The Final Countdown, and Some Thoughts

As I am writing this post, Mists is less than 24 hours away. I decided to stick with my Shaman most likely, although I may switch to a Monk later on in the expansion, possibly raiding with one by 5.1. Either way, I will be healing the first group of raids on my Shaman, and I am okay with that, to be honest. I really love the Shaman cooldowns(although they would be complete with a good tank cooldown), the new totem mechanics, and I think that Shamans will be extremely strong healers in the first tier, possibly even seen as semi-mandatory in certain fights/settings. I am no theorycrafter, so I really have no math to back up that previous statement, but it is just a general feeling of mine. We will see how things pan out soon enough.

Once things get really going, and I actually get back into the gold making game I will resume writing about that subject. I also plan on providing Resto Shaman specific short guides on every raid boss. Nothing too deep, rather mostly focused on talent choices, glyph choices, and certain mechanics that one should be especially aware of as a Shaman.

Other than that, I am just anxiously waiting for the expansion to drop, ready to log into Orgrimmar, pick up the quest, and get questing in Pandaria!

Shaman or Monk: The Decision

Mists of Pandaria releases in 12 days from the time of this writing, and I am faced with a choice: I have to decide what my main will be, as far as my raiding group is concerned. I have narrowed this decision down to either Monk or Shaman, because I want to heal(or at least have that capability in my class), I am not interested in Paladin healing(never really got it, and the times I have tried it I was not too impressed), my fiancee who raids with the same group heals on her Priest, and we will have at least one other Druid, possibly two of them. That leaves Shaman, which is my current main class, and Monk, the new class coming.

So, my effort here will be in comparing and contrasting the two classes, especially when it comes to healing, or at least more in-depth in that area. Let's begin!

First off, some general observations. Shamans and Monks will both share the same tier tokens, but the gear type is different. Where Shamans wear mail, and have no competition in the spell part of it, other than with other Shamans, Monks will have gear competition with the other spell leather class, Druids. This shouldn't be a big deal, but it is to be considered. Flavor-wise(lore and whatnot) Monks have an edge, at least in my mind. I happen to like the whole Asian flavor thing that they have going with them, and of course, the integration of that class in the story of the expansion is something nice, just like Paladins and DKs in Wrath of the Lich King, and Shamans and Druids(although to a somewhat lesser degree) in Cataclysm. So, as far as general concerns go, Monks are ahead in story and flavor(in my viewpoint, the only one that matters in this case), but behind in general gear competition considerations.

Now, let's talk healing. This is obviously the area where the decision is going to rest, ultimately. Luckily, the two classes are so different in healing style and ability that at least there will be something to consider! The Shaman healing method mostly revolves around effectively using your 3 core heals, interspersed with Riptides to keep the casting time of them low(and crit chance high in Healing Surge). In certain situations/fights/25s the Shaman group heals also play a major part. Combine this with a set of very powerful cooldowns, a smart healing totem, and the Shaman is looking really solid as a healer, although a tad boring, in my opinion.

Monk healing, on the other hand, can be done a few different ways. First, there are the core heals of Soothing Mist(a channeled equivalent of the cheap, efficient heal), Enveloping Mist(the equivalent to Greater Healing Wave, although this is HoT), and Surging Mist(the equivalent to Healing Surge, fast but expensive). Taking them alone, they seem unimpressive, but it is in their synergy that they shine. While casting Soothing Mist, both Enveloping Mist and Surging Mist become instant cast on the player you are currently channeling your Soothing Mist on. This can make for some great tank healing, as you can channel a constant heal on them, and then get great instant burst when you need it. Additionally, with your Jade Serpent Statue out, your channeled heal will be duplicated to a group member that needs it!

But wait... there's more! In addition to those core heals, there is a HoT, Renewing Mist, which initially is just like any other basic HoT(Renew, Rejuvenation), but then becomes a sort of "smart HoT" that duplicates itself on up to 3 other party/raid members. With renewing Mist having a 8 sec CD, there is a cap(although I do not know what that cap is at the moment) to how many people you can have the HoT on at once, but the fact is, the HoT will be smart, and a set-it-and-leave-it one at that, so it will be amazing to use as a raid healer. Just like before with the core heals, there is a synergy that this spell has with another: Uplift. Using Uplift gives a nice heal to everyone who has Renewing Mist on them, and if you use Thunder Focus Tea to augment your Uplift, it also renews the duration of the Renewing Mists you have out.

If you thought that was all, you'd be wrong. In addition to the great tank and raid healing methods I have shown above, there is another way to heal: by doing damage. Think of it like Priest's Atonement, except on steroids. With your Jade Serpent Statue out(which should always be out on boss fights at least), your non-auto attacks heal others for 50% of the damage they do(within 20 yds, which can be a pain on some fights I suppose). Additionally, your special attacks will augment this kind of healing, first with Blackout Kick making your auto-attack damage also heal for 25% of the damage it does(50% at two stacks), second with Tiger Palm decreasing the cast time and mana cost of Surging Mist(your flash heal) by 20% every time you hit with it, stacking to 5, making it a free, instant heal. Combine that with the Glyph of Surging Mist, and you will be able to fire one of those off "smartly" without having to be distracted from your current target. Third, there is Spinning Crane Kick, which will do AOE healing to everyone within range. Depending on how the numbers balance out, this can be an equally viable, or even superior way of healing compared to the ways I have described above.

In addition to having some amazing and varied ways of healing in almost any setting, Monks also have some pretty interesting raid cooldowns. First is Life Cocoon, which will shield the target for a decent amount, and then increase all periodic healing by 50% for 12 sec. Second is Revival, which heals everyone in sight for a decent amount, and also dispels harmful things off of all of them. Third is Zen Meditation, which redirects up to 5 spells cast on group members onto yourself, while decreasing your damage taken by 90%. Now, weighing them up against the Shaman raid cooldowns, I don't think that they really fare that well. Granted, Shamans do not have an absorb shield, but what they do have is a Divine Hymn/Tranquility equivalent in Healing Tide Totem(the best talent on that tier, in my opinion), a group-wide(if they are in range) damage reduction and health equalizer(to minimize spike damage) in Spirit Link Totem, strong group healing in Ascendance, on-demand haste if they choose to take the talent, and 10% increased healing/20% reduced damage taken for 1 minute(every 5 minutes) with the improved Earth Elemental. The Shaman cooldowns, in my opinion, just seem much more impressive.

So, now to weigh them up.

