Gold Goal: Week 12

Looks like it's been nearly 12 weeks since I decided I wanted to hit the gold cap, and I'm around halfway there. Compared to others, I seem to be fairly slow at making my way up the gold mountain, but that probably just means I need to take some time to figure out what I'm doing right - and what I can do better.

The inscription market was previously my biggest earner, but lately a slew of new auctioneers have slaughtered the market faster than I could manage to fix it, and it's now become a weaker backbone for my auctions.

I need to invest more, and do so more confidently. Part of my problem is that the only things I do solidly are inscription, restocking my glyphs every few hours, and my daily epic gem xmutes - all 5 of them. I need to expand my library of epic gem cuts, level my next two alchemists, and a whole slew of other things.

Right now, Cataclysm is looming on the horizon, and I feel I need to get my ducks in a row for that - collect BoEs on my second account for my blood elf warrior (JC/Alchemist) and my goblin warlock (??/Alchemist) as well as the materials I'll need to power level their professions.

I'm being set back with my gold goal, however, as my WoW decided to begin crapping itself and crashing every time I loaded Dalaran and Icecrown. Repair utility came to my rescue, and it repaired WoW... and then started downloading all of the patches from 3.2 on! Bad words go here!!

Grid+Clique vs Healbot, Round 2 - FIGHT!

I have long been a staunch proponent for my side of the battlefield in the war between Grid+Clique and Healbot users. I began my healing job with the standard 'click the user frame, push the button' mode of healing, and to this day I'm more than capable of whipping the raid groups out and manually healing. But, it never feels as fast and efficient as addon-assisted healing.

I, personally, am on the side of Healbot users. It is a fast, efficient addon that is usable almost straight out of the box. My position was more firmly embedded when I made an attempt to install Grid+Clique when I heard that it was superior to Healbot. To make a long story short, there was a tutorial, and a list of around 10 additional addons to add onto Grid and configure, and, in the end, the goal felt like it was simply for Grid+Clique to impersonate healbot after hours of set up before it ever became usable. Halfway through reading the tutorial and attempting to configure Grid into some semblance of usability, I completely gave up and found myself once and for all in the anti-Grid camp.

To this day, I remain a staunch supporter of Healbot. However, it has been over a year since I last attempted to make Grid+Clique work. In that time, there may well have been some changes to make the addon far more friendly to users. With this (perhaps vain?) hope in mind, I am indulging in an experiment as I write this post! I will be downloading and installing Grid+Clique to attempt and set it up to be usable by me, and I will see just how long it takes to set up.

The addon that I am accustomed to using can be found here: Healbot Continued.
The addons that I will be comparing it to are found here, and here, and don't forget here.

So far, I think I've managed to make the Grid look something like what I can tolerate. I've yet to test it in a group setting, but at the moment it's only usable for selecting targets. I haven't yet gotten Clique configured - or even figured out how to configure Clique. It has been half an hour.

There is no menu for handling Clique off of my default addons menu. This is highly annoying, and /clique gives me a fairly cryptic list of / commands for the addon. I don't see anything yet that indicates how to set it up.

/clique showbindings brings up a small window with the words 'Clique Bindings' and an X for closing it. Mousing over this window results in nothing at all enlightening. Shift, alt and ctrl left-and-right clicking does nothing to this strange little window. I now decide to go to the addon's page on curse.com to see if it holds any further enlightenment.


'To begin with Clique, simply open your spellbook, and click the new tab that exists there. This is the Clique configuration tab, and you can open it anytime you are not in combat to configure your clicks.'

 Okay, that's a little enlightening, so now I try that.

Ah-hah!

Now I seem to be getting somewhere.

I have now cloned my mousekeys for healbot onto Grid. It's not that terribly bad, but I can't see my hots! This is a problem. I should look into fixing it. Let's have a side-by-side comparison.

Left, Grid. Right, Healbot.

So, back to Grid's configuration with me. I need a larger icon, and a timer, just like Healbot gives me by default. It's been an hour now. 

This is dumb. I afk for pizza. It is tasty.

Moving on.

Time to navigate the Labyrinth.

Status - Auras - Buff: Renew looks promising at first, but proves itself a dead end. It's just something to do with 'priority' and what classes to show it on. 

After a through investigation, I come to the conclusion that this simply is not possible. I wonder if there is an addon to the addon that I can add on to add on the functionality I need that is given to me by default by the other addon. If this is true, it will take it up to 4 addons to make Grid function, vs one to make Healbot function. 

