Cold's Gold Factory - World of Warcraft Auction House & Gold Tips

WoW TCG Archives Booster Pack Loot Card Lottery

2012-05-26T11:45:00.000-05:00

WoW Trading Card Game (TCG) Loot Cards & Archives Booster Packs

The WoW Trading Card Game has always been an interesting branch of the World of Warcraft product line. The booster packs for the WoW Trading Card Game have a chance at containing the more rare loot cards. These loot cards contain a code for an item that can be used in the World of Warcraft game. These loot cards are fun additions to the game that can include new mounts, new companion pets, and new vanity items, such as tabards or toys. Many of the rare loot cards are able to be sold for hefty amounts on ebay and other sites as the loot cards are hard to find and without a ton of luck, would require purchasing a bunch of WoW TCG booster packs for a chance at a rare loot card.

Archives Booster Pack Box Sale

Recently, I spoke with @Elvinelol on Twitter regarding the Archives expansion pack booster boxes on sale at Dave & Adam's Card World. Elvine posted a link on twitter to the sale priced Archives booster boxes that are on sale for $39.95 per box from D & A Card World. We discussed the loot card distribution and the odds of making a profit by buying the sale priced boxes and selling the loot cards. Elvine had already order a set of 4 of the WoW TCG Archives expansion booster boxes. He granted me permission to use his experience and results in a blog post, as I found the notion rather interesting and thought that you might too.

The WoW TCG Archives Expansion

The Archives expansion for the WoW Trading Card Game is a special release that also includes some of the popular loot cards. By design, the Archives expansion is a 190 card set of reprinted cards from the "best of" the first 3 years of the WoW TCG, but done in all foil. The set contains some valuable and popular loot cards. Each pack has a chance to contain loot cards, but the really lucky may get one of the 4 rare mounts:

Spectral Tiger
X-51 Nether Rocket
Riding Turtle
Big Battle Bear

Uncommon loot card possibilities include:

Robotic Homing Chicken (Rocket Chicken Companion Pet)
Banana Charm (Monkey Companion Pet)
D.I.S.C.O.
Fishing Chair

Common loot card options include:

Paper Flying Machine
Tabard Of The Flame
Papa Hummell's Pet Biscuit
Sandbox Tiger

The Archives booster boxes contain 24 of the 10 card booster packs and each booster pack contains 9 game cards and 1 crafting OR loot card. So for $39.95 you have 24 chances at pulling loot cards. The notion perked my interest, so I dug a little deeper to try and find out the distribution pattern for the loot cards. As per the FAQ on WoW TCG Loot Cards, the current loot card distribution (for sets after the March of the Legion expansion) is as follows:

Commons - 20 to 21 per case, at least 1 per expansion box.
Uncommons - 2 per case, or 1 in 6 expansion boxes, some rare cases have 1, where other rare cases have 3.
Rares - 1 per case, or 1 in 12 expansion boxes, some rare cases have none, while other rare cases have 2.

The important thing to realize and not get overly excited about guaranteed rare loot cards is that when dealing with TCG boosters you are looking at 3 main product packages. There are Booster Packs, Booster Boxes, and Cases.

Booster Pack - 10 card pack, contains 9 cards and 1 crafting or loot card.
Booster Box - 24 booster packs are in 1 booster box.
Case - 12 booster boxes make up 1 full sealed case.

Looking at the odds and loot card distribution show that even if you buy an unopened full sealed case, you aren't guaranteed to get a rare mount loot card. There is so much randomness built into the loot card distribution that it is still a gamble, even at the reduced sale prices.

Elvine's Loot Card Results From 4 Archives TCG Booster Boxes

Elvine purchased 4 sealed booster boxes, which is a total of 96 booster packs. The packs were opened live on Elvine's Twitch livestreaming channel, which can be found at Twitch.tv/elvinemod. Here are the loot card results from the 96 packs.

Box #1

1 Tabard of the Flame (Landro Longshot)
2 Paper Airplane

Box #2

2 Pet Biscuits (Papa Hummel's Old Fashioned Pet Biscuits)
1 Riding Turtle (Saltwater Snapjaw)
1 Banana Charm - Monkey Pet (King Mukla)
4 Sandbox Tigers

Box #3

1 Sandbox Tiger

Box #4

1 Tabard of the Flame

The results are a bit crazy and just go to show that the TCG loot card distribution is almost completely random. 13 Loot cards total and 8 of them, including the sole rare and sole uncommon, all coming out of the same sealed booster box. Boxes 1, 3, & 4 are complete duds, where as, box 2 is the only one with loot cards worth more than the purchase price of the booster box. So think twice before rushing off to buy some sealed Archives booster boxes in hopes of making money selling the loot cards you find. Odds are you won't be able to open enough loot cards to make it worth your investment unless you get lucky and obtain one of the boxes that hold the rare mount loot cards.

Even Cheaper Archives Booster Packs

If you are still interested in trying your shot at the WoW TCG Loot card lottery, consider Amazon for single booster packs. Amazon currently has single Archives booster packs for only $1.25 each, which is cheaper than the sealed box sale price. You lose the benefit of having a sealed booster box, but as shown above, there is no guaranteed distribution from buying a sealed box or case. So next time you are on amazon and need a few more dollars to reach the minimum purchase total for free shipping, consider tossing in a few WoW TCG Archives booster packs. You may just get lucky and find yourself a super rare loot card mount.

TCG Riding Turtle Mount For Sale

Elvine has the Saltwater Snapjaw Riding Turtle Mount for sale. He is asking for $100 for the mount loot code and can be contacted via Twitter.
Special thanks to @elvinelol for the topic idea and data sharing. Thanks man! Be sure to check out his livestreaming on Twitch tv as well: Twitch.tv/elvinemod.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

June Topic For Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival

2012-05-21T16:35:00.000-05:00

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - June 2012 Topic

A big thanks to all of the participants who submitted entries for last month's blogging carnival. Hopefully you will continue to participate in our monthly shared blogging topics. Participation from newer bloggers is also highly encouraged. Everyone is welcome to write a post for the blogging carnivals at Cold's Gold Factory. Again, thank you to all the bloggers who submitted posts for the May Carnival on Suprise Cata Markets. If you missed the last carnival, be sure to check it out! Stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria is a hot topic right now and tons of traffic continues to pour in looking for stockpiling tips on what to stockpile for Mists of Pandaria.

What If I Don't Have A Blog And I Want To Participate?

If you don't have your own site, you can still participate in the gold blogging carnivals. Sometimes a topic may tickle your fancy or you may have a unique spin on a blogging carnival topic that you would like to have read by others. Well, you are in luck. There are 2 WoW blogging sites that will post and host your content as a guest post. Just follow the normal blogging carnival rules that the others follow and get your post hosted and live prior to the carnival. Then, just submit the link to me for inclusion in the upcoming gold blogging carnival.

The friendly sites willing to host your content are:

Goldgrub's Goblin Academy - Contact: Me (Cold)
The Power Word Gold Hatchery - Contact: Jim (Flux)
Squidoo - Join up and make a lens on the topic and earn money too.

June 2012 Gold Blogging Carnival Topic

With the Mists of Pandaria expansion on its way and many markets starting to feel the end of expansion lull, we must start to prepare for the new WoW expansion, Mists of Pandaria. Many players like to level new characters during the end of expansion slump and there are still brand new players entering the game all the time. For the June Gold Blogging Carnival Topic let's focus on things to look out for, collect, farm, grind, etc. while you are leveling a new character in WoW.

What Are Some Things You Recommend Players Look Out For While Leveling A New Character In WoW?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Fresh Podcast Episodes & Guest Appearances

2012-05-18T16:13:00.001-05:00

Podcasts, Podcasts, & More Podcasts!

Podcasting has been more of a focus lately for me than keeping up with the World of Warcraft lull. There just isn't a whole lot of good information coming out to talk about when it comes to making gold in WoW. Of course as Mists of Pandaria gets closed to being completed, there will be plenty more auction house tactics and strategies to talk about. Lately though, I've been rather busy with podcasting, appearing as a guest host on other shows, and working on my own weekly Electronic Education audio segments on our newest project, The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast.

Here are the 3 latest podcasts that I have participated in.

1) Auction House Junkies : The Diablo 3 Episode

This is a question and answer type session between Wes and I. Wes has never played a Diablo game before and I'm an old Diablo 1 & Diablo II pro. Check out this great Diablo III discussion episode with a focus on the Real Money Auction House.

