Friday, August 24, 2012

Remote Auction House Tips For New Users


Remote Auction House Tips
WoW Remote Auction House Now Free

Remote Auction House Is Now Free

Gone are the $2.99/ month fees associated with the Remote Auction House.  As of yesterday, 08/23/12, Blizzard has announced that the World of Warcraft Remote application is now free to all WoW subscribers.  Both the Remote AH and the Guild Chat features are now free and usable by all. 

This Remote Auction House change comes just a week or so after I had chosen the next month's Gold Blogging Carnival topic to be the Remote Auction House.  So be sure to check back for multiple articles from a variety of bloggers with tips and tricks on using the remote auction house for making gold in WoW.

While this is a positive change that allows us to not have to pay for the remote services, there are still drawbacks to having the access be free.  For starters, you will have more competition with easier access to undercut you as well as there being more sets of eyes out hunting for bargains and sniping auctions.  I've already started to see an impact in some markets that I am a big purchaser through the Remote AH, especially with my Bargain Blues Stockpile Strategy For MoP.  More hands in the pot, means less treats for us all.
One thing I can't stress enough for brand new users of the WoW Remote AH.

Double Check Your Postings Until You Get The Hang Of It!
Make Sure To Double Check:
  1. Quantity Being Posted
  2. Price Per Item
  3. Price Per Stack
It is very easy to accidentally post a full stack of goods for the price of a single item, if you aren't familiar with the Remote AH interface.  We've all done it, so I'm trying to warn you ahead of time.  On the flipside, be watching for any erroneously priced goods the next few weeks as new players and new users are bound to screw up their postings.  Keep an eye out for steals!

Here are 3 previous articles that I have written about the Remote Auction House In WoW.  These are worth a second read, or first if you ignored them the first time, since now everyone can use the free remote application.
 Enjoy the free remote auction house, but be careful not to list stuff for the wrong prices.

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

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Top 4 Items To Unload Before WoW Patch 5.0.4


Items To Get Rid Of Before WoW Patch 5.0.4

The Mists of Pandaria pre-patch is less than a week away and Patch 5.0.4 will be updated to live WoW servers on Tuesday, August 28th.  That leaves us with less than 6 days to continue to prepare for the big changes coming with the new patch.  As gold makers in WoW, we need to be on the ball and take special care to unload some of the items that are going to see a massive drop in value or are going to become completely worthless because of these new changes.  Let's take a look at some stuff to unload ahead of the big pre-patch.

1)  Blackfallow Ink - Convert all of your Blackfallow Ink into all of the other inks that are using for Glyph crafting.  With the pre-patch comes the change to the Inscription ink traders, so don't get caught with a bunch of Blackfallow Ink and no way to trade them down.  This change will reward those of us who prepared ahead of time and will penalize those who didn't.  Even if you plan on selling crafted items that require Blackfallow Ink, you should still convert all that you have.  Once the vendor no longer takes those inks for converting down to the other inks, the prices are going to drop even farther. 

2)  Relics, Librams, Idols, Hunter Melee Weapons & Non-Hunter Ranged Slot Items - The Relic, Libram, Idol, Wand, Ranged Weapon slot is being removed.  Wands are moving to the main hand weapon slot and Hunters will still use ranged weapons, but will no longer have melee weapons as well.  Don't get tricked into grabbing those nice + agility items, as part of your Bargain Blues Stockpiling, that won't be able to be equipped by Rogues, Monks, or Druids.  If you have been crafting relics or other items to disenchant, make sure to get them all disenchanted prior to the patch.  If you don't disenchant them ahead of time, you run the risk of the items turning grey or being removed alltogether.  Plan ahead.  Also get rid of any ranged weapons (crossbow, bow, gun) that you were hoping to sell to levelers, unless they are useable by Hunters.  No one else will have a ranged weapon slot, so those tanking guns are going to be useless.  Dump them or Disenchant them.  Then when the patch drops, keep an eye out for good Disenchant fodder as any crossbow, bow, or gun without Hunter stats will be worthless as gear.

3)  Enchanted Thorium Blades - Along the same lines as those items above, but worth it's own mention.  Enchanted Thorium Blades have long been the go to craftable item from producing our own Greater Eternal Essences and Illusion Dust.  Get them made and Disenchanted ahead of the patch so you don't run the risk of being stuck with a bunch of near useless Enchanted Thorium Bars or Enchanted Thorium Blades that may turn grey on Patch day.  Also keep an eye out for plummeting Enchanted Thorium Bars on the auction house after the patch, if you have a use for them.  I will be buying up the cheap Enchanted Thorium that gets dumped to use for a niche market of mine, Whitesoul Helms (for dungeon running Paladin Healers).

4)  Nightmare's Tear - With the removal of the Relic slots, the Nightmare's Tear is going to pretty much worthless.  There won't be any more prismatic gem slots to fool players into foolishly slotting them with Nightmare's Tears.  Dump all your Nightmare's Tears and Dragon's Eyes now. 

So these are the top 4 things I'm making sure to dump prior to the big pre-patch 5.0.4 on this coming Tuesday.  You have been warned too, so don't get caught with your pants on the ground!



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

Monday, August 20, 2012

Flawless Draenethyst Sphere


Blasted Lands Quest Turn Ins
Flawless Draenethyst Sphere & Imperfect Draenethyst Fragment
 Flawless Draenethyst Spheres and Imperfect Draenethyst Fragments

The Flawless Draenethyst Sphere and Imperfect Draenethyst Fragment are a couple of interesting quest items.  I'm writing about these today because they have been showing up on the auction house on my server at silly low prices.  Of course, I buy the Flawless Draenethyst Spheres and turn them in for the rewards. I then add the resulting blue gear to my Mists of Pandaria stockpile of blue weapons and gear I'm flipping to leveling characters in Mists of Pandaria.  It's just another aspect of my bargain blues stockpiling for Mists.
What Are These Draenethyst Items?

