Seasonal Event Bosses

(I'm looking at you Brewfest 'wannabe' boss)

I am not someone to farm for emblems. I don't do daily dungeons. I rarely do the weekly raid quest. I am not going to farm a (so called) boss for emblems either.

My Warlock was reasonably geared when Nax 10 was current content. I think he has upgraded two pieces of gear since then. He still has a blue trinket (admittedly the very nice Alchemy one), so I thought I would take this opportunity to try and get a purple trinket to replace it. Last night I queued on my lock (foosecond). I had problems (a) with restarts, and (b) it sometimes takes me a while to change zones. The boss was dead before I zoned in.

I understand the desire of Blizzard to make the boss available to lvl 78+ toons. This means he will be easy. I also understand that Blizzard dev's are busy at the moment, pushing Cata. It probably slipped their mind.

My proposal:
As we now have dungeon finder to access the bosses, have two modes. One 'normal' mode dropping someloot, and a 'heroic' mode dropping someloot + trivial extra (extra gold, an extra event token, or .0001% extra chance to get the mount). Hard mode would be the same boss as normal, but with 50% more damage and health (replace 50% with whatever number is appropriate).

Players are grinding this boss for one of two reasons: To get a trinket for a new 80, or for frost emblems. I enjoy daily quests far more than this boss, and I don't do daily quests either. I am not alone.

Buying for the cataclysm, part 1

This is pure speculation.  While I prefer to know my market (primarily glyphs and gems), today I am spending on random trade goods in the lead up to the cataclysm.

When 4.0 hits:

• 4.0 is coming soon now.
• Some glyphs types will be destroyed.  Players will also be able to learn more glyphs.
• Some stats will be removed, others (mastery) will be added.  I think this means that some gems will need to be replaced
• We will all feel like newbies for a couple of weeks, and will be reaching for extra crutches (Flasks, feasts, drinks, scrolls, drums)
• Many players will reroll, and level toons 1-5 for the new starting area quests (Gnomes and Trolls?)
• You will be able to have both herb and mining nodes on your minimap
• You will be able to get XP for gathering and mining (some also skinning, but I am not sure)
  
• A huge rush to get those alts to level 80
• Achievement bonuses for being in a large guild.

When Cata hits:

• Cataclysm will hit a few weeks after patch 4.0.  No one knows, but early to mid November is a good guess.
• Alts will be abandoned during the rush to 85, unless they are already level 80
• New dungeon difficulty is increasing.
• Many new Worgen or Goblin re-rolls.
• Many of these re-rolls will take two gathering professions for the XP bonus

 The above will mean real changes to what is on the AH, both now, and when Cataclysm hits.

For now, I am stockpiling cheap trade goods needed for levelling professions, for sale at a later point (i.e. < 50% of auctioneer average price, where there are *lots* for sale).

Keep an eye out for guild banks being sold.  Many players are leaving WoW, and intend to join larger guilds come Cata.  I have just bought my third 4th guild bank (One 'real' guild bank, one for my inscriptionist toons (4 tabs), one stockpile bank (3 tabs), and now one something bank (1 tab)).  I intend to have all these banks, and all my toons personal banks full by the time cataclysm hits.  But what to stock these bank tabs with?

Buying guilds

There are times it is worth reading trade.  I am stocking up for Cataclysm.  One of the things I am stocking up on is guild banks. 

I now have my fourth guild bank (yes bank, not tab).  This last one was gratis because the player wanted to gquit as GM and didnt know how.  None of the banks I have inherited/bought have been empty.

Glyphs - what I should do, and what I will do

In our 'dead' market, I have been posting every day (sometimes twice), on most of my toons.  Poor Foosglyphb sometimes is neglected and misses out.

My posting strategy using QA3, is 3g threshold, 24g buyout, 5g undercut, no cancel, 48 hours, post 3.   During the last week, I received

Toon	Glyph types	Gold Gained
Foobarfoo	Paladin, Rogue, Priest, 1/3 Hunter	1898g
Foosglypha	Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, 1/3 Hunter	2020g
Foosglyphb	Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, 1/3 Hunter	1305g
Total		5220

This is up from a total last week of 3072.

There are currently 78 pages of glpyhs on the AH.  I got in two postings today, meaning that my toons posted 28 pages of those glyphs.

I make glyphs (using skillet and ktq), using /ktq queue 10 glyphs (doing this 3 times).  I made glyphs midweek and on the weekend.  This means that I make 30 glyphs if I currently have 0 stock, and 15 glyphs if I have 5 stock, and 0 glyphs if I have 10 ore more.

