Professional Gold Making | Arcanite Bars, Converters and Crystals

Engineers can create valuable items that are expensive, yet cheap to make if we take a look at the average prices between realms.

Here's a good example: Delicate Arcanite Converter.

Personally I haven't seen anyone selling these for months. These cost about 5g to make and can be sold even for 50-500g. If you want to sell them the fastest, I'd keep the price at around 150-200g each.

Alchemy is essential
The schematic cannot be learned from a trainer, but instead you must buy it from a vendor in Winterspring. If you don't have engineering, you can sell the schematic instead for about the same price as a converter goes.

Starting with materials:

• 1 x Thorium Bar


• 1 x Arcane Crystal

These 2 are transmuted into an Arcanite Bar by Alchemists.

For the Delicate Arcanite Converter you need:

• 1 x Arcanite Bar


• 1 x Ironweb Spider Silk

This is made by Engineers.

There's more profit to be made!
As you can see, buying Arcanite Bars from the AH is not always very wise, so you should look for an Alchemist who can create some for you.

Selling these along with the converters can make some nice gold often!

Arcane Crystals too expensive? Worry not!
If Arcane Crystals have crazy prices too, perhaps it would be more wise to go farming some of them instead! For this you need Mining. Arcane Crystals are found along with Thorium Ore, from Thorium nodes in high level vanilla zones.

This way you can make even more gold, perhaps thousands in a hour and more if you turn a few of them into Delicates, half into Arcanite Bars and sell rest as they are! Not to mention Thorium Bars can be expensive too, along with the other gems you can find..

TLDR

In conclusion, if items are too expensive:
- Mine Arcane Crystals
- Transmute most into Arcanite Bars
- Create Delicate Arcanite Converters
- Sell Arcane Crystals, Arcanite Bars and Delicate Arcanite Converters.

And if they are not expensive:
- Buy the materials
- Create and sell Delicate Arcanite Converters

Alchemy Gold Making | Living Action Potions

Action potions are a rare sight in the Auction House, even though they are a lifesaver in certain situations. Personally I like to PVP mainly and they have saved my life more times than a healing/dps potion has. They are a slow seller though because almost no one knows about them, so you need to tell people about them if you want to make any sales.

PVPers will love you
Action potions are not needed by everybody. Mainly raiders and PVPers have use for these, but I've still made a huge pile of gold just from these. There's 2 different Action Potions available and they're almost similar, both works at level 85 too. The only difference is FAPs do not remove existing stun effects and slows, LAPs do. The material costs are almost the same, though funnily enough, usually the crappier pots are more expensive to make.

Free Action Potion

• 2 x Blackmouth Oil


• 1 x Stranglekelp


• 1 x Crystal Vial

Learned from: Recipe

Living Action Potion

• 2 x Icecap


• 1 x Mountain Silversage


• 1 x Crystal Vial

Learned from: Recipe

Note: The recipe is BOP
Tip: The vendor also sells invidual Living Potions, so even a non-alchemist can resell these for profit.

They are both decent gold makers, but personally I've made the most selling Living pots.

Trade chat is the key
Since most people don't even know that there's potions that make rogues' cheap shots go to waste, you need to advertise your potions a bit, mainly in the trade chat. Let people know what they do and why they should buy them.

Example:
"Need an extra life? Drink a [Living Action Potion] after that nasty rogue has done it from behind! 99g = 10 x [Living Action Potion]"

Example 2:
"Enjoy a {skull} [Living Action Potion] {skull} before that predictable paladin does his first move! 20 x [Living Action Potion] = 199g "

Remember to create a link for the items so people can click and see what they do. You can also choose to not include a price so you get more whispers and people wanting to negotiate the prices.

Getting rich with Primal Might

This method has been mentioned before on this guide in a bigger TBC compilation, but I still receive a few questions or comments about Primals and Alchemists. Apparently the last post wasn't clear enough, so here's a refreshment.

I'm still often the only person on my realm selling these, even though they are needed by many people. One sells for even 800g if there is no one else selling and someone needs them desperately. There is definitely room for more Alchemists doing this!

The materials are often very expensive though, so sometimes it will be more profitable to sell them as they are. Lucky transmute procs are not guaranteed. Thankfully the materials are easy to obtain by farming them.