Any creature killed within the entire Blasted Lands zone in WoW, has a chance to drop either of the Draenethyst quest items.  The Sphere is more rare and drops much less often than the Fragments.  Although, if you kill one of the rare spawns within the Blasted Lands, you have a better chance at receiving one of the rarer Flawless Dranethyst Spheres. 

They are both repeatable quest turn ins that are given to the npc, Kum'isha, also located in Blasted Lands.  For each Flawless Draenethyst Sphere turned in, Kum'isha will award you with a container that when opened will award you a guaranteed rare blue item (weapon or gear) or possibly an epic purple item.  There is also a chance to get a second green item or a recipe within the same container awarded for the rare turn in.  So if you look up the Flwless Draenethyst Sphere on Wowhead.com and see that the awarded container does contain green items, don't be fooled.  Those green items can appear in addition to the guaranteed rare blue item.  The Imperfect Draenethyst Fragment will award you a green item or two once turned in to Kum'isha.

If you are out and about questing or farming within the Blasted Lands zone, you will probably obtain a few of these items.  Make sure that you turn them in to Kum'isha yourself and get a shot at the epic items that can sell for a nice chunk of gold.  A few days ago, I found a pair of the Flawless Draenethyst Spheres on the auction house for 10 gold each.  I took the portal (which is found in any major city) out to the Blasted Lands zone and turned in both of the Spheres.  With those two turn ins I was awarded a nice rare item that I commonly sell for a few hundred gold and another that is a nice blue ranged weapon with +Agility that should bring a hefty price from a leveling hunter in Mists of Pandaria.  While I was in the area, I also noticed and killed another rare spawn, which also dropped a Flawless Draenethyst Sphere.  This one also awarded me a nice item to sell once the Mists expansion launches.

Even though there is a small gamble involved, I would add the Flawless Draenethyst Sphere to your snatch list and buy out any that you find for 25 gold and under and take the chance at getting the rare epic items, nice blue gear to sell on the auction house, or a chance at a rare recipe. 


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.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Bargain Blues Stockpiling For MoP


Stockpiling WoW Blues For MoP
Hooray For Cheap Blue Gear!
 Bargain Blues Stockpiling

Right now there seems to be a crazy amount of underpriced blue leveling gear showing up on multiple auction houses.  I have been stockpiling a ton of great low level blue weapons and lower level blue gear because I am absolutely positive that I will sell it all for a major profit once Mists of Pandaria launches.  How can I be sure?  I do it every expansion and Mists will be no different.  Well, Mists is bringing us the Monk player class, which means a massive increase in demand on leather items, specifically agility based leather gear and jewelry. Oh yeah, we also get an 11th character slot in Mists.  That means even more new alts being created by those players who've been capped at ten characters for a while.

Why Blue Gear?

Blue gear is worth more than green gear because of increased stats, lower drop rates, less supply on the auction house (which gives more visibility to your blues), and for status effect for socials.  Some players with extra gold will pimp out their alts as they level and other players make low level battleground twinks.  Twinks are looking for best in slot gear and pimped out alts are looking for great blue gear with the stats to either increase survivability or ramp up their damage. 

I have been able to pick up an amazing amount of blue leveling gear pieces off of the auction house.  The majority of these blue items are way underpriced.  I'm snagging the majority of blue gear for under 20 gold apiece with a ton of it listing as stupidly low as 5, 10, and 15 gold.  So I have been buying up all of the good pieces (good as in proper stat combos) and banking them away for the new player rush. 

How To Search For Blue Gear To Stockpile

The ingame WoW auction house and the WoW remote auction house both use the same technique for finding good deals on the leveling blue weapons and gear pieces. 

  1. Select Armor auction group.
  2. Change to rare quality only.
  3. Search required level to 0-29
  4. Check all blue gear results for poor pricing.
  5. Buy the ones that have good stat combos and are poorly priced.
  6. Do the same for Weapons level 0-29.
  7. Then Armor 30-57.
  8. Then Weapons 30-57.
When determining a price point, even if you dont understand which items can sell for a lot more, you should be able to identify that any good stat combo blue item should sell for 75g or more.  So buy out anything at 50g or under that has a good stat combo.  Many of the excellent items will sell for over 100 gold easily and some as high as 300-800 gold if its a best-in-slot twink item. 

You can place extra emphasis on agility based leather gear, rings, and neckpieces because the incoming wave of monks will be easy targets to sell to.  Also place extra emphasis on non-BoA gear slots like Belts, Wrists, Rings, Legs, Neckpieces, & Trinkets. 

Here are some of the crazy stupid low prices I've paid while working on this sure-fire mega profit blue gear stockpile.
  • Cobalt Crushers 5g
  • Axe of Rin'ji - 3 at 7g ea
  • Frostreaver Crown - 12.5g
  • Watchmen's Pauldrons 4 for 5-10g ea
  • Sparkleshell Mantle - 3 for 10g ea
  • River Pride Choker - 12g
  • Yorgen Bracers - 5g
  • Thunderbrow Ring - 12g
  • Tigerstrike Mantle - 20g
As you can see these are top notch items that will sell for 150g minimum easy, but I will be pricing them 200 gold or more due to the demand spike and inflation.  This is just the tip of the iceberg!  I'm snatching tons of good blue gear to sell to the levelers, including the Tarot deck crafted blues that get listed too low.  You should be checking your auction house on your WoW server too! 

