are STILL selling at great prices.

In our previous conversation, you talked about helping folks on a new server. What are some of the tactics that you used?

It’s a really straight-forward set of tactics, really. I’ve done this on 3 realms where I didn’t actually have a sponsor there onsite to get me started. This is how I went about getting access to the market and blowing up some profits in less than a few days:

• Wait for a random guild invite while you’re scanning the AH to see what’s available. If you get invited to one, accept it and ask if you can borrow 25-50g to get started with your project. Ask in guild chat for an investor who is willing to turn that 50g into 500g that you’ll pay them back in a few days.

• If you don’t get a guild invite, post to trade chat that you’re looking for an investor who is willing to lend 50g in return for 500g in a few days. This works 100% of the time, because someone will be bound to take the risk on you, and 50g isn’t a big loss these days.

• Take the gold you’ve acquired, and don’t forget to write down who gave it to you. Remember to pay them back for their good deed that got you started, and be sure to give them the full amount you promise up front. For me, it was 50g for 500g each time.

• Head to the auction house and begin scanning using my snatch lists. If you can, try to stick to only the top 5 tiers. It’s best to play it safe and stick to the top 3-5 tiers when you’re starting out on a new market and these seem to be desirable pretty much anywhere. Try to avoid starting out with boots, belts and gloves. If you can, target chests and legs first. Those have a much better chance of netting you a big sale than boots/belt/gloves or straggler slots like shoulders and helms. So target the pieces, try to stick to chest/legs and pull them in.

• Price. Try to avoid spending more than 5-7g per item. Head over to cloth chests and look for a great robe from my list that someone has accidentally posted for 99 silver. Two reasons you only want to spend as little gold as possible when starting out on a new realm:

You need to cover the deposit fees of these items, and some of them can be 1-2 gold per post – ouch!

You may only see 1-2 items now, but later you may come back and find, say the Tyrant’s legplates for 15g. And if you’ve squandered your 50g investment on Heavy Lamellar gloves, a cheap Brutish shield, or an Imperial Red belt and you only have 14g left you’re going to want to strangle something. So buy smart, be patient and just watch for something to pop.

• Once you’ve got a few items and paid the deposit to get them up on the AH, you should have a substantial amount left over to pick up anything amazing that might suddenly appear at a cheap price. And with the items up on the AH, you wait. Sometimes I’d start with a single item, other times I got lucky and was able to post 5-7. But I always targeted the top tier items first. Put one or a few of them up, and within 12 hours I’d made about 800 – 1000g. Once you have that, the first thing you need to do is pay off your investor. You don’t want that monkey on your back while you’re posting 40-60 items at a time for insane amounts of gold in a few days so it’s best to just get it out of the way.

• With a disposable income in place, now you can buy at-will and increase your maximum purchase price to about 15g per item. In addition, you can start acquiring the secondary slots such as belts/boots/gloves. I’d still avoid helms and shoulders at this point.

• Once you’ve hit a few thousand, you’re pretty much rolling and can cover all deposits and acquisition fees needed to continue to build your inventory and stay profitable on your new realm.

If you HAD to make gold with transmog, but you couldn't use any of the items you're using now, which items would you target next?

Well the easy answer is I’d move into Leather. Technically I’m not targeting leather items now so that’s an easy one. If I couldn’t do leather though, and it had to be something from one of the other armor types I suppose I’d take a closer look at both mail and plate armor. I’ve been very discriminating in my selection through those options and the reality is there are a few sets that still hold potential to do quite well. So I’d probably look there first and see what more I could juice out of the orange.

Based on all of the sales you've seen, which set(s) do you feel are the most stable and could survive an increase in competition?

Plate I would say you’re guaranteed to move Glorious, Vanguard, Lofty, Exalted, Tyrant, Saltstone, Jade, Bloodscale, Overlord and Alabaster. Those are the sets that continue to remain rare and/or extremely popular. Mail I would say Chief Brigadier, Glimmering, Masterwork, Engraved, Hero’s, Steadfast, Sentry and Grunt’s. Cloth has been inconsistent, so I’d be more cautious with it. I’ve made lots of sales in cloth, but it’s been nowhere near as stable as plate or mail.

So if the question is about stability, I guess I’d say stick to Robes as a primary slot and only pay attention to things like the Silksand, Vital, etc. which share the same model and then look at the Beaded, Barbaric Cloth, etc. which also fall in the same visual field.

You keep talking about armor more than weapons. For someone new to the market, which should they target first and why?

