Diversa Aurophobia

When I Open Pandaria's Box I Want A....Kiosk?

2012-01-10T10:09:00.000-06:00

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival post submission for the January 2012 Blogging Carnival. Thanks to Cold and his wonderful website for making the carnival such a big hit in the WoW auction enthusiast community.

Mists of Pandaria (MoP) will soon be upon us. Deathwing is toast. Epic gems are flooding the AH (more of a welcome rain). Cataclysm has been beaten. Now what? I know that this particular expansion has renewed the alt craze and in doing so has made dungeon running fun again. I would like to see that part of the game continue to thrive in MoP.

How do you make the dungeon matching system better though? I want a pause. I want a pause at the beginning of every dungeon. That's what I want for MoP. Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed my blogging carnival entry and that it inspires you to pause in MoP! Take care!

Huh?! Whaa?... CRUSARD! Come back!! Explain yourself...what's a pause? We're all confused...

Oh yeah, sorry. I thought it was obvious. We have a pause at the beginning of a dungeon to set up our lemonade stand!!! Everyone likes lemonade right? [crickets rubbing their legs together] [an occasional cicada mating call] Nobody get's this? Okay. What if at the beginning of a dungeon we could hit a button (dragged and dropped from the profession pane) that allowed us to showcase our wares in a sort of mini-flea-market style kiosk. The person that right-clicks you (not unlike right-clicking vendors in the game) will see all the patterns that you have selected to be your showcase items.

Still not getting it? You'll be a traveling salesman! A gypsy! That creepy guy from Majora's Mask! Obviously this is a stab at server to server transactions in an environment where that would be possible due to the matching system.

This may not sound very appealing to some but it does have potential. The same kiosk idea can be just as good in another setting, say for instance a portal (think DMF) to the "Pandaria Bazaar" where people come from all over the server to buy and trade items in one big event.

You could set-up your kiosk. The event would have sections that could be purchased from the Bazaar host (no trolls please). You could then set-up your kiosk by simply right-clicking the area you want to sell your wares (the clickable areas could be predetermined squares laid out in a grid with aisles and so forth).

Barking would have a smaller area of effect to keep spam under control. The tables would have your created items on them that you could simply mouse-over to get the tool-tip or a sign that lists them all in a special window created for the event.

Other things that are possible:

Live auctions- take a seat and wait to see if anything comes along that meets your fancy. Bid up your opponent or lay low to wait for that sweet deal! All sales are final!!!
Door prizes- Blizzard's gift to Bazaar visitors.
Auction House integration- Once you list your item at the bazaar it becomes available on both auction houses (your faction and the neutral) but the catch is you do not pay the AH cut. I see motivation in this particular idea to make this worth someone's time to sell their wares here when they can.
Rain checks- The item is currently out of stock....but you can pay me now and the item will be created in 48 hours or your money back. Once created it is simply placed in the mail for that particular transaction.

Well there you have it. This idea will create a brief way to sell wares to cross realm clients and give you a new, more personal, economy on your own server. Please post any ideas that you have to improve upon this idea and maybe Cold can persuade Blizzard to make it happen for us! [wink]

Image courtesy of peopledaily.com

Darkmoon Faire! -Or As Earl Simmons Would Say DMF!

2012-01-04T11:18:00.003-06:00

First off I hope everyone had a nice holiday.

I would like to make note of the hugely successful Darkmooon Faire for those of you that had lost interest over the years. It is definitely worth checking out. Heirlooms are available from the DMF at great prices considering the minimal effort it takes to get the tickets that are used for currency. I have been steadily leveling alts and acquiring new Heirlooms for them to level faster and DMF is my hat trick to getting that gear even faster.

Google "DMF Guide" for the numerous walk-throughs available to get a better understanding of how it all works or just take the plunge. You can earn upwards of 150 tickets and 14K reputation per month (depending on the blue artifacts you turn in). These earnings will diminish somewhat after completing some of the achievements but not too much.

