trexrabbit, Icecrown US

(Average gold per day doesn’t seem to agree with any calculation I can make, using either number of calendar days played or number of game time days played)

Is this a character that you rolled a couple days before the official run in order to scope out the server? I don't remember if you did that or not. The reason I ask is because I believe the avg gold per day is based on the date of creation of the character. So if you did like I did, rolled a toon, ran her to AH to check the # of pages of auctions in the AH about 4 days before the run (it could have been longer, it was how I made my final choice on my server), and then parked the character w/o doing anything those days will still count when the UI does the averaging.

I hope that's clear as mud. 

~rannegirl

lol Rannegirl,

It's clear as a snowmelt stream (I'd say mountain, but the ones I know are full of glacial till, so they're a gorgeous milky blue/green colour, but not clear!)

Nope, I didn't roll her until the first day.  With Cata, quite a few of Blizz's calculations and tooltips have errors.  Perhaps this is one. Or perhaps it uses some complicated algorithm....

and WOW, you must be reading my posts closely!  Thank you for that, and for the helpful observation
T-Rex

Hey Trex, I agree with nrsratchett, enjoy your posts.
Wish I could be that good. I`m mostly the screenshot guy...hehe

Keep it up 


Pure

I"m really happy that you are enjoying my posts

Hey, I LOVE your screenshots.  And I'm eager to see if you did a video tonight!  I'm going to try some of those ideas in the next GSR!  Enough of being a luddite....words, words, words....

T-rex

Total gold acquired:  38,738 (+4271g since yesterday)
Average gold per day: 1687

Scans: 00:04, 05:51, 15:45, 17:39


TODAY’S ISSUE


ACTIONS
*Darkmoon Faire – last day was yesterday.  OOPS.
-it may not be the mistake I thought it was
-I sold vigorously yesterday…all mats except scorpid blood sold
-I have 20 cards; some posted prices are still high; undercut on all –I’ll at least break even on this remainder, if they all sell at these prices
-bought some prize recipes
-cross faction would be better, since next one is at Thunderbluff
-I think I’ll try x-faction on my main server!

*got more of my gold working (i.e., items posted in AH) >500g in hand
-some of the buys are high (100-200g each); I hope they’ll sell in 1 week!

*leather
-made buy list, including Bag of Many Hides and its mats
-began testing
-prices may be low, due to recent Darkmoon Faire
-cannot make scraps into leather, except for light leather (LW)
-thick, medium, borean, thick clefthoof, knothide, rugged, light, savage, enchanted

*shards
-wowhead search: shard, enchanting (heavenly, dream, prismatic, brilliant, radiant, glowing, glimmering)
-Searched Shard
-ignored items posted <1g, unless it was an anomaly
-small dream, Dream, large prismatic, small radiant, small brilliant (stacks of 20), large brilliant, heavenly, large radiant

*crystal
-use Wowhead search (crystal, enchanting)
-Maelstrom: too expensive for me (2000g)
-Abyss: already testing
-low price: void, nexus

Total gold acquired:  41,483 (+2745g since yesterday)
Average gold per day: 1728

Scans: 01:42, 11:10, 23:33 (late) (next before 11:31)

PANIC!!!
All day there was still a LOT of supply on the AH.
-all my main pipelines have lots posted at very low prices
-I earned less today than on any of the past few days

WHAT TO DO?
I could:
-undercut the market (essentially dumping inventory at a significant loss – I’ll probably have to do some of this at the end of the week anyway)
-keep to my target sell prices for another day; evaluate
-try to “play” the market…find a price at which I can sell some of my inventory, with some loss
 
DECISION
Keep to my target sell prices for another day.
Reasons:
-This worked well for me at the end of last week and beginning of the weekend
-I am not (yet?) comfortable “playing” the market. I think it requires the ability to assimilate large amounts of data, which I cannot do.  I wonder if it also requires talent that I don’t have?

Hi Trex,

Firstly I wanted to say well done on your excellent reports - you've done a great job of recording everything! One of my biggest MGB weak points is record keeping when I'm developing pipelines. I rely far too much on memory with a little help from Beancounter. I do fairly well on my home realm as I know the markets well, having developed my pipelines slowly over time, but confusion hits when I'm playing on more than one server... especially when I make the brilliant decision of naming my SR auction alts the same as my favorite AH toons on my home realm, then sort out auctions in the early hours of the morning on my trusty pally mule and buy primal lifes for a scribe who, as it turns out, is on a different realm... doh!

