Patch 5.1 Golden Lotus & Potion of Luck NERFS

WoW Patch 5.1 Landfall:
Golden Lotus and Potion of Luck Changes

The first major Patch of the Mists of Pandaria expansion cycle hit the live servers this last Tuesday (US) / Wednesday (UK).  Along with many of the expected changes were various unannounced changes, or what we refer to as Stealth Changes or Stealth Nerfs.  There have been a few stealth changes that are pretty big hits to certain styles of crafting, farming, & gold making.  One of the biggest Patch 5.1 stealth changes was the changes to the Golden Lotus vendor and the Potion of Luck.

Golden Lotus Vendor and Potion of Luck Changes

Prior to the release of WoW Patch 5.1, the Alliance and Horde Spirit of Harmony vendors located within the Pandarian capital cities would sell you 3 Golden Lotus for 1 Spirit of Harmony.  As an Engineer with limited use for the Spirits of Harmony, I was constantly trading them in for 3 Golden Lotuses.  The Golden Lotuses get sent to my Alchemist and she crafts Potions of Luck, which prior to Patch 5.1 required 3 Golden Lotuses per Potion of Luck. 

Then came Patch 5.1.  I noticed the change to the Golden Lotus / Spirit of Harmony vendor within minutes of logging in and was pretty upset as I had waited to trade in a large stack of Spirits of Harmony.  After I logged over to craft the Potions of Luck after the Patch 5.1 had been implemented, I saw that the Potion of Luck recipe has now been changed to only require 1 Golden Lotus.  Ok, so the nerf to the vendor isn't so bad, because you can make 2 Potions of Luck from every Spirit of Harmony, which is twice what you could craft before.  Which would be great and turn these stealth changes into a buff, as opposed to a stealth nerf, if that was all that was changed.  Unfortunately it gets worse.

Potion of Luck now only lasts for 20 minutes and the 1 hour useage cooldown remains.  Oh c'mon Blizzard!  Currently, we can only farm with a Potion of Luck for 20 minutes out of every hour.  Overall the changes will result in less Potion of Luck farming on the same character since you can't just drink potions back to back for hours of farming. 

On a similar note:  Cataclysm's Potion of Treasure Finding remains unchanged.

PS: Blingtron 4000 also got nerfed and now only gives 1 daily quest per account.  No more logging multiple alts for multiple gifts.

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Restored Artifacts, Brann Bronzebeard, & Easier Vial of Sands Recipe Farming

Restored Artifacts For Brann Bronzebeard

The Restored Artifacts addition in Mists of Pandaria has been a great addition for those of us sick and tired of farming for the damn Vial of Sands Alchemy Recipe.  Gone are the days of flying all over the continent of Kalimdor hoping for a Canoptic Jar as your next Tol'vir Archaeological find, only to be disappointed that it contains nothing but vendor trash.  Well, it still isn't easy to get the Vial of Sands Recipe for your Alchemist, but it sure as hell is a lot less annoying and nowhere near as hard as it used to be during the Catalcysm expansion.  Why?  Because of Brann Bronzebeard and the addition of the Restored Artifacts option for your Pandaran Archaeology Fragments.

Restored Artifacts

When you complete a grey Archaeology Artifact from the Mists of Pandaria zones, you now have two options.  You can sell these Pandaren Artifacts and Mogu Artifacts as vendor trash or you can choose to crate the artifact, thus creating the Restored Artifact.  The Restored Artifact can then be turned in to Brann Bronzebeard for a Crate of Archaeology Fragments.  Brann Bronzebeard can be found at the Seat of Knowledge, which is on top of the Mogu'shan Palace entrance in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

One Restored Artifact Can Be Traded To Brann For One:

Crate of Draenei Archaeology Fragments

Crate of Dwarven Archaeology Fragments

Crate of Fossil Archaeology Fragments

Crate of Night Elf Archaeology Fragments

Crate of Nerubian Archaeology Fragments

Crate of Orc Archaeology Fragments

Crate of Tol'vir Archaeology Fragments

Crate of Troll Archaeology Fragments

Crate of Vrykul Archaeology Fragments

Each Crate of (Insert Race Here) Archaeology Fragments will award you 5-9 Fragments of the chosen type, which is the same amount you would get from 1 digsite dig, except you don't have a chance to get the corresponding Archaeology Keystones.  So instead of selling those newly found Pandaren and Mogu artifacts to the vendor you can use them to complete your older Archaeology Artifacts.  I'll be using all of mine on Tol'vir Fragments to try to finish off farming the Canoptic Jars in hopes of finally getting my Alchemist her Recipe: Vial of the Sands.  Other good uses would be for quickly completing your Archaeology pets and mounts.  Regardless, you can try for those older dig site rewards without ever needing to return back to those actual sites!  NOTE: You must be at maximum Archaeology Skill (600) in order to use these Crates, but you can purchase them prior to reaching maxed skill level.

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Treasure Finding / AoE Looting Barking Strat For Patch 5.0.4

AoE Looting and Treasure Finding In WoW Patch 5.0.4

 

Warnings:

• Tonight is the last night to get all of your Blackfallow Inks converted.
• Tonight is the last night to craft Enchanted Thorium Blades for cheap Greater Eternal Essences and Illusion Dust.

The market value of Cataclysm Herbs is about to take a giant nose dive.  The Inscription Ink traders will no longer be accepting the Blackfallow Inks for trading down to other inks.  This leaves Cataclysm Herbs with not much use outside of Alchemy and a few Inscription markets.  So we can all expect a nice crash in the prices of the Cataclysm Herbs as botters and players alike starting dumping mass amounts of Cataclysm Herbs. 