You want to target armor because you have a much broader audience to cater to with armor. Weapons are extremely niche. If you pick up a Glorious War Axe, which I’m sure a number of your readers have, well you’re only going to sell that to a player who has a 2H axe to transmogrify it with. So your weapon sales are at the mercy of whatever are the top weapon picks coming out of dungeons and raids.

You may have to sell 3-5 different types of weapons in order to serve 5 different plate wearers. But if you just sell them plate armor, you can sell one to the same five and they’ll be forced to fight over it. So always start with armor because your customer base will be larger and it will have more appeal.

"You've helped out others on a number of realms get into transmog, but are you finished? Would you be willing to help more players?"

I recoiled a bit after the second ban hit, and removed my auctioneers from realms I was supporting. It reduced me down to only having to monitor five auctioneers, which I could do quickly and efficiently via iPhone since the interface allows you to quickly toggle between up to five different toons. Anything more than five and it slows you down because you have to open up separate windows within the app.

Since deleting those auctioneers, though, and leaving all those other players with gold and inventory, I’ve been missing the thrill of starting out on an unknown realm and helping another player get their market kickstarted. It comes down to time, though, so I’ll just have to see what I can spare and I’ll have to focus on the players who really have an intriguing case that needs solving.

Who is "The Mogfather"? Alto's In-Depth Interview!

2012-01-26T11:09:00.002-06:00

Transmog. Mogging. Transmogrification. Whatever you call it, it isn’t our “little secret” anymore. And neither is The Mogfather!

Keel has been busy. Really busy. Did you know about his interview at WoWInsider? Maybe you saw the PCGamer post, or even the WiredUK article on him? Or maybe you just knew Keelhaul from the past. Keel was, is, and has defined himself as a major staple in the Gold Blogging Community. You can see his work on his blog, DE Azeroth or over at the PowerWord:Gold Hatchery. See what I mean with being busy? Even with all that happening, he still took some time away from his appearances to go through some killer details in a well detailed interview(s) for us. Why is that plural?

I will be breaking the interview into mainly two parts, the first one below and the second one that covers more in-depth on his “how to’s” of Transmogging (you don't want to miss that one-stay tuned!). Enjoy!

How did all this start? Did you rub a crystal ball and it told you how profitable Transmogging would be? Or was it a shot in the dark?

It initially began just prior to the official announcement of Transmogrification in patch 4.3. I was listening to TheInstance podcast and the hosts were taking shots at what they thought this “transmogrification” feature was going to be. At that time, everyone knew transmogrification was coming, but nobody really knew for sure what it was. One of the hosts guessed that it would be a feature that would enable you to make your weapons and gear look like others.

At the time I was mastering the art of flipping high price weapons and gear (Ward of the Red Widow, Spire of Scarlet Pain, etc.) and I thought the hunch of The Instance crew was spot on and I started picking up a few weapons that I felt I could flip for a profit. So I was picking up marquee items like Teebu’s Blazing Longsword, the Blade of Wizardry, the Singing Crystal Axe, the Skullflame Shield, etc. The general idea I had was to take those few items I picked up and if Transmogrification was, indeed, something that would enable the use those legacy looks, I might be able to make a few thousand gold off them.

Only when they officially announced the feature did I really go into full swing and dive deeper down the rabbit hole of Transmogrification. The path began from a gold-making perspective, but it quickly turned into something much bigger because I was able to leverage my professional experience as a designer to quickly discern what weapons and gear were really going to strike a chord in 4.3. So my insight on the topic actually became valued by a broader audience as players began to follow my blog, Disenchanting Azeroth (www.deazeroth.com), and the discussion became less about “what items should you target to make gold” and more about “what not to wear”.

From there I found myself buying up all sorts of BoE green armor items and a variety of weapons and shields that I was planning to use for my own characters. It was then that I realized my behavior was outlining how the target customer for transmogrification would act. Know thyself, right? So my hypothesis was if I was willing to spend thousands of gold on some of these items that I had sought after and treasured, surely there were others like me out there that I could construct a viable market upon.

And so it began. Piece by piece, prior to the release of patch 4.3, I was securing a massive inventory of items with which I could deluge the shelves of the AH come patch day. I just didn’t realize how big it would actually become.

Those that follow you on Twitter (@DEAzeroth) have seen screenshots of your sales, they have seen and heard your tales of extreme mogging. You have stepped up and even visited folks severs and assisted them in setting up a “store” of mogs.

What made you decide to do that? How did you choose who and when?

