X-53 From Trade Chat

So I already own a Zevhra, but I have always wanted to try out one of the X-53 Touring Rockets, which are the current award from the Recruit-A-Friend program.  Never having anyone to refer, I was supprised to see someone selling the mount in trade chat.  Well, he couldn't sell me the mount iteself, but he was selling a RAF linkage and he had gametime cards ready to add gametime to his new account.  Hrm...Sounded legit.  He was asking 15k gold in game.  I would get the Mount for 15k, but also I would get the Free Game Time for 1 Month, which is another bonus of finding someone to recruit.  Have 10 characters all over level 70, the RAF level bumps would be pointless to me anyways.  So he provided me with his email, and I sent him the RAF link through my BNet account.  In order to do this as legit as possible, he asked for 5k once it showed I had a free month of game time, then the other 10k once the mount was showing as mine.  All he had to do was add the gametime cards he had and the mount was mine.  After verifying I gave him the rest of the gold and completed the deal.  So looking at the purchase:

I spent 15,000 gold.
For my gold I got:
1 Month of Game Time Free
1 X-53 Touring Rocket

Not a bad deal in my opinion.  Sure beats having to pay for a second account as I got in game and out of game benefits for only in game gold.  *cheers*

Now time to get some lowbies in the back seat, while i eject out and parachute to safety as I watch them go splat.  Let the fun begin.

Ranking The Twink Professions

In today's post we are going to focus on the major professions of level 19 and level 29 twinks, as well as ways the twinks can profit off of these choices.

Since most twinks will be funded by a player's higher level characters, we can assume that most level 19 and 29 twinks are going to be hardcore twinks that choose the best 2 professions to give the largest advantages within the battlegrounds. With that assumption, I would expect to see most twinks with 2 of the Top 5 Professions. After all, the twinks themselves are usually not out to turn a profit via crafting. Twinks are about maximizing PvP benefits, not making gold. They actually tend to be much more of a gold sink than a profitable endeavor unless the correct professions are chosen that can still be profitable given the skill level restrictions imposed by the level caps.

Here are the primary professions and the order that I deem them most powerful for the 19 and 29 brackets to maximize effectiveness in battlegrounds.

          Profession                   Benefit for 19                      Benefit for 29

1. Engineering                 *See below                         *See below
2. Herbalism                    Lifeblood 720 Heal             Lifeblood 900 Heal  
3. Mining                         Toughness +7 Sta               Toughness +10 Sta
4. Skinning                      M o Anatomy +9 Crit          M o Anatomy +12 Crit
5. Jewelcrafting               Dense Stone Statues            Primal Stone Statues 
6. Alchemist                    Make Own Potions & Mixology Skill
7. Blacksmith                  Make Own Sharpening Stone
8. Enchanter                    No Use
9. Leatherworking           No Use
10. Tailor                          No Use

I personally think that jewelcrafting is just as worthless as the other bottom 6 professions because Lifeblood is by far better than the BoP healing Stone Statues that a Jewelcrafter can create.

*Engineering is by far the most popular and has been for years. Let's take a look why:

At level 19 this is the only way to get a BoP head gear item, unless you have the Fishing Hat from the StV Fishing Extravaganza. At level 19 its going to be pretty hard to get and with Cataclysm we will see BoA head pieces that may be better than the engineering versions. We also see dynamite and bombs that stun or daze, minor recombobulator that heals and dispels polymorphs, harvest reapers and mechanical dragons to fight by your side, discombobulators to weaken your enemy into a leper gnome, flash bombs to scare hunter pets, goblin sapper charges and land mines for AoE damage, exploding sheep, and gnomish shrink rays. All these goodies at level 19!

At 29 we add to this list with mobile bomb dispensers, nets to root players, parachute cloak, better bombs and grenades, improved headpieces, battle chickens, rocket boots, mind control caps, and the uber-powerful gnomish death ray trinket.

And another great benefit of having engineering, at lvl 19 225 skill you can still craft Mechanical Squirrel Boxes, Lil Smoky, & Pet Bombling for some excellent ways to turn this twink into a gold maker while waiting for your battleground to start. The same holds true for my other top 4 professions for twinks because Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning can all be done while waiting for battlegrounds to start up. Many twinks also like to fish during wait times, especially for deviate fish to cook and sell as Savory Deviate Delights for nice profits.

Are you going to be rolling a twink in Cataclysm?

BoA Heirloom Item Scaler

Found an excellent tool over at quickarmory.com.  With all my talks about twinking, this little gadget is a quick and easy reference to finding what stats are given at any given item level for your BoA gear.  Useful for comparing BoE gear versus BoA gear for your twinks.

All you do is find the Heirloom Item on the list, then just move the slide bar at the top of the page to the level you are looking for.  Easy to use tool that saves a lot of time.

 Check it out:   Heirloom Items Level and Stats Scaler (currently broken and not updated - will post lnik once they get it back up and fixed)

SPOTLIGHT:::Zapthrottle Mote Extractor

Zapthrottle Mote Extractor

Another one of the ways to make money with engineering is the Zapthrottle Mote Extractor.  This handy device allows the engineer to see gas clouds on the mini-map.  Unlike other resource nodes, gas clouds are mobile so sometimes you must wait for them to travel out of an unreachable area to a more accessible area.  When you extract from the gas clouds, you will receive 3-5 motes or crystallized eternals depending on which cloud you are extracting from.  These gas clouds are numerous and the low population of engineers makes for less competition.  Here is the list of where to find the various gas clouds and what they produce.

