Friday, December 30, 2011

Tailors: Icy Cloak Recipe!

Follow me on twitter @PhatLewtsGold!
Disclaimer: This gold making method is NOT for the feint of heart.

UPDATE:  I've managed to sell this cloak Horde side for over 3k gold!

Requirements: Tailor and Alchemist (Only needs to be @ skill 200 which requires level 20)
Suggested: Tailor, Alchemist, and Herbalist

This is what the Cloak in question looks like:

For transmog, this cloak is not unique, in fact there are many other places to get it, but the one thing in your favor is that this is the only way that produces a BoE version of the cloak, AND this recipe is not available to the Alliance at all.  (Also, Priests love this cloak and it's cheap to make)

Step 1: Getting your Recipes
Pattern: Icy Cloak is sold by a vendor only friendly to Horde players, Ghok'kah.  This and the other recipe are Limited Supply so they may not be there right away, and may require some camping to obtain!

**If you are going to transfer this to the Alliance and you have an Alliance tailor/alchemist now would be the best time to transfer this recipe as the next one can be obtained by Alliance or Horde

The other recipe you will most likely need is Recipe: Frost Oil, as Frost Oil is a reagent required to craft the cloak.  This one is sold by Bro'kin, and again will require a decent bit of camping as it is Limited Supply.  

Step 2: Getting your Mats
The mats for Icy Cloak (other than the Frost Oil that you're going to make) are all pretty common and cheap to buy off your Auction House.  The Frost Oil may provide a bit of a problem and this is where having an herbalist will really help you.  The one annoying mat is Dragon's Teeth.  This does drop from a lot of low level instances (Maraudon mostly) so there may be a bit on your AH if the low lvls were smart enough to post it.  If not, the herb nodes are only located in the Badlands.  Get all your mats together and craft the cloak!  

Step 3: ?????

Step 4: Profit
List the cloak on the AH for a reasonable price (I'd suggest 500-1,000 g depending on the size of your server) and wait for it to sell!  

This pattern is not available to the Alliance so flipping the pattern on the Alli side (or getting it on an alt over there) may be even better than crafting the cloak.  There are very easy ways of obtaining a cloak that looks like this but hopefully people will see yours in the AH and say "Hey that looks good, and I'm willing to pay the price to not do research" and you'll be all set.  

Good luck camping vendors!


Phat Lewts  (@PhatLewtsGold)

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Give Your Competitors the Rod!!

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @PhatLewtsGold.


Captain Samir



Phat Lewts

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Phat Glyphs Part 2

In my post about 10 days ago, Phat Glyphs?, I went over my not so smooth entrance into the glyph market.  Today's post is going to be based off of that original post, so I suggest reading it as a preface if you haven't already.

Trying to get into the glyph market was a new and daunting task.  I had TSM all set up, but it takes time and coordination to get everything crafted.  I started off posting from a level 1 posting alt, BIG MISTAKE.  I know some like it, but it's not for me.  I don't have a LW and there were no inscription bags on the AH so instead of trying to get someone to craft them for me I just got 20 slot bags.  My personal opinion is that if you're going to post glyphs, you should get scribe bags.  There are 2 ideal scribe bags, a 32 slot, and a 36 slot.  So I decided to post all my glyphs from my scribe alt who wasn't my main posting toon.  This worked a lot better for me.

I now had the option to craft glyphs as I saw fit, and do all my glyph related activities from the one character, instead of switching around.  This really streamlined the process for me and I highly recommend it.  For some background my alt that has inscription is level 82 and will probably never see 85.  I don't really "play" this alt, just use him to craft glyphs, so the only thing in his bags other than inscription materials is a hearthstone.  This kind of situation makes my alt ideal to post from, and if it's your main, it probably won't be.

Patience, Patience, Patience.
The glyph market is a novel thing, especially when compared to other WoW markets.  The "AFK Time" in glyph making is substantial and I find myself coming back to WoW too early, as pigments take quite a bit of time to turn to inks.  Contrary to my initial beliefs though, the glyph market on my server is a viable way to make gold.  If you are a JC or Alchemist, it's going to be a culture shock, but IMO it's worth it.  Contrary to my initial post I normally make 2-3k per day with inscription, posting at most 2-3 times per day, and restocking once per week.

More Info:
While I was getting into the glyph making market, Croda's Inscription Gold Guide was an invaluable resource.  If you really want to get to know the glyph market inside and out, this is an essential read.  It's long, but really worth it and filled with invaluable information.  A must read for any aspiring scribe!


Phat Lewts

PS Don't forget to follow me on twitter: @PhatLewtsGold!

