Cold's Gold Factory - WoW AH & Hearthstone Tips, Heroes of the Storm: August 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

39 Starter Gold Tips From Goldgrubs.com

Goldgrub's Goblin Academy

39 Gold Tips For Beginners

Monday I posted a 67 WoW Gold Tips Post designed to give some quick gold making tips for World of Warcraft players that are stuck in a rut with gold making and may have forgotten about some of the earlier strategies. Today I present to you another massive reading list. This time we are focusing on articles about making gold in World of Warcraft as a beginning gold maker. All of these articles are hosted over at the Goldgrub's Goblin Academy beginner gold making site. This is just a sample of the awesome articles that can be found over at the new goblin training site.

Everything at Goldgrubs.com is designed and written specifically for new players and those WoW players that are new to gold making. We have an amazing list of staffers that currently write for Goldgrub's as well as previous writers and guest posters. I would like to thank all of the excellent bloggers and guest posters that have helped to make Goldgrub's Goblin Academy a great success. We will continue to help out the brand new WoW gold makers (or little goblins as I like to call them) and are always open for topic suggestions, questions, and guest posting chances. Be sure to send all the little goblins over to Goldgrubs.com for basic training.

So You Want To Be A Gold Maker?
What Is a Gold Sink?
The Auction Market Cycles In World of Warcraft
Farming For Cloth
Beginner's Tips For Making Gold In WoW
Low Level Items To Craft For Profit - Part 1
Low Level Items To Craft For Profit - Part 2
Low Level Items To Craft For Profit - Part 3
A Copper Saved Is A Copper Earned
Starting Capital: Peacebloom And Other Low Level Herbs
Starting Capital: Fishing For Gold
Starting Capital: Your First Flip
Starting Capital: Skinning
Starting Capital: Dalaran Pets
The Four Ps of Gold Making
Auction House Timeliness
Selling Your Signature For Easy Gold
Filling Out Your Professions
Flipping On The WoW Auction House
Farming In World of Warcraft
Guide To CODs In WoW
Making A Bank Alt For Storage
Always, I Mean Never...
Farming For A Blood Elf Bandit Mask
Do You Need Anonymity While Banking?
Tuesday Night Is Upgrade Night in WoW
Don't Let Dungeon Bugs Cost You Gear
7 Factors That Determine Your Customer Base And Competition On The WoW Auction House
Rest XP And Why You Need It
Do Racial Trait Profession Bonuses Really Matter?
Turning Your Gold Into Dust
Understanding The WoW AH In 10 Easy Steps
Tanking Shields And Random Dungeons
Should You Buy WoW Gold?
How To Access Trade Chat Anywhere
How To Install WoW Add-Ons
The Best Professions For New Characters
Starter's Guide To WoW Trade Chat
6 Easy Tips For Making Gold In WoW

Thanks For All Of Your Hard Work At Goldgrub's Goblin Academy!

The following bloggers and podcasters have either been a big help, a previous writer, or a current staffer at Goldgrub's Goblin Academy. Thanks to you all for being friends of Goldgrub's Goblin Academy.

Cold
Wes
Fluxdada
Freckleface
Rewt
Bangkok Bill
The Gold Queen
Alto
Nev
Zoxy
R9sid9nt9vil
Xtreme
Xsinthis
Laraku

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. Also Check Out The Teenager's Gold Guide To Get Started With Learning The Auction House As A Younger Player.

Monday, August 29, 2011

67 Tips On Making Gold In WoW | Stuck In A Gold Making Rut?

67 Tips On Making Gold In WoW

Stuck in a bear market? Is there a lull on your server? Don't know what to do next to make gold in WoW? Here is a list of 67 gold tips for World of Warcraft. Maybe you can step into one of these markets and give it a shot. Maybe you are just starting out making gold in WoW. Perhaps you may find just the market to give you the kick start you need to learn to make gold yourself. Maybe you will recognize a forgotten market that you might be able to return to. Having multiple markets to consider when researching your gold making options, is helpful in becoming a solid yet flexible gold maker in WoW.