Yeah, this is a part of the story I’m really proud of and few have really asked about it. For some readers, it was enough to listen to the podcast Jim Younkin over at Power Word: Gold and I put together and to follow me on Twitter, taking note of various lists and items I was posting. But for others, it wasn’t enough. Some players on Twitter reached out and basically said “I don’t think my realm is into transmogrification, I can’t seem to do what you’re doing – help.” And at the time that the first of these pleas came in, I was honestly a bit fatigued of the rinse and repeat aspect of what I was doing so it presented an intriguing challenge. Could I hop over to a realm where I had no presence or experience with the local buyer population and repeat the same methods with success?

The first realm I did this on, I believe, was Stormrage. I linked up with the player who was there and they spotted me 50g to test their market. The thing I really enjoyed about it was it was a pure ‘can I pull this off’ challenge, it was under the spotlight of Twitter so expectations were realistic and I knew the experience would also help me better understand the nuances of the transmogrification market simply by getting exposure to a variety of realms other than Proudmoore, Earthen Ring and Moon Guard where I had initially began my efforts.

I watched on my iPhone, checking in from time to time to see if any marquee items had been posted to the AH on Stormrage, and within 24 hours I’d acquired about 4-6 ideal items to start with – I forget what they were, but they were probably top 5 tiers from my lists. Long story short within 3 days I had flipped that 50g into 5,000g and an inventory of about 50 pieces. It was a great story for the Twitter audience, provided some hard data to the intangible of equation of transmog and I’d helped someone kickstart their market.

Well when the story about that realm hit, I was quickly tapped by a number of other players who expressed concerns about their realms as well. So off I went. At one point I had my own auctioneers maintaining my 2 primary realms of Proudmoore and Earthen Ring, in addition to about 6-8 others on a variety of realms within the US region. In every case it was the same scenario, too: with the right items, the right prices and a bit of patience I got results. I was able to flip each one of those initiatives into a bulky profit for the player who invested in me as well as a substantial inventory to play with. In the case of the Scryers, a low pop RP realm that initially gave me some trouble, within a week the local buyers finally cracked and began paying the prices I wanted.

Upon doing that, you had the chance to visit a wide array of servers and see their economy. Did one server net more than the others? Why do you think that is? Did any "not" show a market for mogging yet?

So in all, I think I’ve frequented over 14 different realms and the real value has been knowledge and experience to build on the theories and methodologies I already had in my head. I can now speak from an informed angle about the challenges various auctioneers face now on their realms because I’ve touched so many different scenarios and overcome them. And really there’s only one scenario that has proven to block the success of my strategy, and that’s one where there isn’t any new inventory of relevant pieces being cycled onto the AH.

It breaks my strategy which is entirely based on a low-effort model of scan and flip. When there’s nothing there to scan for and flip, it forces the player into farming and that’s not something I have time to do. So in the case of that particular realm, I had to bail on the player and with them the best of luck farming. So I’ve seen the realms where it’s like Babylon and I’ve seen some where it’s a barren wasteland.

It’s given me a baseline with which to talk to new players I meet and advise them accordingly about how to set the market up on their realms.

And based on what I learned, when someone hits me up on Twitter and they express concern about their realm or their inability to repeat my success, the first questions I ask them are:

1) What is the size of the realm?

2) What is the faction?

3) Have the items been up for at least a week and seen at least one weekend?

Based on the responses to these questions I can quickly determine the proper strategy to break through the challenge of the scenario. The ideal scenario is Mid-High population Alliance with at least a week of relevant items up on the AH. The reason for this is high population nets you higher frequency of relevant items posted to the AH, as well as a larger disposable income among buyers.

Alliance nets you a broader buyer base with character models that really highlight the aesthetics of armor (Human, Night Elf, Draenei) whereas statistics I was pulling from Horde sales showed there was an insanely overwhelming majority of items being bought and worn by Blood Elves. Undead, for example, just weren’t showing up in my sales logs. And lastly, those items have to be up on the local AH for at least a week, and preferably over two weekends at the high price ranges I specify.

When someone complains to me that they’ve not had any sales in 2-3 days, I just tell them to be patient and wait at least a week before dropping their prices. And 9 times out of 10 so far, around day 5 or 6 I get another reply from the same player saying I was right and the windfall hit. My theory behind this is you’re creating a new store front on these local auction houses and buyers (like me) have to get accustomed to the fact that high fashion that is desirable isn’t going to come cheap. Just like everything else on the auction house, it has value.

