The Auction House Grind: 2012

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Unique find yields massive XP

For those of you questing and leveling in Townlong Steppes there is an item worth searching for. Amber Encased Moth is a gray item that can be found laying on the ground in Dusklight Hollow at coordinates 66.86. It can be found at those coordinates, behind a tree, up against the cliff wall. Just look for the little sparkles coming up from the ground.

While this gray item sells to vendors for 105 gold the real reason to search for it is the XP granted from looting it. At my current level of 88 looting it granted me 751,000 experience. This xp boost definitely makes it worth finding.

Reading the comments from WoWhead shows that the amount of experience granted seems to vary. Some players reported experience granted from as low as 354,000 xp to as high as 862,400xp granted. It is unknown by me at this time if the amount of xp granted is set to some type of scale or simply RNG.

Look behind the tree near the wall

This area is the location for the quest Thieves and Troublemakers where you are required to kill Agitated Nettleskins and collect Volatile Dread Orbs. So when undertaking these quests be sure to look behind every tree.

I have returned to the same site twice and have not been able to locate the item again. So I don’t know if it can be farmed or not. Once it has been looted I do not know what the respawn timer is. I will continue to return to the location and will update this post if I am able to locate it again on the same toon.

Please leave a comment if you have been able to locate it and let us know how much experience it granted you. Also leave a comment letting us know what the respawn timer is or if you know if it is farmable multiple times on the same toon.

Thanks,

Jafo

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

MoP and Brewfest

Source: Wowhead.com

With Mists of Panderia set to release on 9/25 Blizzard has pushed back the start of Brewfest by one week. Originally slated to run 9/20 – 10/5 it has been changed to run 9/28 – 10/13. The purpose of this change is to allow players additional time to level their characters before the event.

While Brewfest will remain generally unchanged after the expansion, the boss fight of Coren Direbrew has been upgraded. The boss is now level 90 and your toon must be a minimum of level 89 to queue for the dungeon.

While we do not have a full list of loot items this boss will be dropping the people over at mmo-champion have managed to data-mine a single item.

Brawler's Statue appears to be a level 90 trinket similar to last years level 85 trinket Brawler's Trophy.

We can only assume we will see level 90 upgrades to last years trinkets.

Bitterer Balebrew Charm

Bubblier Balebrew Charm

Coren's Chilled Chromium Coaster

Mithril Stopwatch
Petrified Pickled Egg

While last years boss fight had the chance to drop two weapons Direbrew's Bloodied Shanker and Tremendous Tankard O' Terror we do not know if we will get weapon drops from this years event.

While Blizzard has given us three days between the expansion and Brewfest it will still be a race for many to level up in time. Current estimates from beta and PTR indicate that most toons can be leveled from 85-90 in 20-25 hours of play time. So assume a dedicated player can reach level 89 in 15-20 hours. Not really a problem if you only have one 85. Major problem if you, like me, have multiple level 85's that you want the trinkets for. Remember you have only one attempt per day at the boss fight. Even then the trinket you want may not drop. Also you have four other players in the group you have to roll against for the trinket. (Yes, I know, last year two trinkets dropped per boss fight, but that is still no guarantee)

The point that I am trying to make is that you are going to have to make some difficult decisions. Getting one toon to level 89 in time for the holiday event is no problem. Getting eight toons to level 89 is near impossible. So for those of you who have multiple level 85's you are going to have to make a decision as to which of you characters you will attempt to level in time to get a new trinket. Blizzard has left us in a bind with this one. Even though we have 3 days before the event starts, along with the event lasting 16 days, trying to level too many toons at once will leave players burned out. Not to mention possibly unemployed, divorced, and friendless.

I plan on trying to level at least 4 toons to level 89 in time for Brewfest. If you plan on leveling multiple toons then I wish you luck.