 

Be on the lookout for a few specific herbs as the prices drop and you too can make gold off of the Herb price crash.

 

 

Get Ready To Make Gold With Potion Of Treasure Finding

 

Other than making gold with Glyphs, another great area to target for increased gold making post Patch 5.0.4 is the Potion of Treasure Finding.  It's time to dust off that Potion Specialized Alchemist.  With the coming crash to Cata Herbs, be on the lookout for the materials required to make the Potion of Treasure Finding.  With the new Area-of-Effect (AoE) Looting addition coming in Patch 5.0.4, the demand for the best potion for Farming in Cataclysm Zones should explode.  We will have a full month to play around with the AoE Looting and find those uber farming spots prior to the actual launch of Mists of Pandaria.  And there is even an AoE Farming Contest organized over at Alt:ernative Chat.

 

AoE Looting + Potion of Treasure Finding = Faster Loots and More Tiny Treasure Chests Per Hour!

Potion of Treasure Finding - Required Materials:

• 4 Stormvine
• 6 Heartblossom
• 8 Cinderbloom
• 4 Whiptail

 

The demand should naturally increase, but be sure to start barking to sell even more of the wonderful Tiny Treasure Chest creating Potions of Treasure Finding.  You will probably be in town relisting Glyphs, crafting items, snatching up cheap Cata Herbs, and looking for more items to craft.  While standing around in town, Getch Yo Bark On!

 

 

Barking Treasure Finding Potions 

 

First off, if you are planning on doing any barking at all, do yourself a favor and download the WoW add-on, Announce It.  Check out that earlier post for more info on the Announce It Add-On.  This will be a great time to put your Barking skills to use and rake in the gold from selling the Potion of Treasure Finding.  Give the barking a try, while you are in town.  You may be shocked at how effective it is, especially if you use a creative barking rotation.  Have fun with it and watch the gold pour in.  I've got a batch of these potions waiting to start barking as soon as I log in to start my Glyph crafting and posting tommorrow.  Do you?

 

Here are a few example Barks:

AoE Looting Is Finally Here! Grab Some [Potion of Treasure Finding] off the AH and Make The Most of Your AoE Looting!

Headed Out To Test The New AoE Looting? Don't Forget To Getch Yo Drink On! [Potion of Treasure Finding] Available On The AH Now!

[Potion of Treasure Finding] Available For Sale. AoE Loot Those [Tiny Treasure Chest]s! Extra Gold Pieces and Eternals and Embersilk Cloth! Oh My!

Check out some of my Squidoo lenses:  Alliance Vs Horde - Come Vote! | Diablo 3 Gifts For Gamers | Getting Started Podcasting 101 | Play Money by Julian Dibble | Auction House Junkies | Fluxx - My Fav Card Game

 

Recommended Guides: Secret Gold Guide | Journal of Marcus Ty | WoW Secrets

Patch 4.3 Epic Gems From Alchemist Transmutes & Cut By Jewelcrafters

Patch 4.3 News on Epic Gems

Hooray!  More news released on Epic Gems in Patch 4.3  We now have data-mined information from the Public Test Realm (PTR) for Patch 4.3.  Check out the complete coverage of Patch 4.3 items, maps, gems, recipes and more over at Wowhead.

Disclaimer:  PTR data-mined information is subject to change

Epic Gems Will Be Crafted By Alchemists

Although Pyrite Ore will not provide Epic Gems from Prospecting, Epic Gems will be able to be crafted by using Alchemy Transmutes.  This is good news as raid drops will not be the sole source of Epic Gems in WoW Patch 4.3.  Alchemists will be able to get 6 new recipes in Patch 4.3 and those recipes will be for Transmuting the Epic Gems.  The current data-mined Alchemy recipes do not show what materials will be required for the Epic Gem transmutes, but at least we know raid bosses will not be the only source of Epic Gems.  I'm going to assume that the Alchemy Transmutes will share the cooldown with all the current Alchemy Transmutations.  And you can bet that the Epic Gems transmutes will require multiples of Cataclysm Herbs and Cataclysm Rare Gems.

Epic Gems and Their Transmutes


Red Epic Gems:  Queen's Garnet  -  Transmute: Queen's Garnet
Blue Epic Gems:  Deepholme Iolite  -  Transmute: Deepholme Iolite
Yellow Epic Gems:  Lightstone  -  Transmute: Lightstone
Purple Epic Gems:  Shadow Spinel  -  Transmute: Shadow Spinel
Green Epic Gems:  Elven Peridot  -  Transmute: Elven Peridot
Orange Epic Gems:  Lava Coral  -  Transmute: Lava Coral
Note:  No Prismatic Gem Found Yet

Epic Gems Will Be Cut By Jewelcrafters

Jewelcrafters will again be able to cut raw Epic Gems into their cut versions, which is great news for those of us that make a lot of gold with our Jewelcrafters.  There doesn't appear to be a new source of currency, so we can assume that the current JC Daily tokens will be required to purchase the new Epic Gem Recipes or a new item that awards Epic Gem Recipes.

