Ultimate Recipe Collections get more Ultimate!

Today I'm releasing the first update for the Ultimate Vendor Recipe Collections.  I'm really happy with how the update's turned out and I think you all will be too.

What are the Ultimate Vendor Recipe Collections?

They're two guides, one for Horde folks and one for Alliance. They will lay out for you every vendor recipe in the game that is available to your faction. They highlight faction-specific recipes (great arbitrage candidates!) and everything is arranged geographically so it is easy to move from vendor to vendor, something I've yet to see with any other guide or resource out there.

But wait, there's more!

What's new in the updated versions?

Thanks to suggestions from purchasers of the first versions I've added in a few more useful features. 

• I've rearranged the list; instead of a strict North-to-South I've outlined an actual route for you to follow which should cut down on massive amounts of zigzagging.
• I've included maps with the routes I use outlined on them to help you get an idea of where to go next.
• I've included TomTom waypoints for every single vendor as well as a guide for how to use TomTom with these collections.
• I've included information on whether or not any recipe is Limited Quantity.

Sidenote: In my update announcement I stated that there would be TSM Auctioning lists. When I went to add them I found out it's not possible to make Auctioning groups just with Item IDs. Sapu has stated he's working on it and I will add them in as soon as I am able.

Holy crap, where do I get my hands on these awesome works of art and support Faid in the process?

Click here to purchase an Alliance collection. ($3)

Click here to purchase a Horde collection. ($3)

Click here to purchase an Alliance+Horde combo collection. ($5.75)

I already purchased a previous version. Where's my free update?

If you've purchased a previous version simply send me an e-mail from the same address you'd used to purchase your collection and I will send out an updated version shortly.

I really want to get into vendor recipes but can't/won't spend the money on a guide.

I get that. For what it's worth it's only three bucks and it helps me out a lot, but I totally feel ya on this one.  If you're just interested in getting a bare-bones sort of set up you can try the RecipeProfit plugin for GatherMate2. It's free and highlights many profitable recipes.

But Faid, if it's free why would I buy a guide? Well, you get what you pay for. RecipeProfit is decent for getting started but the dozens and dozens of incorrect, misplaced, or altogether missing vendors that I ran into were startling. It'll be alright for picking up a recipe here or there but if you want a more complete experience (and if you want to sell the recipes your competitors using RecipeProfit know nothing about!) I urge you to check your couch cushions for a few bucks in change.

If you have any questions check out the Store FAQ. If you still have questions feel free to ask!

From the Vault: Three Tips for New Auctioneers

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From the Vault:  Every Tuesday and Friday we'll be shining a spotlight on some of the most popular and timeless posts from Nerf Faids here on ClockworkRiot. Folks who missed them the first time around can enjoy some of the best pieces and folks who have seen them can maybe be reminded of a trick or two that they'd forgotten.

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Check Out => Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival!

Last month Cold's inaugural blogging carnival topic was about farming. I pouted around since I don't really farm as a regular gold making tactic and chose to sit that one out. This month, however, I feel I can at least ramble on and maybe make some sense!

What 3 Pieces Of Advice Would You Give A Little Goblin? (3 Top Tips For New Auctioneers?)

Because this is apparently aimed at Auctioneers and not just "gold-makers" (though many of us will often use the terms interchangeably) I'm going to try to focus on tips that deal with the auction house specifically.

Many players reach max level, clear raid content, achieve awesome PvP ratings, and do all of this oblivious to the real power of the Auction House. Many people will say the most powerful tool in a gold maker's arsenal is a transmute specced alchemist. Some will say it's knowing certain addons like Auctioneer inside and out. Others will say it's consistent and dedicated farming. But at the end of the day the single most important tool you have is the AH.

