Why You Should Have a Bank Alt

For Gold Making Basics Friday this week I want to talk about why you should have bank alt.

I know that there are a lot of people who post auctions from their main. Maybe you meant to create a bank alt but never got around to it. Maybe you just think it is easier to post from your main character. Maybe you just don't understand what the purpose of a bank alt is. If any of these sound like you I present you the top five reasons why you need to get a bank alt.

1) It makes it harder for your competition to track you.

     - If you are a successful AHer in any market chances are that someone is spying on you. Someone has either added you to their friend list or looked you up on the Undermine Journal to see when you are on. If they are smart they can figure out roughly when you come home from school/work and go to sleep. With this information they can determine the best time to post their auctions so as to undercut you for the longest time possible. If, however, you post from a bank toon and keep the link between your main and your bank alt a secret (AKA you don't tell people the name of your bank toon) your competition can only figure out when you are on your bank toon. It becomes much harder for them to figure out at what hours you usually play Warcraft and when you go to work/sleep. By simply changing the times you post auctions slightly (such as switching between when you come home from work to just before you go to sleep) you can throw a lot of your competition off and lessen the chance that your auctions will be undercut as soon as you log off.

2) You don't have to worry as much about making accidental AH posts. 

     - Have you ever accidentally listed an item that wasn't meant to be listed? Just bought that nice epic sword you've been wanting, then accidentally listed it before you equipped it. Been saving up some dusts and essences to make some enchant scrolls - only to remember that you accidentally listed them on the AH last night at a discount? These things happen all the time. If you have a bank alt you don't need to worry about this. You always know that if it is in your bags it is good to be thrown on the AH to make some money.

3) Extra bag space

     - Extra bags. Extra space in the bank for more bags. The ability to start a bank alt guild and gain access to the storage of a guild bank. Space is a valuable commodity and having a bank alt allows you to have more of it.

4) No need to visit the capital cities on your main.

     - You can use an addon such as Trade Skill Master to automatically find and mail any crafting mats you need. If you need to have a crafting session simply open your mailbox to get the mats you have already bought from your bank alt. Once you are done crafting just send the items back to your bank alt in the mail and have them post your items to the AH. This leaves you free to park your main toon near your favorite dungeon, rare spawn, questing area, etc.

5) Centralization

     - Which toon had the Volatile Fire you needed to make Bloodied Leather Bracers? Where did you put all the silk cloth you said you would send to a friend? You won't need to use an addon or guess where your items are anymore. Just keep what you need for actually questing/raiding/pvping on your main and send everything else to your bank alt. That way you know where all of your goods are at all times.

Specialize or Diversify?

Well the Just My Two Copper blogging carnival is coming up and this month's topic is, "Specialize or Diversify? Control one market or dip your toes into several?". Specializing tends to be easier; you know your market better; and takes less time; while diversifying takes more time; can lead you to sometimes post things at less than the optimal amount due to lack of knowledge/time; but does help ensure profits in the case of one market drying up. So which should you do?

Honestly the truth is that there is no right or wrong answer to this question. What your goals are when you play is what will determine which path you should take. 

If you actually enjoy the process of making gold (as opposed to just having it); view gold making as a part of the end game content; and possibly have dreams of hitting gold cap then you should diversify. Generally this would mean having more than one toon with max professions (or better yet all maxed professions) and posting in every market when it was profitable. This is going to take a bit of time (especially leveling all the toons and professions) and honestly isn't for everyone. You are guaranteed profits over the long haul as when one market declines you can just shift resources into another more profitable market but there will also be times when you list items at a less than perfect price due to the sheer number of items you will be listing on the AH at any one time. The fact that using this method guarantess profits over the longhaul along with the ability to take advantage of any gold making opportunites offered by patches/profession changes means that this is the method of choice for people who enjoy the process and are in it for the long haul. People who are just interested in getting a bit more money to buy a chopper or Sandstone Drake, however, are probably better served with specializing in one market.

