Spring - Time For Fresh Starts

© Nev 2004, Spring Blossom

So, it's been a while again but I finally logged into game a few times this last week or so. The first few hours really wore me out - my eyes really had problems adjusting to the whole movement stuff after months of static websites but eventually they settled down & let me get on with trying to remember where I had left everything! I never intended to just stop playing like that, it was just the way it worked out but I lost everything in my mailboxes & I'm pretty sure I had a few big-ish items gone bye-bye but never mind, they would be out of date by now anyway! So my first few evenings back in game were taken up with emptying rubbish out of banks & bags, as well as catching up with my lovely guildies.

Just before I stopped playing, I also signed up for a US account which I played for about 2 hours & never went back! Bad timing all round except that it gave me a lapsed account when the new Scroll of Resurrection was announced so this week, thanks to Cold over at Cold's Gold Factory, I've restarted on that account. No heirlooms, no cash back up, nothing except 50 empty character slots & a few basic addons. Cold doesn't have to worry though, I'm Alliance so his Horde gold making empire is safe ... for now :P

So with a clean slate, I chose my usual human banker, levelled her to level 5 & ran to Stormwind. She had about 8silver to play with. I also started a human hunter to be my main questing alt & by the time she got to Goldshire, she had about 9 silver which I sent to my banker. So with 16 silvers, I bought 2 of the cheapest cooking recipes from the guy in SW Old Town, then ran to the florist on the canals to see if there were any herbs available. There were a few bits & pieces so I bought those up & ran to the Alchemy supplies shop in the mage Quarter, nabbed all the herbs I could there & off I went to the Auction House.

Off I went to the Auction House & started to list my haul of cheap herbs. Arrggggh, I'd forgotten the deposit/listing fee so I only managed to list the 5 auctions shown in the screenie above. Well that was a bust I thought so I logged back to my hunter & did a few more quests. You can tell I'm out of practise at this game too - look - I only listed them for 12 hrs - normally I would pop them up at 24hrs - it's the same deposit for most of them & I don't lose the deposit after just 12 hrs if they don't sell.

So I told myself to slow down & think this through - as I was running back to the alchemy supplies in the Mage Quarter, I passed the fishing trainer & a light bulb went off in my head! I quickly checked the cost of training & a fishing rod & decided to fish for vendor trash for 10 mins.

Here's my haul
8 x tangled fishing line @ 18c each
6 x tattered cloth @ 1s each
5 x weeds @ 18c each
3 x driftwood @ 18c each
1 x sickly fish @ 18c each
1 x old boot @ 18c each

So in about 10 minutes of fishing I gained a grand total of 9s 24c & 10 achievement points for catching 25 fish! Those 9 silvers let me post the rest of the herbs I'd managed to pick up and as of late this morning, I'm up to about 20gold now. More than enough to really get going again.

Not the biggest gold making revelation, I know but if I've missed this simple way to get some basic starter cash, how many others have too? I know to go get some cheap vendor items & list them but I've been gold making a while now & reading blogs & stuff for even longer. This brand new empty account is kinda reminding me of the basics so I thought I'd pop out a post so I don't forget in future & maybe help a complete newbie to make those first few silvers.

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!