Monday, December 26, 2011

TSM Lists

Just a quick tip, but a valuable one.  Today if you do nothing else, go through your TSM posting lists, and see if there's something that you haven't been posting in a while that's a big money maker.  Whether it's a vendor item you buy or maybe the rods for enchanters that you haven't made on your blacksmith in who knows how long, get those items back on the shelf!  The more diversification you have, the more likely you are each time you batch post to make extra sales.  Don't forget to dust off your old favorites for that extra gold making punch!!


Phat Lewts

Friday, December 23, 2011


As featured in Kuja's Gold Mine

In my recent post, Flipping Twink Gear, I advocated the use of the addon Auctionator to search for level 77 Twink gear to flip on the AH.  This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the usefulness of this addon goes.  Used correctly, Auctionator can easily do things that no other addon can!

Searching for Craft Items
As a WoW player you probably have a crafter that has needed to gather materials to craft an item.  Auctionator includes a functionality that lets you search for the items needed to craft a certain item, as well as the item itself, to compare the costs of crafting and easily buy.  How to do this is listed below.

While having the Auction house window open, find the item you're interested in crafting in your profession window.  For me it's Icy Prism.  In the craft window click the [AH] button.

AH Button

This will bring up a window that looks like this, searching for all the individual mats of Icy Prism:

Step 2
*Note: For those of you who don't know, Icy Prism is not something you can buy on the AH.

Here you have the option to Save this Shopping List, if you don't want to have to click the AH button every time you do this search.  I wouldn't buy at these prices, but if you chose to you can click on each item and individually buy as many or as few as you want, as shown below.

Step 3

Once you're done Buying as many as you need you can hit the Back button to return to the page with all the separate addons.  The sky is the limit for this one, there are many creative ways to make shopping lists and Auctionator is a great addon to use for all your bulk purchasing.  It's a great supplement to TSM!


Phat Lewts

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Gold Project


The Plan


Short Term Goal

Long Term Goal
500k gold.  1 Toon on the server.  



Phat Lewts

Monday, December 19, 2011

New Gold Makers

I have been reading a lot of gold blogs recently and there always seem to be quite a few comments on articles saying "I don't know how you make that much gold."  What you need to know is it takes money to make money.  You cant just go farm some Elementium Ore and be gold capped by the next time you log in.  It takes time and patience, and like I said a base of gold.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us
What you say?  That's right, you need a base of WoW gold to start making some serious scrap.  This shouldn't come as a surprise.  My favorite way of making gold quick without a base of gold is farming.  I find farming to be relaxing sometimes, maybe you're a quester who does dailies, or likes to run instances.  However get your base make sure you have enough for the next leg of your journey.

Picking the Right Professions
Inscription is not for everybody (especially not me).  Leatherworking may not be your thing.  Pick professions that make you gold, but pick professions you will be able to maintain.  Jewelcrafting and Alchemy are always winners on every server, and IMO the pair cannot be beat.  Becoming a tailor to do spellthreads and then forgetting about it and letting it fall to the wayside is not worth the cost of leveling the tailoring.

Learn to use TSM
If I could underline this three times I would.  I know it looks scarey, but if you're really going to get serious about making a lot of gold, you simply have to use TSM.  It's one of the best addons out there for any gold maker, and without it I think a lot of us would be sitting ducks, or investing way more time into making gold than we had to.  This addon revolutionized gold making, and you shouldn't be without it at this point in the game.  Other addons are alright, and may speed up your process but learning how to use TSM is the most valuable thing you can do with your researching time.

Time is Money
No matter how you do it, making WoW gold is going to take time.  As much as gold bloggers like to say that JC isn't farming, prospecting and cutting gems takes real time, and the more time you put into it the more gold you'll get out of it.  Kinda sounds like farming right?   The difference is this though: JC makes more money per unit of time put in.  Bottom line.  Spend 1 hr farming compared to 1hr prospecting ore and cutting gems, you'll make more money on the JC every time.


Phat Lewts

P.S. Just started using my twitter account @PhatLewtsGold, check it out and follow for more up to date gold tips!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Phat Glyphs?






Phat Lewts

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Crushing the Competition with OreCrusher 2

If you are a major gold making Jewelcrafter odds are you've probably heard of the OreCrusher 2 Addon.  If you don't use it I highly suggest downloading it and trying it out.  OreCrusher 2 just got a SERIOUS facelift that made it infinitely more useful!