I am buying all glyph making inks priced below 1g of the AH.  This last week I bought about 40 stacks, made up of a mix of midnight, lions and celestial inks.  I also bought a dozen glyphs priced below 1g, checking to ensure that (A) I dont already have more than 50, and (B) they are not going to become charred (turned into 50s vendor trash).  Some glyphs that I needed to restock were priced at 11s.

This week, I am including the glyphs I made, as much for my own benefit as anyone's, to start tracking what is selling well.
The glyphs I made midweek:
 

Count	Glyph
3	Death and Decay
3	Death Strike
12	Pestilence
24	Icy Touch
12	Nourish
6	Growl
6	Insect Swarm
15	Unburdened Rebirth
15	the Wild
6	Steady Shot
15	Molten Armor
18	Eternal Water
6	Slow Fall
12	Holy Shock
12	Seal of Light
6	Flash of light
16	Judgement
9	Sense Undead
9	Lay on Hands
9	Shadow Word: Pain
18	Flash Heal
6	Hemorrhage
9	Vanish
3	Haunt
3	Corruption
9	Bladestorm
9	Bloodthirst
12	Mortal Strike
9	Cleaving
15	Charge

The glyphs I made on the weekend:

Count	Glyph
3	Dancing rune weapon
3	Thorns
3	Living Bonb
3	Arcane missiles
6	Beacon of light
3	Hammer of the Righteous
15	Safe fall
12	Astral Recall
12	Flametongue Weapon

I would need to make more glyphs to bring my stock back to 20, but I will probably get around to that soonish.

What I should do, is split my glyphs into four groups.

• Those that never sell, and will be charred (i.e. turned into 50s vendor trash) come for patch 4.0, should be sold for 1g-3g.
• Those that never sell, and will remain viable for 4.0.  These should be put into a bank, to be sold once 4.0 hits.
• Those that sell well should be sold at 6-24g
• The rest.  These should be listed at 2g50-6g.  This is to squeeze the majority of players out.

What I will do is maintain the status quo.


P.S.

Gevlon doesn't do many gold posts any more, but they are worth reading.  If you are selling glyphs at or below cost of ink, also sell the ink.

Glad I did not buy that ring

Over the weekend, I wanted to upgrade my Ilvl 200 tanking ring.

The Kirin Torr had a nice DPS ring, with a lot of stamina, which would have set me back about 11k.  It did not appear as good a tanking ring as the Ilvl 264 one on the AH, but had the ability to teleport back to Dalaran.  In the end I could not decide which one I wanted (and I will only spend 8k/11k if I know that I want it), so just ended up buying the Ilvl213 badge tanking ring.

Now I find that the Cataclysm beta removes portals from Dalaran and Shattrath.  I am much relieved that I did not buy it.

Bullish on Cata Glyphs

In Summary
As a significant glyph seller on our server, I welcome the opportunity for players to learn every glyph.  There will be a huge number of glyphs to be sold once the new glyph system is introduced.  I expect to be selling more glyphs at the end of Cata than I am selling at the end of WoLK.
In a little more detail
From my reading the gold blogosphere, the consensus for glyphs is a spike in sales coming patch 4.0, with a slow death coming later.

I fully agree there will be a spike in sales.  While I was not a glyph maker when Dual Spec was introduced, I expect that it will be at least twice the size of the Dual Spec boom. 

• Players can learn all (roughly 30) glyphs for their classes (up from 12 for a dual spec player).  I don't know if this is doubled by dual spec but I would guess not
• Players will be able to have 9 glyphs active up from 6.  I assume that at least one of these glyph spots wont become active until level 85.
• Patch 4.0 is coming very very soon.  While I have read 2 Nov as an WAG (wild donkey guess) for Cataclysm, I would expect 4.0 to drop a few weeks before that.  (Based on a very faulty recollection of when WoLK dropped).
• You will not be able to use Jessica to turn Ink of the Sea to lesser inks.  However, I don't know if that is 4.0 or Cata (assuming they hit on different dates).
• I feel that people have a lot more maxed level alts than they did when dual spec came out

I see a bright future for glyphs.  My (rambling) thoughts are these:

• Players dont change glyphs unless they have to.
• Most toons have one role.That toon is Ranged, Mellee, Tank, Healer; PVE or PVP, most player.  These toons don't change glyphs once they have bought them
• Some toons have a second role.  This role is covered by dual spec.  These toons don't change glyphs once they have bought them, but they do change specs.
• Cataclysm will introduce new glyphs at level 85, and possibly with new raids.  This is pure supposition, but I would bet large amounts of gold that it's going to happen.  Everyone will buy these new glyphs.
• Levelling toons buy glyphs.  Instead of 6 (or 12) to buy, they now have 30.
• There is a whole new race to level.  Most players will start by getting their 80('s) to 85.  Once they have done this, they will level their Worgen/Goblin, meaning more levelling toons.
• If you have read this site and Breevok's, the death of glyph sales has already occured on our server.  We have too many sellers and not enough buyers.  However, I see an increase in glyph demand over the life of Cataclysm.