As for playing the market requiring talent that you "don't have" or assimilating large amounts of data, don't panic! Not the case! Fact is that it takes longer than 3 weeks to nail down a realm economy and, even after you've been watching the AH for months, there can still be random market fluctuations that catch you by surprise. Playing the market is all about getting a feel for the realm and that can take a little while.

Unfortunately you're limited in your options as to what to do with the stock because the speed run is just about over so waiting for the market to recover may not be feasible. However, if you have enough gold to keep buying and refreshing your auctions, I'd hold off on selling at a loss. Remember that we'll have an extra 7 days at the end of the speed run to sell of our stock.

Last but not least, you will at some point in your MGB career make a buying decision that doesn't work out. All of us have crashed and burned at some point and learning by trial and error is all part of the fun. Sooner or later you have to run some risks and, as your nest egg grows and you're looking at dealing in higher level items, you'll be taking bigger risks. As an example, on my home realm I flip level 85 epics from time to time. Recently I've made out like a bandit but I've also been left with one trinket that cost me 6.5k and may not sell for the expected 10-12k due to a recent jump in supply. I'll likely make my money back but a profit doesn't look likely. I may even lose 1 or 2k. So... you win some, you lose some. If it doesn't work, chalk it up to experience and try something else.

Also remember that, on your home realm, you won't be under pressure to evaluate your realm economy in a short 30 day period. Don't stress about having to work it all out at once. Take it one pipeline at a time!

Again, awesome job

Cheers,

Sara

Hey Sara!  Thank you, thank you for your encouraging post!

I had to laugh at your description of confusion amongst toons on two servers, expecially in the wee hours!  I've already decided that I'm going to use a planned naming policy for the next GSR.  Toon names will start with the letters of their home city!  Darnassus will be Dar....;  Dal will be Dal.....; and so on.  Sure, I can check in Ackis or even record my toon names (oh horrors, more recording?), but this plan seems easier to me!

Thank you for the positive comments on my reports.  I think they're long winded (especially the first ones), and I'm so glad that people are finding them useful!  The encouragement from you and others keeps me going

I had a discouraging experience the first time I tried to use the MGB method.  After watching some videos and pondering for about a year, I carefully watched Dream Shard prices for a month.  I'd loaded Market Watcher, which helped a lot with recording data - although doing GSR has helped me to refine my system a great deal and make something that is simple enough for me to use routinely.  Anyway, I set good target buy and target sell prices, slithered into the market cautiously and was successful for 2 weeks. Then BOOM, the price tanked and I gave up. All that work, and I hadn't even developed one pipeline that I could trust!  It's taken me a long time to work up the confidence to join GSR and give the MGB method a concerted effort.  It helped to see that some people earned a small amount of gold in GSR 4.  I figured that if I only earned 300g, I'd have done well if I learned how to use the MGB method!

This bust in Dream Shard prices occurred at about this time of year, so I was afraid that it was happening again.  Jon told me at the time not to bother trying to figure out why realm economies fluctuate; to recognize that they do and work with it.  Despite this, I have a strong feeling that many students start playing more WoW at this time of year, and continue for the summer.  If the US is the same as Canada, exams would be in early April, so students would be having review classes and no new assignments by now.  It's really hard to study intensively all day, so I bet a lot of people are playing more WoW.

I also wonder if a small number of people can radically affect a market.  Perhaps not across pipelines in several market niches, though.  But even 1, and certainly 5 people levelling a given profession at the same time might cause a medium sized market to fluctuate, i think?

Yep, I will (and have!) made decisions that don't work out.  Isn't it fun to be doing this with WoW gold?  I'd never try this with real money!  I'd been wandering my way to the conclusion that you've presented to me:  that for some things I'll make my gold back or lose a little bit.  Such is life.

