Happy Halloween

The day is here when the little goblins will be out begging for treats and sweets as night time nears.  Happy Halloween boys and ghouls!

Hallow's End is in its final day.  Be sure to read my earlier post about profiteering and Hallow's End wand zaps from earlier this month.  Don't toss those wands.  They can be used all year long for the achievement seekers, are a suitable costume to sell to the nomal savory deviate delight buyers, and can be used for some super easy gold early into next years Hallow's End world holiday event.  As with any of the in game holiday events, planning is the key to profiting early in the events.  So save those wands for Day 1 of next year and start cracking down on stockpiling for Winter's Veil.  Be ahead of the crowd and plan for the next holidays now.

Haute Club Membership Card

Haute Club Membership
The Haute Club Membership Card is a completely worthless item, but it sells.  It can even sell for crazy marked up prices.  I have no idea who buys these pieces of junk.  There is no in game use for them.  I found a few stacked in a freshly purchased guild bank.  So I tossed them on the auction house and they sold for around 10g each and sold within a couple hours of posting.  All of them sold.


Haute Club Membership Card Drops
The Haute Club Membership Card only drops from some of the mobs in The Plaguelands: The Scarlet Enclave, which is the deathknight starting area.  The Citizens of New Avalon and the New Avalon Councilmen are the best sources, but Mayor Quimby, Scarlet Commander Rodrick and High Inquisitor Valroth also can drop the membership cards.


I don't recommend farming these, but if you happen to get some while doing the deathknight starter quests hang onto them.  They are very helpful for getting starter cash for your new deathknight.  Just post the membership cards onto your auction house.  If you see one for a few coppers on the auction house, be sure to snatch it up for an easy flip.  Again, no idea who buys these things, but they do sell.

Cataclysm Nears As Markets Crash

Expansions End
Cataclysm is only 5 and a half weeks away.  Some players are starting to unload their materials for super low prices.  As the expansion nears it's end, the market is definately turning in the favor of buyers.  Prices are dropping as supply is overtaking demand.  Many players have started to liquidate items from their banks in order to make room for items that will be better options for holding or increasing in value as an attempt to hedge against inflation.  Some items are dropping so far in value that you shouldn't attempt to even craft them.  Some banker guilds are dissolving and the guilds are going up for sale as players move to bigger guilds to take advantage of the upcoming guild perks.  Now is the time to look for specials, cut deals, and snatch up those underpriced goods.

Special Prices
I have been taking advantage of this amazing drop in prices and have had to purchase yet another guild bank to helps store all of my goods.  Although I did pay 2000g for this new 4 slot guild bank, which is slightly higher than my Guild Bank Tab Price Chart, I was entirely out of storage space.  This price of 2000g was offset by the fact that the new bank I bought had over 2 tabs full of items including stacks of various cloths, potions, 1/2 a tab along of high level greens, a few blue items, bags, and ZG coins.  You should definately be on the lookout for cheap guild banks for your alts as many players are looking to join up with a new guild soon.  Saronite Ore isn't being used by many players lately, at least on my server, and I have been buying out pages of Saronite Ore for less than smelted vendor price (12.5g per stack).  Buying these ores at 10-11g is absolutely no risk at all since the bars vendor for 25g a stack and these are going to go up in value during Cataclysm.  Netherweave cloth is bottoming out as well, I'm seeing stacks reach as low as 2g when they used to go for 6-9g per stack.  Herb prices have dropped back to normal or below average pricing.  Borean leather is down.  Uncut gems, such as Forest Emerald, are dropping to below the vendor price of the cut version.  Rare WotLK gems vendor for 3g and their cut versions vendor for 4.5g.  Snatch up anything less than 4.5g, cut it, and just vendor it for an easy profit.  Eternal earths and regular gems are dropping plenty low to make crafting jewelry to vendor an easy afk money maker.  Be on the look out in all markets for these cheap deals and new ways to make easy profits and you too will be looking for another guild bank to hold all of your newly acquired goods.

Abyssal Bag And The Knights Of The Ebon Blade

Duchess Mynx

Abyssal Bag
Since Patch 4.0.1, Abyssal Bag is now a BoE 22 slot bag usable by anyone.  The abyssal bag was a warlock only bag that held soul shards.  Since the 4.0.1 patch, they are now a cheaper to craft version of the glacial bag and the abyssal bag doesn't have a cooldown. 

The glacial bag requires 4 ebonweave, 4 moonshroud  and 1 eternium thread.       
The abyssal bag requires only 4 ebonweave, 2 spellweave, and 1 eternium thread. 

Learning The Abyssal Bag Pattern
The tailoring pattern requires revered standing with the Ebon Blade faction in Icecrown and is available from Duchess Mynx, the Ebon Blade quartermaster in The Shadow Vault.  What if your tailor isn't your main and doesn't have the required reputation to purchase the pattern?  Well the Ebon Blade Commendation Badges are only 16 Justice points each and award 520 reputation.  So you may be able to top off that reputation with badges in order to learn the new version of the abyssal bag.

How To Make Gold In Cataclysm: New Characters

An Eruption of Gold

How To Make Gold In Cataclysm
Mining, Herbing, and Skinning will be big sources of gold early into the Cataclysm Expansion as people will pay primium prices.  The server first ability to craft items and gear that no one else can craft yet will be a huge advantage.  Knowing which items to mass produce to sell for quest completions will be a nice bonus.  Once the population starts acquiring epics and raid gear, the enchanters and jewelcrafters will be raking in the gold.  There are tons of ways to make gold in any new expansion, but what I will be focusing on is making gold off of new players and new characters.

New Players
New players are different from new characters.  A new player is someone who just logged in to play the game for the first time.  New characters are alternate characters of an already existing account.  New players tend to be clueless for the first few weeks of the game.  Some don't even know what the auction house is for months after they first start to level their first character.  New players tend to spend their gold foolishly because they just don't have the experience in game to know when to buy and when to wait.  Regardless there are things that even new players want to acquire quickly like bigger bags or a "cool glow" on their weapon.  New players, or Christmas Noobs as I like to call them, may have a stack of gold given to them from a real life friend who got them into the game.  So don't dismiss these new players as poor noobs with no income.  We can make gold off of these new players too.