Monday, September 17, 2012

The Battle for Theramore

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 18, marks the first world event that will proceed the release of the Mists of Pandaria expansion. Expected to be released after maintenance the exact time is unknown. This week will be the only time the event is available to level 85 players. After the expansion release the event will only be accessible at level 90.

This event will be the first battle of the upcoming expansion between the Alliance and Horde. Spoiler alert: ((The Horde wins)). Each side will be required to complete five quests for the event. The event will require players to join in groups of three. While no specifics have been given, there does not appear to be a specific role requirement for the groups. Thus there should be no problems finding a group without waiting to find a tank or healer. Players will be able to group with friends or simply join a group through dungeon finder.

While Blizzard has not announced if players will be able to get loot drops from kills, we do know that there will be faction specific rewards for completing all quests in the event. These rewards are Theramore Tabard for the Alliance and Mini Mana Bomb for the Horde.

I'll see everyone there.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

MoP + DMF = Petmas

Over the past few months I have been advising friends and guildies to stockpile their Darkmoon Fair tokens. The original plan was to see if the Darkmoon pets would become tradeable come MoP. From the beta and PTR we now know that while the pets are still listed as BoP they can be learned then caged for resell on the AH.

Therefore if you have any DMF tokens saved up, now is the time to buy the pets, as this will be the last faire before the release of Mists. As to which pets to choose? I'll leave that up to your own tastes. Personally I'm sticking with Darkmoon Cub Darkmoon Monkey and Darkmoon Turtle .

I'm not sure if the fishing pet Sea Pony can be caged and sold but if it can this would be a good time investment to farm. I imagine there would be a high demand and low supply for these.

Also don’t forget to keep scanning your auction house for rare battle pets. These can still be purchased for relatively cheap prices to flip after the release of MoP. Check out Colds post for all the info Companion Pets Turning To Rare Battle Pets.

Good Luck.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Patch Day 1

With the new patch being released today many people will be confused by the new talent trees and the new glyph systems. Below are some links that show different options to assist you in making informed decisions to re-talent your toons. While not all classes and specs are listed I hope this will help many in choosing the best builds. Please note that all these current builds are PvE only. If you know of other guides please feel free to leave a link in the comments section.

Here is a good post on glyphs:

Gold Shield: Top Glyph Pick

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Preparation for Patch

The pre-patch will be released on Tuesday, August 28^th. This is the final patch in preparation for Mists of Panderia. This patch will introduce us with the Battle of Theramore as a lead up to the release of MoP. While little is know about the exact details of the upcoming battle we do know that there will be several changes to the game that will be implemented in this patch.

The changes that will be made in this patch will be in preparation for MoP. The new talent trees will be implemented at this time. Also the new glyph changes will also be available. This will enable players to get used to the new system prior to the MoP release next month.

Also possible changes in this patch are the removal of relic slots and ranged weapons for all toons. Hunters will still be able to use ranged weapons however they will now be a main-hand weapon. Mages will still be able to use wands but these will also switch to main-hand weapon. However we are not certain if these changes will be made in the pre-patch or if they will be made in the release of MoP.

One of the changes that we do know is coming is to the Ink Vendor. The ink vendor is used by inscriptionists to trade Blackfallow ink for other types of inks. When the patch hits on Tuesday the ink vendor will be changed to accept only Ink of Dreams instead of Blackfallow Ink. Since Ink of Dreams will not be available to us until MoP this will create a shortage of ink used for inscription.

What most bloggers are recommending is that people mill Cata herbs for Blackfallow Ink and use these to trade for lesser inks prior to the patch release. This will enable you to create a stockpile of inks that will be needed to carry your inscription into the release of MoP and maby a week or two after.

At this time, I, like many others, have used this method to stockpile thousands of inks. People will continue to due this right up until the patch goes live. Or more accurately, when the servers go down Monday night.

While this information is important for inscriptionists, we, as goblins, must ask how we can profit from this. Remember that while many people are using this method to stockpile ink many others will over look the changes until it is too late. We can profit from these people.