Idiot Jewelcrafters Who Just Give Stuff Away

Along the exact same lines, be sure to also keep a watch out for poorly priced jewelcrafting rings.  I've been seeing horribly low priced rings on multiple servers (been using the strat on 2 servers myself), which are obviously some idiot leveling his Jewelcrafting profession and tossing all the rings on the AH for stupid cheap.  They always come in big batches and are all the same price, regardless of stat combo!  That's about as dumb as you can get.  Aquamarine Signets take 3 aquamarines to craft and they sell for more than the foolish JC is listing the completed rings for.  And it's been the same thing with Sapphire Signets, stupid prices and a flat price regardless of stat combos.  These blue rings are being listed on the servers I'm on for 5g, 7.5g, or 10g each, even when they proc the uber stat combos!

Aquamarine Signets are crafted with Jewelcrafting, but 2 of the 3 stats on the rings are randomly determined.  Every ring will have +20 Attack Power, so I buy out the ones with combos that support AP.  I target these types:
  • +Agi/+Sta
  • +Str/+Sta
  • +Agi/+Dodge
Sapphire Signets work the same way.  Why are you selling that +14 Agility ring for 5 gold?  Nevermind, thanks for being so dumb!  I'll make the money you were too foolish to recognize.


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

Friday, August 17, 2012

Tarot Deck Strategy For MoP Monks, Rerolls, & Alts

Goblin Tarot Deck Crafting Strat
My Tarot Deck Strategy

Monks, Pandas & Other New Characters

You don't have to be a mind reader to know when to sell certain items to make gold in WoW.  It's no secret that with the next World of Warcraft expansion we will be seeing a major influx of new pandarian characters, new monks, re-rolls, fresh alts, and brand new players altogether.  This creates a myriad of options for profiting off of these new players and characters.  Even the brand new players will be targets for making gold. 

You may think that brand new players aren't worth targeting, because they won't have much gold to spend anyway.  Wrong!  Many players these days join a specific server because they know some on that server in real life.  Those brand new players are often the recipient of a nice chunk of gold to get them started.  So you will have brand new players with a nice chunk of gold burning a whole in their pocket.  That's where we goblins come in, to help provide the items that they are going to be wanting on the auction house.

I will be going into more detail in an upcoming post about what items to be looking for to snatch and flip for new players, but today I will be focusing on a strategy I have been working on.  I highly recommend getting started on this same strategy ASAP, if you are interested, because as soon as the new pre-MoP Patch 5.04 drops, it will be much harder to find the required herbs at cheap prices. 

Patch 5.04 brings the Inscription Ink Vendor change, which will increase the demand and prices for the older inks, so get stocked up now!

Every time we have an influx of new players and new characters, I turn to profitting off of the various Tarot Decks as once of my methods of making gold in WoW.  This startegy works well when there are new players entering the game.  The top 3 times to sell these items for leveling characters are:
  1. New Expansion Releases
  2. Christmas Break (Christmas Noobs)
  3. Schools Out For Summer

Tarot Decks And What They Make

Tarot decks are created by Scribes (don't let any fool convince you they are called Inscriptionists or Scribblers) with the Inscription Profession.  There are 4 different Tarot Decks and they are each created from combining the required Tarot Cards.  Why target these Tarot cards and decks for new players?  Because you get some killer gear that you can sell for a nice profit when you turn in the completed Tarot Decks.  Every expansion I always run short on these items, even though I try to stock up and make as many as I can.  The demand is just too great to meet the spike brought on by the new player influx. 

The Cards for the Tarot Decks are created using the rare inks that are obtained while milling.  This is one of the reasons I don't just convert Blackfallow Ink or the current top level ink at the Inscription ink trader.  If you aren't milling the low level herbs, then you won't be getting any of the rare pigments.  You can find the rare inks and pigments listed on the auction house sometimes, probably from Scribes that don't understand their value. 

There are 4 types of Tarot Cards and Decks
  1. Mysterious Tarot (of Rogues) - Crafted with Hunter's Ink (Verdant Pigment)
  2. Strange Tarot (of Swords) - Crafted with Dawnstar Ink (Burnt Pigment)
  3. Arcane Tarot (of Mages) - Crafted with Royal Ink (Indigo Pigment)
  4. Shadowy Tarot (of Demons) - Crafted with Fiery Ink (Ruby Pigment)
Mysterious Tarot / Deck of Rogues - These are an absolute goldmine!  Once you turn in the deck (at anytime - the Darkmoon Faire is not required for any of these 4 Tarot Decks), you have the choice of 3 items.  You pick which reward you would like, the Robe (cloth), Vest (leather), or Chain Shirt (mail).  These are wearable at level 15 and rival gear much higher level.  These chest peices are favorites of low level twinks and leveling characters alike.  These Darkmoon chest pieces can also be snatched up off of the auction house and sold for a nice chunk of gold.  I tend to sell them for 75 gold each.  The stats given to the pieces are random, so you will have some duds with a goofy stat combo, but those can still sell for an easy 25 gold.  The best stat combos can sell for over 100 gold each.

Strange Tarot / Deck of Swords - My favorite of all the decks because of the speed at which the awarded gear flies off of the auction house.  These Swords Decks award level 20 blue shoulders.  Low level shoulders are great items to sell because many low level players won't fill their shoulder gear slot by questing alone.  You have 3 choices of awards again: Azure Shoulderguards (Mail), Cloaked Shoulderpads (Leather), and Darkcloth Shoulders (Cloth).  Again the stats are random, but the combinations are pretty good and the great stat combinations can sell for hefty prices to twinks and levelers.

