Enchanting Mats: Greater Eternal Essences and Auctioneer

To follow up with my enchanting post from a few days back, another issue that Megan was running into was finding materials for her enchants. Now I just picked one, as this seems to be one of the most expensive and highly sought after essences in WoW.




You can see from the screenshot above, that this surpasses the prices on any essence, in fact, it is a constant on most servers that this is the main dog. Now there are a few options you can utilize to pick up enchanting mats. You can use the Auctioneer Enchant Mats search (however mine seems to be broken for quite some time now...), but once again, and you should know by now, I don't always cover the easiest way to get things. Knowledge is power, and I want (and prefer) you to know and get used to the names, the items, and what and where they come from. Some addon's take all the "smarts" out of things, and at times, is okay. But this way you will be checking and learning, which is a positive step in the AH PvP.

So what we do know is that Greater Eternal Essence is disenchanted from many different items. I am going to focus on a few different ways (and you can go from there to find more, I just don't want this post to go 20 pages long). Mainly, I start with a search on Auctioneer for levels 48-55, as that seems to pull the best luck for me. The numbers might be a bit off (a level here and there), but this will get you started.

Upon the mouseover, your tooltab should show something to this effect. If you look midway down the lower window, you will see a "Disenchants Into:" and this is what you need to check before buying off the AH. Now this item has a 75% chance to "drop" 1.5 Illusion Dusts, and a 20% chance to drop the kingpin, Greater Eternal Essence. Is this a possibility? Sure it is. Is the the "golden" opportunity? Not really. We want focus on a 75% chance to drop Greaters.

See where I am going with this? You feeling me? Good.

In order to get the most Essences (any style, any level), you will want to push for Weapons. Let's check the AH again under the "Weapon" tab..

Now the reason why I listed this second is because, well, just to see if you are reading the entire post, and not skimming through. Seriously. You should check the weapon tab first, as this is where your most profit and least risk will come from. Sneaky, huh? Now let's glance at the tooltip:




Here you will see what we are looking for. We are using the Magus Long Staff of Stamina for an example. 8g buyout price, a possible 100g profit (if we get the proc on average, we obviously won't get a 1.5, but you get my point).

Now you can use the "Disenchant Value (AucAdv)" if you would like, but it's not something I look for. I go off the odds. Now we are seeing the 75% for Greaters, which is what we want. Remember, Blizz has a RNG for disenchants (random number generator), so if you just buy one to "flip", don't expect to get them everytime.

Once again, this is a starting point for you to go by purchasing and flipping or using them to profit. There might be more or less investment involved by crafting them yourself, so take a gander on your profs to see if crafting/de'ing is a good option or not.  I hope this little "how-to" works for you as well as it has for me, and remember, this "class" will work many different ways, you just need to adjust your numbers here and there within your search.

What? No TuJ? Help for the EU folks out there!

I want to thank you all for your emails, and for those I haven't replied to, I will be posting your questions within the next few weeks. For those that were too scared to email, don't hesitate, you still can. Don't let that frustration build up, let it out. Holler. Altosgoldishadvice@gmail.com

Alright, the title kinda covers the situation here. No, not that situation (I know for all you Jersey Shores'ians out there...), this situation:

Hey Alto,

Been a reader for a while now and really like your content. So I am finially am asking a question. I need help. I play on EU XXXXX, and you seem to talk quite alot about the undermine journal. We get snooked (sorry, I had to change that due to the term used, but since I was on a Jersey Shore kick, well, I used another character) <<fast forward>> I am wondering what you use when you aren't checking them (i.e undermine) or what you can "advice" me to do.

Thanks for your help, XXXXXX

Well, if you can't tell, this person wanted to remain anonymous, but I have an answer to what ails them, and here you go!

First off, I want you to get to the AH. For this example, I am gonna use which Enchanting formula to pick. Go into your buy tab of Auctionator, and I want you to make a shopping list. Just random, but lets name this Pauly D. No? Too much? Ok. Let's call it Enchanting. Deal? Okie Dokie. Now the "quicker" sellers that I have seen are obviously the weapon enchants, so I added Enchant Weapon and Enchant 2H Weapon. If you feel the need, you can use all of them: bracers, chest, bla, bla, bla. K? ok. Next...

I scroll down the page to see what there is little competition on....

"Alto, don't you realize if there is one that is zero it won't show up?"