• Gear Competition: Shaman
• Flavor/Lore: Monk
• General healing Style: Monks are much more interesting and varied
• Raid Cooldowns: Shamans have better ones

Gosh, even with laying it all out like this, it seems that I cannot really make a decision. What do you all think? And please, don't quote numbers or whatnot to show one is particularly superior to another at the moment, because number tweaking is likely to happen at some point after launch, and I would hate to go with one class based on some OP numbers right now, only to find that they get super nerfed in the first patch.

WoW Blogger On-Air Hangout #5!

Keeping with the weekly tradition(a new tradition, but one nonetheless?), here is the latest On Air hangout!

How the Blizz Ruined Glyphmas

You heard it here first folks: you can still trade Blackfallow inks at the Ink Traders, at least that is what the Known In-Game Issues site says right now. Okay, you probably heard it elsewhere, but here I am writing about it now. What does this mean? Essentially, that the whole stocking up game that some of us have been doing for the pre-Mists patch has basically been for naught.

Well, not so quick. As it is, sure, there won't be the crazy low supply of herbs that makes glyphmas great, but there will at least be a lot of demand, which will still mean more glyphs sold, and higher prices most likely. That stock of glyphs/ink that you have? Well, it will almost certainly come in handy whenever they fix the issue(it is listed as a bug, although it may be intended. Who knows?), or in the first few weeks or so after Mists launches. All is not lost, but I can definitely understand the frustration that some of you must feel.

Myself, I am just glad that I didn't go all out and get like 20k ink stocked up. Only about 10k-ish on me :P I will be just going about business as usual, and keeping the inks stocked up for when Mists launches.

EDIT: I forgot to credit my source, @msherretz on twitter, aka Michael Sherretz, probably best known from the amazing Auction House Junkies Podcast. Sorry about that :P

Goldshield TSM Theme

Just like the title says, I have an insane hubris which inspired me to make a TSM theme today, based loosely on the colors of this blog! May tweak this a little, as it is the product of... lets see... like 15 minutes of messing around just now. Let me know what you think!

Copy this code and import it if you like it!

inlineColors{link{189,255,0,1}category2{180,44,0,1}category{215,175,0,1}link2{73,255,109,1}}textColors{iconRegion{enabled{249,255,247,1}}title{enabled{239,111,0,1}}label{enabled{205,93,0,1}disabled{150,148,140,1}}text{enabled{255,183,103,1}disabled{147,151,139,1}}link{enabled{49,56,133,1}}}fontSizes{small{9}normal{15}}edgeSize{3}frameColors{frameBG{backdrop{120,49,0,0.57000002264977}border{100,46,0,1}}content{backdrop{133,53,4,0.90000000596046}border{120,41,0,0.61000001430511}}frame{backdrop{44,44,44,1}border{255,255,255,0.03}}}

Pre Pre-Patch Impatience(Plus Some Philosophy)

So, here I am, writing this post in one window, listening to my favorite Pandora station(based off of Two Steps From Hell), and playing the MoP beta on the other window. Man, the maintenance cannot be over soon enough. I mean, sure, I could be happy with the fact that I am experiencing the changes already, in addition to the new dungeons, raids, and a whole new continent. That's all true, but there is something hollow about it all, knowing that everything that I am putting into the beta experience will go away in less than a month from now, at most. Then I think: well, isn't that the case with my regular WoW experience?

Let's face it, although WoW has been going on a long time, and is likely to continue to plow on for years hence, there will come a time when either we get bored or just plain tired of the game, or the servers will go offline, for good. Either way, all the hours filled with frustration, elation, sweat or just boredom will, in the end, amount to nothing but memories, and even those will fade. What are we to say, then? Are we to conclude that this game is a waste, and we should get out while we are ahead?

This sort of existential crisis, realizing the finite-ness of things, then grappling with how to proceed, what meaning to discover or to add, what reasons to keep going, has long been a topic of philosophy. Of course, when they(the philosophers) talk about this they are referring to the finite nature of our lives, of the human species, of the universe itself, but I think we can bring this same process of thought, and perhaps their conclusions, to the game we love.

So, faced with the ultimate end of this in-game experience, what reason can we find to keep playing it? I won't pretend to know the answer to this question, but I have an answer that works for me, and it is the same answer that I apply to the same problem in context of my finite life. I believe that meaning, purpose are not derived from some final tally at the end, some final scorecard. Rather, I believe that we can find reason enough for what we do in the now, in the immediate experience of things. In other words, I am motivated to grind for the awesome Cloud Serpents because I will be able to ride them in the next expansion. There is no consideration of ultimate meanings here, no attempt to tally the final score. I will be content having the mount then, regardless of the fact that I will not be able to have it forever.

Meaning can simply be in a simple enjoyment of the present, of being content in the moment. It can also be in making a name for yourself, as it were, a memory that will go on further than the life of the game. This can be as simple as forming a close-knit group of friends in-game, who you play with in other games after WoW ends, or as complex as running a successful competitive raiding guild. Or, you can make your name blogging, as, obviously, I am attempting to do here, in addition to the hangouts.

This reminds me of Talia Joy Castellano, a very young girl who is dying of cancer. She knows that she is dying, that she will almost certainly never reach her 18th birthday, let alone her 15th. Yet, she does not despair, at least outwardly. She has become a whiz at makeup, and makes amazing YouTube videos. Facing the short time that she has left, instead of cashing out as it were, she has decided to make herself immortal, in a way. She is making sure she will live on in the people she inspires. Her courage alone in the face of her impending death(as a freaking 12 year old!) is enough to inspire myself to find meaning in my life, now, regardless of the length of it.

Now, obviously, the short lifespan of some pixels in a game is not comparable to the very short life of a courageous little girl, but I do think that there is a lesson that even us MMO gamers can learn from her. We can still find satisfaction in striving for those things that we want, even if we know that they will be short-lived. We can realize the very short time we have in this game and make the most of it, or even try to create connections, an identity that will transcend it, and will perhaps incarnate itself in other games. The eventual end of this game is not the end of the meaning, the fun that we can find in it.

WoW Blogger On-Air Hangout #4!

My Top Glyph Picks for patch 5.0.4

In the upcoming patch, 5.0.4, the whole glyph system is being revamped, and many glyphs are being removed/changed/added. Given that, there will be many people looking to buy some of the new glyphs for their characters, whether it be for looks, or for utility. Here, I hope to list what I think will be some of the best sellers in the month leading up to Mists of Pandaria. Granted, this is just speculation, but I hope that the reasoning that I provide for my picks makes sense to you. I am going to limit myself to no more than 5 per class, so I do not overwhelm you, so don't take these picks as being the only one I see as good sellers, but just what I think will be the best sellers. Generally, I will try to stick with 3 major, and 2 minor glyphs each.

