Afraid? You should be....

 

In my last post I talked about someone creating a toon on a new faction to try and create wealth. Looking at it again I realise it was quite a generalised post, which often happens because I have fingers in many servers and the vast majority of my readers dont reside on the Caelestrasz server.

In conclusion to that post I recommended enchanting and inscription as the two professions I would take if I had a level 20 character sat on the opposing faction to my mains.

I stand by this but after a quick chat with my hordie friend last night I realised something I had failed to focus on in the last post - what to do if the faction/server you find yourself isn't an 'average' server? How do you still get the piece of the pie?
Caelestrasz is a good example of this. Although I recommended Inscription as a profession of choice, Cael's glyph market is, to be blunt, a bitch. Moonvengence has gone (dunno where, he may be back soon) but the void of his absence has quickly filled. Even I sell glyphs alliance side these days, along side six to eight other sellers.

Due to taking my foot off the throttle, I'm pretty relaxed about my posting. I post at 6.30am server time for 24 hours. I then do the same the following day. I don't even log into the toon I'm selling with in between. Its funny (as in funny peculiar not funny ha!ha!) how hitting gold cap changes a person. I am still scanning, DEing, snatching for 4.2, buying low selling normal. I'm still making scrolls and grinding ink. I'm still shuffling. In fact I am still doing most of my daily goblin chores, just with around a quarter of the intensity.

And I'm enjoying the game a lot more. I PvP. I grind rep. I level alts (ok I'm not enjoying that bit but we need a dwarf shaman for the classy achievement). Basically I'm taking time to pop up and take a look around. And its a good feeling.

But that's me. That's where I am. With a million gold I can afford to slack. However its easy to forget that others aren't at that point of being financially comfortable - who are still feeling the burn so to speak.

Being a kiwi I get to post early in the day - I get between an hour and six hours before I get undercut. If I posted at 6pm server time rather than 6am server time, I would be undercut within 20 minutes. Yes indeed the undercut wars are still ongoing full tilt on Caelestrasz.

Undercutters are an intersting bunch - and as long ago as October 2009 I was giving advice about methods to compete. I hate c'n'p so I will just link what I said below:

AH Campers - An Annoying Breed

Currently we have most examples of campers - but we are missing gold farmers. I guess Moonvengence drove them out and they are yet to return.

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So what do you do when you are moving into a new Auction House for the the first time? Well the first rule never changes - Get Decent Auction House Data. For me this means auctioneer but others options are available, but the rule still applies - you cannot make money if you dont know your market. When I move to a new server I scan frequently over a few weeks. When I begin to trust my data varies upon item type - but after a week I can be pretty confident in the numbers being offered back by the addon. Having done this on 20+ servers in my time I can probably gauge a server as quickly as anyone, and can take educated punts the first time I visit the auction house - but its not something I would necessarily recommend to everyone.

Next look at your competitors. Try and work out what they do and if at all possible when they do it. There are techniques for this, addons to track people, but for me thats just a little too creepy. Remember you arent destined to own ever copper on a server, so stop worrying if someone else makes a sale and you don't. Your time will come - and at the end of the day your aspirations should be to increase your wealth, not to limit others trying to do the same.

If you get undercut do what you feel is right - cancel and relist? Ignore and stick to your schedule? It's totally up to you, and what you are willing to commit to. But remember that you are playing to enjoy yourself and I never quite saw the joy in being a camper - but it may rock your world, and who am I to judge.

Specifically for glyphs - if you are focusing on research glyphs then the first few days are the most frustrating. You have one/two/a few glyph types to work with - and if you are up against a camper who also has those glyphs you are out of luck. But the joy of research glyphs is that not everyone has them - and once you get more than a handful you are going to start to find niches - sales will happen. Its just patience - as I said last time inscription is a longer term strategy. It's a backfill to compliment everything else you are doing.

One comment on DEing for profit - it works on every server I have ever come across. Yes an essence costing 50g on one server may be being sold for 10g on another - but that doesn't matter. There is a definite link between the price of greens and the price of enchanting mats which is common to WoW. You will always find greens at a price which; when disenchanted; will, on average, produce enchanting materials worth significantly more than you paid for the item. Enchanting is the only 100% fool proof profession for making gold in WoW.

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I've always tried to be unspecific on this blog. Rarely so you find a post saying buy X. I've always tried to give broader advice, empowering my readers rather than spoon feeding them. There are plenty of blogs out there who cater for the less refined fly-by-night goblins, but I have always had a higher opinion of my readers.

In the last two posts I've noticed I've linked back to older posts on a number of occasions. I do not apologise for this, in fact quite the opposite. Whilst some may think its lazy writing, I think it acknowledges that huge chunks of this blog are as valid today as they were at the time of writing. I've always thought that the key to making gold in WoW was taking ideas and applying them to the specifics situation each reader finds themselves in. When you have the knowledge you can adapt and create you own tricks - and that's going to make the difference between being an average goblin and an outstanding one.

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To conclude this post I will quote something I posted for the first time way back in October 2009. Its a true today as it was 18 months ago and I don't apologise for repeating myself

If you are new to the making good money via the Auction House in WoW - heed the following warning and heed it well:

There are goblins everywhere. We know our markets, we have gold to back us up and we aren't going anywhere. You may not know us but we will notice you. Enter our world with your eyes wide open - there is certainly gold to be made - but you will have to work for it. Leave your desperation at the door - because you aren't going to be a millionaire overnight. It's a long hard grind and if you aren't willing to put in the legwork you'd be better off sticking to your dailies.