New Characters
New characters can be created for all sorts of reasons.  There will be a ton of old players that will return to see the new content and changes from the Cataclysm expansion.  Many regular players will be rolling one of the new races, either Worgen or Goblin, or both.  Some players will be creating new race / class combos like a human hunter or a troll druid.  Some players will switch factions completely.  On my server the top Alliance raiding guild is all re-rolling as Horde come Cataclysm and forming a new Horde guild.  Some players will just decide that they are tired of their old main and will be leveling a new characters as their new main.  Some people will decide that they finally want to give in and roll a deathknight.  Twinking will return in Cataclysm, so many players will have an outlet for spending their masses of gold on a nice twink or two.  Any way you break it down, you must agree there will be a huge market for supplying new players as well as new characters.

What Do You New Players and Characters Buy
There are many items and markets that can be used to supply the soon to be exploding population of new players and new characters.  Here is a list of some of the strategies that I am going to be banking on.

1. Netherweave Bags - The standard of any new character, the surge in demand will push these to an all time high of sales and profits.
2. Profession Bags - Think of how many of these new characters will have a gathering skill.  Mining bags should sell very well, even to old characters that are gathering for the first weeks.  Goblin and Worgen racial bonuses will steer those races towards herbalism/alchemy and skinning respectively.
3. Twinks - Twinks are a whole market of their own.  This market will pick up later in the expansion, but for starters check out green gear that turns blue in Patch 4.03.  Stock up now buying the greens, to sell as blues in Cataclysm.
4. BoA Gear Enchants - BoA gear gets enchanted by the same enchants that 10-19 bracket twinks use.  New BoA gear is being added as old BoA gear won't work past level 81.  New BoA gear is being added through the guild vendor system to slots without current BoA gear (helm and cape).  Are you prepared with all the common Twink and BoA gear enchants on your enchanter?
5. Vanity Pets - When the population surges, the sale of vanity pets explodes as well, especially after any holiday events which reward a vanity pet, and we will be fresh into vanity pet season with all the forthcoming holidays, not to mention the gifts from Great Father Winter.
6. Quest Items - Quest items always sell well to new players questing.  I plan to keep a list once the data starts rolling in on what items are needed for quest completions.  This has always been an easy money maker for me and many times you don't need to be a high level crafter to profit in this market.
7. Glyphs - With the changes to the glyph system, all new players will be buying glyphs, as will any new characters that are created.  Old players returning to the game will log in to find out that they now need to go buy a ton of glyphs as well.  Glyphs sales should be even bigger that with patch 4.0.1, since many more people will be back playing the game and sheer numbers will raise the demand to highly profitable levels again.

Be Prepared

Hopefully, you are thinking about the new player / new character markets that you may have overlooked.  Best advice is always to be prepared!  Get you netherweave stockpile build and bolted.  Snatch those cheap greens that are turning to blues soon.  Get those glyphs crafted and ready to go.  Finish collecting those rare twink enchanting recipes you are missing.  Get you game plan together by planning ahead and then you can relax while the gold just keeps rolling in.  Maybe you too can catch some of the golden nuggets spewing forth from the Cataclysm volcanoes.  

What are you banking on for making gold in Cataclysm?

The Undermine Journal : Market Notifications

The Undermine Journal

The database over at The Undermine Journal is amazing.  Euripides did an awesome article on most of the features over at WoW Insider.  Here is a link to that article, Goldcapped: The Undermine Journal.  If your server hasn't been added yet, just make sure to vote daily to eventually see your server included.  My server has just recently been added, so I have finally been able to start using the great auction house tools provided my The Undermine Journal.

Market Notifications

The market notifications feature is one of my favorites.  This allows you to track specific items and then have an email sent to you as soon as the item becomes available on the auction house at the price threshold you set for that item.  After you search for the item, scroll down to just under the first 2 graphs to this section:

Market Notifications

Login to The Undermine Journal to view and set your market notifications for this item.

I have recently set up notifications for a list of specific rare patterns that I would like to find cheap to flip for big profits.  Using the market notification tools, I get notified as soon as they are posted on the AH.  I have already used this info to pick up a couple of rare patterns for horribly underpriced buyouts.  If you have email notification send to your cell phone or email notification on your computer, you can use the market notification tool to instantly grab those super cheap items as soon as they are listed on the auction house.  If you happen to get notifications while you are asleep, each notification includes a link to the Undermine Journal's item listing for your server, so you can check that the item is still available before logging in to buy it.

Here's what the email notification looks like:

Hello, Cold![Haunted Memento] on (Insert Your Server Here) Horde has reached a threshold that you've set:

The market price is under 500g 0s 0c. It is now 89g 0s 0c.

I had Haunted Memento set to notify me if it ever appeared below 500g.  Looks like at 2:30am someone posted one for 89g!  Dang it!  It was bought and relisted while I slept, but had this been posted while I was awake, I could have grabbed it thanks to my instant notification.  On super rare items, I just set the threshold to notify me when it appears at all.  I decide if the price is good after I see what it's posted at.

So head over to The Undermine Journal and get set up for those instant Market Notifications.  Anyone using their site for anything else?

Making Gold Off Cataclysm: Guest Post by Inkobah

Cataclysm Is Nearing

Today I have a special guest post from Inkobah of Twinkinfo.com.  You may recall his name from a posting I reproduced here titled:  Cataclysm: The Rebirth of Twinking (Part 1).  Inkobah is one of my favorite writers and I am excited to finally have a guest post by him.  If you are interested in twinks, make sure to learn about twinking, how to make a twink, and what twinks buy and use over at Twinkinfo.com. 

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Making Gold Off Cataclysm

The World (of Warcraft) is changing drastically. Soon the two original continents will look much different than we’ve gotten used to over the last 6 years, skills and spells are changing, stats and items are changing, new content will be added, and others will be taken away.

Within this post I’ll be tackling a topic very dear to our hearts: Making gold off Cataclysm. There’s many ways to do it, but here are my suggestions:

The best way to make money in Cataclysm is anticipating the changes that will cause item prices to go up (and avoiding items that will go down as a result of Cataclysm). Below are a few categories to take a look at to maximize your earnings when Cataclysm hits on December 7. But before we go there I want to encourage everyone to avoid the inflation bat!

Avoid the Inflation Bat!
What is the inflation bat? Well every time Blizzard has raised the level cap there has been major inflation in the game. Those that played back in “Vanilla” WoW will remember that you were amazingly rich if you had anything north of 1000g (now you can buy that much from the Chinamen for like $2.50). In BC the amount of gold available to players went up due to the increasing gold dropped by mobs and given by quests. It got worse when Blizzard implemented Daily Quests to the game, making it easy to get 100g+ by just doing a handful of quests. Then, it progressed with Lich King and will again wreak havoc on the economy once Cataclysm comes out.

