Earn Big $$ Now!

With a long weekend, I spent plenty of time in Azeroth. There was plenty to do and a lot of interesting events. For instance, I left my guild, not for any single reason, but just because it wasn't quite clicking for me. They seem like good guys, and I wish them well in their future activities.

I did accomplish some nice goals. Alamein was able to level from 40 to 43 over the weekend, in great part to grinding turtles for their scales, in order to complete the Wild Leather quests. She was able to finish those too, which got her skinning and leatherworking up quite a bit.

But I'd have to say that the focus was to make money. And -- no surprise -- that was driven by reaching level 40. Now, Alamein didn't really have a burning need for a mount. As a druid, she has the Cheetah Form (Travel Form, really). That gives her a 40% speed increase, while a standard mount jacks it up to 60%. So a mount is nice, for sure, but hardly mandatory. But still I really wanted to get Alamein past that hurdle. I knew I'd be better off financially if I could just get the mount out of the way and then figure out what comes next economically.

Starting on Thursday night, Alamein had about 35 or 40 gold in her pocket. Amazingly enough, by Sunday night she was up to 135 gold. It was astounding to me that she could make so much so quickly, as she'd never broken 45 gold before. And this included reaching level 42, with perhaps 10 gold in training costs.

So how did she make 100 gold in such a short time? I was shocked myself, but when I look back, it was a combination of good planning and luck. In fact, it was right about 50% planned and 50% luck. Working from memory, here's an approximate breakdown:

Crafted Items: 25 Gold
Based on what I've read, I wasn't expecting to make a lot of money from leatherworking. So I've been surprised to actually make a good bit of cash from it. The key for me has been to watch for cheap materials at auction. For example, [Shadowskin Gloves] require two black pearls, which have been going for about a gold each on Shandris. But, by watching the auctions closely, I've been able to find several black pearls for an average somewhere near 40 or 50 silver. I've always got a list of the materials I'm looking for -- usually quite a while before I'm actually making the item. This means I can make a pretty good profit on what I make.

Over the weekend, I sold the gloves, the [Gem-Studded Leather Belt], the [Wolfshead Helm], and a few other items. In all, I think that added up to about 25 gold, which contributes to the "planned" category.

Dropped Items: 40 gold
The first bit of luck came on Thursday night. Alamein was wandering through Stranglethorn Vale, working to close out the Skullsplitter Tusks quest. Towards the end of the night, she killed a troll and found a [Speedsteel Rapier] waiting for her. That's a pretty good sword in itself, and it has the blue-item cachet and a glowing enchant. Moreover, there's just not a lot of good weapons in the 35 to 45 level range. All that translates into a good auction value. (It also means I was glad I couldn't wield it; the temptation would have been great.) As it happened, I was able to auction it for about 30 gold. So, 30 gold to luck.

During the weekend, I had a few other decent drops. Not too much that I remember, other than a [Headstriker Sword of Power]. That sold for about 5 gold, and the other drops for about 5 more. About what I should expect for the fighting I did, I think, so I'll add that 10 gold to the planning column.

Reselling Items: 35 gold
There's one source for this income: Bottomscanner. I hadn't used it before this weekend. But I knew I'd need an aggressive strategy to make money, and this seemed like a good approach.

On the whole, it worked as expected. I found some good deals on random things, mostly materials like Essence of Fire or Core of Earth, or consumables like armor kits. I was able to turn those around and auction them, generally for about a 50% profit. A few things took a while to auction but eventually I think everything sold except for one pair of green leather pants, which I eventually sent to my alt Gazala for disenchanting. (Moral: crafting materials and consumables are generally less risky.)

I did have one huge success though. Early on, Bottomscanner spotted an auction for [Schematic: Sniper Scope]. I don't have a high-level engineer, so I didn't know anything about that schematic. But I did know one thing: Auctioneer had seen it a few times at auction for around 20 gold, and it was being offered for a buyout of 75 silver. Needless to say, I bought it immediately.