2) The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast: Episode 3 - Bradley's Revenge

Rez, Nic & I discuss the World of Warcraft duping epidemic that has been plagueing many of the WoW servers. Also plenty more Diablo III coverage including audio of an interview with game designer, Jay Wilson. Another kick ass episode of Electronic Education can be heard, as well as another Nonmail's Nuts segment, this time on Shady Auction House practices.

3) The Darkmoon Herald Podcast : Out Cold - (Episode released May 16th)

I was a featured guest on the Darkmoon Herald WoW Podcast. Kevin, Apsana & I discuss the auction house, play some crazy trivia games, and have a whale of a time on this episode. Kevin even unknowingly stepped on my toes and of course I had to come to the defense of my random invite guild, which made for a great discussion. Don't miss it!

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast records again tonight and our main discussion topic is on none other than the release of Blizzard Entertainment's newest game, Diablo III. We want to hear from you guys, so send in the good, the bad, & the ugly comments on your Diablo 3 first week experience to Show@Eviscerated.Net .

Many more great podcast episodes to come. Thanks for listening and for your support of the shows!

See ya in New Tristram.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks. The awesome sale at Zygor Guides ends in a few days, so don't delay.

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Episode #3

2012-05-14T17:11:00.000-05:00

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Episode #3

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast with R9sid9nt9vil, Nic, and myself, Cold, is plugging along quite well. We are putting out weekly shows so you always have a great show to listen to. Again, we are a general Gaming Podcast that doesn't talk solely about a single game, so we tend to hit on multiple games in each episode. We have been discussing World of Warcraft and Diablo 3, since those are the games we are currently playing. We have been hard at work to put out quality shows with thoughtful discussion topics. It has been a blast recording and the shows have turned out excellent.

The newest Episode #3 has some great discussion about Duping in World of Warcraft and more great Diablo 3 information. Be sure to check out the show and subscribe to never miss a tip.

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Episode #3 can be found at Eviscerated.net, or on iTunes & Stitcher Radio.

Show Discussion Topics From Episode #3 of The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast

Jay Wilson's Interviews on Diablo 3
Duping In World of Warcraft
The Effects of Duping on an online economy.
Blizzard's stand on duping, dupers, and duped goods.
Diablo 3 PvP launch expectations.
Diablo 3 Launch Week
Brady Games Diablo 3 Guides

Follow the Hosts on Twitter:
@r9sid9nt9vil @boneandarrow13 @ssmith0911

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Zygor Guides WoW & Diablo 3 Strategy Guides - Crazy Sale Prices!

2012-05-11T16:31:00.001-05:00

Zygor Guides For WoW and Diablo III - Mega Sale

Zygor Guides has been the #1 Best Selling WoW Guide Provider for quite some time now. The quality and usefulness of the Zygor Guides has earned them the distinction of being the best guide provider for World of Warcraft. Zygor Guides are used by an absolute ton of players in World of Warcraft, including many personal friends, peers, and colleagues. I have never heard anyone complain about their Zygor Guide purchase. As a matter of fact, every single owner of a Zygor Guide that I know, constantly raves about how wonderful the Zygor leveling system works. It cuts your leveling time drastically from trying to level blindly on your own in World of Warcraft.

Zygor Launches Their Diablo III Strategy Guide Today!

Today, Zygor Guides launched their brand new strategy guide for Diablo III. There are many Diablo 3 Scam Guides on the market already that have been claiming to be masters of Diablo III for months now, when the game isn't even out yet. The Diablo III Zygor Guide is the only honest and trustworthy guide that I have seen so far. All of the other Diablo 3 guides have already been on sale for weeks or months and have already been claiming to be masters of the auction house, leveling, and PvP. The RMAH and PvP aren't even making it into the release version of the game until later dates! All of these other scam guides have been selling for weeks based on lies. Zygor Guides has not been engaging in any of these devious and misleading behaviors. The have just released the Zygor D3 guide and tell you the truth up front:

Remember, no other Diablo 3 guide seller has been even close to honest with their buyers. Only Zygor Guides could be trusted prior to the Diablo 3 release date launch and I wouldn't trust any other guide after Diablo 3 launches either. Their proven track record in World of Warcraft will translate over to just as great of a product and customer service in their Diablo 3 guide. they are even asking for your input as the finish the guide, so that they are building a guide based off of what the readers want. Yes! Zygor Rocks!

"Customers who order will receive instant access to an early sneak peek of our Diablo III guide, which consists of a partial walk through of Act I as well as beginners guides for all the major aspects of the game. This was the only content available before the game's release. Upon the official release of Diablo III, these guides will be updated daily with a complete full game walk through (Act I-IV) and expanded guide content for crafting, classes, skill optimization, the followers system, and achievements, until the full game is covered in the same fashion as this sneak peek version."

The Super Crazy Zygor Guides Sale

To celebrate the launch of the new Diablo III Zygor Guide, they are having a crazy sale, which includes a discount for previous guide buyers. Here is a quick summary of their sale:

All WoW Guides are 25% Off.
Past buyers of a WoW Guide can get the Diablo III Guide for 33% Off!
Yes. You can buy a 25% off WoW Guide in order to also Buy a 33% Off Diablo III Guide.

I told you this sale is crazy!

Check Out Zygor Guides Now!

Jump Straight To The Diablo III Zygor Guide.

Who else loves their Zygor Guide? Please share your Zygor testimonials in the comments.

Surprise Markets Of Cataclysm - May Gold Blogging Carnival

2012-05-11T09:31:00.012-05:00

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - 2012

Welcome to another 2012 edition of Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival. These carnivals will continue to take place the 11th day of every month and will be hosted here at Cold's Gold Factory. All World of Warcraft bloggers are welcome to participate and feedback both here and on the original authors' sites is strongly encouraged. So show some support and please leave some feedback in the comments section. These bloggers put a lot of time and hard work into these blogging carnival posts so please tell them what you think.

If you would like to be included in the next month's carnival, please review the guidelines for Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals and submit your live post link via email (ssmith0911 at live dot com) before the 10th of the month. Read up on the benefits of participating in blogging carnivals at my other blog designed to help new bloggers, Blogging Vitals. (Lots of tips for those of you starting out or interested in blogging.) Articles for the CGF carnival are listed in the order they are received. Thank you to all the bloggers participating in this months carnival!

If you are not a blogger, you can still participate in the monthly carnivals as you can have a post hosted at Goldgrubs.com or The Power Word Gold: Hatchery. Now I present to you this month's participants answering the question:

Looking Back Throughout The Cataclysm Expansion:

What Was A Niche Market That You Were Suprised To Find Or That You Did Better Than Expected In During Cataclysm?

My Favorite Cataclysmic Market by Phat Lewts of Phat Lewts WoW Gold Blog

Selling Level 81 Greens by Farli of The Overcut

Most Surprising Cata Market: Nightmare's Tear by Cold of Cold's Gold Factory

My Surprise Cataclysm Niche Market by Nev of Auction House Addict

Thanks again to all of this month's participants. Be sure to check back later for next month's carnival topic and remember to look for next month's gold blogging carnival on the 11th. If you have a topic idea, don't be afraid to send it in. We may use your idea, which will get you proper credit as well.

Until next month,

Happy Diablo 3 Launch Week!

Come Vote and Comment On What Class You Are Starting With In Diablo 3.

Most Surprising Market During Cataclysm: Nightmare's Tears

2012-05-09T17:46:00.002-05:00

Most Surprising Niche Market During Cataclysm

For the May 2012 gold blogging carnival topic, I asked:
This is my entry into the carnival answering that same question. You can find all of the Gold Blogger's Carnival topics and entries on Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals page. Anyone is welcome to participate and contribute an entry for the monthly topics.

"What Was A Niche Market That You Were Suprised To Find Or That You Did Better Than Expected In During Cataclysm?"

Nightmare's Tears Still Sell In Cataclysm

Of all of the niche markets that I've dealt in during the Cataclsym expansion, none other was more surprising to me than the Nightmare's Tears niche market. Why was this market so surprising to me? The Nightmare's Tear is an almost completed outdate item and during Cataclysm, it should only have been used by non-Cata Twinks and leveling characters who can't use the Cataclysm level gems (due to item level requirements).