It’s a bit of a game of chicken with your buyers, really. These buyers of the high priced items are smart, they’re educated on the items, they know the rarities and they know how much they value them, personally for whatever their reasons are. If you budge within the first few days, they’ve won and they’re going to stalemate you. However, if you wait it out for 7 days, they’re going to start worrying that if they don’t act soon, they may lose the item(s) they covet. Again, confessions of a transmog buyer, myself here right? Know thyself and you’ll know your customer. If my logic wasn’t spot on, I wouldn’t have had so much success on these unknown realms as a series of startups, let alone the success I had on Proudmoore and Earthen Ring.

Did you run both Horde and Alliance? Any Neutral AH? Was there a difference in sales you noticed on either faction?

One thing I will note on Neutral auction houses, it’s a bit time consuming to hop over on there but I have, indeed, found a number of gems just sitting there collecting dust. I don’t think they were being cross-faction traded, because their prices didn’t really reflect that sort of behavior. I think they were just forgotten. But yes, even just recently I’ve picked up items from the Jade plate, Saltstone plate, various robes of high value and even a leather Swashbuckler’s Eyepatch (ssshh, it’s the only leather item I deal in).

You priced your items in what I thought originally was outrageous, but you have since convinced me otherwise. What makes you decide the prices on “x” item? What about “y”? Do you change prices at all? Weekday versus weekend?

So I initially began basing my prices on a few factors:

How rare was the item?

In other words, was it a drop from Scarlet Monestary? Well that’s run commonly by levelers. Was it a drop from BWL? Well, that’s certainly less common but with transmogrification having been announced, players are running it again so items like the Hyperion plate set do tend to show up more often than they probably would had transmog not been such a draw. What about items from AQ20/40 like the Exalted plate chest? Now there’s an item that’s going to have significant value. Have you ever tried to get out to AQ20/40? It’s out in the middle of NOWHERE. Have you ever tried to form a raid if you’re alone on a realm, guildless and not knowing anyone? It’s actually a PAIN! So unless you’re resourceful and you’ve got time on your hands, the pieces from AQ20/40 are a miserable grind to obtain. Cue the bell /ding! The more difficult something is to obtain, or the more rare it is, the higher I valued it in terms of hierarchy.

How well did it rank, aesthetically, in terms of visual uniqueness?

This is where I leveraged my knowledge of the design methodologies my readers on Disenchanting Azeroth have become accustomed to. I can look at a spread of outfits and pick out the things that are really going to differentiate a player from everyone else. I did it with weapons and shields on my blog and told the story. The same process was calculating in my head for armor, I just never had the time to build the tools and walk players through it on the blog once my son was born. Priorities!

And lastly, how much would I pay for it if I wanted it for my own character?

Here is where the real leap of faith came in, and I had to trust my instincts. I had to be honest with myself as a free spender with a disposable income, what was my maximum that I would pay, and what prices would I respect and still pay them if I saw them? That’s when I knew I could draw up to 5,000g or even 10,000g for a green set of legs.

And you know I do change prices, actually. Probably about every 10 days or so I’ve found myself re-evaluating the value of certain sets. As time has gone on, I’ve found myself raising the prices of things like Sentry and Steadfast mail because they’re so rare, raising the prices of Tyrant’s and Saltstone plate because they’re selling so well, and conversely lowering the prices of Bloodfist plate because it’s so damn common with so many players returning to Outlands content right now between levelers, DKs and transmog runs through BT and Sunwell.

Anytime someone sees a UFO, they are skeptical. When folks hit the cap, and they are out in the public like you are, they need proof. To those that do not believe you made a million gold in 43 days, now is your time to prove them wrong. Show us the money!

Oh geez, this will just have to be a series of screen shots I guess of the prices and various bank tallies that have been posted to Twitter. I mean most of the “documentation” or “proof” has been in the giveaways, the screenshots of sales, the bans, etc. So whereas some players have a single screenshot of 1,000,000g in their bags, mine is probably a different type of proof in that I’ve got hundreds of witnesses, the police chasing me with the ban hammer, tons of screen pics documenting these obscene sales, the WoWInsider article that was just released and then months of backstory dating all the way back to August of how I built up to this.

I think Judge Judy would call it overwhelming evidence, ha. But no, you’ll not see a pic of 1,000,000g in my backpack because I’ve given it out along the way. But I mean I posted screens of the 400,000g handoff I did that netted me my first of four bans, screens of 15,000 given out here, 5,000 given out there. 100,000g sitting on this toon on Tichondrius, 100,000g sitting on this toon on Earthen Ring, over 60,000g sitting in Power Word: Guild on Lightbringer. It adds up to over 1.1 million now that I’ve made just flipping items on the AH since patch day.