Arcane Tarot / Deck of Mages - These decks award the choice of 1 of two neck pieces that are equipable at level 30.  The Darkmoon Necklace has +5 Sta / +8 Int / +5 Crit, while the Darkmoon Pendant has +6 Agi / +11 Sta.  With the onslaught of incoming Monks, I will be stocking up on the Pendants to sell to the Monks, Rogues, Druids, & Hunters.

Shadowy Tarot / Deck of Demons - These are excellent items to use to make gold as well.  Equipable at level 40, you can choose from 3 different weapon rewards to sell on the auction house.  There is a +Agility Dagger, a +Intellect Staff, and a +Attack Power 2 handed Axe.  I have had the most success selling the Dagger and the Staff, with little success with the Attack Power Axe.


What Herbs To Look Out For For Tarot Decks

Here is a quick reference list of which herbs will have a chance to create the required rare inks when milled by a Scribe, as well as which Pigments to search for.

Hunter's Ink for Rogues Decks
  • Bruiseweed
  • Stranglekelp
  • Briarthorn
  • Mageroyal
  • Swiftthistle
  • (Verdant Pigment)
Dawnstar Ink for Swords Decks
  • Kingsblood
  • Liferoot
  • Grave Moss
  • Wild Steelbloom
  • (Burnt Pigment)
Royal Ink For Mages Decks
  • Khadgar's Whisker
  • Dragon's Teeth
  • Goldthorn
  • Fadeleaf
  • (Indigo Pigment)
Fiery Ink For Demons Decks
  • Ghost Mushroom
  • Gromsblood
  • Blindweed
  • Arthas' Tears
  • Firebloom
  • Sungrass
  • Purple Lotus
  • (Ruby Pigment)
So don't forget to stock up on these raw low level Vanilla WoW Herbs prior to the big Mists of Pandaria pre-patch 5.04.  These will become much harder to find and much more expensive as unprepared Scribes will be forced to turn to milling the lower level herbs for the proper inks, once the vendor won't accept Blackfallow trading anymore.


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

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Finally A Way To Turn Gold Into Dollars?


Savage Raptor WoW TCG Mount Card
Turning Your Gold Into Dollars With TCG Mounts
 Turning Your Gold Into Dollars

The Mists of Pandaria expansion is bringing a lot of changes to what we have grown accustomed to in World of Warcraft.  With these changes we are seeing a complete overhaul to both the pet and mount systems.  These changes are opening the pathways to some new and different avenues of profiting both in and out of the game. 

Euripides already wrote about the possibilities of transferring wealth between servers with battle pets.  It's a novel idea, but I have no interest in having gold on multiple servers or playing the markets on multiple servers.  Hell, it's hard enough to maintain both the Horde and Alliance auction houses on my own server, much less having to look for deals on other servers.  So, I won't be participating in trying to move around caged battle pets.  I will however, be very interested in utilizing the changes to the mount system to make real life profits.

Making Money With WoW TCG Mounts

I was chatting on Twitter with a fellow goldmaker, Farli from The Overcut, earlier today after I saw him tweet that he had just snatched up a rare WoW Trading Card Game mount that he is planning on flipping for extra gold once Mists of Pandaria comes out.  Then I had a revelation.  Why sell it for gold, when you can sell it for cash? It's going to be entirely possible with the new changes coming to how the mounts work.

In Mists of Pandaria, all of your mounts will be Account Wide instead of just on the character that learned the mount.  This announcement alone has already led to increased demand and continually increasing prices for all of the WoW TCG Mount Loot Codes.  Similarly, the WoW TCG Pet Loot Codes are also selling quickly and are also seeing the prices increase as they are going account bound in MoP as well.  And when we say Account Bound, it's truely account bound.  Any character, regardless of server, will have access to the same pets and mounts collection that will be accessed through the new Pet & Mount UI tabs.

So obviously this makes purchasing a WoW TCG mount more valuable, since every character of yours will be able to flaunt that mount, even any new characters that you create on any server!

Using WoW TCG mounts to purchase gold in a roundabout way has always been legit.  Blizzard made changes to allow the WoW TCG mounts to create a BoE mount that you can trade on the auction house to prevent getting ripped off.  You can spend money on a loot code, then get the item to sell in game.  The end result is that you paid money for Warcraft gold legally. 

Now we will finally be able to turn the tables and turn our hard earned gold into real life money, using this same system in reverse.  The biggest drawback to the mount code change of creating BoE mounts has been that you pretty much needed to find a buyer on your current server.  If you chose to sell the TCG mount to another player, that player either needed to already be on your server, or one of you would face extra charges of transferring a character to deliver the mount. 

Well, that will no longer be a limiting factor once the new mount UI is implemented.  Which means you can sell those rare mounts to anyone within your region (Us/Oceanic/EU only) or shop for a rare mount on any server you have gold on.  How so?

Getting Paid For Your Gold Making
  1. Find a WoW TCG Mount on your server, Spectral Tiger as an example.
  2. Buy the Spectral Tiger off AH with gold.
  3. Find a buyer for the Spectral Tiger (eBay, Craigslist, Forums, Blogs, etc)
  4. Buyer makes an Alt on your server.
  5. Show Spectral Tiger to buyer and receive payment from buyer.
  6. Trade Spectral Tiger to buyer.
  7. Buyer learns Spectral Tiger on new alt.
  8. Now all of the buyer's characters can mount the Spectral Tiger, regardless of server.
Note: If you do decide to sell your mounts for real money and use Paypal to complete the sale, be sure to document and screenshot the entire transaction for your safety as Paypal leaves the burden of proof on the seller should an issue arise.  I would have the buyer create the alt on your server first and require that the character's name be included in the payment he sends to help validate screenshots you take of the transaction.