Perhaps the best thing you can do to prepare for Cataclysm, is to avoid the inflation bat the best you can. How do you do that? Well, you have to find the right items to “invest” your gold in until after things settle down. By buying items that will increase in value in Cataclysm, you’ll be avoiding the inflation that will take your liquid assets and shrink them just because they’re liquid. Think about it this way, if you have 50k gold right now and just sit on 50k gold for three months you’ll have 50k gold (while everyone else will be surpassing you because of inflation). But if you have 50k gold right now and invest a good portion in goods that will increase in value come Cata, you could have exponentially more than 50k gold in three months.

It’s cool to have the gold cap on multiple characters for looks but practically it makes little sense because inflation will make that gold increasingly less valuable. I recommend that you keep some liquid assets (gold) because you’ll need it to buy goods you’ll need or pick up some sweet deals you run across, but most of your gold would be better served invested in goods that you can sell for a profit later. Also when you go to sell these items later mark them up! For instance, let’s say a stack of Copper Ore goes for 10g right now. In Cataclysm, that Ore needs to be priced at 15g + to compensate for inflation and the increased amount of gold in the server economy.

The key to avoiding the inflation bat successfully is finding the right goods that you know will increase in price. Investing in items like Primordial Saronite will be a bad investment as the value in Cata (and in the coming weeks) will tank tremendously. Below are a few areas where I would recommend you invest your gold in for the next couple months or so. It’s certainly not all the goods that should increase in value but here are a few.

Categories to Target

* Mats
Two new races (and new class/race combos) added to the game means all kinds of new characters running around on our realms. This means that materials for professions like Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Enchanting, Tailoring, Jewelcrafting, etc. will skyrocket in demand. The risk to this investment is small, but the payoff will be smaller than some other investments.

* Greens turning into Blues
There are a handful of items that are currently Green that will be changing to Blue. I know Cold touched on a few of these items already. (Refresh your memory about Twink BoE gear changing from green to blue).  As dumb as it may sound, these items will increase in price if only because of the item quality (many are getting buffed as well). Don’t believe me? Remember when the very rare Hyacinth Macaw changed in item quality from White to Purple? The price skyrocketed while nothing changed on the item itself. This is a very safe investment, with a descent return on investment.

* Enchants/Glyphs/Gems/Patches
With all the new characters running around, created item enhancements will also increase in demand with Cataclysm. Also, this expansion is also being called a Rebirth to Twinking by many (including myself) so you should see many twinks running around post-Cataclysm looking for these goods. The risk to this investment is also pretty small, but I believe the payoff could be a bit higher than other investments (especially for items in high demand by twinks).

* Leveling items
Everyone assumes that leveling Blues/Purples are worthless these days and in Cataclysm due to BoA’s. This is not true! I make most of my money these days just buying and selling these items. The reason why it’s wrong is that a lot of people like to have good gear at their level and don’t understand it’s almost always a waste of money. They fall into the ill-fated logic that having good gear upgrades all the time will mean that I’ll level exponentially faster. Those of you that have been around a while know that gear helps but it’s usually not worth the gold (but don’t tell our potential customers that!). In addition, there’s a lot of people that don’t have BoA’s still so all slots are still profitable. With this method, try targeting items that are clearly intended for melee classes that also have Spirit on them (as the Spirit will be changed in Cataclysm to a more useful stat making them more useful and more valuable). Also there’s always people that see Blues/Purples and just buy it because of the item quality thinking it’s an amazing item. The risk to this investment is a bit higher, but the payoff for the right items will be high.

* Twink items
There is certainly some overlap between leveling items and twink items but the big difference is the price twinks will pay for items that are Best in Slot. I’ve seen twinks pay 10k+ more for 1 stat so they make sure they’ve got the best they can get. The scary thing is that there’s a lot of changes happening to twink gear right now and all the stats on Wowhead Beta, the Beta, Armory, and MMO-Champion appear to be inconclusive on what’s really happening. Many items that are currently are BiS are not going to be BiS in Cataclysm which is good if you are able to target the new BiS items and avoid the ones that will no longer be BiS. The risk to this category is high, but the reward can be very high with the influx of twinks that I think we’ll see post-Cata.

Monopolies
Another way to increase your ROI (return on investment) is to create monopolies with other players. I know there are different stands on this issue and I’ve even heard stories about people getting banned for doing this. There is nothing in the Blizzard ToS that would make this illegal (though very clearly illegal in real life) and I’ve never heard from Blizzard when I’ve done it. The way you do this is get a few buddies together to invest in similar items and make an agreement with all of those buddies to set your prices at the same when Cataclysm hits.

This works best and is generally foolproof with items that will be in very high demand. I’m disappointed that there are no new professions with this expansion because that’s the easiest way to create a monopoly by targeting the raw goods needed to level a new profession. I made a killing off monopolies the last two expansions by targeting ore and gems when BC came out and herbs with the last one. I was crossing my fingers that archaeology may require some raw goods but that will not be the case unfortunately.

Still there are areas where monopolies will always be possible. Find people you trust that are motivated to make gold (and have some capital to work with) and you’ll be good to go. Don’t freak out about the undercutters because if you pick the right area of the economy, the demand will far outweigh the supply that undercutters are able to sell.
Wrap-up
I hope these suggestions will help you to make a killing off of Cataclysm. I know I’ll be raking it in within the next few months and can’t wait for the big day. If you have success stories or your own suggested categories to target in preparation for Cataclysm please leave a comment. It’s an honor to blog for you guys. Thanks Cold for the invitation!

Cheers!

-Ink

Be sure to check out other great posts by Ink:
Inkobah's Guide to Auctioning
Cataclysm: The Rebirth of Twinking Part 1
Cataclysm: The Rebirth of Twinking Part 2

Glyph Prices Will Peak Again Before Cataclysm

Glyph Sales Will Rise Again

Selling Glyphs

Scribes have been making a killing selling glyphs to all characters. Prices are down already on some of the easier to learn glyphs. Do not worry. Prices on glyphs will peak again before Cataclysm. Scribes will be able to sell a ton of glyphs again upon the release of Cataclysm as new players join and old players roll new race alts. Another patch will soon increase the demand for glyphs again.