Dammit, I was trying to talk, and you cut in. Well, I guess that's what I get for having multiple personalities...Anyways, here's your answer. Look at the picture above. See how there is one that says "none available"? It's because I have done this scan before. The addon remembers. So after a few times of doing this, you will see what isn't there...feel me? But now, I am wanting you to focus on what is, and what there is one of. Example inc:

Believe it or not, this one still sells. Fiery Enchant. There is only one in the AH (actually my AH toon has it listed- but I started with three, so two sold in the last day). I then open my Enchant tab (and use the search at the top there looking for fiery so it pulls up and I don't have to search through them manually) and find fiery to see the mats cost. 4 Small Radiant Shard and 1 Essence of Fire. Add up the mats quick, and I am looking at 30g to make one. Listing at 150g, that's an eazy peazy 120g profit per. This took me less than a minute to search for...so checking through the whole list might take you 5 min to decide which to craft and sell.

"Alto, how do I know if it's gonna sell? How do I know how long to post?"

Well, I gotsta tell you that looking at things this way will not tell you if it will sell. You either need to go off experience, or you need to guess (I am sure someone in comments can say the site to go to....). As for the how long to post? I post a couple (2 or 3) at 48hrs (cheap AH fees) and then I will check back the next day and repost (not cancel the original auction) for another 48. And just cycle them like that. Question answered? Hope so...

So there you go XXXX, I hope that explains my process. Fairly simple, doesn't take any time, and it's a buy and sell right off the AH. Buy, craft, sell, get mail. Done.

Does that cover what you are looking for? Oh yeah, I just realized that you probably don't even know what Jersey Shore is over there, don't worry, you aren't missing much....except maybe JWow, but I am sure you have Maxim.

To my readers:

Did I miss something? You do it a bit different? Even the US folks probably use some version of this, as I do not check the TuJ daily when I post. I do it this way to make my decisions on what to craft. I use TuJ when I go into new markets to "feel out" the competition. Anyways, holler below, if for anything, because you want to. Thanks. =)

*Edit- Thanks to Anonymous below, they mentioned that Russia was not on the map above, so here you go!


 



The Weekend "Clearance Sale"- Are you Prepared?

Ahhh. Feels good to be back to my "normal" posts. I am looking to cover some information to assist you in being "weekend prepared".

Now we do know that we see a spike in players on the weekend. You will normally see around a 10-15% spike in the AH posts done between Friday night and Saturday night. My main server goes from around 24K auctions to about 27K on these times.

This presents not only fierce rounds of undercutting, but also a great time to utilize others for finding great items to flip. Time once again to dust off your banks/bags and do some "soul" searching.

"Well Alto, we are getting what you are saying, but what exactly are you talking about? Get to the point already...."

Alright. During the week when I am doing my scans for flipping items (I utilize Auctioneer for this, really the only reason I keep this addon around). I have posted on how to do this a few times, so I am not going to hit on a "how to" as you already know how I do it.

"We know this already, are you just doing a double post to fill space? And why don't you just use Snatch for this, or use the TuJ email for it?"

Lemme answer this for you. God you guys like interrupting my posts, don't you? Nope, no double or triple posts, you already know how to flip on purchasing, I am hitting on when/how to sell those flips. I try not to utilize snatch due to I would rather take one minute to scan through the posts manually (this also helps you get used to seeing whats in the AH and knowing your market- I used to but have gotten away from it). The Undermine email setup is great for snatching up deals, especially if you have Mobile AH. I have enough things going on during the day let alone adding one more to my schedule, but by all means, if you can, it's a great option.

Now to the guts:

Buying:

Once again, it should be part of your AH ritual to do the Auctioneer scan, and buy up anything that is listed under the 10-20% threshold (depending on your available gold-flow). Your weekend ritual should be a bit different, as this is when the mats prices drop (and quanties are there to buy bulk). Be it leather, cloth, ore, herbs, bars, food, pots, etc. This is when you want to snatch up those items for resale. You feel me?

Example:
Here is a screenie from TuJ. This shows that the price is at it's lowest on Friday, and creeps up slowly over the weekend (top image), with a downhill slope again until Saturday.

Now the bottom image is showing that the most available is on Friday as well (can you say supply vs. demand?). Now on this server (I just picked at random), Savage is best bought on Friday, and best sold on Saturday and Sunday. See how I get that?



I am interrupting you again Alto. This doesn't happen on my server, in fact, it's the opposite. The mats prices rise on the weekend!"

After all my posts you have read, you can't answer that question? Jeebus. Ok. Think about what you just said. First off, Great! I am glad you notice that. You are learning....Secondly, you should know what to do then for your personal "fire sale". Buy during the week when the prices are low, and claim the market on the weekends. Little Johnny, I am not sure why you ask these questions when you know the answer already...