Tome Of Burning Jewels

There is an item listed in the data-mined information called the Tome Of Burning Jewels.  The Tome Of Burning Jewels is a Bind-On-Pickup item that could be a raid boss drop, or a vendor purchased item.  I doubt it is a world drop since it is soulbound.  Since it is soulbound, there is no way to sell these Tomes to other JCs.  So it is NOT a Jewelcrafting equivalent of the Book of Glyph Mastery.  Is it possible that Jewelcrafters can only purchase the Tome of Burning Jewels with their JC Tokens?  Will Jewelcrafters only be able to learn their Epic Gem recipes at random choices, instead of picking which Epic Gem Cuts to get first?  Wouldn't that make for some crazy random distribution of Epic Gem cuts where your profits or market control will be based off of the random number generator?  My bet is that the Epic Gem Recipes will be added to the near empty JC vendor out in the Twilight Highlands.

So with the current Patch 4.3 PTR data-mined information we can see gold making options will be available for Epic Gems.  So keep saving up those JC tokens and start looking for a variety of Cataclysm Herbs to pair up with rare gems to start Transmuting Epic Gems.

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 Or Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide.

Supplying Your World of Warcraft Raiders

Today I present to you a guest post by a new writer, Addaron of Zul'jin.  Addaron has some great ideas for more guest posts so be sure to look out for more posts by him soon.  Anyone is welcome to submit a guest post to see your ideas go live on the blog here at Cold's Gold Factory.  You don't have to be a blogger (Addaron isn't).  Maybe you are thinking of becoming a blogger and want to give it a try.  Guest posting is a good way to get your feet wet.  Then I will link to your site should you happen to start a blog at a later date.  We are also looking for writers for Goldgrub's Goblin Academy, if you are interested in writing about gold making or leveling tips, check it out.  And on with the guest post...

"Who Hit Me With That Mr. T Mohawk Grenade?"

Supplying Your Raiders


On every server one of the dominant market forces are the raiding guilds. For the purpose of this article, a raider is anyone who raids every week, regardless of how or with who, or to what result. The key concept behind supplying raiders are consumables. Depending on the guild they are in, their consumables can vary a lot. As an example, my guild is fairly socialist, in that we supply feasts, flasks, repairs, gems, and enchants to our raiders, with most other guilds providing similar levels of support. This means potions and specific buff foods (some dual wielders eat hit food, some tanks eat dodge food) is what the major responsibility of most raiders are and my sales log backs up that theory.

Potions


The easiest way to tap into the raider market is with potions. Since raids are serious business, only cataclysm potions are ever bought in any volume, so having a 500+ skill potion master is an excellent starting point.

Buff Potions (Tol'vir, Volcano, Golembood) sell well and and in reasonable volumes. Mainly to guilds who are on a lot of progression kills. Casual farm content raiders rarely use them, due to the price. The exception I notice is Baradin Hold, to inflate DPS Epeens.

Restoration Potions (Mythical Mana, Mythical Healing, Concentration) Sell in even higher volumes, but tend to be more expensive to make. As with anything make sure you keep an eye on your costs, since the mythical potions take 3 herbs. The concentration potions(which as a Hard Mode raid healer I use exclusively) seem to be the slowest selling of the lot, and often have the fiercest competition. This might just be my server though.

Armor Potions are a trap, It took me months to sell the first 2 stacks I made, and I am sure I lost more on deposits that I made when they finally sold. Don't brew, buy or speculate on these potions. Only VERY hardcore tanks ever use these, even then they tend to set up private supply deals within their guild.

Buff Foods

It's a fair assumption that every single raid will have a feast dropped, making all the foods that compete with the +60 food a bit of a write off, and the +90 foods marginal at best. In my experience the only three foods that are reliably profitable on raid day are the + 90 hit(grilled Dragon), +90 dodge (Mushroom Sauce Mudfish), and the +90 spirit (Delicious Sagefish Tail). These foods are again, mainly bought by serious progression raiders, and often in medium high volume. The prices here are very volatile. Some weeks being a quarter the price of others. While there is money to be made, feel free to stay out of it if it is below your material cost, since it will likely bounce right back. As a side note, if you are already in the fortune card market, consider keeping a few stacks of fortune cookies on the AH too, since they are the preferred food for people that change roles often.

When And How

You may have noticed that their is a bit of a divide between the habits of progression raiders and weekend raiders. This is no inference of skill, just play style. Some terrible players raid 4 nights a week with full consumables, and some top tier world first guilds raid regular modes on their alts with nothing but feasts. Since the raid schedule resets on Tuesday, expect to sell mainly to progression raiders (Lots of buff potions and specific foods) Tuesday to Thursday, and the much more wide open market of weekend raiders (Flasks, some of all potions, all foods, gems, enchants) Friday -Sunday. One final note, expect to make about 60% of your weekly consumable sales in about 5 hours on Tuesday.  This is the best time to be an aggressive AH camper.

Posting Politely

A mark of knowing your market is keeping your margins rich by not over posting. I tend to try to keep 8 stacks of 5 potions up during peak hours. Some types a bit less and for whatever reason MUCH more Tol'vir potions, depending on expected sales. The other thing to avoid is posting the wrong sized auctions. For potions 2-10 per auction, and for foods 10-20 is reasonable. One at a time is spammy, and gets ignored a lot, and stacks of 20 potions are always at the bottom of the list and look more expensive at 100-350 gold for a stack, so only tend to be bought if they are noticeably below market price.

Pricing to win

Since you are selling to raiders, typically they should have 5k-100k+ gold on hand and are in something of a hurry, the absolute price of what you post is irrelevant, so long as it is the lowest. Undercutting by a single copper is always the right answer with raid consumables. I assume it varies with server, but in my experience a fall back price of 15g/potion (75G for five) sells well when I have a monopoly, but higher and you see a lot of “LF Alchemist'' in trade chat.

