Stockpiling for Patch 4.3 – Don’t Make My Mistake

As the patch quickly approaches we goblins are in high stockpile mode. Getting ready for sales and hoping to make a fortune. As such we must make a plan to coordinate our preparations. When planning for a future event I make a generalized plan. As the date approaches I make additional more specific plans. This is where the problem has arisen for me. I find that my initial plan is falling far short of reality.

 

My generalized plan involved identifying what items I needed to stockpile and in what amounts I should stockpile them. Basically I just guessed. As it turned out I guessed wrong. Upon making a more specific plan I had to identify what items I wish to make, how many of each, and compare those numbers to my stockpiles. It was then that I realized that my estimates of how many of each item to stockpile was grossly small. In short, I don’t have enough mats stockpiled. Not near enough.

 

This is not the situation I wanted to be in this close to the patch. At this point I wanted to have completed most of my buying and have only the small details left to figure out. Because of my error in planning I am going to have to buy larger amounts of mats than planned. This means that I am also going to have to pay higher prices for them than I originally planned.

 

I am writing this post for two reasons. First, to work out the details for myself. Second, to warn others not to make the same mistake that I made. If you haven’t made a specific plan, do so now. Put a plan on paper. Write out what you want and figure out what you need to make it happen. Compare your plan to your current stockpile. You might be surprised at the numbers.

 

In the following I'm going to reveal my plan for patch day to you. I will show you what I did right and what I did wrong in planning. I will explain what I plan on doing and why I plan on doing it that way. Hopefully this will help you in creating your own plan. While the exact specifics might not apply to you or your server the reasons behind my decisions may help.

 

Crafting

While there are may ways of making gold post-patch I'm going to focus on crafting. I expect that selling crafted items will account for the majority of my profits. Crafted items fall under different categories. The ones I will focus on are “item enhancements” and “weapons/armor”. Each has potential for large profits.

 

Step 1: Targeting your customers

There are many different kinds of players in the game. They tend to fall into general categories that can be targeted for specific sales. They can be classified as Raiders, PvPers, Casuals, Collectors, PvEers, and many other groups. For the purpose of selling crafted items to these people I tend to classify them into three groups. These groups I call high, medium and low. I place them into each group based on the quality of their armor.

• High: High level players tend to be the hardcore raiders. They have high item level armor and weapons. Gear tends to be BiS. They have the best gems and enchants on their items.
• Medium: These players tend to be in casual raiding guilds. They generally have only a few pieces of maximum level gear. Most gear is epic quality but not BiS.
• Low: Low level players are people who do not raid frequently. While gear may be epic it is not maximum item level. Generally purchase BoE items from AH or equip dungeon loot drops.

 

Each group has specific needs that can be targeted. People in the High group will not be purchasing crafted weapons or armor. They will, however, be quickly replacing their gear after patch release. Thus I will target this group with item enhancements. Specifically gems and enchants. Medium level players may be looking to buy a couple of pieces of crafted gear to upgrade their item levels. Item enhancements will also sell well to this group. Low item level players are the biggest group that will be buying crafted gear. This group can be targeted for PvE or PvP gear sales with higher item levels.

 

LFR and LFD

The Looking for Dungeon (LFD) and Looking for Raid (LFR) present us with excellent opportunities to make gold in this patch. The new dungeons (Hour of the Twilight Heroic) will require a minimum item level of 353. The new LFR (The Fall of Deathwing and The Siege of Wyrmrest Temple) require an item level of 372. This will not present a problem for the High item level players. Some of the Medium item level players may need to replace an item or two to get into the LFR. Low item level players will need to replace the majority of their gear to make it into the LFR. This is good news since the LFR is aimed at these people. While High and Medium item level players will be entering normal raid dungeons, LFR was designed for the casual players. Many of these people will find themselves undergeared after the patch release. Fortunately, we goblins, are here to help them gear up.

