Attention Gold Bloggers: Blogroll Update & Requests

Attention World of Warcraft Gold Bloggers

With the release of the World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm we have seen a few gold bloggers return from their hiatus.  There also has been a burst in new gold bloggers on the scene.  I have already added a few new sites to the Cold's Gold Factory blogroll. 

If you are interested in being added to the Cold's Gold Factory blogroll, then send me an email.  You can find my contact info in the (contact) tab at the top of the page. 

If you are an avid gold blogger reader and know of a great site that I have not added, please send me an email with a request to add that site. 

Thanks to you all for your continued readership and comments.  Let's advance this gold blogging community into Cataclysm together.

Sign up for the Cold's Gold Factory and Blogging Vitals tweets by following @ssmith0911.

Question for Gold Bloggers  and Readers:
Would You Like To See Cold's Gold Factory Host a Monthly Blogging Carnival?

Blogging Vitals - New Blog For Bloggers

Traffic And Monetization Help For Bloggers

I have started posting daily on a new blog that I have created, Blogging Vitals - Tips for Increasing Traffic and Monetizing your Site.  The focus of this new blog is to help other bloggers succeed in driving traffic, monetizing their site, and building a better blog.  Markco has started a new blog as well with tips for driving traffic and building your google page rank.  Together these 2 sites should be valuable to any blogger new or old so please give them a look.

Here are my current posts:

bloggingvitals.blogspot.com
Blogging Consistency
Anchor Text and Proper Linking
Choosing Your Blog Topic
Setting Goals For Your Blog
Power of Pinging
Internal Blog Linking

Also check out Markco's traffic tips site as well:  The Traffic Blogger

So stop by the new site and subscribe or comment and let's build a better World of Warcraft blogging community.

Be sure to Get your entry in for the Cold's Gold Factory Win A Pet Code Contest.  Only 10 days left to enter.

New Remote Auction House

World of Warcraft Remote Auction House

I recently added the World of Warcraft Remote (or Web Based) Auction House subscription to my battle.net account.  I must say that I have to retract my original statement that the web based auction house is garbage.  That statement was made back during the early days of the Beta version of the remote auction house.  Blizzard has updated the armory for Cataclysm and this update included a major improvement in the performance of the remote auction house.

Gone are the super long waits loading different characters or changing auction houses.  The ability to swap to different characters to gather gold and post auctions is so vastly improved that I am glad I added this feature to my account.  It is now worth the extra $2.99 a month to me.  It is so much smoother and easier to use than the original release that we all got to try for free for a couple weeks during the Beta.  Prices haven't seemed to been changing to crazy prices erratically as they were back in the early days when the code was buggy.

I really like the ability to just log onto different characters and allow them to post to either the normal or the neutral auction house.  Makes it much easier to buy something on the Horde auction house and then immediately flip it onto the neutral auction house without having to gather mail, send it to the character in Booty Bay, log out, log in the seller, then repost to the correct auction house.  It is much simpler and a ton faster to post it with the remote auction house application.  It is a bonus not alerting my competition when I log in and they notice me on their friends list.  Stealth posting isn't a bad thing.

Have you tried out the new version of the Remote or Mobile Auction House yet?  What is your favorite use for it?

Elementium Ore Nodes - Cataclysm Sweet Spot

Elementium Node Cluster in Uldum



 Cataclysm's Release Date Mining Strategy


So my plan was to gather as much ore as I could on day one of Cataclysm and max my mining as soon as I created my Electrostatic Converter.  Cold is a Miner / Engineer so my strategy has been to gather and sell everything I collect.  Gems are selling for around 175g each, volatiles 10-50g each, and ores are all over the board, but 200g a stack elementium ore isn't too shabby.  After I turned in my 25 daily quests, here's how I maxed my mining very quickly.  

1. Used my Fate Rune of Fleet Feet which I had bought from the witch in Icecrown with 15 Vrykul Bones.  Wowhead comments say it doesn't work while mounted, but it sure looked like it to me.
2. Circled the Icecrown zone farming Saronite & Titanium until my mining skill was 475.
3. Took engineer portal to Scholazar Basin.
4. Flew through the Way Gate.
5. Flew across Un'Guro Crater directly to Uldum.
6. Farmed Elementium Nodes and Rich Elementium Nodes (at 500 skill) and Pyrite Nodes (at 525).

I highly recommend this exact strategy when grinding up your miner as it is very quick, skips the heavily player quest areas, and gets you mining and selling the higher value ores much faster than using a regular zone progression.  Uldum is excellent for mining while a lower level as the mobs are not close to mineral nodes, so no killing is required.  This Cataclysm mining strategy was a modification, but very similar, to one of the strategies listed in The Cataclysm Mastery System.  

Elementium Ore Sweet Spot in Uldum

Elementium Ore Uldum Sweet Spot

While farming the mining nodes in the new Cataclysm zone Uldum, I found this amazing sweet spot.  The map above shows the location in Uldum.  The above map is from the North West corner of Uldum.  The sweet spot contained 5 elementium ore veins every time I passed by.  Four of these elementium nodes are viewable at the same time on the mini-map since they are super close to each other.  Just to the North East is another elementium vein spawn location that was also always present with this cluster of 4 nodes.  NOTE:  I was farming without completing any quests, so at this point I am unsure if this node cluster is affected by any of the zone phasing.