I'm unsure of whether this would technically be allowed or disallowed by the Terms of Service, but it really isn't much different than selling the physical WOW TCG loot cards, except that the code has already been redeemed for the in-game item.  This is safer than blindly buying loot codes from other players that may or may not have already been used. 


Why flip for gold when you can flip for cash!?!


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.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

WoW TCG Mount Loot Codes

WoW TCG Mount Loot Codes

With the Mists of Pandaria expansion just around the corner, the demand for the WoW Trading Card Game Pet Codes and the WoW Trading Card Game Mount Codes have skyrocketed.  While the pets are going account wide through the new battle pets system, player mounts are also going to become useable account wide.  This is wonderful news when you consider that those hefty priced WoW TCG mounts are going to be able to be used on all of your characters.  Instead of paying $700 for a Swift Spectral Tiger for your main character, each and every character of yours will be able to flaunt that super rare and highly desired mount for all of Azeroth to see.

The prices of the WoW TCG mounts have steadily been on the rise.  The demand is continuing to increase as more and more players learn of the account wide mounts conversion coming in Mists of Pandaria.  Hover over the links below and you will see that some of the prices are already crazy.  Amazon is currently sold out of the most expensive WoW TCG mount card, the Swift Spectral Tiger.  I can't even fathom spending that kind of real life cash on an in game item myself.  If you are looking to obtain some of the WoW TCG mounts, don't hesitate because the prices are climbing and I'm sure they will jump even higher once Mists of Pandaria launches and more players return to the game. 

Current WoW Trading Card Game Mounts

WOW MOUNT LOOT CARD NAMEEXPANSION SET
Riding Turtle Saltwater Snapjaw Heroes of Azeroth
Spectral Tiger Spectral Tiger Fires of Outland
Swift Spectral Tiger Swift Spectral Tiger Fires of Outland 
Savage Raptor Savage Raptor War of the Elements 
Swift Shorestrider Wasteland TallstriderThrone of the Tides
X-51 Nether-Rocket X-51 Nether Rocket Servants of the Betrayer
X-51 Nether-Rocket
X-treme
X-51 Nether Rocket X-tremeServants of the Betrayer 
Blazing Hippogryph Flaming Hippogryph Wrathgate 
Corupted Hippogryph Corrupted HippogryphCrown of the Heavens 
White Riding Camel White Camel Tomb of the Forgotten
Big Battle Bear The Red Bearon Drums of War
Wooly White Rhino Wooly White Rhino Icecrown 
Magic Rooster El Pollo Grande Fields of Honor 
Mottled Drake Mottled Drake Worldbreaker 
Amani Dragonhawk Amani Dragonhawk Twilight of the Dragons 
Ghostly ChargerGhastly Charger SkullBetrayal of the Guardian
FeldrakeFeldrakeWar of the Ancients

Are You Willing To Gamble?

When hunting for WoW TCG mounts you have 2 options.  You can purchase the mount cards themselves (US/Oceanic and EU realms only) or you can purchase the WoW TCG Booster Packs or Booster Boxes.  Cryptozoic has taken over the production of all the WoW TCG sets and currently many of the older booster packs are on sale, some for as low as $2 per pack!  So it's a great time to clean up on some cheaper WoW TCG booster packs and boxes.  The table above links to the associated booster packs that can contain the specific mounts.

Landro's Gift Box

There is also the gamble of the Landro's Gift Box loot card.  This code will award you with a gift box that when opened will reveal a random TCG item.  The Landro's Gift Box will contain one of the following:
  1. Papa Hummel's Old Fashioned Pet Biscuits (50 Stack)
  2. Sandbox Tiger (50 Stack)
  3. Path of Cenarius (50 Stack)
  4. Riding Turtle
  5. Reins of the Swift Spectral Tiger
  6. Reins of the Spectral Tiger
  7. Big Battle Bear
  8. X-51 Nether Rocket
  9. X-51 Nether Rocket X-treme
Remember the Landro's Gift Box is a gamble, you are not guaranteed to get one of the mounts.  You may be hoping for a Spectral Tiger and get only Pet Biscuits, but if you get lucky, you can get a super expensive mount for a fraction of the cost.

Archives Boosters

The Archives Booster Packs and Archives Booster Boxes are another great way to get some of those classic favorites as this set is a "Best of" from the previous WoW TCG expansions.  This gives you a chance to get some of the most sought after pets and mounts and these packs are dirt cheap! 

Archives Boosters can contain:
  1. Spectral Tiger
  2. X-51 Nether Rocket
  3. Riding Turtle
  4. Big Battle Bear
Have fun and gamble safely! 

Check out the post on WoW TCG Vanity Items Loot Codes.
Check out the post on WoW TCG Companion Pet Codes.

Don't forget to check eBay for loot codes as well.


NOTE:  Timewalkers: Reign of Fire Expansion

The Reign of Fire expansion for the WoW trading card game has released on July 23rd, 2013.  The Reign of Fire expansion contains no new loot cards, instead this new expansions includes every loot card every previously released!  And they have upped the drop rates of the loot cards, so you have even better chances to pull loot codes out of the boosters!

Find out more about: The Reign of Fire WoW TCG boosters.

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

Monday, August 13, 2012

September Gold Blogging Carnival Topic

Share the Topic | Share the Traffic

Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival - September 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 August Carnival on Market Strategy Comparisons. 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.
  
