Companion Pets Into Rare Battle Pets | A Breakdown Of Their Sources

WoW Companion Pets Turning To Rare Battle Pets
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Companion Pets Turning To Rare Battle Pets

Companion pets are converting to battle pets in Mists of Pandaria.  Some pets will become rare battle pets and will be blue in color.  These are the main pets to focus on collecting and stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria.  As I discussed in yesterday's post on liquidating your holiday pets, rare pets will have more stats and will be more powerful.  This will create more demand for the rare pets as they simply are just better stat wise and level faster than non-rare pets.

Many of the current companion pets that are becoming rare battle pets are very hard to obtain.  Many of them require cash for their purchase or are awarded from hard achievements, token grinds, or very rare world drops within the World of Warcraft.  Let's dig deeper into the list of companion pets turning rare and find their sources.

Identifying The Sources For The 90 Rare Converting Pets

5 Are Obtained From Archaeology

1. Clockwork Gnome
2. Crawling Claw
3. Fossilized Hatchling
4. Pterrodax Hatchling
5. Voodoo Figurine

Looking for a reason to resume leveling up your Archaeology profession?  Well, here's five reasons and account wide mounts are also coming in MoP, so you can get that Fossilized Raptor mount for all your characters too.

7 Come From Fishing

1. Chuck - (Outlands Fishing Dailies)
2. Muckbreath - (Outlands Fishing Dailies)
3. Snarly - (Outlands Fishing Dailies)
4. Toothy - (Outlands Fishing Dailies)
5. Strand Crawler (Northrend, Orgrimmar, & Stormwind Dailies)
6. Giant Sewer Rat (Fished Up In Dalaran Underbelly)
7. Magical Crawdad (Wish Granted From Mr. Pinchy)

I plan to level the Magical Crawdad From Mister Pinchy first and foremost as my main battle pet, since he has always been my favorite companion pet and he made the rare pet conversion list.

1 Is Obtained While Mining

1. Elementium Geode (Elem. & Rich Elem. Veins in Twilight Highlands, Deepholme, & Uldum)

The Geode is BoE and can be picked up off the auction house.  I've been stocking them away for a while now myself.

7 Are Achievement Awards From Collecting Pets

1. Stinker (50 Pets - Shop Smart, Shop Pet...Smart)
2. Little Fawn (75 Pets - Lil' Game Hunter)
3. Nuts (100 Pets - Petting Zoo)
4. Brilliant Kaliri (125 Pets - Menagerie)
5. Celestial Dragon (150 Pets - Littlest Pet Shop)
6. Feral Vermling (Capture 250 Battle Pets - Master Pet Hunter) MoP
7. Jade Tentacle (Earn 300 Battle Pet Ach. Points - Time To Open A Pet Store) MoP

Running out of bank space to store all the pets you've collected?  Just go ahead and learn them on an alt and try to get extras of these collector achievements on multiple characters.  They will save you storage space, you will get them refunded back to you, and you may just pick up an extra skunk, fawn, or squirrel to sell come Mists of Pandaria.

11 Are Purchased From The Blizzard Store

1. Wind Rider Cub - $24.99
2. Gryphon Hatchling - $24.99
3. Guardian Cub - $10
4. Cenarian Hatchling - $10
5. Lil' KT - $10
6. Lil' Ragnaros - $10
7. Lil' XT - $10
8. Moonkin Hatchling - $10
9. Pandaren Monk - $10
10. Soul of the Aspects - $10
11. Core Hound Pup - $6.50

Blizzard controls the price on these, but don't forget that you can use your Diablo 3 RMAH earnings to purchase these.  ("Maybe in the future" they will allow Battle net balance purchases.) Guardian Cub is still BoE and can also be picked off of the auction house.

8 Come From Collector's Editions

1. Panda Cub (World of Warcraft CE)
2. Netherwhelp (Burning Crusade CE)
3. Lurky (Burning Crusade CE) EU Only
4. Frost (Wrath of the Lich King CE)
5. Lil' Deathwing (Cataclysm CE)
6. Lucky Quilen Cub (Mists of Pandaria CE) MoP
7. Mini-Thor (Starcraft II CE)
8. Fetish Shaman (Diablo 3 CE)

Yet another reason that Collector's Editions may see a spike in demand.  Flipping Collector's Editions For Profit is something that some players do to use their goblin wisdom to turn a profit in the real world.

6 Are Purchased With Prize Tickets (90) At The Darkmoon Faire

1. Darkmoon Balloon
2. Darkmoon Cub
3. Darkmoon Monkey
4. Darkmoon Tonk
5. Darkmoon Turtle
6. Darkmoon Zeppelin

You've got just a couple more Darkmoon Faires to finish collecting tokens and get more pets before Mists of Pandaria will be here on September 25th, 2012.

6 Are From BlizzCon or Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals

1. Murky (BlizzCon 2005)
2. Lucky (Blizzard WWI 2007)
3. Mini Tyrael (Blizzard WWI 2008)
4. Grunty (BlizzCon 2009)
5. Deathy (BlizzCon 2010)
6. Murkablo (BlizzCon 2011)

Good luck finding these codes.  If you do, the prices have probably already gone up even higher with them making the rares list.

3 Are Gated Behind The Molten Front Dailies

1. Crimson Lasher - (1200 gold)
2. Hyjal Bear Cub - (1200 gold)
3. Searing Scorchling -  (Zen'Vorka's Cache)

As if the grind to unlock the vendors wasn't enough torture, you can continue running the daily quests and buying the Cache in hopes of this rare pet being inside.

2 Are WoW Anniversary Rewards

1. Baby Blizzard Bear (WoW 4th Anniversary)
2. Onyxian Whelpling (WoW's 5th Anniversary)

If you don't already have them, you aren't getting them.

14 Are Rare Drops

1. Azure Whelpling
2. Crimson Whelpling
3. Dark Whelpling
4. EmeraldWhelpling
5. Firefly
6. Fox Kit
7. Gundrak Hatchling
8. Hyacinth Macaw
9. Razzashi Hatchling
10. Sprite Darter Hatchling
11. Phoenix Hatchling
12. Disgusting Oozeling
13. Mr. Grubbs
14. Tiny Shale Spider

These are some of the best ones on the list to look out for on the auction house as many of these are BoE.  Maybe you can grab some extras before others realize they are on the master rare battle pet list.  Here are a few tips to help farming for dragon whelplings.