Profession needed: Alchemy

Primal Gold!
Before turning any primals into anything, you should check the material costs. They are TBC items so their prices vary between 20g-300g most of the time. If each of the lesser primals sell for 300g, you'll make more gold selling them instead. It would be wise to farm them yourself. One primal takes less than 3 minutes to obtain, so it won't take long to get them all.

If you don't know where's the best place to farm them, check the previous Primal Might post.

Primal Might has simple material requirements:

• 1 x Primal Earth
• 1 x Primal Water
• 1 x Primal Mana
• 1 x Primal Air
• 1 x Primal Fire

Remember that transmutation alchemists can get lucky procs and get even 5 items from one transmute.

Finding some recipes
If you don't have the recipe for Primal Might, you can buy it from Shattrath. The recipe is BOE and sells for 300+g in the auction house. It has a short restock timer on the vendor, so it's wise to buy 2 and sell the other one in the Auction House! And while in Shattrath, why not buy the schematic for white smoke flare also. It too sells for 300g often!

If you like it when the 600g coins drop into your mailbox from a simple method like that, you should take a look at this older post focusing on reselling Outland recipes. In other words, How to turn 200g into 3300g! 

How Professor Putricide Makes Gold

Good news, everyone! I think I perfected a way to make even more gold from alchemy!

Some people like to level alts, and they often prefer doing it fast; aka powerleveling. That includes me! If I didn't know how to create potions and I'm leveling an alt, I would empty the auction house of suitable potions, flasks and elixirs because they make leveling easier, being filthy rich I often ignore the price tag too.

There is just one downside usually... there are none for sale!

The shop is open!
This is where you can step in. There are certain potions that are very useful for leveling and there should always be some for sale. Usually people don't create lower level pots/flasks/elixirs because they can, but only because they are leveling the profession. That's not nearly enough!

It's true that usually herb prices are too high to make profit from alchemy creations, but this is not always the case. Only when someone has recently powerleveled alchemy or inscription, or just likes to play the auction house with herbs. For example, yesterday Felweed stacks cost about 200g each, today 50g.

Sell them faster
Most people either have an alchemist of their own or don't even remember that there are potions in the game. Some think their small stat boosts are not worth it. There is only a handful out there that are interested in our creations, so you need patience. But at least you are rarely undercutted, save some stacks of 3 elixirs which does not matter.

To make them sell faster, here are some helpful tips

• I've found the pots sell fastest if I list them in stacks of 5 or 10.
• Create a macro that lets people know why they should use flasks and elixirs while leveling.
• While transmute mastery offers bigger profit potential per craft, an alchemist specialized in potions or elixirs will make even more gold (Mainly from high end drinks) if you are an active seller.

A good macro may look something like this:

"{skull} Did you know a flasked person kills monsters 20% faster? {skull} Do you know how many monsters you have to kill during 55-85? Flask up and Powerlevel! * All Flasks Available * /w me"

I haven't done lots of testing so 20% may not be accurate with mixology trait, it may be 30% instead depending on level and if it offers lots of crit. But that does not affect you. You need to convince the buyers!

Which potions should I create?
It may be hard to decide what potions to create, but there is a good way to find out which creation sells. Search and buy low priced herbs from the auction house and see what you can create with them, or just create 5 of every pot that you would use yourself while leveling and see which of them sells fastest.

Or you can sell these creations I've been making a killing from:

Potions

• Rage Potion 
• Swiftness Potion
• Swim Speed Potion 
• Healing Potion
• Lesser Mana Potion 
• Free Action Potion
• Lesser Invisibility Potion 
• Great Rage Potion
• Superior Mana Potion 
• Major Healing Potion
• Living Action Potion 
• Major Mana Potion
• Insane Strength Potion 
• Super Healing Potion
• Super Mana Potion 
• Icy Mana Potion
• Super Rejuvenation Potion 
• Runic Mana Potion

Almost all Cataclysm potions give lots of profit so I won't list them.

Note that healing potions are a slow seller usually, because most classes have enough self heals or use mana pots instead. For example, as a leveling priest I had to use a mana potion every 2 minutes to prevent drinking after every big pull.