In closing, people who are Raiders are mainly people who play a lot and will sometimes act like Farmers, Twinks, PvPers, or Questers, but the scope of this post is to position yourself to sell to people who raid with consumables. Gem and enchant selling is also pretty heavily influenced by raiders, but that tends to be a whole different industry, with different cycles and behaviours. Selling buff potions is how I got into recreational gold making, and if you are shiny new to it, I would recommend focusing on just a few potions / foods and get to know your markets. Expand from there.

Profiting From Cheap Cataclysm Herbs

Cheap Cataclysm Herbs

The prices on Cataclysm herbs have been falling as the herb and ore markets have been in flux since the change to uncommon Cataclysm gems has altered the targets of farmers and botters.  Many botters have started farming more Cata herbs and flooding the auction house has lead to reduced prices of these herbs. 

How can we take best advantage of this constant supply of lower priced Cataclysm herbs in World of Warcraft?

Options For Herbs

There are many routes that can be taken to turn the herbalism raw materials into profitable revenue avenues.  Let's explore the various options for each of the Cataclysm herbs.  Take a look at the products crafted by the various herbs and see if there is room for profit with these items on your server.  If you find some super cheap herbs, come back to this page and figure out the best way to use the specific herbs you can find for cheap.

Alchemy Options For Herbs
Azshara's Veil

Transmute: Ocean Sapphire - 3 Azshara's Veil + 3 Zephyrite
Elixir of the Cobra - 1 Azshara's Veil + 1 Cinderbloom
Elixir of the Naga - 1 Azshara's Veil + 1 Stormvine
Flask of the Draconic Mind - 8 Azshara's Veil + 8 Twilight Jasmine + 8 Volatile Life
Flask of the Winds - 8 Azshara's Veil + 8 Whiptail + 8 Volatile Life
Potion of Concentration - 2 Azshara's Veil
Potion of Illusion - 1 Azshara's Veil + 3 Volatile Life
Volcanic Potion - 1 Azshara's Veil + 1 Cinderbloom

Cinderbloom

Transmute: Ember Topaz - 3 Cinderbloom + 3 Hessonite
Draught of War - 1 Cinderbloom
Elixir of Impossible Accuracy - 1 Cinderbloom +1 Heartblossom
Elixir of the Cobra - 1 Cinderbloom + 1 Azshara's Veil
Flask of Steelskin - 8 Cinderbloom + 8 Twilight Jasmine + 8 Volatile Life
Ghost Elixir - 2 Cinderbloom
Mythical Mana Potion - 1 Cinderbloom + 2 Whiptail
Potion of Treasure Finding - 8 Cinderbloom + 4 Stormvine + 6 Heartblossom + 4 Whiptail
Prismatic Elixir - 1 Cinderbloom + 1 Whiptail
Volcanic Potion - 1 Cinderbloom + 1 Azshara's Veil

Heartblossom

Transmute: Inferno Ruby - 3 Heartblossom + 3 Carnelian
Elixir of Deep Armor - 2 Heartblossom
Elixir of Impossible Accuracy - 1 Heartblossom + 1 Cinderbloom
Elixir of the Master - 1 Heartblossom + 1 Twilight Jasmine
Flask of Flowing Water - 8 Heartblossom + 8 Stormvine + 8 Volatile Life
Golemblood Potion - 1 Heartblossom + 1 Volatile Life
Potion of Deepholme - 5 Heartblossom
Potion of Treasure Finding - 6 Heartblossom + 8 Cinderbloom + 4 Stormvine + 4 Whiptail

Stormvine

Transmute: Dream Emerald - 3 Stormvine + 3 Jasper
(2) Deathblood Venom - 2 Stormvine
Earthen Potion - 2 Stormvine
Elixir of Mighty Speed - 1 Stormvine + 1 Twilight Jasmine
Elixir of the Naga - 1 Stormvine + 1 Azshara's Veil
Flask of Flowing Water - 8 Stormvine + 8 Heartblossom + 8 Volatile Life
Potion of the Tol'Vir - 1 Stormvine  + 1 Whiptail
Potion of Treasure Finding - 4 Stormvine + 6 Heartblossom + 8 Cinderbloom + 4 Whiptail

Twilight Jasmine

Transmute: Demonseye - 3 Twilight Jasmine + 3 Nightstone
Elixir of Mighty Speed - 1 Twilight Jasmine + 1 Stormvine
Elixir of the Master - 1 Twilight Jasmine + 1 Heartblossom
Flask of Steelskin - 8 Twilight Jasmine + 8 Cinderbloom + 8 Volatile Life
Flask of the Draconic Mind - 8 Twilight Jasmine + 8 Azshara's Veil + 8 Volatile Life
Mythical Healing Potion - 2 Twilight Jasmine + 1 Volatile Life

Whiptail

Transmute: Amberjewel - 3 Whiptail + 3 Alicite
Flask of the Winds - 8 Whiptail + 8 Azshara's Veil + 8 Volatile Life
Flask of Titanic Strength - 8 Whiptail + 8 Cinderbloom + 8 Volatile Life
Mighty Rejuvenation Potion - 2 Whiptail
Mythical Mana Potion - 2 Whiptail + 1 Cinderbloom
Potion of Tol'vir - 1 Whiptail + 1 Stormvine
Potion of Treasure Finding - 4 Whiptail + 4 Stormvine + 6 Heartblossom + 8 Cinderbloom
Prismatic Elixir - 1 Whiptail + 1 Cinderbloom

Some of these recipes only require a single type of herb, but many require multiple types of Cataclysm herbs and / or Volatile Life.  The good thing is that the prices for Volatile Life are down along with the lowering herb prices, since the farmers get the Volatile Lifes from picking the Cataclysm herbs.  Check out my previous post on Alchemy - Making Potions for a guide to what potions I have been selling.