6 Are From Various Miscellaneous Sources

1. Kirin Tor Familiar - (Higher Learning Achievement)
2. Murkimus the Gladiator - (Arena Tournament Participation)
3. Dark Pheonix Hatchling - (Guild Reward For United Nations Achievement)
4. Panther Cub - (Zul'Gurub Dungeon Quest Chain Reward)
5. Pebble - (Therazane Dailies)
6. Lumpy - (Grinch Killing Daily Present Drop During Feast of Winter's Veil)

14 Are WoW Trading Card Game Loot Codes

1. Bananas
2. Dragonkite
3. Ethereal Soul-Trader
4. Eye of the Legion
5. Gregarious Grell
6. Hippogryph Hatchling
7. Landro's Lichling
8. Landro's Lil' XT
9. Nightsaber Cub
10. Purple Puffer
11. Rocket Chicken
12. Sand Scarab
13. Spectral Tiger Cub
14. Tuskarr Kite

The only way to get these loot codes is to play the loot code lottery by buying TCG packs or buying the codes from eBay, Amazon, or other retailers.  OR you could also get lucky and win a code from a giveaway or contest.

Be sure to check out the cheap prices on these loot code pets at Amazon.  Many are cheaper than the Blizzard Store pets!  I have a few of these I got from Amazon to give away later too.  I just gave away a Gregarious Grell on The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast and a Purple Puffer here at Cold's Gold Factory.

There you have it folks.  The master companion list of pets turning into rare battle pets has been broken down to show you what the sources are for all of these pets.  Be sure to stock up on whatever you can find and don't forget that you can collect these on multiple characters and they will be mailed back to you once Mists of Pandaria launches in late Septemeber.

Continue To Newer Post On Battle Pet Pricing Discrepancies & Warnings For Buyers & Sellers.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory?
Check out some of my Squidoo lenses:  Alliance Vs Horde - Come Vote! | Diablo 3 Gifts For Gamers | Getting Started Podcasting 101 | Play Money by Julian Dibble | Auction House Junkies | Fluxx - My Fav Card Game

WoW Pet Battles & Pet Flipping | GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

Up and Down The Companion Pet Market

WoW Pet Battle System Updates and Pet Flipping Warnings

Remember when the World of Warcraft Pet Battle System was originally announced at Blizzcon?  If you are like me, then the first thing you thought of wasn't Pokemon.  We all  had visions of making tons of gold off of this new system in WoW.  This would be yet another arsenal in our bag of tricks.  Battle Pets were supposed to be our cash crop once the Mists of Pandaria expansion would launch. 

Companion pets would be more than just vanity items.  Then we found out that we could level these pets and we would be able to sell them.  Yes!  Cha-ching!  More $ $ flashed across our minds as higher level pets would obviously sell for more gold on the WoW auction house or in trade chat.  This new pet battle system was going to be a great new way to make gold off of other players by selling both new and leveled battle pets.  So we all started to stock up on pets, especially the harder to obtain companion pets.  Pets that are rare drops or were awarded from annual events seemed like no brainers to stockpile, as we would be able to flip them for more gold once the pet battle system increased the demand for all pets. 

Some of us started to collect bank tabs full of these rare, limited, or hard to obtain pets because they were going to make us rich. 

BUT...

At the time, we knew very little at all about the actual pet battle system.  So we were basing our ideas off of speculation, which is always a gamble.  Speculating ahead of the general populace can lead you to great payoffs, if you are correct at predicting change.  If the changes don't go as predicted, you can lose out on your investments.  Well, we now have more news on the pet battle systems coming in MoP and that news is less than favorable.  Looking at the current pet battle system, there are some major winners and a ton of losers.  This was a hot topic we were excited to discuss when Auction House Junkies returned to recording.  It's time to liquidate a lot of these pets before the market prices bottom out.  Let's look deeper as to why.

Holiday Pets - Get Out Now

Since companion pets are all going to be on a shared battle pet interface, we wondered what was going to happen if you had duplicate pets on multiple characters.  The current plan is that duplicates will be returned to your characters via the the mail system or the extra pets would be placed in your bags.  This is bad news for anyone expecting to flip these holiday pets for great sums of gold.  Any of the holiday pets that are easily obtainable need to be liquidated now before the expansion.  There will be a flood of holiday pets into the market and you will have to wait far too long for the market to rebound to a nice profit.  Sell for a profit now, while you still can.  You can still sell these to people who hav

Just think of how many alts you have that have those holiday pets, like the first holiday pet to go BoE - the Sinister Squashling.  Helper Boxes?  How many of those things do you have on alts?  Yeah, so does everyone else!  And Mists will launch shortly before the new Winter's Veil Season begins and even more Christmas pets enter the market.  Get out now, before the pet refunds come and the markets get flooded.

We discussed it in this last Sunday's Google Plus Gold Makers Hangout, which can be viewed on YouTube here: http://t.co/QXkf3qQ.  Be sure to check them out.


Not All Pets Are Created Equal

With the pet battle system comes a system for placing quality variations among the battle pets.  The standard grey-white-green-blue system is used for all battle pets, both captured and learned.  Rare pets are blue in color and can be captured in the wild.  Rare pets all have an advantage over non-rare pets.  The rare battle pets level more quickly and their end stats are higher than all non-rare battle pets.  The rare pets are the most valuable and will be the best pets for leveling and selling for a profit.  They will also be the most sought after by true pet battle masters that are looking to maximize their team of battle pets.

A blue post over at MMO-Champion has a list of all of the current companion pets that will be converting to the blue rare battle pets in Mists of Pandaria.  We discussed this list on The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast.

The Companion Pets Turning Rare (Blue) Are Either:

• From the WoW Trading Card Game Pet Loot Codes
• Quest or Achievement Awards
• Purchased From The Blizzard Store
• From WoW Collector's Editions, Blizzcon, or Authenticator Purchase
• From The Darkmoon Faire or Archeology
• Very Rare Drops

Be sure to check out the list and see just how few you actually have.  Don't get your hopes up.  Many of these are hard to get or cost you money.  Sure we all will have a few on the list, but there aren't a lot of us that will have duplicates of these unless we've been stockpiling rare pets or pay for pets from Blizzard.  I wonder if you get just 1 of the store bought pets, instead of one mailed back for every character that has one?  Argent Tournaments are not going to be blue rare pets as they are not on the list.  Make sure to check out the list of companions that are turning rare.  I suggest you shift your pet stockpiling to only these pets.  These are the new cash crop to stock up on as they will be blue rares, more powerful, and more valuable.

You can start to search for the BoE pets on the auction house, but also you can start to collect multiples of the pets that are awarded from completions as well.  Then the duplicates will be mailed back to you when Mists launches.

I've been gambling on Elementium Geodes and have been stocking up on them hoping they would see a nice increase in value.  Cha-Ching!  They made the list!

Check out my Breakdown Of All Sources Of The Pets Turning Rare.


No Wild Pets Can Be Sold Or Traded

You won't be making gold off any of the battle pets you capture in the wild as Blizzard announced that captured battle pets will not be tradeable.  This change is coming in the next Beta patch.  In my opinion this is good.  It keeps the auction house from being flooded with tons of junk pets and it creates more of a value to the companion pets that are currently available, especially those that are turning rare!  I did say start stocking up on the pets on that list right?  Only the current companion pets will be able to be leveled, then caged and then sold.  So stock up on those ones turning rare!