Going Into Overdrive

As I am writing this, my scribe is currently making over 400 Blackfallow Ink, and it is taking FOREVER. And this isn't the end of it either. I have thousands more to process and turn into other inks before the pre-MoP patch hits in a week. I am aiming for between 5 and 10k inks total, and really only limiting myself by the amount of herbs that I can buy off the AH.

Beside that, I am currently taking a look at every class' glyphs, and trying to decide what will be the ones most in demand so I can hopefully present a nice little list to you before the patch hits. I am thinking that the nice little aesthetic glyphs will be the most in demand, like the Priest one that transforms their shadow orbs into ravens(ala the raven priests in Northrend), or the one that gives Paladins 4 wings rather than just 2. But again, I will have a more precise list coming to you soon-ish.

On a non-gold-making-note, I am currently preparing for my upcoming Monk. I already have all the heirlooms that I need(beside the ring, that I would love to get, but have never won the tourney), so all that remains is getting the scrolls of agility figured out, and the weightstones made. Yeah, I am that particular about my new Monk :P

So, what are you doing right now, now that Patch 5.0.4 is right around the corner? Let me know in the comments!

UPCOMING: WoW Gold Blogger On Air Hangout

So, the reception of these hangouts has been good, so much so that I feel like making it a more regular thing is a great idea! The past hangouts have been held on a Sunday, so we will be keeping with that tradition, but moving the time slightly earlier, to 12PM PST(3PM EST). Having a set, regular schedule for the hangouts will make it easier for the people involved, and also allow the people who want to watch live to know when it will be going on ahead of time.

If you have questions you want answered live, or comments, or a tip you want to share, feel free to include them here, or join in on the discussion that will be going on on the YouTube page!

WoW Blogger On-Air Hangout #3!

WoW Blogger On-Air Hangout #2!

and Part 2:

I Don't Read Any of You Other Bloggers :P

No offense, but really, I don't have the time to read every gold-making blog out there. I certainly do end up reading some posts, and I also follow a lot of you on twitter, but I just don't have the time to check in to every one of you, every day.

Why am I saying this? Well, essentially I want to preempt any sort of controversy or confusion that may come due to any of my posts. Because I do not take the time to see if ideas that I am writing have been written about elsewhere, it is possible that I will end up doing exactly that. Due to the limited amount of subjects there are to write about(because it is a game, no matter how large of one it is), it is almost certain that if I write enough posts I will end up inadvertently copying one of you.

If I do end up copying one of your ideas, first, I want to apologize. Second, please feel free to comment on the post in question, or message me privately, and I will link to your previous post on the subject. I am not looking to take any one's ideas, profit off of them or anything like that. I just like writing and being read. That's all really. Just wanted to let y'all know :)

Wint-- erm... Mists is Coming

I just wanted to share how very excited I am to see this post today confirming that the Mists patch is being downloaded right now. This falls in line with mine, and many others' prediction that the pre-patch will go live either this upcoming Tuesday or the following. Most likely the latter.

In my case(as a resto shammy), as I actually still raid Heroic content(have cleared a few times, but still doing it to get a drake for everyone, just got mine last night!), it means that I will have to reforge everything once it goes live. This is because the change to Telluric Currents, from being an amazing mana regen tool, to being just free LBs. Currently, my gear is almost completely reforged out of spirit into mastery, then haste to the soft cap. After the patch, I will have to go back into spirit. Thank god I just got my heroic spine healing trinket :)

Anyway, I am really really excited for the patch, and really looking forward to seeing how raiding the current content goes, whether it will be significantly easier, or maybe even more difficult. What do you think?

Glyphs and Transmog, My Submission for the August 2012 Blogging Carnival!

To begin, this post is for "Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival". The topic this time is,

As WoW gold makers, we must be flexible and adapt our posting, pricing, and relisting strategies based on the individual markets.  Every server is different, yet within the same server, each market can be completely different as well.  For the August Gold Blogging Carnival Topic, let's illustrate some of the ways we post differently based on the different profession markets.  
Compare & Contrast 2 Different AH Markets and How Your Gold Making Strategy Varies In Each Market

My post will be about how I handle glyph selling, and transmog. Now, to be honest, I have taken a bit of time off of glyph selling, since I have been engrossed with the beta lately, but I still find time to sell some transmog items. So, this post will mostly be reflecting on how I was selling things a couple months ago.

First off, how I sold glyphs can be summarized pretty simply:

• I took the shotgun approach. Just posted 2 of EVERY glyph that was even marginally profitable(as in, at least 5 gold above crafting price, and due to the super low cost of Whiptail, the crafting cost was super low, about 15g a glyph max).
• I posted for 24 hours
• I checked in with them every couple hours, or after a major competitor logged on. I had all of them(if they post more than 5 glyphs) on my friend list on every toon I play. I also know the posting cycles of the major ones, through the amazing TUJ.
• I aggressively undercut and try to shut out certain people, namely my chief competitors. I used to be kinda nice to them, but they weren't to me, so it's WAR. Got one to leave the market for like a week, then I left for a couple days to see if he was watching, and lo and behold, he was, and came back immediately. So, I came back too, and demoralized him further, made sure to log on IMMEDIATELY after he logged off, no matter what I was doing(except raiding, of course!). Got my bank toon to be on my other account, and literally camped the AH all day some days, just to demoralize him further. It worked, and he stopped competing, or did so not as aggressively. 
• I did minimal flipping, although I did reset some markets which were prices very low but had very little stock, especially if they were Northrend glyphs.

How I sold transmog is way different:

• I carefully examined and priced all of the pieces I was selling, or buying to flip
• I posted for 48 hours
• I never checked in. Frankly, I had no competition, and I don't price based on it anyway. Fixed prices all the way
• I did an auctionator search almost every day for items to flip, plus farmed for them in Blasted Lands all the time

As you can see, the way I approached the two markets were very different. With glyphs, I was very competitive, paid a lot of attention to my competition, but I was not very particular about the, um, particulars. With transmog, I was very careful about the pricing, but cared little about competition. 

I would say that for the effort spent, transmog did give me more gold, but glyphs gave me more gold overall. In other words, I spent little effort or stress in selling/flipping transmog items, but didn't make a lot either, and couldn't really push it too hard to make more. I had to just be patient. But with glyphs I could and did push things hard, and it paid off almost immediately. So, they both had their benefits I suppose. 

Overall, which did I like more? Probably glyphs. Between the highly competitive atmosphere, and high payout, it was exciting and fun. The downsides, of course, were added stress and attention, but that's all part of the game of glyph selling. If you prefer a more relaxed, patient approach, then transmog would be the way to go most likely, or another similar market, like the 77-80 green market.

