Phase 3: Profit !

Okay, so the title says it all. I got my Rusted Protodrake this evening, and I couldn’t be happier.

All ur Protodrakes are belong to me!

Here’s how it went down. As any longtime reader will realize, this is the one I’ve wanted for a while. Ulduar is my favorite, and I’ve wanted to do the Rusted Proto thing for a while. As documented, I had a very, very unsatisfying experience before, when I tried to buy a run from Riot Act. (A guild full of high-caliber players on my former server.) In fact, I’ve not really spoken about it here, but I had a terrible time during that run, and it was one of the major reasons that I transferred servers.

This evening I went in on a run with a well-established raid group in AIE. The run was, by sheer happenstance, the main run for more than a few WoW-celebrities. (Including but not limited to Randy Deluxe and Ravanna.) I needed to do Yogg-1 light for the drake, so that was our only goal. However, the following things transpired:

-Great DPS. Seriously, a number of players in that run knock the stuffing out of anything that gets near them. Druid Southpaw comes to mind, but that’s probably just because I think the name is catchy. In all seriousness, that raid run is crazy-good, to the point where, “Burst DPS vs. DoT/Sustained DPS after a portal” was a serious issue when deciding who did what.

-Awesome music in vent. Seriously, I’m not joking. They play music, and someone DJs. I never did figure out who had that job, but it was great.

-Great senses of humor. I made a Glenn Beck joke and it was received graciously, with much laughter. (It was very agreeable, even if it was a left-leaning joke.)

-The phrase “Sandy Bananna.” It came up after a very vanilla conversation, and was immediately selected to be a member of the fictitious list of things that, “sound like explicit sexual acts but actually are just what they say they are.”

-Tons of goodwill and fun. Maybe it’s just that everyone is easygoing because we’re at the end of a cycle, but it only took three tries to get Yogg 1-Light. That includes me DPSing, which was worth about 2.5k and 1 wipe of 3. (Seriously, I killed us. Those gas clouds are bigger in phase 1 than you think they are.) But on the third time…? The charm! Yogg was dead, I got no less than 7 achievements (that’s not an exaggeration) and a Proto Drake. Very, very exciting.

-Finally, this is probably one of the few times that I’ll do this, but I have to pop off a bit about the contrast between my experiences. Everyone in today’s run made me realize how great a run can be. This stood in stark contrast to my earlier experience with Riot Act. I haven’t written about it much, and I am loathe to feed trolls, but I’ll throw caution to the wind by saying the following: the Riot Act raid sucked; it wasn’t fun; it cost too much; I didn’t get the Drake (although, in fairness, the members of that run would say that is my own fault); I paid 20,000 gold without recourse; it was terrible; and finally, it was so awful that it was a major factor in my decision to transfer! But today… today was great! It really helped me put my experiences in perspective, and, to paraphrase the great writer David Foster Wallace, the folks in that Riot Act run can all kiss my grits, and I wish their in-game characters ill.

So, that’s about it! As ever, we look forward to all feedback.

GL! /bow

I was reading a few WoW gold blogs and I came across a post about undercutting, by Vennren over at Common Copper, that I agree with 100%. It goes back to the question of how much to undercut the competition by. Vennren basically comes out on the side of, “I’ll undercut by a little more and sell everything, all the time.” I agree completely. I think that good profit and higher volume is a more consistent strategy than slight undercutting and serious AH posting/re-posting. Cold, of Cold’s Gold Factory, hops into the comments for a bit as well; I can’t tell if he agrees or disagrees with Vennren, but his comments are good ones.

I imagine that Vennren and I are in the minority. I can practically hear my Call to Auction co-host, Euripides, protesting right now. For him more volume = too much time spent “semi-afk crafting” (as he calls it), and the time cost isn’t worth it for him. For me, that wall of stuff that is gone and then replaced by gold is more satisfying and, ultimately, more consistent.

What do you think? Reply here, or over at the Common Copper. Thanks in advance, dear reader, for the feedback. You know Zekta and I read all of it.

GL! /bow

I recently wrote a post about buying stuff from vendors and reselling it. I mentioned this particular vendor, but he really deserves his own post.

See this guy, above? That’s Bro’kin, and he sells alchemy stuff. Why he’s tucked away amongst the ogres of Alterac Mountains is a WoW mystery. However, he’s there in the ruins of the once-great Alliance city of Alterac, and he’s friendly to any toon that’s friendly with Booty Bay.

Why does this matter? Simple, my dear reader: he sells the recipe for Frost Oil. That’s it. Frost Oil remains valuable (about 10g/piece the last time I checked), as does the recipe. The demand is limited, but it’s there. So here’s what you do: go to him on your Herbalist; buy the recipe for Frost Oil; then, while you’re there (or while you’re waiting for the recipe to respawn), roam around on your Herbalist and pick some Wintersbite. It’s the main component for Frost Oil, and it only grows there… in the Alterac Mountains! Pick it, then turn it into Frost Oil… or just sell it. It’s really up to you. When you’re short on funds, head back there- it’s a level 30-ish zone, so you should be able to navigate it with little problem. Enjoy!

GL! /bow