Have people started to liquidate pets on your server?

Companion Pet Pricing Update

UPDATE:  Check out the later post detailing how these predictions and warnings were true not just of holidays pets but of every single pet across the board:

How Battle Pets Killed Companion Pet Markets

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 Squidoo:  Mists of Pandaria | Auction House Junkies - Come Vote! | Fluxx

Auction House Junkies Is Back!

The Auction House Junkies - WoW Gold Making Podcast

The Auction House Junkies World of Warcraft Gold Making Podcast is back up and running.  After a few months break, we have resurrected the podcast and will be putting out more episodes again.  There is already a brand new episode up on the Auction House Junkies site and as always, we are still available on iTunes. 

Don't miss out on AHJ Episode #29 - "Where Were You Guys Last Week?"

For the new readers and newer WoW players who haven't heard of our WoW gold making podcast, The Auction House Junkies podcast is all about making gold in World of Warcraft.  Wes, Mike, and I discuss various methods, strategies, and markets for making gold in WoW.  We cover all professions and pretty much all markets get discussed in one episode or another.  We help you with new expansion stockpiling, battling your competition, provide our "Markets of the Week", and we will continually have you thinking on your toes about making gold in WoW. 

Since the beginning of the show, we have always strived to be an informative, yet entertaining podcast.  If you like the show and we've helped you make more gold in WoW, then please leave us a review on iTunes. 

Auction House Junkies Episode #29

In this episode we get back on track with discussin making gold in WoW and hit on the following topics and many others.

1. Nev's breast cancer care fund raising campaign.  We've donated, have you?
2. Black Market Auction House
3. Mist of Pandaria Beta
4. Account Wide Pets & Mounts
5. Remote Auction House Bugs
6. Inscription Changes to Head & Shoulder Enchants
7. Thrown Weapons Removal - GEE and Illusion Dust
8. Cooking Profession Changes
9. Flipping Guilds For Big Profits
10. Much Much More

New To Auction House Junkies?

If you haven't heard any of the podcast episodes before, be sure to check us out.  The great thing about our shows is that the majority of the topics and content discussed can be applied to multiple auction house markets regardless of when the episodes originally came out.  So you can go back and listen to the older episodes and still come away with new ideas on making gold in WoW.  Currently we are a 3 host show, but originally it was just Wes and I.  So don't be shocked if you don't hear Mike in the earlier episodes.  He joined Wes and I around episode 16 or 17. 

Check out the Squidoo Page for Auction House Junkies and come vote on your favorite host.
Other Squidoo Lenses:  Getting Started Podcasting | Collector's Edition Flipping | Horde vs Alliance

August Topic For Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - August 2012 Topic

A big thanks to all of the participants who submitted entries for last month's blogging carnival. Everyone is welcome to write a post for the blogging carnivals at Cold's Gold Factory. Again, thank you to all the bloggers who submitted posts for the July Carnival on Tips For the WoW Expansion Lull. If you missed the last carnival, be sure to check it out! 

What If I Don't Have A Blog And I Want To Participate?

If you don't have your own site, you can still participate in the gold blogging carnivals. Sometimes a topic may tickle your fancy or you may have a unique spin on a blogging carnival topic that you would like to have read by others. Well, you are in luck. There are 2 blogging sites that will post and host your content as a guest post. Just follow the normal blogging carnival rules that the others follow and get your post hosted and live prior to the carnival. Then, just submit the link to me for inclusion in the upcoming gold blogging carnival.  

Be sure to check out How To Get More From Blogging Carnival Participation.

The friendly sites willing to host your content are:

1. Goldgrub's Goblin Academy - Contact: Me (Cold)
2. Squidoo - Join up and make a lens on the topic and earn money too.

  

August 2012 Gold Blogging Carnival Topic

As WoW gold makers, we must be flexible and adapt our posting, pricing, and relisting strategies based on the individual markets.  Every server is different, yet within the same server, each market can be completely different as well.  For the August Gold Blogging Carnival Topic, let's illustrate some of the ways we post differently based on the different profession markets. 
Compare & Contrast 2 Different AH Markets and How Your Gold Making Strategy Varies In Each Market

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Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Why Buy Low, Sell Normal Is A Joke

Buy Low, Sell Normal

vs

Buy Low, Sell High

Everyone has heard the common economics standard of Buy Low, Sell High.  However, there are some auctioneers in WoW and Diablo 3 that will tell you that the time tested fundamental economic principle of Buying Lowing & Selling High is a farce that doesn't work.  Well, it's been the standard of basic profiteering for centuries.  So I'm calling bullshit on your Buy Low, Sell Normal mantra, when you claim it is better than Buy Low, Sell High.

All basic money making can be simplified to Buy For X, and Sell For More Than X.  That sale will turn you a profit.  All you need to do is sell the item for more than you paid for it.  That's what Buy Low, Sell High means.  Selling for higher than the lower price you bought it for, regardless of the market price for that item. 

So What Is Buy Low, Sell Normal?

Buy Low, Sell Normal is supposed to be "the best way to operate as an auctioneer" as the followers of this belief tell you to "Sell at normal value, no higher than what the item usually goes for."  These Buy Low, Sell Normal types, think you will make more profits by selling more items at a lower cost.  The basic backbone of any discussion about this comparison references that is how Walmart operates, by Buying Low & Selling Normal.

Sure, Walmart has lots of sales and cheap prices too, but as gold and money makers in Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft, we aren't Walmart.  We don't have a huge staff working under us.  We are just 1 person trying to turn a profit on an in-game auction house.  Walmart makes their money by coming into and forcing out all of the smaller companies that can't compete with their prices.  Some of their items they actually sell below their cost, so others have no chance to compete.  This serves to limit their competition and force others out of the market, but how profitable of a strategy is selling at a loss or for minimal profits in an online virtual environment?

So you bought or crafted an item at a low price, how much do you want to sell it for?

Well, I am a member of Generation X and I tend to go by the typical Gen-X mantra of "Getting the most money, for the least amount of work."  See that's the problem with the Buy Low, Sell Normal philosophy.  By selling at minimal profits, you may get more sales, but are those minimal profits worth your time and effort?  I'd rather sell less items for more profit per item, which results in less time recrafting, recollecting, and reposting.

Sell Normal Or Sell High In The Glyph Market?

The WoW Glyph Market has a polarizing effect on most of the sellers within that market.  Either they are willing to dance or they aren't.  But because of the foolish teachings of some bloggers who've preach about Buying Low and Selling Normal, the Glyph market can be an absolute nightmare for some sellers as we've been discussing on some episodes of The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast.