AFK Farming Options

One of the things I am constantly looking for are good "AFK Farming" locations.  Locations that allow you to camp a character and watch spawns on ores on the mini-map without having to move your character are nice spots.  I use these AFK farming locations while I am unable to give full attention to the game, but I am busy working on my computer at the same time.  

I just put World of Warcraft into windowed mode and move the window to the top right of my desktop.  This allows me to open whatever project I am working on in a seperate window and size it up for most of the screen, while leaving the in-game mini-map up in the top right corner of my desktop.  So I am free to browse the internet, work on blog posts, edit screenshots, etc while always keeping an eye out for those little yellow dots to appear on the mini-map signally the respawn of the resource I am watching.  

One of the best spots for this in Vanilla WoW was in the Badlands North East of Kargath inside the cave with the rock elementals.  By camping near the entrance of the little cave, I could moniter the Iron Ore veins in the immediate area and the occasional Gold or Truesilver node spawn all without having to move my character.  Leaving my work in the foreground and game mini-map in the upper background allowed me to multi-task both in and out of the game.  This Elementium Ore sweet spot is exactly the type of AFK farming location I am always hunting for.  Four nodes all spawning within so close proximity means I can camp this on a flying mount and drop down to gather ores as the veins spawn then return to my other task.

Anyone else found a sweet spot for farming ores or herbs?  

Anyone else use the windowed mode strategy to do two things at once?

Cataclysm Leveling Sellers and New Raw Materials

This article was brought to you by The Warcraft Journal Magazine


Cataclysm Is Here


The third World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm brings about many new features including guild leveling, races, class/race combinations and much more. Players of all types are excited to experience these  and the rest of what Cataclysm has to offer. However, most people know that the main focus of the expansion is leveling. Goblins and Worgen will be leveling alongside the Tauren paladins and  Human hunters. In addition, level 80's will be advancing their characters to level 85 and professions will need to reach their max level again. Everyone wants to level as fast as possible and players will be seeking out ways to speed up the process as much as possible with things like food, heirlooms and other stat boosting items.

Even before the release of Cataclysm, players will be searching the Auction House for items that will help them to level faster. Those looking to make gold can supply these players with the items they need and make a profit doing so. These will continue to sell well due to the various waves of alts that will continue to be leveled. High level players normally have quite a bit of gold. They will be spending it on their low level alts as well as on their mains so that they can reach level 85 as soon as possible.

Cataclysm Preparation

This section is for sellable items that players will be purchasing for Cataclysm leveling. Things such as food, bags, potions and other similar items.

Food - You can find gold in both the food item or its materials.
Very Burnt Worg - Worg Haunch x1, Northern Spices x1 (Skill: 400)
Tender Shoveltusk Steak - Shoveltusk Flank x2, Northern Spices x1 (Skill: 400)
Spicy Fried Herring - Fangtooth Herring x1, Northern Spices x1 (Skill: 400)
Spicy Blue Nettlefish - Nettlefish x1, Northern Spices x1 (Skill: 400)
Spiced Worm Burger - Worm Meat x2, Northern Spices x1 (Skill: 400)
Snapper Extreme - Bonescale Snapper x3, Northern Spices x1 (Skill: 400)
Rhinolicious Wormsteak - Worm Meat x1, Rhino Meat x1, Northern Spices x1 (Skill: 400)
Poached Northern Sculpin - Musselback Sculpin x1, Northern Spices x1 (Skill: 400)

Bags - Materials are broken down.
Frostweave Bag (20 Slots) - Frostweave Cloth x60, Infinite Dust x12
Abyssal Bag  (22 Slots) - Frostweave Cloth x60, Infinite Dust x12, Eternal Fire x4, Eternal Shadow x8, Eternium Thread x1
Glacial Bag (22 Slots) - Frostweave Cloth x80, Infinite Dust x16, Eternal Shadow x8, Eternal Life x8, Eternium Thread x1

Potions
Elixir of Lightning Speed - Deadnettle x1, Crystallized Life x1, Crystal Vial x1
Elixir of Deadly Strikes - Goldclover x1, Adder's Tongue x2, Crystal Vial x1
Elixir of Armor Piercing - Tiger Lilly x2, Crystal Vial x1
Elixir of Mighty Mageblood - Goldclover x1, Lichbloom x2, Crystal Vial x1
Runic Healing Potion - Goldclover x1, Lichbloom x2, Crystal Vial x1
Runic Mana Potion - Goldclover x1, Lichbloom x2, Crystal Vial x1

Cataclysm Release
With the release of the expansion, you can gather materials for those looking to power level their profession. The gold potential early on is phenomenal so make sure to get out farming as soon as possible.

Cooking

Fish 
    Inland

Albino Cavefish - Deepholm (Recommended Skill: 550)
Mountain Trout - Mount Hyjal  (Recommended Skill: 575)
Lavascale Catfish - Deepholm and Uldum (Recommended  Skill: 550/650)
Striped Lurker - Mount Hyjal and Twilight Highlands (Recommended Skill: 575/650)
Highland Guppy - Twilight Highlands (Recommended Skill: 650)
Sharptooth - Deepholm, Mount Hyjal, Twilight Highlands, Uldum (Recommended Skill: 550-650)
Blackbelly Mudfish - Uldum (Recommended Skill: 650)

     Coast

Algaefin Rockfish - Twilight Highlands, Told Barad, Vashj'ir (Recommended Skill: 575-650)
Deepsea Sagefish - Twilight Highlands, Tol Barad, Vashj'ir, Uldum (Recommended Skill: 575-675)
Fathom Eel - Tol Barad, Vashj'ir, Uldum (Recommended Skill: 575-650)