It can be frightening at first, and possibly overwhelming. Sure you can buy and sell now, but against the big dogs of your server you may feel overwhelmed with how many addons they use, how they always seem to undercut you. How can that guy sell something that cost you 50g to make for 25g? There's a lot to learn and a lot to practice with, but here's three of the biggest tips I can give you:

What 3 Pieces Of Advice Would You Give A Little Goblin? (3 Top Tips For New Auctioneers?)

Know how to use addons. Know how to function without them.

There are some amazing addons for using the AH. There are behemoths with many features like Auctioneer or Trade SkillMaster or there are less extreme ones like Auctionator. All of them have great uses and you can research each of them yourselves and find out which ones work best for you.

My advice here is to know how to function without them. If TSM breaks, like it's predecessor Quick Auctions 3 did on possibly the biggest day in the history of auctions, will you be able to make a profit or will you be stuck in the mud?

Do you know how to configure that addon you're using? I can't count the number of auctions I've bought up at <1% of their value because someone's addon malfunctioned and posted that Truegold for 7g instead of 700g. If you're not comfortable letting an addon post for you or buy for you don't. Things can go terribly wrong. Learn to buy and sell without addons, then use addons for ease. Don't rely on them completely. 

Don't be hasty. 

It's tempting to want to jump right in when you've found a good deal but take a step back if you're not knowledgable in the market. Personal anecdote time. It was BC, I was a level 68 Blood Elf mage. I was so excited because I'd just installed Auctioneer and was going to take on the world. I'd done two auction house scans and noticed that this particular market looked great! It was Fel Iron Bars and according to Auctioneer there were only 4 stacks up, all of them at 60% of normal price! I bought them all at 400g a stack! Yay, I'm going to make so much! Well, turns out of course, that they aren't worth nearly that much and Auctioneer, with such a small amount of data to go off of, was comparing an inflated price against an even more inflated price, making my deal look great when in fact it was just terrible. 

Learn about what you're buying. Watch the markets you're interested in for a while to notice trends, average prices, etc. And never ever ever buy something just because your addon tells you it's a good deal. Your brain > Addon brain!

Don't tie up all your assets in one market.

Many brand new auctioneers probably only have professions to hit one or two markets, or at least they may feel that way. Knowing one market inside and out is great, but if suddenly something happens to that market that makes it less lucrative you can be out in the cold with a bunch of inventory you can't move.

Diversify! Are you a miner/blacksmith? Don't just make Bloodied Pyrium! Sell belt buckles, enchanting rods, and open lockboxes with your keys. If your server prices are great for it buy Elementium and Volatile Earth, smelt it, and sell Hardened Elementium Bars at a markup. Just because you only have 2 professions doesn't mean you can only sell two things!

Orgrimmar Roundup - Low Level Gold Tip

Don't worry, Horde players, I didn't forget about you. A follow-up to my previous run around Stormwind, this video focuses on items which can be purchased in Orgrimmar to resell for a profit. This probably won't be "worth it" to most max-level players but it's my favorite way to make gold on a new server or faction.

If you are interested in making gold selling vendor items be sure to check out the Ultimate Recipe Collections available from the ClockworkRiot store!

Stormwind Roundup - Low Level Gold Tip

During one of my gold-making livestreams Cryan requested that I make some guides and/or videos about the items I buy in town to make gold on low level characters.  In Orgrimmar and in Stormwind there are some great items you can pick up for resale and this video hits some of my favorite Stormwind pieces. Next time we'll do Orgrimmar so you Horde folks don't feel left out!

If you are interested in making gold selling vendor items be sure to check out the Ultimate Recipe Collections available from the ClockworkRiot store!

TSM Guide Videos

Special Note: Third time's the charm! This is the third, yes, third time I've uploaded these TSM videos. Hopefully they're here to stay. The audio should be loud enough, if a bit crackly, they contain the right URL, and are on the right channel. Please be sure to thumbs up/like the videos just one last time. Thanks! (Sorry to be such a bother with these. Last time, I promise!)