A good example is between the 2 main strategies of Glyph sellers.

• Option 1 - Craft & Sell as many Glyphs as possible (market blanketing), all for a bare minimum profit, to keep competition away.  Often using heavy undercutting (another foolish strategy in my opinion) and walling of low priced items in hopes of driving out competition.  This is often referred to as the Walmart Glyph Model. - Sell Normal

• Option 2 - Craft & Sell only Glyphs when they reach a nice threshold worth your time and effort.  Nev of Auction House Addict was the first to discuss this philosophy on the PW:Gold Podcast.  Don't even bother with a glyph unless it is selling for 100 gold or more.  - Sell High

With Nev's Glyph Strategy, you still make plenty of gold and have far much less work to do to restock and relist.  And you are free of the headache of massive dog fight wars of undercutting, glyph walling, and other time inefficient strategies.  Often times, you will still makes sales because not everyone has all glyph recipes and there are times when all of the low priced ones will be gone.  If I can sell glyphs for 250 gold, why the hell would I waste time fighting to sell them for 12 gold each to make a few gold per sale? 

Why Buy Low, Sell Normal?

So why would someone even want to create a Buy Low, Sell Normal idea?  It was a blogger who coined the notion and even refers to it as his "catch phrase".  The entire notion is based on foolish logic and trying to disprove a time weathered basic principal of economic theory.  The whole Buy Low, Sell Normal idea was nothing more than an online marketing ploy created by an internet salesmen trying to stir up his own "catch phrase" to discuss and quote on various blogs and podcasts all to drive traffic to his sites.  Then people want to hear how Buy Low, Sell Normal is so much better than Buy Low, Sell High and they head to his sites, where he tries to sell them his latest Secret Gold Guides.  In all reality Buy Low, Sell Normal is nothing more than a hype generating gimmick of an internet con-man.  It's nothing more than a tagline and sales gimmick.

So be smart and get the most from each and every sale.  Why leave money on the table?

I think @dollada06 said it best on twitter:

"Buy Low / Sell Normal is an idiotic ideology which basically says sell your items before they yield maximum profits."

Read more about how Buy Low, Sell Normal is a bad idea in Diablo 3 at:

Free Diablo 3 Guide

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Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

WoW Lull Recommendations For Gold Makers | Cold's July 2012 Gold Blogging Carnival

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - 2012

Welcome to another 2012 edition of Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival. These carnivals will continue to take place the 11th day of every month and will be hosted here at Cold's Gold Factory. All World of Warcraft bloggers are welcome to participate and feedback both here and on the original authors' sites is strongly encouraged. So show some support and please leave some feedback in the comments section. These bloggers put a lot of time and hard work into these blogging carnival posts so please tell them what you think.

If you would like to be included in the next month's carnival, please review the guidelines for Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals and submit your live post link via email (ssmith0911 at live dot com) before the 10th of the month. Read up on the benefits of participating in blogging carnivals at my other blog designed to help new bloggers, Blogging Vitals.  (Lots of tips for those of you starting out or interested in blogging.)  Articles for the CGF carnival are listed in the order they are received. Thank you to all the bloggers participating in this months carnival!

If you are not a blogger, you can still participate in the monthly carnivals as you can have a post hosted at Goldgrubs.com.  Now I present to you this month's participants answering the question:

What Do You Recommend Players Do During The Current WoW Lull To Benefit Gold Making In The Future?

Making Gold At The End Of An Expansion | Up 429k In 30 Days by Farli of The Overcut

How To Prepare For Making WoW Gold In MoP During The Pre-Expansion Lull by Jon of How To Warcraft

Maximizing Your Gold Making Potential In Time For Mists Of Pandaria by Nev of Auction House Addict

Learn During The Lull by Frinka of Warcraft Street

Waiting For Mists Of Pandaria by Marcus Ty of Gold Blog Of Marcus Ty

Thanks again to all of this month's participants.  Be sure to check back later for next month's carnival topic and remember to look for next month's gold blogging carnival on the 11th.  If you have a topic idea, don't be afraid to send it in.  We may use your idea, which will get you proper credit as well.  

Until next month,

Keep on Keepin' On!



If you enjoy the monthly carnivals, spread the word and help support the carnival as at grows:

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Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

WoW Pet & Mount Winners Announced

Pet and Mount Code Winners

Today is the day I announce the winners from the WoW Loot Code Giveaway!  Both winners have been contacted via email.  Be sure to watch for more contests and giveaways here at Cold's Gold Factory.

The Winners Are...

Bloat the Bubblefish WOW TCG Loot Code Winner Is:

Ryan Clark



Celestial Steed Mount Code Winner Is:

Kim Anderson

Congrats to both of the winners and thanks for entering!


Reminder:  Be sure to check out The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast (on iTunes and Stitcher Radio) for your chance to Win a Gregarious Grell Loot Code Companion Pet.  It's a pretty easy contest entry, just listen to the podcasts and leave us an iTunes review for a chance at winning!



Enjoying The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

When Bad News Turns Good

Breast Cancer Care

Bad News Turned Positive

Earlier this week, a fellow WoW gold blogger revealed her recent breast cancer diagnosis.  Just happens that this same WoW gold blogger is also a close friend of mine.  Yup, me and Nev are pretty close friends.  She even has characters on my US WoW server, where I teach her how to slay Alliance and fight for the right WoW faction, when I'm not lost deep in Diablo 3.

I think it is amazing that she decided to turn her cancer news into a way to raise money for cancer research and cancer care.  If you haven't already, be sure to head over to Auction House Addict and read about Nev's story and her cancer care fund raising campaign.  Since she has chemotherapy looming in the near future, Nev has decided to cut off her long locks of hair and donate them to a charity that makes wigs for children with cancer.  How wonderful!  Major props on turning bad news into a good idea, Nev.

Supporting A Friend

I have supported my friend with a cash donation to her project of giving, which is currently only at 24% of her goal.  Nev has already raised 248 Pounds (She's a Brit btw) of the 1000 Pounds goal.  That's $348 already raised for the Cancer Care program.  Let's all dig deep and see if we can help raise that number even closer to her goal.

Being that Nev is a close friend of mine, I wanted to do something a little more than just donate my cash.  I've added a link to Nev's story & giving campaign here in the top right corner of Cold's Gold Factory.  I've even changes my Twitter avatar to a breast cancer ribbon.  Still, I wanted to do something more special.

Nev has chemotherapy treatment looming and for this reason she has cut off her hair for charity.  No one wants to lose their hair and it's even harder for women, since they tend to have much more hair than men.  I can't imagine anyone looking forward to losing their hair and then wearing wigs,scarfs, or silly hats.  I won't let me good friend look silly all on her own, so I've decided to join her.