The Nightmare's Tear is a prismatic gem that provides +10 to each stat and was orginally introduced during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Back during Wrath, this gem was in everyone's gear and was limited to 1 equipped per character. Due to player ignorance and / or stupidity it continued to see much use throughout Cataclysm, even though using any Cataclysm level gem appropriate to your character's spec was a better option. The demand had to be related to players not understanding how the prismatic gem and prismatic slots worked. Players incorrectly believed that a prismatic socket had to have a prismatic gem slotted into it, when in fact, a prismatic gem can hold any color gem. I further tested this hypothesis, by double checking the armory pages of characters that had purchased one of my Nightmare's Tears. I almost always found that Nightmare's Tear in a prismatic slot of the buying max level character.

Originally I tested this market out with a few of the remaining Dragon's Eyes I had left over from Wrath of the Lich King. The Nightmare's Tears I posted all sold out rapidly as no one else was selling them. I instantly thought it couldn't have been a fluke and looked on the armory to see what these prismatic gems were being used for. Once I realized that players were looking for the Nightmare's Tear gem for their prismatic sockets, I started to churn out as many as I could. The removal of the Icy Prism cooldown, made it much easier to gamble with Frozen Orbs and the Icy Prisms to acquire multiple Dragon's Eyes to turn into the Nightmare's Tears.

The demand was so high after Patch 4.2 and 4.3 that I had exhausted all of my reserve Frozen Orbs & Dragon's Tears and had to turn to buying Dragon's Tears on the auction house, in addition to returning back to the Dalaran Jewelcrafting daily quests. I was even buying out low and mid priced Nightmare's Tears (once others caught on) in order to meet the demand and keep the prices high. I was able to get an easy 700-750 gold for a single Nightmare's Tear and was selling 2-4 a day for months. After drying up the Frozen Orb and Dragon's Eye supply markets on my server, I got tired of running the JC Dailies and threw in the towel as the copycats had finally caught on after a couple months of holding the market to myself.

Did I make a lot of gold off of the ignorance of other players? Yes, but at the same time, I was just providing goods in a market that most assumed was dead. The lack of competition and increased demand for those goods led to the increased prices. Without the demand for them, I never would have been able to continously sell those old prismatic gems for such a great price. So remember that just because an item shouldn't be selling, doesn't mean that it won't. Provide what people are looking to buy and you may just find a niche market with great demand and low competition, even if it is selling nearly obsolete items to ignorant players using them incorrectly.

What suprise markets did you guys find during the Cataclysm expansion?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Making Gold In WoW Off LFR Loot Rolls - A Reader Submission

2012-05-04T18:16:00.001-05:00

Making Gold In WoW With Looking For Raid

Today I present to you an interesting reader submission / guest post from a reader here at Cold's Gold Factory. Kylor contacted me via email with a gold making tactic that he has been using. I had thought of using this strategy, but since I hate raiding, I never got around to trying it out. Kylor was kind enough to submit a guest post on this tactic of making gold in WoW. Take a look and let us hear what you think of this strategy in the comments.

Hey guys,

I recently returned to the game and I wanted to share my experience on something that I've been doing to make some quick gold while capping my valor points: selling your rolls in LFR (Looking For Raid). I have found that players who need the items from LFR are very willing to pay a pretty penny for them. I usually post in trade something along the lines of "WTS Hunter rolls in LFR, pst" and get a couple responses pretty quickly.

It does seem that these players are more willing to agree to pay for each item won, rather than paying a flat amount before the raid, but both methods can definitely work. As far as pricing, i have had sucess with prices of 500g per item and 1000g for the weapons, but have gone as high as 2500g for a weapon, so experiment a little with the pricing on your server and see what works for you. If you do decide to go with the pay up front method, I have found that 1000g works well, so that may be a good starting point. You could also try a combination of both, something like 500g up front and 500g per item won.

There may be times when people in the raid are pretty unhappy with you for rolling on gear that you don't need. I usually just inform them that I gave it to someone already, and have them back me up in raid chat. I don't see this being a problem really, but I have been kicked from the group for it once. In that case I just whispered the buyer to leave and we queued up again. It really helps to have a tank guildie or friend queue with you and leave once the raid starts to speed things up.

This can be a great way to make a little gold while capping your alts on valor points, and it really adds up if you have multiple characters able to do LFR. I'm sure that this was much more profitable towards the beginning of the patch, but there is still money to be made here, at least until Blizzard changes the loot rules. If anyone else has had success selling their rolls in LFR, I'd love to hear about what prices you've been able to sell at, or any other methods you might have!

-Kylor

Well, there is the goblin mind set put to great use! I'm sure this tactic is frowned upon by many of the LFR cry babies, but there isn't a thing they can do about it. It is really no different that running LFR with your guild members so that you can give the items to your guild members to help them geared up quicker. Blizzard has allowed this strategy, which is playing within the rules of LFR that they created, but they are changing the way loot works when Mists of Pandaria is released. Someone may not like this strategy, but it isn't illegal and is a nice way to make extra gold doing something you were already planning on doing anyway.

Thanks Kylor!

What do you guys think about selling your loot rolls in Looking For Raid?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Debut Episode

2012-04-28T18:12:00.000-05:00

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Launches!

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast

We are proud to present to you The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast, which is a general gaming podcast that mainly focuses on Blizzard gaming, but no games are off limits. This is a brand new gaming podcast brought to you by a trio of hosts that are all very experienced gamers and previous podcasters. We had a blast recording this episode and will be recording weekly.

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Hosts

R9sid9nt9vil - Of Eviscerated.net & formly of The Rep Grind Radio Podcast.
Cold - Of Cold's Gold Factory, The Auction House Junkies Podcast, Goldgrub's Goblin Academy, & Diablo 3 Gold Tips.
Nic (@BoneandArrow13) - Former segment producer / host substitue for Rep Grind Radio.

Check it out here:
The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast: Episode #1 - Ground Zero

Episode One Features:

The Diablo 3 Experience and the Diablo 3 Beta Weekend
The New World of Warcraft Item Restoration Feature
WoW Dragon Soul Nerfs
Is It Time To Stockpile in WoW?
Diablo 3 Guides & Scammers
Nonmail's New Segment
Cold's Electronic Education Segment
Diablo 3 Pre-Orders & Pre-Launch Recommendations

So grab your favorite frosty beverage, turn up the show, and experience The All New Eviscerated Gaming Podcast from the very beginning. Come listen and grow with the show! We look forward to interacting with you listeners.

Questions & Comments can be sent to show@eviscerated.net. Let us know what you think of the new podcast.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide or the PvP and Gold Making Combo and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

May Topic For Monthly Gold Blogging Carnival

2012-04-23T17:05:00.000-05:00

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - May 2012 Topic

A big thanks to all of the participants who submitted entries for last month's blogging carnival. Hopefully you will continue to participate in the monthly shared topics. Participation from newer bloggers is also highly encouraged. Everyone is welcome to write a post for the blogging carnivals at Cold's Gold Factory. Again, thank you to all the bloggers who submitted posts for the April Carnival on MoP Stockpiling. If you missed the March carnival, be sure to check it out! Stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria is a hot topic right now and tons of traffic continues to pour in looking for stockpiling tips on what to stockpile for Mists of Pandaria.

What If I Don't Have A Blog And I Want To Participate?

The friendly sites willing to host your content are:

Goldgrub's Goblin Academy - Contact: Me (Cold)
The Power Word Gold Hatchery - Contact: Jim (Flux)
Squidoo - Join up and make a lens on the topic.

May 2012 Gold Blogging Carnival Topic

With the Mists of Pandaria expansion on its way and many markets starting to feel the end of expansion lull, we must start to prepare for the new WoW expansion. One way to speculate about the future is to learn from the past and try to apply some of our historical experiences to the expected markets in the new expansion. Let's take a look back over some of the niche markets in the Cataclysm expansion and see what opportunities could arise in Mists of Pandaria. Which brings me to the May Topic:

Looking Back Throughout The Cataclysm Expansion:

What Was A Niche Market That You Were Suprised To Find Or That You Did Better Than Expected In During Cataclysm?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Gold Blogger Appreciation Challenge

2012-04-21T11:57:00.003-05:00

Have You Thanked A Gold Blogger Lately?

Gold Bloggers Come and Go

The community of gold bloggers is ever changing. There are those of us that have been around for quite some time, but the majority of blogs that focus on how to make gold in WoW are short lived endeavors. Hey, putting out quality original content is much harder than you think. Just ask all of the blogs that have died over the years. I have also went through some burned out phases where my posting schedule has sufferred. I am glad that has been turning around lately. Blogging consistently is hard work, so remember that when you visit the blogs around the gold making community.