If you do not want the heirlooms then follow the guides to get other things (mounts, companions, loot from fishing, etc.). Please remember that you can do this on all of your toons. If you do want heirlooms then making alts just to do these dailies is highly recommended to get every piece of heirloom gear that you currently need or don't have (it is great to have them all just in case you want to level your class of choice without worrying if you have the right gear or not).

Have fun!

Late secret Santa tip- if you want to burn some time effectively on Darkmoon Island go fishing for crates. These things contain lots of expensive materials that you can sell of goblinize for your gold-making professions of choice (this info better explained in those guides I told you to search for).

** I am at work so I will update this post with links to some of my favorite gold blogs that have different perspectives on gold-making during the DMF.

So there I was...sitting in my cubicle at work...

2011-12-08T10:48:00.001-06:00

I decided to get the AH addon (WoW Armory) and I had no idea how much it had evolved. I have it installed on my Motorola Photon so it looks great first and foremost due to the 1080p screen. Aesthetics aside the app is killer in terms of its usefulness. I just posted dozens of auctions from my personal bags and personal bank in minutes.

Now that gems stack you can utilize this application to sell multiple items like never before. I was always so frustrated by the lack of support that JCs had in terms of stackable wares and decent sized bags. Cataclysm has recently changed all that for the better. JC is now even more dangerous when it comes to making gold...this app just multiplies that even further.

I am having great conversations with guild members as well. I just joined this guild (Delinquent Society -AD US) on my main pvp toon and they are a great group of people. Now I can chat with some of the more obscure players while I am at work...working. LOL! Seriously I am very happy with my $3 purchase and highly recommend this for the 9-5 workers out there who day dream about the crowded AH.

Office Space- The Bobs Interview with Peter...

Season 11

2011-12-06T11:14:00.001-06:00

When the servers come back up two things are going to happen- People are going to buy items that have resilience on them and then they are going to buy enhancements to those items. The well prepared with turn in various PvP currency types to get new gear but they will come to the AH to pimp it.

You should be selling any and all items that a battleground-pounder will need- enchants, gems, PvP crafted gear, buff food, and bandages. People will do anything and everything to squeeze out as much resilience as possible as they grind their way to get the honor needed to start purchasing S11 gear.

This cycle will last for at least three weeks as there are easily three tiers of gear to upgrade to- S11, S10, and S10 equivalent crafted blue gear. Get on the ball when the servers go live and create those lists for your AH mod of choice if you have not done so already.

I will personally be doing both the honor grind and the AH supply during this event. Check out Cynwise's Battlefield Manual for PvP tips and to get a glimpse at what might sell well on your server. Happy hunting and may the best Justicar/AH Goblin win!

Picture origin unknown

How do you kill that which has no life? [Blizzard Exec #4] South Park season 10

Back in the Saddle Again...Again

2011-12-05T14:39:00.001-06:00

Hello Blogiverse! I am back from a ten month hiatus and I am ecstatic to be here. I fired up WoW after applying for the one year renewal; insuring my guaranteed copy of Diablo III. Once I made it in I noticed that my account had been hacked. The 600k gold I had on my main was gone and just about anything of value was also gone. Despite this set-back I am still very happy to be playing again.

I am currently figuring out what addons I want to run for the auction house. If anything has changed over the last ten months to make auctioning a little easier please let me know readers. I am also adding feeds to Google Reader to give me stuff to read at work to add to my "food for thought" plan of attack.

I am excited and optimistic that I can get my account up to 5 million gold. I will running more secure this time with a complicated account password and an Android mobile authenticater, should my old account hacking buddies decide to return...

First impressions of my first two days back (Sat-Sun) are very high. I love the changes in 4.3. I knocked out numerous achievements with Darkmoon Faire. I was buying season ten PVP gear while queuing up repeatedly for random battlegrounds...AND WINNING MOST OF THEM! I also pulled in about 27k my first day and about 50k the next day from auction sales without any addons!