Elixirs

• Elixir of Giant Growth
• Elixir of Minor Accuracy
• Elixir of Wisdom 
• Elixir of Lesser Agility 
• Elixir of Ogre's Strength
• Major Troll's Blood Elixir
• Elixir of Agility 
• Arcane Elixir
• Elixir of Greater Intellect 
• Elixir of Giants
• Elixir of Greater Agility 
• Gift of Arthas
• Elixir of Shadow Power
• Elixir of Water Walking 
• Elixir of the Sages
• Elixir of Brute Force 
• Elixir of the Mongoose
• Greater Arcane Elixir 
• Adept's Elixir
• Onslaught Elixir 
• Elixir of Major Fortitude
• Elixir of Major Strength 
• Elixir of Draenic Wisdom
• Elixir of Major Agility

Almost every Wotlk and Cataclysm elixir gives you profit so I won't list them. 

Flasks

• Flask of Distilled Wisdom
• Flask of Supreme Power
• Flask of the Titans 
• Flask of Pure Death 
• Flask of Relentless Assault 
• Flask of Endless Rage 
• Flask of Stoneblood 
• Flask of the Frost Wyrm 
• Lesser Flask of Toughness 
• Flask of the Draconic Mind 
• Flask of the Winds 
• Flask of Titanic Strength 

You may have luck selling other creations aswell, so no need to sell only what I've been selling. Create what you can from the herbs you have available!

Did I miss a potion or elixir that you've made lots of gold with? Let me know! c:

More preparation for patch 4.2

If you have an alchemist, it would be wise to keep some of your Truegold in bank until the patch hits; and people start obtaining the new profession recipes from Firelands that require them. Most of them require 8 x Truegold and what I've seen in the past months, there's never more than 10-20 Truegolds in the Auction House. Either people have already started hoarding them or there's just not enough supply.

This means at least my realm's AH will have little to no Truegolds for sale at some point during the next patch, at which point I will sell my cache. I have no idea how high their prices will go, but it's quite safe to say the price will be at least 2-3x higher in a week or two after the patch, at least on realms that have low supply to start with.

Currently the price has been bouncing from 300g to 700g; and some days even more!


Got extra gold to spend?
If you don't have an alchemist, or just want to make even more gold, this is a nice way to invest some gold aswell; and there won't be any losses for you even if truegold's value stays as it is.

See any cheap Truegold in the Auction House? Buy them! I have done so for a long while now, but before the announcement of patch 4.2 craftables I just sold them for 100-300g more than what I paid for them when the supply was low.

Currently I have only 30 ish stacks, but even it should create a nice profit, not that I'm stopping the hoarding just yet!

Truegold is not the only item that will be more valuable!
There are other trade goods aswell that will be needed for the shiny new equipment. These being every volatile and Hardened Elementium Bar in particular. Availability of Elementium Bars and Ore will affect the price though.

I'd hoard a few of these too if you see them going cheap, though these are more easily obtained so their prices won't raise too much. But the profit is there nonetheless! :)

Making Boatloads of Gold from TBC Trade Goods: Part 1

If you haven't noticed, most TBC trade goods prices are even more expensive than their Cataclysm equivalents, making them extremely good for gold making. It's often wise to farm the reagents yourself, because some Primals cost even 200g each, like Air and Water. But if the reagents sell for more than what the product itself does, assuming you are not the only one selling it, it's often a better idea to sell the reagents instead.

Image credit: iloveeurope

Alchemy and Primal Might
Requires Alchemy (350)

The recipe is almost as valuable as the Primal Might itself, but at least its easily obtained so you can learn it yourself and also grab a few that you will resell. It's sold by 3 vendors, click here to see which one is closest to you.

Reagents:
Primal Earth
Best place to farm: Auction House

Primal Water
Best place to farm: Terokkar Forest

Primal Air
Best place to farm: Shadowmoon Valley

Primal Fire
Best place to farm: Hellfire Peninsula

Primal Mana
Best place to farm: Blade's Edge Mountains


Farming Vs. Auction House

Image credit: Sanrya

Some of the Primals are very cheap and should be bought from the AH, like Earth, Fire and Mana usually. See for yourself which one is profitable to buy instead of farm on your realm.