Ah, you've given me hope that I can become an uber MGB'er....or at least a good one

I just read about the extra week to sell off stock.  This is great!  Quite apart from anything else, I don't want to trash this economy by flooding it with a large amount of stock all at once.  I had already mulled this over last night and decided that I wouldn't "dump" inventory even before knowing about the sell off week.  The key is most gold in hand at the end of the GSR, right?  So selling at a huge loss doesn't make much sense.  Adding a few gold for a stack, instead of a lot of gold per stack, to my current total won't change things much.  And I was able to buy a few things last night that should sell.  It's a lesson learned, that economies fluctuate and pipelines change.  And if my big items don't sell, well at least I've had the courage to try probing the higher reaches of the market!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my posts and to give me an encouraging reply

Cheers,

Carolann

Total gold acquired:  43,005 (+1522g since yesterday)
Average gold per day: 1721

Scans: 23:33 (late), 19:19 (late)

Real life and raiding are seriously cutting into my MGB time!

Most prices (of items I’m trading) have definitely dropped.  I’m mostly holding to my prices. Tomorrow I think I’ll start following the market down for the more expensive items in particular.

-HAH, sometimes you’re lucky:  somebody bought my Leaping and Darting Hatchlings!  760g total!

Some of my Darkmoon Faire cards are still selling!  Tomorrow I’ll repost them on the BB auction house, since the next Faire is in Thunderbluff.

Total gold acquired:  47,213 (+4208g since yesterday)
Average gold per day: 1816

Scans: 03:19, 11:20, 21:33, 00:23

SWEET
+4000g today, much better than yesterday!

*Bought out herbs, tier 3.  Reposted @ 4.1441g
-was undercut, so reposted @ about 3g each

*Bought enough Outland herbs to push posted price of all to about 6g
-price holding; a few undercuts, mostly 1x1

*Bought enough Tier 2 herbs to push posted price of all to about 3g
(would probably have been smart to post in 2-3 toon names and to vary prices a bit more than I did; we’ll see how it goes)
-already undercut on many, at 11am my time, 9amserver

*undercut many auctions
-where possible, undercut only the smaller stack sizes (e.g. ignored stacks of 20, undercut stacks of 5)
-undercut singles (enchants, patterns, glyphs) >> be careful about buying stock in these on main server; observe carefully before buying 1 or 2 of each (to begin with ); in fact, investigate other pipelines first (metals, leathers, etc)

*posted Darkmoon Cards on Booty Bay AH (this isn’t really x-faction, is it?....I’ll put this toon’s total sales in separately for my week 4 total, and let Jon decide.

Total gold acquired:  51,131   MET MY GOAL, YIPPEE!!!!!   (+3918g since yesterday)
Average gold per day: 1894

Scans:  00:23, 09:50, 12:51

ENCHANTS, GLYPHS, PATTERNS
-these should be approached very carefully.
-prices are regularly undercut and drop quite low before resetting to a higher price
-they take up a lot of bag space and time to repost
*investigate a reposting addon (Trade Skill Master)
-with patience, the prices on these can usually be reset to the high – which is where small stock (or big bags and banks) and a reposting addon are essential to meeting the 1 hour a day goal
NB. I am currently “resetting” market price by posting 1 of each @ 165.5655  (on my main server I use 265.5556)….it may not take effect before the end of GSR5….for some items, it will never take effect

USING AUCTIONEER “SALES” PRICES
-to avoid recording, I have “sales” from Auctioneer turned on in my tooltips
-It gives “average” prices for what I have bought and sold, so that I can roughly track my target buy and sell prices when buying/posting
-It says that this is a mean, but calls it an average on the tooltip
-I know that I should consider all tooltip prices as “indicators”, requiring interpretation, and often skepticism
-but, since I cannot handle recording large amounts of data, this is a good compromise for me
-NOW: I realized today that I can also use this to reset my target buy price.
-EXAMPLE:  gromsblood: bought 130 @ average 3.1861; sold 42 @ average 3.1828
-ouch, this was a buying mistake for sure!
-now I can reset my target buy price to <= 1.5914 (50% of sell price)

DO NOT BUY
I knew these things from my main, so why did I do it? Because initially the posted prices looked good!
-Glyphs: imp, thunderbolt, voidwalker, cleaving (check on main)
-heavy leather ball (Darkmoon Faire)


