How To Make Gold Without Professions | Embersilk Cloth Farming Method 2500g in 30 mins

The following is a guest post from the WoW Newsletter Team over at http://freewowresource.info
feel free to check them out.

How To Make Gold Without Professions
*Embersilk Cloth Farming Method 2500g in 30 Mins*

Hey! Gamebox from the Newsletter Team here and I would like to give a hearty hello to all the members here at Colds Gold Factory. Thank you for having me today. But, before we carried away with formal pleasantries lets get down to the meat and potatoes of this post.



The Overview

The Majority of your gold-making time will be spent in the NE corner of Deepholm bashing away at the creatures who inhabit the Verlok Stand. This area, for the most part, is usually completely isolated and quite frankly, hard to find. There are no quests available to date that involve this sub-zone directly. Meaning, there will be more mobs to go around and less competition even on the most populated realms (I play on Emerald Dream and there's damn near any competition there).
Also, the mobs are tightly compacted into one area and deal melee damage exclusively, which makes rounding up and controlling them a trivial task for any character. Oh, and did I mention that re-spawn times are almost instant?

Getting Prepared, What Your Gonna Need

There's a couple things that can make this strategy all the more better, actually we've been brainstorming some new ideas this week. Here's the gist of what you're gonna need.

(Absolutely Critical) Potion of Treasure Finding

This potion is actually the foundation of this strategy. If you've never used the Potion of Treasure Finding, then quickly take note of it and add it to your gold making arsenal. Right now! When you consume this potion, upon looting enemies in the listed zones, you get roughly a 10% chance of spawning a little mini treasure chest that contains some neat randomized loot. Don't worry, you won't be getting any junk either. Every chest spawns at least 2-7g in addition to some cataclysm old world trade goods or greens. Expect to get chests that contain up to ½ a stack of cloth and ores. And expect them often. Many times when killing a group of 18 or more mobs I've had the good fortune of getting 3 of these chest at once. Needless to day, its a great feeling.

(Recommended) Level 86+ Character to Solo

The farm can be done with a level 85 (I do in the video) but, it can be a little difficult to farm with a cloth wearing characters that aren't level 90 yet. However, as long as your character can kill big groups of mobs at once and has sufficient self healing you should be O.K. I personally haven't had any problems farming this on a DK, Pally, Mage, Druid, Shaman, nor Monk.

(Optional) 525 Enchanting +

Why? Because your gonna be receiving lots and lots of green loot. Due to the lack of bracer enchant options at the moment, old world bracer scrolls are fetching a pretty nifty price in the market right now. Your profits will greatly increase if you can offer an enchanting service using your freshly acquired mats.

Getting There and Pulling Mobs:

Alliance: The portal to Deepholm is found South of Stormwind Keep at the huge lakes.
Horde: The portal to Deepholm is found in the Valley of Wisdom just before the vendors.

When you zone into Deepholm look for the Verlok Strand in the Northeastern Hemisphere. Its a long strip just a bit north of the crimson expanse. Upon arrival you should see a seemingly endless stream of mobs just ripe for the pickin'. A good way to go about this would be to start from the beginning or end of the platform and work your way to the other side. This way, the re-spawns wont keep you in combat and by the time you just finish up traveling from one end to the other, the mobs in the opposite direction have already re-spawned! Common sense? Yes! Do most people do this? No.. Keeping this in mind will enable you to work more efficiently, save yourself some time, and in the end make a little more gold.
Side Note For Working Efficiently: Make sure you pull as many mobs as you can possibly handle at one time. Don't waste time killing just 3 when you can be killing 20.