Selling:

The weekends on most servers is when the "players" come out to play. What I mean by this is the Weekend Warriors come out of the woodwork. Still don't get it? Ok. Most noobs play. i.e those that aren't max level. This is when you need to be posting all the weapons and armor in your stockpile (whether it is 1 piece or 1,000 of them). Although they are not a guaranteed sale, I recommend that this is the best time to post them.

"Alto, once again you are wrong. On my server, I can't sell an item for the life of me on the weekends".

Well, you must be the only one on your server. Or you are selling for too high (I use 50-75% of market price when I list my weekend auctions for "blue" gear). My guess it's the latter of the two. Just because the "average" price is listed, well, for lack of a better term, it's average price. Think of it as you are at the grocery store, wanting to pick up, lets say, a pizza. Are you the type that will buy a frozen pie for 4 bucks, when you can get the same one on sale next to it for 3? My guess is most folks will purchase the 3 dollar one, for the simple fact they are saving money.

"Nope, wrong again. I would by the 8 dollar Digornio's"

That is another thing I wanted to hit on. There are these types of buyers as well that we need to focus on. The folks that have money. That is why I list epics at 75% plus on the weekends. Because for these guys/gals, they want nothing but the best, and will pay premium prices to flash their epix. Feel me on this one?

I hope by now you have a better understanding of the "weekend" market and how it affects us as AH PvP'ers. As you have heard me mention many times before, you need to understand your server's market, and the best way is for you to learn it and not rely on the snatch (or resale) addon for this style of AH'ing.

Yes, it can be a great asset to you, but I want you to see what is happening. This is a game, right? And if the AH is what you want to win at, this is one step you need to focus on to be the best!

Now little Johnny, do you have any more questions? No? Okay.

How about the rest of the class? Bueller.......Bueller.......

Email Question Answered- Alto's Play by Play Morning Ritual

*Edit- I have an update, as I just saw we had another hotfix. I reported back on patch day that it seemed that the cost of PvP gear was raised. Blizz announced that it is was an unexpected error, prices are now back to normal.


Morning folks! I recceived an email from one of my readers recently, and wanted to cover it in a post. I am going to hit on my changed AH ritual, and the basis is going to be my start to finish a.m. process (normally around 30 minutes). So sit back, take a sip of coffee, and enjoy!

Altos,

I want to say thanks for the informaition you have been giving us, it is a great help! Some days, I feel like you are writing just for me, your posts cover just what I ask! I have been a reader for a few months, and I still go back here and there to re-read your posts. I have two questions if you don't mind. One, have you changed your auction house ritual lately? What are you doing different? And two, you interviewed Marcko and asked him what his "day in the life of" was like, what's yours?

Sincerely,
Heather XXXXXX

P.S.
I do miss seeing your mailbox openings. It gives me motivation to pursue my own goals. I started at 22,Kg and am now sitting at 110,Kg two months later, even after buying a Vial of the Sands mount! I have attached some screen shots of mine, they aren't as big, but I had a 9Kg day!

85 Priest 525 Inscription- 525 Tailoring
84 Mage 525 Mining- 525 Herbalism

---------------------------------------------------------------

Well Heather, here you go!

6:45am

Daddy wakes up (I am not Alto yet, so I am better known in life as Daddy....) I go into my office, log into wow, do an AH scan through Auctionator. I now take the role of Alto.

6:50am-

Since there are still some recipies that are out there from 4.0.6 drop, I go into Auctioneer first and click on Rare (so it only shows rare and above recipies). I notice that there is a Formula- Enchant Bracer- Major Strength in the AH for 15K buyout, 7.5K bid. First one that I have seen, so I hesistate, and decide to send an in game mail to the seller with an offer....

6:51am-

Go to the mailbox, SS for "The Openings" and see I have a "few" C.O.D's 19 to be exact. 200+ stacks.

I click each one, pay the COD fee and let them sit. My farmer has his gold, he's happy. I have a ton to prospect.

6:55am-

I now write a mail to purchase the Formula, and send it out (I know I spelled strength wrong, was that intentional? You decide...).

While I am running, I hit the Jewelcrafter's daily to see if I need to list up some uncut gems. Stardust. Some like this one cuz it's easy, I don't because there is no money to be made. Oh well..

6:56am-
Back to the AH to check my auctions, see what I need to relist, and see if I need to buy anything for flips, resale, or crafting needs. I pull up on Auctionator Buy tab a few of my "Shopping Lists" on what are normail undercut items and what I purchase regularly. I see the red X, and that tells me I have been outbid. Since the AH fee is so cheap on the Essences, I delete and relist as lowest seller.