DARKMOON FAIRE CARDS
*posted Darkmoon Cards on Booty Bay AH, 19g each
-it’s not a very active AH
-should I have posted @ this price on SW AH, then advertised in trade chat?
-should I simple advertise in trade chat?
-hmm, when posted low enough (20g), they sell on both Alliance and Neutral AH

METALS AND ORES
*looked at market (auctionator, Trade Goods/ Metal & Stone)
-lots of supply
-price differentials generally small
-volatility uncertain
-would have to watch this market for a while
-bought a few things on spec (impulsive again, lol)

VENDOR ITEMS
*bought 1 each of items that I’ve sold 5 or more of

Total gold acquired:  54,086 (+2955g since yesterday)
Average gold per day: 1932

Scans:  02:30 (late), 11:59, 20:25, (next before 10:23)

Having met my target of 50,000g yesterday, I can relax.  No more monetary goals! I’ve been having a lot of fun with GSR5, but I did get tense for a couple of days when it looked like I wouldn’t reach this goal.

ONGOING GOALS
-have fun!
-play the MGB game!
-see what I can do about the extra week, hmmmm…..what strategies to use?

*overall, I can hold more firmly to my target sell prices, try resetting prices and so on…..things I haven’t done for a couple of days, in my eagerness to reach 50k

*it really is hard to find things to spend my gold on
-the answer is….perhaps more pipelines? Watch Jon’s video on profit pumps, too
-items with large turnover, small profit? (e.g., most cata mats)

*hehe, I want to keep buying slow moving items when I see low prices, but there’s no point for GSR5
-e.g. pyrium weapon chain: I bought 16, I’ve sold 7, I have 6 left
-I’d like to buy 2 @ 12g, but probably don’t have time to sell them
-NB.  Those numbers don’t add up…3 are “missing”….a reminder that Beancounter, Auctioneer Sales and Altoholic addons are not accurate
-the inaccuracies resulting from using addons for all my recording spices up the challenge of gold making for me….adds an extra element of uncertainty!

*Darkmoon Faire Cards
-Yay!  They’re selling @ 20g each (wonder how much I could have sold them for….)

*Eternals market (fire, shadow) remains low, with lots of stock
-I have time to wait for it to reset
-no trading in frozen orbs … 9.6g for them, 5g for eternals

*TRACKING STACK SIZE (and target sell price)
-determine stack size based on what the item is used for
-use wowhead – “reagent for”
-small stack sizes seem easier to sell than full stacks (e.g, 5 instead of 20, 3 instead of 9)
-continue to refer to sales (tooltip and beancounter) when I need to check stack sizes, target sell or target buy prices.
-perhaps I do need a spreadsheet, noting amounts to post for each item
 
GLYPH MARKET
-I know, from my home server, that glyph price is not related to the cost of the herbs (because people tend to trade higher level inks for whatever they need), nor to the popularity of the glyph
-glyph prices follow a predictable cycle:  they start at a “high” price and move downward to a low price, then reset to a high price again
-a few days ago, I bought glyphs for <=6g (that’s the minimum I can regularly make them for on my server)
-sure enough, I ended up with the glyphs that I KNOW don’t sell on my home server…..I bought them here because it looked like I could get 2x my buy price…….nope
-looking at the entire glyph market (by class), there is some sense to it.  Glyphs that are extremely unpopular are regularly posted @ < 10g.
-if I look at my home market the same way, I suspect I’ll see the same pattern
-I will try to find glyphs that are consistently posted at higher prices (if there are any!) – that is, they never drop below 36 or 24g
-I’ll continue to make some chosen glyphs, but not all of them. It takes too long!

Well done for hitting your goal....and for the nice reporting style and sharing what you have done...have enjoyed your posts alot.

Cheers
Nigel

Thanks a million Nigel!  I appreciate the gratz, and I'm SO glad that people have enjoyed my posts.

Happy gold making!

T-Rex

[**WOW, I AM SO PUMPED!! I MADE OVER 9000 gold TODAY!!!!!MY BEST DAY, DOUBLE WHAT I’VE MADE ON ANY OTHER DAY………WOOT!!!!!!]

**WOW, I AM SO PUMPED!! I MADE OVER 9000 gold TODAY!!!!!
MY BEST DAY, DOUBLE WHAT I’VE MADE ON ANY OTHER DAY………WOOT!!!!!!