The Shattering
Patch 4.0.3 is also The Shattering event patch. Blue posts have already said the new race and class combos will be available with The Shattering patch. This opens up a whole new target audience for glyph sales. I definately expect to see some new characters spring up after the patch goes live. These new troll druids, human hunters, etc. will all be looking to stock their glyph books. If you didn't learn from the last patch, make sure to post your glyphs the Monday night before the patch, incase the server is down extra time again. Those of us that posted the night before saw a ton of sales with little competition as we planned ahead. If you have some glyphs that aren't fetching what you want for them, just wait until The Shattering patch goes live when prices should spike again.

Auction House Mistakes I Learned From

Mistakes Teach Us
Free Gold Tips and Tricks are posted here every day.  These are tried and true methods that work and speculative ideas about what could work.  Learning what to do comes with also learning what not to do.  Mistakes are the stepping stones to understanding.  When you understand what went wrong, you can focus on preventing repeated mistakes.  Here are two examples of things I've learned by screwing up.


Incorrect Pricing
Auction house gold making can quickly be derailed by incorrect pricing.  It only takes a couple of times posting items for the wrong price to learn a quick lesson.  Always check that you have posted your items at the correct price!  Once I was so excited to see that the10 Icescale Leg Armor I had just posted for 225g each had all just sold out within minutes of posting.  I quickly ran to the auction house to see who had bought them all only to see I had incorrectly posted them all for 25g each.  Ouch!  From then on, I always double check my auctions.  Good thing too.  I had accidentally posted a Captured Firefly for 15g instead of 15k, but caught it within seconds of posting.  That could have been a huge loss as I had paid 2k for it.


Buyouts Raise Prices
Don't buy out every low priced material you find.  Why?  I love to find great deals on the auction house.  Problem is I tend to buy all of the items priced below my purchasing threshold.  It took me forever to finally realize why there are only higher prices items re-listed after I do a big buyout.  Duh!  Now the cheapest one is above my threshold and new sellers will post their materials as close to that higher amount as possible.  It pays to leave a few on the auction house at low low prices.  Why?  The next bot farmer who comes along will post all of his goods below the lowest price.  This may lose you a few stacks of cheap materials, if another buyer snatches them up before a seller comes along, but trust me it is well worth the risk.  Sometimes you can really hit it big.  Just remember that every item you buy out at one price is pushing the next posters price that much higher for your next round of purchases.




This post was submitted for inclusion into the monthly blogging carnival at Just My Two Copper.
Image taken from The Word It Book by Armin Vit.

Reader Submission: Relics of Ulduar & Reputation In Cataclysm

Reader Submission from Lasse aka Dahmek of Turalyon-EU



Hello your hallowed Coldness. Off to a good start with a wordplay :D


My question is this: Do you see any profit in stocking up on Relic of Ulduar now?

What I am considering is the following:
1: The prices of Relic of Ulduar have dropped a lot since the introduction of shoulderarmors as BoA items.
2: Come Cataclysm, a lot of new Worgen/Goblin will be created. Some of these as new mains.
3: A small part of this "new" playerbase will be interested in achievements and reputation.
4: Buy Relic of Ulduar at insanely low prices now and cash in in Cataclysm.
5a: You could merely use AH as normal
5b: Do "/2 WTS complete Sons of Hodir rep package to exalted. Get your achievement now"

This was a short overview of what I've been thinking about. Relics of Ulduar is atm at 13.07 servertime ~25s a piece at my server, Turalyon-EU, and I see them lower sometimes. I figure you should be able to at least get 1g return a piece, possibly more with Cataclysm inflation.
Thank you for an excellent blog. I follow you daily, and you have quickly become my favorite blogger.
Kind regards from a fellow AH camper and golddigger.

Lasse aka Dahmek of Turalyon-EU

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Thanks Dahmek for the sumbission.  I highly welcome guest posters and reader submissions or questions.  Thanks again!

The real questions here are:

1. Will there be enough demand to flip the Relics for a profit?
2. Will people be continuing to collect these themselves?
3. Will they continue to be available on the auction house once Cataclysm releases?
4. Are there any recipes or items from the quartermaster that new players or alts will continue to want from the Son's of Hodir quartermaster?

These Relics drop off of mobs all over the Storm Peaks, but they also drop off mobs in The Halls of Stone and The Halls of Lightning so people will be receiving a small amount of them through the dungeon finder.  As far as people leveling in Stormpeaks, I would tend to think most players will skip The Storm Peaks and finish their leveling in Icecrown, due to the sheer number of dailies for various quest hubs and argent tournament quests.  So I would think that these may tend more towards drying up than be in constant supply.

There are a few reasons to continue with gaining reputation with The Son's of Hodir.  New characters will probably be wanting to grab the shoulder enchants, if they have no main to send them a BoA shoulder enchant.  Alts may skip the enchant altogether as it can't be used on BoA shoulder gear anyways.  Mount collectors will surely want to be able to purchase the 2 mounts that are available from the quartermaster.  Recipe collectors, may be after the patterns for +16 crit gem, Pattern: Glacial Bag, or Pattern: Mammoth Mining Bag.  Nothing really groundbreaking here.  So your main market you would be selling to includes Achievement Seekers, Mount Collectors, and Recipe Collectors.  Good news is, these kind of players tend to have money to blow on items.

Selling these in Cata may be a strategy for profit, but probably not much as your buying audience is pretty slim.  Although it probably is a low risk investment, if you can find the Relics cheaply, but you will have to continue to buy out them while you are selling these kits, in order to keep the value higher.  At least storage space wouldn't be an issue since you can stack 200 at a time. 

In my opinion, this could work, but I tend to like to focus on things that have a better return on investment to make it more worth my time.  Plus you can get to exhaulted fairly easily without even using these rep turn ins, since the dailies reward a nice chunk of rep each and you get more dailies opened the farther your progress with their reputation.

Thanks again and let me know what you decide to do.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the Relics of Ulduar strategy?

Hallow's End: Hallowed Wand Costume Profiteering

Hallowed Wand Costumes For Sale
Everyone who is working on The Masquerade Achievement needs to get a zap from each of the various hallowed wands.  There is a hallowed wand for each costume:  Bat, Ghost, Wisp, Leper Gnome, Pirate, Skeleton, and Wisp.  You will often see impatient players looking to buy these costume zaps in trade chat.  I myself set up a macro to shout periodically that I am selling hallowed wand costume zaps.  I charge 25g each or 3 for 60g.  Funny thing is I haven't even looted a single wand yet this year and I have made hundreds of gold from zapping the people who just can't wait until the holiday is closer to being over.  Yeah, if you wait you may not even have to buy any specific zaps as you can trade zaps, or get zapped for free while in dungeon groups.  As greedy little goblins, we offer these impatient ones our services to line our coin purses with their gold.