6:58am

I see that Cinderbloom is at a decent price for a "Milling Flip" (so I double check the current Inferno Ink costs), and I see that I will triple my investment . So, 57 stacks of 20 are bought. Now I know that I have milling (about 10 minutes) and prospecting (about 20-25 minutes) to do later. The things we do for virtual gold, huh?

7:00am-
Now I start to relist my "daily" items. Cut/Uncut Gems/Shadowspirit Diamonds, Glyphs, Blackfallow Ink and Inferno Ink, random blues/epic gear and weapons, a few ores and herbs on occasion, any Volatiles, Essences, Dusts, Vendor items, etc (Can you see I am not in one market?) If you count it out, I probably hit about 30 (easy), and am successful in "almost" all of them. Note the "almost". There are folks that camp the AH, or have the mobile AH that undercut consistently. I cannot, as I don't have the time. Throughout the day, I will hit 5 min here and there if I can, but not always..

7:10am-
I now hop on my Alchemist, as I need to do the Daily Transmute and I need to craft some Shadowspirits (I am a few days off, so she has some stock to D/E as well). I open her mail, and 4 pages of work for her as well. Fun times ahead.... (figure the math on that one, 27 mails times 12 per mail. Can you say behind?)

7:12am-

So onto her Transmute. She is based in Dal for the bank and AH access and for Jessica the Ink trader, but since the patch, no need for that, so not sure where she will sit now....

7:16am-

Log off, and start my day. My daughter sleeps till around 830ish, so I have a bit of time to write up the post. I end up not having more time to proofread and post until 10am, when her show is on t.v. 

I hope this gives you a bit of insight to how the ball rolls for me. Day to day the morning ritual changes, logging and posting from three different toons, depending on who has been lacking or who holds what in their banks. Now I did not go into a whole lot of detail, but if you would like a more defined post on a certain area, holler in comments or send an email to altosgoldishadvice@gmail.com .

Now my questions for you. Does this look familiar? Do you do anything different or unique that I didn't hit on? Do you have any ideas/advice for me on this process? Do you agree with Heather and want me to start posting my openings again?   

JMTC Carnival - How You Can Make Gold With Limited Playtime

This is my monthly post for JMTC's Blogging Carnival. If you aren't familiar, take a few and go over there to check out some of the previous month's posts. Great information there, so go read up!

I feel that alot of the raiders are (for the most part) left in the dust when it comes to AH tips. So you don't have a "capped" profession. You barely have enough time to log in, hit the AH for your pots/buff food before you are late. Again.

/guild chat "Joe Shmoe's late. Again. Ugh. We will wait 5 more minutes"
/guild chat "I am at the AH getting buffs man, chill"
/guild chat "Sure you are...you forgot last time. Hurry up."
/guild chat "Gimme one minute, I gotta hit the vendor too"
/guild chat "Alright, I am ready"

Sound (or look) familiar? So you are limited time and you wanna make some cash. Not a problem. With or without addons, but I prefer if you get Auctioneer and Auctionator, as this will help you with my (now your) 5 minute AH plan...


If you don't have Auctioneer and Auctionator:

Ok. If you are new to the whole AH addon thing, then listen up. If you are a raider, then you already know how to install. EZ peezie, right? Ok. Do it. Now. Got em? Get em in there. You need to set up a "base" of knowledge. You will need to do scans of both types. On the main page, there is a Scan in the lower left side, this is the "full" scan. Do that. See the time left? Yeah. Go do something for "x" minutes. From now on, you can hit the little "fast forward" button on the top of the AH screen. See it? Ok. Use this every time you hit the AH. Feel me? Okie dokie. Done. After doing this for a week or so (prefer two weeks to get a good baseline- two months is better) you will have enough built up to start seeing trends. But at the very least, this will get you started.

If you do:
You have nothing to read here. Doesn't it feel good? But you do have to read below. Ok?

Now for the juicy parts. I am not a Cata raider (ok, back in Vanilla, I was da killa DPS in Molten Core and AQ20/40), so you can probably teach me alot about this area. But I know enough about what sells, and what I don't know, there is http://www.wowhead.com/ and http://www.google.com/ if you are stuck and don't know about a certain item we are looking at. Screenies incoming...