Motes of Water can also be fished from Pure Water pools in Throne of the Elements, Nagrand.

Remember that Throne of the Elements is a good choice for killing too, if you don't mind waiting for respawns.

Engineers can also farm motes by hunting Gas Clouds around Outland. Different clouds give different motes, like Zangarmarsh is for Water and Netherstorm for Mana. You need a Zapthrottle Mote Extractor to extract motes from the clouds.


Making use of the Transmutation Specialization
Alchemists can choose from three specializations: Elixir, Potion or Transmutation specialization. When a xmute alchemist creates Primal Mights, a proc might happen, giving them even 5 extra Primal Mights when crafting.

This might given you even 5k additional gold per proc if Mights sell for 1k on your realm. Average price I've seen is around 300-700g. Usually no one is selling these so I can choose any price I want!

Who let the Dogs Out? Alto's BoW WoW

Hey folks! Let's see what happens with this....With less than 3% of my pageviews actually going to my blogroll, I figure that ya'll are missing out on some great content written by other gold bloggers. For those that aren't looking, you really need to start, as there is a ton of great information posted weekly.






If this flows great with you all, I will continue this process weekly. Sound good? Let my know below in comments if you love it or hate it!


Oh, you are wondering about the BoW WoW? Best of the Week in World of Warcraft. Can you tell if the Adderall kicked in yet? I am not too sure, so forgive me if the links are broken....holler out if they are below, and I will fix em asap. 


*As usual, please don't skim through this post, unless you have read each of these blogposts. Deal? Deal. Let's get it started in here! (bad music reference there....I know. Sorry about that).

PowerWordGold- 
Guest Post by Torgal
With Patch 4.1 there are now two new pet-related achievements: Petting Zoo for collecting 100 companion pets and Menagerie for collecting 125. How can we as gold-makers profit from the increased demand for companion pets (AKA mini-pets, vanity pets)? Find out after the jump. 
-continued-

Kuja's GoldMine- 

Great list of Vendor Items to Flip

I normally don't list minor gold making methods, but I think this deserves a mention because it requires almost no time at all to perform so it can be combined with other gold making tactics.

-continued-

Stokpile- 

Enchanting in 4.1.0

For those of you who are still having difficulty with enchanting and aren't sure what to sell this entry is for you. Basically it's a quote from EJ and every class/spec forum of the recommended enchants for every slot.

-continued-

PrncessPwn- 

"How to" Questing for the Panther Cub 4.1.0

Today I will be showing you the quest chain to get your very own Panther Cub, from the quest chain that was just implemented in Patch 4.1.0. -continued-

Cold's Gold Factory- 

Alchemy

I have been playing in the potion market on my server after taking my second Alchemist to swap alchemy specializations to potion master.  Early into the release of Cataclysm, there was no profit to be made in either the flask or potion markets. -continued-

Player vs. Auction House- 

Arena Changes in 4.1.0

The inexplicably undocumented Arena point change has been a huge blow to my drive to PvP in WoW. In case you missed it - you know, focusing on all the gold-making and "versus AH" opportunities - the way Conquest points are earned have been radically changed.

-continued-

Khailor's Tentacular Junkpile- 

Barking Mysterious Fortune Cards- Not Good!

If you are a canine, this may be news to you. If you're not, you're going duuuuuh.

But because you know we're talking about World of Warcraft, you know what I'm referring to.

-continued-

Xander's Goldmine- 

4.1.0 Obsidium Shuffle

By far I think the biggest change we all want to talk about is the Obsidium shuffle. Yes gem prices did change lets see here all green quality cut Cata gems dropped to 75s which is huge. Where the green quality cut Cata perfect gems dropped to 90s vendor value

-continued- 

Warcraft Econ- 

Alto

A little post on a guy you might know...This Guy! I capped a million gold a few months ago, but it's a nice interview with a little background on me. You might like it, you might not, but read it if you haven't. 

JMTC- 

Alto

Markco got back into writing, well, for one post at least. I am fond of this one due to he hits on one of my favorite subjects, my blog. 

Was there a post out there that I missed that covered some killa information? Are you a blogger and you aren't on my blogroll? Check out my list to the right, and holler out in comments! I don't want to miss anyone!

