Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal Return To Value

Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal

Oh how I loathed thee...

If you were using your jewelcrafter during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion era, then you probably hated Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal as much as I did.  These were useful for damn near nothing, yet they continued to pile up as a bi-product of the Saronite Shuffle.  The Saronite Shuffle was the way to shuffle Saronite Ore back in Wrath of the Lich King, similar to how we currently shuffle Obsidium Ores. 

The problem with the Saronite Shuffle was that it wasn't as efficient as the current Obsidium Shuffle.  Today you will see bloggers and players complaining about their stacks of Zephyrite gems and what to do with them, but this is nothing compared to the problems we had finding uses for Dark Jade and Shadow Crystals.  The Dark Jade could be sold on days when it was required for the Dalaran jewelcrafting daily, but unlike the current Cataclysm JC dailies, only 1 was required.  This method wasn't the most effective way to unload the tons of Dark Jades, as all Saronite Ore prospectors were also accumulating stack after stack of Dark Jade and Shadow Crystals.  The only other option was crafting the focusing crystals, which never caught on over here at my server.

Both Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal continued to pile up in guild banks and character banks everywhere.  Some players would resort to just vendoring these gems as they were next to worthless.  There wasn't a way to shuffle them into jewelry for disenchanting for a profit.  The only real use of Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal was in the daily cooldown for crafting Icy Prisms, but being limited to 1 per day didn't help the massive stockpiles of Dark Jade and Shadow Crystal.

Icy Prism Cooldown Removal

Then things changed.  With the release of World of Warcraft Patch 4.1, came the removal of the Icy Prism cooldown and many of us rejoiced.  Why?  Because now we had a way to utilize all of those extra Dark Jades and Shadow Crystals.  I never sold any of my Shadow Crystals or Dark Jades to the vendors.  I tucked all of my stacks away in a guild bank and let them sit.  I originally planned on selling the stacks to players leveling Jewelcrafting as a new Profession in Cataclysm, but sales didn't work there either.  So back in the bank they went.  Since the removal of the Icy Prism cooldown, I have been making great profits in the Wrath Jewelcrafting gems markets.  There aren't many competitiors, if any.  I am glad that I saved these horrible gems from Wrath because they are now useful in crafting Icy Prisms.  My old stacks of both Shadow Crystal and Dark Jade are almost completely exhausted.

I'm not just using them for my own Icy Prisms.  As other players got fed up with these gems and vendored them at the end of Wrath of the Lich King, I have been able to sell some of my gems on the auction house as singles for other JCs looking to make Icy Prisms.  These same Dark Jades and Shadow Crystals that at the end of Wrath couldn't be sold for a single gold piece, are now selling on my server for 8-10 gold each.  This is why I like to stockpile materials that may be used eventually, as opposed to vendoring then to save the bank space.  (When you have 6-7 guild banks, space isn't a real issue anyway.)  If you are a stockpiler or a hoarder, be sure to periodically clean out your banks, as you don't want items decaying in your banks.

Sometimes its good to be a hoarder, as Blizzard may make a change that will allow you to profit from your stockpile. 

Anyone else been unloading these darn Dark Jades and Shadow Crystals?

Saronite Ore Solutions - Alchemist/Blacksmith/Miner

Got A Lot Of Saronite Ore In The Bank?

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

Watch The Other Markets Of Side Products

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

Miner

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

Alchemist

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

Blacksmith

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

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

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

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

Miner/Alchemist/Blacksmith

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

Saronite Ore Stockpiles

Saronite Ore Stockpiles

Saronite Ore is the most common item I am asked about.  Many people have stocked up on Saronite Ore as it was one of the easiest and plentiful resources that Markco had recommended to stockpile prior to Cataclysm.  It was actually the #1 item on his list of Top 10 Items to Stockpile for Cataclysm.  So its not uncommon to see people blindly follow his advice, then not really understand what to do next.  You need to understand why you invested in the Saronite Ore and should have had a plan for unloading it before making the investment. 

What To Do With Your Saronite Ore

Hopefully you bought all that ore at prices below the vendor value of the bars.  If you got your stacks of Saronite Ore below 12.5g per stack, then you can safely smelt it into bars and sell those bars to vendors for profit.  There are many other options you can use to diverisfy how you are going to profit off of your Saronite Ore stockpile.

1. Smelt it into Saronite Bars to sell.
2. Use bars to transmute into Titanium Bars.
3. Craft Titanium Rods to sell to enchanters.
4. Send your ore through the Saronite Shuffle.
5. Sell the ores in stacks to other crafters.
6. Or just let it sit and wait for the value to inflate over time.

Saronite Droppings

Markets have definately changed on my server. Now multiple people have been dumping tons of saronite ore, maybe we have real bot miners on the server now. Anyhow, I am absolutely loving the hundreds of stacks of saronite ore I have been buying for under 12.5g per stack. Tonight I bought out 3 buyers for a few hundred stacks total at 9.5g, 9.7g, and 9.8g per stack of ore. This is great for making money afk, by just buyinging, bagging, and smelting it for 25g per stack of bars (takes 2 stacks of ore to make a stack of bars). Or you can shuffle it into gems or enchanting mats, or use it in crafting belt buckles, etc. At prices like this you can't help but buy them all up.

Ever realize you and another player are buying at the same time as you get the hated "This item no longer exists" message from the Auction House? I got into a fury of clicks for the stacks before my competing buyer got them. Then I tried to lay a trap for him, posting stacks of 2 ore for the same price we were buying out the full stacks for, but he didn't take the bait. Lol, oh well! Maybe he was using a snatch program. Screw Add-ons.