That is truly insane! Not only did you make a million gold off selling transmogs, but you gave it all away!? Well done, sir, well done indeed! However, you ran into some issues along the way....

Those that have followed your progress know that you have received multiple bans throughout your quest in mogging, and they seem to have come from giving away the gold...

Yup, but I will say this. I think I’ve got some fans over at Blizzard customer service. I’ve been getting some really fantastic messages back from them saying things like “Love what you’re doing”, “You should be good to go”. And leading up to my fifth major giveaway in which a single night I gave out 250,000g across Proudmoore, Earthen Ring and Tichondrius, I didn’t receive ban #5. So I think I’ve got some folks watching over me, which is pretty cool.

I have two more big giveaways coming up on Friday 27^th on Lightbringer and Earthen Ring and I’ve already notified the local authorities that I’ll be pushing my giveaway total to 1.1 million with another 50,000g handed out on each realm to players who have adopted fabulous transmog outfits. So we’ll see, will I get banned a fifth time? Or has the Mogfather earned a pass from the warden, haha.

Does it make you look at WoW and Blizzard Devs in a different light? Did you feel like you were in court pleading your case?

I definitely had to plead my case with bans #1-3. I mean I supplied data from Twitter, my blog, the podcasts I’ve done with Jim, and more. But since then I’ve tried to be proactive and submit tickets beforehand so people are aware. And they seem to be aware of who I am and what I’m doing with my persona of the Mogfather. I think initially with the first ban it was a major buzzkill, and I was really disappointed in Blizzard. But since then it’s turned into something special, and I think it’s actually made me appreciate Blizzard, the devs and customer service more. I’ve said it before, it feels a bit like the Mogfather’s playing poker with the prison guards and the warden at this point. I don’t know how long I want to lean on that analogy though, those scenarios never end well in the movies. Somebody always gets killed.

What would you recommend to someone entering the mogging game? Are too many already doing it to be profitable?

So my first rule is this: Don’t listen to reason. Listen to me. You’ve got to take a leap of faith with this market and approach it differently. But I think I’ve been able to bring enough logic to the table where it’s made entry into this market more tangible and easier to do. Rule number two is listen to the community voice that has slowly embraced this. Certainly the tools that others like yourself, Jim over at Power Word Gold, Twitchie, Faid (and I know I’m forgetting others) and others that have contributed to the conversation to make it more relevant and actionable by the gold-making community either through lengthy blog posts, tools for enabling mods to work in this market, etc.

It’s all become a valuable network to be a part of. Follow the people on the front lines on Twitter like I do that constantly post updates to what they’re selling, what pieces are going for and frequency (players like @khalior @farli_wow @goldenllama to name a few).

And regarding is it too crowded yet? I would say no, and I’m a pretty valid case study of that being over on Proudmoore. I spear-headed the market earlier than anyone so we’re ahead of the curve in terms of things leveling out and becoming a more traditional market with lots of competition. The trick is the prices of the marquee items haven’t come down.

They’re so rare and desirable that they’ve maintained their value. That said, some of the more common items like the Heavy Lamellar set and the Conqueror’s plate have continued to drop in value because there are just too many world drops occurring out there, so the AH is getting flooded. So yes there’s room, but you’ve got to be selective.

If you’re entering a market that is already well occupied just stick to the top tiers I’ve listed over at the Hatchery on Power Word: Gold and you should do fine. I emphasize that you’ll do fine because I’ve been able to test this theory out on a few major markets that are showing signs of a deluge of competition. If you try to push average items and you only allow yourself a few days before you panic and drop prices, you will fail. I’ve seen it.

What does the future hold for transmog?

In my opinion, transmog is here to stay. The prices on the majority of items will likely level out and it will become a market that a number of auctioneers continue to fight over just like any market. But it’s not going away. Personalization is too stable a trend and for certain players it transcends most of the reasons that would drive that player to the auction house. Marquee items like the Glorious, Exalted, etc., sets I’ve mentioned a number of times will continue to maintain their value because they’re so rare and desirable.

I wouldn’t be surprised if six months down the road I see another Glorious Breastplate sitting on the AH for 10k. But would I be surprised to see some Conqueror's Legplates for more than 500g? Absolutely. And of course much of this is dependent on your realm size, which faction you’re on, all the factors I mentioned earlier. There are going to be variants of the results here over time. But in general what I’m saying is the transmog market is something you should be able to continue with just as you would a standard market.