Outlands

Felmist - Shadowmoon Valley - Motes of Shadow

Swamp Gas - Zangarmarsh & Steamvault - Motes of Water

Arcane Vortex - Netherstorm - Motes of Mana

Windy Cloud - Nagrand - Motes of Air

Northrend

Steam Cloud - Sholazar Basin & Borean Tundra - Crystallized Fire & Water

Cinder Cloud - Sholazar Basin, Wintergrasp, & Dragonblight - Crystallized Fire

Arctic Cloud - Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, Storm Peaks, & Icecrown - Crystallized Air & Water

So if you are an engineer, make sure to complete your quest to create your extractor and carry it with you at all times.  My favorite spot to farm Crystallized Fire to create Eternal Fires is at the Cauldren of Flames in Wintergrasp where you can kill the revenants and elementals as well as pick up 2 cinder clouds in the same area as well as a titanium node.  Then while waiting for respawns, I fly just below into Dragonblight and grab the Cinder Cloud outside the Obsidian Dragonshrine and the Arctic Cloud towards the Wrathgate and loop back to the Cauldren of Flames.

Do you have any great spots that allow you to access the clouds while farming other things?

Nine 10-19 Bracket Greens Going Blue

Cataclysm changes are coming and those changes will include the upgrade or downgrade or re-levelization of many items.  Here are 9 currently green BOE items that are turning into blue BOEs and getting big upgrades to their stats.  So these are 9 items, I would be snatching up for very cheap prices to flip to all the new characters and twinks.  If you run across these items, don't disenchant them.  Save them and resell for a lot more than you originally paid.

The 9 I would snatch are:

Current Green Item                Current Green Stats                          New Blue Stats
Blackened Defias Gloves (Lthr)           3 Str / 1 Sta                               4 Agi / 6 Sta
Foreman's Gloves            (Lthr)          10 Ap                                        5 Agi / 5 Exp
Metalworking Gloves       (Lthr)          3 Str / 1 Sta                               6 Agi / 4 Sta
Woodworking Gloves      (Lthr)          3 Int / 2 Spi                               6 Int / 4 Sta
Stonemason Cloak                              3 Sta                                         3 Str / 5 Sta
Foreman's Leggings           (Mail)         3 Str / 3 Agi / 3 Sta                   7 Str / 7 Sta
Goblin Mail Leggings          (Mail)        4 Str / 3 Sta                              8 Str / 6 Sta
Blackened Defias Leggings (Lthr)         3 Str / 3 Agi                              7 Agi / 7 Sta
Blackened Defias Boots     (Lthr)         3 Agi / 2 Sta                              6 Agi / 4 Sta

So you can see plenty of worthwhile increase on these items.  If you see them for cheap, snatch them up and hold onto them.

Be sure to read the follow-up post about these greens gone blue an how profitable this Cataclysm gold making strategy turned out.

Non-Gear Badge and Emblem Options

So we are all amassing a surplus of Emblems and Badges at this late in the game as the expansion comes to its final weeks / months.  Many of us don't have much need for spending our Emblems on gear, either because we are geared out or because purchasing gear upgrades this late in the expansion may not be the most sensible thing to do as simple green questing items from Cataclysm will replace many of the upgrades we can currently obtain.  Is your currency tab getting filled with Emblems?  Maybe you have been farming BC Heroics for reputation and you have been collecting a lot of Badge of Justice.  So what other options do we have instead of gear upgrades?  Let's take a look.

Emblem of Frost
23 = 1 Primordial Saronite

Emblem of Triumph
15 = 1 Crusader Orb

Emblem of Heroism
10 = 1 Ametrine, Dreadstone, Or Eye of Zul
20 = 1 Cardinal Ruby, King's Amber, or Majestic Zircon
10 = 1 Frozen Orb

Emblem of Conquest
18 = 1 Runed Orb

Emblem of Valor
60 = 1 Bind-On-Equip iLvl 213 Wrist Armor

Badge of Justice
10 = 1 Primal Nether
15 = Nether Vortex
15 = Any BC Uncut Epic Gem

As you can see there are many other options for Badges and Emblems other than gearing up your character, mainly using them to purchase materials required for your other crafting endeavors for a better profit.  Selling these items outright can also be a viable source of income, if you just like to run heroics over and over.  This late in the expansion I would advise on dumping as many of your Badges and Emblems as I can't see any reason to hang onto them for use in the next expansion.  Who knows what blizzard will do with the badge system anyways.  And most of these items will continue to lose value the longer you hold onto them, so unload what you can to maximize profits before the values drop even further.  And don't forget about the Stone Keeper Shards and Wintergrasp Tokens, which can be easily monetized through the Wintergrasp Shuffle. 

Blacksmithing Lock Picking (Revisited)

So last month I talked about Blacksmith Lockpicking as an optional idea for blacksmiths to make some easy gold.  I showed that you can craft the blacksmithing titanium keys and any tip over 84s will net you a profit for just a few seconds of your time.