*Remember, today is the last day to get your Achievements in Noblegarden. There is a great 2011 updated "How To" on WowInsider: The Overachiever; Guide to Noblegarden. 

Professions, You Got 'Em? But are they the Right Ones?

Wow. What a whirlwind weekend. During our Easter Holiday, my daughter and I went on an egg hunt, had a blast, hit up a petting zoo (and she tried to kiss a duck- not good...no, she didn't get hurt) and spent some time with the family. Good times.

Due to that, my blog missed a couple posts, and I didn't log into wow for two days. Needless to say, I had a few mails waiting that needed addressed...

Enough of that, what I want to hit on today is Professions. Most folks know that having professions equates to having gold. Don't get me wrong, you can make quite a bit of gold without them, but you can make a shitton more with them. You can make even more if you have ones that mesh. And if you aren't skeered to powerlevel them (and know when to change them by watching your AH) you can make even more. Let me explain....


Ok. You are a farmer. You pick Ore. Or Herbs. Well, you probably teamed up with Herbalism and Mining on the same toon. What? You have mining and an Engineer? Ok, makes sense. You are losing out on herbs, but you are gaining the proc Volatile Air....does it even out pricewise? Nah. I did it, I don't follow the hype. I was getting near a 8% proc per node. Not profitable, I went back to Herbalism. See where I am going with this? One, you can't believe all that you hear, and two, you must check once in a while to see if your professions are profitable, and change when needed.


Ok. You are a Obsidium Shuffler. You have Jewelcrafting and Enchanting. You take the Ore, you prospect it, you craft goods, then you D/E. Gotcha. But what if you don't have an Enchanter? You are paying someone to D/E for you? Why? Have you realized your losses? What about time lost? Yeah, it's probably quite a bit....what about *cough* stolen mats? Are you actually getting back what you should in your disenchanting? I sure hope so....

Ok. You are a Glyper. You have a Scribe. What? An actual solo profession? Yeah, it is. Well, you do need herbs. You can mill them, get the pigments, then turn them into inks, then create glyphs....wow. you don't really need anything else? But.....

Ok. You are an Alchemist. You need herbs to make your flasks. Thats it. But then you use your transmutes. You need uncut greens for Shadowspirits. You need ore/bars for Truegold. What's that? You need Volatile Lifes too? Another Transmute? yeah. More options....

See where I am going here? I hope so. Reheck your Professions. See if you have the most profitable ones. Do they mesh together or defeat the purpose? Do you have Blacksmithing and never see bars in the AH?



Do you have Leatherworking but can never find leather? By now, you should know your professions and how they are helping or hurting you. Either pat yourself on your back or get to work, and have your professions work for you, and not you work for them.

What? You are wondering what those SS are throughout the post? The Train-a-tron in Azshara of course. One stop shop for training. Second floor of the inn. Approx 57, 50.7 if you have GPS. =)

Archaelogy Updates and AH Tank Sales for 4.1 "Call to Arms"

Hey folks!

I really need more time in the day. I missed another post yesterday. But I got some schtuff that you will be interested in coming very, very soon! First off, I am covering Arch changes, then afterwords I am hitting up an upcoming AH sales platform. So sit back, enjoy your third (ok, maybe fourth by now) cup of java, and read up!


Extinct Turtle Shell                                                                               Vyrkyl Drinking Horn

Pterrodax Hatchling

Ancient Amber

Voodoo Figurine

Haunted War Drum

Nothing major coming out, but if you had already invested your time, there are some pretty decent pets and a nice shield (since the "call to arms" is going to be a heavy hitter).

Now to emphasise this point a bit, you will see some upcoming sales for tank gear. Dust off that Blacksmith and make some PvP Crafted gear (As they have seen a small spike, and more to come) like the Ornate Pyrium set and the Bloodied Pyrium set, any "higher end" i359 craftables, shields etc. I have been stockpiling for a few days any 80+ tank gear from my "flipping" process (see a post here on how to's) and will be dumping them come 4.1.0 drop.