Other

Snake Eye - Brinescale Serpent (Kelp'thar Forest) (~56, 36) (NE Kelp'thar)
Monstrous Claw - Crabs in Vashj'ir

Mining

The materials in this section will make you quite a bit of gold because its usefulness in  Blacksmithing, Engineering and Jewelcrafting.
Obsidium - Common mine found in Cataclysm. Will be in the level 80 zones such as Vashj'ir and/or Hyjal. Rich can be found in Deepholm. (~425/~450)
Elementium - Uncommon mine found in Cataclysm. Higher level zones such as Twilight Highlands and Deepholm. (~475/~500)
Pyrite - Rare mine found in Cataclysm. Found in the higher level zones. (~525)
Truegold - Created from Alchemist's Transmutation.
Volatiles
The new 'Eternals' or 'Primals' of Cataclysm. These will be required in many profession recipes.
Volatile Air - Dropped by air elementals in high level zones. Can possibly be extracted from mines (Engineer).
Volatile Earth - Dropped by earth elementals. (Twilight Highlands, Mount Hyjal, Stonecore) Dropped from mines (Elementium/Obsidium).
Volatile Water - Dropped by water elementals. (Twilight Highlands, Vashj'ir) Can be fished up in higher level zones.
Volatile Fire - Dropped by fire elementals. (Twilight Highlands, Stonecore) Dropped from mines (Rich Elementium/Elementium, Pyrite)
Herbs

                The materials here will be useful for both Inscription and Alchemy.

                Cinderbloom - Spawns in fiery areas such as portions of Hyjal and Deepholm. (~425)
                Stormvine - Seems to spawn at the base of other plants. Spawns in both Hyjal and Vashj'ir (~425)
                Heartblossom - Found in Deepholm. (~475)
                Whiptail - Found in Uldum and Tol Barad (~500)
                Azshara's Veil - Found in watery areas in Hyjal and all over Vashj'ir. (~425)
                Twilight Jasmine - Found in Twilight Highlands (~525)
                With all the fresh new content comes new things to sell and more money to be made. Keep supplying materials such as ore and herbs to those who are concentrating on their professions. The value of items will become more clear as time progresses so keep a watchful eye on the Auction House.

Alex
The Warcraft Journal Magazine
www.warcraftjournal.com

Reader Submission On Fortune Cards by Wukam

Hi Cold, First off, huge fan of your blog. It has definitely helped me out a lot.

Second, I wanted to post a comment on your blog post about Fortune Cookies and Fortune Cards, but ended up getting carried away with the statistical analysis and vastly exceeded the character limit. Instead, I humbly submit it directly to you for you to use at your discretion:

WARNING! Excessively long comment ahead!

TL;DR – Even though the cards, when you use them, will vendor fordifferent prices, they all have the exact same statistical worth of X,where X is the potential value times the chance of getting that value.If mats are below X, you can buy absolutely risk free. If mats areabove X, then you’re taking a risk.

This has me quite worried, and I wouldn't be surprised if Blizz endsup removing the cards.

First, you're mixing gambling with the already addictive WoW. Second, it's going to be crazy easy for players with a littleknowledge of statistics to exploit those that don't. This is WoW lottotickets.

Let me try to illustrate using real life lotto tickets as an example.  Let’s say you buy a lotto ticket for $1 that has a 1/500 chance of youwinning $500. In the long run, you will never do better than breakeven: for every $500 you spend, you win $500. Of course, you couldalways get lucky. What’s more important to look at is the SELLER ofthe lotto tickets. If they’re selling $1 scratch offs with a 1/500chance that they’ll have to PAY $500, they’ll never make money! For every $500 they get (500 tickets sold), they have to pay $500! So thesmarter thing to do is change the odds. Make it a $1 ticket that has a1/500 chance of winning $400. So for every $500 in sales, they pay out$400, netting $100. But now look at it from the buyer’s side! You’regiving away money! In the long run, you’re paying $500 to win $400! Of course, you could always get lucky, which is what you’re hoping for and which is the exact faulty logic the sellers are banking on!

The same statistical analysis will apply to pricing these cards,though it’ll be more convoluted because of the varying possible winnings. Though scribes aren’t directly “paying” the buyers, theyessentially are through the cost of mats, and this is where things aregoing to get interesting. Scribes are going to need to keep a VERYclose eye on the price of mats to make sure they aren’t buying themfor more than they could ever hope to get from the cards. Just to keep things simple, I’m going to assume there’s a 1/1000 chance of the cardvendoring for 5k, and that the other options don’t exist (the analysis will essentially be the same, there’s just going to be a lot more math involved). Let’s say those mats cost 5k. You now have two options:sell on the AH, or use the cards. Statistically, you’re just going to break even if you use them. And anyone who buys them for more than thecost of mats is stupid, because they’re taking a risk that will(statistically) never pay off. But that’s what you want, and whatyou’re hoping for and what will probably happen; “6g for a chance at5k!?” your uninformed customer thinks, “How can I not!”