The time away has put me behind on recipe acquisitions (JC) and training. I will have to do a lot of research to see what has come out from new reputations, dungeon drops, removed items, etc. but I'll figure it out. Once again if any of you have any tips, especially new websites and utility services (like WoWEcon for example) then shoot me a message.

One last thing, I got my Sea Pony companion on the second cast...moments after a friend told me it was a loot-able item. Since he fished for well over an hour the word "friend" is not exactly a word he may choose to describe me (LOL) but it does give me hope that all will be back in good order soon. Thanks everyone!

Just two more episodes of Dexter to go!!! [happy and sad face]

More to come- I will be adding a pro-tip section, not only a blogroll section but a review of each blog as it is added, expanded reader saturation (I am going to hogtie some experts, make them read my blog, then have them invite all their readers to add my blog URL to their favorites), and last but not least [drumroll] a daily post that will be scrutinized by myself for at least 20 minutes [scouts honor].

The [more to come] section is not a promise of things to come but more of a "hope toilet" that I will stand over and wait for a steady stream of ideas to culminate into a healthy torrent of warm liquid thought...

TradeSkillMaster (continued)

2011-02-22T11:45:00.001-06:00

I guess now that WoWInsider has spilled the beans on TSM it is only a matter of time before everyone with an ounce of sense will begin using (abusing) the addon. [sigh] I am on board. I have no choice. The other addons are deceptivly inferior or broken/discontinued. TSM sucked up most of the talent to make its design team...

I use Panda, Auctionator, AuctionLite, and the staple of all (most) goblins- Auctioneer. With TSM replacing QA, ZA, APM I must use it to fill that void. I already said what I think the perfect AH addon would be but I am a but one small voice.

I can do everything I need to do with Panda and Auctionator but it just eats up all my play time. I LOVE Panda FYI. What a beautiful way to simplify professions. Tiny little morsels of GUI-clicky goodness! ...I digress, I hate getting "ranty". I am going to try Norganna's answer to making glyphs to see if that will delay the TSM takeover.

On a different note...Rift. Try the open beta currently underway but don't blame me if you find yourself spending less and less time in Azeroth.

Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo. Click pic for live Panda-Cam!!!

TradeSkillMaster

2011-02-16T12:26:00.000-06:00

I like it. I don't like it.

I personally miss the simplicity of the QA scan, click queue, click buy materials, and then click to create each item (or multiples of that item). Why make it harder...more complex...more resource heavy?

My idea for an easy to use AH addon- Make it intuitive. I should be able to open the AH, wait a brief moment for the addon to get the information it needs then it can produce a pop-up screen (log style) of what has sold, not sold, and been undercut on.

Eliminate multiple steps, irrelevent settings, and options. The mod should be called "Sell Stuff".

The addon should sell your stuff with competence. It should create its own history in which to judge the market(s) it is competing with. Done. I can haz more gold and watch more TV. Substitute "watch more TV" with your favorite past time.

In a perfect world...right?

Artwork property of Weezer (Boom Mgmt.) and Epitaph Records

Getting My Sea Legs Back

2011-02-15T12:34:00.000-06:00

I have been absent and for that I apologise. I guess I feel a little overwhelmed and slightly irrelevant/redundant when it comes to blogging about gold. Once you create a blog with a narrow minded moniker it leaves you with few options to pursue for blog content. I know, I know...excuses. I am a perpetual procrastinator at times. I need to set some goals...

First goal (for now)- "Write something on my blog every day if possible. No excuses!"

I will do my best.

Quick tip- Roll three jewelcrafters. Have one do metas, one do blues, and one save all daily tokens for epic cuts when they come. If Blizzard decides to change the way epic patterns are purchased (i.e. pyrium powder) then those tokens can always be used to purchase a ton of Chimera's Eyes to be sold or traded for patterns or raw gems.

It's been a hard day's night!

2010-12-07T20:43:00.000-06:00

Here is what 100,000 gold, maximum preparation, seven hours of in-game work, and overcoming the odds can get you-

Realm first 525 enchanter!