Specializing in one market won't bring in the same amount of gold over the longterm when compared with diversifying, but it won't take up nearly as much time either. If you get enjoyment in Warcraft from spending all of your time PVPing, raiding, and/or achievement whoring the decreased time commitment of this strategy is probably appealing. One toon is all you need (maxing both professions will definitely help) and you will be able to learn the ins and outs of your market much, much quicker. Using this method you should be able to quickly see your total gold rise and buying any item you want in game will be quite possible. You might not be able to take advantage of every gold making opportunity created by professions/item changes - but what do you care? You're having fun raiding with your guild - not being stuck at the AH. 

Enjoy making gold - diversify. Enjoy having enough gold to buy what you want in game - specialize. Somewhere in between? Then just choose a few markets to diversify into as opposed to taking part in all of them.

As a side note for anyone interested in Rift I have just started a new blog here. I am talking about the game basics now but will be switching into how to make platinum in the coming weeks. 

Have fun making gold!

Patch 4.1 Gold Making Tips

Well patch 4.1 is on it's way. It appears that Blizzard Taiwan posted the patch notes and MMO Champion, among others, are now hard at work translating them. You can find the MMO Champion translated version of the notes here. While the notes are sure to be updated due to better translating and changes implemented by Blizzard there are a few things that I noticed off the bat that apply to gold making.

1) The Leatherworking pieces Belt of Nefarious Whispers, Corded Viper Belt, Dragonkiller Tunic, and Assassin's Chestplate are getting a red gem slot added (finally). This should lead to an in crease in the price of Inferno Rubies. I would also recommend getting quite a few Delicate Inferno Rubies cut and ready to list as I expect many of the people gemming their armor will use these.

2) The Blacksmith made shields Elementium Earthguard and Elementium Stormshield are getting a red and blue gem slot respectively. The red slot should further increase prices for Inferno Rubies along with creating a short term mini spike in demand for Brilliant Inferno Rubies and Bold Inferno Rubies. The blue slot should create a mini spike in demand for Ocean Sapphires and Solid Ocean Sapphires.

3) Two new achievements are being added for pet collectors. Petting Zoo for collecting 100 pets and Menagerie for collecting 125 pets. While there don't appear to be any companion pet rewards for getting these achievements (yet) they should still serve to boost demand for the more expensive companion pets. Something I complained about a few days ago.

4) Both Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman are returning as level 85 heroic dungeons with epic loot. This could lead to a decrease in the cost of Maelstrom Crystals.

5) Lastly something to keep an eye on is the Timeless Eye. It appears to be an epic quest reward and MAY be some kind of epic gem.

I'll be sure to update this list as more info becomes available.

What about you? Can any of you spot any gold making opportunities in the patch notes that I missed?

Have fun making gold!

Is Now the Time to Stock Up on Pyrite Ore?

There are quite a few goblins out there now recommending that everyone starts stocking up on Pyrite Ore now. These people believe (or hope) that in patch 4.1 or 4.2 Blizzard will make epic Cataclysm gems available through prospecting Pyrite Ore. Blizzard of course hasn't said anything on the matter yet so all of this is pure speculation. 

Now, if you have a bit of gold you can invest, speculating can make you quite a bit of gold. Stocking up on items that will become more valuable with the implementation of a patch can make you a LOT of money very quickly. The kicker is that you can also lose a lot of money with speculating. No one has 100% accuracy when it comes to predicting the future of markets. So that item you spent 50,000 gold on stockpiling in the hope that the price would go up - well there is a chance that the price goes down instead and puts you out of tens of thousands of gold.

Because it is possible to lose money when speculating it is important to look at both the amount of risk and the possible profit. High risk but huge possible profits - probably worth it. High risk all for 10 silver in income - I'll stay away, thank you. Personally I believe that stocking up on Pyrite Ore right now is med-high risk (because we have had NO information coming from Blizz at all even hinting that epic gems will be prospectable from Pyrite Ore) but also high possible profit. Normally this would be a decent propostion and I would recommend stocking up on some based on the risk - reward ratio. At this time, however, I don't recommend stocking up on any Pyrite Ore unless you see it being sold at insanely low prices (around 40% of normal price). Why? Because I believe that if Blizzard does decide to make epic gems prospectable from Pyrite Ore the risk associated with stocking up on Pyrite will decrease in the future. Instead of buying now, wait until Blizzard gives us some word of the coming of epic gems and how they will be produced (such as in patch notes). This will lower the risk associated with stockpiling to almost none and the price of Pyrite probably won't increase too much with the announcement because most people do not read patch notes. 