The Basics
OreCrusher 2 (OC for short) is an in game spread sheet that calculates how much profit you can make if you maximize your prospecting potential.  It pulls values from Auctionator, Auctioneer, or TSM and calculates the maximum profit (on average) that you can make from prospecting each major type of ore.  A screenshot example for Elementium Ore is below(type /oc  in game to bring up this window).

**Make sure you do a recent scan of the AH with Auctionator, Auctioneer, or TSM before doing this**

OreCrusher 2's beautiful facelift

Now, they may look like Wrath gems, but the prices are in reference to Cata commons and rares.  The quantity is from Elementium Ore average prospecting rates, as I chose it for this example.  Not only does this addon tell you that your total profit will be 265 gold for 1 stack of Elementium Ore, it also tells you what to do with your commons (Transmute, Auction Raw, or DE).  It also suggests cuts for your rare gems!  To see how much profit you'd make with 2 stacks, change the # of stacks to 2 and hit the "DO IT!" button.  I can't stress how impressed I am with the added functionality of this spreadsheet addon.  I now consider this to be a necessity for any good Jewelcrafter.

If you mouse over the suggestions for the common gems, it will tell you the values it used for comparison for the alternatives.  The best way to learn about this addon is to use it in practice, so stop reading, go download it, and get using it now!


Phat Lewts

Monday, December 12, 2011

Busy Tuesdays

Aaaaah Tuesdays.  Another chance to cap out on Valor and Conquest Points.  Another chance to run raids and get more gear.  Another chance to make Tons of WoW gold!!

Tuesday is the first day of the WoW week, and it's when there is a spike in demand for all the goods that are crafted by major gold makers.  If you're like me, you also are in the rush of people trying to cap out on Valor or Conquest and are doing Raid Finder to finish your tier and get 384.  What to do to make a profitable Tuesday?  I'm going to share my ideas on the topic.

Craft in Advance
If you usually have two stacks of Greater Cosmic Essence to post from your posting toon on any given (regular) day, make it three.  If you anticipate selling 25 Brilliant Inferno Rubies, craft 35.  Be ready for any fluctuations.  You want to play your "main", and you should!  If you prepare ahead so you don't have to jump alts to craft things because you won't run out!

Make your "Main" Your Poster
If you play a character and run dungeons or do 2v2 arena, you could be posting auctions in between.  Now too much posting is a bad thing, but if you can post once an hour without having to switch toons while doing a dungeon or PvP grind, why not?  If you organize any character appropriately they can be a posting toon!  I switch "mains" a lot so my posting toon gets changed at least once every few months.  If you're playing that character the most, they should be your posting toon, it's pure logic!  If you use TSM you dont even need to change a thing, it can't tell if you're posting from your mages bags or your rogues bags.

Doing these 2 simple steps can get you posting more frequently, which leads to more sales and more gold!  Happy Tuesday everyone!


Phat Lewts

Profession Pricing

Recently in a WoW gold blog that I read, marketsforgold, croda has touched upon his theories behind how to evaluate your gold flows.  I really suggest reading what he writes, it's very interesting.  I find this topic really intriguing so I figured I'd put my 2 cents in.  For most of this post I'm going to use a base example, I've chosen Inferno Rubies because they're a gold making favorite of mine.

So how much is your Inferno Ruby worth?  Let's say you can buy uncut Inferno Rubies on the AH for 150g each, and can sell the major cuts for 195g.  This means that the act of cutting the gem is worth 45g to you (ignoring AH fees).  Let's take it a step farther.  You decide to buy 100 stacks of Elementium Ore for a reasonable price and prospect it.  Luckily you also have a Transmute Master alchemist who can transmute your extra Carnelians with a few Heartblossom to more gold making Inferno Rubies.  Doing the calculations, you estimate that it's costing you 60g on average to make an Inferno Ruby.  So the action of prospecting and Transmuting is worth 90g per gem.

In both these examples you are taking less valuable items and adding value to them by using your profession(s).  You're doing a service for someone who doesn't have the profession.  You spent your time leveling your profession to 525, they didn't, so you rightfully charge them for your expertise in the area.  ON TOP of that, you're going out of your way to gather the materials, craft them, and post the finished product on the AH.  Therefore you deserve much more than that measly tip they'd give you if they found you via trade chat.