September 2012 Gold Blogging Carnival Topic

As WoW gold makers, many of us are also subscribers to Blizzard's additional subscription service, the Remote Auction House.  I love the ability to post and buy from my phone, especially since I've been stuck taking the city bus / transit system lately.  So let's take a month and discuss the remote auction house and how we use it.

The Remote Auction House - Tips, Tricks, Strategies, Love or Hate It?  Any post on the Remote AH will do.

**********

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.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Market Strategy Comparisons | Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival

How To Make Gold In WoW
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:

Compare & Contrast Markets And How Your Strategies Differ In Each.


Compare & Contrast Art of The Gold by Focushot of Hunter Mastery


Auction House Gold Making Strategies by Marcus Ty of Journal of Marcus Ty


Different Markets, Different Tactics by Nev of Auction House Addict


1000k In 65 Days Making Gold Before Mists Of Pandaria by Farli of The Overcut


Glyphs And Transmog by Gold Shield of Gold Shields


Auction Durations 12 vs 24 vs 48 Hours by Cold of Cold's Gold Factory


Market Comparison by Wes of Capped by Cata


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:






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

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.





Thursday, August 9, 2012

Auction Durations - 12 vs 24 vs 48 Hours



12 vs 24 vs 48 Hr Auction Durations in WoW
How Long Do You Post For?

Which Durations I Use - 12 vs 24 vs 48 Hours

This month the topic for the August Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival asks us to compare various markets and how our strategies are different within each market.  I will be focusing on the various auction durations and what strategies I use to decided which auction duration to assign to the individual market items.

When deciding which auction duration to apply to your auction house goods, there are various factors that should come into play.  These factors can include, but are not limited to:
  • Auction house fee to list the individual item.
  • Amount of items already listed on the auction house.
  • How heavy is this market's competition?
  • How soon do you expect the item to sell?
  • What time of day are you posting the item?
  • What day of the week are you posting?
  • How many do you have total to sell?
Posting 12 Hour Auctions

The shortest auction duration available is the 12 hour time slot.  The obvious drawback of using the 12 hour auction duration is that your item will only be up for a limited time.  This means you must continually relist this item to keep it on the auction house, which creates more work for you.  Sometimes that extra work is required though.

12 Hour auctions are only good for items that are in heavily camped, undercut heavy, competitive markets. The Gem market is the only market that I will use the 12 hour auction times.  Well, the current expansion gems that is.  I am often the only seller in older expansion gem markets, which allows me to post for longer durations without much drawback in those older gem markets.  In the Gem market the biggest reasons to only list for 12 hours are 1) the cost to post Gems and 2) the heavy competition.  Gems have a pricey listing fee and are often undercut within hours (if not minutes), so listing for longer than 12 hours almost guarantees you are just tossing extra gold away to the auction house listing fees.  The 12 hour duration, while more annoying to relist, will save you plenty of gold in the long run. 

Some players will post Glyphs on the 12 hour cycle as well, but I see no point. The cost to list Glyphs is almost nothing and most of us don't have a limited supply of Glyphs, which allows us to just repost more from our bags as we undercut.  Plus if you are listing for longer durations and the competition only lists for 12 hours, there will be times that their auctions expire and leave yours as the cheapest.  If they miss a posting cycle, or their auctions end at an odd time, there will be a window of oppurtunity to make sales.

I don't sell raw stacks of ore on the auction house.  If I was an ore seller, I would post for 12 hours for the same reasons, cost to list and heavy competition.

Posting 48 Hour Auctions

The longest auction duration available in World of Warcraft is the 48 hour auction.  The 48 hour auction is ideal for some specific auction house markets.  Any rare pattern market or overlooked niche market where you are the only seller is a great candidate for using the longest auction cycle possible.  Less work is required, since there is little risk of being undercut.  Some examples of rare or hard to obtain pattern markets that I am predominantly the sole seller list for 48 hours are: Deviate Scale Belts, Barbaric Bracers, Whitesoul Helms, Rich Purple Silk Shirts, Voice Amplification Modulators, Chimera's Eyes, rare twink enchants (like +15 Agility to Gloves or +4 Stats to Chest), and max sized profession bags that are gated behind daily grinds.  Basically anything with zero or little competition gets posted for the maximum auction duration as I am creating my own market pricing and have little worry of being undercut.

Another group of items that I post for 48 hours are items that can have massive demand spikes that lead to a bunch of sales.  These types of markets can see sales for both you and your competition at decent prices, as opposed to getting into massive undercutting wars that do nothing but lower everyone's profit.  These are also markets that see a lot of continued sales and are inexpensive to post.  Good examples are Netherweave Bags and Mysterious Fortune Cards.  Odds are there is no reason to cancel and repost, because you probably have a ton more to sell anyway.  By leaving those older undercut auctions alone and just relisting new items underneath the lowest price, you will often see sales of all of your low priced ones and the higher priced ones can also sell.  Transmogrification gear and 77-80 Cataclysm greens are 2 more good markets for the 48 hour listings, as long as you aren't battling on specific gear pieces with competition. 

Posting 24 Hour Auctions

The largest majority of items that I post, get listed with a 24 hour duration.  The 24 hour auction duration is the happy medium between the 12 and 48 hour auction posting options.  I definately post most of my items for 24 hours when I am actively playing the auction house on a daily basis.  If I know I have very limited time or must skip a day of posting, I will increase my 24 hour auctions to the 48 hour listing, just for longevity.  If a market starts to become highly competitive and I am seeing a lot of returned auctions, I may drop my listings down to 12 hour durations, but only on the more expensive listing fee items.  But overall, if you are a daily auctioneer, 24 hours is the best option for the majority of markets in WoW.