Realm first 525 scribe!

...on the same toon.

I will reveal my strategy and all obstacles encountered in my next post. Thanks everyone (all ~~seven~~ six of you, lol) for stopping buy.

I'm baaaaaaack! I'm back in the saddle again!

2010-12-05T11:40:00.000-06:00

Quick update to let you all know that I am back from Iraq and looking forward to fast internet in which to post new gold making ideas. Maybe not "new" but certainly profitable ones lol. Thanks for your patience!

There he is! There he is! It's the Great Pumpkin!

2010-10-19T03:50:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you just get lucky!

4 [point] Zero [dot] Won!

2010-10-13T10:20:00.002-05:00

What a difference a day makes! I lost track of my earnings after 20k. Auditor is broken and that was my compass for such things. I was confused about the transmute cool-down. I thought it was going away. My two transmute masters were kinda flapping today. Oh well. I completely bought out every Eternal and Frost orb right before the servers went down. I have made that gold back in spades since then.

Here is a late tip but possibly valid for the upcoming expansion: I was unable to get into the game so I went and purchased the $3 online AH. I was able to post over 150+ auctions while waiting for the patch to do its thing. I was also able to see what materials were going for. Color me a fan! I can see myself in the DFW Airport lounge in Dallas on my way home, watching and selling glyphs on my Ipod Touch via WiFi. Go tech!

The Guide

2010-09-04T07:22:00.000-05:00

Part One – Getting Started

There are many gold guides out here. My ambition for this project is to explain mechanics, strategies, and lessons learned. I understand that there a many things dealing with WoW’s AH economy that are elementary, implied, or taken for granted. I would like to say up front that I am not here to insult anyone’s intelligence. All of my discussions in this guide are my own opinions and are the result of person al experiences in the game, World of Warcraft, and are not taken from any other source unless otherwise stated.

Now it is time for some assumptions. I will assume that you have at least one character that is level 80 and you have additional toons that are at least level 65 (65 is the minimum level required to max out your professions to 450). There are a few things you need to consider (expansion planning) if you want to be ready for Cataclysm. You need to make sure your gathering toon(s) is/are level 80. This will allow the character to gather high level nodes and mobs to get the resources to support your profession tool box.

I recommend having gathering toons that wear plate and have at least entry level (blue) crafted gear. The combination that I use is a DK with Mining and Engineering (engineers gather gas clouds) and another plate wearer (warrior or paladin) with Herbalism and Skinning. These two toons will be able to gather any raw materials you will need to support your other profession. I want you guys and gals to realize that I am not proposing that you all become farmers to support your auction house game. These two toons will help you get a jump-start in Cataclysm and are 100% voluntary.

The other professions- Tailoring, Leatherworking, Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting, Inscription, and Enchanting. These professions will make your wares that you will sell via the trade channel and the AH. The are many ways that you can distribute these professions. Some people like to pair professions that support one another. This is something you must decide for yourself. I will mention what I do as an example of how to maximize your profits.

Toon 1- Mining and Engineering.

Toon 2- Herbalism and Skinning.

Toon 3-Tailoring and Alchemy.

Toon 4- Leatherworking and Alchemy.

Toon 5- Blacksmithing and Alchemy.

Toon 6- Jewelcrafting and Alchemy.

Toon 7- Inscription and Alchemy.

Toon 8- Enchanting and Alchemy.

Toon 9- Jewelcrafting and Alchemy.

Toon 10- Jewelcrafting and Alchemy.

The total is eight alchemists, three jewelcrafters and one of everything else. Why so many alchemists? They get to transmute things. All eight of them should be transmute masters. That is a whopping eight transmutes a day (not including procs). The Jewelcrafters will have a cool down as well. They will also be able to get patterns three times as fast. Like I said before this is just a suggestion, you must play how you like to play.