Recounting The Loot:

This is the most entertaining and my favorite part of the farm (and hopefully yours too). Below is a list featuring the loot I collected from one 30 minute session and the prices each item fetched in the AH or as vendor trash.   *NOTE* These are the prices on Emerald Dream.  Your server's prices may be slightly higher or lower than the values listed here.
Gold Gained Looting Mobs = 128g
Gold Gained Looting Chests = 82g
Gold Gained Vendoring Greens = 62g
Gold Gained Vendoring Grays = 43g
Gold Gained Selling Volatiles = 160g
Gold Gained Selling Pyrite Ore = 27g
Gold Gained Selling Embersilk = 2010g

Total Amount = 2512g in 30 mins

Not bad for 30 minutes of farming is it? Just take note that the potion of treasure finding lasts for 1 hour, so ideally, you'd want to farm for an additional 30 minutes to get the most bang for your buck. Give this a try and let us know what you think. If you liked this article and want to see many more like it, then subscribe to our Gold Newsletter over at http://Freewowresource.info. Thank you again Cold for having me tonight and happy farming on behalf of the team.

Cheers,

- Newsletter Team

Edit From Cold - Use your tailor to do the farming and you'll get even more Embersilk Cloth thanks to the Cloth Scavenging bonus that all Tailors get in the higher level zones.  Also, instead of selling the Embersilk Cloth in it's raw cloth form, convert it to the max slot profession bags (patterns locked behind Firelands Dailies) for even more profits.  Profession Bags are still selling strong and for hefty profits.  This farming strategy is even better now with the AoE Looting addition to World of Warcraft.

Guest Post: Beware The Crossfaction Gotcha!

Beware the Crossfaction Gotcha!

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


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

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

So profit calculation is:

10 sold at 800 = 8000
subtract the auction house percentage 5%:  8000 * .95 = 7600g 
subtract my orginal purchase price and I get
7600 - 6400 = 1200g profit (pats self on back)
 
If I leave it on the Alliance side, that's it pure profit.

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

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

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

Back to Undermine for me!

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

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

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

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.

Attention Warcraft Bloggers and Blog Readers

Apologies

I want to apologize to the other great gold blogs that are out there.  While I have many of you in my blogroll already, I am finding it harder and harder to find time to read each and every one of you daily.  I have been involved in a great new project, working with Wes from Capped by Cata.  It should be ready shortly.  We think you are going to love it.  More news on this secret project as we get the final stages wrapped up.

There has been such an explosion of gold bloggers onto the scene that there are many excellent sites out there putting out awesome content.  I want to do a better job of linking to your great articles and helping grow your site's traffic and reader base.  Many of you have been instrumental in helping drive traffic my direction.  I thank you for that.  Now I would like to help reciprocate the favor.

What I am asking is this:  If there is a post that you are very proud of please send me a link and I will try to work up a post that links to it.  Please make sure to submit to me your very best content that you worked long and hard on.  Think guest post quality.  If its a great post, I will link to it to get you some inbound links.  Thanks to all of you that have been including inbound links to all of my Mysterious Fortune Card Posts.  All incoming links are very welcome.  Now I just want to return the favors.

Guest Posts

Similarly, guest posts are always welcome.  Please submit them to me for consideration or contact me with a topic idea as well.  I do also do guest post swaps, if you prefer to trade posts.  Again, contact me for topic and release discussion.  Remember that guest posting is an excellent way to get new traffic.  Please review my post on Why You Should Be Guest Posting over at my new blog, Blogging Vitals.

Blogroll Additions

I have a lot of you already included on my blogroll.  If you are a new gold blogger or a Warcraft blogger that often but not always talks about gold making strategies, then by all means, contact me to be added to my blogroll.  This is another great way to get new incoming traffic to your upcoming site.

Blogging Carnival

The first Blogging Carnival here at Cold's Gold Factory goes live on January 11th.  You have only 2 more days to get your submissions included for this carnival.  Again, my new site has an excellent article on The Benefits Of Blogging Carnivals and why you should participate.

ATTENTION READERS:  Tipping Your Bloggers

I would like to call you attention to another great article that I have written on Tipping Your Bloggers.
You can tip your favorite bloggers without even coming out of your own pocket!  Check out the article to learn how.  Fellow bloggers feel free to link to that said tipping article with the anchor text "Have you tipped a blogger today?"  Let's all try to help cultivate a new mindset for our readers.

