Accounts
I run two accounts. For someone with two left thumbs, this is no mean feat! I run one account on my desktop (what I consider my “main” account) and the other on my laptop.

Servers
As I mentioned before, I am now on two servers: Proudmoore and Khaz’goroth. The economies of both servers are different enough that even a noob like me can notice it; I can’t quite put the finger on what these differences are yet, but hopefully in the coming weeks I will figure it out.

Add-ons
I use Auctioneer on both accounts, and have Sparkies Lil’ Workshop and Skillet on my main account. I don’t really use them much due to familiarity issues. Auctioneer scans typically run for 12-15 mins on my desktop and 20-30 mins on my laptop. Not optimal at all, since by the time the scan ends, and I run the “Vendor” and “Resale” options, some of the (cheap) items are already snapped up by others.

Proudmoore Horde
I created a guild for my Horde toons, to make use of the guild bank features and make transfer of mats easier. My stable of Hordies include: The Bank Alt (Guild Master), an Alchemist/Tailor, a Jewelcrafter/Miner, a Leatherworker/Skinner, an Enchanter/Tailor (but in a different guild) and 6 bank toons. Of the 6, I am leveling one to be a Herbalist/Inscriber (a bit late, since Cataclysm might kill the inscription market), and one is a Neutral AH banker.

Proudmoore Alliance toons
My Proudmoore Alliance toons have no guild yet, although I am considering creating one, as I start stocking up on cheaper mats from the Alliance. Of course, I could just do the cross over sales to my Horde toons.

Khaz’goroth Horde
I’ve no level 80s here, so I created two 2 DKs right off the bat, and by the time they were done with the starting quests, I had about 70g in the bank (from both toons). With this starter capital, I created a bank toon, a Skinner/Leatherworker, an Enchanter/Tailor and a Neutral AH banker. On my second account, I have a Herbalist/Alchemist and a Miner/Jewelcrafter. I deleted the DK on the second account, and resurrected her as Alliance to start off my AH base there.

Along the way, I also picked up a guild that someone was getting rid of, for 50g. It had no tabs, but saved me the hassle of looking for signatures for the guild charter. My ticket to change the name of the guild was efficiently process, and as of 10th Aug 2010, the guild “Naturally Selected” was formed .

Khaz’goroth Alliance
So far, I’ve only set up a DK as my main banking toon on Alliance. I’ll have to get a toon to e Neutral AH so that the cross faction fun can begin!

In future posts I will outline the strategies I am comfortable with for mining the AH, and also on how I level the professions for my Khaz’goroth toons.

Thanks for reading!

As usual, I forgot to take a screenshot again, an am posting this from another computer anyway ..

Anyhow, this is in addition to buying up about 30 Traveler’s Backpacks on the cheap (to upgrade the carrying capacity of my bank alts, who used to have 14-slot bags) and stocked up on a score of ore (pardon the pun) and cloth. I also added one more guild bank tab (at 2.5k .. ouch!), which might have been a (impulsive) mistake, considering the comparison by Warcraft Econ on cost per unit space between bank toons and guild bank.

Meanwhile, on another plane of reality:

My Khaz’goroth toons are still young, so none of them have a full-blown profession as yet. I’ve primarily worked on my banker to make gold, netting about 600g in about 2 weeks of play, upgraded my toons to 16-slot bags (well, on four of them at any rate), picked up a guild, and one guild bank tab! Not too shabby, imo.

I’m still working out my chaos into some sort of system, so that I can spend my time as an auctioneer in the most efficient manner, and still have time to level my other toons. This gives me an idea to outline my own strategies – at the very least to have a clearer picture of what works for me, and where i might need to improve on.

More of that to follow!

In addition to this, I’ve recently found out some friends who have just started playing on Khaz’goroth, and I created several toons there as well. I’ve updated this information on my characters page. Figuring out how to start a new economic “empire” from scratch is interesting.

I created a DK in that realm, and right away I had about 35g to start with at the end of the DK sequence. I’ve managed to increase this amount to about 80g within a few days, which should take care of my other characters’ initial needs in terms of training for skills and professions. I’m generally pairing gathering with crafting professions, while sending all crafted greens to my enchanter (once I get him up).

My next goal is to build up bank space, either by creating bank characters, or a guild (for the guild bank). Next to figure out how to recruit my friends into my “scheme” (one of them is an engineer, a profession that I have no plans to learn).

Wish me luck!

I guess it is true that change is the only constant, although it is a concept that is very hard one to embrace.

Salute!!

I’m getting the hang of using my crafting skills to make decent gold in WoW, but I am far from the “1000g with 30 mins of playtime” league. I suppose this could partly be due to the economy on my server (Proudmoore), and also due to my lack of skill.