I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Why I Like Gated Markets

So, today I got a comment on my post about Spirit of Harmony, but I wanted to take the time to reply to it in its own post, partially because I want everyone to see it, and partially because I cannot think of anything else to write about right now. Either way, here is the comment first:

Spoken like a true raider but hey each to their own, I have never been a fan of gating content as in my view it just tends to bore players to death and two months into an expansion you wonder why there are so few players left already. To be honest so many of Blizzard's decisions affecting gold making issues vex me these day I don't know what to do but as I'm not quitting I'll just have to grin and bear it.

Now, although the commenter is clearly conflating two separate things, the gating of content, and that of markets, I do want to tackle the latter. I am a big fan of gated markets, being, those markets which one has to spend time to get into. I am a fan of them for two big reasons:

1. It makes that market more valuable, by making it more scarce. It's simple economics: the less there is of something on the market, and granting that there is enough demand for the item, the more valuable the item will be. Valuable, in this sense, meaning that you can demand a higher price for the item, because people will pay a higher price. The value of something is simply how much you can sell it for, not the material cost+time, or whatever other metric. Gating a market naturally limits the amount of competitors you will have in that market, and thus, the value will go up, and stay up longer. The perfect example of that, at least on my server, is Pack of Endless Pockets. I still see them up for anywhere between 500-1000g a piece, long after they were introduced. This is because the gate for that market is really good at discouraging people from passing it.
2. It makes the market somewhat more fair. To use an analogy, Free-to-play(FTP) games. I am really really against some FTP games, because they clearly give an advantage to people who can throw enough money at the game. To contrast, in WoW, there is no amount of money you can throw at the game to get an advantage, or at least, one that actually gives you an edge against other players in PVP, or in clearing PVE faster. Now, I understand that you can pay more money in WoW to level faster(scroll, or RAF), but that does nothing to affect the endgame, only gets you there faster, which I could care less about. The same goes for gated markets. No matter how much gold you have to throw at the problem, unless you spend however long it takes to get the pattern for the Pack of Endless Pockets, you will not get it. There is no amount of gold you can spend to pass that gate. This makes it more fair for those who don't have millions of gold, but who have time to play. This also helps spread more gold to more people(people who aren't big gold makers, but love grinding faction rep), which is a good thing, because more gold for everyone means more people who can afford what you are selling, which means faster selling, which means more demand for goods, which means higher value of them.

Anyway, that is why I am a fan of gated markets. What do you think? Think I'm a loony, or dead on, or somewhere in-between? Let me know in the comments!

Why I am Happy About Spirit of Harmony

The following may put me in the minority opinion among gold-makers, but that's fine. I am not your average gold-maker, if there is even an "average" to speak of. In other words, I am not the type of gold-maker that does it for the sake of it. I make gold in order to spend it on the things I need in order to progress in other areas of the game, namely raiding. Let's just say that I have seriously seen some people who are into gold-making who barely know how to spec, or what abilities to use on their toons, or how to play in general. This kinda saddens me, as I think if you are going to be making fictional currency in a game, you should at least be interested in playing it. Oh well, that is neither here nor there, and I have no reason why I am bringing it up right now, other than I just feel like venting.

Anyway, why am I happy about Spirit of Harmony? A few reasons, which I will put in a tidy bullet list:

• First, it will make certain items more scarce, namely Darkmoon Cards, Crafted Gear, things like that. Yes, I know that Darkmoon cards will also be able to be made with the Scroll of Wisdom, but that is limited to one scroll per day(which are also used for other things). Point is, because of the fact that Spirits will not be tradeable, and many people will not be paying other people for their spirits(if they even have the recipe needed in the first place, which will come into play with the recipes given by factions), there will almost definitely be less of these items flooding the AH, which of course means higher values for the ones YOU craft.
• Because the Spirits will no longer be tradeable, the prospect of just sitting in a city and camping the AH will no longer be really that viable, at least for certain markets. Of course it will still work for others, but that is beside the point. If you want Spirits, you will have to go out and get them in the world, or in dungeons. This makes me happy, because certain lazy, trade-spamming gold makers on my server will be at a clear disadvantage, because I will have more Spirits, more rep with the factions, etc. In other words, there will be a better gating system to certain markets: time and effort, not just how much gold you can throw at it. High gating is a good thing for those who put in the effort to get past them(like me).
• The design of spirits will help spread the wealth around somewhat. It will probably become somewhat common for people to ask to use the Spirits that other people have. Depending on the ease of getting Spirits, this may mean that they will have a high value. So, for people who are not that into the gold-making game but who love to grind rep with factions and get lots of Spirits, this can be a boon, and create a sort of symbiotic relationship between the strict gold-makers(who don't really play the game) and the people who DO play the game. More gold all-around is actually a good thing. It means more people to buy the other things you are selling.

In summary, I am happy about Spirit of Harmony because it will make certain things more scarce(and thus, more valuable), will spread gold around, and set gates to certain markets(or at least to how much can be produced in that market), which if you take the time to pass them, will reward you immensely. 

Another Reason You Should Start a Farm

So far, the only times I have mentioned the new farm we'll be getting, is in the context of cooking, and how to make that so much easier. Well, for those who don't plan on cooking, or will be more focused on making gold with their other professions, using and growing your farm will still be a good way to go. This is for one big reason: Songbell Seeds.

What are these, you ask? Well, simply put, when planted, and then harvested on the next day after 12AM server, each plant gives at least one Mote of Harmony. I say, "at least" because I have not tested this extensively, so for all I know(and will know through more research) it could give more. But even at 1 per plant, that means at Revered with the Tillers(when you can get 12 plots), you can get a guaranteed 10 motes, or in other words, 1 Spirit of harmony, per day, without having to go kill tons of enemies. This can be especially useful for those alts you don't want to spend a lot of time on, but just want to do, say, your inscription research daily on(which requires one Spirit of Harmony). In addition, they can be sold to an NPC at the main hub in Pandaria for many other things.

Since the Motes of Harmony are soulbound, it could be a real pain in-you-know-where to have to go out into the wild and kill mobs until you get your 10 motes, on every alt you wish to do it on. But with a little initial time investment, you can have the whole thing running practically on autopilot. My advice? Once you get your main to 90, make sure to take some time to get your alts there as well, and start running multiple farms. Free mats for only a little initial time investment, and practically none afterward.

EDIT: it has been pointed out to me that the inscription daily DOES NOT require a Spirit of Harmony. For some reason I thought it did. Either way, you will definitely still want a lot of them :P

My Thoughts on Shaman in Mists(so far!)