My 'general' reselling netted me about 15 gold, which I put against the planned income; it was about what I expected. The schematic auctioned for around 20 gold, which I mark down to luck.

There you have it: in the end, it was half luck and half planned. I'm sure there are better ways to make a quick 100 gold, but this worked out well for me. And it's worth noting that the 'luck' was seeded by some solid plans. I knew that I could get some good drops in Stranglethorn, and I knew that Bottomscanner might find some good deals for me.

And in the end? Alamein traveled to Darnassus and introduced herself to a charming black Nightsaber, so she's now traveling around in style. And — of course — she'll continue to look for good auction deals.

Leatherworking for Fun and Profit

About a month ago, I made a conscious decision that I was going to do my best to have Alamein use armor that she'd made for herself. A deceptively simple goal, and one that seems exactly where I would think Blizzard would want the professions to go.

Results have been mixed to this point. You can take a look at Alamein's profile and see what gear she's wearing. It includes just two items that she made: the Green Whelp Armor and Guardian Pants. She also made Guardian Armor that she'll wear when melee is unlikely -- as when healing in a group. Each piece has an interesting story.

The Guardian Pants were the first of these she made, and they've been useful for a long time though new gear is starting to look good. These were actually the easiest to get -- the recipe comes from the trainer, and the materials are common (though it's a bit tough to find bolts of silk cloth at auction on Shandris).

The Green Whelp Armor was another interesting story. She saw the recipe at auction for a good price a long time ago, and bought it to hold. As her leatherworking approached 175, these started to look attractive, and like a good money-maker. So I asked Cargarios to help me in the Swamp of Sorrows, and we farmed the green whelps until I got the four scales I needed. We were slightly over our head, and had to be very careful not to aggro more than one or two at a time. But with a bit of hard work, it came out, and the armor is fantastically useful for soloing (and PvP too I think, though I'm not completely sure yet). And she has since sold two or three of these at auction as well.

The Guardian Armor is a recent acquisition. I wanted to make that for a long time -- the +intelligence and +spirit is useful for a caster druid. The problem is the materials, and in particular the Shadow Oil. There's just not a lot of it at auction since an alchemist/herbalist can sell the materials for more than the oil. The Trade channel didn't bring any help, and I was starting to scan the auction house for materials when the oil finally popped up. I bought one and made the armor, but there's no way to sell this for profit, as the oil goes for about 1.5 gold. I haven't used it much yet, but we'll see how it does.

So those are the success stories for how leatherworking should work. You get some good recipes that you can make, and that come at a time when it's useful for you. Some of the better recipes require a lot of work on materials, but that's OK too.

But what about the disappointments? One is the Guardian Bracers that Alamein wears. That's actually a leatherworking recipe, but it requires a skill of 195. The bracers are great, but she still can't make them yet -- and she's had them for a while. So that's disappointing. For a non-twinked character, it's just a lot easier to buy those at auction than to spend the time and money to level the profession so fast that she can use them at level 34.

And those items (chest armor, pants, and bracers) cover it all. The rest are things that Alamein either found or bought on the auction house. I think she found the belt, which is roughly equivalent to the Guardian Belt she could make... if she had the recipe. There are no good leather glove recipes for a caster druid up through 225 skill, other than the Gloves of the Greatfather, and that's a difficult recipe to get. Similarly, there are no good caster shoulders either, no good boots until the Swift Boots, and no good caster head until the Big Voodoo Mask. And she's looking for bolts of silk cloth to make the decent Guardian Cloak, since she just found the recipe at auction yesterday.

So from 9 armor slots, that's 2 that she has made, another 2 (the belt and the cloak) that she could have made... and five where she had no choice. I suppose the situation would be a lot better if she were a rogue or a feral druid; there's good gear for agility and strength. But those attributes have little use for a balance/resto druid.

