:D

what's new, pussycat?

Things on the AH are slow. I've been preoccupied with IRL work and playing games with the glyph market, while the bottom has dropped out of Jewelcrafting. I'm only cutting gems from my transmutes and whatever I can pick up for dirt cheap (which is not a lot). The slower pace is working for me - profit is lower but it frees up more time to level alts with friends or on my lonesome. When I'm all done for the day on my home server I've been leveling a long-leglected alt on Steamwheedle Cartel, Dimity*. I've brought her from 58 to 61 over the last couple days and am getting into the swing of playing a warrior again, though alas, I have only one-handers. (Insert raunchy joke here.)

I'm enjoying leveling an unfamiliar class without heirlooms. I've even started regularly checking the SC auction house for deals and flips, and am saving up from 150g to get my flying mount. Cold's guides to flipping in the neutral towns are excellent to this end. Ah, to be new again....


* Please feel free to come and say hi! I'm most likely to be on during the weekends on Dim, and I may reply IC - you have been warned! ;)

Jessica Sellers changed

Jessica Sellers will now exchange inks for Blackfallow Ink instead of Ink of the Sea. YE HATH BEEN WARNED! If you are a scribe, process your herbs into inks now and trade in to get batches of all the types. You do not want to get stuck with thousands of IotS!


(source)

traveling

This week I sent my wee warlock banker out into a strange similar dimension. To another realm! Last week I traded a Crimson Deathcharger, two Mechano-hogs, and 20,000 gold for a Magic Rooster and a Blazing Hippogryph. But...I already had a hippo! What to do? I ended up transferring my lowbie to another realm to trade for 8 'hogs and just got her back home today. It was a luxury to me because I have very little money to spend on frivolities like server transfers, but it was a good deal - one that will not be repeated in the near future, but a good deal nonetheless. I've already sold two of the 'hogs and am enjoying my chicken very much.

Things have slowed down in the AH the last couple weeks, except for Inscription. One of my glyph competitors dropped out of the market, which is fabulous; I'm hoping he quit until Cataclysm and isn't on vacation. Sales have jumped and I have enough herbs that I crafted a full stack of every single glyph, in preparation for the massive glyph-buying that will happen when Catacylsm drops. Runescrolls are moving slowly when I remember to make them, but it's not terrible. I've sold most of my Darkmoon decks and am making more.

Gems have slowed down but haven't died. This past week people have been dumping loads of raw gems, and I've been snatching them all up. Why? Because the last time this happened I didn't buy enough, fearing a crash, and ended up running out of stock to cut. My server has a score of raiding guilds on Horde and everyone is buying gems. I don't see myself stopping production in the next month, but the volume has gone down. I'm not complaining - lower profits means more people will drop out of the market, which means more profit for yours truly.

A guildy of mine came back from a long hiatus and is selling me lots of Saronite Ore. I've been picking up some cheap stacks off the AH (sub-15g stacks) and started crafting Titansteel again, which moves quickly.

GDKP-wise, last Sunday was the bomb. We downed H-Marrow, H-Lootship, H-Fester, H-Rotface, H-Blood Queen, and N-Sindragosa (in three tries, no less!). I'm very happy to see progress like that, it attracts even better players and of course more gold and more opportunities for my alts. I'm also crafting Shadowmourne for my paladin (I know, but better late than never!). I need 3 more Saronite, then the arduous 1000 scourge kills... :/ But once I get over that I can do the infusions with my guild and start collecting my shards through GDKP.

/laugh

The Wall

Sorry for the lack of posts. :) Real life crooks her hand and I follow like a stray sheep. AH playing has been business as usual, except I've been rapidly expanding my mount collection with all the shinies I could not have afforded before, like the tiger. I'm also scheduled to get a Mimiron's Head in a month for 100k. (My guildmate pointed out that I've already spent over half a million gold on mounts alone....oi vey.) Today, however, we're going to take a look at this comment from Anon.

Im having the same problem on my server atm. Glyphs going for 70 b/o, and the good ones at 30g+ avg for weeks on end.

