Reader Response To Yesterday's Post

Blogger Warning Revisited

Reader Response To Yesterday's Post

See Reader Warning: You Can't Trust All Gold Tips You Read for reference.

I read your article about some bloggers using their wiles to control the market. One post from justmytwocopper.org sprang to mind.  

The post is called enchant gloves gatherer and pattern herbalist leather gloves. Read it Here. After reading the post and being horde, I thought wow! If I could snag that pattern and use my leatherworker to craft it, I would be one of the only horde on my server with the pattern. I don't play Alliance at all, so a cross faction trade is not feasible for me. I posted in trade for a couple weeks with no results, many had never even heard of the pattern, so I regularly checked both my faction and neutral ah for the pattern. Finally! I snagged the pattern and immediately made several pair of these gloves to make back the paltry 400g I paid for them.

My next step was to have a friend make me some gatherer enchants. I had my macro for trade ready advertising a plus 10 herbalism glove, along with plus five mining and skinning. To my dismay I was so caught up in the brilliant scheme I had read about, I didn't realize that it was impossible to put gatherer on the herbalist gloves; the ilvl of the gloves was too low. So gatherer plus herbalist gloves equals impossible. But I did find the rare and elusive enchant gloves advanced herbalism which does work on the herbalist gloves. But even after selling in trade with the enchant, even after enticing taurens with a massive plus 25 herb bonus with my gloves and their racial, I wasn't able to get over 150 gold for the set.

The post also mentions that the glove enchant gatherer is sellable for around 150 gold if there isn't any competition. On my server Eonar, gatherer sells for between 15 and 60 gold on average. So with that post the site went from being a trusted source in my opinion, to something I read and quickly research the posters info and reference it with other sites before I act on it. Of course I probably should have done that anyway : p

Thanks for the interesting post,

R.C.

Thanks R.C. for the response.  As I stated in yesterday's post, "Play smart and research your markets independant of what you read on gold blogs."  With tools like The Undermine Journal, we can double check references as well as compare various ideas within the most important factor: Our Own Server.  Some strategies will work on one server and will fail horribly on another. 

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

Auction House Junkies is recording today, so keep a look out for a new episode soon.  We've got R9sid9nt9vil from RepGrindRadio and Eviscerated.net back for another take.  Be sure to check out R9s and Twizz's new podcast, RepGrindRadio.  Twizz also authors the site http://www.twizzletank.blog.com/. 

 
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.

WARNING: You Can't Trust All WoW Bloggers Gold Tips

Do You Trust Your Sources?

Not All Sources Are Honest

As a blogger in the World of Warcraft gold making scene, most of us have the objective of helping out our readers.  With the increase in traffic and growth to a site's reader base comes an increase in responsibility.  We as WoW gold bloggers are responsibile for providing honest, accurate, and timely information to our readers.  Most of us gold bloggers use our powers for good, while there are some out there that will use their powers for evil. 

Some sites actively engage in the art of in-game market manipulation through out of game gold blogging articles.  Bogus articles designed for nothing more than to influence market trends on their own server to make their own pockets richer.  The bigger you become as a site, the more reach and influence you have as a blogger.  Just because a site is bigger or more popular, doesn't make it accurate or honest for that matter.  Let's take a look at a completely bogus article written based on lies.  Why would someone lie to their reader base?  To increase their own profits at the expense of the readers who blindly follow their suggestions and fall prey to the trapped laid by the author. 

Blogger Market Manipulation In Action

The Tease

The Tease On Twitter From @Mageshadow

July 25th, 11:00 AM, @Mageshadow of Just My Two Copper send's the above tweet to tease the JMTC readers about the "awesome post showing a way to obtain cheap and easy Greater Planar Essences."

Current Greater Planar Essences price on Mageshadow's server at the time of writing: 23g

July 29th, 8:00 AM, Mageshadow's less than accurate post on Disenchanting auction house items for Greater Planar Essences appears live at Just My Two Copper.  Review the garbage post at JMTC by Mageshadow here. 