The adjustment that you’ll need to make over time is you won’t be getting 1,000x the value of what you flip, it might be more like 100x or 50x. But I mean geez! Think about that, up until now gold-makers got giddy when the equation was 1.5x or 2x. The other thing to keep in mind is there is a stability of randomness underneath the market that’s pretty intriguing. It can’t be crafted, it can’t be mined, herbed or disenchanted, and it can’t be farmed (with a guaranteed rate of return anyway). The stability of the market is going to be based on world drops and what becomes available. That means it’s anyone’s game, and when a Jade Breastplate drops onto the AH for 5g who can get to it first? It’s not a market you can use some of the classic tactics on, you've got to rethink the equation. So because of the draw of personal'ization and because of the instability of resources I think this market is here to stay.

Thank you for taking the time to give us some insight. Any last words?

Yeah, if I get time to do some cross-realm raiding and you roll with me you’d better look good. ;)

Will do sir, will do. I am looking forward to it!

There you go folks, absolute proof that The Mogfather is the king of Mogging. So to all you nay sayers be gone! This man is not a myth, he is real. He is not an imposter. He knows every who/what/when and why of Transmogging. This man is a legend. Stay tuned for the follow up interview when Keel divulges his secrets!

Follow The Mogfather on twitter: @DEazeroth

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

As a follow up to the "Confessions of an AH Sniper" your very own mystery blogger has given us the pleasure of reading another one of his posts. Are there such things as Gold-Making Guilds? Save Goblin Guilds even?

You are a greedy, selfish bastard… Do yourself a favor, don’t just admit it - own it! There’s never enough gold in your bank… You never have enough stock on hand… You have to undercut even when it means you’ll clear less gold than if you simply wait it out… You want the sale now; you want the sale first… You have to undercut because, well, you just have to! You are who you are, just own it, it’s what makes you Goblin’ish…

The first step in the journey to Goblin is taken the first time you hear a piece of mail go, “cha-ching…” That sound either sinks its claws in you or it doesn’t. Yes, every player in the game wants more gold. Very few, however, are willing to do what it takes to become wealthy in the game.

My personal journey through Azeroth began almost two years ago and, frankly, I suck at the game (just ask my raid team). My efforts at becoming a gold maker only began a year or so ago and I pretty much suck at that too… I’m not capped (never will be with my spending habits) but I’m a player. I’m not on the porch with the top dogs, but they know me. I’m a Goblin, and I’m a greedy, selfish bastard.

Two weeks ago I would have argued that we’re all greedy, selfish bastards, but then something happened that’s given me pause, confused me, even maybe wonder if by some quirk in the cosmos I’m finally actually wrong about something… surely not, right?... The very nature of the gold game is to try to get more for yourself than your competitors (and before they can get their grubby little paws on it)… right?... It’s all about me, right?

The mail came like any other piece would… I recognized the character’s name from seeing her in the AH frequently… We compete in a few markets, though we’d never had to go head-to-head for control of any particular niche… I figured I must have sent her something COD and it’s been long enough ago that I simply couldn’t recall… “…`bout time you pay up, slacker!'” I thought… So I open it, notice the disturbing lack of gold therein, and begin reading.

Allow me to paraphrase: blah blah blah… we’ve been scanning the AH… yadda yadda yadda… analyzing The Undermine Journal… blah blah blah… we think you’re the player we want to join our guild’s, “procurement group….” they were recruiting me…? Unfortunately, this recruitment did not appear to be based solely on the lore of my raiding exploits, nor the legend of my rogue prowess… The procurement group, eh?... procurement group, really? Initially, I was flattered and I spent a day or so feelin’ puffed-up by the validation that I was, “a player” in the gold game on my server… but then I got to thinkin’ and the confusion set in…

I have been in a few guilds… My current guild is a raiding guild, but one without much success to this point… we’re getting better, but we’re certainly not one of the big dogs on our server. That said, our guild-level fundraising is pretty much just what we generate through the cut the guild gets from player’s activities, and the contributions of the benevolent amongst us… Drops not readily usable by anyone on the raid are sold/vendored and the gold put back in the bank…

If I’m crafting a Seafood Feast Magnifique, I’ll craft a couple extra and throw ‘em in the guild bank; same with gems, chants, etc… Most of the other core members do the same… This is the system employed by every guild with which I’ve ever been affiliated. We pay for our repairs, we have our feasts and flasks, we’re sustainable… The idea that a bigger, “better” guild actually has a team doing nothing but Goblin’ing for the group had escaped me… it doesn’t surprise me, but I hadn’t really considered the idea…

So, being all puffed-up, I solicited additional information about what they do, what my role would be, what to expect… They subsequently explained how it worked, and I considered it for a couple days before, politely, declining… Ultimately, my decision to pass was based on one single factor… I am a greedy, selfish bastard! I’ve worked hard to stake my claim in my server’s economy and there are small little corners of the market that are mine… How would I, how could I, join the, “procurement group” without running headlong into a wall of conflicting interests?