Anyone have any other markets that they definately only post at 12 hour or 48 hour auction durations?


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.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Top Blog Posts From July 2012

Top Blog Posts, News, & Podcasts From July 2012

I've started to turn back to more of a regular posting schedule here at Cold's Gold Factory, in preparation for Mists of Pandaria, the next WoW expansion.  After losing the majority of interest in that whack ass Diablo 3, I'm back playing and experimenting within the time stood favorite, World of Warcraft.  I have been very pleased with the quality of posts that I've been writing lately and look forward to spreading more gold making goodness in regards to getting ready for the next expansion.  I've started up my bank and guild bank cleaning projects and have resumed stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria.

In July, We ran the Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival featuring Gold Maker Recommendations For The Expansion Lull to help provide insight as to what you can be doing now at the end of the expansion to prepare for the next one.  The topic for the August CGF Blogging Carnival was also announced, where we will compare different posting strategies of seperate markets.

Podcast News For July

Auction House Junkies

The big news is that Auction House Junkies is back putting out WoW gold making podcasts.  We've already released 2 new episodes and we are busy researching for more episodes to come out in the near future.

Be sure to check out: 

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast continues pumping out episodes on a weekly basis (minus the week we lost an episode and R9z's computer, but we hope to get that episode off the hard drive once the pc is fixed and healthy again.)  The shift in content has swung back towards World of Warcraft as we are getting sick of Diablo 3 and Mists of Pandaria is less than 2 months away.

Be sure to check out:
As always, if you enjoy the podcasts, be sure to stop by iTunes and leave us a review or give us a thumbs up on Stitcher Radio.

Top Blog Posts Here At Cold's Gold Factory In July

Top 5 posts of July here at Cold's Gold Factory were:

  1. Source List Of All Companion Pets Turning To Rare Battle Pets - Find out what pets are going to be rare battle pets and find out how you can obtain them, as well as which ones are no longer obtainable.
  2. Dump Your Holiday Pets Now! - This post warns and explains why you shouldn't hang on to those holiday pets you've been stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria.
  3. Why Buy Low, Sell Normal Is A Joke - Don't be fooled by internet salesmen sensationalism.  Buy low, sell normal is laughable and is only worth practicing if you want to limit your profits.
  4. Guide To WoW TCG Pet Codes & Loot Cards - A breakdown of what pets come from which loot codes as well as what TCG expansion these codes are from, in case you feel like gambling.
  5. Battle Pets Podcast With Alludra & Kephas - Here I introduce a great new podcast that I have been enjoying that focuses on the upcoming Battle Pets System.
If you haven't checked out these popular posts, then have a look.  I'm sure you will find plenty of useful information within them.  As always, thanks for reading!


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.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Top 6 Items To Craft For The MoP Monk Influx


Monks & Pandas Incoming In MoP

MoP Monk Influx Suggested Craftables

With the Mists of Pandaria expansion looming and the obvious flood of Monks on the way, it's time to stock up on specific items that we can use to craft items sought after by these new Monk characters.  I have always been heavily invested into the markets that supply new players with gear and enchants at the forefront of every new WoW expansion.  Each and every expansion I have made hefty profits selling low level gear and enchants to the floods of new and returning players and characters.

With my years of experience selling items to new and leveling characters, I can say with absolute certainty that these are the 6 best items to stock up on to sell to new characters, specifically to the new Monks.  I've have always stocked up on the required crafting materials for months ahead of time, and I NEVER have enough items to meet the massive demand.  I've already been stocking up on these required crafting materials and again I will not have enough to supply the masses of new players coming in Mists of Pandaria.  The demand for these items is just massive and unless you've been stocking up on the materials for months, you should be able to sell every one that you craft too.  The limitation partly stems from the inability to obtain large quantities of some of these materials due to their decreased drop rates.

I can never craft enough of these leveling items because they are top quality items for levelings and players who like to gear out their leveling characters.  I sold out in Cataclysm again and that was with no new character class being added.  With the addition of Monks, the demand on these low level items is going to explode.  Due to the difficulty in obtaining the recipe or materials for these items, you don't have to worry about leveling characters flooding your market as they level their professions.

Top 6 Items To Craft For Monks
  1. Barbaric Bracers - A favorite among twinks and leveling characters.  Large fangs are super rare now and this pushes the price and profits up even higher than in previous expansions when I would easily sell out for 125 gold each.
  2. Deviate Scale Belts - Recipe no longer obtainable, so very easy market to control completely.  Perfect Deviate Scales are the limiting factor in how many you will be able to craft and sell.
  3. Toughened Leather Gloves - Spider's Silk requirement makes these rarely seen for sale on the Auction House.  Stock up or farm the Spider's Silk now and make these in MoP.
  4. Malachite Pendant - These are the only ones we may see flood the market from JC profession levelers.  Fear not, this is one of the best low level items to buy up and flip for huge profits, because it's the only + Agility neck piece for a while.
  5. +15 Agility To Weapon Enchant - The best enchant for Monk fist weapons and now sought by Hunters, Rogues, Druids, & Monks.  Stock up on those Essence of Air and Large Brilliant Shards.
  6. Fiery Weapon Enchant - #1 selling enchant for leveling characters overall in my experiences.  Sure Crusader sells to some classes and Mighty Intellect to others, but Enchant Weapon: Fiery flies off the auction house when a new expansion drops.  Rich players buy +15 Agi; poor players buy Fiery.
Stocking Up Materials For These Great Monk Items

Here is the master list of materials you will need to craft these 6 items.  Start stocking up now, especially on the rare and hard to find items like: Perfect Deviate Scale, Large Fangs, & Spider Silk, & Heavy Hides.