Well, today I was on my blacksmith for a good while so I shouted in trade to test out my own advise.  I sent out a message that I was offering lockpicking services in Orgrimmar and almost instantly had two replies.  I highly recommend putting an advertisement into trade chat while you are smelting since that will give you some time to find some takers while you smelt.  The first guy had 2 boxes to unlock and tipped me 2 gold.  Fair, not too great, but easy profit none the less.  Then the second guy brings me 20 locked boxes of various levels and then tips me 250g.  Yup!  250 Gold for a few minutes of work.  None of the boxes were higher than level 375 so I just used the Cobalt Skeleton Keys and didn't even have to break into my Titanium Skeleton Keys.  The Cobalt Skeleton Keys only take 4 Cobalt Bars per stack of 10 keys.

So if you haven't tried this out yet, give it a go because this is super easy money.  Steal the business away from the rogues and pocket it for yourselves.

Happy Labor Day!

Taking the day off blogging for the Holiday.  If you haven't logged in today, you should.  A lot of the competition appears to be taking the day off from WoW gold making too.  The auction house has a lot of items inflated in value, so you can post for higher than average prices at the moment.  Give your realm a look and see, if you see the same thing on your realm.

Twink and BoA Specialist Enchanting

Enchanter: Twinking Specialist

Level 19

At level 19 twinks are mostly restricted to using pre-BC enchants. Most all Burning Crusade enchants have a minimum level requirement of 35. Wrath of the Lich King enchants have a minimum level requirement of 60. This is a list of the most sought after enchants by all classes.

• Back
  
  • [Enchant Cloak - Lesser Agility] +3 agility
  • [Enchant Cloak - Superior Defense] +70 armor
  • [Enchant Cloak - Greater Nature Resistance] +15 nature resistance
  • [Enchant Cloak - Greater Resistance] +5 all resistance
  • [Enchant Cloak - Stealth] increased stealth

• Chest
  
  • [Enchant Chest - Greater Stats] +4 all stats
  • [Enchant Chest - Major Mana] +100 mana
  • [Enchant Chest - Major Health] +100 health

• Wrists
  
  • [Enchant Bracer - Superior Stamina] +9 stamina
  • [Enchant Bracer - Superior Strength] +9 strength
  • [Enchant Bracer - Greater Intellect] +7 intellect
  • [Enchant Bracer - Healing Power] +15 spell power
  • [Enchant Bracer - Mana Regeneration] restore 4 mana every five seconds

• Hands
  
  • [Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility] +15 agility
  • [Enchant Gloves - Shadow Power] +20 shadow spell power
  • [Enchant Gloves - Fire Power] +20 fire spell power
  • [Enchant Gloves - Frost Power] +20 frost spell power
  • [Enchant Gloves - Healing Power] +18 spell power
  • [Enchant Gloves - Minor Haste] +10 haste

• Legs
  
  • [Medium Armor Kit] +16 armor value

• Feet
  
  • [Enchant Boots - Minor Speed] movement speed increase (This enchant heavily outweighs all others in this category)
  • [Enchant Boots - Greater Stamina] +7 stamina
  • [Enchant Boots - Greater Agility] +7 agility
  • [Enchant Boots - Lesser Accuracy] +5 hit rating

• Weapon
  
  • [Enchant Weapon - Agility] +15 agility
  • [Enchant Weapon - Mighty Intellect] +22 Intellect
  • [Enchant Weapon - Fiery Weapon] chance on hit: 40 additional fire damage
  • [Enchant Weapon - Icy Chill] chance on hit: slow movement and attack speed
  • [Enchant Weapon - Crusader] chance on hit: heal for 75 to 125 and increase strength by 100 for 15 seconds
  • [Enchant Weapon - Lifestealing] chance on hit: steal life from enemy
  • [Enchant Weapon - Spellpower] +30 spell power
  • [Enchant 2H Weapon - Agility] +25 agility
  • [Enchant 2H Weapon - Superior Impact] +9 damage

• Ranged
  
  • [Standard Scope] +2 damage

These are the current favorites for Level 19 Twinks and are also going to be the prime enchants for BoA items since the non-level requirement enchants are the only options for the BoA items.  Some of these will be removed/changed due to the removal of Mp5 (from everything) and Spellpower (from non-weapons).  While they may be removed, they may also be upgraded as well.  For example, the Mp5 may change to +Spirit, etc.  Right now it is all just speculation as to what will happen to the enchants that will be effected by the stat changes of Cataclysm. 

Level 29

At level 29 you have the option of getting quests that can be started at level 29 or below, but twinks will complete quests that reward items with an item level of 35 or higher.  What this does is open up all of the lower end BC enchants to be placed on these items.  This gives a rather large benefit to getting these items, which may not be BiS stat wise alone, but once they are enchanted with the new level of enchants, they become vastly superior.

Ex:  Gallan Cuffs - Horde quest reward from "To Steal From Thieves"  Lvl 27 quest that rewards iLvl36 item.  Thus allowing the twink to put +12 Sta, +12 Int, +15 Sp, instead of the basic enchants.  Even though it is a cloth item, many hunters get it just for the +12 Sta or +24 Attack Power enchantability.  As a lvl 29 Twink Warrior named BashRipRock, I loved having my iLvl41 Shield, Vile Protector, with the +18 sta enchant.  Big difference over the BoE shields, but these kind of quest rewards are much easier to get now that you can pay to turn off all experience gains. 