Gold Per Hour
In croda's recent post Measuring Gold Per Hour he outlines how he evaluates his time spent making gold.  His overall strategy is great, which he summarizes at the end, it's well worth the read.  What I do is a bit different.  I don't care how long an item takes to sell on the AH, I craft based on what's in my inventory, ordered by most profitable professions.  Unlike some of you though, I always have enough professions to keep me busy.  If you're new to a server or the game in general you may only have 2 maxed professions.  Basically I organize my professions (loosely) via this flow chart which is based on my servers economy (yours may differ):

Cutting Gems > Prospecting > Alchemy CDs > Inscription > Enchanting > Tailoring > Cooking > Farming

Again, this is a loose, but mostly accurate priority order as far as my actions go.  I like to keep around 40 of each (Delicate, Brilliant, Bold) Inferno Ruby cut in my poster's bags at any given time, so I'll cut raw gems I may have sitting on my JC.  If I need more gems, I'll prospect.  Then I go back to the beginning.  Okay I cut the gems now, so I don't need to prospect, better do my Alchemy CDs, okay got all that done, log on to my scribe, and so on.  Again this is a loose guide but usually how it goes.  My method is based on what I have to sell not how long it's going to take to sell (A great example of this is in my post Flipping Twink Gear), but like I said I really never reach the end of the list so it's not a problem for me, there's always SOMETHING to do.

AFK Time!
AFK time is something well worth evaluating.  The most notorious Profession for having AFK time is Inscription (Granted you mill your own pigments).  After milling all your herbs you are going to craft 500 inks.  GO AFK!  You have other things to do, you don't need to watch your character craft inks.  Take this time to do something that needs to get done outside of WoW.  Now you're being productive IRL and in WoW.  It's a win win!  I personally don't consider this time as time taken/lost to crafting.  Even if you're about to go out, just log your scribe, hit Create All and leave!  Worst thing that happens is the game logs you out before you finish and you have to do it later.  Whether you're grabbing a glass of water, going to the bathroom, or maybe tabbing to read your favorite gold blog (hint hint), take the time to get away from WoW for a bit.

That's all for now.  I think there is more I could say on the topic, but for the sake of people actually getting through the whole post, I think this is a good stopping point.  If you have any questions or would like to see a post about a specific topic, post a comment asking for it!


Phat Lewts

Friday, December 9, 2011

Flipping Twink Gear


For those of you who haven't leveled an alt in the 75-79 PvP bracket recently probably don't know that in Cataclysm a whole new level of twink was invented.  At level 77 Cataclysm greens become available to players.  Cata Greens allow players to have roughly 2-3 times the stats they would otherwise have with items from Wrath.  This is the gear that I specifically target.  This gear is random world drops so you're not going to go out and farm it, you're going to Auction House farm it, and that's the beauty of this method.  Most people get a hold of this gear, and throw it on the auction house for a few gold thinking it's worthless, but a good goblin will see the value in it!

My Method
To do this I personally use Auctionator to search for the gear, and TSM to post it.  This makes it effortless, and requires minimal thinking.  I set up a shopping list on auctionator, and have two basic searches (for reference the gear we're targeting is item level 272), you can type the following into your Auctionator search bar:


***NOTE: There are 272 plate pieces with Agility on them.  DO NOT BUY THESE!!***

All this effectively does is search for armor then weapons usable by level 77's, of item level 272. There is other Cata twink gear, but this is by far the most valuable, as it's the first pieces levelers can get their hands on!

How to Buy
I price my Cata Twink gear at 324g 99s 99c.  This is a number I picked after selling at 300g for a while and thinking people would buy it for more.  I may up it again in the future but for now I'm liking the results.  Based on this price I will buy any piece at 200g or below, the exception being plate with Agility on it.  In general you should be able to find pieces around 50g if you do this search regularly enough, the lowest I've found is 6 gold!  Below is a snapshot of TSM_Accounting's resale feature, just some of the 272 items I've sold in the past.

TSM Resale Chart

As you can see this method can prove to be quite profitable, but you need to have a bit of patience, it's not all going to sell overnight.  Using this as an ongoing gold making method can make you tons of gold in the long run!  Also you'll notice this table has the profit after the 5% auction house cut was taken out too.  Good luck hunting for cheap Cata twink gear on the AH!

Phat Lewts

Half a Million (How to Level Alts)

FINALLY!  I finally hit half a million gold.  It wasn't because I couldn't have earned it before now, but I'm a chronic spender!  Every time one of my alts dinged 85 (and I now have 6) I had to get them the latest gear (even though I now regularly play 2).  Repair mounts?  "Had" to have them!  Dalaran Rings, etc.

Did I put a lot of gold into my alts?  Yes.  Did they end up paying for themselves?  ...mostly.  Either way, today I'm going to focus on my theory of leveling alts.

How to Make Gold Using Alts.
This is my key method to making tons of gold leveling alts.  Some may disagree, some may have suggestions to tweak or better use my general method, but this is what I do, and I will provide an argument for why, and how to better it.