A new guy comes along and posts 15g fallback, 5g threshold. one of every glyph. Its crushed the glyph market on my server. He only posts 1-2x per day from my experience too.

Tell me about how the glyph wall works. The only problem I have is that Im sitting on ~250 stacks of herbs and just 200IoTS. I do have a stock of 12-20 of each glyph in the inventory now. I dont know how long I can keep a wall up.

I have no farmers hooked up. Theres only one on the server and he sells on the Ah. I've had no luck contacting him. Herb prices are very high 20+ mostly. I just dont know what kind of amount of ink I may be needing to keep a wall up.

A wall is fascinating because no profession other than Inscription is capable of forming one. This AH strategy occurs only in glyphs - a high-volume, intensely competitive market.

The purpose of a wall is to drive out one's competitors - either by forcing them to run out of supplies, boring them, or making them feel that lower profits are not worth the labor that goes into crafting and posting glyphs. As a long-term strategy it is fairly effective and can drive out competition as well as discourage new scribes from entering the market.

To form a wall, a "mason" simply needs to set his QA3 to post only at a set max amount and under - for example, if Glyph of Blahblah is at 30g he will only post his at 15g. If Glyph of Blahblah is at 14g19s he will post at 14g15s and so on, with a minimum threshold at the bottom.

So what can you do?

Our friendly neighborhood anon is in a tight spot. He's got a small stock and no farmers hooked up to supply him with cheap herbs. He fits perfectly into the waller's target range.

Every cloud has a silver lining though! 15g a glyph is still a good price. It sure beats a 5g roof, and even with herbs at 20g a stack you can turn a profit. Even better, I can immediately spot some glaring holes in his competitor's wall.


1) He only posts twice a day. He is not a camper. Phew! This makes it a zillion times easier. It won't eliminate the wall, but the first thing you can do is add his characters to your friends list and undercut as soon as he logs off. (If you're not using Quick Auctions 3, set it up ASAP!) Since you have a large stock of glyphs, only post 1-2 at a time so you can keep more in your bags to undercut without wasting time canceling. If you can keep your glyphs under his he will notice his profits drop even further since you will be getting all his sales, and it might force him to let up a bit. At the very least it'll keep your profit margin high and indicate to him that you're serious.

2) What's even better about his posting schedule is that it makes it very easy for you to price reset! Do you know which glyphs are the most popular on your server? (You should. :P ) After he posts, buy out all of the popular glyphs and simply relist them at a higher threshold. You can make all your money back easily and increase profits for the rest of the day until he relogs to reinstate his wall. In addition, it saves you time and money crafting those glyphs - he's doing all the work for you, no farming or herbs required. This is a fantastic strategy for scribes hurting for supplies.

Some examples of reselling glyphs can be found here:
Just My Two Copper: Tailoring and Inscription Goblins Misconceptions
Buying up low priced glyphs and relisting.


I hope some of this is helpful to you. There's even more information about walls in the JMTC forums (check out the Inscription board).

glyph wall gone

After 5 days, the glyph wall has crumbled. Profits have risen to what they used to be, and all is well.

the news

Sorry I haven't really updated. I'm in the midst of a few long-term deals and am feeling out how they will go at the moment, and am hesitant to post confidently about them.

My competitor's glyph wall is slightly crumbling. I'm seeing a few glyphs creep back to my threshold. Ironically my profits have remained the same! I still have a huge store of glyphs, inks and herbs and am buying more herbs on the cheap. The volume isn't as large as when I had my personal botter, but I have such a large stock that buying more is largely out of habit. :P

Unfortunately, GDKP today was a disaster. I am fairly soft-spoken and had about 3 loud people in Vent today, leaving me unable to be heard on our Sindragosa attempts. >_< It REALLY pissed me off. And then later on plague wing a verbal fight broke out between a friend of mine and a regular member. I was tired and sick of essentially babysitting so I simply called it. *sigh* Sometimes there's just bad mojo, y'know? I'm going to be enforcing my rules more strictly from now on, because people need to realize I'm here to raid, not babysit their troublemaking asses...

oh lawd

This guy is crashing down the whole glyph market because he's "tired of low thresholds." Wut? Does he even know what a threshold is? Because the only low-selling glyphs are the garbage ones that scribes make to level, and are barely worth selling because of that. So he....crashes the whole market. Uh huh.