Cataclysm changes are revamping a lot of the item levels, quest rewards, stats, and enchants for these kind of rewards.  So at this point I wouldn't go crazy finding any rare minimum iLvl 35 enchants until we know whether any of these will stil be left to take advantage of.  I would try to get as many of the harder to earn/find Vanilla enchants to be able to sell to all of the potential buyers once twinks return and new BoA items are implemented.

Dear Deathwing, (A Cataclysm Wishlist)

Dear Deathwing,

All I Want For Cataclysm Is:

1. I would like the ability to pay gold to increase the movement speed of already owned mounts.  I don't want to have to replace my Headless Horseman's Mount just because he isn't the fastest.  Let me pay to make him just as speedy please.
2. Can we please get a stealth action bar for Rogues in Cat form, In Stealth?  It's rather annoying not having our own autoswitching stealth castbar for stealth mode.  Rogues have it, so can cats get it too please?
3. Please, please, please increase all items to a minimum stacking size of 20.  Please allow cut gems to be stackable as well.
4. Please give me replacement recipes in return for all the recipes that will be useless, pointless, or destroyed come Cataclysm and the stats changes.  Ammo bags, Soul pouches, etc.
5. I would like an achievement quartermaster or reputation, some benefit to achievements other than bragging rights.
6. Can we fix Wintergrasp so its a much more evenly matched battle, not so dependant on sheer numbers that show up?

What about you?  Anything that you would put on your wishlist?

Why I Like Engineering So Much

Why Is Engineering Good?


While many people tend to assume engineering is mainly just for making fun gizmos and for low level PvP twinks, I highly disagree. Engineering is by far my most favorite profession because in addition to being fun, engineering is very convenient and allows the engineer to do many things that are unique to the profession. Let me go over a list of some of the great things about engineers.

1) Jeeves - The robot Jeeves allows repairing, vendoring, and purchasing anywhere for anyone nearby. Engineers can also access their character's bank through Jeeves. He lasts 10 minutes and his cooldown was recently shorted to just 1 hour. With the bank access it allows me to store my 2nd gear set in the bank instead of carrying it and allows the dumping of goods into the bank when my bags are getting filled.
2) Wormhole Generator - Your very own port machine. The cooldown is 4 hours, but the ability to port yourself to Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Scholazar Basin, Icecrown, or Storm Peaks is so nice. You can port to Scholazar to grab another Oracle Egg or to get to Wintergrasp quickly. The Storm Peaks spot drops you right by the Ulduar area for quicker stone summons. I use this portal maker very often. It really saves a lot of time.
3) Dimensional Ripper / Ultra Safe Transporters - Goblin Engineers get a portal on a 4 hour cooldown to Area 52 and another to Everlook. Gnomish Engineers get the transporters to Toshley's Station and Gadzetan. Again this is awesome for porting around if you are not a mage. And even Mages can't port to these places. Main benefit is for grabbing pets/recipes off of the neutral Auction House. Also comes in handy when flying around gathering recipes to flip as well as offering shortcuts when completing holiday achievements that take you all over the globe.
4) Zapthrottle Mote Extractor - Ever been exploring and seen those globes floating near the ground in Outlands or Northrend? Those are gas clouds that are harvestable by engineers only. Easy source of motes and crystalized forms of eternals. There are clouds for each element.
5) Moll-E - Who doesn't like a portable mailbox? Drop a Mailbox down next to you that last for 10 minutes. Recently shortened the cooldown to only 2 hours. So many uses for this, from being able to mail excess materials or items from anywhere to using your own mailbox for faster Libram turn ins in the DM Library while you work on your Insane Title.
6) Titanium Toolboxes - While these are usable by anyone, did you know all the stuff you can put into there?
7) Goblin Jumper Cables, Gnomish Army Knife, etc. - Having the ability for a chance to rezz a party member is great, especially when you rezz the only healer.

8) Dalaran Auction House Access - GM Engineers get to use the auction house in the Dalaran Engineering Shop. This is even better once you realize it is next to a mailbox, the forge, Frozo the Frozen Orb Trader, and the Leatherworking vendor that swaps Heavy Borean Leather for Arctic Furs. So an engineer can make a easy quick buck just going outside the shop and swapping the newly bought frozen orbs for the higher priced eternals and/or making arctic furs.

9) Vehicles - Engineers can create Copters and Choppers for mounts and profits.

10) Vanity Pets - Mechanical Squirrel Box, Tranquil Mechanical Yeti, Lil' Smoky, Pet Bombling, & Lifelike Mechanical Toad are all great items to craft and sell for profits.

11) Gear attachments - The Hand Mounted Pyro Rocket is great for added DPS and also has an insanely long range for pulling mobs from far away. Excellent for paladins and deathknights becasue the range on this thing is crazy! The cobalt bomb dispenser that attaches to your belt is in addition to an eternal belt buckle. The parachute added to a cloak is best in slot enchant for some classes and you can never go wrong having a parachute to save you. I use this thing mroe than you would expect.
12) Potion Injectors - These are a nice bonus. You can turn 20 mana or healing potions (Runic or Super) into an injector which stacks 20 potions, but with 2 added benefits. They now will store in your titanium toolbox, freeing up bag space, and engineers using them get an extra +25% effect, which is great considering you can only use one potion per combat nowadays. This is sweet for PvP too.