Disciplinary Action

Last but not least, I want each and every one of you World of Warcraft bloggers to go and read this excellent article on promoting your site, which was posted at Disciplinary Action.  Check it out now!  I use most of  these strategies.  Are you too?
Shameless Self Promotion: A Beginner's Guide To Driving Traffic to Your WoW Blog

Ghosts Of Auction House Past GUEST POST by Loronar

A Guest Post From the 2010 Blog Azeroth Secret Santa Program

Ghosts of Auction House Past

Two years ago at this time, interest in Wrath content was at its prime, and players began moving from Outland to Northrend in droves. This time around, Cataclysm is in full swing, and they are once again learning how to reap the profits from new content and how to navigate the new market and adjust to the new demands.

Although I've never been much of an auction house regular, I can admit that I am often a customer. In this game, there is a handful of players who navigate the world without any acquaintances and do not have access to guildmates or friends who will lend them money or items out of kindness. As with every new expansion, there are new players who have never played World of Warcraft before and will go through all content for the first time, and many of the people I found in the random dungeon were unguilded.

As they are going through content for the first time (or nth time without heirlooms), they are always looking out for gear. If you are looking to help out these players and make some money out of it, I recommend that you craft or collect items from old content. For example, most players first encounter socketing gear in Outland content and are looking to find an immediate way to use gems, often times through the auction house.

I would think that people would still be making some old gems, but to my surprise, I could barely find any that fit my needs in the auction house just yesterday. You might be busy looking for customers who will buy in bulk and earn you large numbers in a short time, but remember that business is not always about hitting it big time.

If you have an older toon with a decent gathering or crafting profession, earn a few gold by making these older items available for newer players. Legacy items still have some value to them. (Remember when [Dirge] was a sensation in Burning Crusade Trade Chat?) I'm under the impression that gems and enchants are two things that will always remain in high demand even through leveling. Who wouldn't want to make their own leveling process go faster through improved gear?

Finally, utilize Trade Chat. It is there for a reason, notwithstanding the amount of trolling that happens there. Be open to helping lower level players enchant and socket their gears and any other thing that might help you earn a little more without much additional effort.

On a slightly off topic note, as a hunter, it bothers me that the Auction House still has the categories for ammunition related items in there when these things have become obsolete in game.

I hope you have a merry Winter Veil, and may the new year bring you prosperity!
--

Loronar, PvE Marksmanship Hunter, US-Eredar
http://35yards.wordpress.com/

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Again, this Guest Post was brought to you by Loronar, Author at 35 yards via the 2010 Blog Azeroth Secret Santa Program.  Excellently written post.  A Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year to you as well, Loronar.  Thanks for the guest post.

Take Care,
Cold

Archaeology: How To Make Gold - A Guest Post By Zoxy

There’s Gold In Them Hills – How To Make Gold With Archaeology

A Guest By Zoxy of Trading With Zoxy

I need to start this post by saying unless you are an alchemist you won't be making thousands of gold from this new profession . It is a long grind to 525 and archaeology is focused on pets, mounts and BOA items for you.

So where is the gold?

 1. Vial of the Sands ( Alchemist only )

 2. Key Stones

 3. Vendors

Vial of the Sands: Are you an alchemist? Well if you are an alchemist, there is the big money maker Vial of the Sands. The cost to make one is around the 30k mark with most most of that in vendor mats but 12 of it in truegold. This is a mount the transforms you into a dragon that can carry an ally on your back. These should hopefully sell for a 10k or 20k profit depending on your server.

How Do You Get One?

First you need 525 in archaeology. Once you have reached that skill level the recipe for this mount can only be acquired by opening a Canopic Jar, but only has about a 5% drop rate. These can also only be found by doing digs in Uldum so its a long grind to get it, but worth it when u finally get there.