Barbaric Bracers
  • Heavy Leather (8)
  • Cured Heavy Hide (2)
  • Small Lustrious Pearls (4)
  • Raptor Hide (1)
  • Large Fangs (4) - Where to Farm Large Fangs
Deviate Scale Belt
  • Perfect Deviate Scales (6)
  • Deviate Scales (4)
Toughened Leather Gloves
  • Medium Leather (4)
  • Cured Medium Hide (2)
  • Elixer of Defense (2) [Wild Steelbloom & Stranglekelp]
  • Spider's Silk (2) - Where to Farm Spider's Silk
Enchant Weapon: Agility (+15 Agi)
  • Large Brilliant Shards (4)
  • Essence of Air (4)
Enchant Weapon: Fiery
  • Small Radiant Shards (4)
  • Essence of Fire (4)
If you can't seem to get enough of these materials from the auction house you may turn to farming your own.  If you can't acquire enough on your own, once Mists of Pandaria actually launches, you may be able to find these materials listed for cheap on the Auction House as new players post them for well under their true value.


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.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

4 Tips To Improve Your Remote Auction House Efficiency

4 Tips For Using The Remote Auction House

The Remote Auction House has been a great addition to the tools of the WoW gold making goblin.  The Remote Auction House application for smart phones has been very effective for me in helping snatch up cheap goods, is a great tool in the war against undercutters, and helps with auction house espionage issues.  There are a lot of uses and benefits to using the RAH in addition to the in game auction interface.  I've already written about The Top 9 Uses For The Remote Auction House, so today let's look at a few ways to improve your remote auction house WoW gold making routine.

#1 - Shop Like A Boss

One of the hassles with shopping for large quantities of materials on the auction house is the repetitive nature of having to click on each item individually to make a purchase.  With the in game WoW auction house we have add-ons like Auctionator and TSM that help us buyout items more quickly and accurately.  Well, those same Auctionator style buying improvements are also used within the Remote Auction House application.  It took me a while to figure this out for myself and it was only after @MSherretz pointed it out on earlier episode of The Auction House Junkies Podcast that I was able to fully take advantage of this awesome RAH addition (which was added in a RAH app update, I believe).
The key to getting to use the Auctionator style buying lists in the Remote Auction House application is to use the "Show: Buyouts Only" option.  This is a simple filter that is found at the top of the screen after you search for items.  Once the results are tallied, you can select the "Buyouts Only" option and it will stack all of the same price items into the same buyout row.  Check out the image below to see the results. 


WoW Remote App - Sorting By Buyout
WoW Remote AH - Sorting By Buyouts Only


As shown in the above image, instead of displaying every stack of Whiptail individually, all of the same priced items get stacked together with a "total stacks at this price" quantity.  In the example above, you can see that there actually are 25 full stacks of Whiptail all listed at the same price.  In the following image, you can see that you now have an option to purchase all of those stacks with just 1 action.  Note: You will still be charged 1 transaction (from your daily limit of 200) for each stack that you buy.  This a great way to make bulk purchases in a speedy fashion.  Use it!


WoW Remote AH Shopping For Materials
WoW Remote AH - Bulk Shopping

#2 - Quicker Search Tip
Searching is another thing that takes time and effort when using the Remote Auction House.  One of the fastest ways to improve your search speed is to keep 1 of the items that you constantly search for in your bags or in your personal bank.  This allows you to bypass the manual entry of item names into the search field because you can just tap the item and then hit the "Price check" tab from the item display.  So if you are on a crafter that buy his own crafting materials, always leave 1 set of materials uncrafted to improve your searching efficiency with the RAH.

#3 - Reverse Your Banking Thought Process

One important way to better utilize the Remote AH for speed and convenience is to get out of the typical mindset of how banks and guild banks are used.  If you are like me and have multiple crafters within the same guild that share a guild bank for easy materials distribution, then you have to reverse that thinking.  Even if you have alt characters that have their own guild bank for storage, you still have to think differently when using the Remote auction House regularly.  Why? 

Items in the guild bank can't be listed on the auction house or accessed at all through the Remote AH, even if you are the only member of the guild and the only one who could ever see into the guild.  It's just not allowed with the Remote AH interface.  So all of your items for searching, selling, and price checking need to be in your bags, your individual character's bank, or in your mail box and not stored away in a guild bank.

Many of us tend to throw our crafted items and materials into the guild bank and tend to keep our personal stuff in the personal banks.  If you are a consistent Remote Auction House user though, this is limiting your available storage space for interacting with the Remote Auction House.  Reversing your banking thought process will prove beneficial in the long run as you have space to work with on the RAH.

#4 Keep Your Mailbox Clear

Nothing hampers a Remote Auction House business like an overfilled mailbox.  The Remote AH will only display and allow you to interact with the last 50 items in your mail.  So keep the mailbox tidy and clear when you are in game because you can't retrieve items from the mail box, unless you are posting them back on the WoW auction house.  You don't want to have to waste reposting non-selling items just to be able to get to and see the valuable item you want to make sure to relist.  So keep those mailboxes tidy for speed and ease.

Want to hear even more about the World of Warcraft Remote Auction House?

Be sure to check out the Auction House Junkies Episode #25 - French Dip where we discuss the Remote Auction House as our primary discussion topic.  I apologize for Wes in advance.

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