Current Greater Planar Essences price on Mageshadow's server at the time of posting: 9.25g

Within the article at JMTC, Mageshadow states,

"With Greater Planar Essence at 29g/per on my server, I can afford to pay up to 30-35g per item as each item has a chance to give me 2-3 essences."

What?  29g per?  Lies...

When he wrote the post GPE was at 23 gold, not 29 gold, and by the time the post went live the price was already down to 9.25 gold.  Within hours of the post going live, the price drops down to 6.89 gold each.  This is a major difference from the 29 gold per Essence numbers that Mageshadow was fictitiously promoting. 

The strategy that Mageshadow reported doesn't even work on his own server, like he reported.  He's not seeing 29g Essences on his server.  As the day continues and the market becomes even more flooded with Greater Planar Essences hanging out below 7g each almost all day, someone comes along along at 9:00 pm and buys out the aution house and resets the Greater Planar Essences to 29.98 gold each.  Hrm...Wonder who that was?

The Undermine Journal also shows that the average price on all servers hovers around 14.5 gold, so the "Awesome post to obtain cheap and easy GPEs" isn't really very awesome.  Hell, it isn't even accurate or a viable strategy on many servers according to TUJ data.

So a misrepresented auction house item price was posted to the blog with the most traffic and the blind followers gave it a try before checking the prices on their server's auction house.  The fools created a lot of GPEs, flooded the server's market, and then someone snatched up all of the cheap GPEs and relisted them for close to 30 gold each.  Market manipulation at it's best.  Well played sir, well played. 

Learning From This

The moral of the story is to always check if a gold blogger's strategy is going to be viable on your server before jumping all in with your gold investment.  Sometimes a certain strategy may not be viable on your World of Warcraft server and other times it may just be a purposefully misleading post designed to lure you into unloading your goods at a less than ideal price.  Play smart and research your markets independant of what you read on gold blogs.

Are you being used?

Anyone else seen any other examples of this type of market manipulation by bloggers?

Resetting the Market After a Flooding

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.

ATTENTION: JMTC Coaches | Markco's Coaching Program Exposed

Markco of JMTC and Every Copper Counts

Apologies

First off, I would like to apologize to any of my loyal readers that I led astray by recommending the JMTC WoW Coaching Program as a viable source to make money.  While it still could be a viable revenue stream, the amount of time invested for each coaching session simply does not come anywhere close to the hourly rates that most people are charging.  I don't want to waste 2 hours researching and 1 or more hours teaching a student for a measly $10.  My rates for a coaching session would have to have been raised to $40 per session for it even to be worth my while to spend the amount of time I would want to dedicate to fully coach someone.  And it is hard enough to get daily posts, podcasts, guest casts and guest posts all worked into a real life full time employment schedule already.  For these reasons alone I submitted to remove myself from the WoW Coaching Program over at JMTC.

The Removal As A JMTC Coach

Per the instructions on the coaching site at Just My Two Copper, I contacted Markco and requested my removal from the JMTC WoW Coaching Program via email.  The 60 Day Guarantee is clearly shown as well as the stated that "[He] will refund the purchase in full."  If you listen to the audio commentary he also states "I will reimburse you for all the money you spent." 

So I contacted Markco on April 4th and explained that I would like to be removed from the JMTC WoW Coaching Program.  So Markco responds back with "Cancellation Request Sent", which is the only thing he ever sent me about cancelling.  So I assumed that he actually sent the request in. 

The Continued Charges

You can imagine my suprise when on the 4th of this month I was charged again for Markco's JMTC WoW Coaching Program again.  I immediately sent him an email asking him to remedy the situation, unsub me like he said he already did and refund my monies.  Of course all I got back was complete bullshit.

This liar never sent me anything other than what you saw above, "Cancelation request sent."  Further more, he contradicts himself within the email reply saying that I have to request the cancellation myself and he can't do it for me.  Then in the same email he says that he sent the request last month and can try to send it again to get it turned off.  What?  Which is it Captain Outsource?  Either you can do it or you can't.  Why are you telling me you sent the request, now I need to do it myself (which never was mentioned before), or you can do it for me again?  Huh?!?!  Just refund my money you crook.