Key Stones

 They are not BOP so these can be sold . These count as 12 fragments for the different projects:

• Troll Tablet - Troll
• Highborne Scroll - Night Elf
• Dwarf Rune Stone - Dwarf
• Orc Blood Text - Orc
• Draenei Tome - Draenei
• Nerubian Obelisk - Nerubian
• Vrykul Rune Stick - Vrykul
• Tol'vir Hieroglyphic - Tol'vir

On my server these sell from 100 - 1000 gold depending on race. These are a random find while digging so if your looking to make some extra gold keep hold of them and sell them at the AH.

Those are the only two direct ways of making gold from the profession. You will make the easiest gold while working on your archaeology if you take advantage of all the flying around it will take to max your skill.

Vendor Recipes

On my main bank alt, I have two guild banks full of vendor recipes and make between 200g to 500g a day in these recipes. So it is not a massive amount of money, but the profit is amazing. Many of the vendor recipes are under a gold so if you can buy 10 recipes for 10g and sell for 200 gold it is a great profit .

With dig sites so far apart it requires a lot of flying and this offers you a great chance to stop off at all the vendors and pick up the limited spawn recipes and other flippable recipes from the vendor.

Summary

Unless your an alchemist you will never make thousands of gold from the profession. If you can get into the mindset of visiting ever vendor on the way to dig sites and keeping an eye out for the rare mobs as your going over an area, then you can turn a slow profession to a great source of easy passive income.

Zoxy of the Trading With Zoxy Blog

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Thanks for the post on archaeology, Zoxy!  I haven't even trained it on any of my ten characters yet.  Zoxy and I have been having some great discussions via twitter regarding the barking and selling of fortune cards.  Come follow us both on twitter and join in the discussion.

@SSmith0911  :Cold

@EUZoxy    :Zoxy

Garrosh Hellscream: Guest Post by Warcraft Journal Magazine

This article was brought to you by The Warcraft Journal Magazine

Garrosh Hellscream

The New Warchief 
Aliases: Warchief, Overlord of the Warsong Offensive, Son of Hellscream
Race: Orc
Position: Warchief
Location: Grommash Hold, Orgrimmar (Cataclysm)
Status: ALIVE
The name of Garrosh Hellscream is becoming more and more known to players these days. Information about Cataclysm has been released left and right, with the name of Garrosh coming up more than once. Additionally, Garrosh has existed within the game since at least the Burning Crusade.
Garrosh has quite a name to live up to with his father, Grom Hellscream, being such an important figure among the Horde already. Grom went through a great turmoil at his end, but ultimately redeemed himself. Garrosh has already begun to make a name for himself, but whether it be for the good or otherwise is still to be seen..


Much of Garrosh Hellscream's history is unknown. In the midst of Ner'zhul opening the Dark Portal many years ago, he and his people were sick with a disease known as the red pox. The Mag'har, brown orcs which escaped the Burning Legion's corruption, were wrought with sickness that left them weak and dying. They were belittled and looked down upon even by Kargath Bladefist, a warrior with theShadow Council at the time. He was at Garadar, the home of the sick Mag'har, seeking warriors. Garrosh urged the orc to allow him to fight alongside him and his father, but Kargath refused.

Later on, Garrosh would become an important figure amongst the Mag'har, but his demeanor was one of depression and fear. The orc carried a large weight on his shoulders and it had been bearing down on him for years. Greatmother Geyah, the matriarch of the Mag'har, had grown ill. That alone gave worry to the young Garrosh. Fearing that he would fail his people should he become leader made it that much worse.

Garrosh Hellscream knew of his father's unforgiveable actions, yet had not been made aware that Grom was the savior of the Horde and that he had redeemed himself. This led the son to believe he was fated to follow in his father's footsteps and doom himself and his race.

