Most miners will need to use their metals to level up their other professions, however now would be the time to focus on selling; level later when the metal prices have normalised. Your first priority should be to level your skill, and frankly the easiest way to do this is to head back to Outland. The nodes in Northrend are harder to find (especially if you can't fly yet), over farmed and you're likely to get ninja'd too. I've managed to get my skill up to around 425 in Outland with relative ease. The zone's hardly have anyone in them except Death Knights (who can't fly) so you can fly around and you'll find an abundant supply of nodes. Fel Iron & Adamantite will give you some skill ups, but Rich Adamantite and Khorium will get you well into 420 skill. If you don't want to do this, it's still worth making a detour to Shattrath if you're heading off to your normal capital; The Barrier Hills. This small hub just on top of Aldor Rise is every miners secret farming spot. It usually spawns 2 or 3 nodes of Adamantite, Rich Adamantite and even Khorium. These days there is almost always a few nodes there because no one is using Shattrath. A very easy way to get cheap skill points before heading off to Stormwind or Orgrimmar. If you have the bank space, I'd save the Outland metals for a few months because they are worthless now, but are likely to shoot back up in price (just check the price of Iron, Mithril or Thorium). It's so easy to level in Northrend that you're likely to end up in zones where the nodes are too high for you to mine, this can help you stay ahead of the curve and not waste nodes.
This should put you in a fairly comfortable position to get your skill to 450. Most of the new metals are selling for crazy prices at the moment. If you want to make some real money, getting to 450 is vital because you can begin to smelt Titan Steel, which is going for 500g per bar on my realm, and this is the cheapest price. You can only smelt one every 20 hours, so supply is low and demand is high because they are required for all the best recipes in Wrath. Even if you don't have the materials to smelt a bar, advertise in Trade Channel to do it for other people. A huge number of people are after them and you can make some serious money off tips (make sure you agree a price before smelting). The good thing is the price of these bars is likely to remain fairly high because you need 12 of them to make the new Engineering Motorbike, not to mention countless other high level recipes. I would definitely recommend getting to around skill 420 in Outland, and then hopefully you can hit the rest of the points quickly in Northrend. If you have not maxed the skill by level 77, the first thing you do with your flying mount is to finish off leveling mining. Every 20 hours is money lost!
Showing posts with label Wrath of the Lich King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wrath of the Lich King. Show all posts
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Friday, 21 November 2008
Wrath of the Lich King Review
Reviewing a MMO is an impossible task. An early review can be skewed because you can only see a small percentage of the content. By the time you can give a fair review, is months down the line and no one actually cares what you have to say because they've seen it themselves. Wrath of the Lich King is so exciting I can't help but talk about it, especially because I know some of the readers of this blog have yet to jump aboard the ship or zeppelin to Northrend.
The Good:
I don't even know where to starts, I could go on for pages so I might just be adding to this section for the next few days.
- Since 3.0.2 we suffered lots of technical problems, but the launch was just fantastic. Most people simply logged into the game and were playing 5 minutes later. Makes the trouble of the last few weeks well worth it.
- The two start zones are just fantastic. Everyone will have their preference, but I liken it Lord of the Rings (Howling Fjord) and Jurassic Park (Borean Tundra), completely different films but both are great. I've wondered about some other zones too, and so far Storm Peaks blew me away. It just looks so huge and epic, added to the fact I have a huge soft spot for snowy zone (since I started playing the game in Dun Morogh and spent a lot of time in Winterspring grinding the mount). Actually most of the zones feel very epic.
- The music in the game is just fantastic. I've always liked some of the music in the game, but they have stepped it up a notch here. I've been torn between listening to the new Killers album or leaving the in-game music on whilst playing (usually Killers would win without a doubt). I briefly stepped into Lake Wintergrasp and the music there was so unusual, it had a bit of a Japanese influence which I loved. The quantity of music that has been created is hard to describe, it's no longer the same song remixed for every single zone. I can't wait to listen to the soundtrack I got with the collectors edition.
- The variety of quests they have is just staggering. The game is full of new ideas but even the popular old ones have been re-invented brilliantly. Tired of bombing runs? Well now you can hop on to a zeppelin (pretty exotic for an Alliance exclusive player) and throw bombs on pirates below. There's a fantastic quest chain where they use hunter and druid mechanics where not only do you own a bird pet but get to fly around as it later on. Which leads on to...