What a damn liar!  The clickbank reps I spoked to on their Live Chat Support both confirmed HE NEVER EVEN SENT MY CANCEL REQUEST AT ALL!  The support rep also confirmed the other things he was lieing about.  A vendor, such as Markco, IS able to request a refund, yet he keeps telling me he can't and I had to do it on my own.  But he also says he already submitted the request.  Huh?  Talking out both sides of your mouth?

Markco also tells me that I am the only one that had any issues being unsubscribed and with continued charges.  More lies!  After I blew the whistle on this crook via Twitter, I had 4 more ex-coaches tell me they either were currently cancelled and still being billed or had went thru the same issues before they finally got all of his charges to stop.  If you say contact me for a cancellation and refund, then you should follow through and not put your buyers through all of these hoops just to get a refund that you promised.  And allowing the charges to continue after you know people have requested cancellations is just plain wrong.  That's stealing, with the intent of hoping they don't notice the $10 rebilled monthly.  What's worse is this crook had taken my coaching ad down long before the time I had legitemately paid for, which I got refunded back by the helpful chat support agents at Clickbank.com.  (Shout out to Jutta and Mirabel!)

From The Mouth Of Deceit

So let's look at the list of lies from Markco:

• LIE #1  Marko says "Cancellation request sent." - CSR confirmed he never sent anything.
• LIE #2  Marko says he informed me how to cancel it myself in original email - Wrong!  All you sent was a reply that you took care of it, but really never did anything at all.
• LIE #3  Markco tells me I'm the only one with an issue - Well twitter and email confirmed at least 4 other cases.  He release this SMOKESCREEN post on JMTC about urgent issued with the WoW Coaching Program.  When backed into a corner and called out for a scandal, this post is just to cover his ass after he's already been caught.  Just more lies from Markco the Snake.
• Lie #4  Tells me he can't issue a cancellation or a refund - He already contradicted himself in email replies and the clickbank CSR confirmed vendors can send in both request.  He just never did either.

Even after the release of his smokescreen post that is out to cover his ass after I blew the whistle on his scandal, he still hasn't update the actually coaching site with the quick and easy ways to unsubscribe and request refunds for yourself.  Why?  He proably hopes that you too will be recharged each month and then not notice until you are out of the 60 day guaranteed refund time period.  You can't get a refund after 60 days have passed for any rebilling payments per the clickbank rep. 

Luckily I spilled the beans on this scandal on twitter and have started the process for other ex-coaches to double check their statements and get the refunds that are properly owed to them.  Some people complain that I can be a bit harsh, but I am looking out for the greater good of my readers as a whole.  I even get referral credits monthly for some of these people getting billed and I don't mind losing that income completely as apparently it isn't even a legit charge and others are being ripped off just like Markco was trying to rip me off.

Is this really the kind of snake that you want getting your money?

HOW TO: Get Your Refund From Clickbank

Since Markco doesn't want to make it easy for you.  Here is a step by step guide to unsubscribing, stopping payments, and requesting refunds.

1. If you paid with paypal make sure to go and stop the subscription thru them.
2. If you used a credit card, contact them to block payment.
3. Cancel the subscription with clickbank.  Here's the Cancel Link.  Ask for live chat support if needed.
4. Open a dispute via paypal if you used paypal to purchase.
5. Then file for a refund with clickbank stating you were charged after you notified him to cancel service.
6. Send a formal complaint to: abuse@clickbank.com. Detailing how he charged you for the months after you requested cancellation.  If you don't report him, he will continue taking advatage of people.
7. File for a full refund if you originally cancelled within his 60 day moneyback guarantee.  All you need for a full refund is an email to forward showing your request for cancellation and refund that is dated 60 days or less from your sign up date.
8. If you have continued problems or you also believe this was more than just a mistake.  Then contact the Better Business Bureau of Eastern PA (Markco is from Philly) and report the issue regarding Chris Antoni / JMTC / 20k Leveling and his illegal activity of continuing to charge unsubscribed subscribers.  Here is the direct link to start a claim with the Eastern PA BBB.