Take a moment today and leave a comment on a few of your favorite gold blogs. Let them know you appreciate their dedication and hard work. Too many times we are quick to leave a comment to correct someone, disagree, or tell them just how wrong we think they are (I'm guilty too). How often do we leave a comment thanking a blogger or letting them know that we appreciate their hard work? Not often enough. So take a moment to spread some love today. Tell a friend about a site you love, tweet a post you like, share their content on facebook, or submit a post to your favorite bookmarking or social media site.

I guarantee you will make that blogger feel more appreciated and this will help spark their desire and interest in providing more great content for you.

So get out there and spread some love!

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide or the PvP and Gold Making Combo and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Have you thanked a gold blogger lately for all the free information they provide to help you out?

Stockpiling For MoP: Is It Time To Start Stocking Up?

2012-04-20T17:27:00.001-05:00

Time To Stock Up For Mists of Pandaria?

Mists of Pandaria Stockpiling Tips

Is It Time To Start Stockpiling For Mists Of Pandaria?

Yes & No

I have already begun to start stockpiling items for Mists of Pandaria, but only a few specific items. I have given some ideas on what to stockpile for Mists of Pandaria and so have others in the MoP Stockpiling carnival entries. Those posts are geared to get you thinking about what you will be stockpiling, but aren't designed to be direct warnings to start stockpiling immediately. Right now the main things I have been stockpiling are the harder to obtain and rarer items: mainly Mounts, Companion Pets, and profession chokepoint items. Any items that are rare and hard to get should be given priority at this point in the Cata expansion. Of course, don't pass up any dirt cheap priced items. Those should be snatched up immediately.

Why not get started stockpiling everything right now?

There are 2 main reasons not to start mass buying raw materials and other common items just yet.

The Cataclysm expansion is far from over.
Summer is coming.

Even though the MoP Beta is progressing along and we have already hit the expansion lull that happens after the last major content patch, there is still a ways to go until the end of Cataclysm and the release of Mists of Pandaria. Leaked reports have the next WoW expansion placed as a launch in quarter two of 2012, with many speculating a late June MoP launch. So we still have at least a couple of months left. The closer we get to the expansion, then more players will start to liquidate their old stock in preparation for the new expansion. Prices will continue to drop in many markets as useage will continue to decline. This drop in demand will also be paired with market flooding as players dump their goods, so prices should be better than they currently are.

In addition to the decline in demand and the market flooding there is another major contributor that cripples many markets. That dreaded time of year, when many markets see a major increase in competition is the summer break. College students should have more play time starting in late May / early June and high schools will start letting out for summer break in early to mid June. This is the first time we have seen a new WoW expansion release during the summer break. Even more players will be invading auction house markets and further crashing items down to cheaper levels.

So start picking up rock bottom priced goods and the harder to find items now, while waiting closer to launch for the raw materials prices to bottom out.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide or the PvP and Gold Making Combo and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Cross Faction Transferring - How To Avoid Getting Sniped

2012-04-16T19:02:00.001-05:00

He's Waiting To Snipe Your Auctions

Transferring Items Across Factions Via The Neutral AH

One of the strategies for making gold in World of Warcraft involves transferring items via the neutral auction house from one faction to the other. There can be a great difference in price when comparing the same item on both the Horde and the Alliance auction houses. This leaves an opportunity to transfer items from the cheaper side to the more expensive side to make even more gold. Sometimes you may need an item that is rarely available on your faction, but is readily available on the other. Or you could be looking for a way to transfer some nice gear from your Horde characters to your newly formed Alliance alts on the same server. There are plenty of reasons why someone would want to transfer an item across factions, but there is a major risk involved. Someone else could end up buying the item right out from under you!

Sniping - Sniping is the term we use to describe the act of snatching these items off of the neutral auction house before the intended buyer can buy them.

How Not To Transfer Items Cross Faction

In order to transfer items from one faction to the other, you must use the neutral auction house. The basic premise is this:

You post an item on the neutral auction house on 1 character.
You buy it out on a character on the other faction.

The absolute worst way to attempt a cross faction transfer is to:

Post the item on character 1.
Log out of character 1.
Log into character 2 on the opposing faction.
Attempt to buy your own item off the auction house.

With this method, you run the highest risk of getting your auction sniped by another player because you are leaving a large window of opportunity for sniping during your character swapping process. This risk can be lowered if you get a friend to be waiting on the other faction waiting to buy your auctioned item for you.

Since the auction house fees are very expensive on the neutral auction house, many players will post their items to transfer at very low prices, which makes them easy to identify as items trying to be transferred. Posting your item for more than a few copper will make it less obvious to an inexperienced sniper, but if you are trying to do all of the work on a single account, then you are still leaving yourself at high risk for sniping. Auction House add-ons can still search for items priced too low and alert the scanner that they are posted at great deal finding prices. So what is the safest way to transfer items across the neutral auction house?

How I Transfer Items Safely Across The Neutral Auction House

I have a 100% success rate for transferring my own items across to the other faction. I have never been sniped in any of my arbitrage attempts. Here is the method that I use and that I consider the fastest, safest, and best way to transfer anything via the neutral auction house.

Common sense should tell you to look around at the neutral auction house auctioning area. Is there someone shopping on the neutral AH already? Wait until that person leaves the area. I've actually been impatient and used my own strategy while the neutral auction house is busy, because even with someone looking to snipe you, odds are your can get the item before they can using my tactics. Here's how I do it.

The safest way to transfer anything via the neutral AH is to use 2 seperate WoW accounts and the Remote Auction House application on a phone. This combination make sit damn near impossible for anyone to snipe your items, even if they are there searching for items to snatch. If done right, you'll have bought your item before their search scan even finishes.

How It's Done:

Log into the selling WoW account on your computer.
Park the seller at any of the neutral auction houses.
Log into buying account on the Remote Auction House Application on your smart phone.
The buyer is buying from the RAH app, so the character's in game location doesn't matter.
On the buying account, pre-fill the search terms for the item you are transferring and going to buy.
On the seller account, pre-fill all of the posting price data for that same item.
Hit the post button on the computer.
Immediately hit the search function on the phone and buyout the item you just posted.
Repeat this process one item at a time.

This process minimizing that window of opportunity for a sniper to search for and find your item before you have a chance to buy it yourself. Using the RAH app also prevents you from having to park a character near the neutral auction house. If you have two accounts or a friend helping with both the buyer and seller near the same auctioneer, you are just asking for trouble. Trying to compete the transferring process all by yourself on a single account is also just screaming for someone to come snipe you. To be the safest, use two seperate accounts and a smart phone with the RAH application. This method has never got me into trouble. You can do the same thing with just 2 WoW accounts, but the RAH adds an even faster and less obvious sign that you are cross faction transferring.

Is Sniping A Reportable Offense?

Hell no! All the sniper did was buy an item off of the auction house that you priced horribly low. By posting items on the neutral auction house, you are offering them for sale at the chosen price, which is no different than you posting items on any other auction house. If you don't get to buy them first, then you lose out on the items, but no crime has been committed. Once you get nabbed once, you will hopefully try to be smarter about how you cross faction transfer.

Many players frown upon the notion of someone even thinking of sniping someone's items off the auction house. Pshh! Probably the same people who jump at the chance to buy a mispriced item off of the normal auction house. It's no different really. You are just preying upon people making mistakes in their posting process. You can find some good deals on both the faction and neutral auction house system. If they are that cheap, why wouldn't you buy them?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide or the PvP and Gold Making Combo and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

MFCs Will Never Die

2012-04-14T13:05:00.000-05:00

Hagor Flips For Mysterious Fortune Cards

Mysterious Fortune Cards Will Never Die

Mysterious Fortune Cards (MFCs) will never become obsolete. One of the negative aspects of having a new expansion released for World of Warcraft is the fact that at least 90% of the profession craftable items will become obsolete. These older pattern crafted items are undesireable by the majority of characters. Sure, there are some nice leveling pieces that characters may desire as gear upgrades while leveling, but the demand quickly fades a few months into the new WoW expansion's release.

Mysterious Fortune Cards are different because they are one of the items that will continue to sell long in the Mists of Pandaria expansion and beyond. Why? Because there will always be a demand for players looking to gamble at a chance to win a quick 5k gold. Even if a new MFC type card is released in Mists of Pandaria, the Mysterious Fortune Cards will still be another valid gambling option. And as discussed in the post on Population Cycles & MFC Barking, the launch of a new expansion is a great time to sell MFCs to all of the new and returning players. Increased player populations on servers means more players will be hearing your barks, which in turn will lead to more sales. One of the benefits of buying my MFC Guide and learning to properly sell your Mysterious Fortune Cards is the fact that the market will never die. The MFC sales will continue to roll in each and every expansion.