- The immersion into the world is just overwhelming. I remembering going to Outland for the first time and seeing a huge lava-fire zone (my worst type) and being told to kill 10 boars (I'm sure the Burning Legion was scared of that epic feat). Now you are explicitly told you're a hero of some renown within your faction. In Northrend everything seems to be built around the huge war that is taking place and there is a sense of urgency to all your actions. I really did not have a clue what the story about Outland was besides the usual vague details the quest givers gave. In Northrend it's hard to avoid the details and even if you don't read quest text, the Lich King might show up to make sure you do next time, spoiler (highlight to read;within 20 minut es of questing in Howling Fjord, I stumbled into the Lich King, and after telling me I was not ready to be his servent yet, he killed me. Even the kill 10 of "X" creature quests seem part of this massive effort, and usually have some other relates quests mixed in, so you barely notice them (although I am yet to visit the ass Hemet Nesingwary). The music, quests and zones really mesh together for a great experience. Even the world around you seems much more realistic. You'll see different types of mobs interacting with each other, not just ignoring each other like they usually do.
- Daily quests whilst leveling are also well made. Most are very easy, give great XP, good money and reputation to boot. In fact the entire world just seems very easy on XP, you can do 20 quests & one instance run, and be half way through your level. Most people will have a great deal of content to explore long after they hit 80.
- We may have had our flying mounts removed for a while, but the zones and quests really seem to get around that problem. The quests are well structured that you can do a large amount in a small area before being moved on to other areas. Traveling between these areas also seems to be made much easier. You'll get random rides (on planes for example) to random outposts with just a few quests. No more large rides to get flight paths like we did in TBC, the zones have many more.
- I've only had a 10 minute look at the Death Knight and so far I am loving it.
- Short instances? I love it. Blizzard tried to put forward the case that most Burning Crusade instances were 45 minutes, but I never bought it. I remember my first Shadow Labs taking two hours and Magister's Terrace four hours (both PuGs). You can genuinely PuG Utgarde Keep in half an hour and actually enjoy the experience. I've always been hesitant to go into instances not because I don't enjoy them, but because I hate bad PuGs, wiping continuously and realising an hour has passed and we just killed the second boss. I liked Post 3.0.2 Kara, and I like these new instances.
- I tried out the new BG, Strand of the Ancients, and it was confusing. But then what BG isn't the first time? Once I got my head around it, I think we may finally have a BG that's close to how great I feel Alterac Valley is.
- I should try to wrap this up, so I'll end by saying I love how even things like Reputations and Professions have been improved significantly.
- Dalaran; I feel this deserves its own final paragraph. The new Mage City is just amazing. It looks stunning and feels like a real city like the old Azeroth ones did (as opposed to Shattrath or Exodar). It doesn't capture the bustling medieval feel off Stormwind, the Elven tranquility of Darnassus, the might of the Dwarves in Ironforge, or the creepiness of Undercity. Instead it has its own unique character (unlike Shattrath which was just a portal to other places, oh and some Bird-men refugees you better avoid). Dalaran feels every bit as magical as you would expect a mage city to be, without overstating the fact (no Beauty & the Beast style living brooms like in the Blood Elf cities). Fountains where you can fish up wishing coins, toy shops where you can by train sets and vendors for everything you could want. But just like every great city, you have the under-classes (for mages that's every class that can't produce its own glass of Diet Coke with a spell) all residing in their own ghetto; in this case the sewer. I'll leave you to discover the place on your own, but I can see myself spending a lot of time here.
The Bad:
I had to think hard about these.
- I really don't understand Blizzards philosophy towards PvP gearing, because it goes against everything they're trying to push for in PvE. In case you don't know, all the PvP gear available at level 80 requires you to do Arena. Basically there will be 3 tiers; Blue quality gear which requires Arena points (no rating), normal Purple quality items that also require an Arena rating and finally the high end Purples that require a high level rating. Now for someone who enjoys BGs (mainly Alterac Valley) and has zero interest in Arena, we're basically forced into doing Arenas. It's the equivalent of telling people you can do 5 man instances but sorry you cant get any gear rewards till you step into a 10-man raid. Can you imagine the reaction? Blizz has really been pushing Arena and E-sports for a while, but I don't thinking forcing people is the way to go about it. I spent most of my level 70 end game (over 95%) in Battlegrounds, I think this will flip it the other way. I know the new Season does not start till December, so I'm still hoping they change their minds on this, but so far no one in the community seems to care. Maybe I'm missing something but at the moment I have no idea where I will be getting resist gear, so I won't be able to enjoy BGs even casually.
- I don't really know if this is actually the case, but it seems like Blizzard has really made professions overly difficult and expensive to level. There are plenty of money sinks in the game (even small items such as toys and year long drink kegs in Dalaran), and I feel this was an unnecessary move.