I have been playing a lot on the beta, and I gotta say, I am really liking where the Shaman is heading as a class. Granted, I have not tested enhance, as I really don't play much of that live. What I have done of ele and resto in questing, dailies and dungeons, has me very excited.
Specifically, here are a few things that have me excited, mostly from a resto perspective:

• No buff totems. I always thought that they felt clunky, and it was pretty annoying to have to refresh them if one got hit, or expired, or I went out of range, etc. I know some people enjoy it, as a sort of unique, shaman mini-game of sorts, but I just feel they are distracting.
• An abundance of cooldowns of many types(survival, utility, throughput). In live as a resto shammy, I have only a few real cooldowns: Spirit Link Totem, Mana Tide Totem, Spiritwalker's Grace(which I really mainly use for the haste, not the main benefit, being able to cast while moving), and Nature's Swiftness. Oh, and bloodlust/heroism, let's not forget that. In Mists, I will be getting ascendance form, which will basically be a green buff from ultraxion for 15 sec, Healing Tide Totem(my preferred talent on that tier), which will be a sit it and leave it strong group healing cd, and improved elementals--which can channel a buff on me which increases my healing(and in the case of the Earth Elemental, also prevents 20% damage taken). I will also be getting an aoe stun, either an aoe root, a single root, or a group movement impairment remover, and some great damage reduction cooldowns(probably going to take Astral Shift). In other words, I will be getting tons of utility and group healing from these abilities.
• Cool glyphs. Being able to remove the cooldown on Riptide(not sure if it's worth losing the initial heal over. Will probably be very strong near end of expansion, or even mandatory. In the beginning it may just not be feasible to take advantage of it, mana- wise). Chain heal getting range buff, with short cd kind of seems weak, and not a good trade-off. Will only really be used in 10m raiding, or be fight dependent otherwise. Being able to make your chain heal look watery is a plus too.
• Let's see, ghost wolf becoming instant across the board is amazing. For pvp, the talent which lets you relocate your totems will probably be amazing(beside that, that talent tier is totally boring).

I could probably think of other things to get excited about, but to be honest, I am way too caught up with the Curiosity landing, and I am slightly drunk from this amazing Vinho Verde wine(Gazela, check it out, seriously). Possibly later today I will get more into my UI stuff, or delve into more Mists Preparation! 

Preparing for Mists, Part Three: A Preface to Part One

So, in all that talk and crude maths about the new feast in Mists, I neglected to let you in on just how difficult it will be, at least in the very beginning, to level one's cooking up to a point where one can even purchase the main feast, let alone cook it. Just to illustrate, here is the total count, excluding 525-535, as it is very easily done:


535-551(you go to 551 because the next set of recipes give you 2 points each):
16x Giant Mantis Shrimp
16x Jade Lungfish
32x Juicycrunch Carrot
16x Raw Tiger Steak
16x Wildfowl Breast
16x Ginseng

550-575:
12x Raw Turtle Meat + 60x Juicycrunch Carrot
12x Emperor Salmon + 60x Scallions
12x Reef Octopus + 12x Wildfowl Breast
12x Jade Lungfish + 60x Striped Melon
24x Karasang Paddlefish
50x Witchberries + 50x Jade Squash

575-600:
5x Soy Sauce + 50x Giant Mantis Shrimp + 50x Raw Crocolisk Belly + 250x Red Blossom Leek
5x Soy Sauce + 50x Emperor Salmon + 50x Wildfowl Breast + 250x Jade Squash
5x Soy Sauce + 50x Reef Octopus + 50x Mushan Ribs + 250x Juicycrunch Carrot
5x Soy Sauce + 50x Redbelly Mandarin + 50x Raw Crab Meat + 250x White Turnip
5x Soy Sauce + 50x Karasang Paddlefish + 50x Raw Turtle Meat + 250x Mogu Pumpkin
5x Soy Sauce + 250x Green Cabbage + 250x Witchberries

Final Quest:
1x Black Pepper + 50 Pink Turnip
1x Rice Flour + 5x Tiger Gourami + 5x Raw Turtle Meat + 25x Scallions
1x Rice Flour + 5x Jewel Danio + 5x Raw Crab meat + 25x White Turnip
1x Black Pepper + 5x Emperor Salmon + 5x Raw Crocolisk Belly + 25x Mogu Pumpkin
1x Black Pepper + 5x Giant Mantis Shrimp + 5x Mushan ribs + 25x Green Cabbage
1x Rice Flour + 5x Redbelly Mandarin + 5x Raw Tiger Steak + 25x Red Blossom Leek

There are a couple big things to pay attention to here. First, and most importantly, is that you will need a total of at least 36 Ironpaw Tokens, the new cooking tokens which are used to buy the 100 Year Soy Sauce, Black Pepper, and Rice Flour. You only get about 6-7 of them in the beginning, with the introductory cooking quests, and then either can get them through the one(as of right now) daily, and through Bundles of Groceries, which you can only do once you get at least one Way to 600. The Bundles of Groceries take either 100 of a single vegetable, or 20 of a meat or fish to make, and only give you one token in return. Let's just say that it will be very counter-productive to use the meats and veggies that you need to cook with to buy tokens.

Second, christ, have you looked at just how much you will need!? Almost 300 of many kinds of veggies, and hundreds of fish and meats. If you are looking to get the best feasts for your raiding group in the beginning of your progression, the numbers speak for themselves. Simply, you will not be able to level your cooking alone, quickly, and keep your sanity.

Working together, though, it should be quite doable. Here is the plan I propose:

• First, make sure everyone in the guild(or at least the raiding group) deposits all of the cooking materials they get through questing into the guild bank, or some other central deposit.
• Second, make sure everyone in the guild(or, again, at least in the raiding group) starts a farm as early as they can(at 86), and plants what Jogu says to plant(because you will get more), then deposit all harvested crops to the guild bank.
• Third, designate a person in the guild to be the cook. This person will be boosted to get the feasts quickly. I have not yet been able to find out if the feasts are soulbound, but if they are, MAKE SURE the person you choose is able to attend all raids. Just saying, no use wasting the mats.
• Fourth, when people get to 90(leveling to max level should be the priority, of course, and it should take no more than a week to get to 90, if that. I have done it twice and it's not long), schedule times throughout the week to go fishing or farming meats as a guild. I know it isn't the most glamorous thing to do, but you want to progress, right? Gotta do what you gotta do. If every member participates, in, say, fishing, then each person only has to catch about 36 fish each, easily done in about an hour. Additionally, all of the fish can be caught in pools, which can be fished at level 1 skill, so there is no skill barrier, and thus, no excuse.
• Fifth, people will also have to give up their tokens, initially, to back the cook. I suggest taking all the tokens in the beginning(which should be about 60?) and turning them into mostly Soy Sauces, and 3 of Black Pepper and Rice Flour. They shouldn't have to give up any more of the tokens for a while, at least until the good feasts will have to be made.