Inscription Options For Herbs

Milling these Cataclysm herbs will create Ashen Pigments and Burning Embers that can be crafted into Blackfallow Ink and Inferno Ink.  Scribes have some options other than just making glyphs for profit.

Scribe Options For Using Inks

• Glyphs, glyphs, and more glyphs (convert to whatever type of ink you need)
• Convert 10 Blackfallow Inks to 1 Inferno Ink.
• Craft and bark Mysterious Fortune Cards.
• Do the Forged Documents quest daily for easy profit.
• Craft and Bark Adventurer's Journals.
• If you need more Inks, then Undercut Jessica Sellers.
• Craft and sell Dust of Dissapearance, since 1 Ink now create 3 Dust.
• Darkmoon Faire Cards and Decks.
• Craft Relics and Off-hands.

Other Professions and Options

• Convert MFCs to Fortune Cookies if you have maxed Cooking skill.
• Transmuting gems is even more profitable when you send them to your Jewelcrafter to cut the gems and sell for a higher price.
• Flip some of the raw herbs when there is a price spike or auction house shortage.
• Save some herbs to unload within the few days after the next wave of bot banning.

So hopefully, this post will help you with ideas to profit off of all those cheap Cataclysm herbs that we are seeing on the World of Warcraft auction house.


Be sure to check out the Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery | WoW Gold Guide for the best strategies for profiting in the Mysterious Fortune Cards Market.  If no one is barking MFCs on your server, buy my guide and collect all the easy gold waiting for you.  If there are barkers on your server already, then the guide will help you set up tactics to steal sales away from your competitors and keep the buyers coming back to your MFCs.

Cataclysm Potion Making Alchemy

Alchemy Potion Master

Alchemy

I have been playing in the potion market on my server after taking my second Alchemist to swap alchemy specializations to potion master.  Early into the release of Cataclysm, there was no profit to be made in either the flask or potion markets.  Now a few patches later, the requirements to craft are less steep and the price of most Cataclysm herbs has come down to a level that we can profit from in markets other than just Mysterious Fortune Cards.

Daily Dungeon Changes

Historically, the best nights to sell potions are on raid nights, but some new changes to World of Warcraft have been brought about in Patch 4.1.  We may be seeing an increased window of opportunity to sell flasks and potions as you no longer have to do your daily dungeon run each day.  With Patch 4.1 we are now able to do 7 runs a week for full Justice Points instead of being tied to doing only one per day.  So Tuesdays and Wednesdays both should see increased consumable sales as players stock up for multiple dungeon runs back to back.

Potions That Sell

Here are some of the potions that I have found to be viable sellers.

1. Potion of Deepholme
2. Potion of Treasure Finding
3. Potion of Concentration
4. Mythical Mana Potion
5. Mysterious Mana Potion
6. Potion of Tol'vir
7. Golemblood Potion
8. Volcanic Potion

Any others to add to this list?

Image Credit: alchemipedia.blogspot.com

Changing Alchemy Specialization In Cataclysm

Alchemy Specialization Changing

With the drop in prices of Cataclysm herbs in World of Warcraft, the potion and flask markets have the opportunity to be much more profitable.  I myself changed one of my alchemists from transmutation specialization to potion master just yesterday.  One thing has changed.  There no longer is the Alchemy specialization swapping npc in Shattrath.  There used to be an npc in Shatt that you would pay the150g and then pick which specialty branch of alchemy you want to change to.  He's gone.  It's a lot more tedious now.

In order to change your Alchemy specialty choice, you have to go to the trainer of the original specialization and pay your 150g to unlearn.  Then you have to travel across Outlands to the trainer of the new specialty to train the new specialization.  It was so much easier when you could just find your way to Shattrath, pay your gold and then chose your new speciality.

So my druid had to fly to Stormspire to pay the 150g to unlearn transmutation spec from the transmutation trainer, then fly to Cenarian Refuge in Zangarmarsh to be trained in potions by the potion master there.

So don't waste your time flying to Shatt to swap out your specialities in Alchemy.

Potion of Concentration | Making Gold With Alchemy

Potion of Concentration

Looking for a way to make some World of Warcraft gold with the Alchemy profession?  Most professional alchemists tend to focus on the transmutation specialization for the chances of getting extra Truegold or bonus Volatile Elements from the Living Elements transmutation.  The Potion of Concentration helps to make an arguement for having at least one alchemist specializing in Potion Mastery.  Potion of Treasure Finding is a great potion to have in your alchemist's gold making arsenal, but the Potion of Concentration may be even more profitable for you, especially if you have a large raiding population on your server.

The Potion of Concentration is almost a must for raid casters, DPS classes as well as healing classes.  With the length of raid encounters and the mana issues caused by the WoW Cataclysm changes, running out of mana is a serious concern, especially in the Cataclysm raid environment.  With the Cataclysm herb prices dropping due to the botting shift to herb farming, the cost to craft these potions is getting cheaper.  The Potion of Concentration only requires 2 Ashara's Veil.  So a single stack of the Cataclsym herb Azshara's Veil will be enough to craft 10 potions.  If you are a potion specialist alchemsit, then you could get some free potions to further increase your gold profits from a single stack. 