It isn't until later that he realizes, with the help of the great warchief, Thrall, what Grom had sacrificed in order to free the orcs from the Burning Legion. His redemption meant his death, which he gladly gave up for his people.
Now filled with honor and pride, Garrosh would be ready to lead his people if it came to that. However, Thrall had other plans for the young Mag'har. The warchief brought the son of Grom to Azeroth to be his personal advisor.
Garrosh proved to be quite the advocate for destroying the Alliance at every turn. Thrall and his other advisors, however, were always against such hasty actions. The son would always have a hatred for the other faction and see them as enemies. Thrall believed he could change the orc's mind by bringing him to a meeting with the Alliance king, Varian Wrynn. While the discussions went as well as could be expected with Garrosh in the room, the events immediately following it made the peace between the two factions extremely tense.

After the meeting was concluded, the Twilight's Hammer attacked Theramore, the site of the discussions. Varian Wrynn spotted the half-orc Garona, who had assassinated his father, Llane Wrynn, years ago. The king took this as an attempt on his life while Garrosh was sure that the Alliance themselves had planned this. Both Varian and the orc suspected each other of betrayal, but the group eventually separated peacefully. The son of Grom was frustrated at the outcome of the meeting especially since he felt their honor was wounded by Wrynn.

Garrosh Hellscream continued to be the advisor to the warchief with the hatred of the Alliance burning deep within himself. His rage exploded when a disagreement occured between himself and Thrall. The warchief felt that they needed to speak with Jaina and other members of the Alliance to discuss what they should do about the Scourge forces. Furious, the hotheaded orc challenged Thrall to a duel. Honor forbade the warchief to ignore his request, so the two fought in the Ring of Valor. Garrosh proved to be the more powerful in battle, but before their duel could be finished, Orgrimmar fell under siege. Endless minions of the Scourge, including frostwyrms and abominations, invaded the Horde city.

The warchief and the son of Grom lead the Horde army, including Saurfang and Sylvanas, to victory against the Scourge attack. Garrosh urges Thrall to allow him to lead their forces into Northrend to deal with the Lich King and his undead army. The head orc agrees and Garrosh Hellscream makes his way to the arctic north.
In Northrend, Garrosh is the leader of the Warsong Offensive, stationed in the Borean Tundra and other areas of Northrend. His hotheadedness remains as does his complete abhorrence of the Alliance which is evident in his actions. His primary advisor, High Overlord Varok Saurfang, warns against the young leader's brutal ways in fear that the mistakes of the past will rise up once again. The great warrior promises to end his reign should he continue to advance against the Alliance. Garrosh, obviously intimidated by the older orc, does not challenge his threat.

Garrosh continues to be at odds with the Alliance and their leaders and only slightly sates his lust for their blood with the Argent Tournament. His later activities include being present within the Icecrown Citadel to combat both the Lich King and the opposing faction.

The Warchief

In Cataclysm, Garrosh Hellscream has been appointed to Warchief by Thrall himself. Why the diplomatic shaman would choose such a bloodthirsty and vengeful warmonger is still unknown and it raises questions from all members of Azeroth. Citizens of the Horde can expect many battles with the Alliance with Garrosh as warchief. Even in his infant days as the leader of the Horde, the son of Grom has several situations which he must deal with. The destruction of the world is but one of these issues.
The rise of Garrosh is openly opposed by several of the Horde allies including both the Forsaken and the trolls. Vol'jin shows his hatred in a heated exchange between the warchief and the troll leader. Sylvanas Windrunner conveys her dislike of the orc not only because he put a strict watch on the woman and her people.


The future of the Horde is in Garrosh's hands. Some believe with his bloodthirsty actions he may follow in the path of his father and doom himself and the Horde. Others rally at his feet and believe he is what they have needed for a long time. Only time will tell which one may be right..

Alex
The Warcraft Journal Magazine
Check out Wacraft Journal's Free Trial

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Great article submitted by Alex.  This was a special post for my dedicated readers on this Thanksgiving holiday.  I truly appreciate each and every one of you and highly value your input, questions, and comments.  Thanks for helping to make this blog a success.  May be all grow together in the upcoming Cataclysm.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cold

Cataclysm: The Shattering: Guest Post by Sykez of JustAnotherGoblin.com

The Shattering 4.0.3a - Live this week
With the Shattering hitting live servers today for US and on Wednesday for the EU you’re going to need a plan. Not an escape plan or a how to not die in molten lava plan, a gold making plan. Strategy and preparation going into new occurrences in World of Warcraft will always put you at an edge over your competitors and today I’m going to talk to you about what I feel will be the best strategies for when the Shattering goes live.