Total gold acquired:  63,180g   (63,179.7831g)
(63,143.3213 alliance AH + 36.4618 Booty Bay AH)
(+9094g since yesterday)

Scans:  00:31,  10:24, 16:19, 20:40, (next before 08:38)

UH OH………I thought the rules said that we finish tomorrow, even though today is day 30.  And I didn’t read Jon’s email until early evening, when I’d already bought and posted a lot of auctions.   Whimper.  (Later, my perspective changes drastically!)

It seems that I am gearing down, rather than up, as the end of GSR5 phase 1 approaches.  A long walk and a movie yesterday, then the 6 Nations Ireland-England match (Rugby football) made serious inroads in my time.  And I’m sure the nap I needed after the match had nothing to do with the Guinness I drank…

* WOW, now I know what to do in the AH on weekends!  As of this afternoon, I was still unsure what to do.  Supply increases drastically.  I can get neither my target buy price nor my target sell price
(i.e, price range decreases, while supply increases)
-I changed my sell/buy ratio from 2 to 1.5
(e.g., buy @ 50g and sell @ 75g, instead of sell @ 100g)
-YES – made 1428g in 1 hour!
-EARNED ~8000g IN 8 HOURS!!!

*Haha…I think the “sales prices” in the tooltip are inaccurate because I turned this on part way through the GSR

*Beancounter….apparent missing data is due to limited size of database?
-changed BeanCounter Config:  Search Configuration - increased from 500 to 2000…BINGO, now I see auctions that I remember, but that didn’t show up before….Increased to 4000, to show items from entire GSR

*Leather
-took another look:  heavy leathers seem interesting

*Cata herbs, volatiles and flasks
-bought 1 stack of each herb, volatile life, volatile air
-buy any flasks that drop to 60g
-bought out all flask of flowing water (spirit) for 80-106g; posted @ 159.5857  (impulsive again; self control, T-Rex!)

*Truegold
-bought out market (9 @ 550-585g)
-impulsive again, sigh
-UHOH….somebody immediately posted 5 @ 725g……later, reposted so that mine are low @627g……not much profit…..should wait until the weekend is over…. (but I won't.  Sigh.)

*ENCHANTS / ENCHANTING SCROLLS
-listed as either “Enchant Chest – Mighty Stats” or “Scroll of Enchant Chest – Mighty Stats”
-there is a tendency for higher level enchants to be posted at higher prices, but there's no definite correlation
-as with glyphs, I’ll have to search for enchants that work for me in the AH

CONFIRMED PIPELINES
Abyss Crystal
Arcanite Bar
Arctic Fur
Borean Leather
Dream Shard
Elementium Bar
Eternal Fire
Eternal Shadow
Eternal Water
Eternium ore
Frozen orb
Frostweave Cloth
Goldthorn
Greater magic essence
Gromsblood
Heavy Borean Leather
Illusion dust
Lesser Magic Essence
Light leather
Mageroyal
Medium leather
Strange Dust
Thorium Bar
Wool cloth
Tier 3 herbs:  liferoot, kingsblood, wild steelbloom
Outland herbs: ancient lichen, netherbloom, nightmare vine


LOW VOLUME (1-9/week), 100 – 400g Sell Prices
Cat Carrier (White Kitten)
Darting Hatchling
Design: Fine Hessonite
Design: Subtle Alicite
Enchant Chest – Exceptional Spirit
Enchant Chest – Mighty Stats
Flashing Inferno Ruby
Golden Dragonhawk Hatchling
Leaping Hatchling
Obsidium Hatchling
Recipe: Savory Deviate Delight
Recipe: Transmute Primal Might
Schematic: World Enlarger
Truegold


LOW VOLUME (1-9/week), 5 – 100g Sell Prices
Adamantite Ore
? Burning Embers
Cobra Hatchling
Dream Shard
Electrified Ether
? Embersilk Cloth
Enchant Bracer – Critical Strike
Enchant Bracer – Exceptional Spirit
Enchant Gloves – Exceptional Spellpower
Enchant Gloves – Precision
Eternal Air
Fel Armament
X Flashing inferno ruby
? Gnomish X-Ray Scope
Golden Draenite
Golden Sansam
Greater Cosmic Essence
Heavy Borean Leather
Large Brilliant Shard
Large Radiant Shard
? Obsidium Bar
Runescroll of Fortitude II
Schematic: Accurate Scope
Scarlet Ruby
Skyfire Diamond
Steel bar
Thick Leather
Titanium Bar
Truesilver Ore
Volatile Fire