PS
Breevok has written a mid-week review of his glyph sales.  I will respond to his post when I set my pricing for next week, over the weekend.

Vent is my minimum raid requirement

Apparently, I am rude.  I got called a nasty name. I got my first ignore.

As a raid leader, I have what appears to be an unusual set of rules.

• I don't use gearscore.  
• I don't care about achievements.
• I do not have an attendance requirement.
• I do use elitist groups, and care about your enchants and gems.  Your average ilvl is something to consider, but is not a pre-requisite.
• I have a Raid etiquette
• I raid once per week, rarely repeating content.
• I like wiping. It generally means we are stretching ourselves. (Either that or some of us are being slack.)
• I require vent, especially for new players.

Saturday just past, we did an Ony10 run. It was likely to be messy. (More so than usual, and my expectations were fulfilled.)

• One regular tank was interstate, replaced by a DPS player in an offpec, slightly undergeared as tank. 
• One regular healer was at a sports (drinking) BBQ, replaced by a DPS player on an inexperienced and undergeared (elitist group said Ilvl 192) healing alt.
• One regular healer is on the cusp of burning out, so brought a very undergeared DPS (average Ilvl 180), replaced by a DPS on an experienced healing alt.
• One regular DPS was off doing Insane in the membrane
• My nearly teenage son was joining us as DPS.  This was the third time he had raided.
• Very ranged heavy.

My preference when we are short on players is to fill tank and healing spots with regulars, and pug DPS. So, I ask in trade "LF 2 dps Ony10, Vent required", and immediatly got 2 DPS, and soon after got whispered by a third.  One of the pug DPS didn't even have vent.  It ended up like this

That invite was for the DPS that did have vent.

It was messy.  We died on the starting trash, twice. (Note: we are on vent, check that the trash has died before entering the instance).

To be honest, we struggled.  It may not have been the best night for PUG's.  I caused a wipe running to the boss, by running out of the healer's range.  (One pug left, replaced by a casual DPS who sometimes runs with us).  We struggled on the end of phase 2 (2nd wave of whelps and too many guardians.  The other pug left, replaced by a guildy's spouse that raids as much as my son).  In the end, against the advice of the raid, army of the dead spread damage enough to keep us all up.  Phase 3 went like a charm.
  
Once the boss was down, Aphona (experienced raider, but lets the inner child out sometimes), decided that playing whelps would be fun.  I still took my screenshot.

Glyphs yet again

For those new to glyphs, this is the latest in a series. (Tag posts, and link) This is a 'How I did it post', lots of facts, figures and fudging.

TL;DR
Last week, posting 8 times on each of 3 toons with 3g60-4g20 prices. 3072g in sales. Sold 800 glyphs, with 1300g profit. Drove out many competitors, but made mistakes.
This week, I will sell at 3g-24g, 5g undercut.

The longer version
This post is a bit of ramble. I am using in part to try to organise how I post glyphs, and to give an insight into my very untidy mind. I can write better than this, but meh.

During the last week, my posting strategy (using QA3) was :

• Post 3, 48 hours, no cancelling
• Undercut 50s
• Threshold 3g60s (10% price gap)
• Fallback 4g20s (no auto fallback)
• Posted and collected mail 8 times

My sales values (according to Auditor: Mail + AH) have been are:

Toon	Glyph types	Gold Gained
Foobarfoo	Paladin, Rogue, Priest, 1/3 Hunter	1176g
Foosglypha	Death Knight, Hunter, Mage, 1/3 Hunter	948g
Foosglyphb	Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, 1/3 Hunter	948g
Total		3072

I sold out on some glyphs. Even worse, on one of the glyphs I sold out on, I had some in my bank. Selling out on glyphs is bad. It defeats the strategy I am trying to use (cap profits for others), and just ends up with me loosing gold. I will need to restock midweek.

