D'oh! An Epiphany - of Sorts

I was reading some old forum threads on JMTC & The Consortium, looking for old skool tactics that could be adapted for gold making in the current market when a light bulb went on in my head. It was one of those 'OMFG! Why didn't I realise that before?' moments. Two cigarettes worth of forehead slapping & some pondering later, this post was been born!

I've just taken my warrior through Outland including my hated Zangarmarsh. I dutifully killed Bog Lords (Sporregar rep per kill) in the Dead Mire Bog and handed in my Unidentified Plant Parts & Bog Lord Tendrils for the quests there. I also picked up some Motes of Life & got a few mining nodes as well as the ever present vendor trash & a few Greens. I sent the Motes to my alchemist, the Greens to my enchanter & the excess Unidentified Plant Parts to my banker and moved on to the next set of quests.

A few days later, I was back in Zangarmarsh on my lvl 85 pally main boosting some guildies through the Coilfang Reservoir dungeons. We decided to go through the HC versions so off we went to get the Coilfang Reservoir key & that was that. Until I realised that I was getting reputation for the kills with Cenarion Expedition, picking up Coilfang Armaments & Sanguine Hibiscus (also for Sporregar rep) - all of which I had merrily vendored on my warrior just days earlier!

So where's the D'oh! moment? Well, when I sent the Motes & Greens off to their various alts, I did it automatically. That's just what I do when I have full bags - I stand at the mailbox & send useful stuff to various alts without really thinking about it - and that's the moment! I suddenly realised that this whole gold making lark is a mind set, a way of thinking about the whole game, not just your crafting/farming/AH activities. My main income is from Glyphs & JC - on 1 alt. The others are questing or achievement hunting or dungeoning but all of them are out & about in this wonderful world Blizzard have created & they all make money while they are doing it! I just have to change the way I think about these activities & make connections in my brain from one alt to another.

Those items I vendored on my warrior could have helped my achievement pally with her reputation for Cenarion Expedition & Sporregar or I could have put them on the AH for other rep grinders to buy.Why did I send the Motes to my alchemist - because they were hard to find when she was levelling her Alchemy so I got into the habit of always sending Motes to her - she's my collecting point - but what do I do with them? Not a lot, to be honest! I periodically look at Primal Might prices on the AH but that's about it.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I need to think more about connections, how the current quest area can best be utilised for benefits (whether for another alt or for my gold balance), what things can I take away & write about (always a tough job!) or just which quests I really hate & want to skip next time through!

I would bet that the best gold-makers have already sussed this mindset out but for those of us who are still learning or just getting started, slow down for a few minutes & really think about it, not so much what or how you do things but the WHY you do them? Have you got into habits from when you were levelling your first one or two alts that perhaps aren't needed anymore but you still do them?

Have a think, see if you can pinpoint things you do automatically that perhaps seem silly now & let me know - maybe we can help each other kick these bad habits!