- Dalaran is the probably the greatest city that has ever been in the game, there is so much to do and see. I think there are some major design problems in how they made the city that just encourages lag. I've often heard of people complain about lag in Irongforge, Stormwind and especially Shattrath, but for me it's never been a problem. So for me to get 2 frames per second when the city is not even half as busy as Shattrath is worrying. I can only imagine it in a few weeks when more people make their way there. I've had reports from friends who find themselves disconnecting as soon as they enter the city. The problem will get worse because unlike Shattrath where people were quick to head off to their home capitals, the content of Dalaran only encourages you to stay longer. I really think making it slightly bigger and less cramped would have helped significantly. Luckily I've found the sewers don't suffer from this problem, so it's my hangout for the time being.
- Whilst the reputation shift from dungeons to quests is welcome, the structure of them is very confusing. Here's to some quick updates on WoWWiki.
/Silly:
- It's not all seruious, you'll still see plenty of Blizz humour all over the game.
- I want more non-combat pets! They have only added about four in the entire game, and only one that you can just buy without having to get reputation/achievements. Even that one was just a skull, which is a little bizzarre.
- Everyone should go to the sewers in Dalaran and look for some lootable bottles. They can turn you into a Tuskarr or one of the giant fireflies from Zangarmarsh. Good fun.
- The gnome female Death Knight voice is...weird. Just imagine your four year old cousin trying to do be Johnny Five from the Short Circuit films.
- Everyone needs to head to K3, the new Goblin Town. Some of the outfits the goblins are wearing are really funny, the flight master looks like a goblin-mummy. The wallpaper in one of the buildings is interesting too. Strange that the goblins never felt this cold in Winterspring.
- I think I might contact D.E.H.T.A. about the Tuskarrs' cruel treatment of sharks and giant turtles.
- I hear rumours of more poop quests. Win!
Overall:
I've given enough glowing praise by now, so I don't have to repeat how much I am loving Wrath so far.
As usual, the spellings and grammar for this post won't be checked for a while (if ever, its way too long).
I have had a few posts I've wanted to make on the blog, but didn't know where to start. Now that I have the review out the way, we can get down to some business minded stuff tomorrow. Would love to hear your thoughts on the game. Also if you have actually got to the end of this overly long post, 10 achievement points to you!
The Good:
I don't even know where to starts, I could go on for pages so I might just be adding to this section for the next few days.
- Since 3.0.2 we suffered lots of technical problems, but the launch was just fantastic. Most people simply logged into the game and were playing 5 minutes later. Makes the trouble of the last few weeks well worth it.
- The two start zones are just fantastic. Everyone will have their preference, but I liken it Lord of the Rings (Howling Fjord) and Jurassic Park (Borean Tundra), completely different films but both are great. I've wondered about some other zones too, and so far Storm Peaks blew me away. It just looks so huge and epic, added to the fact I have a huge soft spot for snowy zone (since I started playing the game in Dun Morogh and spent a lot of time in Winterspring grinding the mount). Actually most of the zones feel very epic.
- The music in the game is just fantastic. I've always liked some of the music in the game, but they have stepped it up a notch here. I've been torn between listening to the new Killers album or leaving the in-game music on whilst playing (usually Killers would win without a doubt). I briefly stepped into Lake Wintergrasp and the music there was so unusual, it had a bit of a Japanese influence which I loved. The quantity of music that has been created is hard to describe, it's no longer the same song remixed for every single zone. I can't wait to listen to the soundtrack I got with the collectors edition.
- The variety of quests they have is just staggering. The game is full of new ideas but even the popular old ones have been re-invented brilliantly. Tired of bombing runs? Well now you can hop on to a zeppelin (pretty exotic for an Alliance exclusive player) and throw bombs on pirates below. There's a fantastic quest chain where they use hunter and druid mechanics where not only do you own a bird pet but get to fly around as it later on. Which leads on to...
- The immersion into the world is just overwhelming. I remembering going to Outland for the first time and seeing a huge lava-fire zone (my worst type) and being told to kill 10 boars (I'm sure the Burning Legion was scared of that epic feat). Now you are explicitly told you're a hero of some renown within your faction. In Northrend everything seems to be built around the huge war that is taking place and there is a sense of urgency to all your actions. I really did not have a clue what the story about Outland was besides the usual vague details the quest givers gave. In Northrend it's hard to avoid the details and even if you don't read quest text, the Lich King might show up to make sure you do next time, spoiler (highlight to read;within 20 minut es of questing in Howling Fjord, I stumbled into the Lich King, and after telling me I was not ready to be his servent yet, he killed me. Even the kill 10 of "X" creature quests seem part of this massive effort, and usually have some other relates quests mixed in, so you barely notice them (although I am yet to visit the ass Hemet Nesingwary). The music, quests and zones really mesh together for a great experience. Even the world around you seems much more realistic. You'll see different types of mobs interacting with each other, not just ignoring each other like they usually do.