13) Fun Toys - From World Enlargers, to Poultryizers, to Arcane Bombs, the engineering profession does have a lot of fun and cool gizmos. The Rocket Boots are great in PvP. IF you get the recipe for Cluster Launchers from the Lunar Festival Vendor you can craft more cluster launchers to allow the use of the Lunar Rockets that give the AoE Health Buff year round, so you aren't stuck with a stack of rockets when the holiday ends. I like to toss one down at the graveyard in Warsong Gulch since they last a full 30 minutes. Its a nice extra buff in PvP.

14) Skinning Robots - Engineers can "skin" robot type mobs for bars, gears, vendor trash, pre-cursor craftables, and machine parts. Some raid bosses drop titansteel bars and motorcycle parts when skinned.

15) Cataclysm Love - Engineers appear to be getting some long overdue love when cataclysm hits. It appears that we will be able to have item slots that allow engineering only "gems" to be socketed, much like the bonuses that other professions got in WotLK. About time!

Engineering Gems (Hydraulic Pump Socket Only)

Flashing Hydraulic Pump +132 Parry Rating

Precise Hydraulic Pump +132 Expertise Rating

Rigid Hydraulic Pump +132 Hit Rating

Sparkling Hydraulic Pump +132 Spirit

Engineering Gems (Cogwheel Socket Only)

Fractured Cogwheel +132 Mastery Rating

Quick Cogwheel +132 Haste Rating

Smooth Cogwheel +132 Critical Strike Rating

Subtle Cogwheel +132 Dodge Rating


So don't simply dismiss the engineering profession as just for fun. We have some very nice benefits for the auctioneer as well. There are plenty of items to sell from pets, to ammo, to mounts, to quest required craftables. All in all engineering can be a fun and profitable profession as well as adding a ton of convenience in portable mailboxes, banks, and portals.

Happy Hunting!

Welcome New Readers

Welcome New Readers from Just My Two Copper's Blogging Carnivale!  The Ferris Wheel in the picture is rather iconic, as the blogging carnival is also a roundabout mechanisms that allows the readers to enjoy submissions by the various bloggers out there.  So step on up, hop on and enjoy your tour around the WoW and Gold Making Blogospheres.  Markco has done an excellent job with his creation of the Blogging Carnival and its success has helped to grow the reader pool for all of the other bloggers out there.  This is my second submission for the blogging carnival and the start of many more to come.

I do post daily, so please click the link to subscribe to the Free Feeds to receive my posts directly to your favorite reader.  This link is located at the top right of the page.  If you like my page, also please click on the "Vote for Me" button to help increase my rankings.  Have a look around my site, it is almost a year old and there is plenty of information to get you started in creating yourself vast amounts of gold.  Have a look, bookmark me, add me to your reader, come back daily, whatever you prefer.  Thanks for the interest and to all the loyal readers I've had on this journey into blogging.  Thank you Markco for your excellent ideas and leadership with the Blogging Carnival.  Click the 20kLeveling Banner at the top of the page to learn more of Markco's secrets.

Feel free to look into my recommended reading tab, as those are all items I read and enjoy and personally endorse.  Please take a peek at my other blogs as well, you can find them under the "Other blogs" tab above.
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Thanks again for your interest and your support!

Cataclysm: The Rebirth of Twinking

Cataclysm: The Rebirth of Twinking

Taken from the original post by Inkobah over at Twinkinfo.com , an excellent site dedicated to all things twinking.  I enjoyed this article so much, I decided to include it in its entirety right here at Cold's Gold Factory.  Markco of JMTC and I have differing opinions regarding how to profit off of twinks.  Check out both of our guest posts in addition to this article by Ink.  Then you can decide for yourselves.  Markco's Cataclysm Twinking post came first, then I posted my thoughts on Flipping Twink BoE Gear over at JMTC.  Here's the excellent article by Inkobah from Twinkinfo.com:

--------------------------------------------------------

Over the last 5 years or so twinking in World of Warcraft has been a roller coaster.  There have been all kinds of changes introduced by the various patches; some of which have been harmful to twinking and others that have been praised by twinks.

The roller coaster took a sharp drop with Patch 3.2 that added XP to Battlegrounds, allowing players to level their characters as they played in BGs.  This move also required twinks to turn their Experience off in order to keep from leveling in Battlegrounds.  But the big killer to twinks was that by turning off XP they could only play in Battlegrounds with other players that had turned off experience.  This move by Blizzard severely gimped twinking, but it's been hobbling along for the past year in select Battlegroups (19s on Ruin, 29s on Reckoning, 39s on Nightfall, and 49s on Ruin for US servers).
The next World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm, is currently in Beta testing and is expected to be out "soon".  One of the many new features Cataclysm will be introducing is cross-Battlegroup Battlegrounds.  Players will be able to play with and against any other players of the same bracket from across their own region (US with US, EU with EU).  There will be no more server or Battlegroup restrictions.
In this blog, I'll be addressing some of the positive impacts that Cataclysm will have on twinking.  I'll also be addressing some of the potential negatives that Cataclysm may have on twinking in a future post.  Sit back, read, comment, discuss, etc.