The time investment is insane I know. This example is something that you can set goals towards. You do not have to scramble to get to this point if you are a casual player. Setting aside some time each day or weekend to level your alt toons will eventually get you more workers for your AH business. I would also like to mention that I am not done leveling 10 toons with respect to this set-up. I will share my achievements toward this goal as I write this blog.

This is all for now. The next section of the guide will focus on add-ons, space, and stock. Till next time!

8 Alchemists = Win

Ferengi Proverb of the day-

45. Profit has limits. Loss has none.

An Old Proverb-

“A stitch in time saves nine.”

A little effort expended sooner to fix a small problem, prevents it from becoming a larger problem requiring a lot of effort to fix later; A little preparation can eliminate the need for repairs later; consistency (achieving a set rhythm) is better than trying to rush ahead. Courtesy of Wiktionary.

Made up Proverb of the Day-

“A terrible tale of loss in the gold making game will yield you nothing but torment if shared with the trade channel. “ (true story)

Fickle Flaying

2010-08-31T09:38:00.000-05:00

55. Always sell at the highest possible profit.

Current market values for this post: Borean Leather- 50s, Heavy Borean Leather- 6g, Frozen Orb- 29g, Arctic Fur- 43g, Icy Dragonscale- 1.5g, Icescale Leg Armor- 110g, and Heavy Borean Armor Kit- 64g.

My math:
(6x) Borean Leather = (1) Heavy Borean Leather
(1) Arctic Fur = (10) Heavy Borean Leather
(10) Borean Leather = 60g
Cost analysis of Arctic Fur is 30g > 43g

Example 1:
Icescale Leg Armor- AH Cost breakdown. (2) Arctic Fur for 86g, (2) icy Dragonscale for 3g, and (1) Frozen Orb for 29g = 118g investment.
Current market value- 110g with a net loss of 8g. The cost (2) Arctic Furs when they are purchased with (10) Heavy Borean Leather from Braeg Stoutbeard is 92g; with a net gain of 18g (19.5% profit).

Example 2:
The net gain of selling the (20) Heavy Borean Leather on the AH instead of using them to make the Icescale Leg Armor is 60g (100% profit).

Example 3:
The net gain of using (20) Heavy Borean Leather to make (5) Heavy Borean Armor Kits is 260g (530%).

I will be honest here. I hate Leatherworking. Skinning/LW were the last two professions I leveled based on previous experiences with them.

I like to keep it simple so I will always sell whatever sells the best in regards to LW. I recommend that you watch the value of Heavy Borean Leather closely. Example 3 clearly shows were the profit lies in LW but as long as you are making a profit it is safe to place your eggs in multiple baskets.

I find that waiting for opportunity to knock is the best course of action. When I accumulate the raw materials for making epic leg armors from doing daily dungeons and questing/dailies then I make and sell them. It is hard to beat 530% profit but offering more wares certainly gets your name known on the server.

Goblin tip- Don't be caught dead with a Gnomish Army Knife...

Gnome tip- Don't be caught dead with a Goblin...

I would like to thank The Undermine Journal for providing my statistical data.

Coming soon- More Diversa Aurophobia!

NOT Coming Soon- A Leatherworking guide...

Real-Life Tips- A Gnome in your yard is money that you spent to put a Gnome in your yard. Think about it...

Moral Merchants

2010-08-31T07:19:00.000-05:00

2. You can't cheat an honest customer, but it never hurts to try.

I want to touch briefly on this rule. I am certain that as I go down the “The Complete Ferengi Rules Of Acquisition” that there will be certain rules that will not apply to WoW or making gold by using the AH in WoW. That being said this particular rule will not be part of my tool chest. I do not believe in cheating people whether they are honest or not; my credibility in this game is important and sticking to my morals in life will keep that in check.

I am, however, here to make gold. When I was a consumer in WoW I would often be “kited” into buying the right product but at either the wrong price or the wrong amount. These clever tricks to conceal items amidst other items of better value often left you holding a glass that was half full. This made me mad. I was not a wealthy Dwarf and thereby had to manage my spending if I wanted to play the game responsibly.