67 Tips On Making Gold In WoW

Mysterious Fortune Cards
Transmuting Truegold
Living Elements Cooldown with your Alchemist in Uldum to guaranteed Volatile Airs
Transmuting Titansteel
Transmuting Arcanite Bars
Selling Glyphs
Selling Relic Ingredients To Leveling Scribes
Selling New Firelands Relics
Selling Enchanting Scrolls
Selling Enchanting Materials
Crafting Flasks, Elixirs, or Potions
Blacksmith Selling Enchanting Rods
Selling Other Materials Required For Enchanting Rods
Whoring Out Mankrik
Disenchanting For Heavenly Shards
Creating Greater Eternal Essenses
Selling Adventurer's Tomes
Level A Profession Your Are Missing From Your Character Line Up
Listen To The Auction House Junkies Podcast
Flip Volatiles On The Auction House
Crafting Barbaric Bracers, Deviate Scale Belts, Toughened Leather Gloves and Other Low Level Sellers
Sell Cut Gems On The Auction House
Do Your Jewelcrafting Daily And Save Your Token For Patch 4.3
Create Gems With Your Transmute Specialization Alchemist
Listen To The Hearthcast Podcast
Sell Leg Armors
Sell Twink and BoA Enchants For Heirlooms and Low Level Twinks
Search For Rare Recipes On The Auction House
Raise A Reputation To Get A New Recipe, Pattern, Plan, or Schematic
Make Chocolate Cookies
Make Some Scopes
Sell Engineering Pets
Sell Low Level Shields To Beginner Tanks
Quest In Mount Hyjal And Collect Level 78 Gear To Sell
Craft Some Lamps Or Lanters
Listen To The Power Word: Gold Podcast
Research A New Market
Make Deepstone Oil
Go Fishing
Comb Through You Banks For Items That Are Losing Value
Craft Primal Mights
Form A GDKP Raid Run
Sell Dalaran Pets
Sell Winterspring Cubs
Selling Cross Faction Companion Pets
Check Out The Neutral Auction House
Check Out The Other Faction
Watch For Good Deals In Trade Chat
Bark and Sell Dust Of Disappearance
Undercut Jessica Sellers
Craft Darkmoon Faire Cards and Decks
Camp The Darkmoon Faire For Gold Making Tips like Flik's Faire Frogs
Gamble On A Sealed Scroll Case In Zul'Aman
Go Pickpocketing
Farm Up Some Embersilk Cloth
Profit Off Of Cheap Volatiles
Hunt For Dragon's Eyes And Craft Nightmare's Tears
Farm BoE Firelands Recipes In Trash Runs
Start Stocking Up For An Upcoming Holiday Sales Spike
Start A Passive Income Source With Your Own Guild Of Leveling Characters
Craft Icy Prisms
Sell Tanking Gear
Sell Stacks of 3 For The JC Dailies
Check Out The RepGrindRadio Podcast
Prepare For A Secret Sales Day
Sell Netherweave Bags
Craft Profession Bags

There are countless other options. I could go on and on. Hopefully something will jog your brain and find you a new way to make gold in WoW on your main character or even while leveling a new character in World of Warcraft.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. This Guide Can Be Applied To Multiple Markets Not Just Barking MFCs.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Firelands Dailies in Mount Hyjal | Maximizing Rage Against The Flame Choices

Firelands Dailies In Mount Hyjal

Within Mount Hyjal lies the Sanctuary of Malorne Firelands dailies quest hub. The Sanctuary of Malorne Firelands quest hub will give you 3 Firelands dailies quests per day. Completing these quests will earn you Marks of the World Tree and will help get you closer to unlocking your Firelands vendors.

Each day you will receive 3 of the daily quests. 1 is a set quest that you will get each day: Protectors of Hyjal (with Mankrik and the others that assist you) that requires 6 kills at Sethria's Roost. You also receive one of the 2 chain quests where you either gather birds, save bears from the trees, collect deer spirits, howl on corpses, or kick turtles into the water. Each of these original quests is followed up by a quest to kill a summoned mini-boss. The 3rd set of dailies will be one of the Rage Against the Flames quests (80% chance) or the easy quest to pick herbs (20% chance). The Rage Against the Flames quests will require killing any of the mobs in the Mount Hyjal Regrowth or Sethria's Roost areas. Depending on which Rage Against the Flames quest is the random Firelands Daily, you will have to kill 6, 7, 8, or 9 mobs in the area.

Maximizing Rage Against The Flames

Everyday your Firelands Daily quests in Mount Hyjal will require a minimum of 7 kills. For mazimization purposes, we should research which of the remaining possible targets that can be killed for the quests that require extra kills, like Rage Against the Flames 8 & 9, as well as Perfecting Your Howl, which requires 10 kills and corpse howls. On some days the 7 you must kill to complete your dailies will be all the killing you will need. Depending on the combination of random Firelands Dailies chosen, you may need to kill even more mobs. Which of these mobs will be the better targets as far as loot tables go?

Rage Against The Flames Target Options

Brimstone Hound
Scarred Acolyte
Charred Invader
Flame Terror
Brimstone Destroyer
Charred Flamewaker
Firey Behemoth
Seething Pyrelord
Summoned Bosses from the 2 part daily quests chain
One of the 4 Elite Roaming Bosses

Every day you must kill the 6 at Sethria's Roost and the 1 summoned mini-boss, so that is the 7 minimum that will award you credit. Based on their loot tables and gathering options, these are your choices. Choose your extra targets based on your Professions and what material resources you would like to gather while completing your Firelands Dailies quest objectives for the Sanctuary of Malorne daily quest hub.

Are you a Skinner? Brimstone Hounds can be skinned for Savage Leather, but they only drop vendor trash when looted.

Are you a Miner? Seething Pyrelords at Sethria's Roost only drop vendor trash, but their corpses can be mined and can produce 2-3 Volatile Earth or 1-7 Elementium Ore. You can often find un-mined corpses around the Sethria's Roost area that are yours for the scavenging. Here is another great scavenging location in Mount Hyjal.

Are you a Tailor or are you after cloth? Charred Flamewakers have a 29% chance to drop 1-4 Embersilk Cloth (ncludes Tailor's Cloth Scavenging bonus) and Scarred Acolytes have a 47% chance to drop 1-4 Embersilk Cloth.

Are you a Rogue? Both Charred Flamewakers and Scarred Acolytes can be Pickpocketed for a chance at Flame-Scarred Junkboxes.

Are you after Volatile Fire? 4 mob options have a chance at dropping Volatile Fire. They are Seething Pyrelords, Brimstone Destroyers, Flame Terrors, and Charred Invaders.