 

Step 2: Crafting the Items

At this point we have identified our target customers and identified what items they are going to be needing. Now we not only need to identify the quantities of items to craft we need to decide when to craft them. For example: Crafted weapons and armor will be needed immediately upon patch release by those wanting to get into LFR. As such we will also see low sales of enhancement items for this crafted gear. However we must also plan for an additional delayed demand for enhancement items from those running raids. This delay may take a day or two after the release before the demand hits the market. In addition we must also plan for the weekend sales following the release. We will see high sales on the day of patch release with decreasing demand in the following days. However, demand will spike again on Friday and Saturday with the weekend players needing new gear. If you don’t plan for the second spike in sales you will be losing potential profits to other sellers.

 

Some items can be crafted and stockpiled prior to the patch release. These include weapons, leg armors, spellthread, enchant scrolls, rare cut gems, and ilvl 378 PvE gear. The items that cant be crafted prior to the patch release are glyphs, PvP armor, and epic cut gems.

 

My crafting plan is as follows: I intend to make 2 pieces of all ilvl 372 PvP gear. Then craft additional pieces as needed. I will craft 5 each of rare cut gems and metas. Watch market before deciding how deep I want to go into rare cuts. Craft 1 each of the ilvl 365 weapons. Craft 1 stack each of leg armor, spellthread, belt buckles, shield spike, weapon chain. Craft more as needed. Closely watch market for demand of crafted ill 378 PvE items. Craft as needed. Craft 10 each of weapon and armor enchants. Craft more as needed.

 

It is important to remain flexible with crafted items. Never make too many. Remember that people will be upgrading some of their gear with 378 items with Justice Points. However, due to the cap they will be limited to only a couple of pieces. Watch closely to identify the greatest need on your server. Never make large quantities if you don’t have to. Keep mats in raw form, this will allow you to remain flexible and able to change your plan at a moments notice.

 

As you can see not only do I need to plan enough stockpile to make crafted items on patch day, I need to have enough of a stockpile to last me for at least a week of sales. Experience has taught me that crafting mats tend to disappear on patch day. Then when they do reappear on the auction house they are greatly overpriced. Thus I need to stockpile everything I need before the patch hits. How much more? Let me show you how much I will need. I will list it by profession.

 

Alchemy

Unfortunately Alchemy is going to be a wait and see approach. The big news is transmuting epic gems. However we do not have any information on the recipes or the mats needed. I have stockpiled large numbers of uncut rare gems, volatiles, and herbs in preparation. On my server flasks, elixirs, and potions are over-supplied and under-priced.

I think we are going to be disappointed with the transmutes for epic gems. I expect Blizzard to gate these with a cooldown of one every 3, 5, or 7 days. Also keep an eye on the Mythical Healing Potion market. Blizzard is buffing this potion from 21k to 25k heals this patch. The Mythical Mana Potion was also supposed to get a buff as well but this hasn’t appeared on the PTR.

 

Blacksmithing

I have already made large stockpiles of item enhancements belt buckles, shield spike, and weapon chain. This leaves me with needing to stockpile mats for the PvP gear once the patch hits. With my plan to make 2 of each item I will need to stockpile the following for just the first day.

Elementium Bar – 388
Volatile Water – 160
Volatile Fire – 134
With my plan to stockpile sufficient quantities for a week my goal stockpile is as follows
Elementium Bar – 1500
Volatile Water – 650
Volatile Fire – 550

I also have several stacks of Hardened Elementium Bars in preparation for the ilvl 397 recipes that will drop this patch.

 

Enchanting

Enchanting will not be getting any new recipes this patch. We will only be getting a new ability Maelstrom Shatter. This does not mean that enchanting will not be profitable. Quite the opposite. With the large amount of new gear being implemented, plus the new ilvl for LFR, players will be begging for weapon and armor enchants. I have already stockpiled enchant scrolls in advance. I have 2k stacks of dust and 450 maelstrom crystals. My pre-crafting the scrolls show that I underestimated my need for shards and essences. I estimate I will need an additional 200 shards and 500 essences.

Many others bloggers are stockpiling large amounts of pre-crafted scrolls. Personally, I would advise against this. Pre-crafting lowers your mats on hand and limits your ability to change your crafting/posting plan as the market changes. Craft only what you need for the first day then craft more as needed. Stay flexible.

 

Engineering

Engineering is my go-to profession for pets. I don’t expect pets to sell so I will largely abandon engineering for the first week after patch.