Anyway, let me know in the comments what you think!

Preparing for Mists, Part Two: Market Speculation

In the first part of this series, I went over what will be the main feast for raiders in Mists, and how to go about getting the huge amount of Pink Turnips necessary to make them. In this second part, I want to go over some potential hot markets(and not so hot ones) to pay attention to come Mists.

To preface, this is all speculation, and pretty uneducated speculation at that, as I am no expert by any means,  so I encourage you to think about this yourself, and perhaps prove me wrong if need be. So, that said, here are some market predictions!

Pink Turnip: Remember when I pointed out that my guild is going to need A LOT of these things every week? Well, this is going to be the case with every guild who decides to use the main feast for raiding. As I doubt many of them will have the foresight or coordination to produce these in-guild, at least in the first few months of the expansion, I expect this vegetable to become relatively scarce and high-priced during that period. Don't expect to be selling many until about a week or two into the expansion though, as it takes a week for the first raid to open up, and it also takes a lot of cooking(and thus, a lot of other materials) to get to the point where you can even buy the recipe for the feast. Here, to illustrate what I think will happen, a highly scientific analysis made with Paint:

The Jogu Flip: There is a little drunk NPC in Halfhill(the main city in Valley of the Four Winds), who, for a fee(free if you raise his reputation to exalted) will let you in on what crops are good to grow that day, meaning that you will get more from those crops. Now, there are two ways to go about using this information. The first and most obvious is to plant what he says is good to plant, and thus have more to sell on the AH, or to turn into Bags of Groceries for tokens. The second way is to take advantage of people who use the first way, and buy the crops that they post the day of/after heeding Jogu's advice. I predict that the price for these crops will be temporarily lower due to the increased supply on the AH, but will quickly return to normal, because most crops are used a lot in cooking recipes(meaning, that there will be a lot of movement in this market). If you are observant, you can take advantage of this temporary fluctuation in the price, and flip the crops after they go back up to non-inflated prices. Now, this depends on if the profit you can gain will be more than the price for listing the crops, or will be enough to even make it worth the time. I think it will be, at least in the first few months at least, as I think cooking materials will be very high priced during that time.

Archaeology Keystones: The Lorewalkers are likely to be a very popular faction in Mists. Not only do they give a sweet-looking mount at exalted, but they also are the faction one has to grind(to revered, so not too bad) to get belt buckles. Thing is, I really doubt that many people have taken the time to get their archaeology up during Cataclysm. This may just be my perception, but it just didn't seem too popular, especially with the non-casual crowd. Well, when they find out that the best way to grind reputation with the Lorewalkers is to have archaeology(and specifically on their Blacksmith), there will be a lot of people going out and grinding it. This means, obviously, many more keystones(the items used to help complete certain relics) being in demand. Of course, the increased number of people grinding out archaeology may bring more keystones into the market, but I doubt it will be enough to cover the amount in demand. I have ground the profession to 525 myself, and I can attest to not getting enough keystones from just my grinding. If they are cheap on the AH now, pick some up and hold them until the start of the next xpac.

Anyway, that is it for now, hope these three markets end up panning out, and working for some of you! Let me know what you think!

Preparing for Mists, Part One: Feasts

Before I get into the meat of this subject, I want to clarify something. You may have noticed that for being a blog which kind of has a gold-making feel and name, I have not written much about the subject. To be honest, part of the reason is because I have felt pretty hesitant to tread on already covered ground, just posting to put words out there and get page views. I want to be as original as I can. In this series that I am starting, Preparing for Mists, I hope to do just that.

How do I intend to be different than the rest(or many of the others) with this? Well, one thing I have noticed is that many of the gold-making bloggers focus on making gold in the game for its own sake, as its own end in a way. To many(not all, of course) of them, gold making is their endgame, their PVP. That's fine, to each their own and all that, but gold making is not my driving force in the World of Warcraft. Mine is raiding. As such, all gold-making that I do is primarily for the purpose of financing my raiding toons, and the guild that I am part of. Now, of course I love to splurge on a nice-looking mount to transmog set, but those are secondary concerns.

Anyway, I thought that I would take this perspective of mine, one of a dedicated raider in a raiding guild, and use that to inform the way that I write about gold-making. Here is my first attempt at that goal, a series on how to prepare yourself(and your guild) for raiding in Mists of Pandaria.

Another disclaimer: this series will not be specifically about making gold exclusively, rather, it will be about preparing for raiding in a way which will save gold. As the saying goes, "a penny saved is a penny earned".

And yes, I am really long-winded :P

If you have done any cooking on the Mists beta, or read about it, you will know that Blizzard is changing the way that buff food is handled. Cooking will have (insert number here) "Ways", or specializations, which focus on making food which benefits a particular stat, with the exception of the Way of the Brew. Each Way will also have its own feast, which gives everyone 250 extra in their primary stat, and a little extra to people who have the primary stat that is associated with that Way. For example, the Banquet of the Pot will benefit Mages more than they will Death Knights, as the Way of the Pot specialization is about intellect.

Additionally, each feast now comes in two sizes, 10 and 25, with a higher material cost to make the 25-person version. Also, feasts are produced in batches of five. As an aside, I originally thought that they were made singly, and when I took a look at what the mats were to make one of them(as I thought) I literally thought that Blizzard was playing some sort of joke. having those same mats produce five makes much more sense, although it is still going to be a higher cost than what we have been used to in Cataclysm. What are the mats, you ask?

Pandaren Banquet (serves 10)
1x 100 Year Soy Sauce
10x Jewel Danio
10x Raw Tiger Steak
50x Pink Turnip

Great Pandaren Banquet (serves 25)
1x 100 Year soy Sauce
20x Jewel Danio
20x Raw Tiger Steak
100x Pink Turnip

As you can see, the 25-person version is simply twice the material cost, save the Soy Sauce, which is purchased with an Ironpaw Token. An interesting thing about the mats here is that they are of four different types. I already mentioned the Soy Sauce. The Jewel Danio is a fish that, from what I can tell so far, is only fished in the level 90 zone(in pools and open water). The Raw Tiger Steaks are looted form tigers you kill, and the Pink Turnips can be looted from Yaungol that you kill, but seems to be much more reliably gained through farming, which I will get into in a bit.