There you have it. Choose your targets wisely based on your time commitment, which areas you are reqired to be in for the Firelands dailies that are randomly chosen, what Professions you have, and which possible items drops are most beneficial or profitable for you. Then you can enter the orange portal and complete the Firelands Dailies within the Molten Front and continue unlocking the Druids of The Talon or The Shadow Wardens.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Chaos Orbs : To Sink Or Not To Sink? That Is The Question.

Chaos Orbs Are Still BOP

Chaos Orbs and Epic Crafting

There seems to be much discrepancy on how much a Chaos Orb should be valued at. When Wes, R9sid9nt9vil, and I discussed what we thought that each Chaos Orb should be valued at, we settled on 1k gold for each Chaos Orb. That was when the new Firelands vendors where just starting to become available to the players that had religiously completed their Firelands dailies. If you were one of the first sellers of the new guns and epic weapons from the unlocked Firelands vendors, then you could easily earn over 1k per Chaos Orb. Now the markets are a lot more cutthroat as many more players have access to the new recipes and can craft the new weapons.

We came to that original 1000 gold value for each Chaos Orb based off of the demand surge for the new weapons and everything require to get a single Chaos Orb. You can only get 1 per Heroic Dungeon run and we all know the horrors of PUGs and how often the PUG doesn't even make it to the end boss before disbanding and abandoning the instance. So given the time commitment required to get a single Chaos Orb (much more when most weapon recipes take 5 Chaos Orbs), I still value my Chaos Orbs at 1000 gold each.
Farming for Chaos Orbs is one hell of a chore too, even as a tank or a healer. This is more frustrating in a PUG, since I don't have a whole lot of luck in finding random groups that actually finish dungeons. For some tips on Farming Chaos Orbs check out the post by Epidermuss of Wrags To Riches.

How Do I Get 1000 Gold Per Chaos Orb?

My server values each Chaos Orb at a measly 250 gold per Orb. There are multiple players on my server that bark in trade chat that they have all of the new Firelands weapon recipes or the older recipes that require Chaos Orbs. When they bark, they ask for your materials and 250 gold per Chaos Orb. 250 gold per Chaos Orb isn't worth it to me, so I continue to value mine at 1000 gold per Chaos Orb. How do I get 1000 gold per Chaos Orb when others are barking and valuing them at 250 gold? I don't allows players to bring me materials and then charge a fee per Chaos Orb required because they don't expect to pay more than 250 gold. I strictly craft the items outright and sell them on the World of Warcraft auction house. This strategy brings in far more than 250 gold per orb because the prices are not negotiable.

You want to be careful when crafting ahead because you will be sinking your Chaos Orbs into an item when you go ahead and craft one to toss up on the auction house in WoW. When crafting by catering to special orders from players, you avoid sinking your Chaos Orbs into a finished product. This gives you much more flexibility in how you use your Chaos Orbs, but you are subject to the current market value on your server's trade chat. By crafting an item and posting it on the auction house, you can control the buyout price of the item, thus controlling your Chaos Orb's value.

What are Chaos Orbs valued at on your WoW server?

Are you able to earn more per Chaos Orb by crafting items outright or by working for material and a fee per Orb?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. This Guide Can Be Applied To Multiple Markets Not Just Barking MFCs.

Also Check Out TGQ's Latest Mini-guide, The Teenage's Gold Guide. Goes perfect when paired with a MFC guide or any other WoW Gold Guides.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Site Status

Currently having work done on the internet connection in our neighborhood. God, I hate Charter! Took me 2 hours and 5 deaths to complete 4 Firelands Daily quests last night, so I can't play WoW until it is fixed completely. 5 Frames Per Second is not good for gaming.

I also can't work on my blogs from home either as the browser keeps freezing, going unresponsive, and posts are being eaten. Nice, huh? I will continue to post as much as possible from work to the best of my abilities, but as I mentioned on Episode #15 of Auction House Junkies, I am getting promoted and moving to a new department. I will be out of the building a lot more and may not have as much time to write. So hang in there folks! I will be posting as much as I can without a viable internet connection at home. Undoubtedly, I am going to be missing some daily posts due to these circumstances. I will do my best to get posts out as often as I can from work. Don't fear, I'm not quitting or going anywhere. Please bare with me, while Charter finishes their work and restores my home connection. Hopefully the performance will be better than prior to their work in the area.

Guest Post: Beware The Crossfaction Gotcha!

Beware the Crossfaction Gotcha!

Today we present you a guest post from Laraku of Skywall - Horde with a quick Cross Faction (Arbitrage) lesson.

While mining The Undermine Journal I came across a wonderful sight!
Truegold Alliance 797g
Truegold Horde 640g
'Instant Profit' I thought.

So buy Horde 10x640, noticing everyone is posting singles : 6400g cost.
Transfer via Neutral AH (cost 10s)
Peruse Alliance AH, hmm everyone is posting one and two units. 787-799g
So I post a 10 stack at 800g each.
The thinking is, if they need a bunch they will pay for the 10 stack rather than buy 10 singles just because its easier.
1 hour later, sold!

So profit calculation is:

10 sold at 800 = 8000
subtract the auction house percentage 5%: 8000 * .95 = 7600g
subtract my orginal purchase price and I get
7600 - 6400 = 1200g profit (pats self on back)

If I leave it on the Alliance side, that's it pure profit.