Where things are going to get interesting are when mats are above orbelow the statistical chance; e.g. 4k for 1000 when there’s a 1/1000chance at 5k, or 6k for 1000 when there’s a 1/1000 chance at 5k. Inexample number one, you’re better off crafting and using them foryourself, because statistically you’re guaranteed 1k! (or at least, inthe long run you will profit) You are literally printing gold. But inthe second example, you are taking a huge risk unless you can turnaround and sell them for more. You’re spending 6k for something that’sonly literally worth 5k. Let me try to simplify to clarify. Withobjects like these where chance is the only factor, they are worthwhat you stand to gain multiplied by the chance at getting that. Sosomething with a 1/1000 chance of winning you 5k gold is only worth 5g(5000g/1000). If you are paying less than this amount (e.g. 4g peritem), you are going to come out on top in the long run. If you arepaying more (e.g. 6g per item), you are throwing away money. Unless,of course, you can make some other sucker pay even more! (e.g. 7g per)

As soon as statistics are reached, this market is going to becomepainfully simple for anyone with an understanding of how the marketworks to make money. As soon as mats are below what the cards areACTUALLY worth (potential winnings multiplied by chance of winningthem), you buy them all and either use them on yourself for no risk(that is important to realize: though you may have “blown” that moneyand flipped nothing, in the long run you are statistically guaranteedto make it back and then some!) or attempt to sell for moreinstantaneous profit. (But make sure you’re selling for above what they’re worth!) If mats are more than what they’re actually worth, youcan take the risk and attempt to sell them but you should never everever ever ever use them on yourself!

I know that this sounds exactly like what we do every day anyway –mats are below what we can sell for, we buy and craft, if they’reabove, we ignore (or sell the mats ourselves) – but why it’s sointeresting to me is that there is always going to be a baseline forwhat the cards are worth, unlike Glyphs, for example, which are onlyworth what people will pay, and that can fluctuate. They are alwaysgoing to be worth X, if mats are below X, you buy, simple as that. Why this might be confusing is because what they’ll actually vendor for,“Y,” will fluctuate depending on the card. But, in the long run, allthose Ys will average out to X. And I think that’s the TL;DR of thispost.

- Wukam (aka Vince)

Altar of Storms

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

Thanks for the submission Vince. 
 
Anyone else care to weigh in?

The Importance Of Pre-Patch Auction House Posting

Can You Feel It?

Only 1 days left until Cataclsym goes live and we are surrounded by tons of worgen and goblins.  New and returning players have been returning in droves.  Blizard has dropped the prices for the original game and the first 2 expansions down to only a $20 total purchase to get caught up to where current players are today - software wise.  This will definately lead to a nice influx of Christmas Noobs this year.  Probably more than any other previous year.  More players entering the game means more options for sales and more options for great finds from incorrectly priced auction house postings. 

Can you feel the excitement from the anticipation of the Cataclysm launch?  Hopefully you have completed your pre-Cataclysm checklist and are ready to start making gold off of the new World of Warcraft Cataclysm expansion.  Today I will discuss why it is important to have your auctions posted the night before any new patch or expansion goes live. 

Posting Before The Patch

One of the most important lessons you should learn is the importance of posting your goods the night before a patch, holiday, or expansion goes live.  There are several reasons for this strategy.  Maybe you already learned your lesson when you procrastinated the night before Glyph-mas.  Those of us that posted the night before saw much more success than those that got a late start on posting glyphs to the auction house.  Posting ahead of the curve is of vital importance whether a new expansion releases, a patch goes live, or you are looking to make major gold exploiting in-game WoW holidays. 

9 Reasons Why You Should Be Posting The Night Before:

1. Holidays go live at 3am.  So the demand spike starts at 3am server time.
2. Posting early prevents against delays posting if the servers come online late.
3. Posting early means you have less competition and maybe even a monopoly until others catch on.
4. Posting early on holidays is vital as copycats will steal your tactics a day or two into the holiday.
5. Posting early means you planned ahead and already did the bulk of your crafting or farming.
6. Posting first means you set the fallback price standard.
7. Many times your stock will be completely depleted before you can log back on again.
8. The first day of a holiday or patch is usually the day with the most sales.
9. Early posting also helps prevent late postings that could result from a real life issue that delays your chance to log in early.

So tonight at midnight it all starts.  Get your auction house stocked up tonight before you log off.  If you are planning on farming herbs or ores, have you planned out your Cataclysm Gathering Strategy?

Good luck to all who start racing tonight.  Don't forget to check out the fund raising over at http://www.wowmarathon.com/ as the gang attempts to get the world first level 85.

And in case you missed it, Cold's Gold Factory's Win A Pet Code Contest is now free to enter.

Win A Pet Code Contest Entry Now Free!

I have changed the requirements for the Win A Pet Code Contest.  Entries are now free.  I decided to axe the old idea of a raffle, have refunded entries, and will be giving away 2 Blizzard Store vanity pet codes funded entirely by me. 

Please click on some of the Adsense ads at Cold's Gold Factory if you prefer free contest giveaways, as I am using ad money to fund this contest.  More advertising revenue will lead to more contests in the future.  Thanks for your continued support.  I believe this change will be for the better as it will allow much more people to participate.

Please visit the original Cold's Pet Code Contest page for updated entry requirements.

**Please retweet and post to Facebook and MySpace please**

Mysterious Fortune Cards & Fortune Cookies

Goblinish Wisdom

The Interaction of Scribes and Cooks

Fortune Cookie and Fortune Cards are an interesting pair of craftable items that perplex me.  Fortune Cookies are a nice consumable that will be created by the cooking profession.  These Fortune Cookies require 1 Simple Flour and 1 Mysterious Fortune Card for each cookie.  The Simple Flour can be bought at any cooking vendor, but the Fortune Card must be crafted by a scribe through the inscription profession.  The Mysterious Fortune Card only requires 1 Resilient Parchment and only 1 Blackfallow Ink, which comes from the pigments of Cataclysm herbs.  I myself like to craft these type of items for profit because the interaction of requiring multiple professions tends to lower the number of competitors.  A good current example is Fused Wiring, which requires a jewelcrafter and an engineer to craft, and aren't typically a heavy competition item on the auction house. 