I give up and go take care of my glyphs sales while I search for an addon to add on to the addon. On my search, I discover GridStatusHots, which sounds like it will do sort of what I want, sans the icon. Just color.Unfortunately, I never got around to trying it out.

It seems to come down to preferences, in the end. Both are UI mods that display your group in a customizable manner, and allow you to select and-or click-cast on that target. None of Healbot's bad rap from the days of vanilla WoW are true anymore, any anyone who uses Grid+Clique is doing the same thing as a player who chooses to use Healbot. Healbot also utilizes the Healcomm library, which is apparently did not do in the past. At this point, I do not believe that one is superior to the other.

Round Two - End!

I'll stick with Healbot.

EDIT: This post was initially written a few days ago. I intended to get back to comparing the addons, but in the time since I first started writing it, I've come to my conclusion, so I finished up the post.

Getting Started

We all have to start somewhere, but if you're like me, you feel that you need a strong foundation to start on. Since I'm still getting my act together in the auctioning department, I think now is a good time to document the steps I've taken.

While I'm still getting into the auctioning aspect of things, I've been earning gold for a while. I believe it started back in Burning Crusade, when I realized that doing dailies on multiple 70's was a good thing. I got into the habit of doing a set pattern of dailies. This made them more predictable, if not more entertaining. Lately, I do dailies on only my main, though I keep kicking myself for it. I have unlocked pretty much all of Icecrown and use that for my basis of doing dailies.

This progressed into farming old-world instances on my protection paladin once she was the proud owner of a vendor mount.

I have now begun to farm and purchase materials off the auction house to use my professions for money in addition to all of the above.

I imagine I'll be taking additional steps in the future, but for the current time, this is the point I'm at.

Gold Total Update: 47,916g 77s 20c
Total profits since May 20th: 9,669g

Auction House PvP

This marks day two of my latest insanity, and so far, the payoff is already noticeable. After dedicating about three hours to studying glyphs, I made my first move into the glyph market on my main server, and the results have been surprising. I'm refining the list I initially drew up based on sales - those that sell, I'm posting three more and judging their performance after that point. The ones that don't sell, I'll be re-posting and keeping an eye on. I will not make more of the glyph until I am sold out, at this point, to avoid overstocking what turns out to be an unpopular choice.

I have by now come to recognize yet another auctioneer on my server by their name, and am now engaging in Auction House PvP with them as we speak ;D (I wish I could remember which blog I read that on first - I do agree that the Auction House is yet another form of PvP). So far, we've elbowed each other back and forth  in the Blacksmithing markets and such, and I'm curious if he's simply re-posting unsold merchandise or crafting more and undercutting. The action has been particularly drastic, ranging between 50 to 25 gold undercutting on his behalf. I always reply with a much less drastic cut in price when undercutting him, to try and teach by example. So far, in my opinion, I find it better to undercut by coppers, and no more than a couple gold. This will make you the better price, and put you at the top of the list, but won't cut into your profits too harshly, especially if someone like my new dear friend comes along and starts throwing the undercutting around like it was going out of style.

Part of me wonders if he's attempting to elbow me clear out of the market by making me unable to get the sales I'm after due to his erratic pricing behaviors, but I also wonder if his intent is irrelevant as long as I don't give up and keep perusing the dream. Well, that sounded corny.

But that's what it is. A dream, a desire, a goal. It's a good thing to have, especially while facing the End of the XPac Woes. I want to head into Cataclysm with a strong financial start, and I want to keep going strong throughout the next expansion.

Gold feels like a high score to me. They're points to acquire and later spend on rewards. The higher the score, the better the potential rewards, as well as the better the position for helping others.

But, what's the best approach to Auction House PvP? This feels like another thing I'll be learning on the quest for the gold cap. Any thoughts or pointers on the subject will be appreciated. :) 

For those who are curious, here's the most recent standings for my main server:

 

Abbreviated Screenshot.

It wasn't a phenomenal day, but considering that was made dipping into unfamiliar markets with little else, I'm happy with it.

Adventures in Auction Housing, or, 'I Want To Reach the Gold Cap Too!'.

Like many of WoW's players, I like gold. I like it a lot. I enjoy looting the bad guys and hearing the money hitting my bags, and I really like watching my MoneyFu's session gains getting higher when I play. I hate seeing my sessions at a loss, and do what I can to invest my gold wisely.

I feel I have a few advantages on my side in the quest for making gold.