If ink is no longer tradeable then the only way to create lesser inks is by milling pre-Cata herbs. This gives us the opportunity to buy cheap herbs now to re-sell after the patch. I would recommend buying cheap herbs, inks, and pigments off the auction house. Then be prepared to buy out the auction house on Monday night. Remember to stay away from Cataclysm herbs as these will no longer be as useful after the patch. Once the patch hits relist these items for obscene profits.

Good luck,

Jafo

Monday, April 16, 2012

Another Day

First I would like to congratulate Jim from PowerWord: Gold for hitting gold cap. As I finally hit gold cap yesterday I know how long the journey can be. I realize that I could have hit the cap much sooner if I weren’t such a collector of everything and was able to suppress my impulse to buy all the new “shinnies” in the game.

I've always wondered what I would “feel” once I hit gold cap. Along the way I swore that once I hit cap I would take a break from the AH for a while. However once I hit cap I realized that it wasn’t everything that I expected. Yes, I did feel a small amount of satisfaction but not the great sense of achievement that I expected. As I logged in to the game today to repost my auctions I realized that I don’t want to take a break. It made me reconsider my position that gold cap was the completion of my journey. Now I know that it was nothing more than a benchmark on my journey in this game.

I now know why others continue to reach double and even triple gold cap. It not about reaching a “final” goal or completing a task. Its about the journey. How we attempt to reach our goal is more important than actually reaching it.

When I first started this blog it was my intention to make a minimum of two posts a week. That lasted for about five or six months. Lately I haven’t been posting as much. The truth is that I didn’t have much new to say. However I have now received my MoP beta invite and will have some new information soon.

Thanks,

Jafo

Saturday, March 31, 2012

LOOK OUT! Its April 1st

Blizzard has an unusual sense of humor. Its obvious in some of the pop culture references in the game but it comes to the forefront on April 1st.

Welcome to April Fools Day 2012.

Below are some screen shots of possible April Fools Day jokes.

At least I hope they are April Fools Day jokes.

If not then does anyone know how to perform an exorcism on a computer?

Notice the comment "A buyer has been found for your auction of 999999 gold" in the text area.

A bit unusual since I was unaware that I was selling all my gold.

Notice the comment "Initiating TSM anti-bot Maneuvers" as the AH box spins around the screen.

These are just a couple of things I have noticed in a short time. I'm sure this is just the beginning. What have you seen in game?

Friday, March 30, 2012

Stockpiling for MoP

This post is submitted as part of Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival check out Colds site: Cold's Gold Factory for more gold making tips.

Recently many websites and blogs have been posting content on stockpiling for MoP. I wish to add my two cents to the conversation. At this time my stockpiling plan is very limited. The only item I am currently stockpiling for the expansion is Gold.

My reasoning for this is simple. This far in advance of release we do not possess enough information to make an informed decision. There is too little actual knowledge to guess. Even with limited beta access there is not enough data. The few details that we do know as fact may not even survive the beta changes to make it into the final release. While we can make generalized plans we do not have the hard data to begin making specific plans.

There may me multiple avenues that can make money in the expansion. One of these is the new pet battle system. However at this time I do not believe we have sufficient details to make an informed decision on which pets should be stockpiled and which will be a waste of time and gold. We need more specific information on current pet abilities and details on the new capture-able pets.

Another possible avenue for gold making is to make money off the leveling of new toons. This includes leveling of the characters and the leveling of their professions. Typically this would seem like an easy plan but recent changes made by Blizzard has me doubting the wisdom of this. One must consider that with the introduction of a new race we will have a large number of low level toons questing all at once. This will cause a huge sudden influx of materials being brought into the auction house at the same time. This includes cloth, ore, enchanting mats and items being dumped into the AH all within a short time frame. In addition we must take into consideration the new AoE looting ability, which makes farming low level areas easier, may have an additional impact on the availability of these mats.