But if I try to move the gold back to the Horde side?

Neutral AH percentage is 15%
So if I post any item with a price of 7600g and buy it on my Horde side.
7600 * 0.85 = 6460g erk, wait a minute, that cannot be right, furiously reworks math.

Sigh, yes trying get the gold back over to Horde will turn a 1200g profit into a 40g profit.
Now thats what I call a gold sink!
Obviously it would be much better to find a different deal on another item that works in the favor of the Horde side.

Back to Undermine for me!

************

Thanks Laraku for the guest post. One thing I would recommend instead of transferring the gold back over to your main side is to just re-invest it on the Alliance side or buy a faction specific item like the Enchanter crafted lamps and lanterns to transfer to the opposing sides. Another tip is to use a 2nd account as it makes cross faction exchanges much faster, easier, and safer and it is one of the best things you can do if you have a free WoW veteran account code.

Be sure to check out another guest post from Laraku over at Goldgrubs.com: Money Making 101 - 6 Easy Lessons For WoW Gold.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. This Guide Can Be Applied To Multiple Markets Not Just Barking MFCs. Also Check Out TGQ's Latest Mini-guide, The Teenage's Gold Guide. Goes perfect when paired with a MFC guide or any other WoW Gold Guides.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Goblin Wisdom IRL | Couponing With Groupon, Savemore, & Eversave

Goblin Wisdom In Real Life

I previously did an article on an example real life opportunity for goblins to turn a profit in the real world, which had a good response. I've also sent out Real Life Money Making Tips via the Cold's Gold Factory email newsletter on a couple of occasions and I received some excellent feedback from players who took my advice. I had some newsletter readers email me back begging for more great IRL gold tips so they could make some more IRL cash profits. So today, I present to you a 2nd post of the day here at Cold's Gold Factory.

Couponing With Email Coupon Offers

We've all heard of Groupon.com, since they were the first and are probably the biggest online coupon offering site. There are also a couple of newer kids on the couponing block. Both Eversave.com and SaveMore.com work under the same principals as Groupon.com. They all allow you to buy real world items, goods and services at 50-90% savings. They allow those of us on tight budgets to have a little more flexibility when buying items, planning a night out, or planning a vacation. Hell, they can save you money on just about anything!

My girlfriend, who writes over at Alivia's Corner Kitchen (where I sometimes post my own recipes as well) has just stumbled upon all 3 of these sites and has been snagging deals all day long. Since all 3 of these sites are currently offering free $10 incentives to sign up, she has signed up and already has completely free items on the way to our home! And she just signed up today! Yes you can sign up, get the $10 for free, buy $10 worth of coupons or actual products, and have them in the mail tommorrow. It's that cool. She is super excited about these sites and will be writing about them and the awesome deals she has been getting when she starts her blog back up in a few weeks. So be sure to check out Alivia's Corner Kitchen and look for my recipes too! PS: I have a Master's & Bachelor's in Food and Nutrition, so we both can cook for real!

So please do me a big favor and check out these coupon sites and sign up so you too can save some IRL cash and get some products and items for free just like she has been doing all day! If you follow the below links, she will get credit for you signing up, so please use the links below to check out what she is so excited about today! Her facebook friends are hounding her already as she is bragging about all of her great deals and steals today! Yay! Go Boo!

Eversave.com

Groupon.com

Savemore.com

Profiting From Mankrik & The Protectors of Hyjal

Make Gold With Mankrik & Protectors of Hyjal

The Protectors Of Hyjal

The Protectors of Hyjal is one of the Firelands Dailies quests. The Protectors of Hyjal quest is one of the first quests you receive as it is one of the repeatable Firelands Dailies that is started and takes place in the Mount Hyjal zone of World of Warcraft. This quest was added to WoW during Patch 4.2 and the Firelands Invasion. During the Protectors of Hyjal quest, you are required to kill multiple elementals at Sethria's Roost in Mount Hyjal.

While on this quest, as soon as you enter the Sethria's Roost area you will be joined by some NPCs (Non-Player Characters). You will be joined by 3 Protectors of Hyjal (Druids) and 1 named NPC from within the World of Warcraft. See the below list for the possible NPCs that will assist you in Sethria's Roost. These NPCs will continue to follow you and will assist you in all combat while in the Sethria's Roost area of Mount Hyjal. If you lean Sethria's Roost, they will disappear. If you return to Sethria's Roost, they will return to assist you again.

The Protectors of Hyjal NPCs

Earthmender Norsala
Hemet Nesingwary
Linken
King Mrgl-Mrgl
High Warlord Cromush
Choluna
Russel Brower
Nat Pagle
Mankrik
Chromie
Lunk
Mog'ogg the Wizened
Broll Bearmantle
Jonny Awesome
Budd
Gurgthock
Tony Two-Tusk,
Hobart Grapplehammer
Fleet Master Seahorn
Thassarian
Calder Gray
The Leaper
Gidwin Goldlocks
Theldurin the Lost

Have...Have We Met?