This post is written truly for the best interests of my excellent readers as well as any other World of Warcraft players that may also have been duped by Markco the Snake and his lies.  Join his JMTC WoW Coaching Program at your own risk.  At least now you can reference this post, if you go to unsub from the coaching program.

Hope this helps anyone out there who looked over the questionable rebilling charges.  I already have helped some ex-coaches via twitter and email.  I hope to get the word out to all of those effected. 

So please spread the word.


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


UPDATE:   After getting caught he has released an altered transcript of my email dealings back and forth with him.  Let it be know that these emails occured over the course of 1 day YESTERDAY and he has removed all of the dates from them to help hide the fact that the original email on 4/4 regarding cancellation said nothing of this new way that we are supposed to cancel. 

His site said contact him and that's what I did.  He lied and said he cancelled.  He never did.  Now he is trying to say he told me how to do it the whole time.  These are just plain outright lies.  He told me how to cancel yesterday and that's the first time.  He left the dates out for a reason.  It's just more smoke and mirrors for his lemmings to save his image.  Tell one lie and it leads to another - even a kindergartner knows that.

JMTC Weekly Meeting Appearance

JMTC Weekly Meeting



Mageshadow and the gang host a weekly meeting every Friday night on Teamspeak 3. I have been unable to make previous meetings partly from real life and partly from stupidity. I finally realized why I couldn't get the install to work properly. I was trying to install the Win64 download for a Win32 system. Oops!
 Anyways, I was in attendance at this week's meeting. I highly recommend listening to the recordings as there are some great tips, ideas, and discussions mentioned each week. It isn't a podcast, but is more of a round table discussion where questions are asked or topics are given and then they are freely discussed by various knowledgable gold makers.



Here's the link if you want to check out the latest meeting (episode #16).

We discussed all sorts of topics including glyphs, books of glyph mastery, fortune cards, ore and herb prices, professions, and tons of other great gold making ideas and strategies!

JMTC Coaching Program Breakdown

Cold is a JMTC WoW Coach

The JMTC Coaching Program

Following the success of his #1 Gold Making Guide, Markco of Just My Two Copper and 20k Leveling has a new project.  This project is ground breaking and revolutionary.  Straight from the mastermind of Markco comes the Just My Two Copper WoW Coaching Program.

This is a coaching program where players can search for a coach that specializes in any World of Warcraft related topic.  This isn't just for learning about gold making, but options for finding help with PvP, Talent Builds, Raiding, Twinking, PvE, or anything else that happens in game.  Most coaches are willing to put in some one-on-one time with you for your coaching session, others can teach through emails, and some can be holding group coaching sessions.  The program was just released on Friday February 4, 2011.  The sky is the limit.

Costs for an interested player can vary greatly depending on the coach's price sheet.  Coaching can range from as little as $5 to $25 per hour.  There is only so much that you can get from a blog when compared to an actual real life coaching session for an hour or longer that includes question and answer sessions and specific tailored counseling.  This is a great idea and I am happy to be one of the initial coaches enrolled.

If you are interested in personal one-on-one coaching from me, then head over to the 20k Leveling Find a WoW Coach page.  Look for me, Cold.  The picture there matches my header at Cold's Gold Factory.

Making Money As A Coach

There are 2 ways for WoW players to make real life cash by doing what they love.  You can profit from being a coach.  All coaching money is yours to keep.  The second option is by referring coaches to join the program.

The coaching program costs $10 per month for coaches.  This helps cover hosting costs, tutorials from Markco, coaching members area, etc.  The biggest benefit of joining this coaching network is you get listed in the coaching directory over at JMTC.  This will be one of the easiest places for eager players looking to find a coach to get matched up with a coach of their choosing.  So you definitely want to be listed in the directory of coaches.

The second way to make money is by referring other coaches to the program.  For each coach you refer, you get half of their $10 a month coaching membership fee.  It's $5 per referred coach that signs up under you.  So refer two coaches and you are making back your $10 per month.  And there is a 60 day money back guarantee, so you are free to experiment with the coaching program.