I've heard some raid casters discussing always have at least 1 full stack of the Potion of Concentration, along with Mythical Mana Potions, as part of their raiding requirements.  So there definately is a market for the potions, especially on raid nights.  As with any raiding consumeable, always try to post them an hour before your server's standard raid times so raiders can be fully stocked and ready to go once the raiding roll call begins.  As reported by Avalonna of Tales of A Priest, these do benefit from the epic Alchemist's Stone 40% increased effect allowing for up to 30,800 mana to be returned to the potion imbiber.

Anyone having success moving the Potion of Concentration on your server's auction house?  Got any tips for selling these?

Zoxy on Auction House Junkies OUT NOW

Wes of CappedByCata.com and I, Cold of Cold's Gold Factory, have just release the recording of Episode #6 for the Auction House Junkies podcast. We have a special guest with us on this episode.

Zoxy of Trading With Zoxy joins Wes and I as we discuss our ramblings within the World of Warcraft.

This episode we talk about:

Children's Week

Epic Gems

Epic JC Patterns

The Current State of WoW

Is WoW Ready For A Corpse Run?

Deepstone Oil

How Do You Determine Value?

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Deepstone Oil For Vial of Sands Mount

Deepstone Oil and Albino Cavefish

I have been making ridiculous profits off of crafting Deepstone Oil and selling in stacks of 8.  Deepstone Oil is crafted by Alchemists and is a nice choice for using my Common Commodity Crafting technique when leveling your alchemy profession.  Crafting Deepstone Oils can get you an easy 15 skill points in Alchemy and earn you a profit as well.

I am currently selling stacks of 8 Deepstone Oil for 345 gold and they always sell.

What?!?!  Yes, you read correct.

Vial of Sands Crafting

Deepstone Oil is crafted by an alchemist and oil requires 1 Albino Cavefish per craft.  Each Albino Cavefish will yield 1-2 Deepstone Oil.  I sell in stacks of 8 because the Vial of Sands mount recipe requires 8 Deepstone Oil.

I found that this market is untapped on my server and have been playing with the pricing.  I am just as shocked as you that I can inflate this price so high and have the Deepstone Oils still sell.  The only reasoning I can come up with is that since anyone collecting the materials to have a Vial of Sands crafted has already spent tens of thousands of gold, they probably don't mind a bit extra for these Deepstone Oils?  I'm sure players are just happy to finally see the Deepstone Oil available and buy them at an inflated price just to finally be finished collecting materials for their Vial of Sands mount.  Or maybe they don't know how easy they are to craft.  There are rarely any albino cavefish posted on the Auction House, but when there are, I snatch them up with a quickness.  Hell, at this rate I may just have to go fish some Albino Cavefish up myself.

Check out what Wes of Capped By Cata posted on Where to Farm Albino Cavefish.

Have you identified any niche markets like this that you can exploit for higher profits on your server?

Saronite Ore Solutions - Alchemist/Blacksmith/Miner

Got A Lot Of Saronite Ore In The Bank?

Many of us had stockpiled saronite ore at the end of Wrath of the Lich King.  I purchased all of my Saronite Ore stockpile at 12 gold or less per full stack of Saronite Ore.  Many times I would find the Saronite Ore for under 9 gold per stack.  Since 2 stacks of Saronite Ore smelt into 1 stack of Saronite Bars that sell for 25 gold per stack, simply smelting these Saronite Ores into Saronite Bars will yield a profit.  This gives me some leeway to experiment into different uses for the bars. 

Watch The Other Markets Of Side Products

Saronite Bars are used in various crafting recipes, but the main markets that may be seeing repeat sales are eternal belt buckles, titanium bars, titanium rods.  You can use a miner/alchemist/blacksmith combination on different characters as the best combination to move your Saronite Ore from your guild banks into gold in your stash.  Don't just look at the market prices of Saronite Ore and Saronite Bars.  Look beyond those to the next tier of crafting.  That is the level to play on.  Then you can look even farther into another level of crafting for more profits.

Miner

The Miner is used to Smelt some of the Saronite Ore into Saronite Bars.  Those Saronite Bars are then mailed to the Alchemist character and also are mailed to the Blacksmith character.

Alchemist

The Alchemist gathers the Saronite Bars from the mailbox.  She then transmutes them into Titanium Bars.  She is a transmutation specialization alchemist, which gives some extra Titanium Bars when it procs.  She keeps half of those Saronite Bars and sends the other half to the blacksmith character.  This character watches the Saronite Bar market on the Auction House and posts Titanium Bars onto the Auction House in bar form.  The market price tends to peak and spike often, so some days are good days to sell in Bar form and other days the market drops.  It's probably from a new alchemist leveling their alchemy skill.  Just hang onto the bars and sell them at a better time.

Blacksmith

The Blacksmith is used to turn the Saronite Bars and Titanium Bars into Titanium Rods.  These rods are required by enchanters.  There are many things that you can sell to leveling enchanters and rods are one of the best markets for Blacksmiths to watch. 

Eternal Belt buckles are still selling as many players are still buying the old belt buckles as they level or find blue gear.  Seems that they are saving their gold to buy the new expensive belt buckle once they get an epic or raid belt. 

You can also watch the Saronite Ore Bar market with this character and toss up a few at moments when the price spikes.  Or you can try to reset the market when there aren't many left on the auction house. 

Another market to also watch that involves Saronite is Titanium Shield Spikes.  If price spikes, craft and post one and test the market before cranking a bunch out just becasue the price jumped up.

Miner/Alchemist/Blacksmith

This has been the best combination for getting rid of Saronite Ore in various craftable item markets.  So if you are looking for a way to get rid of some of that Saronite Ore stockpile that is just sitting there, then try moving some out in these various markets.  The markets are starting to reset to higher levels for raw materials from Northrend as less characters are in Northrend and the farmers have moved into the Cataclysm zones for the higher priced ores.