One of the requirements for the Veteran Of The Molten Front achievement (and the Flamebreaker title) is to complete the Have...Have We Met? achievement. Have...Have We Met? requires you to locate and /wave at 6 of the various random NPCs that can be found assisting you or other players at Sethria's Roost. The 6 Protectors of Hyjal that are required for Have...Have We Met? are:

Linken
Nat Pagle
Mankrik
Chromie
Thassarian
Hemet Nesingwary

For completing the achievement, you just have to find each of these 6 NPCs and do a /wave command while targeting each one in Sethria's Roost. You can target NPCs that follow you or NPCs that follow another player.

Profiting Off Of The Protectors of Hyjal

Profiting off of The Protectors of Hyjal is pretty simple and straightforward. Everyone working on the achievements will need to wave at each of the 6 NPCs listed above. Since each NPC is randomly determined once per day when you start the quest, there are players that will be searching for that 1 last NPC for days. These players will pay a nice tip or fee, if you happen to have the final NPC that they need to complete the achievement. I have been taking fees and tips for "showing my NPCs" for weeks now. Your NPC will only be determined once per day per character when you first start the Protectors of Hyjal daily quest. If you happen to receive one of the 6 NPCs required for the achievement, then you are in luck.

If you get one of the 6 NPCs, then you can try to make some gold from your luck.
Complete your daily quests for the Sethria's Roost and keep the quest active. Do Not Turn in the quest or you lose your chance at making gold. As long as the quest isn't turned in and your NPC has been set, you can charge people to land in Sethria's Roost and whip out your NPC.
Leave the Sethria's Roost area so that your NPC disappears.
Send out a bark in the Hyjal Area letting other players know which NPC you have and how much you are charging to display him for the other player to wave at.
Enter the Molten Core and bark again.
Visit a major city and bark again.
Return to Mount Hyjal, collect your fees, then return to Sethria's Roost so your paying customers can get their /waves.

Mankrik : Shake Your Money Maker

Mankrik seems to be the rarest of all of the NPCs and can fetch a higher fee than the others in my observations. Even if you just send out a few barking notifications while you are in Hyjal, you can make some tips and fees off of the other NPCs. If you get Mankrik though, you can charge a nice fee as a lot of players will pay just to be done with the achievement and not have to worry about hunting down Protectors of Hyjal anymore. OR at least until their next alt has to come and they are looking to finish the achievement even faster and are more willing to pay for each of the NPC Protectors of Hyjal.

More Firelands Dailies Gold Tips

■WoW Patch 4.2 Firelands Recipes Are BoE

■Firelands Daily Quests | Shadow Wardens Or Druids Of The Talon First?

■Maximizing Your First Set Of Firelands Dailies In The Molten Front

■Druids Of The Talon Quest Farming

■WoW Patch 4.2 Tanked Volatile Fire And Volatile Earth

■Profiting From Cheap Volatile Earth and Volatile Fire

■Embersilk Cloth Farming Post Patch 4.2

■Firelands Invasion Vendors Offer Gold Making Chances

Monday, August 22, 2011

Projects In WoW & Diablo 3 Gold Making

Odds of Winning WoW 60-Day Game Card

Capped By Cata Contest

Wes is still accepting entries into the drawing for the Free WoW 60 Day Game Time Card over at Capped by Cata in celebration of his One Year Blogging Birthday. For complete details on how to enter for your chance to win the World of Warcraft 60 Day Game Card, be sure to visit the recent Birthday Contest Reminder over at Wes's site. The odds of winning are currently 1 out of 3 and will continue to be updated over at Capped by Cata. So be sure to take advantage of the great promotion Wes has going over at his site.

Auction House Junkies 9pisod9 #15 with R9sid9nt9vil

We would like to apologize for the extended wait for the latest release of The Auction House Junkies Podcast. Wes was under some miserable illness and editing was delayed until he felt better. Wes is feeling better and the wait for episode #15 is over. Be sure to check out the latest edition of #AuctionHouseJunkies on iTunes, Podbean, or the Embedded episodes over at AuctionHouseJunkies.com.

This episode we have special guest R9sid9nt9vil back with us for a second take. You may remember R9s from The AHJ Lost Episode #13. In Episode #15, we have R9s back with both Wes and I for a great interview and some great discussions. Don't miss it.

Be sure to check out R9sid9nt9vil at Eviscerated.net and on the Rep Grind Radio podcast. Rep Grind Radio has just released episode #6.

Late Carnival Entry

I would also like to call some attention to a late entry to the latest Gold Blogging Carnival here at Cold's Gold Factory. Be sure to check out the latest addition to the Summer Adaptation Blogging Carnival by Epidermuss of Wrags To Riches.

Diablo 3 Gold Tips

The new site Diablo 3 Gold Tips over at http://www.diablo3goldtips.com/ is slowly growing. Wes is also joining me there as we will write about ways to make money with Diablo 3 auction houses. Whether you are going to be Pre-Ordering Diablo 3 or not, be sure to check out Diablo 3 Gold Tips and join the Diablo 3 gold tips newsletter. We will be posting sporadically until we are closer to the Diablo 3 Beta release and we can be more accurate with our information.

Also Check Out The Gold Queen's Latest Mini-guide, The Teenager's Gold Guide. Goes perfect when paired with a MFC Guide or any other WoW Gold Guides.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Patch 4.3 Transmogrification: Profitable Or Not?