Cataclysm's Positive Impact on Twinking
There is little doubt that this will drastically change the way PvP happens within WoW, but what exactly will it mean for twinking?  Cataclysm (Patch 4.0) can and will bring new life to twinking.  First, 4.0 will provide BGs for dormant twinks.  All those twinks that have been sitting on servers that have no XP-off BGs will finally be able to brush off the dust and get some action.  Before this new feature, twinks had to transfer to other servers that allowed them to get into XP-off BGs and many twinks just never made the move due to the price ($25 per transfer).  Once 4.0 goes live, however, they will be able to queue and get BGs for the first time in over a year.

Since the Battlegroup restrictions will be lifted with Cataclysm there will be new opponents, new teammates, and a unified twink community per bracket (finally!).  Many twinks enjoy playing against and with the same people over and over, but it will be refreshing to have a surge of new faces on both sides.  The pool of players will be so large (in comparison) that twinks will no longer play with the same noob for three (or more) BGs in a row!
The twink community will also be unified across all Battlegroups.  With no restrictions by Battlegroups, twinks will be free to interact, play with/against, and get to know other twinks of the same bracket.  New friendships, new enemies, new drama.  This change will be reminiscent of when BGs were changed from server-wide to Battlegroup-wide (Patch 1.12), but on a larger scale.  That move was arguably a boost to twinking for many of the same reasons that 4.0 will be an advancement.

The ease of getting into twinking will be so extreme (as compared to what it was before) that Patch 4.0 will also bring new people into the twink community.  Never before was twinking as easy to get into as it will be once Cataclysm is released.  There will be no transferring and sitting in queues for ridiculous amounts of time.  The new faces will be welcome additions to a community that is arguably one of the best out there within WoW.
One of the big downfalls of any MMO (including WoW) is the continual pursuit to get better gear as new content is released with new expansions and patches.  Many players have become disenchanted by this constant carrot on a stick, but still desire to play World of Warcraft.  It's this disenchantment and desire that lead many to twinking.  After the expansion is released, this will continue to happen to new players (and probably to more players as 85 will be like 80, 70, and 60 – go here, do this boss, get this loot, new content, rinse and repeat, etc.).  Twinking is the only segment of WoW that allows players to max out their gear and just play without investing hours upon hours in the gear grind.  Sure, new expansions and patches have and likely will release new gear and content for twinks, but this has and will be on much smaller scale than the max level grind.  No one needs a second job to keep up with the Jones' with twinking and as more people realize that they'll look for ways to enjoy the game without the time sink.  Twinking will be that alternative for many new people.

Cataclysm is still months away, but twinks should rejoice!  Patch 4.0 will bring rebirth to the segment and community of WoW that we all love.  In my next blog post I will be talking about the potential negatives that Cataclysm can cause to the twink community of World of Warcraft.
I've just scratched the surface on the positive additions Cataclysm will bring to twinking.  What are some of the other positives?  /Discuss
-Ink
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Well written, Ink!  Be sure to go check out his site, if you are interested in twinking or catering to the twinking markets.

Gadgetzan Resale Options

Aah, Gadgetzan.  The town in the middle of the desert is an excellent location to snag some goods to send to your auctioneer to flip for a profit.  Plenty of goodies to try to grab on their limited quantity timers as well.

Alchemist Pestlezugg
          (1) Transmute:  Mithril to Truesilver  80s
          Transmute:  Iron to Gold  80s
          Transmute:  Arcanite  5g
          (1) Recipe:  Nature Resistance Potion 20s
          Recipe:  Philosopher's Stone  80s

Blizrik Buckshot
          (1) Schematic: EZ-Throw Dynamite II  50s

Dirge Quikcleave & Innkeeper Fizzgrimble
          Recipe:  Tender Wolf Steak  1g20s

Krinkle Goodsteel
          (1) Plans: Goldscale Coif  44s

Vizzclick
          (1) Pattern: Crimson Silk Robe 50s
          Pattern:  Soul Pouch  1g20s

The Alchemy Patterns sell the best, especially the Transmute: Arcanite.  Easily fetching me 25g per.

Everlook: Limited Quantity Recipes Galore

And the tour of goblin settlements with excellent resale options lands here in Everlook.  This pair of goblins have the best deals anywhere!  There items are almost all limited quantity and are items that are needed for quests, profession levelling, or common use items.  That mean that many of these will fetch you 25-35g per recipe.  And since there is a neutral auction house located within the walls of Everlook, this is an excellent place to camp one of your alts to both gather limited quantity recipes and also grab faction specific pets and recipes off of the neutral auction house.  Here's what these little green guys have to offer:

Himmik
          Recipe:  Monster Omelet  1g20s

Qia
          (1) Design:  Necklace of the Diamond Tower  1g35s
          (1) Formula:  Enchant Chest - Major Health  1g60s
          (1) Pattern:  Frostsaber Boots  1g 60s
          (1) Pattern:  Runecloth Bag  1g20s
          Pattern:  Mooncloth  2g

Xizzer Fizzbolt
          (1) Schematic:  Delicate Arcanite Converter  2g
          (1) Schematic:  Fused Wiring  1g60s
          (1) Schematic:  Gyrofreeze Ice Reflector  1g20s
          (1) Schematic:  Masterwork Target Dummy  1g60s
          (1) Schematic:  Powerful Seaforium Charge  1g60s

Can you identify the big time sellers in this list?  Or have you been neglecting the excellent choices for auction house flipping that lay within the walls of Everlook?  So as you can already tell, the goblins are our friends, or at the least, our suppliers.  So when the lands is split and the skys fall, we can become them as players.  Then we too can offer "The Best Deals Anywhere!"