Using Skillet and Kev's Key tool, I am recrafting sold glyphs, with /ktq queue 10 glyphs (three times). This means that if I am sold out, I will craft 30 of that type; If I have 5 I will craft 15; and if I have 10 or more, will craft 0.

I will consume:

Count	What	UnitCost	TotalCost
138	Ethereal Ink	1.5	207
300	Resiliant Parchment	0.45	135
192	IOTS	1.7	326.4
102	Heavy Parchment	0.1125	11.475
45	Shimmering Ink	1.7	76.5
123	Midnight Ink	1.5	184.5
162	Light Parchment	0.14	22.68
30	Celesital Ink	1.7	51
78	Jadefire Ink	1.7	132.6
105	Common Parchment	0.0112	1.176
63	Lion's Ink	1.5	94.5
1338	Total		1242.831

I don't think it's free just becuase I farmed it. The same goes for milling. I consider that the cost difference between raw herbs and milled inks to be what you get for milling inks rather than making glyphs. The prices above are roughly what I would buy for, or the cost of converting IOTS via Jessica. I could sell inks at these prices, though maybe not in the quantities I trade.

In approximate terms I sold 810 glyphs and will craft 670 (1 ink + 1 parchment make 1 glyph), for an average cost of 1.86g each, highest cost 2.15g each.

It takes me about 4 seconds to craft a glyph, (3 seconds + lag + distractions) to work out at about 1/2 hour of crafting.

Other changes.  I have put all of my glyph toons in the same guild.  Foofixit (my glyph maker) doesnt run much, and most players who know me know how to find me.

Goals for this week:

• Track actual number of glyphs listed, using auditor's numbers at 1s per listed glyphs.
• Track how long it takes to cycle through the posting toons
• Sell a smaller number of glyphs at a higher profit
• Only have 60 pages of glyphs on the AH

Explanation

• I want a quick measure of what I am listing. If it's too hard, I am not doing it
• I want better stats on how long I am spending on glyphs
• I want Breevok's gold/hour
• I want to cap the number of competitors on the AH. Number of pages is a good estimate of how serious the competition is.

100,000 today

Today, I broke 100,000 gold. It has been a long time coming.  3 weeks ago, I had zip.  Nada, no gold at all.  I had just bought a truck load of gems.

Glyphs are what I often talk about on my blog.  But it really is my side game, Gems is where I am at.

I was late to the gold making game.  My first blog post was back in Dec 09.  I started thinking about gold making maybe a month before that.

Sure, I had a couple of 80's, my first toon - Foosecond was a herbalist/alchemist, making the odd flask here and there.  If I recall correctly, I was still working on Foolich (my DK tank) and Foofixit (my priest heals).  I started tanking Nax about the time that TOC came out.  And I still only raid once a week.

Now I have four toons at 80 (adding Foostorm - shammy heals) and am working on my baby druid tank (Howdoyoufoo - currently lvl 34).  My four 80's between them have all the maxed tradeskills.  Foosecond has max fishing and cooking - with every recipee except the rogue only thistle tea.  I plan for Howdoyoufoo to be a gatherer.

Mulitple level 80's is not efficient.  Having all the tradeskills is not efficient.  But I found it fun, satisfying my ego.  Once you have all the professions, it is convenient.  But I could probably do better concentrating on one or two toons, and just a couple of professions, and just buying the few things I needed.

I have not been particularly frugal either.  All four 80's have epic flyers.  I bought a DPS set for my tank for a single boss fight (Yogg Saron - which we did with only one tank).  I shouted a few guildies the odd (expensive) treat or two.  I have resisted the large gold sinks (Tundra Mammoths, Dalaran rings, most BOE gear - with an exception or two), waiting to see what happens in Cata.

Jewelcrafting has been my main gold earner.  Get all the recipees, buy uncut gems low, sell all cut gems medium has worked.  This includes the unpopular gems.  They may not sell as often, but the margins on them are much much higher.

Glyphs have been my second earner.  It is a steady profession, with many methods of gold making.  Spend your time and gold doing your research.  Once you can mill high end inks, milling and selling the inks is profitable without the grind of owning the glyph market.  Vellums for enchanting scrolls work well too.

But I have made a profit on all of my professions, with the exceptions of engineering, cooking and first aid, including while I was levelling.  Lil Sparky's workshop, auctioneer and Ackis recipee list are a wonderful combination.  I know I could turn a profit on engineering and cooking if I set my mind to it.