VENDOR ITEMS
Cat Carrier:  bombay, cornish rex, orange tabby, silver tabby, calico cat
*Moth egg: blue, yellow, white
*Great horned owl
Parrot: cockatiel
*Crimson Snake
Copper Rod
Pattern:  Tuxedo jacket, shirt, pants; pink mageweave shirt
Recipe: Cooked Glossy Mightfish, Filet of Redgill, Giant Clam Scorcho,
Recipe (fewer sales): spiced Chili Crab, Mithril Head Trout, Smoked Sagefish, Clam Chowder
Schematic:  Accurate Scope, Geen Firework, Blue Firework, Gnomish Universal Remote
 (Formula:  Large Prismatic Shard, Enchant 2H Weapon – Lesser Intellect)
(Design:  Opal Necklace of Impact, The Jade Eye)
(Vanishing powder)
*some other vendor items sell for higher amounts and usually low volume (e.g., calico cat, albino snake)
*be careful about purchasing vendor items for >= 1g; buy only 1 and see how long it takes to sell
*many other vendor items sell at lower volumes

WOW
*THIS IS FUN!  I can’t wait to try it on my home server!

*WoW continues to be a simulator for real life, where I can explore different ways of being, doing and interacting.
*From GSR5, I have transferred to real life:
-increased confidence
-better decision making (timely and realistic decisions)
-better (less!) record keeping – and no paper!
-better assessment of plans (try, assess, change or continue; rinse and repeat).


I HAVE LEARNED:
*** I can confidently use the MGB method to earn at least 1000g per day
(hopefully in 1 hour / day)

* I record NO data, other than stack size
-This is wonderful; previously, fear of handling large amounts of data prevented me from using MGB

* I am learning how to set target buy and target sell prices;

* I know how to identify and test potential pipelines;

* I am getting a feel for some market niches

* I have a plan for working the glyph market on my main server
-I’ve been earning ~500g / day, but it takes at least 1.5 hours and is tedious to make my own glyphs, keep stock of herbs / pigments / inks, track which glyphs I need to make….


DISCOVERIES
* I can’t be Jon….I have to use MGB in my own style (self evident to others, I’m sure!)

*I am conservative – and that’s OK.
-My target sell price is twice my buy price…1.5 times my buy price on weekends.
>> exceptions: some vendor items (pets, tuxedo patterns)
>> when market low is higher than my TS price
>> world event items held for resale (though I never seem to get the high prices others report)

*I am impulsive!  I can easily choose a target buy price….and suddenly end up with 550 of that item in stock!!
-I have to be careful
-It’s part of my personality:  when playing WoW, I frequently jump off cliffs  (it’s the shortest way, after all) - even if I go “splat” or land in a pack of mobs!


WOW
*WoW continues to be a simulator for real life, enabling me to explore different ways of being, doing, and interacting.

*From GSR5, I have transferred to real life:
-increased confidence
-better decision making ability
-better (less!) record keeping (all electronic!)
-better assessment of plans (try, assess, change or continue; rinse and repeat).


ONGOING GOALS
-use MGB with increasing ability and finesse – watch videos, read forums, try new things….
-limit my goldmaking time! Start with 2 hours (lots of “setup” still to do, videos to watch, posts to read)
-reduce time to 1 hour in the AH and 0.5 hour in the MGB community


NEXT GSR
***Goal:  Efficiency
-roll main toon (human if I play alliance side), train in herbs and pick up a couple of stacks for seed money
*spend the rest of the time in the AH
-perhaps 1 vendor run in each city, to prime the pump and get gold flowing
-limit to 1 hour per day in the AH
-Allow an additional 1 hour per day to follow GSR forum…so much information, so much personality!
? X-faction
? DK.   Read about other MGB’ers experience with DK’s; could certainly pick up vendor items from places outside of major cities, but on the whole I think not.
-I don’t want to spend the time to level a profession (another use for DK?) -> I’d rather trade on the AH