Save Your Wands
I haven't even got a wand yet this year and I'm making a lot of gold selling zaps, in between runs to the auction house and mailbox.  How?  Planning ahead.  Do not give wand zaps for free.  Do not zap people for fun.  Only trade zaps if you yourself need one for the achievement and the holiday end is looming near.  Do not delete your wands or waste their charges once the holiday is over.  Why?  The achievement doesn't even require the zaps during Hallow's End.  Yes that's right, I actually store these and sell some zaps during the year to people looking for a variation from the Savory Deviate Delights.  I also had a complete set of wands ready to go day 1 of the holiday, which is how I have been making the hundreds of gold during regular routines.  Hell, I been advertising Mistletoe Spirit Buffs for sale as well.  Those are from last year too.  If you have any of the old Hallowed Wand: Random from previous years, save those for people looking for a costume (Savory Deviate Delight buyers).  The random costume wands have been removed, but the zaps don't count for The Masquerade achievement.

Anyone else making gold off the impatient ones?

Netherweave Bags vs Faction Satchels in Cataclysm

Stormwind Quartermaster

Tailoring Warning
In case you missed it, last week over at Just My Two Copper, Miss Mediocre guest posted an excellent article entitled Cataclysm Profession Breakdown.  She has been researching within Cata Beta and has an excellent report on various things profession related.  Within the content of her tailoring section, she divulges an interesting addition on the Beta.  This little addition has stirred up quite the comments. (Disclaimer:  Remember not everything on Beta actually makes the cut, but this one probably will.)  Let me quote from her article.

"On the topic of bags, anyone expecting to sell lots of Netherweave bags come Cataclysm may be disappointed! New city quartermasters are found near the flight masters in all of the major cities and sell 16 slot satchels for only 1g80s if you are revered. The bags are "unique" so you can only have one of each, but that is still 5 satchels if you are revered with all of your faction's races (which happens pretty quick these days just by questing). I'm sure Netherweave bags will still sell, but I'm wondering if perhaps not as well, once players discover the quartermasters."

-Miss Mediocre

Faction Satchels
Here is an example of the "Faction Satchels" as I'm calling them:  Troll Faction Satchel.  As a correction to her original calculation, there are actually 6 satchels for each side, as Gilneas and Bilgewater are offering satchels as well.  So each character can get 6 dirt cheap 16 slot bags once revered with each city.  This is an interesting change, but should we as tailors be worried?  I myself have about 6 guild bank tabs filled with Netherweave Bolts just waiting to start the tailoring sweatshop into motion as I plan to profit heavily on bags come Cataclysm time.

Effects On Bag Sales
So will these newly introduced bags curb your ability to sell the endless amounts of Netherweave Bags?  Short answer:  I doubt it will affect sales much, if at all.  Why not?  Who are we targetting to buy all of our bags?  New characters are the primary targets.  New characters wanting to increase their bag space will want that increased carrying capacity long before they reach revered with a single faction much less all of them.  I can see those cheap satchels selling to people expanding their bank bag slots later on, thus lowering sales to those customers further into the expansion.  At the expansion's start though, there will be a ton of new characters looking for bags ASAP.  Old players will be rolling new characters too and these new satchels are bound to the character that buys them, so no benefit of being an older player in terms of helping out your new characters.  We already have bags that are even better than any 16slot BoA bag that could be implemented, so I doubt we will see any BoA bags created.  Read about how Mooncloth Bags and Traveler's Backpacks are better options.  Another key to remember is that Goblins and Worgens will be included in the actual Cataclysm expansion.  The shattering event will occur in a patch added prior to Cataclysm and blue posts have stated that the new racial/class combos will be released with the shattering patch.  So there will be some sales of netherweave bags picking up once that patch allows troll druids, human hunters, etc.  So all in all, I wouldn't worry one bit about netherweave bag sales.

Image provided by:  Miss Mediocre

Hallow's End, The Headless Horseman And Empty Loot-Filled Bags

Sinister Squashling

The New Holiday Loot Bag
Hallow's Eve is here and its time to farm for your mount from the Headless Horseman.  Just like Ahune and Coren Direbrew, the Headless Horseman is now accessible through the Looking-For-Dungeon queue.  And just as the other drops had changed, he now drops a Loot-Filled Pumpkin, which can contain your rare holiday drops.  This pumpkin can only be rewarded once per day per character for your sole chance per day at the rare items.  All of the same item level 200 epic rings still drop off of The Headless Horseman himself.  Within the pumpkin bag, you may find:

1. Sinister Squashling
2. Hallowed Helm
3. The Horseman's Horrific Helm
4. The Horseman's Baleful Blade
5. The Horseman's Reins
6. 1 of the Flying Brooms

You also can open your bag and find not a single thing in there and receive a message that reads, "There is no loot."  Nice - the Loot-Filled Bag contains no loot.  Great idea Blizzard.  Regardless, you get your 24 Justice Points (unless you are capped)  after you open the bag, so it does have something intangible within it.

Opening Chests
If you are running this daily, take advantage of the free port inside the SM Graveyard and make sure to check for any chests that have spawned inside the instance.  Often they are locked so bring along some seaforium or blacksmith keys, if you are not a rogue.  All the chests within any area of the Scarlet Monastary have a chance to drop some nice BOE twink gear, so they are worth a peek. 

Any luck getting your mount to drop?  I have mine from last year :)

How the MLB NLCS & ALCS Affect The Auction House

Where Is Everyone?
Have you started to notice the overall decline in players online, specifically the online player population on evenings and weekends appears to be way down.  Why?  It's Major League Baseball's playoff time.  We are down to just the Yankees, Rangers, Giants, and my life long devoted Philadelphia Phillies.  What does all this have to do with the auction house?  As I have been detailing over the life of this blog, real world major sporting events can drastically effect your server population.  This can lower your potential buyers during a major event, but also can help you make extra profits due to a lack of competition.  Some players will post their auctions just before the game starts, then may not log in until the next day due to the games running so long.