Jabbey & Co.

Continuing in our exploration of auction house recipe flipping sweet spots we venture forth to the North Eastern corner of Tanaris to Jabbey and his buds, situated along the coast.  This band of quest givers and vendors are a nice little out of the way spot to grab up a bunch of recipes for mailing off to your auction house alt.  Bonus, if you can bring along MOLL-E, lol.  Sorry, plug for us engineers.  Here's what the little guys sell.

Gikkix
        Recipe:  Grilled Squid  1g60s
        Recipe:  Spotted Yellowtail  1g60s 
        Recipe:  Poached Sunscale Salmon  2g
        Recipe:  Nightfin Soup  2g

Jabbey
         (1) Recipe: Undermine Clam Chowder  30s

Haughty Modiste
         (1) Pattern:  Dress Shoes  50s
         Pattern:  Haliscon Pants  50s
         Pattern:  Halison Pants  45s


Haughty has Patterns that sell almost as well as the Patterns for Tuxedo pieces from Undercity.  These cooking recipes are extremely usefull when leveling cooking skill because of the range in which they allow skill-ups.  This is also the quest hub for the pirate slaying quests South along the coast.

A New Article of Mine That is a Must Read: Anti-Websense

Just finished a new Article that is a must read for anyone who has problems accessing content due to restrictive programs such as Websense, Net Nanny, Barracude, etc.  This explains how I circumvent Websense at my current job.  Great advise for those with similar issues.

Check it out at http://antiwebsense.blogspot.com/.

Terokk the BoE Loot Pinata

Brr'awk!

Terrok, the undead leader of the Arrakoa in Skettis, Terrokar Forest is a loot pinata.  This guy is summonable after the required quests are completed to unlock him.  He drops amazing loot that is mostly BoE.  This loot consists of Blue BoE gear with , but unlock world drops, these random stats are very good and correct combinations making them viable for resale.  He also drops 2 BoE epic cloaks that are good as well.  But the best item he drops is BOP, the rare Time-Lost Figurine.  This dandy little trinket will turn you into a random Arrakoa for 5 minutes!  Brr'awk!  Check out his Loot List.

Here is how you unlock Terrok.  In Skettis (flying mount required), grab the quest to gather Shadow Dusts from the Arrakoa around Skettis.  You turn 6 Shadow dust in to the npc Severin to receive an Elixir of Shadows.  Imbibing the Elixir of Shadows allows you to see more mobs around Skettis, the Talonpriests and the Time-Lost Arrokoas.  These now viewable mobs will drop Time Lost Scrolls.  It takes 10 Time Lost Scrolls to summon one of the 4 mini-bosses at the skull piles around Skettis.  These mini-bosses are Karrog, Gezzarak the Huntress, Darkscreecher Akkarai, Vakkiz the Windrager.  Each of these min-bosses drop an item.  When you collect all 4 your turn them in to get the item used to summon Terrokar.  He can be summoned once every 15 minutes, but does require you to gather the other mini-boss items again.

Booty Bay: Resale Central

Booty Bay is just that, Re-Sale Central.  This little cove in Southern Stranglethorn Valley is an excellent place to get your start flipping vendor items on the auction house for major profits.  Booty Bay also houses the neutral auction house.  I always tend to have an with either a hearthstone set to Booty Bay, or just leave an alt parked there.  Mainly to look for deals on the neutral auction house that alliance players are selling to the horde side.  This is where I get a lot of the vendor pets that are only sold by Alliance vendors, like kittens and owls.  Sometimes I'll find cheap Alliance only vendor cooking recipes, which also transfer and sell well on the Horde auction house.  Don't just visit the neutral auction house and call it day!  There are plenty of opportunities awaiting the auction house flipper within this town of Booty Bay.  Let's dive right in.

Here is a list of vendors and the items they sell.  Everything can be flipped for a profit onto the auction house.  There are so many vendors that sell limited quantity recipes in town, that you are a fool, if you just let them sit unbought.  Here we go:

Any items marked (1) means it has a limited quantity of 1.  You can only purchase 1 at a time, if it is available and no one else has bought it recently.  If the item is not available, you must wait for it to "respawn" on the vendor.

Vendor Name///<Vendor Title>

(Limited Qty)///Item Name///Vendor Cost

Blixrez Goodstitch <Leatherworking Supplies> 

(1) Pattern:  Murloc Scale Bracers  28s

(1) Pattern:  Thick Murloc Armor   6s50c

Cowardly Crosby <Tailoring Supplies> in the Pirate Camp outside of town.