My Pledge

I now pledge to keep my hair buzzed off until your chemotherapy treatments are over Nev.  We can both be silly together.  The hard part isn't buzzing off my head of hair.  Ya see, when someone has chemo, they not only lose the hair on their head, but they lose all body hairs.  Well, that means my goatee needs to go too, so now I'm going to look really silly and I hate shaving, but that's a sacrifice I'm gonna make to help support my good friend.  I haven't shaved off my facial hair in well over 5 years.  Boy, do I feel silly looking, lol.

So please head over to Nev's site and read her story and donate what you can to join her in supporting cancer care.  You can read her story here: Introducing Helen: A Story & A Plea.

And if you are crazy like me, maybe you can shave your head too.  If not, try to give a little to help her reach her goal and help fight the good fight against breast cancer.

Regular Cold ------Cell Mate Cold ------ Skinhead Cold

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

6 Poker Tactics That Apply To WoW Gold Making

Poker vs WoW Gold Making

6 Poker Tactics That Apply To Making Gold In WoW

World of Warcraft and Online Poker are two of the most popular games played on the internet.  As gold makers in World of Warcraft, we can learn something from some of the tactics of poker players.  While anyone can play poker or try to make gold in WoW, both often require more skill than luck to have continued success.  Sure you can get lucky and make a great overpriced sale or win a massive poker pot on accident, but continued success takes skill and understanding.  There is a big difference between good players and winning players and a combination of skill versus luck in poker.  Let's look at a few poker tactics that translate over into making gold in WoW.

KEEP YOUR VITAL INFO SECRET

In poker, you don't show your hand to your opponents.  Hell, you don't even show a winning hand unless forced to call.  In WoW, you want to keep your best markets a secret for as long as possible.  Letting others know what you are selling well, only invites more competition to your market.  So keep your best markets as low key and as much of a secret as possible.

YOU GOTTA TAKE RISKS TO WIN BIG

Only playing the best poker hands will limit your ability to rack in huge pots, as players learn that you only push on with strong hands.  If you want to win big, you are going to have to take some risks with less than ideal hands.  The same is true in World of Warcraft gold making.  You can set back and slowly bring in adequate sales (like with a Netherweave Bag market), but you aren't going to get rich quickly.  By taking bigger risks in new markets with bigger ticket price items, you just might score a massive profit from a single sale.  Although you can lose a lot of gold as well, if you don't understand the market and have a good grasp on the price players are willing to pay for your item.

LEARN TO READ YOUR OPPONENTS

In poker, we are always looking for tells, or signs, that give away your opponents hand.  Maybe his nostrils flare when he gets a strong hand?  Being able to deduce what your opponent is planning is a huge advantage.  Similarly in WoW gold making, you can gain a distinct advantage once you can pre-determine the actions of your competitors.  Do you have you main competition on your friends list?  Can you look at their Undermine Journal posting activity and find a pattern?  Learn when they post and you can undercut them as they are logging out of the game.

MONEY YOU'VE ALREADY SPENT IS IRRELEVANT

Bad poker players tend to think that they need to keep calling on a dead hand, because they've already got a lot invested into the pot.  That's horrible thinking.  What you have already invested into the pot has no relevance on your odds of winning your current hand.  In WoW gold making, some players get stuck in the same rut.  Just because you invested a lot of gold when you crafted the item, doesn't mean you must sell the item for more than the crafting cost.  If that item's value is crashing, unloading it at a loss sooner than later will keep you from losing even more of your investment.  Sitting on it and waiting for the price to return to a higher price may work, but often times just means the item has devalued further by the time you decide to just dump it for whatever you can get.

KNOW WHEN TO FOLD AND WHEN TO PUSH

Similar to the above tactic, good poker players know when to get out.  They calculate the odds of winning the hand and they either stay in or fold based on their calculated odds.  Sometimes, you have to just cut your losses and fold, regardless of what has already been added to the pot.  In WoW gold making, we must also know when to fold and get out of a market all together.  Sometime you will attempt to make gold in a specific market, only to find that there is some major competition in your new market.  Regardless of how much time and gold you invested trying to get into a new market, sometimes it's best to cut your losses and move on to a completely different market.  If your compeition is making life hell in that market, why not spend your gold and energy in a less hectic and less competitive market.  Should you fold or push back and start an undercutting war and makes everyone's profits drop?

MANAGE YOUR BANKROLL PROPERLY

If a poker player continues to gamble with all the cash they have, they will eventually end up broke.  If a poker player only gambles with small amount, then they are limiting their ability to gain larger amounts.  The same holds true in WoW gold making.  You shouldn't be tying up all of your liquid gold in materials or crafted items because the markets could go South on you and cause a major loss.  If you only are willing to invest a small percentage of your bankroll, then you are limiting your ability to earn large chunks of gold at once.

If you are interested in playing poker, be sure to check out the great poker tactics articles over at PokerListings.com

Get More From Blogging Carnival Participation

Get More From Your Blogging Carnival Participation

Each month, I host a WoW gold blogging carnival open for participation from anyone with or without a blog.  It's a pretty straightforward concept.  I pick the topic and everyone is invited to participate.  Just write a post on the chosen topic, host it on your own WoW blog (or on one of the blogs willing to host it as a guest post, if you aren't a blog owner), then send me the link for inclusion in the monthly carnival.  The July Blogging Carnival topic is up already too, in case you missed it.

So let's take a look a little deeper into the benefits of participation and how to get the most from your carnival entry submissions.  Take note, this isn't a pitch to get more participants in the monthly carnival here (although the more, the merrier).  The primary purpose of this article is to help educate other bloggers, and those readers thinking of starting a blog, about ways to use the carnivals to be of more benefit as a participant.  I was a newer blogger once too and would have appreciated the same types of tips in this article, much earlier than I had to discover them on my own.  I hope these ideas help you out too.

Perks Of Carnival Participation

Participating In Blogging Carnivals Gets You Traffic, New Readers, and New Subscribers

Guest Posting and Blogging Carnivals are two of the absolute best ways to grow your own site's audience.  Being featured on another site, especially one with more traffic or a higher page rank, is an excellent way to get exposure to other readers within your same blogging niche.  Many of the visitors that read your carnival entry will return back to visit your site to read more, if they enjoyed your carnival post.  Remember that any g7uest post, carnival entry, or anything featured outside of your own blog, should be of your best quality, since these will be exposed to many brand new readers.  The Cold's Gold Factory Gold Blogging Carnival is a great place for readers to discover more cool bloggers that also write about making gold in World of Warcraft.

Another key benefit of participating in blogging carnivals is the fact that the carnivals tend to continue sending you traffic forever.  New readers to my site often check out the dedicated blogging carnival page and the older carnivals, which continue to send traffic and new readers to the participants.