Now, to prepare for your raid's feasting needs, you will have to consider a few variables. First and most obvious, is the raid size. This will set the base cost of mats per feast. Second, you want to determine the amount of feasts that you will need per week, which is a little more involved, but not too much. After these two steps, you will come out with a material requirement that you will have to fill every week. Let me walk you through the process, using my raiding group as an example.

First, my guild raids 10-mans. That part's easy enough.

Second, to determine the amount of feasts we will need per week, I can either spitball it(as in, just guess) and add a little more on top to be safe, or I can attempt at a more educated guess. Let's try the latter. First, I will want to figure out the amount of raiding time spent per week. For our guild, we do four hour sessions, three days a week, which means we raid for 12 hours a week. Now, given that we are not the most hardcore type of guild(although we are pretty good in my opinion), and factoring in that this calculation will be for the first few weeks of content, which means it will be new for us and we will be relatively undergeared for the content, I estimate that we will be wiping a lot. That said, because it will be so new for us, there will probably be some amount of time spent in-between pulls to figure out our strategy. In other words, we probably won't be wiping and running back in to pull in 2 minutes. I would put the in-between fight time at probably an average of 6-10 minutes. The fight time average I would put at about 4-5 minutes, because I am sure we will be wiping a bit on the first couple minutes of a fight, which will balance out the longer times.

Total time for pull+wipe+run back in, buff up and pull again = ~10-15 minutes. As I am a believer in preparing for more than you will need, I will go with the low part of the estimate, 10 minutes.

12 hours/10 minutes=72. As, in, at worst we will need about 72 feasts per week. Now, as I don't trust my estimation skills too much, I like to add a bit more, and so will go with 80 feasts per week needed. If we prepare for that, and end up needing less(or even far less) than it's not like the feasts will go wasted, and we can adjust our estimates accordingly.

Remembering that each feast recipe produced actually makes five, I determine that we will need to make 16 feasts. That comes to a material cost of:

16x 100 Year Soy Sauce
160x Jewel Danio
160x Raw Tiger Steak
800x Pink Turnip

Which, in my opinion, isn't really all that bad, if we make the acquiring of materials a team effort. The fishing and killing part of the equation is easy enough, but the part that I want to get into is the turnips. 800 Pink Turnips a week may seem like a high cost, but it actually shouldn't be too much if people pitch in. My idea is requiring every raid member to take the minimum of time to start their own farm, which takes less than a half hour to do, and require them to grow a certain amount of turnips per week. How many turnips, you ask?

Well, turnip plants, when planted and harvested, provide(from what I have seen in my limited experience, so correct me if I am wrong) 5-8 turnips per plant. If we multiply that number by 10(the number of raiders), we get 50-80, as in, if everyone plants one. This means that to get 800 turnips reliably(as in, only taking the low number, 50, into account), each raider on average will have to produce 16 plants worth of turnips. That means four days of planting for the people who only get 4 plots(the starting amount). Additionally, as you can start farming at level 86, so anyone with a current alt at 85 can take the tiny bit needed to level it to 86 to start farming if they don't want to have to plant turnips on their main. Either way, it is super easy to plant and harvest the turnips, they cost next to nothing for the seeds, and it takes just about the same amount of time as any other daily, so there is no excuse for not taking advantage of it.

Again, the gold that your guild does not have to spend on the hundreds of turnips necessary to produce feasts is gold that you effectively earned. Additionally, it will mean more turnips on the AH, which will mean lower prices for when you do need to buy some. In fact, and here's a trivia section for you, this idea of growing your own crops affecting the larger market has even been the focal point of a famous US Supreme Court decision, Wickard v. Filburn, which helped define the powers that Congress had under the commerce clause. What can I say, I am a politics nerd :P

I hope you actually made it though the long-winded post, and actually gleaned something informative and/or interesting from it(other than my overuse of parenthetical statements, or my irony at doing one now, or my obviousness for pointing out the irony, or the long-windedness of this parenthetical statement). Either way, you can expect another post in the same vein soon, although I haven't quite determined the topic yet. Thanks!

My Addon Series, Part One: Why Use Addons?

This post will be the first in an ongoing series on addons in WoW. As such it will serve as an introduction to addons, why they are useful, and general principles in configuring your layout. Later on I will go into the different types of addons, and perhaps compare and contrast different addons of the same type to let you make an informed decision on which you'd prefer to use.

So, what are addons, you ask? Addons are things you can download that will alter or "add on" to the user interface(UI from here on out) of WoW. They can do anything from make your buttons look a little bit prettier, to completely replace the whole actionbar, or frankly any other part of the UI. With addons you can make your UI look almost any way you wish.

Now, why would you wish to alter or add on to the default UI? There are many reasons, and it really depends on what your play style is, but here are some of my reasons:

• The default UI is ugly:

This is obviously a subjective judgement, but it is one that I know many others share. The default UI, simply, is not very aesthetically pleasing. It has too much ornamentation of the untiframes, on the actionbar. The casting bar is super skinny, the minimap is cluttered with buttons, the bag interface is very large and clunky. I could really go on and on, but I think you get the point.

• Necessary information is displayed very poorly:

This is the crux of the issue for me. I mean, I could deal with an ugly UI if it displayed all the necessary information in an easy to see manner. Thing is, it doesn't. Tracking DoTs(damage over time) is much more difficult than it should be, as is tracking buffs and debuffs, spell cooldowns, aggro, etc. All of the information, when it is displayed at all, is put all over the screen, and that leads to my next point,

• the layout is not conducive to a fast-paced type of play:

With all the information you need to see is placed all over the edges of the screen, you have to look all over to see it. If you want to track your DoTs, you have to look at the enemy untiframe, then to track your buffs and procs, you have to look over to the right, then to track your cooldowns, you have to look to the bottom of the screen, then if you want to see your casting bar, you have to look in the center. When you have to frantically dart your eyes all over your screen just to see the necessary info, that is taking away from the time you could be paying attention to where your character is standing, or where the boss/other players are. When reaction time matters(as in, in PVP and Progression Raiding), you cannot afford to be a second late on some things. 