Keep an eye on market for engineer crafted weapons and weapon enhancement items. On my server these items are over-supplied but your server may be different.

 

Inscription

Inscription will only be getting one new glyph this patch. It is Glyph of Shadow. I will probably make a couple of these and try to sell them the first day. I don’t expect to be selling them after the first day due to competition driving the price below profitability. I will also be selling midnight ink and lions ink on the auction house. Midnight ink is required for the minor inscription research needed to learn the new glyph. Lions ink x3 is needed to craft the glyph. Otherwise I plan on abandoning the glyph market for the first week after the patch.

I do not recommend going too heavily into the ink market as these inks are also available from the ink trader vendor for a cost of one blackfallow ink

 

Jewelcrafting

The new jewelcrafting recipes are available for purchase from a vendor for 5 jewelcrafting tokens each. By the time the patch drops I should have enough tokens to purchase 30-35 recipes. With this patch jewelcrafters are given new PvP ring and necklace recipes. With my plan to make 2 of each on patch day I will need the following mats.

Inferno Ruby - 18
Ocean Sapphire – 18
Amberjewel – 18
Volatile Earth – 32
Volatile Water – 44
Volatile Life – 8
Volatile Air – 32
Volatile Fire – 8

Fortunately these mats are cheap and plentiful. Acquiring a large supply is not difficult.

 

Leatherworking

Leatherworking is one of the professions where I greatly underestimated the supply that I would need. Perhaps it was wishful thinking on my part seeing that Leather is on short supply on my server. The prices for leather are high and likely to go even higher. I already have a large supply of leg armor stocked up and will only need to craft more if they run out (not likely). For the first day of crafting I will need the following items.

Heavy Savage Leather – 576
Pristine Hide – 4
Blackened Dragonscale – 320
Volatile Fire – 328
Volatile Water – 160
Volatile Life – 160
Volatile Earth – 8

As you can see Heavy Savage Leather is a problem. In theory I would want 1200-1500 of these. In reality I'm not going to be able to come close. As the patch day comes closer I may have to re-evaluate my plan. Making only one of each and crafting replacements as necessary. At least until I run out of leather.

 

Tailoring

Tailoring is another profession where I underestimated the amounts of mats that I would need. To complete my first day plan requires the following.

Bolt of Embersilk Cloth – 304
Volatile Water – 82
Volatile Fire – 134
Volatile Air – 52

Unlike Savage Leather, Embersilk cloth is plentiful and cheap on my server. With the time remaining I should be able to bring my level of bolts up to where they need to be.

With Dreamcloth being required for the ilvl 397 recipes I am hesitant to use my highly limited supply to craft spellthread leg enchants. At this time I am unsure if I want to hold on to these to craft later or use them to build a stock of enchants. I could also keep my dreamcloth and just buy out the AH before the patch but this is extremely risky. A third option would be not to craft any spellthread and just take a wait and see approach. I have a couple of weeks to make a decision on this.

 

 

Note: None of these plans take into account the new item level 397 recipes that will be dropping. I intend to purchase these and craft these items as well. Thus I need to take this factor into account when planning my stockpiles.

 

 

As you can see I made some mistakes when estimating some of the supplies that I would need. Sitting down and putting my plan on paper helped me see exactly what I was going to need. While not everyone has all professions you should get some idea of what you may need from the above examples. Also make your plan according to your budget and server supply. If you only have a limited supply of gold you should pick and choose carefully which markets to go after. Never over-extend yourself and always keep some liquid gold on hand just in case. Also keep a close eye on the quantity of Volatiles you will need. The end numbers may surprise you.

 

 

CHAOS ORBS

In patch 4.3 chaos orbs will become unbound. These items are needed for crafting the old and new profession recipes. I expect that demand will exceed supply for the first week or two after the patch. To combat this I have contacted several people on my server. I have already made deals with them to buy their orbs on patch day. That way its easier for them and I get a guaranteed purchase. I even made deals with cross-faction friends to buy their orbs off the neutral auction house.

A note on prices: On the PTR chaos orbs were originally listed for 5000 gold each. After a few days they dropped to around 500 gold each. These prices lasted for a couple of weeks, now they are priced at approximately 50 gold each. I expect we can expect this general trend on the live servers.