Blogging Carnivals Help You Build Page Rank


Cold's Gold Factory has a Google Page Rank of 3.  That means any link from me is a good quality relevant link that will help to build your site's Page Rank with Google, especially if your site's Page Rank is lower than mine.  Higher ranked sites that link to you are worth more, than lower ranked sites.  Find out your own site's rank here:  http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

How To Get More From Your Carnival Post

Use A Proper Title

One of the common mistakes I see made with blogging carnival entries is what the post is titled.  You should title your post completely based on the content within that post, as if you weren't submitting it elsewhere.  Too often I see Cold's Carnival Entry or Cold's Blogging Carnival as the title of the posts with nothing about what the post is even about.  For your own benefit, always use a title with good keywords and a phrase that describes what your post is about.  You are robbing yourself of 2 of the best places to get page rank and keyword ranking for your post (the title and the url).  You always want the title and the url to be relevant to your post, so others can find it later through the search engines.

Deep Link Within Your Post -

Deep internal blog linking is a great way to get visitors reading more of your posts.  It's ok to add links (I suggest 2-3 in every post you write) in your carnival entry post.  Then some of the readers will dig deeper into more of your posts.  It also helps to catch readers from feeds and other syndications (like those damn copy-cat & content stealing bot sites) by bringing them back to your original site, if they click on one of your links.  This also helps increase your page views and your visitor's time on your site.

Don't Wait To Post In The Final Days Before The Carnival Deadline

Ideally, you want the post you submit for any blogging carnival to go live on your site as far away from the actual carnival day as possible.  Procrastinating and posting your carnival entry on the last few days prior to the carnival's live date can cost you traffic.  Readers of gold blogs skip over visiting your article because they recall seeing it recently (possibly in another site's blogroll) and it is fresh in their mind, even though they may not have even read it yet.

Also, if you post sooner rather than later, your post may already have a vibrant discussion in the comment section.  When the wave of carnival traffic flows in, there could be more participation and discussion as people tend to comment more when there is already something being discussed.  Google likes active comments, especially keyword rich relevant comments.

Tweet, Like, Plus, Reddit, and Share Your Entry And The Final Carnival Post

Share the hell out of your posts.  Every one of them.  Social Media is great for increasing your reader exposure.  So don't forget to share your carnival posts too.  Then share the Cold's Gold Factory Gold Blogging post that wraps up all of the carnival entries into the 1 big post.  I share it all over to get you guys more exposure and more readers.  When we all share, we all benefit.  Hosting and participating in blogging carnivals are very symbiotic relationships.  When we all do our best, the entire group shines.

The Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival is here for the benefit of the readers and to help out other bloggers.  Readers get an exposure to a variety of ideas on a similar topic on making gold in WoW, but are also introduced to new authors and new sites to read in that same area of interest.  I hope you enjoy the carnivals here at Cold's Gold Factory, both as a reader and a contributor.

Thanks for the great posts!



More Blogging and Traffic Tips at BloggingVitals.Blogspot.Com
A Site I Put Ideas For Helping Out New Bloggers.

July WoW Gold Blogging Topic

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - July 2012 Topic

A big thanks to all of the participants who submitted entries for last month's blogging carnival. Everyone is welcome to write a post for the blogging carnivals at Cold's Gold Factory. Again, thank you to all the bloggers who submitted posts for the June Carnival on New Player Pro Tips. If you missed the last carnival, be sure to check it out! 

What If I Don't Have A Blog And I Want To Participate?

If you don't have your own site, you can still participate in the gold blogging carnivals. Sometimes a topic may tickle your fancy or you may have a unique spin on a blogging carnival topic that you would like to have read by others. Well, you are in luck. There are WoW blogging sites that will post and host your content as a guest post. Just follow the normal blogging carnival rules that the others follow and get your post hosted and live prior to the carnival. Then, just submit the link to me for inclusion in the upcoming gold blogging carnival.  

Be sure to check out How To Get More From Blogging Carnival Participation.

The friendly sites willing to host your content are:

1. Goldgrub's Goblin Academy - Contact: Me (Cold)
2. Squidoo - Join up and make a lens on the topic and earn money too.

  

July 2012 Gold Blogging Carnival Topic

With the Mists of Pandaria expansion on its way and many markets starting to feel the end of expansion lull, we must start to prepare for the new WoW expansion, Mists of Pandaria.  For the July Gold Blogging Carnival Topic, let's focus on ways to take advantage of the current lull in WoW.

What Do You Recommend Players Do During The Current WoW Lull To Benefit Gold Making In The Future?

**********

The WoW Pet & Mount Loot Code Giveaway Continues -
More Details On Your Chance To Win A Pet Or A Mount



Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

WoW New Player Tips - What To Watch Out For To Make Gold

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - 2012

Welcome to another 2012 edition of Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival. These carnivals will continue to take place the 11th day of every month and will be hosted here at Cold's Gold Factory. All World of Warcraft bloggers are welcome to participate and feedback both here and on the original authors' sites is strongly encouraged. So show some support and please leave some feedback in the comments section. These bloggers put a lot of time and hard work into these blogging carnival posts so please tell them what you think.

If you would like to be included in the next month's carnival, please review the guidelines for Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals and submit your live post link via email (ssmith0911 at live dot com) before the 10th of the month. Read up on the benefits of participating in blogging carnivals at my other blog designed to help new bloggers, Blogging Vitals.  (Lots of tips for those of you starting out or interested in blogging.)  Articles for the CGF carnival are listed in the order they are received. Thank you to all the bloggers participating in this months carnival!

If you are not a blogger, you can still participate in the monthly carnivals as you can have a post hosted at Goldgrubs.com.  Now I present to you this month's participants answering the question:

What Are Some Things You Recommend Players Look Out For While Leveling A New Character In WoW?

New WoW Character Leveling Tips by KhasDylar at Goldgrub's Goblin Academy (Guest Post)

Chests & Lockboxes by Farli of The Overcut

Archaeology Leveling Secondary Profit Sources by Cold of Cold's Gold Factory

What To Look For When Leveling A New Alt by Nev of Auction House Addict

Cash Flow Positive Leveling by Frinka of Warcraft Street

Alerting Your Alt - Episode #144 by GeorgeWoW of The Mana Cooler Podcast

Thanks again to all of this month's participants.  Be sure to check back later for next month's carnival topic and remember to look for next month's gold blogging carnival on the 11th.  If you have a topic idea, don't be afraid to send it in.  We may use your idea, which will get you proper credit as well.  

Until next month,

Keep on Keepin' On!

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Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Don't Forget To Enter To Win A Free WoW TCG Loot Code Pet or Store Mount!

WoW TCG Loot Code Pet Giveaway!

 

Win A FREE WoW Pet From

The TCG Loot Code Giveaway!