Now for the Alchemists and Chefs out there, get ready for a spike in your "buff food" and tankable "drinks"; Earthen Potion, Elixir of Deep Earth,  Mushroom Sauce Mudfish, Blackbelly Sushi, and many more. Ask around in your guild for the heavy hitting tanks and what they use, and that will be what you want to sell. EZ money, ez profits!

Now get on your AH and get busy! If any tanks read this, holler in comments what you are currently using for "buffing" and help out your fellow AH PvP'ers! Thanks ahead of time! Till next time folks!

Did you Forget Something? Dust off those Unused Professions!

JMTC has their carnival tomorrow, and here is my "entry" post.  If you haven't already, I want you go over and check it out, as there are quite a few bloggers now with a ton of information. Now for my post, here is how you should start taking on specializing and diversifying the AH on your server. Ready? Set? Go!



Pic from Jack Nadels:
Use What You Have
To Get What You Want



How good are you on the AH? Have you hit 10K, 50K, 500K, a Million? Whichever spot you are at, you mos def need to use what you have to get there. Think about that a second.....

Use what you have. Now this is gonna be completely common sense, but hear me out, as this basic necessity may have passed you by. Use what you have.....

If you are stuck at X amount of gold and wondering why, I can give you one answer (but do you really want to hear it again?) "USE WHAT YOU HAVE". I mean really use it. If you have a toon, and your have Jewelcrafting and Leatherworking (just a for instance here, it can be anything, keep reading...), and you only cut gems and post, what is happening with your other craft? Nothing? Collecting dust? Get the Pledge out and dust that off!

You have professions for a reason, be it to craft goods for yourself or your guild, add to your "buffs" from the profs, but most of you reading this will have a profession for making gold. So why aren't you using it to post your AH? Because you don't want to hit your next 100K mark. That is the only answer you can give. I won't believe anything else.

"Well Alto, it's only 420"

So go burn one. Wait, what? Really, you need to utilize that prof to make you gold. There is probably a reason you stopped leveling. Raiding, got bored, ran outta cash, etc. Whatever excuse you had, you stopped. Pick it back up. If you stopped leveling it, my guess is you also have random mats in your bank near that level too. Use them. Check TuJ or wowhead to see what is available at that level. In leatherworking, there are quite a few niche markets, not all sell daily, but often enough to make a profit. See where I am going with this? Good. Now get it done.

"Alto, I stopped at 515 because I ran out of materials, and the cost was too high"

I am gonna guess that was a few months ago now. The mats have dropped considerably since then, and you need to recheck the AH again. Get up to "cap", and then get some epix recipies (I am still using the leatherworking as an example, but this works with most "crafting" profs other than scribes- as Cata added very little to that prof glyph wise). You spent time leveling that to get to the 515, go that little bit further, because now is the time to make your $$, before 4.1 and a bit after that they will still be selling too (for the ilvl requirements for the heroic 5 mans).

"Bah. There's too much competition"

I have to call bullshit on that one. I really, really, hate that. Too much competition to me means "I am too lazy to look at the different areas". I can personally guarantee there is a niche market somewhere in each profession. Glyphs? "I get undercut". Ok, I believe you. But I bet there are glyphs that aren't even up in the AH right now. It might be a level 25 glyph that sold for 12g last post, but if there isn't one there, it won't sell, amirite? I am. Check. Spend your time, and it will payoff. Guaranteed. Oh, you are a Jewelcrafter? "The gems are worthless, all of them". I call bullshit again...Ok, so you must have every single cut available, along with every "crafted" necklace, ring, etc. And you have checked each one of them at the AH. I bet there are at least 5 "cut" gems that aren't even on your AH. And the crafteds? Yeah, probably half of them aren't on their either....

"Well, to tell you the truth, I was looking at changing profs to XXXXX, because I am bored of it, and haven't used tailoring in a while"

Look above at that answer. Have you checked EVERY possible craft? Are you posting EVERY possible craft? Once again, I see so many folks that don't utilize what they can, or should be, posting daily. You aren't on everyday? Post 24 or 48 hours.....

"God Alto, you know how much AH fees I will lose on 48 hour posts?"

Yeah, I do. But you know how much profit you are losing? You are gonna risk a 10g AH fee if it doesn't sell against a 2-4K profit? Once again, that is one of the worst excuses I have heard. You know Johnny, if you keep saying this stuff, I am gonna have to kick you outta class, I don't think you are even reading what I am talking about....