- Daily quests whilst leveling are also well made. Most are very easy, give great XP, good money and reputation to boot. In fact the entire world just seems very easy on XP, you can do 20 quests & one instance run, and be half way through your level. Most people will have a great deal of content to explore long after they hit 80.
- We may have had our flying mounts removed for a while, but the zones and quests really seem to get around that problem. The quests are well structured that you can do a large amount in a small area before being moved on to other areas. Traveling between these areas also seems to be made much easier. You'll get random rides (on planes for example) to random outposts with just a few quests. No more large rides to get flight paths like we did in TBC, the zones have many more.
- I've only had a 10 minute look at the Death Knight and so far I am loving it.
- Short instances? I love it. Blizzard tried to put forward the case that most Burning Crusade instances were 45 minutes, but I never bought it. I remember my first Shadow Labs taking two hours and Magister's Terrace four hours (both PuGs). You can genuinely PuG Utgarde Keep in half an hour and actually enjoy the experience. I've always been hesitant to go into instances not because I don't enjoy them, but because I hate bad PuGs, wiping continuously and realising an hour has passed and we just killed the second boss. I liked Post 3.0.2 Kara, and I like these new instances.
- I tried out the new BG, Strand of the Ancients, and it was confusing. But then what BG isn't the first time? Once I got my head around it, I think we may finally have a BG that's close to how great I feel Alterac Valley is.
- I should try to wrap this up, so I'll end by saying I love how even things like Reputations and Professions have been improved significantly.
- Dalaran; I feel this deserves its own final paragraph. The new Mage City is just amazing. It looks stunning and feels like a real city like the old Azeroth ones did (as opposed to Shattrath or Exodar). It doesn't capture the bustling medieval feel off Stormwind, the Elven tranquility of Darnassus, the might of the Dwarves in Ironforge, or the creepiness of Undercity. Instead it has its own unique character (unlike Shattrath which was just a portal to other places, oh and some Bird-men refugees you better avoid). Dalaran feels every bit as magical as you would expect a mage city to be, without overstating the fact (no Beauty & the Beast style living brooms like in the Blood Elf cities). Fountains where you can fish up wishing coins, toy shops where you can by train sets and vendors for everything you could want. But just like every great city, you have the under-classes (for mages that's every class that can't produce its own glass of Diet Coke with a spell) all residing in their own ghetto; in this case the sewer. I'll leave you to discover the place on your own, but I can see myself spending a lot of time here.
The Bad:
I had to think hard about these.
- I really don't understand Blizzards philosophy towards PvP gearing, because it goes against everything they're trying to push for in PvE. In case you don't know, all the PvP gear available at level 80 requires you to do Arena. Basically there will be 3 tiers; Blue quality gear which requires Arena points (no rating), normal Purple quality items that also require an Arena rating and finally the high end Purples that require a high level rating. Now for someone who enjoys BGs (mainly Alterac Valley) and has zero interest in Arena, we're basically forced into doing Arenas. It's the equivalent of telling people you can do 5 man instances but sorry you cant get any gear rewards till you step into a 10-man raid. Can you imagine the reaction? Blizz has really been pushing Arena and E-sports for a while, but I don't thinking forcing people is the way to go about it. I spent most of my level 70 end game (over 95%) in Battlegrounds, I think this will flip it the other way. I know the new Season does not start till December, so I'm still hoping they change their minds on this, but so far no one in the community seems to care. Maybe I'm missing something but at the moment I have no idea where I will be getting resist gear, so I won't be able to enjoy BGs even casually.
- I don't really know if this is actually the case, but it seems like Blizzard has really made professions overly difficult and expensive to level. There are plenty of money sinks in the game (even small items such as toys and year long drink kegs in Dalaran), and I feel this was an unnecessary move.
- Dalaran is the probably the greatest city that has ever been in the game, there is so much to do and see. I think there are some major design problems in how they made the city that just encourages lag. I've often heard of people complain about lag in Irongforge, Stormwind and especially Shattrath, but for me it's never been a problem. So for me to get 2 frames per second when the city is not even half as busy as Shattrath is worrying. I can only imagine it in a few weeks when more people make their way there. I've had reports from friends who find themselves disconnecting as soon as they enter the city. The problem will get worse because unlike Shattrath where people were quick to head off to their home capitals, the content of Dalaran only encourages you to stay longer. I really think making it slightly bigger and less cramped would have helped significantly. Luckily I've found the sewers don't suffer from this problem, so it's my hangout for the time being.
- Whilst the reputation shift from dungeons to quests is welcome, the structure of them is very confusing. Here's to some quick updates on WoWWiki.