Cue the Return of the Quitters
People have been returning at a steady rate after they ‘quit’ when Wrath of the Lich King entered its slump in entertainment, however with this patch comes most of the major changes that Cataclysm will make. I’m going to present a list of the important ones to you and show you what I feel will be the best way to make gold from them.

Re-rollers, Returners and Alts - I want to cast your mind back to 4.01 within the chaos of people wanting new gems, glyphs and enchants for the characters they may not have played since pre 4.01. Also in my opinion any BoE’s that you have, I recommend that you sell as people will be returning to their alts so they’re ready for Cataclysm as well as re-rollers on things such as Tauren Paladins and Priests, which I’m sure some people will be excited about and level them straight away.  Levelers need BoE’s and Heirloom enchants :)

All your Portals, they belong to the Mages again!
Portals Removed in Dalaran and Shattrath - This doesn’t seem like that big of a deal but it is. There are actually quite a few ways that you can make gold from this, either by sitting on a Mage in Dalaran and using a macro saying “Portals *name your price* - Unless you’d rather go to Borean Tundra”. There’s also the rather noticeable fact that without a portal hub and very little raiding occurring, there will be a lot less people in Northrend. Exploit this by farming something that you feel will sell well in Cataclysm (Saronite /Titanium for example) or even go enjoy the peace and quiet whilst you pick up Argent Tournament pets. Remember that with less people in Northrend the prices of the pets are bound to inflate, add arbitrage to that and these pets are a good time investment.

Profession Panic
With the expansion being so close expect to see two things, people panic selling and people panic buying. People who want the first few skill ups on their professions will be buying out items that will grab them those first few levels before the materials required becomes a lot more expensive. Be sure to capitalize upon this or be ready to when Cataclysm drops, make sure not to sell all your stock as the prices may rise exponentially in Cataclysm to meet the demand.

However, on the other side of the coin, be ready to buy as well as sell. People are bound to panic and be unprepared and sell the stock that they have acquired at potentially low prices. If this happens in a market you feel will be good for Cataclysm, do not list your items. Just take advantage of people’s idiocy and improve your stock.

The Final Countdown
The Monday before Cataclysm maintenance will be a good time to list certain items that will potentially sell the second that servers come up. This way you’re getting the edge over your less clever competitors as whilst your inventory is listed the second the expansion hits, they may be still preparing there’s for the first few hours after it goes live. A few examples of these are -

1. Saronite Bars - Alchemists will be wanting to grab quick cheap levels from Transmuting these. As well as Blacksmiths and Engineers.
2. Saronite Ore - Same goes, except slightly more diverse as people will look to buy this and smelt it before using it, expect this to move at a similar volume to bars.
3. Frostweave cloth - This one is odd, I was thinking about it and it should inflate due to Tailors wanting levels from it, maybe even First Aid of people wanting to get 450 or the first few levels into Cataclysm.
4. Borean Leather - Same as the points above, Leatherworkers will want to get some quick levels from this and it’s heavy counterpart.

These are just a few examples, be creative and think about what might sell in volume on patch day and release day and use it to your advantage.

This post was brought to you by Sykez from JustAnotherGoblin.com and I’d like to thank Cold for allowing me to post here at Cold's Gold Factory.