To Gamble, To Cook, Or Both?

Gambling
Now for the perplexing part.  The Mysterious Fortune Card is a new form of World of Warcraft in-game gambling.  Just crafting the card itself, you can sell it outright to gamblers or gamble yourself.  Using the Mysterious Fortune Cards give you 1 of 58 possible vendorable Fortune Cards that sell for anywhere from 10 silver to 5000 gold.  Yeah, you didn't misread that.  1 Mysterious Fortune Card can turn into 1 Fortune Card, which will vendor for the nice sum of 5k gold!  Fortune cards can vendor for 5k, 1k, 200g, 50g, 20g, 5g, 1g, 50s, or 10s.  So in a sense it is gambling for gold. 

Cooking
The option other than gambling is to use the Mysterious Fortune Card to create a Fortune Cookie.  These cookies give a nice 1 hr buff of +90 Stamina and +90 to a player's prime stat.  The crazy thing is once you eat the cookie you receive a Fortune Card just like if you had used it gambling.  The card from the Fortune cookie is the vendorable version, not the reagant version. 

Fortune Card Market Fluctuations

As auctioneers we need to be on alert and watching the markets for both Mysterious Fortune Cards and Fortune Cookies.  If you are looking to gamble and try your luck at getting a profit from these cards, then instead of buying or using the Mysterious Fortune Cards it may be cheaper at times to just buy the Fortune Cookies and eat those.  If the auction house market was in equilibrium, then the Mysterious Fortune Cards would be near the same price of the Fortune Cookies.  I am sure we will have some chances to play within both of these markets as players will be unaware of this relationship.  Scribes and cooks both should see nice demand and profits from both of these items. 

Options For Mysterious Fortune Cards

There could exist other options for using these Fortune Cards.  The 5k ones will be rare, but instead of vendoring for 5k you may be able to hold these and sell for a little more than 5k.  Why?  Players that are transferring servers are only allowed to transfer with a maximum amount of gold.  Therefore, some transferring players may be looking for high value items to take along in a non-liquidated form to further maximize the starter gold on their new server.

Gold Sellers could also be on the lookout for using these cards as a much more discreet way of paying players for their gold they have purchased unscrupulously.  Blizzard may keep a close eye on lareg exchanges of liquid gold, but will they be watching for these high value items?  Just food for thought...

Check out part 2 of this 3 part series:  Mysterious Fortune Card Barking Tips

Anyone else got a creative idea for these Fortune Cards or Cookies?

A Cataclysm Preparation Checklist

Cataclysm Approaches

Cataclsym is only 4 days away, do you have your game plan thought out?  Are you prepared?  You don't want to get left behind in the gold making race of Cataclysm's launch.  It feels like we have been waiting forever for this World of Warcraft expansion to finally release.  Are you ready?  Here is a checklist of tasks you may want to have been working on.  Proper preparation will be key to preventing stress and problems.

Checklist for Cataclysm Preparation

1. Do you have some items pre-crafted and ready to post the night before Cataclsym releases? 
2. Do you have some glyphs pre-made? 
3. Have you sent the materials for the Wrath recipes skill-ups to your crafters? 
4. Is your bank organized and neat? 
5. Have you cleared out your mailboxes? 
6. Do you have all of your guild banks in order? 
7. Do you know what your Day 1 plan is?
8. Are your characters parked where you want them to start out?
9. Have you finished leveling alts that are below level 75-80?
10. Do you have a physical list of what items are in which guildbanks (assuming you have more than 1)?
11. Have you joined a guild for the guild bonuses?

Have you entered the Win a Pet Code Contest?

What else is missing from this list? 

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT : Win a New Pet Code

Pandarin Monk

Lil XT

Lil KT

Moonkin Hatchling

Lil Ragnaros

Cold's Gold Factory Turns 1 This Month

Cold's Gold Factory will be celebrating it's one year anniversary this month.  On December 21st, this World of Warcraft gold blog will be turning 1 year old so I've decided to celebrate with a Cataclysmic contest for all my wonderful readers.  Enter for a chance to win one of these wonderful vanity pets.  Here are the contest details on how to enter for your chance at one of these amazing little guys.  

Pet Code Contest Details

Normally I wouldn't spend $10 myself on a digital vanity pet and definately wouldn't spend $25 for a Sparkle Pony.  Lil Ragnaros is so cool that I may just buy one for myself.  Did you know he burns up any critters that get too close to him?  He may not be worth $10 to you, but now you can have a chance to win him.  Contests are so much fun.

Win A Pet Code Contest Description:  (Contest Entry Changed)

This contest will be a random drawing based on entries.  Odds of winning will be based on number of entrants and number on entries.  Entries are free and you can enter up to 3 times.  I will give away 2 pets and winners can pick which vanity pet they would like. All winners will be chosen at random.

You can not win more than once.  International entries are allowed, as the codes have yet to be purchased.  The winners will be posted at Cold's Gold Factory in a post of their own on December 23rd.  Pet codes will be purchased from the Blizzard store and gifted to the Win a Pet Code Contest winners .  Digital codes will arrive from Blizzard.