/Silly:
- It's not all seruious, you'll still see plenty of Blizz humour all over the game.
- I want more non-combat pets! They have only added about four in the entire game, and only one that you can just buy without having to get reputation/achievements. Even that one was just a skull, which is a little bizzarre.
- Everyone should go to the sewers in Dalaran and look for some lootable bottles. They can turn you into a Tuskarr or one of the giant fireflies from Zangarmarsh. Good fun.
- The gnome female Death Knight voice is...weird. Just imagine your four year old cousin trying to do be Johnny Five from the Short Circuit films.
- Everyone needs to head to K3, the new Goblin Town. Some of the outfits the goblins are wearing are really funny, the flight master looks like a goblin-mummy. The wallpaper in one of the buildings is interesting too. Strange that the goblins never felt this cold in Winterspring.
- I think I might contact D.E.H.T.A. about the Tuskarrs' cruel treatment of sharks and giant turtles.
- I hear rumours of more poop quests. Win!
Overall:
I've given enough glowing praise by now, so I don't have to repeat how much I am loving Wrath so far.
As usual, the spellings and grammar for this post won't be checked for a while (if ever, its way too long).
I have had a few posts I've wanted to make on the blog, but didn't know where to start. Now that I have the review out the way, we can get down to some business minded stuff tomorrow. Would love to hear your thoughts on the game. Also if you have actually got to the end of this overly long post, 10 achievement points to you!
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Saving for the expansion
Been getting a lot of replies and emails from you guys over the last 2 days, I'm very overwhelmed and have to say thanks to all of you for helping me out so much. I'm trying to reply to each one, but apologies if it takes a little time.
I thought I'd have a nice light hearted post to follow some of the more serious ones. I'm interested to know what you guys are thinking in terms of the expansion, where you want to spend your money and what not. Do you want to have a base amount of money going in? Personally I've set my goal to have 13k gold going into the expansion, which I feel is a nice amount to get my main anything I want on release. This is an overly self indulgent amount, but I'd rather put in some work now and not have to think about money later; I just want to level in peace. I only have one level 70 to think about, so I'm lucky I don't have to worry too much about treating one character and leaving the others behind. I'll be able to level professions and buy rep items with relative ease. Overall I'm looking at my costs like this
- I want to get my engineering up to the cap as soon as I can. This will probably be a large money sink, but not too bad thanks to my mining. I'm guessing 1-3k gold.
- If I can buy reputation items from the auction house, I always will, because grinding them on my own is a bore. I'm guessing 2-4k gold on these items.
- Unrevealed gold sink; Burning Crusade had the 6k to spend on flying, and Wrath's most likely going to add passenger mounts & maybe even faster ones. One thing we do know is that there will not be a massive 5000g gold sink as previously, but smaller ones, so expect maybe four or five gold sinks costing 1-3k each. It's possible some of the siege weapons and vehicles for PvP might cost money.
- My level 36 druid who I primarily use as a disenchanter will have to level to 50 so she can step up her skills to disenchant level 71-80 items. I will probably spend a bit leveling the enchanting skill, but overall I have a huge stockpile of materials, so costs might be manageable.
- The Death Knight could end up costing a bit. I'll be training inscription and herbalism, and if I manage to level it up, a few mount training skills. This is more long term (6 months into the expansion) so I'm not too worried about these costs.
For most players I think 5000g will be a reasonable amount of money, as long as you're prioritising one of your characters. This is fairly easy to achieve and not taking into consideration the amount of money you will be making once you are actually playing in the new continent. One thing that will probably throw these estimates off track is that we're more than likely to see inflation. We all know a thousand gold today is worth less than it was before the Burning Crusade, and the same will happen here. I'm hoping auction house prices do not rise so much and the removal of daily quests at level 71 could help; educated guesses suggest current daily quests will reward more XP than gold, although I've yet to see evidence of this from the Beta (anyone playing it let us know!).
If you do focus on one main, now is a good time to make that final push for you epic flyer. It's never been easier to get, and once the expansion will come you can enjoy saving for fresh new things, instead of worrying about old world content you wish you had. We won't be able to fly until level 77 in Northrend, but the last 3 levels will be the easiest of your life with an epic flying mount. Don't worry about the cost of training falling, in a year 5000g might be as easy as making 1000g today!
Let me know what you're saving for, or if there's anything from the Beta thats already tempted you.