Bringing MFCs Into Mists of Pandaria

When stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria, I recommend stocking up early on your Inscription Inks. If you are having trouble finding storage space for all of your herbs and inks, then you can also convert some of those Blackfallow Inks to MFCs, since they stack 200 cards per stack. This can be a great space saver, if you craft a bunch ahead of time. They will fly off the WoW auction house once the swarm of new & returning players arrives into Azeroth. If you buy a bunch of herbs to make your MFCs now, you will make an even better profit later on into the MoP expansion once inflation and the lack of farmers in older zones starts to drive the prices up on the raw materials. So you can use the WoW expansion inflation to your advantage and sell your MFCs for more when the herb supplies dry up.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide or the PvP and Gold Making Combo and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

What To Stockpile For Mists Of Pandaria | April Gold Blogging Carnival

2012-04-11T07:01:00.001-05:00

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals

Getting Ready For Mists of Pandaria: An Overlook by Alaeriel of Alaeriel's WoW Stuff

Until next month,

Keep on keepin' on!

What To Stockpile For Mists Of Pandaria | Cata to MoP Stockpiling

2012-04-10T17:26:00.003-05:00

Stockpiling For Mists of Pandaria

Stockpiling For Mists Of Pandaria

Is it too early to Stockpile for MoP? The Cataclysm expansion has come to a lull and Diablo 3 is on the horizon, but it is definitely not too early to start thinking about stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria. Have you thought about what you will be stocking up on? When the new WoW expansion launches, we will see another profitable mass influx of players joining the game. These players will be a mix of brand new players and returning players. Many players will be wanting to try the new monk class or the new Panda race. New players and new characters bring an increased demand for many items like those required for profession leveling or items that enhance or speed the leveling process. There will be many markets that will return to being viable simply because of the population growths that always occur following a new expansion's release. Remember a major patch or a previous WoW expansion launch when you ran out of something that was a goldmine at the time? Did you wish you had stockpiled more of them? Or maybe you hadn't even stockpiled at all and the auction house prices had gone through the roof on you. Don't let your competition choke you out of the auction house because you forgot to stockpile! It is time to think ahead to tank advantage of this major market cycle in WoW.

Raw Materials

With any new character population explosion there will be an increased need for all raw materials required for leveling a character's professions. Ores, Herbs, and Leather will all see an increase in demand at the beginning of MoP as players level there professions. As the expansion continues farther past the launch and there are less characters in the leveling zones, the lower level raw materials prices will start to climb as there are less players and bots farming those areas for raw materials. Most players and bots will move on to the new MoP raw materials.

Anything that you will be needing to level a profession or to continue a niche market it is a good choice for your MoP stockpile. If you are looking for good money makers to sell quickly, then you should focus on raw materials that are choke points to leveling a profession. You can even make WoW inflation work in your favor, by stocking up on raw materials at today's prices and then selling the crafted good at the later inflated market rate.

Leather is currently hard to come by on my server and I only predict that it will get worse, unless we see a nice influx of monks, pandas, and new characters coming in as skinners. Even then, the demand for leather and leather crafted goods will skyrocket with all of the monks in MoP. Remember the rush on Plate when Death Knights were added?

Inks

What is the best item for any scribe to stock up on? Inks are the main focus of a Scribe's stockpile. Why Inks? Versatility! We know that the glyph system is getting another major overhaul, so crafting a bunch of glyphs ahead of time could be a flawed plan. Every time there is a glyph overhaul, we get glyphs that don't survive any changes. These glyphs turn into vendor trash. Any of these you have pre-crafted that you can't get rid of will be wasted potential profits. Saving Inks in your stockpile for MoP will keep you versatile. The Inscription exchange vendors like Jessica Sellers should be utilized prior to the new expansion. The vendors will be changed to require the newest MoP Inks so any stockpiling of the various Inks should be done ahead of the expansion. If you forget, you will be stuck with a bunch of Blackfallow Inks. So remember to visit the Ink exchanging npcs prior to MoP. These vendors can be changed in pre-expansion patches as well, so start thinking ahead.

Catering To New Characters

There are many markets that will see a spike in demand because of all the new characters entering the game. Selling to new characters in Cataclysm, made me a massive chunk of gold. Planning and thinking ahead to what these new characters will be wanting to buy is an important step in the process of making gold off low level and new characters that should be started soon. If you plan on making certain gear that new players will want, you might want to be stockpiling the harder to find materials in your MoP stockpile. Leather gear will be at a premium because of the increased demand that monks will bring to the economy. I would highly recommend starting your leather stockpiling now. Barbaric Bracers, Deviate Scale Belts, Toughened Leather Gloves, and other low level Leatherworking niches should be vibrant again. Many of these take some harder to find materials that should be stockpiled now, if you are planning on hitting those markets. Good low level green items that have the proper stat combinations will also be good items to flip to the leveling monks and other leather wearing classes.

Bags are always a huge seller when expansions bring a character population explosion. Remember to sell the profession specific bags as well. The bags required by the various professions have always been great investments,especially the mining bags.

The population explosion is also another great time to start or resume MFC Barking. Barking is always more effective the more players are hearing your barks, so expansion launches are great times to bark. You don't have to limit barking to just Mysterious Fortune Cards. Adventurer's Journals are another great item to sell to leveling characters.

Hedging Against MoP Inflation

Inflation is coming in MoP. The item most succeptable to inflation is liquid gold. That's why building a stockpile for MoP is so important. By choosing items to buy as inflation hedges we buy specific items now that we will hopefully be able to sell for much more into the next expansion. Historically, good choices have been hard to obtain items like rare and hard-to-get companion pets, mounts, and expensive vanity items. With MoP bringing us the battle pet system, I still think pets are a no brainer here. Stocking up on the rare pets should bring a nice payout in Mists of Pandaria. I would also keep an eye out for nicely priced rare mounts like Poseidus. Less players will be in his zone and his price should inflate and be a nice hedge against inflation.

Have You started Your MoP Stockpile Yet?

Alliance Or Horde? Come Vote!

Be Sure To Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide or the PvP and Gold Making Combo and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Recap: Top Blog Posts From February

2012-03-23T17:29:00.002-05:00

February Popular Posts At Cold's Gold Factory

Each month, I like to do a quick wrap-up of the top posts from the previous month. This helps bring attention to some of the most discussed or the most visited blog posts here at Cold's Gold Factory and it is especially helpful for new or returning readers to find great posts that they may have missed.

By a longshot, the most popular posts from the month of February were the posts dealing with the Love Is In The Air holiday event and farming the needed Lovely Charms.

Best Place To Farm Lovely Charms 2012 - This holiday specific blog post was designed to bring attention to my favorite Lovely Charm farming location and killing Slags. While Throne of Tides may be prefer by some, I prefer the Slags myself.

Making Gold With Lovely Charm Farming - The debate stirring post. Which is more time efficient: Farming all the Charms to make Bracelets or using the daily holiday event quests to gather your Love tokens?

Goblinism From The Early Years And Beyond - This was a fun post to write and showed just a handful of the ways I've learned to hustle over the earlier years of my life.

Using Inflation In WoW To Make More Gold - Here I discuss the strategy of using inflation to your advantage by buying materials now for the selling crafted products after the prices inflate.

Guild Challenges & Reflections On The Random Invite Guild - The all random invite guild hit the level 25 guild level cap and this was my summary post on just how much gold I made passively. I also discuss how I could have promoted more guild challenges to earn extra gold each week.

Auction House Junkies February Recap

During February we released 2 new episodes of The Auction House Junkies podcast. I also created and displayed The Auction House Junkies Cast Member Photo so you can see what the three of us look like, well sort of - LOL. I also debuted the Auction House Junkies Swag Shop on Zazzle and the Auction House Junkies Official Squidoo Page, where you can vote on your favorite cast member, leave show topic ideas, and answer polls and questions. Be sure to stop by and check them out.

AHJ - Episode #24: Cold Plays Mono-Blue - The guys pushed the time up and called me just as I started a MTGO tournament where I had drafted an all Blue Deck for sealed.