First, I have two accounts, so I can easily handle any cross faction auction housing myself. This also makes farming a breeze, as I can farm on whatever toon I desire, and have an easy disenchant option. I can also make my own raid groups on a whim without relying on outside help. If I'm farming far away from town, I can bring my second toon and empty my farming character's bags into theirs, if I lack a Moll-E, giving me a greater up-time on any farming binges I feel like going on. My paladin tank has the vendor mount and does much of my old world dungeon and raid farming.

Second, I have seven level 80 characters, six of which are on my main server. In addition to this, I have two characters in their 70's, and a character at 58. All of the above are Horde, however.

Third, I have every single profession in the game at Northrend level. But, I really need to settle down and max out some of the more boring ones, such as Leatherworking and Inscription. I also need to specialize my second alchemist into flasks, and level alchemy on a third character to take up transmutes mastery. 

I have decided that I want to utilize my resources and achieve the gold cap. Before, my goal was simply to stockpile 50,000 gold for Cataclysm's release, but after having come across such awesome blogs as Just My Two Copper, which was the first I stumbled upon, my goals have changed a bit. Seeing others' stories of success has fueled my fire, so to speak.

However, despite everything in my favor, I have issues with gold flow that I know I need to address. For one, I am a very giving person. When I was planning on having an active 5v5 with some friends, I purchased every single member of the team a Battered Hilt, at prices ranging from 6K for the cheapest and peaking at 11K for the first couple. While the 5v5 team idea eventually fell through, I don't regret giving the gifts I did, as I know those who still play are still benefiting from them. However, it is an example of my biggest enemy: random impulse.

I am an impulse shopper, and this is reflected with my IRL money management as well as my WoW gold. It has lead me to make a handful of poor investment choices, thankfully in the WoW world, rather than the real one! But if I hope to achieve the gold cap, I'm going to need to cut back on lavish gifts (which depreciate in value as time goes on anyways). Not to say I should stop gifting entirely, but I should do it less frequently.

A second thing standing in my way is that I feel easily pushed around in the market. I don't have all of the know-how just yet for what I hope to achieve, I don't think. I'm hoping that the experience I gain working with the markets will help me overcome this in time.

If all goes well, I should be reporting my progress here every so often. :D

As of today, May 20th, 2010, I have:

Total across toons on this realm.

The last seven days of activity.

Gear Score: Zero

Gear Score: Zero - the lack of a gear score. Also known as naked. Though if we want to get technical about it, I'm sure a shirt or tabard would be fine!

So, what's going on here? I feel like talking, and if people feel like listening,  I'll be happy to have provided entertainment, if nothing else.

To get started, I'll tell a bit about myself!

My WoW experience began in March of 2007, when a friend talked me into giving the game a try, with the incentive that he'd pay for my monthly subscription fees for me, if I would play WoW with him. Since it was only a $20 loss if I didn't like it, I didn't have much to lose, so I bought it. A month later, I bought the expansion pack and by the third month, I had taken over paying for my account. As of November of 2009, I play on two accounts.Currently, I have seven characters at level 80, two of them being priests.

My interests in WoW vary from RP to raiding, pvp, and the auction house, so expect a dash of variety in my posts.

So, who am I? I am a 25 year old woman just finishing up my associates degree and turning my eye to the job market. I'm a firm believer that there's more girls out there playing WoW than people seem to think. I'm also a firm believer that there is no such thing as girls on the internet.

I play Horde, of course.

My main alt on WoW is a priest on the Twisting Nether server. I rolled him with intent to heal, but I leveled as Shadow, and by the time I reached level 70, I seemed to have become typecasted! I remained Shadow as I raided Kara, though I always kept my healing gear on-hand for off-spec healing. By the time I joined a guild which ran 25 mans, the typecasting continued, and I served as one of the guild's two shadow priests. With them, I earned my Hand of A'dal title, but in the last few weeks of Burning Crusade, I left the guild in favor of the RP guild I'm still in today.

In Wrath, I decided to finally make my main spec Holy. I raided Nax10 with my RP guild, and Ulduar10 and ToC10 with a raiding alliance. I earned my Rusted Proto with a rather epic save involving spending the last of my mana to Guardian Spirit the rogue and critting Vezax to death with my wand for the final achievement I needed.

Currently, I'm seeking a stable ICC10 man group and I am raiding ICC25 once a week.

On other fronts, I'm slowly plugging away at the Battlemaster achievements on my rogue, though ultimately, my goal is the 100,000 honor kills achievement.

I also aim to hit the gold cap someday.

So, why a blog? Blame Altoholic Anonymous.