It is a bit misleading saying I went from 0 to 100,000g in 3 weeks.  I do that sometimes.  I already had all the epic gem recipees (might be missing 1).  I already had auctions up and sales waiting for their hour.  I had well over a thousand uncut Epic gems and they sell well, much better than those (grumble grumble) glyphs do.  I still have a lot of gems, just not as many.

It has been a good trip.  I would do it again.  I probably will come the Cataclysm.

Slow glyph day

Breevok had an un-pretty picture likening our glyph market to vultures feeding off scraps.  Remember, I am being encouraged to post at a much higher fallback.  I read his recent post, but I still just don't 'get it'.

This is my version of vultures feeding off scraps.

I set my threshold to 3g60.  This may not be low enough.  I will know in a weeks time.

Glyph War? Hopefully it drives out competition

This post is in response to Breevok's reply to my recent glyph post.

I was feeling ... melodromatic.  If it helps, I also do public speaking at Rostrum (shameless plug), and am trying to work on my dramatic style.  Please forgive me (or not).  If it helps to keep Breevok making posts, I will be dramatic more often. 

Hopefully it came accross the way that 'run away little girl' is meant to, but ... who knows.  I think that we are read by other glyph sellers.  Being 'on message' works in the political arena, and can spook the opposition (or here in Australia even the government).  I know that it would also work in blogs, but my limit for repeating myself is about twice.  So ... I will fail to scare the little girls away.  Regardless it was a fun post to write.

Breevok was right, it is the threshold I am testing, not the fallback. 

In glyphs, Breevok makes more gold.  I made about 2k in sales last week (at 5g/glpyh), probably about 1.1k profit.  The back of a napkin says that I sold about the 450 glyphs that he did.

When I got back, I posted (one toon of three toons -  Foobarfoo) at 4g10 and went for tea.  By the time I got back most of my glyphs were undercut. 

So, I posted glyphs betweeen 3g60 - 4g10.  After I posted, there were over 80 pages of glyphs up.  Wow.  Glyphs are very interesting at the moment, with far too many players being interested.  By too many I mean that they are taking my profits.  Mine I tell you, all mine. 

3g60 glyphs are an attempt to test the competition.  I have already been largely undercut, and I am astounded at this.  I move slowly, and I will look at the prices next week.  Breevok has also set me a challenge.  I am jealous of his graphs.  I will try to be as structured as he has been.  I will also see what information I can extract out of Beancounter (apparently it can be exported to an spreadsheet).

In answering Breevok's question my profit/hour will be: number of glyphs * (Glyph sale - (ink cost + parchment cost)) / (posting time + mail gathering time + glyph making time).

Assuming:

• Number of glyphs : 450
• Glyph Sale = 3.6g
• Ink cost = 1.6g (my current AH snatch or payment to Wek)
• Resilient Parchment cost = 50s
• Posting time 3 toons * 2 minutes * 10 times/week = 60 minutes.  I largely post AFK on my son's account, doing something else while I am waiting.  However, logging between toons is a pain, and can sometimes take a while and attention.
• Mail gathering 3 toons * 1 minutes * 4 times/week = 15 minutes (approx).  I only collect mail every so often.  I will be AFK when this occurs
• Glyph Crafting time: 2 seconds (cast time + lag) * 450 glyphs = 15 minutes (approx). I batch glyph making.
• Deposit costs can be ignored.

Of course being assumptions, these are all wrong. I wont sell exactly 450 glyphs this week.  Some glyphs will sell for more than 3g60.  I will pick up cheap inks.  I will spend more time tracking the posts of glyphs.

But assuming the above, 450 * (3.6 - 2.1) / 1.5 hours = 450g/hour.  This is too little, I would make more in other markets.  Anyone undercutting me would make more profit/hour selling inks.  (I don't make inks)

What are my risks?

• That I drive out all my competition and have to supply the entire market.  That is too much work for me, I burn out and let the price reset.

• I discover that the opposition is as stubborn as I am, and we have a permanent price of 2g90.

What can I do different?

• Post for even less, in order to raise my sales.

• My largest time commitment is logging into posting toons.  I could post 10 glyphs at a time to reduce this, combined with a reduced fallback.

• Post for more in order to raise profit/sale.

• Set a higher price for low stock glyphs.  I suspect that is where the majority of sales for both Breevok and I come from.  At the moment, I don't spend the time tracking what glyphs sell and what glyphs dont.  I really should.

What do I hope to get out of an extended period of very deep undercutting?