An additional way to make gold off the expansion is to cater to players leveling their toons from 85 to 90. However we have not yet gained access to any information regarding the quests or crafting materials necessary at this time.

In conclusion, I believe that it is too soon to begin investing for the next expansion. We we see multiple beta releases followed by several releases on the PTR. There will be plenty of time between now and the final release of MoP. I recommend that everyone just concentrate on making as much gold as possible for now. One of the key attributes to a successful goblin is patience. However the most important one is knowledge. The first is found from within, the second from without.

Good Luck,

Jafo

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Monks can teleport and portal?

Well, yes. So it seems.

Information datamined recently by MMO Champion shows two interesting items that may be available in Panderia.

Ancient Tome of Teleport: Dalaran: and
Ancient Tome of Portal: Dalaran: These show that they can be learned by both mages and monks.; Thus Mages will no longer hold a monopoly on multi-region transportation.

Friday, January 27, 2012

AFK

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

So there I was, listing auctions on the AH waiting for my LFR queue to pop. Little did I know the horrible tradegy that was unfolding beneath me. Super-heated atoms spreading their deadly thermal destruction across my chip set. Slowly proceeding without any warning. Like a time bomb ticking down. Waiting to destroy my computer, my life, and my general good attitude.

I will attempt to protect you, the reader, from the resulting anger, confustion, and emotional breakdown that followed. My baby, my pride and joy, was dead. Some would say "Hey, it just a computer" but no, it was more. Much more. Crafted out of love, each part assembled by my own two hands. The amount of time, effort, and no small amount of money that went into making the perfect computer.

So here I sit on a crappy laptop borrowed from a friend. Wondering where I will find the funds to rebuild my baby. It can be repaired. We have the technology..... The technology, yes, the funds, not so much.

So, dear readers, I must announce that I am afk for a few more days. Pleading my case to my financial benefactors (sisters) in hopes of procuring the necessary materials (tons of cash) to rebuild what has been destroyed.

Never fear, I will return. Until then I'm AFK, BRB.

Jafo

Monday, January 16, 2012

Flipping Recipes

One of the lessons that I have learned in life is that most people are inherently lazy. When given a choice of two paths most will choose the easiest even if the reward is more costly for doing so. This is just as true in WoW. Fortunately we can profit on the laziness of others.

There are many ways of making gold in WoW. Unfortunately many of these ways require you to have a moderate amount of wealth to “invest in”. Today I will show you a way to profit from the auction house that requires very little gold to start. The advantage is that this works for level 1 toons all the way up to max level toons.

Flipping Recipes

To be successful at this I would recommend you download the following two addons. RecipeProfit puts an alert button on your mini map that shows you where all recipe sellers are within the zone that you are currently in. GatherMate2 collects Herbs, Mines, Gas Clouds and Fishing locations and adds them to the world-map and mini-map. GatherMate2 is a required addon to support RecipeProfit.

RecipeProfit for GatherMate

GatherMate2

The process is simple. RecipeProfit shows icons on your map screen. When you hover over the map icon a box opens up and shows the name of the seller and the recipes they sell. Buy these recipes and list them on the auction house.

When pricing the recipes you have to find your servers “sweet spot”. This is the maximum price that they will sell for. Overpriced recipes will not sell and underpriced recipes are lost profit.

There are two major types of recipes. They are cooking recipes and profession recipes. Typically, on my server, profession recipes will sell for more than cooking recipes. When first starting out a little experimentation may be necessary. I find that 55 gold is a good price for cooking recipes and 75 gold a good price for profession recipes. This is a great profit for a recipe that can be bought from a vendor for less than 1 gold.

I have found that all recipes sell regardless of where they are obtained. Azeroth, Outlands, and Northrend recipes are excellent sellers. This is a great profit maker for toons of all levels. Even with 8 level 85 toons with all professions maxed out, I still make time to collect recipes for sale on the AH. I have been using this strategy for years and have never been disappointed. Give it a try. You might be surprised.