WoW Transmogrification: Proceed With Caution

Patch 4.3 Transmogrification

Transmogrification is coming to World of Warcraft in Patch 4.3. Transmogrification will allow WoW players to modify the appearance of their armor and weapons to look like another piece of gear. The Transmogrified item will retain the stats and only the appearance will change. The kicker is that in order to Transmogrify to a certain look, you must actually possess the piece of gear that you are wanting your current gear to look like (or Transmogrify into).

In order for a rogue to appear as if in a full set of Bloodfang gear, you have to own all of the Bloodfang set pieces. This is a major limiting factor for players who don't have old tier set items and obsolete gear already in storage. The big question is whether there will exist a viable and profitable market for selling gear to players for Transmogrification purposes. Transmogrification and Void Storage are both coming in Patch 4.3 and to me the main benefit is that they are both gold sinks desiged to remove excess gold from the World of Warcraft economy.

Profiting Off Of Transmogrifiers?

Some other bloggers are speculating over the possibilities of selling specific armor and weapons after Patch 4.3 for the sole purpose of Transmogrification. If players are out trying to make their characters look as "cool" or "awesome" as possible, then it is possible that some profit could be made supply this Transmogrification niche. Will it be worth it? In my opinion, No. Trying to supply the Transmogrification niche will be a waste of time and resources. Why do I feel this way?

Most "cool, uber, awesome" looking gear is Bind on Pick-Up.
Patch 4.3 is weeks away and future Transmogrifiers are already starting to collect their own Transmogrification appearance gear.
What is cool, sexy, or awesome is an individual preference based on an individual's opinion.
Trying to determine what BoE items will be desired by Transmogrifiers is near impossible since everyone's opinions are different.
Some players will be looking for items simply based on color to match their gear. There is no way to cater to this Transmogrification sub-niche.
Some of the desired gear will be more profitable to be Disenchanted. (Beastmaster set piece vs. a Large Brilliant Shard)

Transmogrification Niche Is A Waste

I wouldn't waste much time or resources on this Transmogrification niche at all. As efficient auction house goblins, we seek out item to sell that continue to bring us sales because we know there is a demand for those items. With Transmogrification there isn't much guaranteed demand or associated profit. We simply have no way of knowing what players will be shopping for just to use as a Transmogrification target. Don't waste your time or effort on this Transmogrification niche unless certain craftable or easily farmable items see a demand spike after Patch 4.3. I doubt such demand spike will even be noticable or very profitable. We make gold on the WoW auction house with more sure-fire bets and Transmogrification gear is a very long shot.

Example of Individuality

After Patch 4.3, I will set out to collect all gold colored gear on my twink, Goldgrub. His gear is already half gold colored thanks to the BoA pieces. Transmogrification will allow me to walk around in a full gold colored set. Since I am going to be shopping for Transmogrify options based purely on color, you have no idea how to cater to my wants and desires. That is unless you are going to be stocking multiple pieces of gear in multiple colors just to cater to this sub-niche.

Ok, so I found my gold colored wrist gear, but it's not "cool enough" for me, so I continue shopping. See how impossible this market is to determine? Think smart and don't waste your time or resources catering to the upcoming Transmogrification addition to World of Warcraft.

Anyone disagree? Think you have found the secret Transmogrification gold mine?

What pieces do you speculate are going to be sellable and in demand?

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Reader Submission: Fire Prisms, Heavenly Shards, & Gems

WoW Gold Tips From Loyal Readers

Reader Submission On Fire Prisms, Gems, and Heavenly Shards

Hi Cold!

As all AH goblins I too found myself in a bit strange situation during the summer: I have some stockpiles and plans to use it, but my buyers are swimming on a beach, far from the WoW AH and from my sales.

While thinking about a solution (and reading great gold blogs like yours), I was just starring at my big pile of Elementium Ore. I must say, I was a bit mad at myself and while I was bored, I started to prospect my ores. I found myself with dozens of stacks of uncut gems and did not know what to do with them. Okay, cut the blue ones, stockpile some greens for the JC dailies (now I have enough Zephyrites for almost a year ahead, even if the JC daily is "Nibbler! No!" every day), maybe make some Fire Prisms (thanks on that tip tho!).

"What to do with those greens for which I simply don't have the space to store?" - I asked myself. Well, I had plenty of time and remembered those WotLK times, when the vendor price for some JC items was bigger than their material cost. Of course, this was not a big deal, you could only profit 0.5 - 1g per cut, but hey! that's more than nothing. I made from all of the greens some rings and other jewelries and started to vendor them. Here came one thing that I didn't think on before: I forgot that there's a chance for a blue item to be crafted! Of course I immidiately started mass producing these rings/necks and sent all of the blue ones to my enchanter for Disenchanting! I've got a lot of Heavenly Shards and Small Heavenly Shards, the former selling around 100-120g, the later for 25-40g (!) on my realm. I'm not such a big AH goblin as the gold bloggers, but I made like 8-10k profit (not sales, that's the raw profit!) just alone from these Shards.

The green rings/necks vendor for 5.5g each, need a Jeweler's Setting (1g50s before rep discounts), so if you happen to find ANY uncut Cata green gems (except for Zephyrite ofc) around 3g (which probably you won't on the AH), you are still profiting ~1g per ring/neck and you have a chance for a Small/Heavenly Shard for even more.

I didn't make complete calculations yet (spreadsheet incoming soon!), but from my experience, the equilibrium price for an Elementium Ore is around 1.5-1.7g each (30-35g per stack), with the prices on my realm.