• Fewer competitors.  There is a moment in cataclysm when glyphs will have their day in the sun.  I want to discourage others from sharing in that moment.  I have zero intentions (or ability) to entirely stop them from sharing it.  Previous experience shows that it takes about a fortnight before others leave the market.  I especially want to make gold hard for campers.  They make goldmaking hard for me.  By the way WoW has different laws than real life.  But then abusing market power and market collusion are both illegal and rife in Australia.

• Cheaper herb prices.  This might be in vain.  I am stockpiling inks, and others are too.  With cheaper herb prices, I will be able to squeeze suppliers of inks.

What we will do is give a real life example of is the Gevlon vs Marco glyph approach (deep vs shallow undercut).  I am unsure which will triumph.

I know I left you alone for the weekend, but really

The Glyph market on Alliance Caelstrasz.

Guys,  you really should know better.  I was going for the weekend, not a month.

Glyph prices will be 5g.  It is enough for desperados to make gold, and to keep the rif-raf out.  I will cope if you send it down to 4g80, or even 4g60.  But 25g???  Really?

This is going to stop.  Now.

Get back on to your posting toons and set a lower fallback, otherwiseyou will miss out on sales.  I know how much you like that.  Also, for crying out loud, go and do your research.  Some of you don't know all your glyphs yet.

Consider how low a fallback you are willing to have.  I am considering testing what your fallback's are. 

If any of you want to make your money and run, I buy my inks.  It saves me the largest time commitment of glyph making. If you ever decide to leave the glpyh market, let me know, and I am sure we can come up with a price for your remaining glyphs.

And Breevok, this is how you can use a blog post to your benefit.

Eyes of Zul, in my absense

11Sep10. UJ / Cael Alliance

A little while ago I asked what would happen when a goblin leaves a market.  Well it has (almost) happened with Eye's of Zul.

I picked up a 'truck load' of gems - Ametrines, Dreadstones and Cardinal Rubies, and have been slowly digesting them and putting them on whatever markets will eat them.  Due to the price these gems were selling for (40g/50g), and the quantity sold (I still have 200 Dreadstones - in part from an incorrect price).

Making the call that we now were in a phase of massive deflation of gem prices caused by BG and Instance farming bots, I had stopped buying gems, and am clearing my new and existing stockpiles (of aout 100 of each uncut epic gem).  I still have a few Eyes of Zul that I am clearing, but I am largely ignoring this market.

If I recall correctly, before I left the market, I was buying gems for 80g and selling all cuts for 110g threshold, 140g fallback, 5g undercut (posting 48 hours / once per day).  This left a small margin, but I would have sold 50 Eyes a week.  I am looking at the buy/sell margins above, and contemplating re-entering it.  Admitidly some of the gems dont sell well, but those margins give me a lot of room to muscle in (I only make about 2g50 on a glyph sale)

11Sep10. UJ / Cael Alliance

Compare this to the Dreadstone  market, which I am in and will be for a while to come.  Due to time restrictions, I have missed a couple of recent crafting and posting cycles.  My Dreadstone rates are 60g threshold, 110g fallback, 10g undercut, post 2, 48 hours.  This is further evidence that a single player can set the maximum prices for an economy.

I am not on during the day.  I am unable (and unwilling) to participate in continuous rounds of undercutting.  I want to sell large volumes.  Since the 23 August when I bought these gems, I have gem sales of about 82,000g. I am selling gems on both the Horde and Alliance AH's.  Getting them to the Horde AH is a pain, but the profit is worth it.


For those new to my blog (or missed it earlier) I use QA3 for posting epic gems.

This image is from the undermine journal for Calestrasz Alliance as at 11 Sep 2010.

Our new minority overlords (Australian Politics)

I welcome our new minority overlords.

I want my politics on the front page of the paper.  Even on a Murdoch owned paper.  It will be uncomfortable.  You will be hearing about politics till you are sick of it.  We know the alternative: politics in back rooms; and politicians that represent themselves instead of us.  Every single lower house politician knows their vote counts.

I welcome a National Broadband Network with no internet filter.  Cost be damned, it is what I want.  In 3 years time I'll complain about the cost, but I've been whining about those for a long time.  I am tired of a laggy disconnecting connection to WoW.

If you want majority government, its simple.  Don't vote for the independants.  Vote below the line in the senate.
A vote for majority government looks like this
Vote 1 Major Party A
Vote 2 Major Party B
Vote 3+ the rest.


If you voted above the line, if you put the independants between Labor and Liberal, you voted for this minority government.  As for me, I vote for minority government.  I beleive that government should get out of our faces.