As it was explained to me, the procurement group basically goes out and scans the AH looking for deals… Items for sale below their expected market value… you know, what we all do every day… They then take those items and put ‘em in the guild bank… All the items go in the bank and they rotate through the tabs, FIFO style - items that have been in the bank the longest are relisted on the AH, rinse & repeat.

Now, before I go critical, please understand that this is likely an oversimplification of their processes and this is information I gathered through a couple chat sessions with, “the recruiter…” That said, this is not the way to do this… Come on, beat me to the punch people!... You don’t relist an item when it’s been in the bank the longest… You relist the item when the market for it is at or near the high point of its expecting selling price, even if that’s immediately! Goblin'ism 101, riiiight!? This is not my biggest point of confusion however.

The thing that has me stymied about the whole idea of the, “procurement group” is this… These people are not leaving the gold games as individuals, you can bet on that… They’re donating some of their time and knowledge to the guild in this regard while also playing the game as themselves… the fact that they’re in the, “procurement group” leads me to believe that when they play the game for themselves, they’re Goblin’ing for at least some portion of that time. How then, can they juggle the two?

If I am working the AH as a member of the procurement group, and I see that there’s very little Azshara’s Veil up for sale why would I put up the guild’s stacks if I have a bunch in my bank that has been waiting for this very opportunity?... Do I sit on mine just to be a nice guy for the guild? If I see three stacks of Carnelian up for 1/3 my personal sell price, do I snag ‘em for the guild, or for myself?...

I’ve tried to think it through and the closest analogy I can come up with is the stock broker. The processes are similar. They speculate, they hope to buy low, sell high, and they do this for others. Surely every stock broker in the world is also an investor. Why isn’t that a conflict of interests too? Simply put, it’s because the global economy is nearly infinite in its capacity relative to any single investor.

The stock broker is not making an investment on a client’s behalf to his own detriment. If he sees a good deal, there’s enough for him too. Additionally, he’s paid a commission and/or a percentage based on his sales. So, while it’s the closest I can ponder, it’s not a very clean analogy. The economy on any given WoW server is quite finite in its breadth and scale. Those three stacks of Carnelian are the only ones out there right now… It’s me or the guild…

Maybe I’m simply struggling with this because I’m a dick… Maybe the rest of you are so rich that you’ve not yet had the though cross your mind that you’d list that Azshara’s for the guild at a higher price than was paid for it, but still below it’s max value, and then you’d buy it right away with an alt and flip it… Yes, I said it… Isn’t that a win-win?... See, I told you I’m a greedy, selfish bastard… Am I alone, or am I just a dick?

I can’t recall seeing this written about previously. How do your guilds generate the gold required to do the things you want to do? How much gold does a guild need? Is the concept of the procurement group more widespread than I’d imagined? Could you, would you act in this capacity for your guild and how would you avoid the conflict of interest? Or is it not a conflict of interest at all in your mind? Goblin Nation, REACT TO ME!

What Exactly Is Ethical In WoW?

2012-01-20T07:50:00.000-06:00

A few days ago you might have read the guest post, Confessions of an AH Sniper. It raised many a brow about ethics in World of Warcraft. Some said that it is in all ways scandalous to even attempt "sniping" in the Neutral AH, some even admitted doing so to get cheap goods, others were the victim of a "sniper", and some were even angered by the sheer thought of it.

Whichever category you fit in, ethics are involved in most aspects of the game:

Have you ever run a scan on the Auction House only to see that someone placed their 20 stacks of Pyrite Ore for 1g each instead of 10g each?

Did you buy it?
Did you leave it?
If you did purchase it, did you mail it COD to the seller for 1g knowing it was placed in error?
Or did you repost instantly for the correct price?

I sent it COD back to the seller. So I got my "investment" back, but did I get a thankyou from them? Nope. Nothing. Other than my COD paid. Bad move on my part or bad move on his? Who's the ethical one there?

On the same token, when you were doing the JC daily when patch 4.1 was released and there was a glitch that you could do two dailies a day (reset at 12 hours instead of 24 hours).