 

LIVING EMBERS

Living embers are still a necessary material for crafting ilvl 378 gear. On my server embers are now dropping in price to 2k-3k gold each. There seems to be a fair amount of supply on the market. Check the prices of these on your server. If the prices are cheap enough you may want to buy these to flip after the patch. Once the patch hits few people will be raiding in Firelands. The supply of these will dry up for a few weeks after the patch while players try to experience the new raids. This should raise prices (temporarily) making flipping a good choice.

Warning: Don’t hold on to these too long after the patch. Once people get used to the new raids they will go back to farming old content and the prices will drop. Timing is everything in flipping.

 

 

 

THE END

I would like to apologize for the extra long post. If it counts for anything the original post I wrote was almost twice as long but I managed to edit it down by half. Hopefully you have gained a few good ideas from it that will help you with your own game plan. I still have more to say on this topic but I think I will save it for another post.

Thanks,

Jafo

 

Pilgrim's Bounty

Pilgrim's Bounty is here again. This provides a few opportunities for players to make some extra gold. Mages in particular will be able to make gold selling ports to the major cities. The dailies for this world event require each player to complete a quest in each city every day. There will be plenty of players willing to pay mages for their portals.

Another opportunity to make gold is by selling Tracker Snacks. As I pointed out in an earlier post Planning For Success these are made using Shoveltusk Flanks and Northern Spices. Tracker Snacks are helpful in completing the quest The Turkinator. This is one of the more difficult quests needed to complete the meta-achievement to get the holiday pet Turkey Cage.

You can also make money selling Wild Turkeys to other players for their daily quests. These are obtained by killing turkeys in Elwynn Forest or Tirisfal Glades. While these cannot be listed on the auction house they can be traded so be sure to advertise in chat.

Another possibility lies in cooking. This holiday provides players to level their cooking from 1-300 in a very short time using the recipes available from the quest giver in the Bountiful Cookbook. After this players must level their cooking on their own. If your server permits you might try cornering the market on Outlands and Wrath level meat used for cooking.

Be sure to check out WoW Insiders Guide to Pilgrim's Bounty 2011 for details on all the quests.

Functionality of Add-Ons in Patch 4.3

The first thing we've come to expect in a new patch is that add-ons break. Sometimes this can be fixed simply by checking the “Load out of date add-ons” box in the “Addons” button at the character load screen. However this does not always work. Some add-ons simply refuse to function after the patch. The developers of many add-ons are very quick to release updates after the patch. We can expect many of these to have updates waiting for us on patch day. Others will take days or weeks to be updated. Some never will be updated and will be thrown on the heap of old and forgotten add-ons.

I decided to check the viability of add-ons on the PTR. The purpose of which is to see which add-ons will continue to function after the patch without updates. While it is impossible for me to check all add-ons I will try to check as many as I can. This however is not meant to be an all-inclusive list. I intend to update this list as time goes by to keep my readers informed. The post will be edited and updated as new information is presented.

All tested add-ons will be given one of four grades:

Working: Add-on has full pre-patch functionality. No problems noticed.

Buggy: Add-on had some working features with other features not working properly or at all.

Broken: Add-on has completely ceased to work. An attempt to use this add-on may crash the game or caused significant game lag.

Unknown: Add-on cannot be tested on the PTR due to technical difficulties.

AUCTION / SALES

• Auctioneer – Broken Unable to search, scan or post auctions. Breaks dependent add-ons.
• Auctionator – Buggy Able to search and post auctions only. While scanning and posting auctions add-on is unable to locate competitor buyout price.
• Trade Skill Master – Buggy This add-on is almost fully functional except when it comes to posting. Dependent on other add-ons for full functionality it is unable to locate competitor auctions (Buyout pricing) thus all auctions are posted at ceiling.
• Accountant - Working
• My Sales - Working
• The Undermine Journal – Unknown   Not sure why but I am unable to get TUJ to install or update on PTR. Any advice would be appreciated.