A vote for minority government looks like this
Vote 1: Good Independant
Vote 2: Another Good Independant
...
Vote 5: Major Party A
Vote 6: Major Party B
Vote 7: Bad Independant

The rest of you vote like this:
Vote 1: Major Party A
Vote 2: Good Independant
....
Vote 6: Bad Independant
Vote 7: Major Party B

This is a vote of a drone.someone who wants their party to get in, and to make it hard for the other major party.  It suits back room deals.  It causes stupid things like Labor giving Family First a deciding senate seat, instead of a sympathetic person.


I won't submit readers to many political posts.  The last time was election day.  Today is when we know what government we will get.

To quote Mr Oakeshott : "This is going to be a cracking Parliament. It's going to be beautiful in its ugliness."

Playing with glyphs (still)

I think I just got a sneak peak on Breevok's site of a post about glyph, ink and herb prices (back up again).  His analysis is probably about right.

Firstly, I buy inks because I don't like milling.  Even with auctioneer/automagic, you still need to 'Ok' every mill (4 OK's per stack of herb).  While I know how to fully automate this, it is possibly against the terms of service, with insufficient reward for the risk.  (I have no idea why it is permissable to queue the creation of 20 glyphs, but not queue the milling of a stack of herbs.)  Plus Wek is a mostly reliable supplier. 

When I told Wek of the expected price cut, he 'offered' to sell ink to Breevok, partly to make me protect my supply, and partly to test the waters with other buyers.  I wished him best of luck (and still do).  From what I read, Breevok is offering 1g each.  The AH is offering more, but not in the volumes that Wek can do.  He could also offer to supply the other glyph sellers.  If its any consolation, herb prices will probably drop even further.

For the time being I am in a holding pattern.  I am incurably stubborn, far more so than the majority of WoW players, even the AH ones.  At 5g (4.75 after cut), I am still making a profit, for little effort.  I am currently making glyphs about once per week, keeping a stock of 20 of each.  Last week, I made about 2k profit on glyphs (after the cost of inks + parchment + lost deposits).  Not a lot, but enough to keep me interested.  My being stubborn has seen other players try and fail to remain in the market.  I will probably tweak my strategies with Breevok re-entering the glyph selling game.

My eye however is on selling an excess of gems, and Cataclysm.  With the ability for players to learn every glyph, I expect another 'dual spec' phenonemon, where everyone buys out all glyphs at whatever price they need to.  I am betting a few guild bank tabs of ink on it.  While I have no expectation that I will be a sole supplier, I want to be in a better position than the next glyph seller.

To do this, before cataclysm:

• I will have pre-stocked all glyphs (probably 40 of each, up from 20), buying where they are cheaper than making them.

• Have a mix of inks.  At the moment Ink of the sea can be converted to anything else.  From what I read, come cataclysm, a new ink will take this role.  The majority of lazy wannabe gold makers will only stock Ink of the sea, so I will hold a few less of these.

• Discourage some other players (Note: On Caelestrasz, there is not enough gold in inscription and too many players to even attempt to 'own' the market)

And Wek, even though I am squeezing you for Inks of the sea, I am still paying more than that other guy.

Arozcaldo raid etiquette

Last night there was 'angst' in the run, and this post is to try and clarify some of my expectations:
Raid sign ups

• No one is expected to sign up for an event.  It generally takes 10 players to run a 10 man dungeon (certain acheivements aside).  It is OK if you are unavailable on an evening, or do not wish to run certain content at a given time.
  
• If you do sign up for an event, and can't make it, an apology ahead of time is expected.  Real Life sometimes intervenes, but wherever possible send a message by whisper, mail, phone, or carrier pidgeon.
• Turn up on time.  If 9 people are waiting 5 minutes each, that is 45 minutes lost.  If you think you might be cutting it fine, leave your toon at the summoning stone.
• Turn up equiped.  This includes gems, enchants, flasks/elixirs, potions, scrolls, food, reagents, repairs.  In Arozcaldo, you know that gold isn't a problem.  While I will badger you into making your own gold, if you "Need", then "Need".  But please need well before the raid start time.  In game mail is a great way to send mats.  I can organise for vellum enchants.
• Read up on fights.  I expect that you have read up or watched boss strategies.  Some guilds run 'blind'.  We do not.  I expect that you will read up on the next two bosses.  I would appreciate you reading up on the next four.  Some good sources include wowwiki.com and tankspot videos.  Use the sources that work best for you.

During the raid

• Be polite.  This means you.  No swearing at (or in the general direction) of other players either in writing or via voice.  No racism/sexism either.
  