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Sykez has been on hiatus to Starcraft 2 lately, but has returned this week and is back into blogging about World of Warcraft and gold making strategies.  Head on over to his site and check it out.  Welcome back , Sykez!    - Cold

Image taken from http://phoniamaguk.files.wordpress.com

Ins And Outs Of Guest Posts

Guest Posting
Here at Cold's Gold Factory I like to feature other writers as guest posters in order to help them create traffic to their site as well as pick their brains for new ideas.  I have had several guest posts here and have also posted as a guest on various other blogs.  This post will serve to get you up to date on the guests that Cold's Gold Factory has featured as well as informing you of the guest posts I have provided on other sites, in case you missed them or can't get enough of Cold's Nuggets of Knowledge.  If you would like to be featured as a guest poster, just contact Cold's Gold Factory for more information or to submit a topic idea.

Guests of Cold's Gold Factory

1. Markco of Just My Two Copper :  Twinking in Cataclysm
2. Mageshadow of  The Gnomish Coin : Selling Flowers
3. Inkobah of TwinkInfo : Making Gold Off Cataclysm (most popular response to a guest post)
4. Wes of CappedByCata : Mining Profits In Cataclysm

Thanks to all the previous guest posters.  I look forward to more guest postings in the future once Cataclysm drops.  I also welcome newcomers to the gold blogging scene to submit guest posts as well.

Cold's Guest Posts Elsewhere

1. Twink Gears To Profit On @ Just My Two Copper
2. The Spectral Vendor @ The Gnomish Coin
3. End of Expansion Blues and Preparations for Cataclysm @ Capped By Cata
4. Professions In Cataclysm @ Just Another Goblin

Thanks for the hosts that allowed me to guest post or swap posts.  Anyone else interested in a guest post just shoot me an invite or a swap idea.  Thanks to everyone for their help and support as Cold's Gold Factory continues to grow.  Please feel free to share my site within your social networks to help continue the growth.

Making Gold Off Cataclysm: Guest Post by Inkobah

Cataclysm Is Nearing

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

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Making Gold Off Cataclysm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories to Target

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

-Ink

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

Guest Post: Mageshadow of The Gnomish Coin

A Guest Post by Mageshadow of The Gnomish Coin




Aerith Primrose - Lets Sell Flowers!

What? Selling Flowers?

Yup, today we're going to be selling several different pair of flowers and bouquets from a vendor in Dalaran. Aerith Primrose can be found right before the entrance to the Violet Hold, there is a wagon to the left. The prices for the flowers range from 2 silver up to 50g. I recommend starting out with the 2 silver flowers if you're a low level, and slowly moving up the ladder as you obtain more gold.

Why Do They Sell?

These items sell because people like to dress up their bank toons. I can flip these things for an easy 20-25g, and they sell rather quick. Many people don't notice this NPC, because quite frankly she's hidden, I didn't even notice her until a couple weeks back. The competition is little to none on these items, and since they can be obtained for as cheap as 2 silver, the risk is very little.

Guest Post: CappedByCata

A Guest Post from CappedByCata.com


First of all, I would just like to say a very special thanks to Cold. He has been very helpful in allowing me to branch out with my blog and obtain new readership, so I do very much appreciate it.

I wanted to return the favor with a guest post here at Cold’s Gold Factory.

Mining will never be as profitable as it will be at the beginning of Cataclysm.

Yep, that’s right. The start of Cataclysm will lend itself to some insane demand in the terms of Ore needed for crafters in Cataclysm. Expect prices to be in the hundreds of gold for a stack of the new Ore.

So what does this mean? Besides the fact that you need to be mining, there are a couple of ways you can take advantage of this niche. Once prices sky-rocket, a lot of people who dropped mining for raiding professions will quickly pick it back up and join in on the gold rush. Not wanting to go from Node to Node all the way until 525, they will look for any shortcut possible. This shortcut is where you come in.

The only other way to level up mining besides hitting a node, is to smelt. What this means is people will be willing to pay a premium for ores such as Mithril, Gold, Adamantite, etc in an effort to cut out a few of those nodes that will be in heavy competition. If you can already have a stock pile ready to go, you will be able to net yourself a very healthy profit.