Transmute Truegold - It Only Takes One To Start

Transmute Truegold

Transmuting Truegold is only avialable to an Alchemist at 525 (max) skill level Alchemy.  This is a very popular transmutation cooldown to sell once per day to other players looking to have the transmutation performed so they can acquire enough Truegold for their crafting requirements of other profession recipes.

Transmutation Specialization Alchemist

If you have chosen the Alchemy specialization of transmutation, then you have a chance of producing extra Truegold when you perform the transmutation.  Are you doing your transmutation in front of the customer buying your cooldown?  What happens if there is a transmute proc that produces extra Truegold?  Who do they belong to, you or the paying customer?  Well there is a simple way around that whole can of worms.

Do all of your transmuting in private, if you are a transmutation specced Alchemist.

I touched on this same topic last year in my post about selling cooldowns for Titansteel and Epic Gems.  You can avoid the arguement of who the extra procs belong to altogether by just trading the single finished product to the customer.  When someone buys your cooldown do this.

1. Open Trade.
2. Wait for him to post the materials he is trading for the transmute.
3. Post the final product (precrafted) into the trade window also.
4. Than ask him to go ahead and post the cooldown crafting fee as well.
5. Complete trade alone with tip and materials all in 1 action.
6. Thank your customer.
7. Wait until he is gone and go do your daily transmute in private.

Benefits of Transmuting In Private

No one ever can stake claim to your extra procs as theirs since they were "buying your cooldown" thus have paid for the chance at getting the proc.  This process only takes a single precrafted finished product to get started. 

The other benefit is that if you have multiple ones premade, then you can sell multiple finished products to the same person.  Often times these players or crafters need more than 1 of the items transmuted.  If you can just give the 1 Truegold, they will continue to search in trade chat for another alchemist to make them another one, etc. until they get all of the ones they are needing.  Having extras can get you multiple crafting transmute fees in a single day, which helps cover those days that you didn't even find a buyer, and also helps assure that you have the materials for a transmute every day, without coming out of pocket.  So the more procs you get in private the more times you can make this transaction to the same or multiple players. 

Another benefit is that if you are keeping your finished products in a guild bank shared by your characters, any of your characters can perform the trade without having to log over to your alchemist.  They can just grab the Truegold out of the guild bank, make the trade and either mail the materials to the alchemist or just toss them back into the community guild bank.

Hope I helped open your eyes to the hassle free more profitable way to do your transmutation specialist transmuting.

Obsidium Ores & The Big Three Professions Shuffle

Obsidium Ore Selling Idiots

Obsidium Ore - Farming The Auction House

Obsidium Ore was listed at very low prices on the Auction House.  Who would sell Obsidium Ore at such a low price?  Probably ignorant and uninformed farmers or players too lazy to put these to good use.  These Obsidium Ores were selling from 29 - 35g for full stacks, when I logged in early in the morning to hunt for deals.  My Mammoth Mining Bags are now overflowing as I bought 8k gold worth of Obsidium Ore at this price.  Wes, I beg to differ.  The dumbest Warcraft players are on my server!  Time to shuffle all these ores for major profits.

The Big Three Professions

The Big Three is the excellent gold making profession combination of Jewel Crafting, Alchemy, and Enchanting.  It was an added bonus if you had an Alchemist / Enchanter and could take advantage of disenchanting the Bind-On-Pickup Epic Alchemist trinkets for Maelstrom Crystals.  As of yesterday's hotfix, these are no longer able to be disenchanted.  The Big Three has been very profitable through out Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and now into Cataclysm.  Jewelcrafting was introduced in the Burning Crusade expansion, so The Big Three did not exist during Vanilla World of Warcraft.  If you are stuck and looking to expand your gold making oppurtunities, be sure to have The Big Three Professions covered.

• Jewelcrafting - Is used primarily for prospecting ores into uncommon and rare gems.  Also is used for crafting jewelry and weapons (like Carnilian Spikes) to be disenchanted.  Also is used for cutting gems and jewelry to vendor for a profit or sell on the Auction Houses of Azeroth.
• Alchemy - Is used to transmute gems and meta-gems, truegold and living elements. 
• Enchanting - Is used to disenchant jewelry and other items to create Enchanting materials like Dusts, Essences, and Shards.  Also used to create Enchanting scrolls to sell on the Auction House.

I also recommend that you take a look at the Venture, LLC Blog.  Stede has a nice post about making gold from Selling Cataclysm Jewelry.

Shuffling Your Ores

1. Buy ores from the Auction House or gather from farming.
2. Have the Jewelcrafter prospect the ores for gems.
3. Cut the rare gems and post on the Auction House.
4. Sell uncommon gems raw, cut and vendor, or craft jewelry & weapons for disenchating.
5. Send all jewelry and weapons to Enchanter.
6. Send some gems to Alchemist to Transmute rare gems and metagems.
7. Send those transmuted gems back and cut them to sell on the Auction House.
8. Have Enchanter disenchant all items and sell some Enchanting materials raw on the Auction House.
9. Create Enchanting scrolls to sell on the Auction House.

This processing of ores is profitable with most of the ores, but especially the newest forms of ores.  If you don't have The Big Three covered with your professions, then I highly suggest you start working towards having all three professions.  Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, and Enchanting are an excellent first set of professions to be working towards.

Are you covering The Big Three in your World of Warcraft gold making process?