Will you make as much money as someone stockpiling Pyrite Ore now if epic gems end up being prospectable? No. Will you still make a ton of gold if epic gems end up coming from Pyrite Ore? Probably. Will you lose any gold/time if epic gems end up not coming from Pyrite Ore? Nope. So if you want to make a lot of gold with virtually no risk keep an eye on the patch notes and any other news from Blizzard and thank all the players who never bother to read them. 

Knowing What Is in Patch Notes

Recently I was thinking about the Whiptail bug and nerf. During the time Whiptail was spawning like mad a lot of people were debating whether it was a bug or not as nothing had been said in the patch notes. I was of the belief that it was a bug. The reason I thought this at the time was because I remembered when Blizzard nerfed Twilight Jasmine and Heartblossom at the beginning of Cataclysm they included it in hotfix notes. Based on this information I figure that Blizzard has set a precedent and will include any intended major changes to herb/mineral spawn rate in patch notes.

What do you guys think? Are there certain things we can trust Blizzard to announce in patch notes and other things that we can trust them to stealth fix? Sound off below.

The Best Professions for Gold Making II

Yesterday I talked about the three different types of professions and how each type differs in its money making process. Today I'm going to go through each profession to talk about which professions are best within the different types.

Farming Professions:

Skinning: This is the worst of the three farming professions to have if you are interested in making gold. Why? Because skinning produces leather - and the only major market for leather is leather workers. Both mining and herbalism can sell their materials to people with multiple professions, making them both better than skinning.

Herbalism and Mining: These two are pretty much in a tie. Which one makes more money depends on timing and your server. People with herbalism can sell their herbs to alchemists and inscriptionists. Furthermore since alchemists will use most of their herbs to make various potions that give short term benefits there will always be a steady market for herbs. Miners can sell their minerals to blacksmiths, engineers, and jewelcrafters. In addition at times miners can use their smelt ability to smelt metals that are more profitable to sell than their components.

Before Cataclysm most people would choose only one of these professions per toon because you were unable to track both on your map. This has been changed so that you can now track both professions at the same time and see herb and mineral nodes on your map. Because of this change I recommend that if you like to farm (or are leveling every profession) you have one toon with both professions. This will give you the maximum bang for your buck while farming. In addition, if you are leveling a toon, mining and herbalism should be your professions until you hit either level 75 or 84 when you can max out  crafting/conversion professions if you want them. Almost all conversion/crafting professions will make very little gold until you can get the max level recipes. Herbalism and mining, however, are great for profit at all levels.

Crafting Professions:

Engineering: While I believe this to be the most enjoyable profession it is also generally the worst one in terms of gold making. It is very expensive to level and almost all of the items you craft can only be used by engineers. There are a few pets that you can make and sell but that is about it. If you want to get a profession that can make you a good amount of money you should avoid engineering like the plague.

Leatherworking and Blacksmithing: These two are pretty much equal to each other in terms of gold making. Generally both professions will have a few high level recipes that can be crafted for a profit along with a few other items (such as belt buckles and leg armors) that will bring in money. Which one is more profitable will depend on the patch and your server.

Tailoring: In my opinion tailoring has a slight advantage over leatherworking and blacksmithing. Like those professions tailoring generally has a few high level recipes that can be made for a profit along with bags made at various levels that will always sell well. The one advantage tailoring has is the ability to create bolts of cloth and cloth with a cooldown. Because the trade skill window tells you how many pieces of cloth you need to make a bolt the price of a bolt of cloth should be proportional to the price of cloth. So if a bolt is made from four pieces of cloth it should be 4x more expensive than the cloth. Generally this holds pretty true. There are times, however, when the prices get a bit out of whack and a smart tailor can take advantage of these situations to make a little extra profit. In addition tailors usually have a cooldown cloth that they can sell for a profit. The current cloth of this nature is Dreamcloth which is not BOE but is instead BOP (meaning you can't sell it). This might very well change in the future though and in general tailors can make a little extra money by selling this cloth or by selling their cooldown.