Join My Coaching Crew

If you are an expert in any area of World of Warcraft you should sign up to become a coach for the Just My Two Copper Coaching Program.  Help teach someone else what you know and help pay for that WoW account and internet provider fees!

You should also follow my link, so that you become part of my coaching crew.  Why, you ask?  Well, I don't know everything.  If I get an inquiry for something that I would be uncomfortable with as a coaching topic, then I will first and foremost refer my potential clients to coaches that have signed up using my affiliate link.  I also have a vested interest in your continued success so I will be available for helping assist my fellow coaches who join my coaching crew.

Like I said earlier, this program is brand new and just released so demand is very high at this time.  There are a lot of players looking to be tutored right now, so don't wait.  Getting in on the ground level has some major advantages.  Some coaches are already getting players looking for help!

To sign up as a coach follow the link to 20k Leveling, then scroll all the way to the bottom.  The "Coaching" Link is at the very bottom, right side of the page.  So come on in to the Just My Two Copper Coaching Program and help other players out while being compensated for your time.

SIGN UP NOW TO BE A COACH 

Making Gold With Limited Playtime

Wow Gold Making Carnival

This month's topic for the Wow Gold Blogging Carnival over at Just My Two Copper has Mageshadow asking the question, "How would you make gold with limited playtime?"

Limited Playtime

Many players are not able to sit in front of their computer all day and camp the auction house, constantly scan for steals and deals, or craft using their professions.  Some markets are very dependent on having a large amount of playtime to dedicate.  There are auction house markets that require constant babysitting and listing and re-listing.  If you have a limited amount of playtime, then you must strike up a balance between what time you use to actually play the game and what time you use to craft, flip, and make gold.  This balance can be hard to obtain, but is much easier when focusing on certain markets.

The Don't Even Think About It Markets

Some markets are heavily dependent on constant listing and re-listing just to make any sort of profit.  If you have a limited amount of playtime you should probably steer clear of these markets.  If you can't constantly babysit your goods and re-list them when they are undercut, then you will probably be undercut into oblivion and not sell many items on the auction house at all.  Avoid these markets.  Many are heavily dependent on having time to prospect, mill, craft, and or bark.

• Glyphs
• Cut Gems
• Shuffling of Ores Into Gems
• Mysterious Fortune Cards

Post It And Forget It Markets

Other markets are much less attention required and can usually be done in a much quicker time.  Many of these markets can have their items crafted while afk, which is great.  You can start a batch of crafting as you are quitting for the night and let your character afk out while crafting.  When you log in the next day, you will have bags full of crafted items ready to post onto the auction house.

• Blacksmith Enchanting Rods
• Netherweave Bags
• Crafting and Flipping Epics
• Vanity Pets
• Flipping Vendor Bought Recipes
• Smelting For A Profit
• Selling Transmute and Once Per Day Cooldowns

Don't Forget!

The 2nd Round of Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals will coming soon.  Get your entries in, if you would like to participate.  If you are a reader, return back the 11th of every month for the Gold Blogging Carnivals hosted here.

New Gold Blogs & Markco's Defense

Welcome New Gold Bloggers

I'm going to point out a few new bloggers to welcome to the WoW Gold Blog Community. Take a look at these sites and add some feedback, subscribe to their RSS feed, and see what you think. Both are in my blogroll as they are great finds.

Sorry for the late post, but all week I have been covering shifts for an employee who's mother died. So 6:45am to 6pm every day this week and here I sit working on Saturday as well. Overtime is good, but death is bad. Feel sort of guilt profiting off of someone's demise. Regardless, I put in around 65 hours at work, plus blogging and research time. Not much WoW game time this week.

Kammler's Korner - An excellent site with heavily detailed strategies. Got an email from him thanking me for inspiring him to start his own site. Kammler has been a great commentor within Cold's Gold Factory and continues to comment regularly.

The Vayaz - Gold Reaping - Great new site. Not posting daily, but worth the read.