Gregarious Grell Loot Code Pet

Just the other day, I noticed that someone had purchased a couple of WoW TCG loot code cards from one of my Amazon links on one of my Squidoo pages.  What caught me by suprise was just how cheap these loot card codes from the new WoW TCG expansion were on sale for.  Apparently, you can buy some of the WoW TCG Loot card codes for WoW companion pets for cheaper than the sale price of the vanity pets from the actual Blizzard online store!  The Blizzard stores pets cost $10 each, but Amazon has a lot of the TCG pet codes for well under that price!  Many for under $4 for your pet code!

Win A Gregarious Grell From The New Podcast

So, I decided to snatch up a few of these cool pet loot codes to use as Giveaways here at Cold's Gold Factory, on Auction House Junkies, and on the new podcast, The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast.  Be sure to listen to Episode #7 of The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast (on iTunes & Stitcher Radio) to find out how to Win a Gregarious Grell Loot Code Companion Pet.  Episode #7 will be out this weekend, but be sure to check out the older episodes for some great content and laughs.  It's a pretty easy contest entry, just listen to the podcasts and leave us an iTunes review for a chance at winning!

Win Bloat The Bubblefish or a Celestial Steed From Cold's Gold Factory

Bloat the Bubblefish is a pretty cool companion pet that comes from the WoW TCG.  I have bought a few of Bloat the Bubblefish, Gregarious Grells, and a Nightsaber Cub pet to give away.  I also still have more Pandarian Monk pets and Celestial Steeds to give away.  I'll start the TCG Loot Code giveaways with a chance to win a Bloat the Bubblefish loot code or a Celestial Steed mount code.

How To Enter To Win Bloat The Bubblefish or a Celestial Steed Mount

Similar to past contests, this one will be a social media sharing and newsletter joining contest.  Here are the various ways to earn an entry for your chance at winning.  The contest entries will end on July 3rd (midnight Central time) and winners will be announced on July 4th. 

The Celestial Steed code was bought from the US store, so it can only be redeemed by a US WoW Account.  The Bloat the Bubblefish loot code can be redeemed by any US or EU account, as long as the correct region is selected when redeeming the loot card code for the appropriate in game code.

Each Action Earns One Entry:

1. Join The Cold's Gold Factory Gold Tips Newsletter (You can join from the pop-up or from the sidebar sign-up form.)  Already get the newsletter?  Congrats, you've got 1 entry already!
2. Tweet this Post. (add me into the tweet @SSmith0911 - so I can see the Tweet)
3. Google +1 this Post.
4. Facebook Like and Share this Post.

So Joining the newsletter earns you an entry, but you can earn additional entries by sharing this giveaway post on the various social media sites.
 

Good luck to all that enter and participate.  If you want to win, be sure to share on multiple platforms to further increase your chances of winning. 

Thanks for reading and Good Luck!

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Archaeology Leveling Secondary Profit Sources



Death's Embrace

Secondary Profit Sources And Archaeology Leveling

This post is part of the June Entry for the Cold's Gold Factory Blogging Carnivals, hosted here at Cold's Gold Factory.  This month's topic is:  "Tips For Leveling Characters".

Archaeology leveling has to be one of the worst in game activites in World of Warcraft, next to fishing.  Seriously though, which do you hate more - Archaeology or Fishing?  Man, they are both miserable professions to level because of the monotony and boredom involved with each secondary profession.  You may get the notion to level one or both of these miserable professions some day.  Fishing can be leveled without even leaving town, but Archaeology is quite the opposite.  Since leveling Archaeology requires traveling all over the continents to the various dig sites, there is plenty of opportunity to benefit from our travels.  Here are the top 4 things to look out for, while leveling your Archaeology profession.

Top 4 Secondary Profit Options While Leveling Archaeology

1. Vendor Recipes
2. Raptor Nests
3. Rare Mobs
4. Gathering Raw Materials

Leveling Archaeology will take you all over the continents of Azeroth, unless you limit yourself to a single continent in WoW to speed up the leveling process.  Even sticking to one continent, you will be flying all over that land mass hunting the dig sites.  Why not take advantage of all of that intracontinental and intercontinental travel and make some extra gold in the process?

Vendor Recipes - While out and about hunting dig sites, you will pass through many different towns and villages.  Many of the settlements will contain npc vendors that sell recipes and items that can be bought for cheap amounts of gold and then sold for much more on the auction house.  There are even vendors out hidden in the world that sell specific recipes and items that can be sold as well.  Many players can't be troubled to venture out to get the recipes and items themselves or they don't know where they are found.  This creates a golden opportunity for profit, so be sure to check for recipes to flip while you are leveling up your archaeology.

Raptor Nests - There are 4 Raptor Companion Pets that are guaranteed drops from the rare spawn Raptor Nests available in certain areas of the game.  If one of your Archaeology digsites spawn in an area near a possible Raptor Nest, take a few minutes and peek around to see if one of the rare nests have spawned.  If you are lucky enough to find a nest and loot the Raptor Hatchling pet, then you can sell the pet for a nice chunk of gold now, or wait until Mists of Pandaria brings us Battle Pets in hopes for even more gold from the sale.

• Darting Hatchling can be found in Dart's Nest in Northern Dustwallow Marsh.
• Leaping Hatchling is found in Takk's Nest in the Sludge Fen in Northern Barrens.
• Ravasaur Hatchling is from the Ravasaur Matriarch's Nest in Southeastern Un'Goro Crater.
• Razormaw Hatchling can be found in a cave in Raptor Ridge in Northern Wetlands and is contained in the Razormaw Matriarch's Nest.

Rare Mobs - As you are traveling the World of Azeroth, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for rare creatures.  You could be suprised at the number of rare mobs that you will encounter while leveling up your Archaeology profession.  Some of the dig sites will spawn right over top of the same area that rare mobs can spawn.  When I leveling my Archaeology up, I would find anywhere from 2-8 rare mobs per digging session (usually 30 mins to 2 hours per session before I was ready to smash the screen from boredom).  These rare mobs can contain some nice stat combination green gear to sell to other players for leveling or for transmogrification.

Gathering Raw Materials - Farming up raw materials while you are out is also a great idea, especially since your Archaeology dig sites will appear all over the map and include areas that spawn Ore & Herbs.  Using your Mining and Herbalism are great ways to make extra gold while leveling up the dreaded Archaeology.  Focus on stopping by any of the raw material nodes that are in higher demand or are commonly in shortage on the auction house.  These raw materials will be good choice for gathering up while traveling, without taking too much time off of your main goal of Archaeology leveling.

The best part about using these 4 Tips For Increasing Your Profits While Leveling Archaeology is that you get to break up the monotony of the dang Archaeology digging grind fest!  If you can stick with maxing your Archaeology on your Alchemist, then you can begin the even more annoying hunt for the Canoptic Jars that rarely contain the Recipe: Vial of the Sands.  Then you can start using that maxed Archy skill for even more profits, provided the cheating dupers haven't ruined the market on your server already.