So in order to specialize and diversify, you need to first see what you can do, what markets (or niches) you have available in your AH, and what time you are willing to spend to find what you are looking for. If you have more money than time, or are just stuck, you can always go to my coaching program and I can assist you in finding what you have been searching for.....gold.

Now log into your toon and start crafting and posting. Then after you sell some, come back and holler. Chanks!

Things in Life Aren't Free- But in WoW They Are?

Alot of folks have different optinions on what is actually "profit". We have all heard the "I farmed it so it's free" line, which, in all reality it's true. You did spend the time to farm, and it was "free". We have also heard "well, it procced on the transmute, so it's free", which is also true. But I don't see it either way, and neither should you if you have the same mindset. Let me explain:

"I farmed it so it's free":

How long did it take you? What was your GPH (gold per hour)? Did you stop and take a second to check it out? How did you factor it in?

Ok, so you were in Twilight Highlands farming your Elementium Ore for an hour. You ended with 160 ores. A few green gems, and a blue. Oh yeah, 6 Volatile Earth, 2 Volatile Fire. Was it worth it?

8 stacks of Elementium: 720g
3 Pyrite Ore: 36g
Green uncut gems: 40g
Dream Emerald: 35g
6 Volatile Earth: 75g
2 Volatile Fire: 45g

Total is 940"ish" gold. Alright, not too shabby. But that is just the start. "It's all free". So you mail the ores to your gemmy, and prospect them. You end up with 930g worth of gems (AH price). So is that your GPH now? What about when you take the gems, cut them into Alicite Pendant, Jasper Rings, Carnelian Spikes, and then D/E them? Then you are looking at around 1100g? But is it still "free"? Now you notice that Nightstones are the Jewelcrafter's daily, so you get 80g each for the two that you got from prospecting. Now we are looking at almost 1300g. See where I am going with this? Sure, just from farming you can sell your "mats" straight out, and clear 900g. But spend a bit more time and you get 400g more. I know this is total common sense, but try to get in this mindset on what you can do with your time. This example can work with many different types of farming, so place yourself in your normal farming situation and go from there. Next.....

"Well, it procced on a transmute, so it's free"

So you are doing your daily transmute of Volatile Life to Volatile Air. Or Truegold. Or when you made your Jasper Rings, you procced a Blue one. You procced 3 on your Truegold transmute, and you want to sell them quick, so you hit the AH and toss em in for 100g UNDER the lowest price. You just lost dough buddy. Instead of them being free, you now have to pay for that Potion of Treasure Finding out of your own pocket, instead of using the system to pay. Get it? Got it? Good.

"I can sell it cheap, because I wasn't even expecting it, so it's free"

Wrong. And right. If you sell it cheap, you are losing money. This is once again common sense, but it seems that people don't see it that way. I see that Blue ring selling within a few days for 200'ish gold. But others seem to not do that, D/E it, get a Small Heavenly Shard (worth about 17g), and go on. That, my friends, is a loss. Not a "free" 17g, but a loss of 180g. But once again, it was free (as I am told)......

Ok. Now this is the one that burns me the most. Listening last night to JMTC reminded me of this. To each their own, but you are reading this because you care about my point of view, and here it is....

"Well, when I mill, I make my money back on Inferno Inks, so the Blackfallow Inks are free"

This one for some reason is my biggest pet peeve. Sickening. Now you are probably thinking "this alto's full of shit, why does this bother him so much?". Or you don't care. But tuff, I am gonna tell you anyways. Folks like this piss me off in a few ways. One, they lower the price of Blackfallow on the AH to next to nothing. Which in turn lowers the prices on Mysterious Fortune Cards. Which affects my bottom line.

Now before you say "Alto, you do the same thing, isn't that a contradiction?", Yes, I do "near" the exact opposite. I mill, sell my Inferno Inks, and use my Blackfallow Inks for other uses, unless the Inferno's are full of competition, then I will make Destruction Cards or just sit on them. I don't kill (flood) the market and make the prices lower to zero worth. Bah.