But what about profit? Leatherworking has been decent for making some cash for Alamein. I mentioned selling the Green Whelp Armor. I set an early goal to track down the recipe for Barbaric Bracers, and those have sold relatively well. Then she went to even greater lengths to get and make the Gem-Studded Leather Belt. (Which is a very cool belt... but not so much for a healing Druid.) The armor goes for about 1.5 gold, the bracers for between 1.5 and 3 gold, and the belt for around 3.5 or 4 gold.

The key is to find the key materials at good prices at auction. Right now I'm scanning for the gems for the belt, and it's a tough job. The gems typically sell on Shandris for somewhere between 50 and 80 silver. So with five gems required for the belt, at that price I'd have 3.75 gold invested, even before adding the other materials. So to be profitable I have to look for auction bargains. It's possible, but citrine and jade are in so much demand for other professions that it just doesn't happen often. When I can comfortably solo the green whelps, I'll farm them and make a few more Green Whelp Armor too. All in all, making those three items has probably made me a net profit of about 10 or 15 gold. Not a ton... but not bad when my current bank is about 30 gold.

So it's a major struggle just to keep leatherworking relevant. I know that making a profit was always going to be difficult. (If I really wanted to make money, I'd farm and sell leather.) But it's disappointing that I have so few chances to make my own equipment.

Hopefully that will get a bit better as I progress. I've got my eye on some Big Voodoo gear...

AH: The Price is Right

Geez, I love the Auction House. I think I was already hooked on the game by the time I first visited Stormwind, but still the auction system was maybe the most surprising and intriguing thing about the game in my early play.

And it's been kind to me lately. Alamein has been successful of late, and has been able to build up her bank account to the dizzying heights above 10 gold. Ten gold! Of course that's pocket change for most everyone, but for her it's a major accomplishment and really makes a big difference. She's even maintained that with advancing her skinning to Artisan (4g 50s) in the last week.

What's driven her income to a new tax bracket? A couple of things. She has had some nice drops, including three or four nice swords. The first two auctioned handsomely -- at least by her standards -- bringing about 4g in total.

The third was a bit tougher. It looked like it should auction for about 1g 50s, but didn't sell in two auctions, even with the second listed at just over 1g. The AH deposit was 27s so it was painful to auction it repeatedly, and eventually she decided to cut her losses and send it to Gazala to disenchant. The fourth is still up at auction as we speak. We'll see what comes of it!

Alamein has also been auctioning a lot of materials. Most of her fighting in Darkshore and Ashenvale came against humanoids, so she's found herself with stacks of linen, wool, and silk. Of course that auctions rather nicely. And as she approaches 150 skill in Leatherworking, her medium leather is less important and she's auctioned some of that off too. There's not a lot of leather for auction on Shandris at the moment, so she can get pretty good prices for it. In fact, she can often do better by auctioning what she skins, and then buying undervalued leather that shows up at auction.

That highlights an interesting difference of opinion between Eric and I. I'm rather careful with my prices at the AH, considering not just the historical prices but also what the current supply looks like. If there's a glut of some item -- last night it was Hillman's Shoulders -- I won't auction my own until the supply decreases. And if I see something that's seriously underpriced that would hurt my own auction, I'll either wait, or buy the cheap goods myself to re-auction later. In short, I work to maximize my price.

Eric's not even close to interested in all that. He's much more likely to price his item so that it's stone-cold guaranteed to sell. Of course this can cut into his income quite a bit. But it's not that cut and dried. Consider the nice sword I couldn't auction. I had it priced at 1g 50s, then 1g 10s or something. Eric would have probably priced it at 90s -- and sold it. Meanwhile, I spent more than 50s on two unsuccessful auctions.

In the long run, I think I'll come out ahead financially. But how important is that? It is still a game, after all. If Eric isn't interested in thinking about his auction prices, then doing so feels more like work. Why bother? His reduced income just means he might have to spend more time mining or killing mobs -- the stuff he enjoys anyway.

But I don't mind that stuff, and I'm enjoying my comfortable income. And level 40 isn't that far away!