Don't get me wrong, this whole thing is not new discovery, but many people might forget about this market during the summer and thought I share it with you (and your readers, if you happen to post about it).

Please let me ask you two questions:1. Is there a way or do you know about a way to mass produce Small / Heavenly Shards, except the method described above? Of course I don't want to flood my market to drive the prices to low, but from the Prospecting business I simply can't get enough of it.

2. Is there a way to efficiently store Fire Prisms? I'm preparing for the epic gem market (which might not even happen with the last content patch being the next one, 4.3), but as Fire Prisms are unique, I have to store them in my mailbox, constantly mailing them from one toon to another, which is a bit inconvinient.

Thanks in advance!KhasDylar

Cold's Response

Thanks for the Reader Submission KhasDylar! You remind us of some important gold tips. Everyone is so focused on the current hot money makers that we often forget to check back to the older strategies we've used previously or in older expansions.

Here are the answers to your questions:

Heavenly Shards
1) Heavenly Shards are going to come from disenchanting. I often search for items that disenchant into a Heavenly Shard right on the auction house in WoW. Buy it, disenchant it, and toss the Heavenly Shard back on the auction house for a profit. Another option for crafting items to disenchant yourself is Stormforged Shoulders (made by Blacksmiths).

Fire Prisms

2) Fire Prism storage doesn't have to be such a space and time consuming process for you. Try tossing them into a bank or guild bank. The Fire Prisms are unique so you can't have more than 1 on you, but you CAN toss them in the bank along with others. That's how the last reader who submitted his speculative ideas on Fire Prisms storage for epic gems keeps his stored.

Got a reader submission idea or a topic idea for me? Send them in and receive full credit, if your submissions, guest posts, or topic ideas make it to the live blog.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. This Guide Can Be Applied To Multiple Markets Not Just Barking MFCs.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Transmogrification and Void Storage | Patch 4.3 WoW Gold Sinks

WoW Void Storage Coming

The Two New WoW Gold Sinks

In World of Warcraft Patch 4.3, we are getting two new features added to the game. The new features being added in WoW Patch 4.3 are Transmogrification and a Void Storage Service. Both of these new WoW features are gold sinks. They are designed to help remove gold out of the economy to help combat the rising inflation of Cataclysm. Easy gold making methods like the Obsidium Shuffle from earlier in the Cataclysm expansion have heavily contributed to the inflation we have seen. Gold is worth less than ever thanks to the easy and common ways to make gold. Lately though, it has been harder for many players to make gold. The incredibly easy way to profit off of the botter farmed Ores has been crippled to where you must actually shuffle the ores instead of just vendoring gems. Hopefully the addition of these two new gold sinks in Patch 4.3 will help to combat the rising inflation by removing some gold from the servers.

Void Storage Service

Void Storage is a new feature coming in Patch 4.3 of World of Warcraft. Void Storage will cost a chunk of gold to unlock the service for use. Once the Void Storage Service fee is paid to unlock the Void Storage option, you will have access to a new banking system. This new Void Storage banking system will allow 80 slots worth of long term storage. This Void Storage is intended for items that won't be used much by your character. Holiday vanity items, old trophies or obsolete rewards, heirloom sets, and annual items are good choices for long term Void Storage.

Each item deposited will cost an amount of gold when placed into the Void Storage. Once an item is placed in the Void Storage, there is no cost for it to remain there. You must pay a nice chunk to unlock the Void Storage Service and a deposit fee for each item placed into the Void Storage and a withdrawal fee when an item is removed. On top of those fees, any items placed into the Void Storage will lose all enhancements. that means they will lose all gems, enchants, reforged stats, and sockets. Sounds like some markets will get a slight stimulus from players losing enhancements on their gear that gets wiped once placed in Void Storage. Please note that the prices are not set on any of the fees and images only have placeholder amounts at this time.

Transmogrification

The second gold sink being added to World of Warcraft in Patch 4.3 is Transmogrification. Transmogrification gives the ability to pay gold to change the appearance of your player's weapons and armor. While this means nothing to me, some players will be happy about this change. They will gladly waste their gold changing their appearance around. The Transmogrification gold sink will also help to drain gold out of the economy. Will transmogrification be profitable?

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Tips To Avoid Losing Gold As An Auctioneer

Warcraft Auction Market Fluctuations

Many of the markets within the World of Warcraft auction house are volatile markets. The value of an item may be high one day and low the next. Sometimes the value recovers and other times it remains at the new low price. There are many things that can contribute to an item's drop in value and are not limited to:

Patch Changes
Class Changes and Nerfs
Spec Changes and Nerfs
New Content Additions
Introduction Of A New Best-In-Slot
Increased Competition
Flooding of Supplies
Botting and Exploits

As a general rule crafted items are going to lose value over time. The value of any crafted item is always the highest once the recipe first becomes available. The longer you hold onto a crafted item, the more chance you risk of the value of that item dropping. This is only true for crafted items because all gear eventually becomes less desirable as new content introduces new better gear.