Keeping those criticisms in mind, my personal design philosophy is to keep all the necessary information right near the center of the screen, easy to see and read, and hopefully pleasing to the eyes. That way, when the action is hot, I do not have to divert my eyes from the action for even a second, and so can react faster, play better. Here is an example of my Restoration Shaman UI:

As you can see, most of the information is near the center, with the most important information nearer to it. The big green cross(my 4-pc haste cd, the color drains as the bonus goes away), the sun(my Seal of the seven signs haste proc), the blue ring(healing rain timer), the big three cooldown icons at the top, and the mana bar above the casting bar are all from WeakAuras, which I will go into in a later installment. Let's just say that it is the one addon that I would not do without. The space between the casting bar and the spell cooldown bar is where my VuhDo raid frames go. But as you can tell, the most important things to me are my mana, my casting bar, and the raid frames. Then my procs, and the big 3 cooldowns. This UI makes it super easy to see it all without having to dart all over.

And yes, I do get a .9 sec GHW :P It's magic!

Update 7/29

Sorry about the lack of posting, folks. Things have been pretty hectic around here lately, and I haven't had much time to write, much less play. That said, I have been thinking about where I want to go with this blog, and I have come up with some interesting(at least to me!) ideas. I am also going to start working on putting together a second On-Air Hangout, this time a little more structured.

Anyway, thank you for your patience, and things will be smoother in a tiny bit here.

MoP Releases on 9/25!

Yup, you heard it here first guys(and gals), the next expansion to the World of Warcraft, Mists of Pandaria, will be releasing on September 25! Oh, you're saying that you heard it elsewhere first? Damnit, guess I'm a little late on this.

Anyway, what are my plans? Well, I am going to be pre-ordering the digital standard edition, and hitting the servers immediately after they go live, trying to get my shammy up to 90 as fast as possible. Luckily, I have been playing the beta since the Annual Pass subscribers have been able to, and I pretty much have the route I want to take through the zones figured out.

What are your plans? What are you doing to prepare for the release? let me know in the comments below.

Gold Blogger On Air Hangout #1

Last Sunday, I managed to get together some of the top names in gold blogging on a Google+ On Air Hangout. I think it turned out pretty well, given the fact that it was very short notice and I didn't do any real preparation, not to mention my total lack of experience with moderating just about anything.

Anyway, let me know what you think in the comments, and also let me know what you would like to hear about come next episode!

Google+ Hangout Live Show Update

So, the show is going to happen, this Sunday, starting at 4PM Eastern, and going until we get tired of it.

That's 1PM Pacific, for people in my time zone.

Spread the word, and see you there!

5.0.4 PTR is LIVE!

If you have been wanting to check out the various changes coming our way in the MoP pre-patch, and haven't been invited to the beta, now is your chance! Just go to your battle.net account management page, and download the PTR, and have at it!

Update 7/19

So, still getting things figured out on the back end here, so expect a more regular writing schedule some time in the next week. I kind of started this blog without really thinking all of the design and other things out, and given that I am kinda obsessive about those, I find myself constantly tweaking them.

In other news, the show idea is getting off the ground... most likely. The tentative date is this Sunday, some time in the afternoon PST. Details are still getting worked out, and I have yet to get everyone in the loop, but if things go smoothly, expect a firm date and time by Saturday afternoon here most likely. I won't divulge the names of the people who have signed on to the idea, as I don't want to put them on the spot or anything publicly, in case they don't find the idea appealing any more, or want to sit this one out. Suffice it to say, though, that I got some great minds to sign on.

Besides that, you can expect another UI post soon, and possibly a sort of tutorial on configuring your Weak Auras(I much prefer it over Power Auras) for raiding or PVP. Also, will make a post tonight or tomorrow detailing my pre-MoP preparation, mostly dealing with inscription.

Thanks for reading, those who have, and see you soon!

My Little Idea

I have been using Google+ since it was in beta, and ever since the Hangouts feature went live, I was in love. Hangouts, for those who don't know, are webcam chat rooms which hold up to 10 people. They are easy to configure, and there are some pretty nice in-hangout apps to enhance the experience. In addition to the normal hangouts, there are things called, "On Air Hangouts" which are basically the same thing, with the added bonus of being able to be watched by people outside of the hangout(like a live broadcast) and it automatically gets posted to YouTube.

So, what is my little idea? I want to get some of the WoW gold bloggers out there, and moderate a panel-style show which would, if there is enough interest, happen on a regular basis. The advantages of doing a show in this way are:

• Questions could be fielded beforehand and answered during the show. This will allow some preparation, which will lead to better quality answers. It will also allow us to pick very interesting questions.
• Additionally, people watching could ask their questions live, and have them answered on the show. Possibly will include a time period for that open Q&A.
• A panel of known bloggers doing a live show isn't really that common, as in, it's not something we've seen a lot of(at least from what I have seen, please let me know if I am missing anything). In that way, it can be something really interesting and unique.

I hope to get some of the "big names" to sign on to the idea soon, and get a show rolled out in the coming weeks! Wish me luck!

My UI of the Day: Raiding Setup(Resto)

Today I want to go over my current UI setup for raiding on my Restoration Shammy. I won't get too in-depth with all the ways I have tweaked each individual addon, but I hope I will be able to give you an idea of what may work for you if you are raiding. Here is a quick video of me healing a little out of combat, to show off some of the aspects of the UI.

A more detailed description of what is going on will be past the break!

Update for 7/17

Today, I finally got the design of my blog figured out. The main picture took the longest by far, as I had to figure out a good spot to take a pic in-game, edit it through the built in windows app, then use paint(yes, I know!) to design the fake tool tip. All in all, I think it turned out great!

By the way, the pic was taken from the poolside at Gallywix's Pleasure Palace in Azshara. I think it's the perfect spot for the message I am trying to convey: luxury, Goblin style, earned Goblin style.

Later today I plan on writing a post on my Inscription setup through TSM, and possibly another going through my UI and addons.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the site so far, the looks, the content you'd like to see!

An Introduction is in Order

Hey there! My name is Brandon, but in this blog I will be going by my main's name, Goldshield.

I've been playing WoW since the end of TBC, when my fiancee(and soon to be wife) got me into the game. Through the whole of Wrath I wasn't really into making gold, and could barely pay for things like dual-spec, Northrend flying, and other pretty much necessary things. When Cataclysm came out, I decided to change this trend, and make enough gold to buy whatever I wanted and needed. After learning the basics of addons like TSM, Auctioneer, and Auctionator, and reading blogs like Power Word: Gold, I set out on what would become a very profitable venture: glyph selling.

Since then, I have expanded to shuffling, transmog farming and flipping, and just plain ole' flipping with the help of The Undermine Journal. I have made enough gold to easily finance all of my toons, my fiancee's toons, and even pay for things like 310% speed flying for all of my toons. Granted, I am nowhere near the gold cap yet, but I plan on hitting it fast in MoP.

Here I will share my various thoughts on gold-making strategy, and various other interesting things in the game. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you come back!