How To Enter:

1. Leave a comment on THIS PAGE - 1 entry per person.  Please comment with what your favorite thing is about Cold's Gold Factory or a testimonial of a tip I provided that you implemented.
2. Winners will be required to provide Your Name, Country, Server, email, and any WoW Related Website you represent in the Notes of the Paypal Donation.  (Just for the Winner's Report Post on December 23rd)
3. Contest Entries will Cease at 12:00 Midnight Eastern Time on December 21st.

Bonus Entry:  Any WoW Blogger (doesn't need to be a gold blog, just WoW focused) that links to this post gets an extra entry.  Please use:  Cold's Gold Factory Win a Pet Code Contest as the anchor text in order to qualify for one free entry.  Email me a link to the post once it goes live as proof.  Remember winners get a free text link back to a site they represent.  Please title all emails: Pet Code Contest.

Thanks to all my readers who have almost made it to the 1 year mark with me.  Spread the word and good luck to you all.  Let's get this Cataclsym expansion kicked off with some fun vanity pet giveaways.  No purchase required.

NOTE:  I changed this to a no purchase required Giveaway Contest.  Anyone who entered with the old $1 entry raffle method, will have their entry refunded.  Sorry about the changes, but I decided this will be a more friendly trustable option.  All comments have been cleared as the contest has changed and this page is now the entry page.

A Cataclysm Item Preview: Loot-A-Rang

Loot-A-Rang
Once Cataclysm launches in World of Warcraft, engineers will have an interesting item that they will be able to sell to lower level engineers.  The Loot-A-Rang is going to be a wonderful item for any engineer to add to their arsenal of gadgets. This engineering item allows a player to loot corpses from a distance.  Think it sounds lame?  I think not.  This is another item that engineers can use from their toolbox as its not a trinket and doesn't need to be equipped.  The range in this toy is 30 yards, which makes for a good distance to loot from.  Another plus is its ability to be used with only a level 125 engineering skill.  So it is usable by all levels of engineers, including twinks.  Let's look over some of the uses for this thing.

Loot-A-Rang Uses
I'm sure we will come up with more creative uses later, but here are the uses that stick out to me currently.

1. PvP - Looting from a distance allows you first chance at a lot of the player corpses, which are a great source of gold within the battlegrounds.  Loot-A-Rang also allows you to loot those corpses that are swarming with enemies.  Loot those bodies from a safe distance.
2. Farming/Grinding/Leveling - Loot-A-Rang will speed up your kills per hour, since you wont have to traipse off after those few corpses that end up farther away than your main body pile.  Ever had a mob die while fleeing?  No problem, loot it from a distance with the Loot-A-Rang.
3. Irretrievable Corpses - Ever have a stupid kobold die halfway up the mountain where its too high to reach from below and the surface is too steep to loot from above?  The Loot-A-Rang will save that corpse loot from decay!
4. Underwater - If running to loot on land is a hassle sometimes, looting mobs underwater is a hassle all the time.  Speed it up, by cutting down on swim time with this ranged looting option.
5. Corpse Run Looting - Ever die then return to your corpse only to rez and find a ton of mobs standing over your corpse dancing and laughing at you?  Well those goods aren't lost anymore.

What other creative uses can you come up with for the Loot-A-Rang?

Image Credit: http://kinnernet2006.editme.com/files/GreatOutdoors/Boomerang.1.gif

How I'm Preparing For Cataclysm

Out of Game Excitement
So I have been spending like crazy on Amazon with all of the crazy Black Friday week and Cyber Monday and Tuesday deals.  I'm approaching spending around $1K this week at Amazon.  Got my new headphones, which I am loving.  Ordered a few books for me and the wifey, but I can't wait for the ProBlogger Book to arrive, as I've finished Blogging All-in-One For Dummies, which was 6 great books in one.  I got a Wii bundle for my wifey to play on, which came with a $50 credit towards a game, since we bought it together with a Wii Fit.  I found a Wii DJ Hero 2 Party Bundle for $99.99 minus the $50 credit, so I got the game, 2 turntables, and a microphone for $50 - no tax, no shipping.   I love Amazon!  And thanks to my Cataclysm Pre-order through Amazon, I'll be getting a $10 credit towards another game soon.

In Game Excitement
"Ok Cold,  enough about all of the cool stuff you are getting from Amazon.  What are you doing in World of Warcraft?"  Not a whole lot.  I'm doing the same thing every one of you should be doing.  Getting ready for Cataclysm.  I procrastinated on the last couple of Patches and got caught without enough glyphs pre-made to fully take advantage of the glyph-mas bonanza.  So these are the main things I am doing in this final week to get preapared for the Cataclysm in World of Warcraft.

1. Buying out cheap items.
2. Crafting as many items as I can to be able to post properly.
3. Crafting tons of glyphs also.
4. Cleaning old junk out of banks.
5. Clearing out excessive mail and organizing my 6 guild banks.
6. Leveling up any crafters that aren't to 80 yet.
7. Raising reputations on crafters that are missing some reputation required recipes.

What else are you doing to get ready for the World of Warcraft Cataclysm release that is a week away?

Cataclysm Profession Strategy : Common Commodity Crafting



"Thanksgiving is over.  It's time to work on our Cataclysm strategy."