So in this (short) post I would like to ensure all of my (2) subscribers thus far that I will not talk about exploits, deception, or wrangling. I want to get gold capped while maintaining my integrity. So, in closing, the CFRoA rule #2 is not supported at Diversa Aurophobia.

My Long, Strange Trip...

2010-08-27T08:16:00.000-05:00

Four score and five years ago I started playing this game. I was consistently poor and never leveled a toon to 60 before BC came out. I continued to stay consistently poor when BC hit but I did manage to level my main to 70 and started doing end game content. I was able to get both tailoring and enchanting maxed out and I raised all the factions applicable to granting me more recipes to increase my wares. I did my best to get all the drops I could so I could make some gold but I stayed consistently poor. [NERF BAT] Kara, Gruul's, Mag, SSC, TK, Hyjal, BT...loot was good but I was STILL consistently poor.

[Cherubim angels singing] Sunwell is released. Everyone bands together to open the raid. Dailies, dailies, dailies! TY Shattered Sun Offensive! Damn...SP is hard. SP is waaaay too hard. Dailies get boring. Gold reserves run dry. I am poor again...

I watch a video on YouTube. In this video this gnome is leading a pug in SP. He has a system that allows him to kill the first mob then CC pull both linked mobs leaving the dragonhawks CC'd as everyone runs out of the instance. Why was this so cool? Because those 16 mobs (14 kills) drop epics...lots of epics. As long as you left the two animals hibernated and ran out (since they were all linked) when you ran back in the mobs previously killed were restored... OMG! Sunmotes! Epic Gems! Best-in-slot gear! Epic Patterns! This guy was my hero.

So I started my own pug on my server. I found a good tank who only wanted an epic gem per run as payment, plus a chance to roll on any drops. I was the master looter. My payment was one Sunmote per raid for organizing the group and inviting attendees. Sunmotes were selling for 6-10k at the time. We were running this pug almost every day. I was making 6-10k a day. A DAY!!! I was rich for the first time in WoW. Then WotLK was announced, Sunwell was nerfed, my gold business was decimated. I was sunk. Within a month I was consistently poor...again.

[Fast Forward] July, 2010. I decided I was tired of being poor. I could not stand dailies. I could not stand grinding, I could not stand farming. I wanted to check my mailbox and see those lovely little scrolls that make coin sounds when you open them. …But how?

I crafted something. I put it on the AH. It sold. I crafted more things. They sold. I made alts. They leveled and maxed their professions. They made stuff. It all sold too. I was finally doing it. I was earning gold in WoW. I was not using some cheesy exploit to farm valuable BoEs. I was actually working for a WoW living. [Hums Huey Lewis]

[Friday, 27 August 2010] I have every possible profession maxed. I have a good understanding of the AH and the add-ons used to automate my interaction with it. I have 32k liquidity and about 40k in stockpiled items. My goal is to cap my gold and have ten toons ready for Cataclysm. I will use this blog to chronicle my successes and failures. I will refrain from revealing too much about myself or my toons but I will share anything that I discover along the way.

I am not trying to reinvent the wheel and there are certainly more blogs out there with more street cred. I am going forward despite these shortcomings. I want to do this for myself. I want to have financial freedom to play the game the way I want to play when new raid and pvp content is revealed in the expansion. I invite you all to tune in for future installments of my misadventures!

To keep this blog interesting I will be using The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition as a source of inspiration for my blog posts. Today’s lesson will be the defining rule by which all other rules are judged-

Rule #1. Once you have their money, never give it back!

...Don't worry 'Great River'...I won't.

Post quote- "Time is money, friend!" ...every Goblin in the game says this...I wish I had listened from the beginning.

Coming Soon!

2010-08-17T13:07:00.000-05:00

This blog will cover my journey to become an AH tycoon (or failure). I am still developing my blogging strategy so check back soon.