Past Sporting Events
I have made extra gold in sales during the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup finals, the Kentucky Derby, and the list goes on.  I won the Booty Bay fishing derby during the opening Sunday of NFL football too!  With these excellent 4 baseball teams playing, there are some crazy expectations for viewers counts becasue the match ups are very intriguing and will be awesome to watch.  A lot of your competition will be taking time off during the games, posting before and after the games, or not logging on that day at all.  So I have enclosed the remaining game times.  You can use this to your advantage.  I would suspect that there will be a lot of competition the hour before the games start.  Wait until the game actually starts, then post all your auctions and you should have a better chance of selling more during the 3+ hour game time window.

All Times are in Eastern

Yankees vs Rangers


Game 3 10/18 Mon 8:00 PM
Game 4 10/19 Tue  8:00 PM
Game 5 10/20 Wed 4:00 PM
Game 6 10/22 Fri 8:00 PM  (If Needed)
Game 7 10/23 Sat 8:00 PM  (If Needed)
 
Giants vs Phillies
 
Game 3 10/19 Tues 4:00 PM
Game 4 10/20 Wed 7:30 PM
Game 5 10/21 Thur 7:30 PM
Game 6 10/23 Sat  3:30 PM  (If Needed)
Game 7 10/24 Sun 7:30 PM  (If Needed)

The 19th, 20th, and 23rd are possible dates for 2 games in 1 day.

World Series Schedule

Game 1 Wednesday, October 27 @ 7:30 PM
Game 2 Thursday, October 28 @ 7:30 PM
Game 3 Saturday, October 30 @ 6:30 PM
Game 4 Sunday, October 31 @ 8:00 PM
Game 5 Monday, November 1 @ 7:30 PM (If Needed)
Game 6 Wednesday, November 3 @ 7:30 PM (If Needed)
Game 7 Thursday, November 4 @ 7:30 PM (If Needed)

TheWorld Series is another excellent time to make some extra sales with decreased competition.  Goblins tend to be highly competitive.  Thus they also have a higher chance of watching competitive sports.

Double Gathering With The 4.0.1 New Mini-Map Changes

About Time

New Way To Track

A new mini-map UI was included within the newest Patch 4.0.1.  Now all players can select multiple options to be "tracking" within the mini-map.  Each trackable group on the mini-map has its own marker as well.  Previously we could only track 1 thing at a time.  I rolled a test character and confirmed that both Mining and Herbalism (or Find Herbs and Find Minerals) can both be shown on the mini-map together (see above image).  This is a very nice change.

Double Gathering

With this new change it is much easier to make an uber-farming character with both herbalism and mining simultaneously.  A macro to swap back and worth tracking types is no longer needed.  You now can see the nodes and herbs on your mini-map.  This now is the ideal set-up for making money while leveling because it just became much easier and not annoying.  If you were leveling a character with double gathering you would never have to pass up a mineral node or herb again.  This is much faster of a leveling combo than Herbalism or Mining and Skinning.  Removing skinning when thinking of speed.  A major drawback is the time it takes to skin.  So Double Gathering as Miner / Herbalist is the ideal choice for ease and speed purposes.  Both selling herbs and selling ores / bars are in constant demand on any server and the new gold standard when making money while leveling. 

Track Low Level Quests

You also can now turn on the ability to always track low level quests.  This is nice because if you were a miner or herbalist working on the Loremaster Achievement, you couldn't track low level quest givers and your nodes.  Now it is set it and forget it!  So the new mini-map changes that Blizzard gave us are a very nice addition indeed.



What Class And Race Combo Do You Think Is The Best For A Farming Only Alt?

Blog Readership Continues To Grow

Blog Growth
I have been hard at work trying to grow this blog into more of a discussion ground as well as a place for great tips on making in-game WoW gold.  As of this past Thursday, I have reached a first step in growth that I would like to share with you, my readers.  Views are now up to over 1000 a day.  Yeah, that is not much when compared to Markco, but it was my first goal to reach.

JMTC
Speaking of Markco, I would like to take this oppurtunity for his links and for including me in his recent post 5 New Gold Blogs To Watch Out For In Cata.  All 5 of the blogs listed have already become daily reads for me.  If you haven't check the others out, I highly suggest it.  You will even see some commenting back and forth with some other members of the gold blogging community.  And as Markco has already challenged you all, please be more interactive with your blog authors by providing comments and feedback.    Thanks again Markco for back-to-back posts with links to me on Thursday & Friday.

Gevlon
Never thought I would see the day that I got a silent nod from Gevlon of GreedyGoblin, but a few of us gold bloggers have made it into his blog reading list.  His high traffic volume has already showed benefits as my subscriptions have jumped and analytics is showing referrals in the hundreds from both greedygoblin and JMTC.  Thanks Gev!

Final Shout Outs
One thing I have been very pleased with is the book, Web Marketing for Dummies: All-In-One.  (Link Below)  This is a compilation book that I picked up and has been worth every penny.  Anyone serious about blogging needs to grab a copy of this thing ASAP.  It is such a good read and a great resource to keep once you finish reading the 8 books combined into one. 

The 8 Books included are:

1. Establishing a Web Presence
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
3. Web Analytics
4. Online Advertising & Pay-Per-Click
5. E-Mail Marketing
6. Blogging and Podcasting
7. Social Media Marketing
8. Mobile Marketing

Look at those 8 topics!  What more could you ask for to get started?  Trust me here, it really does make things easier, especially if you are like me and are self teaching yourself.

Thanks to all of my readers for their comments, feedback, and continued following of the blog.  May we continue to learn together.  Please help share this blog's link with members of your online social networks so we can continue to grow and develop even more thoughtful discussion.

The Fate of Tome of Polymorph Turtle, Mounts & Vanity Pets

Blue Post

A blue post has addressed some of the issues we have been wondering about regarding the fate of some pets, mounts, and the widely speculated about Tome of Polymorph: Turtle.  Follow me below for implications these changes will bring as well as some non-addressed issues that still remain.

As stated in the Under Dev page, patch 4.0.3 brings about The Shattering, a cataclysmic event that will forever change the face of Azeroth. As we prepare to raise the level cap and introduce two new races with the Cataclysm expansion, it's important to keep in mind that the game world is going through tremendous changes that will affect the availability of certain rare mounts and items.