Cataclysm Professions Race

The World of Warcraft Gold Blogging Community is all buzzing about what professions to level first. Gathering is going to very popular once Cataclysm releases as many players will be willing to spend hundreds of gold on resources on their quest to the world or server first achievements. Dual gathering is also feasable with the new ability to track herbs and ores together without the macro requirement. Some players are wanting to reach the highest level recipes before others as an attempt to monopolize specific high end profession craftables. Others are just racing for the server first requirement without much thought into whether its is profitable to do so.

Cold's Cataclysm Common Commodity Crafting Strategy

Cold's Gold Factory will not be pushing for any server first attempts. Why not? In my opinion it is a major waste of gold, another gold sink that costs extra gold just to light up an achievement box. I will be following the same strategy I have used on all my characters and my profession leveling strategy in Cataclysm will be no different. Power leveling is a very wasteful approach when in comes to leveling the World of Warcraft crafting professions. The Common Commodity Crafting Strategy focuses on looking for "sweet spots" in your crafting recipes list.

Profession Sweet Spots
These "sweet spots" are items that you know are going to sell on the auction house. These "sweet spots" or "common commodities" can appear anywhere within your recipe lists. Every profession has these "sweet spots" of common commodities that you will probably be mass producing eventually. Why not use Cold's Common Commodity Crafting Strategy to grind those sweet spots for profession skill gains while you can get skill-ups? I grind these "sweet spot" common commodities until the recipe is grey, thus milking every skill point out of them. A lot of poorly planned characters just follow a power leveling guide to get to max skill, then look for ways to make gold from the profession. They may turn around and mass produce these common commodities for profits after blowing through a bare minimum the first time while power levelling through. This power leveling approach is very wasteful, poorly thought out, and a major expense. Cold's Common Commodity Strategy is much more profitable and more of a timed careful efficient approach to leveling professions. Cataclysm will be no different. There will be a fast and expensive way to level your professions and there will be a slower more efficient and more profitable approach: Cold's Cataclysm Common Commodity Crafting.

 

Common Commodities
What exactly are these common commodities? The common commodities or "sweet spots" are any item in your recipe lists that you know will continue to be in demand over the course of the expansion regardless of where they are located in the crafting list. Sometimes these common commodities are available long before the maximum skill level of the profession. Using the Common Commodities Crafting Strategy, I craft these typs of items until they become grey and are no longer offering profession skill-ups. Can you think of some of these common commodities that you probably have already crafted time and time again? Some excellent examples from craftable items are:

1. Any BoE craftable pet
2. Belt buckles, shield spikes, weapon chains
3. Enchanting rods
4. Meta gem transmutes
5. Bags
6. Leg armors
7. Transmuted bars
8. Specialty cloth

Can you think of any other examples of craftables that would be common commodities?

 

Image Credit: http://ewpopwatch.files.wordpress.com

Potion of Treasure Finding and Tiny Treasure Chest

Potion of Treasure Finding
In Cataclysm, Alchemists will be able to craft a rather interesting new potion.  The Potion of Treasure Finding allows the imbimber to sometimes find extra treasure from monsters in the new Cataclysm zones of Mount Hyjal, Vash'jir, Deepholm, Twilight Highlands and Uldum.  This effect lasts a full hour, persists through death (like flasks), and is not limited to the alchemy profession.  Any level 80+ character can use this potion of treasure finding.  The extra treasures come in the way of allowing mobs to drop a Tiny Treasure Chest.

Tiny Treasure Chests
The Tiny Treasure Chests on average were dropping 3-5 Gold, had a 75% chance to contain 8-15 Embersilk Cloth, and a 15% chance to contain a single volatile element.  Extra Embersilk Cloth and volatile elements will be an excellent find for anyone out grinding mobs or killing for quests.

Will Potion Of Treasure Finding Be Profitable?
In the first weeks, all items are going to be ridiculously priced to craft just because of the horribly inflated prices we will see on the auction house.  Once the market settles down and prices on herbs are reasonable, then we can look at more accurate data as far as the return on investment in using these potions of treasure finding while grinding or farming.  I would expect these to be much more valuable to any of the heavy dps classes that can ramp up their kills per hour ratio.  The potion of treasure finding lasts for a full hour so the more mobs you can kill within that hour, the more chances you have of finding a tiny treasure chest, thus increasing the potential of this potion.  If I was grinding specific mobs for a certian drop, I would definately try one of these potions out.


Requirements To Craft:

■Cinderbloom x 8
■Stormvine x 4
■Heartblossom x 8
■Whiptail x 4
■Crystal Vial x 1

Anyone else have thoughts on the Potion of Treasure Finding and its uses?

Image Credit: http://duplexchick.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/116/files/2008/07/hidden-treasure.jpg

What To Snatch With Cataclysm New Player Influx

Cataclysm New Players Incoming
With Cataclysm approaching we already have been seeing the increased population of lower level players.  Many of these players are experimenting with the new race and class combos now possible after The Shattering Patch 4.0.3a.  Watching the auction house may prove very profitable for older Vanilla craftables.  There are a lot of new players and new characters questing through the new content.  Not all of these players know the true value of some of the premium items required for some key vanilla crafting recipes. 

Many of these components drop in the lower level zones, which increases availabilty of these items on the auction house.  Many times these are horribly underpriced.  Example:  I just bought 2 Spider's Silk for 39 silver total.  You can snatch these premium materials up at very low prices as these are often listed incorrectly.  The end products that many of these lead to are also craftables that should be selling very well to new players and new characters alike.  The population is about to explode once Cataclysm launches.  I expect to see even greater steals to snatch off the auction house as the new players post incorrectly priced goods.

