Day 2

Time for Day 2 of 20 Days of Gold Making.

Day 2: If you set yourself a goal, what was your goal & at what point did you set it?

For most of my gold making career, I simply set the goal of "make as much as possible".  And honestly, that mostly worked for my needs from Vanilla through Cataclysm.  However, during that time, I didn't see gold making so much as a goal in to itself but rather as a means to an end.  When something came along I wanted, I wanted to have the funds to buy it.

That changed in early Mists.  I'm at a point where I can no longer raid as seriously (though I still enjoy the amount I'm able to do).  But while I can't raid as much, I do have a lot of time at the computer where I can multitask.  So I started doing more reading on strategies and markets.  I started spending more time on The Consortium and The Undermine Journal.  I looked at trends on my server, looked at where profits could be had.

Once I picked a couple markets that seemed to offer a good return on time invested.  One I started seeing a steady income stream, I set a goal to finally hit the gold cap.  I didn't set a time limit, but pushed myself to reach it as quickly as possible.

I hit it.  I felt truly satisfied, and rested on my laurels for a couple weeks.  And then I set a new goal of reaching 2 Million within the next 60 days.  While I'm not quite on track to hit it at this point, it's motivated me to keep up with posting and reposting.  And more importantly, be aggressive in buying resources, and the occasional flipping.  I'll probably take another look at goals once the summer hits, and I have a bit more free time.

If you're wondering about how to set your own goals, I think there are two options:  
1. Set a gold goal.  Set a number, set a date, and work towards it
2. Set an item goal.  Always wanted that mammoth, but could never afford it?  There's your goal.

Don't ever get discouraged that you don't have as much gold as someone else.  We all started out penniless. And not only that, there's always a bigger fish.  That is, someone else will always have more than you.  Decide where you want to be, and work towards that.  Don't worry about your friend or guildmate.

Tomorrow:  Day 3: What were the first techniques/tricks/tips you used when starting out?

- Honus 2/25/13

20 Days of Gold Making - Day 1

The Auction House Addict blog had a fantastic idea.  A set of 20 topics, meant to span 20 days:  20 Days of Gold Making.  While most bloggers are just finishing up, I've just now been inspired enough to start.

So.  Day 1 question: When did you start making gold & what triggered it?

Day 1 Answer: Around the middle of vanilla, and being an efficient farmer.

I started playing about a year after release, December 2005.  Early on, I was hooked.  I played most of the day, nearly every day.  My personal situation was such where this was feasible, and somewhat sustainable.  I raided, but not as seriously as I'd like.  The farming requirement for raiding was fairly high for some, but I found I had a knack for it.  I could easily farm far more than I could use, and quickly found I could make quite a bit on my extras.  

My earliest farming memories were in Un'Goro crater, at Fire Plume Ridge.  Despite being a Paladin (and raiding Vanilla Paladins were Holy Paladins; that's just the way it was), I was pretty effective at farming those fire elementals.  Occasionally, I'd get the odd Chinese farmer competing with me, and I'd have to quit, as they were far more effective than I (Hunter versus Holy Pally, who'd have thunk?).

Eventually though, I'd strike deals with them, buying their extra Heart of Flames and Elemental Fire.  They were more interested in the super valuable Essence of Fire; running off to sell or mail anything else wasn't efficient enough.  Travel time was a big deal back then.  No flying mounts.  Flight points didn't connect automatically.  If you wanted to fly from Tanaris to Felwood, you had to stop and talk to the Flight Master at every point in between.  No portable mailboxes.  No vendor mounts.  But I digress.

So I could transmute the Hearts into more Elemental Fires.  I picked up Un'Goro soil.  I mined.  I dropped blacksmithing for herbalism.  I picked flowers.  I sold everything, destroyed nothing.  Soon I had built myself up a nice little stash of gold, and picked up the niceties.  Epic mount.  The occasional BoE. Soon I wasn't ever worrying about repairs, and if something I wanted popped up on the AH, I always had the money for it.  I loaned mount money, and sometimes gave it out.

And then, Burning Crusade hit.  Things changed, and fast, and mostly for the better, at least from my perspective.  But that's a story for another time.

Tomorrow.  Or sometime.  Day 2: If you set yourself a goal, what was your goal & at what point did you set it?

Starting up again

This is about my 5th attempt at maintaining a gold making blog.  Mostly I update for a week or two, then get busy with other things and stop updating.  One of these days I'll have to make some goals regarding updating.

So, to restart myself, I'm going to use Auction House Addict's 20 Days of Gold Making Community Idea.  Maybe I'll get through Day 5.  Time will tell.