I thought I'd have a nice light hearted post to follow some of the more serious ones. I'm interested to know what you guys are thinking in terms of the expansion, where you want to spend your money and what not. Do you want to have a base amount of money going in? Personally I've set my goal to have 13k gold going into the expansion, which I feel is a nice amount to get my main anything I want on release. This is an overly self indulgent amount, but I'd rather put in some work now and not have to think about money later; I just want to level in peace. I only have one level 70 to think about, so I'm lucky I don't have to worry too much about treating one character and leaving the others behind. I'll be able to level professions and buy rep items with relative ease. Overall I'm looking at my costs like this
- I want to get my engineering up to the cap as soon as I can. This will probably be a large money sink, but not too bad thanks to my mining. I'm guessing 1-3k gold.
- If I can buy reputation items from the auction house, I always will, because grinding them on my own is a bore. I'm guessing 2-4k gold on these items.
- Unrevealed gold sink; Burning Crusade had the 6k to spend on flying, and Wrath's most likely going to add passenger mounts & maybe even faster ones. One thing we do know is that there will not be a massive 5000g gold sink as previously, but smaller ones, so expect maybe four or five gold sinks costing 1-3k each. It's possible some of the siege weapons and vehicles for PvP might cost money.
- My level 36 druid who I primarily use as a disenchanter will have to level to 50 so she can step up her skills to disenchant level 71-80 items. I will probably spend a bit leveling the enchanting skill, but overall I have a huge stockpile of materials, so costs might be manageable.
- The Death Knight could end up costing a bit. I'll be training inscription and herbalism, and if I manage to level it up, a few mount training skills. This is more long term (6 months into the expansion) so I'm not too worried about these costs.
For most players I think 5000g will be a reasonable amount of money, as long as you're prioritising one of your characters. This is fairly easy to achieve and not taking into consideration the amount of money you will be making once you are actually playing in the new continent. One thing that will probably throw these estimates off track is that we're more than likely to see inflation. We all know a thousand gold today is worth less than it was before the Burning Crusade, and the same will happen here. I'm hoping auction house prices do not rise so much and the removal of daily quests at level 71 could help; educated guesses suggest current daily quests will reward more XP than gold, although I've yet to see evidence of this from the Beta (anyone playing it let us know!).
If you do focus on one main, now is a good time to make that final push for you epic flyer. It's never been easier to get, and once the expansion will come you can enjoy saving for fresh new things, instead of worrying about old world content you wish you had. We won't be able to fly until level 77 in Northrend, but the last 3 levels will be the easiest of your life with an epic flying mount. Don't worry about the cost of training falling, in a year 5000g might be as easy as making 1000g today!
Let me know what you're saving for, or if there's anything from the Beta thats already tempted you.
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Ask WoW Trader: Buying & Selling before Wrath of the Lich King
I thought it would be a nice idea if I shared the feedback in an advice type column, because I'm guessing many of us have the same problems within the economy. Today I'm going to answer some feedback Zadieyek left for me, because (s)he comes up with a very good question about the expansion. You're all welcome to email me at wow.hustle@gmail.com for you to be featured in any future Ask WoW Trader blogs.
Zadieyek says;
I just wanted to say hi and let you know that I think your blog so far is great. I'm not that good at working the WoW economy but I'd like to be. What I am good at, however, is saving money and really weighing 'need' over 'want' and being a pack rat. Do you sell things like primals; gems; ore/bars; or herbs on the AH? Do you hold on to them? I have my own guild bank with 3 tabs. I have stacks of primals; gems (green and blue); high end herbs; ore/bars and stone; and lower level leather (was thinking about leveling an engineer). Recently, however, I've starting thinking that with WotLK in Beta, its time to start offloading some of my stash, I don't want to get stuck and miss out on the opportunity to sell these items. What do you think the best route is? Selling when you get things like a stack of primals or holding on to them until have 2-3 stacks and then putting 1-2 on the AH? I've bookmarked your blog and will be coming back often. I'm really looking forward to your future posts.
Thanks for the kind words Zadieyek, but don't be so down on yourself, because you already sound like a very sensible trader.
What do I sell on the auction house? Certainly most of the stuff you mentioned I do sell. As an engineer, I can make great money selling primals. Engineering really is the unmentioned "gathering" profession post-TBC, and possibly the most profitable. Although I'm not a Jewelfrafter I have often spotted cheap purple gems on the auction house, and sold them on. Most of the Shattered Sun vendor epic gems that 2.4 brought can be sold for 350g, but sometimes a JCer will put them up cheaper, so its a great way to make money. However, you really should be aware of what epic gems are in higher demand. I've been a miner since I started playing the game, so I do sell lots of ore & bars. Quick tip; Adamantite should always be sold as ore because JCers use it to prospect. Its worth experimenting with each metal to see if it has more value as ore or smelted. I have to admit my experience with herbs & alchemy is probably weakest as I've tended to play leather wearing classes. I hope to change this with my Death Knight who will be a inscriber/herbalist.