(1) Pattern:  Admiral's Hat 70s

Crazk Sparks <Fireworks Merchant>

(1) Schematic:  Green Firework 18s  (Great for leveling Enchanting)

Glyx Brewright <Alchemy Supplies>

(1) Recipe:  Frost Protection Potion  20s

(1) Recipe:  Nature Protection Potion  20s

Gnaz Blunderflame <Engineering Supplies>

(1) Schematic:  Mechanical Dragonling 1g

Jutak <Blade Trader>

(1) Plans:  Hardened Iron Swortsword  30s

Kelsey Yance <Cook>

Recipe:  Cooked Glossy Mightfish  1g60s

Recipe:  Filet of Redgill  1g60s

Recipe:  Giant Clam Scorcho  50s

Recipe:  Hot Smoked Bass  1g 60s

Recipe:  Rockscale Cod  22s

Recipe:  Sagefish Delight  50s

Recipe:  Smoked Sagefish  5s

Narkk <Pirate Supplies>

(1) Pattern:  Black Swashbuckler's Shirt  15s

Parrot Cage: Cockatiel  40s

Parrot Cage: Senegal  40s

Old Man Heming <Fishing Supplies>

(1) Strong Fishing Pole  9s2c

Rikqiz <Leatherworking Supplies>

(1) Pattern:  Gem-Studded Leather Belt  30s

(1) Pattern:  Shadowskin Gloves  35s

Xizk Goodstitch <Tailoring Supplies>

(1) Crimson Silk Cloak  12s

(1) Enchanter's Cowl  20s

Zarena Cromwind <Superior Weaponsmith> (Required for Weaponsmith Specialty Profession Quests)

(1) Plans:  Moonsteel Broadsword  44s

These are almost all under a single gold each, many just a few silver pieces.  There is no reason not to be flipping these for easy profits.  What you sell them for depends on your server and competition.  Example:  I sell (1) Pattern:  Admiral's Hat 70s purchase for 35g on the auction house.  The fishing rod I flip for 5g each.  Not shabby at all!  What I do is send an alt to camp in Booty Bay for the auction house as well as to gather all of the recipes that are in stock and mail them to another auction house alt of mine.  I send a full mail load of 12 of each cooking recipe, so I have a nice stock to sell out of my mailbox.  Then when I log in to check the neutral AH for steals, pets, and recipes I will run around and gather and mail off the limited quantity recipes back to the auctioneer in the major city.  Quick, Easy, & Profitable.

Are you trading with the goblins and pirates of Booty Bay?

How To Farm Tome of Polymorph: Turtle

Tome of Polymorph Turtle is a vanity item that allows a Mage to "turtle" a mob or opponent, rather than the boring "sheep" that is the standard cast.  These bad boys sell for upper hundreds to lower thousands.  And it takes very little time to get a shot at one.  Wowhead lists the drop rate at 14%, but I am 3 for 3 in getting these to drop, so I believe the drop rate has been increased, or I am very lucky.

Anyways, the Tome drops off of the optional boss, Gahz'ranka, in the raid instance Zul'Gurub.  There is a pre-requisite chain that must be completed before you can "fish" up Gahz'ranka for your chance at this gold fetching item.

First off, to do this solo you must be at least level 58 to start the quest chain.  Although I have not tested this, I believe the old fishing skill requirements of 330 buffed no longer apply since the patch that allows fishing in pools of fish at any skill level.  And since this is a raid, you just need to invite someone, make a raid, then kick them once you are inside the raid instance.  Or better yet, this is what I do when possible.  Find an enchanter that is just in town, etc, and make a raid and stay in it for the free disenchants to save bag space and time.  Don't forget to tip the helpful enchanter.  Yup, thats right!  In case you don't already know, you can get the disenchant option int he loot box just for being grouped with an enchanter.  They need not be near you.

When in ZG, you are looking for Pagle's Point, an obvious campground with boxes and free jugs of liquor to get your quest item to strat the chain.  Pagle's Point is in the NE corner of the ring of water around Hakkar's platform.  Just enter the raid, jump in the water and make your way to Pagle's Point.  Once there look for the sparkling box or turn on low-level quests tracking.  Grab the Battered Tackle Box, open it up, and retrieve the quest chain starter item Nat's Measuring Tape.  Now make your way to Nat Pagle at Tidefury Cove, which is South of Theramore Isle in Dustwallow Marsh (on the coast).  Turn the quest in to Nat and he will now sell you Mudskunk Lures, which are used to summon Gahz'ranka inside Zul'Gurub.  Buy a stack and head back to ZG.

Make your way back to the water as before and circle around the water looking for Muddy Churning Waters, which appear and sounds like regular fish pools.  They also are identified on your mini-map, if you enable fish finding.  Each pool will only yield 2-3 Zulian Mudskunks, but there are 5 Muddy Churning Water pools, so gathering the needed 5 Mudskunks is no problem at all.  Once you have gathered 5 Zulian Mudskunks, combine them with a Mudskunk Lure and toss the created item into the waters.  You must be back at Pagle's Point for this to work.  As soon as you toss the Lure, you will get credit for the "Deadliest Catch" achievement and Gahz'ranka will begin to emerge from the waters.  Note: you don't need your fishing rod out to summon him, just toss the baited lure into the water.  Most classes can solo him at 80, and at level 70 a decent healer and tank combo is plenty to 2 man him.

Gahz'ranka is rather easy.  Fight him in the water so you take minimal damage from his geyser attack that tosses you high into the air and damages you on impact to the ground.  Kill him and loot your Tome of Polymorph Turtle.  Note:  The Mudskunk Lures from Nat Pagle are not soulbound, so you can mail these to other characters as well without them needing to do the quest chain.  The chain is super easy, its just very time consuming getting from ZG to Dustwallow and back again.  thats also why you should pick up a stack of the Mudskunk Lures while you are out there.  Just to save time for later attempts.  Gahz'ranka can only be summoned once per raid lockout.

Now either head to the auction house to make your gold or continue on to Farm the Rest of Zul'Gurub.