Swift Zulian Tiger Zul'Gurub is changing from a raid to a leveling zone in 4.0.3, and this mount will no longer be obtainable. 
Swift Razzashi Raptor This mount will also no longer be obtainable after the change to Zul'Gurub. 
Razzashi HatchlingWith the change to Zul'Gurub this non-combat pet will no longer be obtainable.

Tome of Polymorph: Turtle This tome will continue to be available through other means. 
Crusader's White/Black Warhorse and Swift Alliance Steed/Swift Horde Wolf  As the attempt-based tribute system is being removed from Heroic Trial of the Crusader, the Argent Crusade Tribute Chest will no longer spawn, and these mounts will no longer be obtainable.
Reins of the Blue Drake  This mount will once again be available from defeating 10-player Malygos without needing to use the Dungeon Finder. The Reins of the Azure Drake will only be available on 25-player Malygos. 
Mimiron's Head  This mount will change to be a very low drop chance when defeating 25-player Yogg'Saron with no Keepers assisting you.

Invincible This mount will change to be a very low drop chance when defeating Heroic 25-player Lich King.

Although we have no current plans to introduce new ways to obtain the Zul'Gurub mounts, pets, and the tribute mounts, they may return should we find a place where they fit in the future.

Implications
Finally we have an answer on the fate of the Polymorph Turtle Tome.  It will continue to be available via other means.  What "other means" are still meant to be seen.  It could be a rare zone drop, a rare drop off of a rare spawn, or even a trainable spell.  I would expect it to drop in value overall as it now is not going to live up to all the hype.  I would sell mine now before others catch word of this.  Speculation is just a guess, or even an educated guess, but a blue post is much more dependable.  So if you are after one of the mounts or pets that are being removed, then get farming!  The Razzashi Hatchling is no longer going to be available.  Search for these on the auction house and grab up any you can find.  They will only go up in value as they will no longer drop from any mobs and become an obsolete pet.  Collectors will pay a high price for these down the road.
Unanswered Questions
Some questions still remain unanswered.  What about the various dragon whelpling vanity pets or the rare spawn dropped Black Tabby pet available to Horde only?  These are all worth buying as they will hold their value, but could be worth much more if they end up being removed like the Razzashi Hatchling.  I also wonder the same about patterns that drop off of rare spawns in the old vanilla lands.  Will these rare spawns make it through the Cataclysmic event or will they be replaced?  

Rare Spawns
Volchan of the Burning Steppes zone is a rare spawn, that has a good chance to drop the blacksmithing Plans: Volcanic Hammer.  He is the only source for this pattern.  Are the rare spawns in Cataclysm the same or are they going to be new creatures altogether?  If Volchan is removed and there are no other ways to get this pattern, then it will be worth a lot more than it currently is today.  Today it fetches a measly 5g, but if it becomes obsolete, then it will be worth a ton more to a recipe collector.  Wowhead's Cataclysm version shows no source for the pattern at all and Volchan doesn't even exist according to the same source.  This could only appear this way because they may not have any rare spawns on the Beta yet or it could be a goldmine.  Would be worth digging into rare drop BOE patterns that drop off of rare spawns.

You weren't banking too hard on Tome of Polymorph: Turtle were you?  Can you think of any other rare spawns that are the sole source for a certain pattern?

The Alchemy Epic Gem Cooldown Removal

Did you get caught up in the hype?
Some sites were promoting the possibilty of an epic gem transmutation cooldown removal.  Other people interpretted what was only a possibility as an actual truth.  Let us not forget that you can't believe everything you hear.  Anything is subject to change or could be just speculation. 

What can we learn from the alchemy cooldown removal fiasco? 
Becoming fluent with working the auction house takes more than just following specific advise.  A true auction house player understands various elements of the auction house.  Figuring out what will sell better at what times is a big part of the puzzle.  Forecasting and speculating also can read huge rewards.  In order to be wise about investments you only want to invest in changes that have a very slim chance of not happening.  Stick to blue posts by Blizzard officials that you can count on.  If a site promotes something that is speculation, remember that it is just that - Speculation. 

Divide and Conquer
Some people got caught with a massive stockpile of eternals for use when the cooldown was removed from alchemists.  When it wasn't removed, they were stuck holding onto mass quantaties of rare gems and eternals.  Some auctioneers may not recover from these investments.  Expecting to see some eternals flooding the market soon.  I can't preach enough about diversity.  By playing multiple markets, you can cushion a big hit in one market because your other markets continue to provide income.  The gem and glyph markets should continue to provide increased sales through this weekend as some players are still fumbling to get the patch installed and log in.  The weekend population should be the biggest it has been in a while, so be prepared in all markets.

Patch 4.0.1 Major Gem Changes

Winds of Change
Patch 4.0.1 has brought about some crazy changes within the game world.  The ground is shaking from tremors, the cities are filled with people and this patch has turned everything upside down.  One of the major changes for players, crafters, and sellers has been within the selling and socketing of cut gems.

Look Into GemsThere have been many different things that have changed about gems.  Have you scribes even taken yourself away from your mailboxes long enough to see what is up with the gem market?  Have you looked at your gear yet?  Some big things to take note of:

1. Some stats were removed.  This means gems of those types have been replaced with another stat gem.  Attack Power became Agility.  Spellpower became Intelligence.  Defense became Dodge or Parry.  Armor Pen became Crit.  Mp5 became Spirit.
2. Some gems have changed color.  Hit is now blue.  Mastery & Dodge are now yellow.  Intelligence is now Red.
3. Some gems have changed color and stats and may no longer match their sockets.
4. Sigils, Librams, and Idols now have stats and an unsocketed gem slot.
5. The removal of the Transmute Cooldown for epic gems is bugged (it still exists) and the eternal markets are flooded.

Strike Now!
All of these changes mean that many players all week long, will be logging in to their various characters and having to regem many of their sockets.  Not just Strength gems, but all kinds of gems are being bought.  Meta's are flying off the auction house too!  With the combining of Frost Emblems and Triumph Emblems into Justice points, many people are gemming and enchanting brand new gear they couldn't afford before the patch.  This is a perfect oppurtunity to unload what you can for a good price before the market starts to collapse once the alchemy cooldown bug is fixed. 

9 New Glyphs and How To Learn Them

Gold Patch
Patch 4.0.1 is here!  Hopefully you are swimming in gold with all the new sales of glyphs due to the price lowering of dual spec and the change to make glyphs learnable through the new glyph-book interface.  Maybe you are playing multiple markets and raking in on gems, belt buckles, or even eternals.  Whatever you are doing, don't forget to learn the 9 new glyphs created by this patch.  Others may not even be aware of these newly added glyphs, so make sure you take advantage of the possibility that these may sell for even higher mark-ups the first few days due to less competition.  I was the only one posting these so I was pricing them in the hundrends and they were selling.