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

Scribes Rejoice - MoP Changes To Head & Shoulder Enchants

Another Gold Making Option For Scribes

Today there was some pretty big news released by Ghostcrawler in a blue post, regarding some major changes coming in the World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria.  Blizzard is removing head enchants from the game and is also changing how shoulder enchants are acquired for your gear. 


Ghostcrawler Explains Head & Shoulder Enchant Changes In MoP

We will no longer be having to grind reputation for either head or shoulder enchants in Mists of Pandaria.  Head Enchants are being removed completely and the Shoulder Enchants are going to remain in the game, but will now be made by the Inscription profession.  Scribes everywhere are already rejoicing as this will be an additional way to make gold with your Scribe in Mists of Pandaria.  Every single character will be wanting to purchase and use the Shoulder Enchants. 

Think of these new Inscription crafted Shoulder Enchants just like the Leatherworking & Tailoring crafted Leg Armor Enchants.  Almost every character uses Leg Armor Enchants and they have historically been great markets for gold making due to the constant demand.  Shoulder Enchants potentially could be just as profitable, but I do have one fear.  The Inscription Glyph market has been the most cut-throat market on damn near every server.  I hope those undercutting philosophies don't spill over into the Shoulder Enchant market as well. 

This could be the last bit of encouragement you need to dust off that mid level Scribe and get that Inscription skill maxed and ready for Mists of Pandaria gold making. 

Do you see this change as another benefit for Scribes or a hassle for consumers?

Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.

WoW TCG Archives Booster Pack Loot Card Lottery

WoW Trading Card Game (TCG) Loot Cards & Archives Booster Packs

The WoW Trading Card Game has always been an interesting branch of the World of Warcraft product line.  The booster packs for the WoW Trading Card Game have a chance at containing the more rare loot cards.  These loot cards contain a code for an item that can be used in the World of Warcraft game.  These loot cards are fun additions to the game that can include new mounts, new companion pets, and new vanity items, such as tabards or toys.  Many of the rare loot cards are able to be sold for hefty amounts on ebay and other sites as the loot cards are hard to find and without a ton of luck, would require purchasing a bunch of WoW TCG booster packs for a chance at a rare loot card.

Archives Booster Pack Box Sale

Recently, I spoke with Elvine on Twitter regarding the Archives expansion pack booster boxes on sale from Amazon.  We discussed the loot card distribution and the odds of making a profit by buying the sale priced boxes and selling the loot cards.  Elvine had already order a set of 4 of the WoW TCG Archives expansion booster boxes.  He granted me permission to use his experience and results in a blog post, as I found the notion rather interesting and thought that you might too.

The WoW TCG Archives Expansion

The Archives expansion for the WoW Trading Card Game is a special release that also includes some of the popular loot cards.  By design, the Archives expansion is a 190 card set of reprinted cards from the "best of" the first 3 years of the WoW TCG, but done in all foil.  The set contains some valuable and popular loot cards.  Each pack has a chance to contain loot cards, but the really lucky may get one of the 4 rare mounts:

1. Spectral Tiger
2. X-51 Nether Rocket
3. Riding Turtle
4. Big Battle Bear

Uncommon loot card possibilities include:

1. Robotic Homing Chicken (Rocket Chicken Companion Pet)
2. Banana Charm (Monkey Companion Pet)
3. D.I.S.C.O.
4. Fishing Chair

Common loot card options include:

1. Paper Flying Machine
2. Tabard Of The Flame
3. Papa Hummell's Pet Biscuit
4. Sandbox Tiger

The Archives booster boxes contain 24 of the 10 card booster packs and each booster pack contains 9 game cards and 1 crafting OR loot card. So for $39.95 you have 24 chances at pulling loot cards.  The notion perked my interest, so I dug a little deeper to try and find out the distribution pattern for the loot cards.  As per the FAQ on WoW TCG Loot Cards, the current loot card distribution (for sets after the March of the Legion expansion) is as follows:

• Commons - 20 to 21 per case, at least 1 per expansion box.
• Uncommons - 2 per case, or 1 in 6 expansion boxes, some rare cases have 1, where other rare cases have 3.
• Rares - 1 per case, or 1 in 12 expansion boxes, some rare cases have none, while other rare cases have 2.

The important thing to realize and not get overly excited about guaranteed rare loot cards is that when dealing with TCG boosters you are looking at 3 main product packages.  There are Booster Packs, Booster Boxes, and Cases.

• Booster Pack - 10 card pack, contains 9 cards and 1 crafting or loot card.
• Booster Box - 24 booster packs are in 1 booster box.
• Case - 12 booster boxes make up 1 full sealed case.

Looking at the odds and loot card distribution show that even if you buy an unopened full sealed case, you aren't guaranteed to get a rare mount loot card.  There is so much randomness built into the loot card distribution that it is still a gamble, even at the reduced sale prices. 

Elvine's Loot Card Results From 4 Archives TCG Booster Boxes

Elvine purchased 4 sealed booster boxes, which is a total of 96 booster packs.  The packs were opened live on Elvine's Twitch livestreaming channel.  Here are the loot card results from the 96 packs.

• Box #1
• 1 Tabard of the Flame (Landro Longshot)
• 2 Paper Airplane
• Box #2
• 2 Pet Biscuits (Papa Hummel's Old Fashioned Pet Biscuits)
• 1 Riding Turtle (Saltwater Snapjaw)
• 1 Banana Charm - Monkey Pet (King Mukla)
• 4 Sandbox Tigers
• Box #3
• 1 Sandbox Tiger
• Box #4
• 1 Tabard of the Flame

The results are a bit crazy and just go to show that the TCG loot card distribution is almost completely random.  13 Loot cards total and 8 of them, including the sole rare and sole uncommon, all coming out of the same sealed booster box. Boxes 1, 3, & 4 are complete duds, where as, box 2 is the only one with loot cards worth more than the purchase price of the booster box.  So think twice before rushing off to buy some sealed Archives booster boxes in hopes of making money selling the loot cards you find.  Odds are you won't be able to open enough loot cards to make it worth your investment unless you get lucky and obtain one of the boxes that hold the rare mount loot cards.

Even Cheaper Archives Booster Packs

If you are still interested in trying your shot at the WoW TCG Loot card lottery, consider Amazon for single booster packs.  Amazon currently has single Archives booster packs for only $1.25 each, which is cheaper than the sealed box sale price.  You lose the benefit of having a sealed booster box, but as shown above, there is no guaranteed distribution from buying a sealed box or case.  So next time you are on amazon and need a few more dollars to reach the minimum purchase total for free shipping, consider tossing in a few WoW TCG Archives booster packs.  You may just get lucky and find yourself a super rare loot card mount.




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