Lethal Shots

Earlier this week I decided to participate in yet another aspect of WoW. The Auction House. Of course I have used the AH before. I’ve bought gear, enchants, gems, crafting mats, etc. I’ve auctioned whatever I might have come across while leveling. But I have never actually played the AH.

Now I don’t mean the old “buy low, sell high” scheme (it hardly ever works), I mean the art of Goblinism. This means I am taking raw materials available on the AH, crafting something useful out of them, and re-selling them for a profit. Maximum profit for minimal work. Naturally, this is done with the professions that I have already invested considerable time and money into leveling. Currently I have four professions greater than 400 skill available to me: Mining (on 2 characters), Engineering, Enchanting, and Jewelcrafting.

Mining provides a small, but steady income in the form of Titansteel. With a 20 hour cooldown to smelt and the still relatively high demand, it is almost always a guaranteed sell. I profit about 30g per bar sold, meaning about 60g a day.

Engineering is by no means a cash cow. There are really only a few items that non-engineers have any interest in. The motorcycle requires too high of a initial investment. The two epic guns require a rather large investment to make, and sell for almost no profit at all. And ammunition will often sell for less than the raw mats to make it. I’m still keeping an eye on tings in case the opportunity for profit does come up.

Enchanting is where I see a huge potential for profit. Every time a piece of gear is replaced, it needs enchanted. The problem for me is that my Enchanter (a level 60 Death Knight) is currently unable to learn any enchants other than the standard ones available from the trainer. There is very little profit from there since every Enchanter on the server knows them and the market is flooded. I’m not going to make any profit here until my DK learns more.

That leaves Jewelcrafting. I’ve started out small, putting no more than 30 gems on the market at once, and I am already starting to show a healthy profit. While many gem cuts sell for the same, or less, than the raw gem, there are still several that offer a nice profit. I am also making sure to do the JC daily every day to broaden my range of wares. The epic necklaces are also tempting, though I’ll want to make sure they turn enough profit to justify the hefty token cost for the recipe.

On top of my crafting endeavors, I also scan the AH for any sources of quick cash, such as crystallized to eternal conversions, or buying stuff to vendor. Not a whole lot of coin there, but it takes practically no time to do so why not.

I now just need to decide what profession to pair with Enchanting on my DK. It needs to offer decent profit potential, but getting the mats to level it may be a problem. I am looking at Inscription, but without a Herbalist to gather mats, leveling it could be quite expensive. Another option would be Tailoring. Mats would be easy to obtain, plus I could DE the items I make while leveling it. This would only be viable though if bags and BoE items could be sold for a decent profit.

It is definitely different looking at the game this way, but it is providing me with a challenge that I am already starting to enjoy.