AHJ - Episode #25: French Dip - The infamous French Dip sandwich show.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide or the PvP and Gold Making Combo and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

2 New Features Added To WoW That Are Nice Additions

2012-03-19T18:14:00.000-05:00

2 Nice New Features Added To WoW

There have been a couple of nice additions to the World of Warcraft UI that make our life a little easier. I'm not sure how long these 2 changes have been live in WoW or what path they were added in, but I believe it has been within the last couple of patches. I had just recently noticed both of these changes and I have been using them since I discovered the changes. Maybe you are like me and missed the additions in the patch notes, so I present them to you today.

New Auction House UI Feature - Crafted Armor View

Crafted Recipe Armor Viewing

Crafted recipe armor viewing is a nice addition to the auction house user interface in WoW. What exactly do I mean by "crafted recipe armor viewing"? Previously, when searching the rare Bind-on-Pick-up crafting recipes on the auction house, we were unable to see what the finished crafted product would look like. You had to go to wowhead and search for the item and pray someone had submitted a screenshot of the crafted item. Sometimes there was no screenshot to even refer to and if there was, it probably looks different on your character's race than it does on the example image.

With the change to the standard auction house UI, that is now longer an issue. You can Control-Left Click on any weapon or armor recipe listed in the auction house to see what the crafted item would look like on your character. If you take a look at the image above, you will see what I mean. The character image shows her naked with just the Boots of Utter Darkness equipped. This is a nice addition that makes it much easier to determine what a crafted item looks like prior to buying the recipe, which is great for your own mogging needs (since many are BoP recipes) or for finding recipe based items to craft for Transmogrification.

New Search Backpack Feature In WoW

Backpack Search Feature

The second nice feature that has been added to the game is the backpack search function. While it may not seem very useful it does come in handy once you know it is there! At the top of your open main backpack screen you should see a search window. You can enter in anything you want and the items that match your search will stay visible, while the non-matching items will be darkened out. Check the image above. You can see I did a search for "ranger" gear in my bags. This made it super fast and easy to see that I only had the Chest and Legs on me. While this isn't a huge change, it is very effective at cutting down your time when hunting for specific items within your bags. This has been very helpful when building and sorting set pieces to sell for transmogrification buyers.

Anyone found any better uses for these two additions to WoW?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

How To Make Gold During End Of Expansion Lulls | Up & Down Markets

2012-03-17T10:53:00.004-05:00

How To Make WoW Gold During The End Of The Expansion

Cataclysm has ran it's course. The final Cataclysm content patch has already been deployed to live servers for a while now. The servers are less busy. Competition is less fierce in many markets. End game raids are being conquered. Players are taking time off until Mists of Pandaria launches. Welcome to the lull that we see at every expansion's end. The Diablo 3 release date has been announced, so we can expect to see even more of a decline in the WoW population once Diablo 3 launches in 2 months.

With the expansion ending the players activities in game tend to change. Understanding how these changes affect the demand for items on the WoW auction house, will help you to supply items in the markets with increased demand. Staying out of or cutting back on other markets may be a wise choice this late in the expansion. Remember that every server is unique and not all server's will follow the same trends, but there are many similarities that can be generalized. Let's look deeper at how to make gold during the end of an expansion.

Increased Demand Markets

These are markets that always see an increase in demand. This increased demand can result in more sales and / or higher purchase prices.

Netherweave, Frostweave, & Embersilk Bags - Bored players are rolling new alts. These leveling characters need bags and many can afford the more expensive bags instead of just the standard NW Bags.
Profession Bags - New characters pick up new profesions and they need bags too.
Profession Leveling Items / Choke Point Materials - The materials needed to level a profession are good sellers as players are leveling their alts up prior to the expansion, when it will become more expensive.
Blacksmithing Rods For Enchanters - Enchanting Rods and their required materials are a good seller as players roll Enchanting alts and need the rods to level up.
Vanity Items - The combination of less things to do and less items to buy, leads to larger gold reserves. Players with extra gold are more willing to spend that gold on high ticket vanity items like companion pets, mounts, and gear for transmogrification.
Glyphs - New alts and returning Scroll of Resurrection 80's need glyphs.
BoA / Twink Enchants - New characters with new BoA gear for leveling quickly will buy up the BiS enchants for the heirloom gear. These same enchants are good for twink characters and twinking is always more popular during expansions lulls when players are bored and trying new things.

Decreased Demand Markets

The decreased demand markets can get ugly in no time. As demand dries up, you see less sales. As less sales are made, undercutting amongst competition gets worse and drives the prices down. Those items that do sell, end up selling for less gold per sale.

Raid Consumables - Flasks, Foods, Potions etc. as they aren't required for LFR and more players are beating the end raid content. Also summer is coming and WoW raid teams tend to fall apart during summer vacations.
End Game Upgrades - Gems, Enchants, Belt Buckles, etc. will lose demand the closer we get to Mists of Pandaria.
Darkmoon Faire Cards, Decks, Trinkets, & Inferno Ink - They have dropped enough already, but the value will continue to decline. Inferno Ink is already a damn near dead market and it will only get worse.
Last Tier of Raw Materials - Cata Ores, Herbs, And Leathers will all drop in value as more players are on alts and are gathering while they level. A drop in player population also means less buyers, which contributes to auction house flooding by bots and ultimately leads to drops in prices. You may already be seeing the prices trending downwards on your server.

Expansions End Is Stockpiling Time

There are many factors that lead to the dropping in prices of raw materials at the end of an expansion. It never fails. Remember the great market crashes prior to Cataclysm? The prices will drop as more players pick up gathering professions on alts or are out in the World of Warcraft leveling new characters or Ideal Alts. Less players will be requiring the materials as the prices of the end products are dropping with less demand. When the prices start to bottom out and reach their lowest points, it is time to build your stockpile for going into the new Mists of Pandaria expansion. Stay tuned for the next Gold Blogging Carnival here at Cold's Gold Factory, where the discussion topic is on Stockpiling and Inflation Hedging for MoP.

The discussion in the comments is getting good.
Be sure to weigh in with your own opinions or share your experiences.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

April Gold Blogging Carnival Topic - 2012

2012-03-12T18:25:00.000-05:00

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - April 2012 Topic

A big thanks to all of the participants who submitted entries for last month's blogging carnival. Hopefully you will continue to participate in the monthly shared topics. Participation from newer bloggers is also highly encouraged. Everyone is welcome to write a post for the blogging carnivals at Cold's Gold Factory. Again, thank you to all the bloggers who submitted posts for the March Topic: Looking Back & Learning From It. If you missed the March carnival, be sure to check it out!

What If I Don't Have A Blog And I Want To Participate?

If you don't have your own site, you can still participate in the gold blogging carnivals. Sometimes a topic may tickle your fancy or you may have a unique spin on a blogging carnival topic that you would like to have read by others. Well, you are in luck. There are 2 main sites that will post and host your content as a guest post. Just follow the normal blogging carnival rules that the others follow and get your post hosted and live prior to the carnival. Then, just submit the link to me for inclusion in the upcoming gold blogging carnival.

The 2 friendly sites willing to host your content are:

Goldgrub's Goblin Academy - Contact: Me (Cold)
The Power Word Gold Hatchery - Contact: Jim (Flux)

April 2012 Gold Blogging Carnival Topic

The upcoming WoW expansion Mists of Pandaria is coming. Don't be left out in the cold. Mists of Pandaria is bringing new talent changes, a new monk player class, and the intriguing WoW Battle Pet System. You must plan ahead, if you intend to make gold like a boss during the first few months of the new WoW expansion. Not only do we need a plan for our stockpiles, but we also need an inflation battling strategy. Which brings me to the April Topic:

What Is Your Stockpiling Plan For Profiting & Hedging Against Inflation in MoP?

March Blogging Carnival - Looking Back & Learning From It

2012-03-11T08:01:00.004-05:00

Cold's Gold blogging Carnival - March Edition

Using your knowledge that you have gained from auction house experience: If you were starting over as a gold maker, what is one thing you would do differently than the first time, and why?

****************

Don't Stop Farming by Farli of The Overcut

Wide Horizons by Shannon of Shannon's Shenanigans

Re: Start Gold Making by Phat Lewts of Phat Lewt's Gold Blog

Making Gold In WoW | Looking Back For Improvements by Cold of Goldgrub's Goblin Academy

Improvements by Epidermuss of Wrags To Riches

If I Knew Then What I Know Now by Nev Of Auction House Addict

Until next month,

Keep on keepin' on!

