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.