I’ve been testing the waters, by “flipping” items on the AH, and with my professions Enchanting (making scroll of enchant), Jewelcrafting (various cuts, but mainly Cardinal Rubies), Leatherworking (Arctic Furs and Armor Kits) and Tailoring (Bags and cloth) with variable results.

Jewelcrafting seems to be biggest money earner at the moment, while enchanting mats are moving faster than the scrolls themselves. Armor kits are a bit lackluster, and bags are doing fairly decent when there are no crazy undercutters.

I managed to flip some nice items like Primordial Saronites and Runed Orbs, closely following market trends. It’s always a toss up whether to spend a few thousand gold, or to pass on a seemingly good deal. I guess in this game, “no pain, no gain”!

Overall, since I started focusing on making gold and playing the AH game, I’ve gained an additional guild bank slot (1000g .. ouch!), accumulated stacks of cloths, leathers and herbs, as well as upping my AH toon’s gold from 6-7k to 10-12k!

Not too shabby, me thinks

In between leveling my Shammy and Inscription, I’ve had little time to play my other characters, but I’m getting a kick out of the double XP bonus from kills for her after such a long time in storage.

More about her progression as her journey continues.

In the meantime, I’ll have to see what else in Leatherworking I should be concentrating on to boost my in-game gold. I may just concentrate on farming skins and selling those or exchanging them for Arctic Fur.

So, I searched the internet for guides on making gold, being wary of sites that required your game information etc. Most were paying sites, which I avoided – I already pay for WoW, and I’m not about to shell out more hard cash for “tips”. Then, I stumbled onto Just My Two Copper blog and *BAM*!, I’m hooked. Tons of information in there on how to make gold “easily” in the game. Also from there, I found Tarou’s WoW Guides, which has a huge selection of gold-making tips and even videos showing how it is done. Amazing stuff .. and free too!

There are other gold-making guides, of course, and I’ll be listing them on this blog as soon as I sort out which are the better ones, but those two stand out (for me, anyway).

Thus began my journey down the slippery, gold-making slope. I must admit that it hasn’t been easy to follow some of the tips – making gold in-game, like making money in real-life, is not that easy. Generally, there are several ways to make gold:

Farming
This is what most players do – maybe not like the gold-farming companies do it, but you “farm” for rep, for materials, for XP, for that one elusive drop … we are ALL farmers, we just don’t know it, or want to admit it . Some nice farming areas are mentioned here and there, and some may have been nerfed since the information was posted.

Working the Auction House
There are tons of ways you can do this (see the two sites I mentioned above). But you must have some start-up capital, and expect to make mistakes. Buy low, sell high is probably the easiest way to put it. Buy in bulk is another (more of that in the crafting section below). Add-ons like Actioneer help, but knowing your server economy is even more important. Personally, I find Auctioneer a bit hard to use, and it doesn’t work well on my laptop, but I am slowly getting the hang of it.

Crafting
A big part of many players’ game play, almost all the professions can make money – some more, and others less, but if you play it right, you can create a niche to call your own. Buying cheap and in bulk seems to be two basic considerations here. Cheap is relative, and “in bulk” cannot be determined beforehand unless you know how much of your crafted items move. Most of the experienced gold makers know their markets well enough to spend thousands in materials, but reap thousands more selling their crafted items.

Thoughts and plans for the future:

I’ve only 4 level 80 characters, with Alchemy, Tailoring (one Shadoweave tailor and the other Mooncloth), Enchanting, Mining and Jewelcrafting professions spread out among them. I wish I had not dropped Herbalism on my priest, but tailoring was the “in thing” back in TBC days.

What plan to do is work the AH, for both materials to make items that I hope will sell, and on items that are priced too low for resale. I also intend to farm at some of the areas for mats, and I might try power-leveling one or two characters up in levels, with either gathering professions or to supplement professions I do not have at the moment (like Inscription).

Well, wish me luck!

Battles on so many fronts – on Azeroth, against the Lich King’s undead forces; against the Trolls who wish still to bring back the former glory of their race; against the Alliance, despite the cease-fire agreed upon by our leaders. In the newly discovered Outlands, the battles seem tor age for all eternity, fracturing both the world and all that have come seeking glory. So many battles … and so few left now, who fight for the true honour of the Horde.

Countless, the warriors who have perished, their bones scattered throughout the landscape and crushed beneath the feet of those sent out to the slaughter. A new generation of the Horde battle on, not only on the front lines, but also among themselves. Guilds rise and fall, torn asunder by the petty power plays of its members, who switch allegiances for personal power and gold, and for magic long thought to have fled this world.

Disenchanted by all the in-fighting, a small group of seasoned warriors band together, choosing with care their members. Many have fought side-by-side in campaigns from long ago, forging a brotherhood of blood. As these survivors trickle in from all corners of the world, they make a last stand against the tides of darkness that seek to overwhelm all of life, and to uphold the highest traditions of the Horde.

Welcome to the AFTERMATH.