Alchemy: Alchemy is probably the best crafting profession to have because it is the crafting profession that is most like the conversion professions. For one the ability to switch between being a transmutation, elixir, or potion specialist for 150 gold gives alchemists the ability to get the most out of whichever area is most profitable and to switch markets when the profitability of the markets change. In addition alchemist's ability to transmute gives them the ability to produce materials in a manner just shy of converting (Note: I don't consider transmutations to be full converions because the tradeskill window tells you what the results will be. One of the reasons converting professions are so great for making gold is that the tradeskill window doesn't tell you how many or what type of gem you will get when you prospect or how many pigments you will get when you mill. This creates uncertainty and it is this uncertainty that leads to regular profits. Alchemy is largely devoid of this uncertainty and thus isn't a conversion profession). Lastly the gold per hour with alchemy is generally steady and good. Doing a few transmutes takes virtually no time and can consistently bring in a bit of gold. Because of all these advantages alchemy is generally the best crafting profession to have and is a very popular profession among both regular players and goblins.

Converting Professions:

Inscription: Inscription is the red headed step child of professions. You can make TONS of money with inscription. No other profession has such a large percentage of its recipes that sell for profit. Glyphs that only take 200 or so skill can often still make you a profit. In addition inscription usually has other items that can sell such as Darkmoon Faire cards and now Mysterious Fortune Cards. Making all of this money though takes TONS of time. Want to torture yourself? Pick up inscription and experience the pain of milling thousands and thousands of herbs into pigments. Then once you have pigments further agonize yourself by turning all of those pigments into inks. Once you have the inks you can either choose to sell them or go all the way and convince yourself that suicide by immolation is a good idea by experiencing the pleasure of going through your list of hundreds of glyphs and choosing which ones to craft. Lastly you get to experience the sheer bliss that is regularly (generally at least twice a day) cancelling and reposting hundreds of auctions as in order to make the tons of money you want you need to sell many, many glyphs with each one making a relatively small profit.

But, on the good side, leveling inscription is incredibly easy and you can experience all of this joy just a few hours after you decide that you want to become an inscriptionist. Wait. I take that back. Actually you won't be able to experience all of these joys hours after you choose inscription. Instead you will have to wait 3-4 months as that is how long it will take for you to research all of the glyphs. Not to mention buy and read 50+ Books of Glyph Mastery. Joy.

As you can tell inscription can make you a lot of money. But you will spend a LOT of time to make this money. If you level inscription all the way you will probably grow to both love and hate the profession. In my opinion if you only have one toon and have a more normal play style I would stay away from inscription. If, however, you have a main with maxed professions that are making you money and you are happy with AND you have high level alt - then I would recommend inscription as a good profession choice for your alt. At that point you can use your main's professions to provide income while you go through the SLOW process of getting all the glyphs. Then, once you have all the glyphs, you can take part in the inscription market when you want without having to worry about it being your only money maker.

Jewelcrafting and Enchanting: If you have one toon and you don't like to farm these should probably be your professions of choice. Like inscription these are both conversion professions. Unlike inscription though neither of these professions takes months to level and the two professions compliment each other well with a great synergy. As I stated in yesterday's post the fact that you can make and sell crafting mats and finished goods is what makes conversion professions so great. Inscriptions can make/sell inks or glyphs; jewelcrafters can make/sell raw or cut gems; and enchanters can make/sell enchanting mats or scrolls. People who have both Jewelcrafting and Enchanting though can "shuffle". Shuffling is the process of being able to go through a multi-step conversion that can convert ore into enchanting scrolls. The process of shuffling is:

Ore ------> Uncut Gems (JC) --------> Rings/Necklaces (JC)----------> Enchantment Mats (Ench) --------> Enchant Scrolls (Ench)

This process can be done all the way through or stopped anywhere in the process depending on prices on your server. With a simple purchase of ore you can take part in the raw gem, cut gem, ring or necklace, enchanting mats, or enchanting markets. This gives you a HUGE market and you can choose which is the most profitable at the time. The range of markets you can take part in with these professions means that you can almost always find a market with a large demand that you can make a large profit in.

I hope all of this info helps you when choosing your professions. If you have any questions or comments about this breakdown sound off below or send me an e-mail and I'll make sure to respond.

Have fun making gold!