This is one of those times I wish someone would toss Gevlon into a fiery volcano; his disciples are the most facepalm-worthy asshats.

sigh, not this again

Once again, some asshat is trying to shove people out of the glyph markets. All glyphs except a few of each class are under 5g. All of them. I know it's a scare tactic but it's so annoying; there's a lot more profit to be made for everyone when people aren't trying to be monopolists.

They also bought all my glyphs around 6g and under....lol. People who do this are so silly. They give me their money and I'm still making profit under their scare tactics.

QQ

"My" farmer got banned. =( About a week ago I noticed he hadn't logged on in a couple days, I suppose Warden caught up with him. He and a couple other bots have not been around, so the AH is back to hosting one page of overpriced herbs. For some reason Eternal Life is still available at normal prices (Frozo?).

Thank goodness I stocked up. "Buy everything, even if you don't need it right now," is a great rule to AH by! I have 3 guild bank tabs of IoTS and a mailbox full of herbs, plenty to last me until the next farmer surfaces.

what do I like to see?

"Posting [Glyph of _____) (3) bid 70g, buyout 70g (No other auctions up)

...times 100. On one glyph alt.

*cackle* I love maintenance.



Oh yeah, and I finally have all my minor glyphs! Now to do about two more weeks of major research and I'll be completely set for Cata. :3

Thanks!

Yesterday I emptied out one of my glyph alt's mailbox, and pulled out 850g in one go! I usually get that over the course of a few hours, not overnight!

I use Postal to empty my mailbox so I didn't see who bought them all. I think someone wanted to price reset and bought out an assload of competitor's glyphs to do so. I have noticed some of my glyphs going to fallback price (70g) or even undercutting higher at about 90g, so this is a good thing for me on two fronts.

Doing I quick scan I see that the previously mentioned undercutter with the 25g ceiling is nowhere to be found on the AH. He must have gotten bored or dumped all his stock, and someone noticed and decided to price reset. It feels good to see glyphs at 34g, 70g and 90g again!

Addendum: The guy who contacted me before, whispered me today and confirmed he had done a price reset. He encouraged me to buy out glyphs to do the same but it just isn't my style unless there are 2 glyphs up for 3g. I don't want to do anything on a mass scale.

Oopsie!

I'll be honest and tell you that I don't pay much attention to my server's glyph market. It's fairly common practice among scribes to watch one's competitors, add them to one's friend list, and watch for patterns to determine who is whose alt. This allows one to post after they log out, decreasing the chance you'll be quickly undercut.

I don't cancel/relist, it is too time-intensive for me, so I do a waterfall posting. I post, wait 1-2 hours, come back, post again, so all my glyphs stay up. The only time this is annoying is in the morning when all my glyphs have expired, but for the time I save it's a small price to pay.

However I've never really watched other folks. Before the ban wave there were a couple persistent glyph-bots on my server, but once they were out of the way profits steadily increased. Lately I have noticed my auctions getting undercut more frequently but again, I didn't really pay attention...


...until I got a whisper on one of my glyph alts from an unknown rogue. Apparently there is a new fella in our market who is posting all his glyphs at a max of 25g, even popular glyphs that can sell for 70g or more. Rogue fellow was combating it by buying all his 20g auctions and relisting them for higher (something that I consider too risky to do). I did a quick Auctioneer scan and indeed, his highest price is 25g. Ouch.

I am simply going to keep undercutting by 1c. Profits are still okay, and my hunch is that this deep undercutter is either going to get bored, or is going to run out of gold or, more likely, materials. A couple herb botters are active but I have a huge backstock and am still buying herbs daily at the right price. My cost to make is about 60s so my minimum to sell is 70s.