USER INTERFACE

• Dominos - Working

BAG CONTROL / MAIL

• Tbag - Working
• Postal - Working

CRAFTING

• Advanced Tradeskill Master - Working
• Ackis Recipe List - Working
• Lil' Sparkys Workshop – Buggy Add-on appears to be functioning but it is dependent on a broken add-on for prices.
• Panda - Working

HEALING

• Healium - Working
• Healbot - Working

PARTY / RAID

• Omen - Working
• Decursive - Working
• Deadly Boss Mods - Working

OTHER

• Mage Nuggets - Working
• Spellflash – Buggy Arcane Mage and Prot Paladin appear to be working however the Druid and Priest modules appear broken.

I will be checking out other add-ons in the next few days. If anyone can assist me please send me the add-on info by e-mail or leave a comment below.

The New Darkmoon Faire Patch 4.3 {PTR}

The new Darkmoon Faire has arrived on the PTR. After checking it out for a few days I am able to tell you about it. First I would like to applaud Blizzard for a job well done. The revamp of the Faire is excellent. The graphics are awesome.

The first thing you do when entering the faire is to purchase a bag of Darkmoon Game Tokens. These are the currency required to play the games. There are three types of quests in the faire. They are daily quests, regular quests and profession quests. As stated the daily quests can be completed every day the faire is active. The regular quests and profession quests can only be completed once per month.

The daily quests are easy and brainless. Throw three rings around a moving turtle, use a tonk to blow up x number of targets, etc. The regular quests are fairly easy except one or two. Most can be completed in a few minutes without leaving the faire. The profession quests are very easy and most can be completed in a few minutes without leaving the faire.

The majority of profession quests have all the necessary materials provided for them by the quest givers. However there are a few that require additional materials to complete that are not available at the faire. They are:

Alchemy - Moonberry Juice x5

Archeology - Fossil Fragments x15

Cooking - Simple Flour x5

Inscription - Light Parchment x5

Leatherworking - Coarse Thread, Shiny Baubles, Blue Dye

Tailoring - Course Thread, Red Dye, Blue Dye

If you are planning on completing these quests remember to bring these materials with you before entering the faire. There are no vendors that supply these items on the island.

I'm not going to go into too much detail on these quests and achievements as they have been reported elsewhere. Please check the section below titled “Additional Resources” for specific details and instructions on them.

What is still there

In my previous post Darkmoon Faire Changes I recommended that players stock up on the pets provided by the vendors Flik and Morja. At this time I can confirm that both vendors are still in the game and all pets are available. Also still available is the vendor for the Darkmoon Faire Card Deck turn-ins. Sayge is still giving out his fortunes.

What isn’t there

While the old quest givers remain all the old quests are gone. If you are holding onto any of the old quest turn-ins I recommend you sell them off now. Items such as glowing scorpid blood, evil bat eye, torn bear pelt, dense grinding stone, and others will be useless after the patch. Also Blizzard promised us new profession recipes in Darkmoon Faire but these have yet to appear. This is not unusual for new recipes to be excluded from the PTR.

What is new

Heirloom items can now be purchased with Darkmoon prize tickets. Old vanilla replicas are available for purchase at the faire. New vanity items. Many new pets. New pet obtained from fishing Sea Pony. Check out the links at the bottom for details on all the new items and gear.

PVP

Deathmatch Pavilion aka Thunderdome. While the Darkmoon Faire is a sanctuary preventing PvP fighting, the Deathmatch pavilion is an arena style area for PvP action. The arena looks just like “Thunderdome” from the Mad Max movie. It is set up to be a free-for-all fight. That means alliance v alliance, horde v horde, and alliance v horde fighting is allowed. I don’t know what Blizzard intended when they created this arena but what they got was insanity with a dose of madness added in. In short.... I love this place. It is by far my favorite place in the faire. In theory you fight other players for a chest that rewards pieces needed to create a ilvl 365 trinket Pit Fighter or an ilvl 378 trinket Master Pit Fighter. In reality this place is chaos. Imagine 50 people trapped in a dome, attacking each other, no strategy, anything goes. Simply put...fun! The arena does allow players to party up. The expected life span of a solo player here is about 10 seconds. Teaming up with others is recommended. On the PTR players tend to team up along faction lines and attack players of the opposing faction. On my particular PTR realm the alliance tends to hold and dominate the arena. (Yay Alliance) Mostly because the alliance outnumbers horde on this server. This should be insane on live servers. I cant wait...