Auction House Keen Vision
These are some of the vanilla commodity items to watch for.  Cold's Gold Factory is already seeing an influx of cheaply priced goods on the auction house in World of Warcraft.  Look out for these.

1. Spider's Silk - Tailors can profit from Spider Silk Boots and Spidersilk Drape, while leatherworkers can craft Toughened Leather Gloves.
2. Arcane Crystal - The rush of miners has led to a surplus of arcane crystals.  Using the Transmute: Arcanite is very profitable selling Arcanite Bars and a Transmutation Master gets extra bars created.  These Arcanite Bars can be sold individually or turned into Arcanite Rods for all the soon to leveling enchanters. 
3. Large Fang & Small Lustrious Pearl - Barbaric Bracers are an excellent item to add to your aresenal.  I sell these for 125g each and buyout fangs and pearls under 1g.  The profit margin is excellent and these are a trusted seller.
4. Perfect Deviate Scales & Deviate Scales - Both are required for the very popular Deviate Scale Belt.

So make sure to keep an eye out for these materials.  Even if you aren't into crafting the items you can buy these out while you find them cheap and relist them for their normal market value to the crafters.
Image Credit:  http://rlv.zcache.com/

Cataclysm Gathering : Want An Advantage?

(Promotional Review : Affiliate Links Enclosed)

Ready...Set...Farm!
Maybe you are trying for world first at a gathering skill.  Maybe you just want to farm for the first week to make an absolute killing selling herbs and ores on the auction house to all of the power levelers looking for server first in their profession.  We all know that Cataclysm ores and Cataclysm Herbs will be selling for lucrative prices during the first weeks.  I myself had already planned to do nothing but farm and post for at least the first week.  There never is a better time to make gold from farming than during the first weeks of a new expansion.

Are you ready for the Cataclysm Gold Rush?
Farming isually the lowest gold/per hour method of all the ways to make gold in WoW.  Once every few years, things get a little interesting. When Wrath of the Lich King went live, the Cobalt was selling for 200g/stack. Saronite for 300-400g, Titanium for 1k+, and all the herbs for 100-500g/stack.

This time around, due to the inflation of Gold in WoW, expect to see 500g/stack and up for even the lowest ores and herbs. That’s 5k/hour, even if you only get get 10 stacks. And if you were one of the first people to sell the new items, well... You would really have it made!

What if you had complete Farming Maps for all the Cataclysm Zones on launch day? You would definitely be one of the first and main sellers right?

Make A Game Plan
Anyone serious about trying for any server first or raking in the gold from farming needs to have a game plan.  You will not succeed without prior knowledge and a pre-planned route or strategy.  One of the problems I was going to have was understanding the new high level zones.  I wasn't lucky enough to get into beta, so I have seen next to nothing from within the new zones.  This would put me at a great disadvantage as players with Beta experience would be able to complete quests and create farming routes and strategies much better than I could.  That was until I was contacted by Ryan from Cataclysm Mastery.  He offered me a sneak peak into his new blog / membership site that is specifically focused on all the knowledge and secrets I had been missing out on from Beta.

Cataclysm Mastery System
After reviewing the site, I was compelled to share this opportunity with my readers at Cold's Gold Factory.  I am going to be using his system as it gave me exactly what I was looking for - Pre-mapped routes for farming the new zones.  His site also goes over tons of helpful information.  Just some of the great topics:

1. Detailed Cataclysm Herbalism and Mining Farming Maps with In-Game add-on Data and Advanced Filtering.
2. Quick-Start Cataclysm Game Plan for Super-Fast Leveling and Gold Creation.
3. The Masters Selling Secret to instantly increase your Auction House profits potential.
4. Fully Complete Cataclysm Profession Guides for On-going Gold Making.
5. The Guide to Understanding the AH.

The Detailed Cataclysm Herbalism and Mining Farming Maps is worth it to me.  This just helps me not only catch up to the players with Beta experience, but allows me to already have a way to jump ahead of them in the race.  So if you are like me and missed out on Beta you definately need to check out The Cataclysm Mastery System.


Thanks Ryan for allowing me to review and use your product.  Keep up the good work!

Garrosh Hellscream: Guest Post by Warcraft Journal Magazine

This article was brought to you by The Warcraft Journal Magazine

Garrosh Hellscream

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Warchief

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


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

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

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cold

Go Learn Glyph of Mage Armor - Portals Gone

Glyph of Mage Armor Returns
Scribes, Inscription masters, can now rejoice.  The missing Glyph of Mage Armor can be crafted again.  Previously this was bugged after Patch 4.0.1.  You can go to the inscription trainer and re-learn the ability to create the glyph.  When you learn it, run straight to the auction house and post a ton of them.  Hopefully not many people have caught on before you.  Many mages will be buying this glyph to complete their set since it can now be crafted, thus forcing the prices to come way down.  If you are on the Alliance side since many players will be re-rolling an alt Night Elf Mage.  The Tauren Paladins and Troll Druids are in now too.  Doesn't hurt to post up some extra glyphs for all the new classes now allowed in The Shattering Patch 4.0.3a. 

Portals For Sale
Mages are making a killing these days with the portals being removed from Dalaran and Shattrath.  The bountiful tables also offer another great spot to bark your services, if you are a mage looking for work.  On the other side, if you are using a portal, make sure you are at least tipping.  Show some respect to your mages. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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