The funny part, though, is this guy was rattling off whose glyphs alts he thought were one person's. He grouped one of mine with another guy, but he did manage to get B. and my scribe together. lol! He also said he was going to try and price reset and not post until 8....so now that I'm done posting I'll try and come back in an hour or so and cancel/repost to get prices back up. Can't really hurt to try, eh?

State of the Union: Glyphs

I'll make it clear right now, I am very late to the party in terms of glyph-making. A lot of people got filthy rich off of this earlier in the expansion; by contrast, my scribe was first created about 2 months ago. Feeling there was still money to be had, and that if it failed it would still be a good learning experience, I dived right in.

At first I was very hesitant to use addons. I'd dabbled in Auctioneer before and I did regular scans, but anything beyond that was a scary jungle of command lines and Skillet buttons. And honestly? I still don't use Skillet or KTQ, holding a deep mistrust of Auctioneer's market data accuracy. What has revolutionized the way I post (in all markets) is Quick Auctions 3. I won't bore you with the how's and why's, since there are many excellent guides out there for this addon (Yumfries' on Youtube helped me immensely), but this is a must. have. addon. No if's and's or but's. I was ACTUALLY posting glyphs by hand before I figured this out, and on the scale glyph-making must be to be profitable, that is not an efficient, feasible, or sane way of going about things.

About two weeks after I started making max-level glyphs, the 2nd version of Blizzard's Warden came out, and the Great Bot Holocaust of 2010 occurred. Ore, herbs and leather vanished from the AH and prices for raw mats skyrocketed. Some influential crafters farmed mats or had their own stock that kept crafted prices down for a while; however, they have inexorably crept higher in price, sometimes by 40g (cut epic gems). Only in the last two week have bots slowly begun to trickle past the new security and back into the game.

After 10 days of scrabbling for mats, I was almost ready to give up on glyphs. Fortunately, at around that mark is when I found "my" botter. For a while we did face-to-face trades at great prices, but nowadays I usually let him post on the AH so I can see if he undercuts someone for even less. He's also a great source of Frost Lotus and Eternal Life - but his primary items for sale are Adder's Tongue, Goldclover, Tiger Lily, and Deadnettle.

I've been buying huge numbers of herbs from him for a couple weeks. To give you some stats, as of this posting I have:
6128 Adder's Tongue
2000 Tiger Lily
3528 Icethorn
1174 Deadnettle
389 Snowfall Ink
3140 Ink of the Sea

Of course,these numbers don't take into account the other herbs I have used crafting Runescrolls, offhands, cards, and glyphs.

With this huge stock in my bank, I got to work. After mass crafting about 10-20 of every glyph, I split them between two special glyph bankers decked out with 4 Pack of Endless Pockets. I do a Summary scan with QA3 and refresh my glyph stocks about once or twice a week. I do not cancel/relist. Instead, I do a "waterfall" posting strategy. I post in the morning, and then every few hours whenever I have time I simply post again. If no one has undercut me, my glyphs stay up. If someone has, I undercut them with MORE glyphs without wasting time running back and forth and refreshing the mailbox. Having a large amount of glyphs is what makes this method possible.

I realize by now this post is probably getting boring, so I'll end with a few tips about glyphs.

o Post for 12 hours. This way you can get your stock back without worrying about canceling.

o Find a farmer/botter who can supply you with lots and lots of cheap herbs. Having a "warehouse" of herbs can and will help you tough through AH dry spells.

o Oh, about that warehouse.... Get a guild bank. Hell, get two or three. When you start buying a lot of herbs and turning them into inks, you're gonna need the space.

o Know your market. If you're sure Glyph of Sunder Armor never sells even if it's listed at 45g, don't craft it.

o Post quickly after resets. When your glyphs are the only ones on the AH, people will have to buy them. For example, my server had a 24-hour downtime last week. Since then glyph prices has doubled because I posted at my fallback, and undercutting has been descending slowly from that point on. A formerly 5g glyph is now an average of 23g. Yay!




STATS
o 1000 - 4000g per day from glyphs
o 3 private guild banks
o 1 scribe, 2 posting mules
o approximately 1 hour per day posting; milling/making inks completed in windowed mode while doing other things