Tuesday, November 22

Should we be looking forward or backwards?



So with all the news at blizzcon it seems everyone is looking at the new expansion "Mists Of Pandaria" and theorising to changes and possible gold making ideas, those not looking at MOP are looking at the next patch. But while everyone's looking forward, why not take a little look back, and make gold from the past....



Like many gold makers I run most of my auctions and crafting through addons like TSM. However whilst chatting to a couple of new gold players on the Consortium IRC I realised how some of my professions had become 100% automated and that I no longer had the grasp of my sales that I really should! So it was time to step back and get my hands dirty.



For those who know me or have read my blog since the beginning you will know I like to know everything I can about my market, before I'm comfortable moving to a second, third etc. But whilst helping a new gold maker setup TSM I realised I really didn't know enough about my enchant market as A)I'd like to and B) I used to!

The reasons for this where very simple, I was looking forward at new markets and stock piling too much, and I was relying WAY to much on addons.

So I decided it was time to return to the past and learn my old markets all over again. (At this time I wanna point out that i was still turning in a ton of gold on a daily basis from all my professions)

My mission was clear "Relearn" my current markets!
Ok so you forgot some stuff and become addon dependant how does that help us gimp??

Well you see by revisiting my old markets I noticed that some old trends had changed and some new ones had emerged.

Gems


Gems where always my go to market, i made my first 100k doing nothing but cutting gems and shuffling ore, and i continue to load up a bag of cut gems fire it at the AH in varying amounts (5 Red, 3 Orange, 2 every other colour) knowing this amount would sell.

It was after spending a month or so solid in the gem market that i settled on a threshold and post count for each gem based upon the demand and knowledge of my competition. I had not noticed in all my time using TSM as a gem machine gun however that a couple of my competitors had left the market, and others had changed there thresholds looking for higher profits.

[caption id="attachment_499" align="aligncenter" width="344" caption="OK IM RELOADING!"][/caption]
So by looking back at a market that was still making me lots of gold, and very very rarely had any un-sold auctions I noticed that I could actually increase sales and profit by upping my threshold/fallback prices and posting more gems than before.


Afterthoughts


So this might sound like a very redundant post, with the simple message of "check on things you already know", or " Don't forget to..." etc.

But the reason it looks this way, is because that is how it is!

YES!

I am telling you a very simple message because sometimes when we are thinking about gold, and theorising or stratergising or any other indepth thought process we miss the very simple and basic ideas.

So after you've planned your stockpile of Inferno rubies and enchants(or other goods) ready for the next patch, written your speculative post over at The Consortium,                                take the time to LOOK BACKWARDS!  
  • Look back at the way you approach your current markets for changes you might have missed!
  • Look back at markets you left due to competition
  • Look back at older methods that may now be profitable

So remember “Learn the past, watch the present, and create the future.”

Looking elsewhere


Below are some other posts I'd like to bring attention from other bloggers and forums:



Hope this post makes you all have a little think

Take care guys and Gals

2 comments:

  1. Nice post. Various past experiences and thought processes come to mind.

    Yes, it comes down to finding a balance between automation and spending time fiddling with auctions; Micro managing items to sell. For me i'd either spend too much time or automate things as much as possible and just let things run "as is", so that I could focus on other stuff in-game. Although making gold was fun I definitely felt like it took up too much of my time. During Wrath I did spend at least 80% of my online time making gold. And what did I learn? Really?

    It was all good fun though so no regrets ever, it's just interesting that 'm pretty damn sure that i'd go for a highly automated process if I were to return to WoW now. Why? To save time that I don't have to spend. I can either learn how to use The Undermined Journal or I can spend that time learning about building companies in real life or even learning about investing in stocks. The two latter alternatives are more interesting to me, especially now when my perspective on gaming and money making has evolved and become more focused than ever.

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