Time really is Money

Gathering professions will once again be at their peak come Cataclysm. Having a Miner ready to go at the beginning of the expansion will make you an insane amount of gold if you’re willing to put in the time. Me personally, I’m taking 3-4 days off work simply to Mine. Sure this may sound a little extreme, but I know the Ore will never again go for as much as it does during those few days. People will be racing to get those realm first achievements, and it needs to be your goal to take the most advantage of those people as possible. If you spend those first couple of days leveling up, exploring new content, trying out new dungeons, etc, then you’re selling yourself shorts of the profits that will be available in those few short lived days.

So take advantage, friends and line your pockets, guild banks and bed sheets with shiny shiny gold.

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Thanks Wes for the guest post.  I agree with you and I already have been stocking up on ores.  I myself am focusing on the uncommon (green) ores that give a skill-up each smelt:  Silver, Gold, & Truesilver.  In my opinion these will be the most realiable for power leveling miners.  If you plan on mining, I highly recommend getting to max skill prior to the gold rush of Cataclysm.  I also expect to see a rise in the sale of Mammoth Mining Bags as well.  Thanks again.
 
Anyone else interested in guest posting, or swapping guest posts, either shoot me an email here or a private message over at The Consortium.

Twink Items : Guest Post By Markco of JMTC

Guest Post by Markco of Just My Two Copper

Hey Cold, thank you for the opportunity to post on your blog. Here is my answer to your question:

"What boe's can I flip once twinking becomes crazy in cataclysm?"


Well first off, let me explain WHY twinking will be so popular in cataclysm. For one, you will have far more abilities at level 19 than ever before with the revamp to all classes. As early as level 10 each player will get the core abilities that define their class towards the beginning of their play experience with a character. Mortal strike, earth shield, mind flay, etc will all be seen in level 19 battles now instead of the three or so buttons we get today. Twinking fights will be more complicated and far more interesting. Secondly, players will be leveling up new characters and twinks will want to run around killing these goblins or worgens (avoiding the hassle of only fighting other xp restricted players in bgs). What's more, bgs may have a new system where twink guilds can face off against other twink guilds in death match style battles.


When you ask the question "What boe's can I flip once twinking becomes crazy in cataclysm?", my answer will probably shock you. I'm going to say NONE. I'm personally not going to stockpile any chest pieces, weapons or shoulders as most twinks will simply use boa gear instead of purchasing X9 blues. What I will stockpile are the item enhancements, engineering leveling mats and potions most lowbie twinks will want to get their hands on. Speed pots and free action potions are the most popular alchemy items to sell to twinks, followed closely by mana and healing pots. For engineering I'll want to have bolts, bars, cloth, mechanical items, etc all ready for the new levelers since engineering is the most popular twinking profession. Some blue rings are extremely valuable to twinks and I'll try to stockpile those along with item enhancements including armor kits, enchanting scrolls, shield spikes and iron counterweights. I'll be sure to have cloth ready to be sold for those looking to create bandages and for the really serious twinks I'll prepare copious amounts of anti venom.


There will supposedly be new best in slot craftable gear (betting the farm on this) for levelers which will be far more expensive than any of the current bis X9 twinking gear. You'll want to utilize your own professions to craft blue gear with +random stats until you find the right combination to make the most profit from twinks.


That's my thoughts on twinking in cataclysm, thanks for letting me post.


Markco of Just My Two Copper



Thank you to Markco for his take on what to sell to the twinks.  I will also be working up some posts on profiting and stockpiling to tap into the re-emerging twink market.  I used to have a lvl 29 Tauren Warrior twink that was just a Beast in his 20-29 battleground bracket.  Having thousands of hit points at level 29  killing players with a few hundred hitpoints in 1 or 2 hits was just plain disgusting.  I made an Arms Warrior to combat against all the dang hunters and rogues, and he was of course an engineer as well.  I HIGHLY recommend Twinking to anyone looking to have a ton of fun in PvP at lower brackets.  Get a group of friends to twink as well and it gets even funner when you all queue together.  Give it a try.  -Cold