So as usual, I started going off and rambling for a bit. Yes, this is all common sense once again. Things in Life Aren't Free. Ever. Ore are they?


*pic is used from http://www.famousbloggers.net/

Powerleveling your Professions- Alchemists, Alto Needs You!

Powerleveling Professions. Not for the amateur. Not for the feint hearted. Not for the poor..... 0-525 Alchemy cost me just shy of 12K server prices (had I watched the AH for the best prices, or saved mats up, it would have been quite a bit cheaper, but hey, gotta spend gold on something, right?). Now onto my post:

Pushing to get done before the upcoming 4.0.6 Patch, you might remember one of my toons as she has been the "star" of a few of past articles, such as "WTB Port to Dalaran" and "But what about Dalaran" . She is now another Illustrious Grand Master, if for no reason other than to D/E my 2 bank tabs of Carnelian Spikes that I have accumulated over the last few weeks. I have been worrying that the ilvl was too high on these and that Blizzard "might" nerf these soon, so I needed to get her there to ease the "stress" (I do not like to bother others with D/E'ing, not saying it's wrong, but.... I just prefer to do it myself, you know?).

So last night, 2am"ish", after hitting PvP and Random queues', questing, and farming on a constant rotation, I hit 75. Finially. Seemed like forever, as it almost took her seven days /played time to get there (alot of messing around, hitting AH, doing scans, so it should be quite a bit less).

There were a few tough things that I had to do today upon leveling, one of which hurt, bad.....Vendoring the  Lifebound Alchemist Stone for the unreal price of 8g, when just a week ago I could have been D/E'ing it and getting an easy 1K (or more) selling the Maelstrom Crystals....too little, too late on that one. No bozo button for Alto there...

I guess what I am trying to get to with this post is, yeah, powerleveling a profession is expensive. Now, after checking my AH run (with all the pots I made) through 525, I will be getting 3500g back on my Alchemist through this process. Quite a bit of an initial loss.....However, it is well worth it, as I will make the rest back in no time, I am sure of it. Now for my favor from my loyal readers.....

Any of you folks out there have a set "daily routine" for your Alchemist? Transmutes? Dailies? Are there certain flasks/pots that are selling well for you? On certain days? Holler!

If you would like to go further in depth, or if you are interested in doing a guest post on this topic, feel free to email me at altosgoldishadvice@gmail.com! If that doesn't seem feasable for you, how about a link to a blog that you feel would help? Or a few comments on what has worked, what doesn't work?

You know, you are my hero by doing this. Yes, you. I am talking to you. The one that is reading this right now. Or typing an answer now. Or writing an email......Thank you. Talk to yall soon!

Jan 18 Hotfixes and How They Affect You

Not a whole lot of Gold"ish" changes, but there is a major one, Lifebound Alchemist Stones (see below for the new scoop).

Professions

• Archaeology keystone fragments can no longer be prospected.

Truthfully, didn't even know about this one. So really, it doesn't affect me, but it might affect you.

• Lifebound Alchemist Stones can no longer be disenchanted.

I know that alot of folks were doing this, so expect the prices of Malestrom Crystals to go up "back to normal" around 2K'ish (they have been around 800g to 1K lately).

Now this point is a long shot, but I believe that you will see a slight drop in herbs/Volatile Life due to this. Remember, Blizz is planning on more Alchemist stones in 4.0.6, and from what I understand, they are D/E'able. So get while the getting is good if the mats do start dropping in price. Because we all know soon they will be right back up. Ya Hear?

• Darkmoon Card: Volcano now triggers from periodic damage.

This will be a slightly higher incentive for sales, you might want to bark in trade if you are selling in /2 that there was a hotfix. Keep people in the loop and you will get sales!

• Free Action Potions now cannot be used above level 80.

Once again, this does not pertain to me as I haven't PvP'd in forever. I am sure it affects some of you folks out there, and I am sure this doesn't make you too happy.

Arenas

• Ring of Valor has been temporarily disabled until select bugs can be fixed in an upcoming patch.

Seeing this tells me that 4.0.6 is soon. Make sure you check back on my other posts to start getting prepared (unless you already have been).

Well folks, that's what popped out for me, but as usual, there are others that I did not post over at Blizzard's Hotfix, check it out.