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Making Money Off Of The WoW Collector's Edition - Reader Submission

2012-03-03T14:51:00.002-06:00

Making Money Off Of The WoW Collector's Editions
I received an email from a reader that I would like some help answering. If you are knowledgeable in this area, please consider leaving your opinion or ideas as well in the comments so we can help her determine a course of action. I will respond with my own ideas and thoughts on the topic, but really would appreciate other opinions as well. Here is the emailed question:

Hey Cold,

First off, I'd like to thank you for your fantastic blog. You've helped me make lots of money in WoW and it has generally been a fun, helpful addition to my WoW experience. Anyway, this might be out of your area of expertise, but I thought I'd throw this question your way anyway.

I have two sealed Collector's Edition copies of Wrath of the Lich King and have been wondering if there is an optimal time to sell them. In general the price has increased slowly since 2008 but it seems to be staying around $250 lately. Since it's pretty clear the value of mini pets will increase with the release of Mists of Pandaria, I was thinking perhaps the value of all Collector's Editions will simultaneously increase but that's nothing more than novice speculation.

Have you paid any attention to this and do you have any thoughts on when the best time to sell my CE's are?

Have a good one,

Natasha aka Shamette on Kilrogg - US PvE

My Opinion On Selling The Collector's Editions Box Sets

Thanks Natasha for the great email submission. Your question really got me thinking deeper as this isn't an area I have actual experience in. I myself have never bought a WoW Collector's Edition set and I also don't purchase the companion pets or mounts from the Blizzard store. Well, not for myself anyways, as I have purchased them for giveaways and contests on the blogs. So I had to dig a little deeper and look into the proposed question:

Do you have any thoughts on when is the best time to sell my Collector's Editions?

Breaking it down...

What holds the value in the Collector's Edition boxed sets? The game itself? Not much as the price drops over time on older expansions.

The music CD, art book, and other goodies? Nope - Doubt it, as we can't give that stuff away on our Auction House Junkies giveaways.

So what's left? The Collector's Edition only companion pets! Much like the WoW Trading Card Game loot card mounts and pets, these CE vanity pets can sell for top dollar on eBay or other TCG sites. So, I assume the majority of the value of the older Collector's Editions is held by the rare Collector's Edition pets and not much else.

Now when is the best time to sell these? Assuming that the value increase over time as more and more of the out of print World of Warcraft Collector's Editions are opened and the pet codes are claimed. So the longer you wait, the more codes are claimed and the less there are left available. This gradual drop in supply is coupled with a gradual increase in the price of the CE boxed sets.

Now, fast forward to the upcoming WoW Mists of Pandaria expansion. What do we know about companion pets? The majority of the in game companion pets will become BoE, can be leveled, then can be sold on the AH or traded to other players. All from the upcoming MoP Battle Pet System. The Battle Pet System still has many unanswered questions, but we do know that most pets will become tradeable. I say most, because it was specifically stated that the majority of the pets would be tradeable, but not all.

So, are the Collector's Edition pets going to be some of the few that are left untouched? If so, we can speculate that the value of these CE pets and their respective CE boxed sets would continue to rise, much like they are now. If they are made part of the Battle Pet System and are tradeable, then you can bet that the price of the CE box sets will crash. Why? Because those same CE pets would be able to be purchased off of the in game WoW auction house with in game gold.

Current Pricing at Amazon:
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Collector's Edition- $64.61
World Of Warcraft Burning Crusade Collector's Edition - $219.99
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Collector's Edition - $149.99
Diablo III: Collector's Edition - $99.99 Pre-Order (See the Diablo 3 Collector's Edition Contents here)

When to sell the CE boxed sets? It's hard to say exactly since we don't know the fate of the CE pets in Mists of Pandaria. Taking the lower risk approach, I would say sell them before Mists of Pandaria. If you are willing to gamble, hang on and see what happens once the Pet Battle System launches. If you bought them to sell for real cash, to the safe out and sell them ahead of time. If you wait until MoP, you may be stuck only able to sell them for in game gold on the auction house. Or Natasha, since you have two, sell one now and hold onto the other. Or you can always wait a little longer until we have more information disclosed on the specifics of the Battle Pet System and can look ahead and determine value for these and other companion pets.

The Diablo 3 Collector's Edition is going to also include an in game WoW companion Pet, which could present a real world money making opportunity should they be spared from the Battle Pet trading system in Mists of Pandaria.

What does everyone else think on this topic?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and My Favorite Shop: J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Using Inflation To Make More Gold In WoW

2012-02-25T14:02:00.001-06:00

Inflation in WoW - Prepare or Lose

Inflation Basics In WoW
Inflation is a term that describes the erosion in purchasing power of a currency. As more currency (gold in WoW) is readily available, prices tend to go up. The resulting problem is that the value of that currency gets weaker as the same amount of currency can't buy as much as it used to be able to buy. Inflation is a great threat to the value of your stockpile of liquid gold in World of Warcraft. If you just sit on your gold from expansion to expansion, it loses value. The same amount of gold will be able to buy you less in the future.

In·fla·tion - A persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency (opposed to deflation).

In World of Warcraft, the inflation gets worse as more expansions are released. Quests give more gold, looted items sell for more, higher level character corpses loot for more coin, bosses and creatures drop more gold, and these all help contributed to more gold being more easily attainable. Players start to have more personal gold than before, even if they are not using any ways to make gold in the auction house or with professions. It's just simply easier to get more gold. Since players can easily obtain more gold, they are able to spend more on the same items.

Using Inflation To Make Extra Gold

Combating inflation is a strategy we must prepare for at the end of an expansion. Liquid gold is affected most by inflation. The value of the gold piece will continue to go down. To combat the devaluing of the currency, we have to invest more of our liquid gold into commodities. We can make an inflation hedge by buying commodities that we know will increase in value. If we buy at today's price and sell at a future inflated price, we can not only make a profit, but we have protected that invested gold from the devaluing effects on inflation. The key is to make inflation hedges with commodities that will rise in value. Good examples are hard to obtain pets (think Argent Tourney pets), farmed commodities, rare mounts, etc. Before the new expansion drops, we will be devoting an entire episode of Auction House Junkies to inflation and inflation hedging.

The formula for using inflation to your own advantage is pretty straightforward.

Buy Materials Now At Today's Prices, Then Sell Your Crafted Goods At A Later Date At The Inflated Rate.

I will use my own Netherweave Bag stockpile as an example.

I stockpiled around 7-8 entire guild tabs full of Bolts of Netherweave Cloth during mid-Wrath of the Lich King. I paid around 4-6 gold average per stack of Netherweave Cloth when I made the stockpile. At the time Netherweave Bags were selling for 9-11 gold each. Today, at Cataclysm's end I am still working off of that same massive stockpile that cost me much less than the current value of 8-12 gold per stack of Netherweave cloth. Currently Netherweave Bags are selling for 15-25 gold each on my server. So by forming a prepatch stockpile, I was able to lock in my crafting costs at the older cheaper rate. I was (and still am) able to sell the resulting crafted items at the current new inflated rate. And I can also undercut deeper than competitors who are stuck crafting from the current inflated materials rate.

So have you started to think ahead to Mists of Pandaria and what items to be buying as your inflation hedges?

March Topic For Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival

2012-02-21T16:29:00.001-06:00

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - March 2012 Topic

A big thanks to all of the participants who submitted entries for last month's blogging carnival. Hopefully you will continue to participate in the monthly shared topics. Participation from newer bloggers is also highly encouraged. Everyone is welcome to write a post for the blogging carnivals at Cold's Gold Factory. Again, thank you to all the bloggers who submitted posts for the February Topic: Favorite Locations In WoW. If you missed the Februay carnival, be sure to check it out!

What If I Don't Have A Blog And I Want To Participate?

If you don't have your own site, then you can still participate in the gold blogging carnivals. Sometimes a topic may tickle your fancy or you may have a unique spin on a blogging carnival topic that you would like to have read by others. Well, you are in luck. There are 2 main sites that will post and host your content as a guest post. Just following the normal blogging carnival rules that the others follow and get your post hosted and live prior to the carnival. Then, just submit the link to me for inclusion in the upcoming gold blogging carnival.

The 2 friendly sites willing to host your content are:

Goldgrub's Goblin Academy - Contact: Me (Cold)
The Power Word Gold Hatchery - Contact: Jim (Flux)

March 2012 Gold Blogging Carnival Topic

We've all went through those phases of learning the ins and outs of becoming a successful gold maker in World of Warcraft. A lot of us were self taught or learned on the basis of trial and error. As more experienced auctioneers, we all have realizations of things we used to do that may seem silly or inefficient when compared to our current strategies. Which brings me to the March Topic:

Using your knowledge that you have gained from auction house experience: If you were starting over as a gold maker, what is one thing you would do differently than the first time, and why?