Potion of Deepholm & Mage Bubble Hearth

Portals and Potions

With the removal of portals from both Shattrath and Dalaran, mages are still making easy gold off of players that still were parked in either of those cities.  People are returning to the game and are paying upwards of 30g for a portal out to main cities.  Others are simply logging in an alt for the first time only to discover them trapped within Dalaran and looking for a quick way out.  Portals aren't the only travel mode these days.  Scribes have their option, but alchemists now have a way to profit off of other player's travel.

Deepholm

Another common question I've been seeing in trade chat is "How do I get back to Deepholm?"  Anytime I see this asked, I reply back with, "Use a Potion of Deepholm!"  This most always results in an instant sale on the auction house for the alchemist dabbling in that market.  The reply is usually followed with a "Thanks, I just got one!" 

Potion of Deepholm

This teleports the drinker to Deepholm.  The potion of deepholm requires 5 Heartblossom and 1 crystal vial.  The drinking player must be level 82, but you had to be level 82 to start the quest to allow entry into Deepholm anyway.  The potion requires a skill level of 525 Alchemy to craft. 

Mage Bubble Hearth

Some players use these potions to return to Deepholm, but others use them as an extra hearth because they return you near a portal to your capital city.  These are also the only way to accomplish the new bubble-hearth trick, but only for mages!  This potion isn't usable in combat so a mage can cast Invisibility and drink this instant cast potion while invisible.  It's the new mage bubble hearth so sales may be higher on Warcraft PvP servers.

Potion of Treasure Finding and Tiny Treasure Chest

Potion of Treasure Finding
In Cataclysm, Alchemists will be able to craft a rather interesting new potion.  The Potion of Treasure Finding allows the imbimber to sometimes find extra treasure from monsters in the new Cataclysm zones of Mount Hyjal, Vash'jir, Deepholm, Twilight Highlands and Uldum.  This effect lasts a full hour, persists through death (like flasks), and is not limited to the alchemy profession.  Any level 80+ character can use this potion of treasure finding.  The extra treasures come in the way of allowing mobs to drop a Tiny Treasure Chest.

Tiny Treasure Chests
The Tiny Treasure Chests on average were dropping 3-5 Gold, had a 75% chance to contain 8-15 Embersilk Cloth, and a 15% chance to contain a single volatile element.  Extra Embersilk Cloth and volatile elements will be an excellent find for anyone out grinding mobs or killing for quests.

Will Potion Of Treasure Finding Be Profitable?
In the first weeks, all items are going to be ridiculously priced to craft just because of the horribly inflated prices we will see on the auction house.  Once the market settles down and prices on herbs are reasonable, then we can look at more accurate data as far as the return on investment in using these potions of treasure finding while grinding or farming.  I would expect these to be much more valuable to any of the heavy dps classes that can ramp up their kills per hour ratio.  The potion of treasure finding lasts for a full hour so the more mobs you can kill within that hour, the more chances you have of finding a tiny treasure chest, thus increasing the potential of this potion.  If I was grinding specific mobs for a certian drop, I would definately try one of these potions out.


Requirements To Craft:

■Cinderbloom x 8
■Stormvine x 4
■Heartblossom x 8
■Whiptail x 4
■Crystal Vial x 1

Anyone else have thoughts on the Potion of Treasure Finding and its uses?

Image Credit: http://duplexchick.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/116/files/2008/07/hidden-treasure.jpg

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.

Briarthorn

In the Process of Leveling an additional Alchemist, I ran into a problem early on as Briarthorn is never in stock and it is very valuable to powerleveling as it is used by many recipes across a variety of skill levels.  So I am adding this to my stockpile list.  I predict this will be a big seller for power levelling goblins.  So check your markets for things that are in low supply on your server and see if you can find somethnig new to flip.

Titanium Transmute

Why is converting Saronite Ore to Titanium Bars so profitable on many servers?

My idea is that it tends to be a money making strategy that requires multiple characters because the 2 professions, Mining and Alchemy are not a typical combination you find on a single character. Anyone got a Miner/Alchemist? Probably not many. Therefore this is easiest for players with both a miner and an alchemist. If you have both, look into it. There is good money to be made from transmuting and selling on the AH in stacks of 3 and single bars.

Vanilla Craftables That Continue To Sell

Don't forget about your old Vanilla WoW patterns. There are still some prime craftables that continue to sell very well. Most of the materials required area easily farmable or easily purchased for minimal cost off newer players or the auction house. With the rise in playable alts, twinks, and Xmas Noobs these items are very viable sources of income. Just keep an eye on the materials needed like: crusader's orb, large fang, spider's silk, etc.

Mechanical Squirrel Box - The free Holiday pets have kick started the pet collecting industry for many new players. Currently selling at 12-15g each. If you are levelling engineering make these until they go grey.

Barbaric Bracers - Awesome wrists for leveling and 29 bracket twinks. The materials required are a joke and I continue to sell out for 115-120g each, unenchanted!

Scroll: Enchant Weapon: Fiery - My most popular heirloom enchant. Selling for 60-65g each 4-5 a night sell out. Mats are costing no more than 25g too.

Scroll: Enchant Weapon: Crusader - Second most popular seller. Sells for 120-150g each.

Spidersilk Boots - Great lvl 19 caster boots. Snatch those Spidersilks up. New players will post em for way too low because they don't know the real value of them. Selling these for around 60g.

Strong Troll's Blood Elixir - Required for popular quest chain. I sell these for 12g each.

If you have the Formula for +30 spellpower to weapon you should be making a killing as hardly no one these days has that pattern and the demand is huge for it on heirloom caster weapons, which is a big reason I still take my enchanter on Molten Core runs.