Important Information

Although I am unable to confirm it (already being exalted) rumor is that the quests now award Darkmoon Faire rep above revered all the way to exalted. In the past a player would be able to gain faire rep to revered by doing quests. After that the only way to level rep from revered to exalted was by turning in Darkmoon Faire Decks. An expensive and time consuming task.

Remember to pick up your Darkmoon Field Guide. This item is required for you to pick up items and quests outside Darkmoon Faire. Note: This item was originally called Darkmoon Adventurers Guide but the name was changed in a recent PTR build.

There are many tents in the faire that are blocked off and not open for business. This implies that Blizzard expects to add new features and/or vendors in future patches and expansions.

Death Knight starter gear will be available from a vendor in the Death Knight starting area, not Darkmoon Faire.

Gold Making in the Darkmoon Faire

Unfortunately we are not presented with many options to make gold in the faire. While some people on the PTR have begun to sell profession necessary items (Flour, Moonberry Juice, Light Parchment, etc) on the island during the faire for huge profits it is unlikely this will be profitable on the live servers. The replica armor, pets and mounts purchasable in the faire are currently BoP. While this might change in the Panderia expansion it doesn’t help us now. The only advice I have is to save your faire tickets in hope the pets become unbound in the next expansion.

Additional Resources:

MMO-Champion

WoWHead

WoW Insider

Kaliope's Crafting Blog

Special Note

Blizzard never gives the release date for their patches. Current speculation puts the release date between the end of November to the beginning of January. However with Blizzards recent announcement that the current arena season will end November 15^th leads me to believe that it will be sooner rather than later. My guess is that we will see the patch before the end of November.

The Day the Glyph Market Died

The Day the Glyph Market Died

How Blizzard is killing the Inscription profession

There are several professions in the World of Warcraft. Some are more popular than others. Blizzard seems to have thrown in the towel on some of them. We all know how profitable some of these professions are. Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, Blacksmithing, Tailoring, and Leatherworking are top tier professions. Alchemy and Inscription are on the decline. Engineering died long ago.

Blizzard kills off profession through neglect. No new recipes, decreased usefulness of existing abilities, and phasing out of current items.

What great new abilities can we Inscriptionists expect in patch 4.3? Frankly, not much. We get one new glyph, Glyph of Shadow, which isn’t even a useful glyph. Just used for cosmetic effect for shadow priests. What else? Nothing!

Lets not forget the most recent slap in the face to our profession presented to us by Blizzard at Blizzcon. Rumors that Blizz “might do away” with prime glyphs. Also their intention to do away with relics in the next major expansion.

Lets be honest, the profitability of inscription has been on the decline. Ever since Blizzard allowed glyphs to be permanently learned. Every market has a “saturation point” where people no longer require the product. The glyph market has reached this point. By now most, if not all, players have permanently learned their class glyphs. Glyph sellers are left selling to new players and alts. Not a large market by any means.

We are victims of our own success. In the past year many of us have made thousands, if not tens of thousands, of gold from glyphs. This has caused the market to become flooded with new players joining the inscription field. Just as the market share has begun to decline. What we are left with is many players fighting over the scraps of a dying market. The numbers of our competitors continues to rise while the numbers of our buyers continue to decline.

Now enter the disappointment which is patch 4.3. One new glyph will not rescue this market. What is truly disappointing is how Blizzard has totally disregarded this profession in the new patch. Jewelcrafters get updated ilvl 377 PvP rings and necklaces. Blacksmiths, Leatherworkers and Tailors get upgraded ilvl 377 PvP gear. Why did inscriptionists not get updated trinkets? Updated off-hands? Updated relics?

The glyph market is not dead. Not yet. But unless the current trend is changed it will die out. Blizzard will need to drastically change how this market operates. They will need to implement new lines of profitability. And they will need to do it soon. The current market will not be able to support an increasing number of sellers from a decreasing pool of buyers.