Farm.  Yup I said it, Farm.  Get Herbalism and Mining on your alt from the first profession NPCs that you see, and get out there and farm (don't forget a Mining Pick).

Yes, I know, farming at max level isn't the most effective way of making gold, but due to these professions rewarding XP just for doing them, it's the best way of making gold while leveling!

**Note: If you are interested in having a max level mine/herbalist farmer Horde side, I suggest rolling a Tauren Druid.  Taurens have a passive racial Cultivation that allows them to gather herbs faster than other races, and Druid Flight Form at lvl 60+ is an instant cast and you don't have to leave it to Herbalize.  It's the most efficient Mining/Herbalism combo in the game, if you care.  (If you roll Alliance, a druid in general is still the fastest because of the reasons listed)

Why This Method Works:

This is the most cost effective way to level your toon.  If you're going to level an alt, why not have it work for you?  Mining and Herbalism are the 2 professions that will grant you XP solely for doing them.   My advice now is to sell the raw materials and start making gold for this toon.  You can farm sitting in a queue, and farming gets you around the same XP as grinding quests, but makes you A LOT more gold!

If you are interested in finding the best places to level your herb/mining or just professions in general I suggest using wow-professions.

The 75 Conundrum
Once you hit 75 you have the ability to max your professions, which leaves you two options.  Learn Illustrious Grand Master Mining/Herbalism OR use the gold your toon earned to max out serious gold making professions (with no farming) like Alchemy or JC.  My personal goal is to have a character that, through leveling, pays to max out their really good gold making professions.  The one argument I can think of for holding out to 85 to drop herbalism/mining is that you can continue to get XP using your professions if you stick to mining/herbalism.

If you choose to continue leveling past 75 using Herbalism/Mining you can start in Mount Hyjal.  You're going to have to grind a bit here, but there are a lot of nodes that don't have nearby NPC's.  Once you hit 500 Herbalism and 475 Mining, go to The Violet Citadel in Dalaran and take the portal to The Caverns of Time.  Once there, fly south one zone and start farming in Uldum.  A little dangerous in the 70's, but there are plenty of nodes not near NPC's and these nodes will reward TONS of XP.

Have fun leveling your toons!

Phat Lewts

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

PvP Time!!


Items to Craft for the PvP Season



Phat Lewts

Monday, December 5, 2011

Are you Using Your Extra Justice Points Wisely?

If you're like me, you have a PvE toon that was (and still is) really excited for the new 5-mans and the Raid Finder that came out in 4.3.  Also, since you ran those dungeons a lot, and there is not much new for Justice Points, you may be thinking that you should be investing in Justice Bracers or Boots, but with such an influx of Justice Points you may be getting less bang for your buck!  Some suggestions that work great are as follows, and may also help diversify your "Justice Portfolio" for faster turnovers:

Bracers > Boots
This one should be obvious.  1650 points for a 359 vs 1250 points for a 378, the 378 should always win!  If your server is like mine though, you may need another alternative, as Bracers are going for dirt cheap because everyone can get them now, for 16-18 heroic boss kills.

WotLK Epic Gems
One of my favorite "sleeper items"  is Wrath epic gems.  You can only purchase them in Dalaran for 220 Justice Points each.  The vendors are found here for Allies, here for Horde, or can be bought from this guy.  These gems are a favorite of 70 twinks, and you should never underestimate the market for Wrath Epic Gems.  My favorite ones to flip are Majestic Zircon, cutting it as it's Solid cut, and King's Amber cutting it into it's Mystic cut.  Of course 3rd - 5th in my lineup are all Cardinal Ruby cuts, namely the StrengthIntellect, and Agility cuts.

If your Jewelcrafter wasn't around in Wrath, you probably have none of these recipes.  They each cost 4 Dalaran Jewelcrafter's Tokens  which are rewards from the Dalaran JC Dailies given by Timothy Jones.  If you don't have a JC at all, you should make getting a JC your priority!  You can sell these uncut but the effort of cutting them is well worth your time

Justice Alternatives
There are a few justice alternatives, which include buying BoAs for your alts, or converting them to Honor Points to get your character geared for PvP.   The vendors that convert Justice to Honor are here for Alliance and here for Horde.  If you have a healthy ratio of Wrath Gems and 378 Bracer sales (barking in trade etc) you are guaranteed to make a decent amount of gold.  For my server, the Wrath gems provide the best Gold per Justice Point ratio, so I don't even bother with the Bracers, but ALWAYS check your own server before diving into a new gold strategy.


Phat Lewts