In the past I tended to sell things very fast, usually at the end of a days play. However as guild banks came into place, I've generally hoarded a lot of stuff. I tend to keep tons of engineering materials in my personal guild bank slots for future use. On the other hand I usually wait for my Fel Iron and Adamantite to gain a few stacks before selling them on. However, its usually best not to sell more than 3 stacks at once. Not only is the deposit very high, but putting too many stacks on encourages others to under cut you heavily, and you could end up not selling any. Five unsold stacks could mean 10g down the drain.
The most interesting part of Zadieyek's post was concerning selling of items before Wrath of the Lich King. If you tend to keep stuff for ages, like Zadieyek and me, you should now be considering what you need to keep and sell before the expansion. Certainly the price of some items will plummet, and seeing as you'll need every copper you can get come expansion, now is the best time to get rid of some items. Still many items will go up in price, so be careful on what you sell. I'll give you a quick run down on items you may or may not want to keep. Keep in mind this is all my humble opinion, so don't call your lawyer's if my advice sucks(!)
- Herbs. If there is one type of item you want to keep, it's this. The new profession, inscription, requires herbalism to level up your skill. This should include the lowest stuff you'll find in Elwynn, to the highest in Outlands. So if you have stacks of herbs lying around with no use for them, do not sell them! Everyone and their mother will be taking up inscription, so the prices of herbs are going to be ridiculous. If you have no intention of becoming an inscriber, you could still make a killing collecting herbs now ready to sell when the expansion is released. Also if you're planning on power-leveling inscription, you should start gathering (or ever buying) up herbs now. Either way, you will make or save a great deal by being aware of this.
- Metals. I think in the first few months after release, the Outlands metals will be worth much less than they are now, so its best to get rid off these now. Most of the characters left in Outland will be Death Knights, and many of them may actually become miners; mining is set to get a new health buff which will encourage tanks to pick up the profession. Not only will demand be lower for Outlands metal, but theoretically the supply could be massive due to many DK's being miners. There is potential for a 50% or worse drop off in prices.
- Primals and Outland leather should also see a drop off in price.
- Enchanting materials on the other hand should remain fairly stable. With less people in Outland, the market will see less supply, but at the same time low level enchanting materials usually keep a robust price. Anyone who has level'd up enchanting recently would tell you the Azeroth items are often more expensive on the auction house than Outland ones. On my realm Large Prismatic Shards are only 15g a pop usually. If your realm still sees them being sold for 25 to 30g on a regular basis, you're far more likely to see a bigger drop off, so you might want to sell them now. Furthermore, the Outland enchants have less twinking potential, so maybe the gems could drop off in price more than I expect. It's hard to say in all honesty. My enchanter only has 300 skill (she's only level 36), and I do plan on moving her up to 375 (by getting to level 50), so I'm going to be hoarding my disenchanted materials, as the amount you need to get those 75 points is insane.
- As for level 60-70 weapons and armor, really just get rid of them.
There are certain factors you should take a note of though. With an influx of Death Knights, many players will be hoping to power level their DK's professions and thus there might still be solid demand for items. Metals may be popular for any DKs leveling Blacksmithing but unless they're after the new Drums of War, leather might be in less demand as leatherworking is not hugely useful for a plate wearing class. Furtheremore, there will be a point where Outland becomes deserted, and the items found within those zones back in high price. Mithril, Iron and Copper have never been as expensive on my realm as they are at the moment. This point could be a year or 18 months away though, so I personally wouldn't bother saving items for then.
Thanks for you questions Zadieyek, hope that helped you out a little with your dilemma. Do you guys have any advice on what items you think might be worth saving or dumping? Or anywhere I'm off the mark? I'm sure Zadieyek would appreciate anymore hints from you.
Zadieyek says;
I just wanted to say hi and let you know that I think your blog so far is great. I'm not that good at working the WoW economy but I'd like to be. What I am good at, however, is saving money and really weighing 'need' over 'want' and being a pack rat. Do you sell things like primals; gems; ore/bars; or herbs on the AH? Do you hold on to them? I have my own guild bank with 3 tabs. I have stacks of primals; gems (green and blue); high end herbs; ore/bars and stone; and lower level leather (was thinking about leveling an engineer). Recently, however, I've starting thinking that with WotLK in Beta, its time to start offloading some of my stash, I don't want to get stuck and miss out on the opportunity to sell these items. What do you think the best route is? Selling when you get things like a stack of primals or holding on to them until have 2-3 stacks and then putting 1-2 on the AH? I've bookmarked your blog and will be coming back often. I'm really looking forward to your future posts.
