Importable Warfront Groups

As you might have guessed from my previous post, I expect to make a fair amount of gold from warfronts today. I've created some TSM groups/operations in order to do this, and have decided to share them. Some information about the groups and the groups themselves appear below!

Importable groups after the jump.

Profit in T - 4 Days, 21 Hours

The launch of warfronts has led to plenty of confusion for many players, if "WHY CANT I QUEUE" spam in my Trade chat is any indication. What we are able to do, what we are expected to do, and how and when we will be able to do it escapes most players, and even I don't fully understand it despite the breakdowns I've read.

But what I do know is what happened to Viridium on my server on the day Horde began their turn-in phase:

Cut and uncut viridium prices on Argent Dawn US.

The reason for this, of course, is that Horde were able to contribute 15x Straddling Viridium in exchange for AP, reputation, and advancing their progress toward being able to queue for the RTS-esque Battle for Stromgarde.

The enchanting turn-in was Seal of Versatility, and we can see this phenomenon reflected in its prices as well:

You can even see on these charts where supply increased and prices dropped, aka when the Horde completed their turn-in phase and began queueing.

On the Alliance side this meant that checking the table gave us a timer to let us know how long until the phase completes and we begin turn-ins.

So based on what we saw last week, it is reasonable to expect that certain crafts and materials will spike in 4 days and 21 hours, give or take a few hours for people to log in and realize they suddenly have a bunch of turn-in quests. (I will, of course, be sidling up on my AH mount to assist them in buying from that handy Liquidate person!)

Now, to my knowledge we do not know what of the turn-ins it will be, but we can reasonably expect to see all of them over time. Here are the possible turn-ins according to wowhead:

• Herbalism and Alchemy - Asks for  Steelskin Potion, 20  Coastal Mana Potion, 60  Siren's Pollen
  
• Mining and Blacksmithing - Asks for 60  Monelite Ore, 2  Monel-Hardened Hoofplates or  Monel-Hardened Stirrups
  
• Engineering - Asks for 3  Frost-Laced Ammunition, 6  Crow's Nest Scope, or 2  Incendiary Ammunition
  
• Cooking and Fishing - Asks for 30  Seasoned Loins, 60  Meaty Haunch, 60  Great Sea Catfish
  
• Inscription - Asks for 3  War-Scroll of Battle Shout or 3  War-Scroll of Fortitude
  
• Skinning and Leatherworking - Asks for 2  Drums of the Maelstrom, 60  Coarse Leather or 2  Coarse Leather Barding
  
• Jewelcrafting - Asks for 15  Deadly Solstone or 15  Versatile Kyanite or 15  Straddling Viridium
  
• Enchanting - Asks for 3  Enchant Ring - Seal of Critical Strike or 3  Enchant Ring - Seal of Versatility
  
• Tailoring - Asks for  Battle Flag: Rallying Swiftness or  Battle Flag: Phalanx Defense, 60  Tidespray Linen

So, what do we do with this list? Obviously we want to have either the items themselves or the materials available to meet demand on the day the battle flips over. 

We're in an interesting time right now when we consider an expansion's life. We must consider, among other possible factors, these current elements:

1. We are early enough in the expansion some people are still spam-crafting and selling at a loss to level professions.
2. We are late enough in the early expansion that prices are beginning to rise after #1, as most people willing to do that have now already completed this phase of their profession leveling.
3. We are early enough in the expansion that people are still thirsty for AP and rep.
4. This rep is tied to unlocking Iron Dwarves/Mag'har Orcs, an extra incentive to "pay for rep."
5. Many people will want to complete all the quests in the first week simply because they're new content, even though they may only do their own profession's later in the expansion.

So that's a lot to consider when deciding if we'll stockpile everything or only certain things. Some items which standout to me and why:

• ✓ - Meaty Haunch - Meaty haunches are picked up while leveling, and unless someone is making feasts or crit food (which is not a hot stat this expac like haste is) they don't have a large need for it.
• ✓ - Seasoned Loins - The mats (Stringy Loins) are dirt-cheap, which means a lot are available and that a lot of people skill up on this, meaning lots of the cooked version are often available as well. 
• ✓ - Enchant Scrolls - The seal of x ring enchants are a massive part of leveling enchanting this expansion, so you can easily find a lot for cheap. Just note that Haste and Mastery are not represented on Wowhead's list!
• ✓ - Gems - Similar to scrolls, the cut gems appear regularly under crafting cost due to needing to be used for skill-ups. You can also often find cheap uncut gems as people prospect for Kraken's Eyes and dump the byproducts. 
• ? - Great Sea Catfish - This fish virtually useless except as fish oil. If you can pick it up significantly cheaper than fish oil, do so. But that's very price dependent.
• ? - War-Scrolls - These are very beneficial/in-demand now with the beginning of Mythic+ runs. However, they're also a hot item for leveling inscription. Keep an eye out for new scribes dumping bulk scrolls for under mat cost as they level inscription, but don't expect to get tons before M+ pushers snatch em up!
• ? - Battle Flags - If tailors are making these to level, you can probably get them at a discount. However, tailoring I found simple enough to level without making these virtually useless items. Keep an eye out, for sure, but there probably won't be a huge supply.

Everything else is pretty standard "use your brain" fare. You should now have an idea of what's a norm for server prices for you. For example, Monelite Ore on my server is still through the roof, so it will be difficult for me to find cheap mats for the Blacksmithing turn-ins.

At the end of the day I guess what I'm saying is to put these and/or their mats on a shopping list and collect cheap items when they aren't the turn-in for big profits when the warfront flips and they become the turn-in. 

Optimal Fun Achieved

(I'll skip the reintroduction, y'all can talk to me on twitter if you want to check in!)

As the raid and mythic+ system begins, attention for many has turned to consumables. Flasks, potions, runes for all; war-scrolls to fill out missing buffs in M+ runs. As I've watched guild chat scroll by with people constantly complaining about Anchor Weed spawns, I've avoided herbalism and mining. That's par for the course for me, though: as long-time readers will remember, I hate the low ceiling for gold-making from gathering professions.

So why, then, am I one of the few people who doesn't bat an eye when it's time to flask up for a raid? Why don't I mind popping War-Scrolls of Battle Shout if only one DPS died in an M+?

Because I'm rich, yes, but it's not just that. After all, I don't want to be hemorrhaging gold for a few more stats here or there.

It's because I know that I will enjoy paying for that.

So many of my guild members talk about having to go farm flask materials like it's an arduous chore, and that they would rather be doing something else in the game. I remember those days myself, farming basilisks in Terrokar Forest to get ready for Tempest Keep. But no longer!

We like to consider our goblin friends' "time is money" motto when considering the value of farmed mats, but the implication that your time is valuable cuts both ways. Don't spend it doing something you don't want to do just because you need a consumable.

"But I do need consumables!"

Yes, you probably do. But too often most players fall into the trap of "Flasks come from herbalism and alchemy. I must farm herbs."

Could you not craft a PVP piece and sell it? Run a dungeon on your tailor, get a hydrocore, and sell one of the new bags? Fish off the dock in your city and sell off the fish?

My guildies, and many players not into gold-making, too often consider only the direct farm => craft => have route for consumables, so it's no wonder they consider farming to be a chore they must do to pay the raid tax.

The subreddit /r/frugal often talks about how they are frugal in some areas of life in order to treat themselves in others. To me, gold-making is the same. I do all this gold-making for many reasons, but one of them is so that I can choose to not do the tasks I find arduous. I made some 100 Darkmoon Cards today and have never picked a B4A flower.  I buy all my flasks, food, and potions on the AH, as well!

The bottom line is that your play-time is something you can and should minmax to reach optimal fun. If you don't like farming, don't farm! Find the profitable thing you can do and enjoy doing, and leverage that to pay your way through all the things you hate.

*tumbleweed* (Domain Renewal)

Hi folks! I hope everyone's doing well!

No, I'm not coming back to WoW, sorry. :) I just got an email from GoDaddy that this domain (clockworkriot.com) is about to expire. Since I haven't blogged in ages and most of the content here is likely out of date, I won't be renewing it. The content is all still available at goclockworkriotgo.blogspot.com , you just won't have the easy URL re-direct. Who knows, maybe someone will buy the domain name and put up pictures of puppies. Who knows? What suspense!

Anyways, just letting anyone whose still around know that the domain is going away and if you use any bookmarks or links you may need to address those. Thanks to everyone who read this blog over the years, I appreciate you guys a lot, and I think about the community more than you'd probably expect! I hope you're all doing amazing.

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