Goblinism From The Early Years And Beyond

2012-02-16T17:09:00.004-06:00

Born A Hustler

Goblin Through And Through

While talking with a peer over Skype the other day, I realized something spectacular. I have been a goblin for much longer than I have been playing World of Warcraft. I've pretty much practised the art of goblinism most of my life, including both adulthood and adolescence. I learned some of the strategies for haggling, marketing, barking, sales, and pricing way back early on in my childhood. I have always been one to look for chances to profit by providing desired goods or services when I see a demand arise. Let's take a look back through some of my past real life goblinism ideas and strategies.

2nd Grade Playground Hustler

One of my earliest grade school memories, brings me back to the early adolescent years. In 2nd grade (at age 6), I got my first sense of running my own business as my mother set me up to hawk her homemade crochet items and pencil toppers to other children at school. She would craft up a batch of little fuzzy animals, flowers, or cartoon characters and I would take them in my book bag and try to sell them to the other kids on the playground. We then expanded to selling crocheted book marks and crosses as well. This lasted for a few months, until the school principal confiscated my goods one day, called my mom into the school, and I was banned from "soliciting items for sale on school grounds". Well, it wasn't like we were even turning a profit on these sales. I think my mother was just coming up with an interesting way for me to be interactive with the other kids at school. This playground hustling did give me some early exposure to the wheeling and dealing of crafted items for real world coins.

The Candy Man

In 5th and 6th grades, I remember a great money making project that I underwent. One day while with my father at the local automotive parts supplier, I noticed a box of candy bars on the front counter. The sign said these Heath Bars were on sale 5 for $1 and my 9 year old brain immediately thought of how much profit I could make selling these candy bars at school. The candy bars in the vending machine were 60 cents each and I could get these for only 20 cents each. Cha-ching! So I convinced my dad to buy me $5 worth of these Heath bars. I then took them to school and sold them out of my backpack for 50 cents apiece. Netting me almost 30 cents per sale, for a 20 cent investment. Once the first batch sold, I went back to the store and re-invested all of my profits into buying more candy bars. This worked well until everyone got sick of eating the same Heath bars, as they longed for variety. So more lessons in goblinism were learned. You can over saturate your market and lower the demand for your product. Diversification is also a must because when the demand dries up in your market, you need another market to fall back on.

Sales Competition Dominater

All throughout my years of schooling, I have been damn near unstoppable when it came to school sale contests. I always had a nature for completing the sales and I owe it all to my ability to come up with creative and persuasive ways to sell the fund raising products. This was the earliest forms of learning the art of barking that is so prevalent in my MFC sales in WoW. I had worked up a system that had strangers wanting to help me complete the sale. How? It's all in the wording.

While other kids were selling "candy bars for $1 to raise funds for the school", I was doing much better than that lame sales pitch. My sales pitch was this:

"Would you like to buy a candy bar to help the school band?" It's harder to say no to "helping the band" than it is to "wanna buy a candy bar". Then when they would say, "Sure, how much?" I would respond, "Two for two dollars!" Guess how many I would sell? Yup, 2 or more per customer. Genius right? Well, my pitch was so good, even diabetics and people who hated candy would hand me cash donations or buy the candy bar and then give it to me to eat.

While other kids were wasting their time walking door to door trying to sell their candy, I had a better set-up. I camped out on the sidewalk in front of the US Post Office. I had far more potential customers cross my path in front of the Post Office, than when I foolishly was going door to door. So make sure to position yourself for the most potential for exposure to buyers.

The School Supply Fence

In Junior High School (6-8th), I set up my own business operating as a fence. Other students would come to me with orders for items they wanted or needed and I would procure them through a network of thieves, then sell them to the other students at a cheaper than retail price. So when someone needed a scientific calculator, a protractor, or compass, etc they would put their order in and I would fill it the next morning. This was fine and dandy until I got caught shoplifting from the local grocery store. Well, that idea was bad to begin with, but growing up poor will stretch your moral limits. I did learn a lesson though. You can't break the rules or you will get caught no matter how crafty you think you are.

The Car Trunk Pack Dealer

Continuing on with hustling ideas while in college, I came up with another great idea. I was a huge Magic the Gathering player in high school, college, and graduate school. I was even ranked as high as 17th in the World in Type 1 (called Legendary now). To support my gaming purchases, I would buy cases of unopened Magic cards at the discounted case rate. I would then sell the individual sealed packs to all of my friends (and even strangers too) for cheaper than the cost of buying the packs for retail price. Was a nice was to support my own gaming addiction within elements of the game itself. Eventually I built up enough stock that I had various booster packs and starter packs filling the trunk of my car. I would approach shoppers I saw in stores and invite them out to my trunk store to take a look for cheaper prices and tax free buying! Win-win for everyone. Another important lesson learned too. Why not remove a member of the supply chain to make more profit yourself?

I've also been a black market item hustler from within the Diablo 2 scene on eBay and a bulk vinyl buyer who broke lots into singles for massive profit gains when I was into spinning records and DJing myself. I've talked about both of those previously, so I won't go over them again here. I've learned a lot from real life hustling that I have been able to apply my WoW gold making tactics and I've also learned a lot of ways to apply my gold making skills to real life.

Have you learned anything in 1 world that you've applied in the other? (virtual vs real worlds)

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Cold's Gold Factory - World of Warcraft Auction House & Gold Tips

WoW TCG Archives Booster Pack Loot Card Lottery

WoW Trading Card Game (TCG) Loot Cards & Archives Booster Packs

Archives Booster Pack Box Sale

The WoW TCG Archives Expansion

Elvine's Loot Card Results From 4 Archives TCG Booster Boxes

Even Cheaper Archives Booster Packs

June Topic For Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival

Fresh Podcast Episodes & Guest Appearances

Podcasts, Podcasts, & More Podcasts!

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Episode #3

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Episode #3

Show Discussion Topics From Episode #3 of The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast

Zygor Guides WoW & Diablo 3 Strategy Guides - Crazy Sale Prices!

Zygor Guides For WoW and Diablo III - Mega Sale

Zygor Launches Their Diablo III Strategy Guide Today!

The Super Crazy Zygor Guides Sale

Surprise Markets Of Cataclysm - May Gold Blogging Carnival

Most Surprising Market During Cataclysm: Nightmare's Tears

Most Surprising Niche Market During Cataclysm

Nightmare's Tears Still Sell In Cataclysm

Making Gold In WoW Off LFR Loot Rolls - A Reader Submission

Making Gold In WoW With Looking For Raid

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Debut Episode

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Hosts

Episode One Features:

May Topic For Monthly Gold Blogging Carnival

Gold Blogger Appreciation Challenge

Gold Bloggers Come and Go

Stockpiling For MoP: Is It Time To Start Stocking Up?

﻿﻿﻿Mists of Pandaria Stockpiling Tips

Cross Faction Transferring - How To Avoid Getting Sniped

Transferring Items Across Factions Via The Neutral AH

How Not To Transfer Items Cross Faction

How I Transfer Items Safely Across The Neutral Auction House

Is Sniping A Reportable Offense?

MFCs Will Never Die

Mysterious Fortune Cards Will Never Die

Bringing MFCs Into Mists of Pandaria

What To Stockpile For Mists Of Pandaria | April Gold Blogging Carnival

What To Stockpile For Mists Of Pandaria | Cata to MoP Stockpiling

Stockpiling For Mists Of Pandaria

Raw Materials

Inks

Catering To New Characters

Hedging Against MoP Inflation

Have You started Your MoP Stockpile Yet?

Recap: Top Blog Posts From February

February Popular Posts At Cold's Gold Factory

Auction House Junkies February Recap

2 New Features Added To WoW That Are Nice Additions

How To Make Gold During End Of Expansion Lulls | Up & Down Markets

April Gold Blogging Carnival Topic - 2012

March Blogging Carnival - Looking Back & Learning From It

Making Money Off Of The WoW Collector's Edition - Reader Submission

Using Inflation To Make More Gold In WoW

In·fla·tion - A persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency (opposed to deflation).

Using Inflation To Make Extra Gold

March Topic For Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival

Goblinism From The Early Years And Beyond

Mists of Pandaria Stockpiling Tips