The inscription profession is indeed dying out. Slowly, but steadily dying. The glyph market is circling the wagons. Trying to squeeze the last profits before the final farewell. The Trinkets, Off-Hands, and Relics are so old and outdated that they are almost completely useless. Even niche markets such as Mysterious Fortune Cards are becoming flooded and showing very low profits.

The purpose of this post is not to rage or QQ. It is to start a discussion. One which, hopefully, Blizzard will hear and pay attention to. Blizzard does a good job at creating a balance to their game. However, they must realize that the professions are also an important part of the game as well. New patches and expansions cannot simply focus on new content and new raids but also new growth to all aspects of the economy. The key to the economy is, and always has been, the professions. They cannot continue to treat the professions as an afterthought. Supporting some while letting others suffer. Its not too late to save Inscription, its not too late to save Alchemy, and maby, someday, they will find a way to resurrect engineering.

Planning for Success

We never plan to fail. We simply fail to plan. To be a successful gold maker in WoW we must always have a plan. We must always be looking forward for the next opportunity. Have you made a plan for future profits or have you failed to plan?

A gold maker in the game must always be looking to the future. Making plans on the best ways to profit. Below is a list of events in the World of Warcraft that you should be planning for.

Darkmoon Faire (Shattrath) November 6 – November 12

Depending on the release of Patch 4.3 this Darkmoon Faire may be the last appearance of the “old” faire before the “new” faire is implemented. Check out my previous post Darkmoon Faire Changes for items you should stockpile before the change. Tip: Remember to spend all your Darkmoon Faire Prize Tickets as they will go gray and be unusable in the new faire.

Pilgrim's Bounty November 20 – November 26

I recommend stockpiling a large amount of Shoveltusk Flank and Northern Spices before this event arrives. Shoveltusk Flank is used to create Tracker Snacks which, though not required, are extremely helpful to complete the quest The Turkinator. These sell for huge profits during this event. If you do not have Recipe: Tracker Snacks now would be a great time to pick it up. It can be learned from the cooking trainer in Dalaran for 3 Dalaran Cooking Awards obtained from the cooking dailies. Mages will be able to make a large sum of gold during this event due to players needing ports to all the major faction cities to complete the daily quests. Be sure to check out WoWheads Guide for full details on this event. Remember to pick up all 5 seasonal cooking recipes for your cooking achievement. Tip: If you haven’t leveled cooking on your main or alts this would be an excellent time. The cooking dailies allow you to level cooking from 1-300 in about an hour for just a few gold.

Patch 4.3 (Release Date Unknown)

Check out my previous post Prepairing for Patch 4.3 for a list of items I recommend stockpiling for the new patch. Basically all crafting mats, all volatiles and chaos orbs. Remember, even if your not a crafter you can make a profit selling to those that are. Tip: Keep an eye on your Valor and Justice points. After the patch all VP will be downgraded to JP so make sure the combined totals do not exceed the JP cap.

WoW's 7^th Anniversary November 20 – December 4

Typically you log in during a WoW anniversary and you are awarded a pet and a Feat of Strength achievement.

Darkmoon Faire (Elwynn Forest) December 4 – December 10

If Patch 4.3 is not released in November then this will probably be the last chance at the old faire. Remember to take plenty of family photos and videos during your visit.

Feast of Winter Veil December 15 - January 2

One item you should be stockpiling for this event is Small Egg. Small eggs are used to create Gingerbread Cookies and Egg Nog which are required for achievements. Another item needed for quests is Deeprock Salt. Having a few of these on hand to sell is recommended. This event does require crafted materials for tailors to make red winter clothes and green winter clothes. These recipes require wool cloth and rune cloth. Leatherworkers can make winter boots requiring copper bar, wool cloth and rugged leather to craft. There are many ways to profit off this holiday event. I will post another blog on it when the event draws closer.

In Conclusion:

Nothing is guaranteed. The advice given in this post is based on my best knowledge and experience. However, lately, Blizzard has been making tweaks and changes to the Holiday Event quests. We cannot be certain that any of the information here will survive these changes. Caveat Emptor. If you notice any item which should be stockpiled prior to any of these events please post a comment below.

NOTE:

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