Did you continue on with doing them?
Or did you open a ticket and tell the GM about the glitch?

I opened a ticket the next day, making sure that it wasn't my imagination. Sure, like many other "glitches" I have found, I posted about them on my blog. I didn't in this case. Why? I didn't feel it was right. I told the GM, and to my surprise he didn't take back the Jewelcrafter Tokens that I got "for free". So in this case, who is ethical? Me for telling the "cops" about the broken quest? Me for not telling the masses about it? Or do you see the GM being unethical by letting me keep the two extra tokens?

What about the Whiptail glitch with insane spawn rates in 4.0.6? Did you monopolize the glitch there? I did.

Does that make me unethical? Once again, it depends on where your ethics stand. When you see something like this, what is your first reaction? Do you see dollar signs (or gold pieces)? Or do you instantly think to yourself "I will just buy them off the AH....I am not working the glitch myself, so I did nothing wrong"? Is that ethical, or no?

Back when I started WoW around 7ish years ago, I went to the AH to buy more gear. Problem was, I didn't have gold. I didn't have alot of playtime, so I fell for the oldest trick in the WoW book. I bought gold. Yes, I bought gold. Now it wasn't much, I think like 100g for $40. At the time, I didn't see it as doing anything wrong. I didn't know that you could get banned for it. Being a noob, never having played a MMORPG, I thought it was commonplace for people to do it. I spent 40 bucks, got the new gear I wanted, and was happy.

Was I wrong? Was that unethical?

A few years back, I was in-between careers, playing wow still, enjoying the AH skills that I had acquired in my time playing the game. I had a staggering amount of gold and thought, hey, why not? Sell some of my gold, pay some bills, and go on ahead with my life. No biggie. So I googled WoW gold and found many sites that would buy my gold. After contacting back and forth, we made a deal. $1400 for nearly my "life savings" in WoW. Seemed fair to me....

We set it up through MSN Messenger, we did the trade, the money was in my paypal account. BAM! How cool? Get paid for playing the game? This is fun! That is, until about an hour later when my paypal was froze...Frantic, I called paypal and spoke with them. They stated that the sender of the funds stated they did not receive the goods for purchase. I told them "I have screenshots in game of the trade of gold".....BAM! Wrong thing to say. By saying that, it was a "virtual goods" type of transaction, and due to their terms, they cannot unfreeze the monies as the company that I sold to labeled the transaction as fraudulent (even though they got what they wanted, I got....fucked). FML. I tried to contact the gold company, the MSN contact, everyone involved. Nothing. Out my gold, out my money. Lesson learned....

I know that "gold selling" is unethical, yet I did it anyways. Desperate times, desperate measures. But is it unethical as robbing a bank? Or unethical like picking up a dollar bill crumpled up on the street and not turning it in?

Now we come upon The Mogfather (interview is in process, it should be posted by next week). For those that haven't heard of him, he has been making a killing on the AH through Transmogrification. He literally set the standard by making one million gold in 43 days off of only transmogged items. But that isn't it. He has gave it all away. Yes, he made a million gold, and yes, he gave the million away. Is he the Robin Hood of WoW? "Steal" from the rich, and give to the poor?

Some might say yes. He took his own personal time creating a market and monopolizing on the "richer" players in wow. He gave the gold away.

Others might say no. Robin Hood gave to the poor. Keelhaul (aka The Mogfather) gave away his goods to folks that showed off their transmog outfits to him, and he stated that was how he decided to give the gold back. Better transmog meant more gold. So was that giving to the poor or giving back his profits to those that could have bought from him in the first place?

Do you see it as a great technique? Post on the forums saying show off your transmog gear, and get free gold? Hat's off my brother. Great technique!

Is Keel's quest to make a million and give it away ethical? I think so.

Why? Because he didn't "scam" people to buy his auctions. They paid the prices. He didn't float under the radar and "snipe" auctions for pennies on the dollar. Although I still can't post items for the prices that he sells them for (I just feel guilty selling a 5g item for 2500g- Last week he even bought an item from me for 700ish gold and flipped it for 4200 on Lightbringer- BASTARD! lol), I still don't feel he is being unethical. But, as always, some folks might. I see it as he won. He beat me!

Basically, ethics are in the eye of the beholder. What one sees as doing right, another can see as doing wrong. What one person sees as legitimate, another might see as scamming. All in all, be true to yourself, be confident in the decisions you make, learn from your mistakes, and above all: do what makes YOU happy.

Alto.