Tips To Avoid Losing Gold As Your Item Value Declines

Learn newly introduced recipes as early as possible.
Craft those items as soon as possible, to recover your recipe costs before others learn the recipes.
Don't mass craft items ahead of time, unless you are sure they will sell.
Only craft items as you are going to sell them.
Never craft multiple of high priced items that require soulbound materials (like Chaos Orbs).
Keep your materials broken down into components that you can sell should the market tank on your end product.
If a market is looking like a crash with no bounce back to the expected price, get out as soon as you can. Your cost to craft is already sunk into that item.
Selling for a loss is better than selling for even more of a loss later.
Learn from any previous item value crashes. What could you have done to lessen the risk or prevent the loss?
Not all end products sell for more than the parts.
Don't flood your market with too many goods.
Sell off materials that you don't need or will never use.
Don't be a pack rat. Keep your bank and guild bank pruned, so items don't decay in your banks.

Anyone else have any tips for preventing losing gold as a WoW auctioneer?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. This Guide Can Be Applied To Multiple Markets Not Just Barking MFCs.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Pattern: Deviate Scale Belt | Easy Gold For Veteran Leather Workers

WoW Leatherworking Pattern: Deviate Scale Belt

Deviate Scale Belt Pattern Is Gone

The Leatherworking pattern for Deviate Scale Belt has been removed from World of Warcraft. It was once available from above the entrance to Wailing Caverns, but is no longer obtainable. Yep! The pattern is completely gone and unobtainable. Those of us that already had the pattern can still find the pattern listed in our Leatherworking profession crafting recipes list. Veteran Leatherworkers have a distinct advantage with this old Deviate Scale Belt pattern. Newer leatherworkers cannot learn this pattern, so there will never be any competition from new players. And as veteran players quit the game, there will be even less players with access to crafting the Deviate Scale Belts.

Deviate Scale Belt

Pattern: Deviate Scale Belt Unobtainable
Veteran Leatherworkers Can Still Craft Deviate Scale Belt
Deviate Scales and Perfect Deviate Scales Are Still Available Within WoW
Perfect & Regular Deviate Scales Are Cheap To Purchase
Deviate Scale Belts Are Cheap To Craft
Deviate Scale Belts Continue to Sell On The Auction House

Many classes use the Deviate Scale Belt as it is a nice item for the item level. Non-leather wearers also purchase these because there is no drawback for wearing non-ideal armor at low levels. This has always been a highly sought after piece of twink gear as well, so PvP and twink friendly servers should see even more sales.

Scoop Up Those Perfect Deviate Scales

A Leatherworker should be in constant search for Perfect Deviate Scales on the auction house. I like to buy mine when they are 2g or less each. The regular Deviate Scales are pretty easy to come buy and are dirt cheap. Having enough Perfect Deviate Scales to craft the Deviate Scale Belt is always the limiting factor. If I pay 2 gold or less per Perfect Deviate Scale, then a Deviate Scale Belt costs me less than 15 gold to craft. I commonly sold them for 35-45 gold. Now that the Leatherworking pattern is no longer available, I am able to raise my price to 60 gold each. No one else selling them currently means I have a monopoly and can set my prices. I try to stay at a price level to keep a nice hefty profitable sale without getting too many returned belts to relist.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. This Guide Can Be Applied To Multiple Markets Not Just Barking MFCs.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

WoW Reputation Grinding For Enchanting Recipes

WoW Reputation Levels

Reputation Grinding For Recipes

Within the World of Warcraft there are multiple reputations that can be raised with the various in game factions. Becoming exalted with a specific faction is not always easy, but can be very rewarding. Many times the quartermasters of a given faction will reward you at various reputation levels with the ability to purchase a recipe, schematic, or plan for a profession crafting recipe.

Reputation Recipe Rarity

When a recipe requires a reputation to obtain, there are less players with that recipe. Not everyone is willing to put out the extra effort to grind a reputation to the desired level that rewards the recipe. Because not everyone will have the recipe, you can expect there to be less competition in trade chat and on the auction house. Sometimes you will see Blizzard make changes to recipes and they become no longer available. These types of recipes can be very rare and more rewarding after no one else can obtain the recipe in the future. Although it isn't from a reputation quartermaster, Deviate Scale Belt is a great example of an item that still sells even after the recipe is no longer obtainable for newcomers to the Leatherworking profession(Since The Shattering).

What Professions Has The Best Options?

Of all of the professions in World of Warcraft, Enchanting is the one that benefits most from completing the multiple reputation grinds. Not only are there a lot of recipes awarded to Enchanters from reputation quartermasters, but many of them are still viable sellers on the auction house. The introduction of the BoA heirloom gear was a great benefit for Enchanters in WoW, since many of the Best-in-Slot enchants for the heirloom weapons and armor come from reputation grind recipes. The Enchanter is by far the profession with the most reputation earned recipes that are still viable sellers in today's auction house market. By collecting all of the reputation earned Enchanting recipes, you are able to get a nice foothold in the Enchanting scroll market that caters to twinks and BoA gear.

Argent Dawn:

Cenarian Circle:

Timbermaw Hold:

Thorium Brotherhood:

Cenarian Expedition:

Honor Hold / Thrallmar:

Keepers of Time:

Lower City:

Formula: Enchant Cloak - Dodge

Shattered Sun Offensive:

The Consortium:

The Sha'tar:

The Violet Eye:

Formula: Enchant Weapon - Greater Agility

Are you missing any of these patterns on your Enchanter? If so, make sure to research your server's auction house and see if you can make some gold with some of these reputation award Formulas.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide To Get You Started. This Guide Can Be Applied To Multiple Markets Not Just Barking MFCs.

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