The time has finally come! Sapu and the rest of the dedicated TSM team have released the newest version of TradeSkillMaster! I've been using a pre-release version for a while now and have had a lot of fun with it. The team's done a great job and I'm sure you all will enjoy the changes.

At the bottom of this post is a series of videos which should help newcomers to the addon find their way around and perhaps teach veterans a few things. They are not designed as an advanced manual of tactics; my goal in creating these videos was to help people who have just installed TSM to learn the basics. I'm still learning certain aspects of the addon mysef (Sapu even gave me some tips on my own use of it after I showed him the videos!) but this should be a sufficient primer for those who have found it intimidating in the past.

There is currently no video for Warehousing.  While I have used the tool for a limited time I am still fairly clumsy with it myself as I attempt to learn how exactly it works with my setup.  Once I am more  well-versed with Warehousing I will make a video but it is not required to use the core of TSM so for now it is absent from my video guides.

So what's new?
A lot! In its new form TSM has shed the side-bar style and has integrated into the main AH panel with its own TSM tab from which you use the TSM plugins like shopping for crafting mats and posting auctions. There are new reset scants, shopping lists, and an easy to understand UI.

I hope you all enjoy these videos; I admit my editing isn't top notch but they should serve their purpose well! PLEASE watch these in HD so that you can see the settings and whatnot.

Auctioning (Posting, Cancelling, and Group Creation)

-This should be the first video you watch if you are new to TSM-

Crafting

Shopping, Dealfinding, and Destroying

Mailing

Reset Scans

If you have any questions for me feel free to leave them as a comment here or on the videos. If you have questions or concerns about TradeSkillMaster be sure to visit the development forum over at The Consortium forums!

Beginner Tip: Stringy Wolf Meat

Often folks will ask me about how to make gold on a new server or faction. I like to recommend my old go-to vendor recipes and pets. But the problem is if you are truly brand new on a server you may not even be able to afford those vendor recipes to start with!

On the livestream recently I've been experiencing this first-hand. I started a new toon on a brand new server intending to try out gold making from scratch for the first time in a long time. (If you'd like to watch the recording of the streams here they are: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7.  Sorry about the staticy audio, I fixed it this morning so future episodes will be crystal clear!)

While on the livestream a very old tactic of mine resurfaced, an item I love to sell but had completely forgotten about.

Mmmm look at that tasty profit.  Now, every server's different but on most servers I've started I was able to sell Stringy Wolf Meat consistently at over a gold a piece. Sure, it doesn't sound like much once you're a big-time gold maker but for a character just starting out 20g per stack's a pretty great start.

Why Stringy Wolf Meat?

From a new character perspective Stringy Wolf Meat is a great gold-making item because it's so easy to farm up.  Both factions have at least one starting area that is crawling with wolves (I recommend Human for Alliance and Undead for Horde.) Worgen will have access to wolves as well. Goblins don't have the option of wolves but you lucky goblins get Kaja'Cola so no complaining! 

On my new character experiment I have made over 200g selling Stringy Wolf Meat so far and I didn't even go out of my way to farm it; that's just what I picked up while leveling through Tirisfal Glades.

Who buys this crap?

The reason Stringy Wolf Meat is such a lucrative item is it is one of the best super-low-level cooking ingredients to level with. You can start cooking with it at level 1 though most players will likely cook Spice Bread till level 40.  However, what happens after 40? Stringy Wolf Meat, that's what happens.  Stringy Wolf Meat can give you skill ups from 1-90. Ninety. Folks leveling cooking eat this stuff up (haha, a pun!) and it's a great way to get some starter cash on your new server.

Psh, it's only like 10s on my server.

Reset that meat, my friend! While resetting the market is probably out of the question for brand new players once you've got 20 or 30g to your name a good amount of gold can be made controlling the Stringy Wolf Meat market. It probably won't be your ticket to gold cap but buying out all that 10s meat and reselling it for 1-2g per piece can be a very lucrative venture for a new gold-maker.