How to Learn
There are seven total new glyphs added to this patch.  Here they are and how to learn them:

1. Faerie Fire - Trainer
2. Feral Charge - Trainer
3. Lacerate - Trainer
4. Tiger's Fury - Trainer
5. Deathwish - Trainer
6. Intercept - Trainer
7. Blind - Trainer
8. Colossus Smash - Book of Glyph Mastery
9. Living Bomb - Inscription Research

Recounting shows: 7 New Glyphs taught by the Inscription Trainer, 1 Learned from a Book of Glyph Mastery, and 1 Learned from Northrend Inscription Research.  So get them learned and get back to work on the auction house and these crazy sales.

Why Mooncloth Bags and Traveler's Backpacks Are Better Than Netherweave Bags

The Industry Standard
Anyone who makes a money with the tailoring profession probably has delved into the Netherweave Bag market.  These trustworthy sellers do sell in high volumes, are not expensive to craft, provide a decent return on investment, and will never run you into overstock issues.  They are the preferred choice of most players who are increasing the bag space of alts or stocking up extra bank tabs.  When you compare your options, these are not the smartest purchase for leveling alts. 


Better Choices For Alts
Both  Traveler's Backpack and Mooncloth Bag are better options for alternate characters (alts).  The biggest disadvantage of using Netherweave Bags is that they Bind-On-Equip.  So once the new alt adds them to his bank or equips them into his / her bag slots, they become bound to that single character.  If this alt later purchases better bags for even more space, these are often vendored for a fraction of the original cost, since they cannot be used on any other characters.  Neither the Traveler's Backpack or the Mooncloth Bags are bound upon use.  They have the same 16 slot space allowance, but allow the cost efficient player to utilize them on multiple characters.  If they get replaced by larger bags, the option still exists of sending them to another alt for use witout having to purchase more bags for the new alt.  The other option that exists is a quick trip to the auction house for resale.  Think of these bags more like you are renting them, instead of buying them outright, just to be vendored after they are outgrown.


How Are They Obtained?
Mooncloth Bags are crafted by tailorings that have learned the Pattern: Mooncloth Bag.  Both Traveler's Backpacks and the pattern for the Mooncloth Bags are rare vanilla world drops.  Be sure to grab this pattern, if you find it posted for a good price on the auction house.  Add Felcloth to your snatch list.  Nowadays you can find it pretty cheap as most people just dump it to the auction house due to its limited usage in useful items these days.  Some buyers are aware of the benefits of using these 2 bags instead of the standard Netherweave Bags.  I often sells Mooncloth Bags and Traveler's Backpacks for 16-25g each, which is much higher than the usual sale price of the Netherweave Bags.  Watch for Traveler's Backpacks that are underpriced and snatch them up to flip for a profit.

6 Materials To Stockpile Now To Get Rich At Christmas Time

Last week I gave you plenty of notice on stocking up on Small Eggs for profiting off of their sale in the use of cookies and quests during the Winter Veil holiday.

Winter Veil Clothing
Winter Veil is also the time for leatherworkers and tailors to get rich, as well as those supplying the materials they will be using to make endless gold. The Green Winter Clothes, Red Winter Clothes, and Winter Boots are needed to Complete the Winter Garb set for the Achievement. Crafting the boots can easily earn you minimum 25g each and the clothes sell anywhere from 15g to 50g with the opposing factions color reaching 150-200g each. You must visit the opposing capital city and purchase the pattern, which can result in many deaths and corpse runs, but the money you will make will be worth it.

What To Start Stockpiling
The main items that should be snatched cheaply and saved until the holiday starts are:

Wool Cloth
Bolt of Wool
Runecloth
Bolt of Runecloth
Copper Bar
Rugged Leather

You will not be able to find these on the auction house during the first week of Winter Veil.

Last year I took all my wool cloth and made bolts, then posted them for 7g per bolt. I could not keep them in stock. It takes only 3 wool cloth to make a bolt of wool cloth, so you can see how much money that alone made me. That was just using the wool I had left in my bank. This year I will be much better stocked and ready to sell them. The other tailors don't mind paying 7g for a bolt, when they are selling their Winter Clothing for over 100g! Just figure out what the boots and clothes are selling for, make some to post, then sell your mats for a huge profit too. The mailbox will continue to fill up with auction house earnings.

Flash Bombs

Flash Bombs

Flash Bombs are crafted by engineers, but they can be used by anyone. These are an excellent item to market to all levels of PvP players, especially twinks. Why are they so good? They are usable by all players, not just engineers. They share a cooldown with other bombs, which won't be an issue with non-engineers. Anyone can toss these in a battleground and using one of these can easily save the day in Warsong Gulch. They do have a chance at failure when used on targets over level 60. The big thing with these is you aren't restricted to npc beasts. You can use these to "fear bomb" hunter pets, druids in cat or bear form, shamans in ghost wolf, and also enhancement shaman spirit wolves. Thus making these very effective for twinks to fear flag carriers in WSG. Unlike most fears, damage does not interrupt their effect so you get 10 seconds of free beatdown!

How To Get The Pattern?
The schematic is a quest reward from the follow-up quest Flash Bomb Recipe offered after completing the quest Pearl Diving by Rigglefuzz in the badlands. This follow-up quest that rewards the schematic is only available to engineers. Do yourself a favor and farm the 9 required Blue Pearls for the quest before you go get it. You can save time and turn it in immediately instead of flying back to Stranglethorn Veil to hunt the Blue Pearls found in the Giant Clams around the sunken city occupied by murlocs outside of Grom'Gol Base Camp.

Learn It Or Sell The Pattern?
The Gnomish Coin did a post earlier this week about getting this pattern to sell for 300-500g. I am saying learn it yourself and sell these flash bombs to PvP players. Definately market these to the twinks on your server. Only an engineer can do the quest for the pattern, but crafting these only requires 185 Engineering skill. The Blue Pearls are easy to farm with a druid in aquatic form, especialy with the glyph to increase swim speed. Other classes can bring a waterbreathing item or potion or the trinket from winning the Booty Bay fishing derby. Keep the blue pearls in your snatch list and buy up any that players dump on the auction house for cheap.