Thanks for the kind words Zadieyek, but don't be so down on yourself, because you already sound like a very sensible trader.
What do I sell on the auction house? Certainly most of the stuff you mentioned I do sell. As an engineer, I can make great money selling primals. Engineering really is the unmentioned "gathering" profession post-TBC, and possibly the most profitable. Although I'm not a Jewelfrafter I have often spotted cheap purple gems on the auction house, and sold them on. Most of the Shattered Sun vendor epic gems that 2.4 brought can be sold for 350g, but sometimes a JCer will put them up cheaper, so its a great way to make money. However, you really should be aware of what epic gems are in higher demand. I've been a miner since I started playing the game, so I do sell lots of ore & bars. Quick tip; Adamantite should always be sold as ore because JCers use it to prospect. Its worth experimenting with each metal to see if it has more value as ore or smelted. I have to admit my experience with herbs & alchemy is probably weakest as I've tended to play leather wearing classes. I hope to change this with my Death Knight who will be a inscriber/herbalist.
In the past I tended to sell things very fast, usually at the end of a days play. However as guild banks came into place, I've generally hoarded a lot of stuff. I tend to keep tons of engineering materials in my personal guild bank slots for future use. On the other hand I usually wait for my Fel Iron and Adamantite to gain a few stacks before selling them on. However, its usually best not to sell more than 3 stacks at once. Not only is the deposit very high, but putting too many stacks on encourages others to under cut you heavily, and you could end up not selling any. Five unsold stacks could mean 10g down the drain.
The most interesting part of Zadieyek's post was concerning selling of items before Wrath of the Lich King. If you tend to keep stuff for ages, like Zadieyek and me, you should now be considering what you need to keep and sell before the expansion. Certainly the price of some items will plummet, and seeing as you'll need every copper you can get come expansion, now is the best time to get rid of some items. Still many items will go up in price, so be careful on what you sell. I'll give you a quick run down on items you may or may not want to keep. Keep in mind this is all my humble opinion, so don't call your lawyer's if my advice sucks(!)
- Herbs. If there is one type of item you want to keep, it's this. The new profession, inscription, requires herbalism to level up your skill. This should include the lowest stuff you'll find in Elwynn, to the highest in Outlands. So if you have stacks of herbs lying around with no use for them, do not sell them! Everyone and their mother will be taking up inscription, so the prices of herbs are going to be ridiculous. If you have no intention of becoming an inscriber, you could still make a killing collecting herbs now ready to sell when the expansion is released. Also if you're planning on power-leveling inscription, you should start gathering (or ever buying) up herbs now. Either way, you will make or save a great deal by being aware of this.
- Metals. I think in the first few months after release, the Outlands metals will be worth much less than they are now, so its best to get rid off these now. Most of the characters left in Outland will be Death Knights, and many of them may actually become miners; mining is set to get a new health buff which will encourage tanks to pick up the profession. Not only will demand be lower for Outlands metal, but theoretically the supply could be massive due to many DK's being miners. There is potential for a 50% or worse drop off in prices.
- Primals and Outland leather should also see a drop off in price.
- Enchanting materials on the other hand should remain fairly stable. With less people in Outland, the market will see less supply, but at the same time low level enchanting materials usually keep a robust price. Anyone who has level'd up enchanting recently would tell you the Azeroth items are often more expensive on the auction house than Outland ones. On my realm Large Prismatic Shards are only 15g a pop usually. If your realm still sees them being sold for 25 to 30g on a regular basis, you're far more likely to see a bigger drop off, so you might want to sell them now. Furthermore, the Outland enchants have less twinking potential, so maybe the gems could drop off in price more than I expect. It's hard to say in all honesty. My enchanter only has 300 skill (she's only level 36), and I do plan on moving her up to 375 (by getting to level 50), so I'm going to be hoarding my disenchanted materials, as the amount you need to get those 75 points is insane.
- As for level 60-70 weapons and armor, really just get rid of them.
There are certain factors you should take a note of though. With an influx of Death Knights, many players will be hoping to power level their DK's professions and thus there might still be solid demand for items. Metals may be popular for any DKs leveling Blacksmithing but unless they're after the new Drums of War, leather might be in less demand as leatherworking is not hugely useful for a plate wearing class. Furtheremore, there will be a point where Outland becomes deserted, and the items found within those zones back in high price. Mithril, Iron and Copper have never been as expensive on my realm as they are at the moment. This point could be a year or 18 months away though, so I personally wouldn't bother saving items for then.
Thanks for you questions Zadieyek, hope that helped you out a little with your dilemma. Do you guys have any advice on what items you think might be worth saving or dumping? Or anywhere I'm off the mark? I'm sure Zadieyek would appreciate anymore hints from you.
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