• Fail better.  I expect we will always be able to do better.  I don't want to stay in a raid untill we get it perfect.
• Lag happens (think of it as a special hardmode).  Some of us do not have perfect connections.  That's how we roll.  It will sometimes cause wipes.  Some of us have 200ms latency, I have average 550ms, and others have 1200ms.  If you are willing to raid with your latency, I am willing to have you.
  
• Lag is not an excuse for wrong targets, or continuing to stay in the fire.  Ideally you will respond in 400ms of an event (200ms latency + 200ms reaction time).  I personally will normally respond within 850ms.  Some of us won't be able to respond for up to 1500ms.  Regardless, follow the instructions.
• Acknowledge that we don't all have the same skill level.  
• This raid is not your other raid, it is not your work.  If you need to kick something, there is a boss just over there, and is a more appropriate target for your frustration.
• Emotions are contagious.  
• People's reactions are better when slightly stressed, but still in control and concentrating.
• Making people overly stressed causes them to freeze
• Too much sillyness prevents concentration.
  

Before a pull

• Ask questions, make suggestions, disagree (politely)
  
• Say what you will do/want done differently, simply and explicitly.  Consensus is preferable, but not required.
  
• PlayerA use tremor totem in phase 2
• Everybody move around the outside of the ring, not through the middle.
• Foo should heal PlayerB; HealerC should heal TankD.  HealerE  is on raid.

During a pull

• We probably are too chatty.  I am as guilty as the rest of you.  This will leave room for more useful information
  
• Call out things we are struggling on.  'Run to totems when you have snobalds'.  'All DPS on adds'

After a wipe

• Everyone run back.  Healers need mana too, and it is just easier all round.
• Group together, it makes buffing that much easier.
• Eat the feast or your preferred food
• Buff
• Discuss the cause of the wipe.
• You have more time during recovery (buffing etc) to discuss than during a wipe.
  
• Everyone ask yourself 'What can I do better?'.  It doesnt matter if you are carying the raid, if there is something you can do better, then do it.
  
• If you caused the wipe, fess up.  It makes it much easer for the raid leader.  Either say what you are going to do next time, or ask for assistance.
• If someone did not do their role, call it, but with neutrality.  If you are frustrated, you should whisper someone else (probably me). eg. : If you get paralytic poison, you need to go to the player with bile.
• Everyone pay attention to how to prevent the wipe.  Understanding is expected the first time.  However, the group gets grumpy if a different player causes the same wipe.

After a success

• Smell the roses.  Enjoy the moment. 
• Congratulate the group if you have previously had problems.  Congratulate anyone who specifically showed improvement.
• Allow others to enjoy the moment.  If someone wants the screenshot, give it to them.  People who don't are being unpleasant.

Giving constructive feedback.
Sometimes another player will need to do something different.

• They will listen better if you also provide positive feedback.  Give this first.  If you cant give positive feedback, talk to your guild master.
  
• Expect someone to learn one thing only.  
• If you think they should learn more than one thing, see the line immediately above.  
• If you still think they should learn more, see your guild master.
• In the feedback you need to provide:
• What needs to improve
• Why it is important.  
• How it should be done better
  

 Giving destructive feedback.

• Any feedback given to a player should be constructive feedback.  
• If  need to be destructive, talk to your guild master.

 Edit: Blessed blogger removes some formatted text, and fixed a couple of typo's

Is that all the gold a goldseller has?

Mmm.  43.5K of gold in stock.  Really?  Is that all?

If you are a low level toon and want 200 gold, go and learn Skinning + one of Mining or Herbalism.  Mining is marginally better for mellee toons, and herbalism is slightly better for ranged toons.

Regardless of what skills you get, spend an hour gathering in your starting areas and post your stuff in the auction house, for the 'mid range' of what you see items sell for.  Yes copper, silverleaf and light leather + leather scraps really do sell.

If you are a higher level toon, and are struggling with gold, take at least one gathering profession and gather it till you get to 450.  Combine gathering with dailies.  Consider gathering in Outlands. 500g/hour should be yours for the taking.

Get a 'bank alt' (possibly a level 1 toon), and put it at an auction house, and mail all gathered stuff to him.  It saves time continuously running to the Auction house.


Keep your gathering skill for when Cataclysm hits.  Gathering will make a fortune for the first part of Cataclysm.  (My guess : 800g/stack of anything cataclysm for the first few days.)

If you wish to make more gold, read this website.  Read the sites listed at http://wow-econ.blogspot.com.