In Defense Of Markco
The JMTC Blogging Carnival has come under attack by the fool that writes at GTFOOTF. Read this fool's rants and incorrect assumptions about Markco and all of us suckers that participate in the monthly blogging carnivals. Leave a comment with your opinion on the matter and show this fool how ignorant he looks. Markco's blogging carnival has helped many of us newer gold bloggers by providing us a steady boost of traffic. Thanks Markco for all you do to help solidify us as a community. I know myself and other bloggers appreciate it.
Here are some true facts related to the carnivals:

Content isn't stolen. All content is hosted on the author's site.

This brings traffic to us from JMTC, not to Markco's site.

Blogging carnival day (2nd of each month) readership nearly doubles and continues to be much higher for around a week after.

Looking at tracking analytics shows that many people find this site initially by the carnival posts.

Carnival readers subscribe and become regular readers.

The carnivals continue to bring new readership even months after they have been posted on JMTC.

Content is the lifeblood of any blog, but traffic is the vessel that delivers this blood to new locations.

So from Cold to Markco: Keep Up The Good Work!

JMTC Markco's Challenge For Gold Blogs

Markco's Challenge
Markco of Just My Two Copper has issued a challenge to all of us gold bloggers.  Today I answer the call.  Here are the questions that he has challenged us to answer:

1. What was your first post ever? Why did you write it? (don't use an intro post)
2. What was your favorite post and why?
3. What was your least favorite post and why?
4. Find a reader comment you like and respond to it regarding one of your posts. Call them out and thank them for the comment.
5. Ask your readers to pick a post they found useful on your site.

1)  First Post
The Wintergrasp Shuffle - Outdated information as of Patch 4.0.1, but was a very useful post detailing the shuffling of honor points into cut gems.  I wanted to start the blog off with a juicy tidbit of information as I was raking in the gold with this strategy.  I also wanted to inform readers of how I think and string ideas together across multiple professions.

2)  Favorite Post
Blacksmith Lockpicking with the follow-up Blacksmith Lockpicking Revisted - When I wrote the original post, I was in a severe case of bloggage (blogger's writer's blog).  I was looking for an idea that I hadn't seen elsewhere, yet was very useful.  Then the idea to focus on blacksmith lockpicking came to me.  I hadn't actually been doing this myself at all.  The topic got me curious to see what the break even point would be for blacksmiths that "wasted" bars on keys to open locks.  It turned out that this was an excellent way to make easy profits and I had been ignoring this market all together.  The follow-up post was a great example of how lucrative this could be and supported my original post very well.  I really like these posts as I actually taught myself something in the process of looking for a topic.

3)  Least Favorite Post
Saving Money With Pre-paid Game Time Cards was meant to be a helpful post on how (in some states) you can save money by purchasing (non-taxable) game time cards instead of using the subscription renewals (which charge tax).  Unfortunately, the post was taken as nothing but a referral to an affiliate program (Amazon).  I guess people thought I was baiting them to buy cards through my link.  It was really just an informative post, but the comments showed that readers didn't understand my point very well.  The Time To Pre-Order Cataclsym post was received much better, but still stirred some debate on forums and blogs I read.  I still say screw the digital download and get the release date delivery.

4)  Reader Comment
I published my Stocking Up For Children's Week post 3-4 weeks before the start of the event.  The follow-up post about Exploiting Children's Week had a comment from "Joe" that really made me feel that people weren't just reading the blog.  They were reading and implementing.  He followed my advice and was able to turn 50g into 2k gold.  This was the first post that showed that my blog was actualy helping others.  I don't think I have any other comments from this "Joe", but here's a big "THANK YOU" to him.  You really helped light a fire in me for blogging as it was now obvious that I acually was helping others.

5)  Please Comment
You the readers are why I write this blog.  I enjoy spreading my crazy thoughts around the blogosphere.

What blog posts did you guys find useful or enjoyable?

Auction House Mistakes I Learned From

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


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


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




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

Netherweave Bags vs Faction Satchels in Cataclysm

Stormwind Quartermaster

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

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

-Miss Mediocre

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

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

Image provided by:  Miss Mediocre

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