Here is my first example. See that stack of Savage Leather? (Don't forget to look for the Savage Leather Scraps too) Toss a bid on it. You might not win, but it's worth a shot. You can see from the left side of the screen, you just tab through to get here, and glance through the auctions. Anything in trade goods under 10% you basically can buy. Now Cata goods, Anything under the 30% threshold I snatch up. These are all 100% resale for you. Freebie profits. You should be looking at Leather, Metal & Stone, Meat, Herb, basically everything in Trade Goods will do.

Second example. Toughened Flesh. Now these are set for buyouts. They are cheap. Crazy cheap. Why? Supply and Demand. Now these images will be different from your server, but the idea is still the same. Snatch all these up. A hundo gold or so, and relist for 80% or above. What? You don't get 80%? Ok. See the 14% next to the price? Multiply by 7'ish to get near the 100% price scan. You feel me? Ok. relist at that price. Same if you pick up something for 30%. Go off times three of your price. You buy em for 20g? Should list for 60g.

You have a few options on how to buy these (remember, use your judgement on what to purchase, if you are just starting the AH game, only buy what you know. Or have used. That means if raiders use it, it sells). Alright. Either click and buy every one of them on this screen (i do not recommend), or use the reddish tab on the lower right of the AH window that says BUY. Now type in Toughened Flesh or whatever it is you want to buy. Click away, and in this case, I would buy to the 3g'ish one. Why? Markup. You can go and clear the AH of these, but that is a different post. You are limited here, and only have 5 minutes, remember?

Now here's the quickie on listing auctions. Here, you will be using the Orange (red) SELL tab on the bottom of the AH window. See it? Ok. Now list those toughened flesh's you just bought by draggin them from your bag into that little slot. Auctionator will automatically undercut the competition, and in this case, we went to the 3g group. So basically, out of the 80ish flesh's we bought, we should end up with a 200g profit upon sales. Now if you are inclined, I wouldn't recommend it, but you can buy out everything up to the 15g one, and be able to sell for quite a bit more profit. But once again, I wouldn't advise that right now....

Ok. I think you are getting the gist of the basics of the AH. After using it a while, you will fly through your buying and selling. You might actually start enjoying it, as you can make a quick buck here. After a while, you will get used to what items are sellers, and what aren't. Use your own experience in what you have bought and just stay in that market for now. What? You want more? I thought I was done? Ok. One more tip.

Look up two pictures. See it? Ok. Look at the left of the screen. See all them items I have listed? Those are recent searches on the Auctionator Buy Tab. Once you buy (or search for that matter) an item, it stays in there. So say those Toughened Flesh are selling good for you. Check daily on what's in stock by going to that screen and tapping enter. If they are low, buy em. EZ again, huh?

Alright. We are almost at the end of the post. If you have any questions about this process, or want more ideas, I am sure other readers will be posting extra information below this in comments, so make sure and check back a day or so later to re-read this post and the comments. You can always ask or email myself at altosgoldishadvice@gmail.com and I will work with you, maybe even hop on your server if you really need assistance. Sound good? Ok.

Here is where all your time spent doing those heroics is gonna pay off. Greatly. At a cost of 1650'ish VP's, It might take a few weeks to get up there, a week if you are hardcore, a few days if you don't sleep..... 

So you have extra Valor Points? You are in luck, and you are gonna make a killing from turning them in. You already know where the vendor is, right? Ok. What you are gonna buy are the boots. Any boots. *Edit- Anonymous commented below that the leather boots, Treads of Fleeting Joy, are the way to go!

They are BoE and will sell on the AH and in /2 by "barking" your wares. What? You don't know what barking is? Selling goods. You don't have to get fancy and make a macro unless you want to, but a simple "/2 Selling Epic BoE Boots. Your choice, 20K" or what have you.

Don't worry, they will sell. I personally haven't done this one, and I was debating whether to mention it, but I know a few peeps that raid (and when they aren't, Heroics ftw) that have flipped a few of these. "Free" 20K (ahaha....if you read my posts, you will understand...). Although, certain buyers will pay upwards of 50K for a juicy new set of i359s.


Remember, if you have any questions feel free to post below (and don't think you will be noobified for them, no question is a bad question). There are quite a few folks that are extremely helpful, and would be happy to give you advice on the subject. I hope you learned something, and if you didn't, well, it happens. The information is pretty basic, and alot of people already do this, but if you are not a crafter, and your time is just spent "flipping" items, you will still do great. Don't go too small, don't go too big. Never invest more that 25% of your total cash into one area at a time. Before you know it, you will be a big AH'er. Just don't forget to check back to the blog to get more daily scoops of whatever crap Alto is serving.....

Thanks for reading, now go make some cash!