Just a quick note the new improved version of TSM was released on Curse a few hours ago.
Get it here: http://www.curse.com/search?search=tradeskillmaster&filter-project-sort=3
Make sure and grab all the modules you use, except Gathering, which is obsolete now.
Also, the home site for TSM has moved to: http://www.tradeskillmaster.com/
The release version has a completely redesigned auction interface with a new auction tab replacing the old sidebar, many improvements and some new functionality including a market reset scan function. So much has changed it takes a little getting to used to but once you do it's great.
*** IMPORTANT NOTE *** The Gathering module was split into two new modules, Item Tracker and Warehousing. Make sure you UNINSTALL GATHERING when installing the new version.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Unlimited Maelstrom Crystals
The demand for high end chants has gone up and driven the prices of high end enchanting mats up too (particularly Maelstrom Crystals and Heavenly Shards). Maelstrom Crystals are going for 200-250g or more on many servers now. What many don't know is it's possible to manufacture unlimited Maelstrom Crystals for under 150g each.
To get the best cost per crystal you need an enchanter in a level 24 guild who's exalted with Avenger's of Hyjal. Go to the Firelands vendors, buy cloaks and disenchant them for unlimited Maelstrom Crystals. If you're not exalted you must be at least friendly to buy the cloaks.
Exalted rep with Avenger's of Hyjal gets you a 20% discount on prices with the Firelands vendors
Bountiful Bags (level 23 guild perk) gets you a 20% bonus when disenchanting
Bartering (level 24 guild perk) gets you a 10% discount and stacks with the rep discount
In the best case, assuming you're exalted with Avenger's of Hyjal and in a level 24 guild, your cost per Maelstrom Crystal comes out to about 146g. Shattering crystals will keep your cost on Heavenly Shards to about 73g too. Horde characters of the Goblin race have it even easier, all they need is friendly rep since thier racial gives them a 20% price discount with all vendors (which does NOT stack with rep discounts).
In the worst case, you need to be at least friendly and the cloaks cost 250g each. Guild perks still apply though, you'll get 10% off for Bartering, and 20% more crystals from disenchanting with Bountiful Bags. Bountiful Bags alone brings the price per Crystal down to about 208g and Bartering brings it down a little further to 187.5g per crystal (5 x (250 x 0.9)) / 6 = 187.5. Exalted rep alone without the guild perks will bring the price down to 200g per crystal.
To get the best cost per crystal you need an enchanter in a level 24 guild who's exalted with Avenger's of Hyjal. Go to the Firelands vendors, buy cloaks and disenchant them for unlimited Maelstrom Crystals. If you're not exalted you must be at least friendly to buy the cloaks.
Exalted rep with Avenger's of Hyjal gets you a 20% discount on prices with the Firelands vendors
Bountiful Bags (level 23 guild perk) gets you a 20% bonus when disenchanting
Bartering (level 24 guild perk) gets you a 10% discount and stacks with the rep discount
In the best case, assuming you're exalted with Avenger's of Hyjal and in a level 24 guild, your cost per Maelstrom Crystal comes out to about 146g. Shattering crystals will keep your cost on Heavenly Shards to about 73g too. Horde characters of the Goblin race have it even easier, all they need is friendly rep since thier racial gives them a 20% price discount with all vendors (which does NOT stack with rep discounts).
In the worst case, you need to be at least friendly and the cloaks cost 250g each. Guild perks still apply though, you'll get 10% off for Bartering, and 20% more crystals from disenchanting with Bountiful Bags. Bountiful Bags alone brings the price per Crystal down to about 208g and Bartering brings it down a little further to 187.5g per crystal (5 x (250 x 0.9)) / 6 = 187.5. Exalted rep alone without the guild perks will bring the price down to 200g per crystal.
Monday, 9 January 2012
TradeSkillMaster Release Version Preview
Sapu's been working hard on the release version of TradeSkillMaster and it's getting close. Here's a link to the official preview at the TSM home site.
TradeSkillMaster Release Version Preview
Sapu was good enough to send me a pre release version to play with. Here are my thoughts after playing with it for a few days.
The most noticeable change is the auction house part of the User Interface has been completely redesigned. This is a huge change, everything has been moved around and it takes some time to get used to it.
The configuration window (which opens when you type /tsm) is mostly the same as before. A few things added or moved but for the most part it's the same old familiar configuration UI.
It's hard to say for sure but it seemed to me it's faster and less laggy than before. I'll be able to say more about that after running it when the server is most crowded (prime time raid nights Tues-Thurs).
A few features seem to have disappeared in the process. I don't know if they've been dropped for good or will be added back at a later date. One thing I really miss though is the ability to manually change post prices on the fly while doing a post scan. (Edit: The author says this feature will be in the release version)
Many of the changes are IMO major improvements. In particular I like how the sidebar window is gone (mostly anyhow) and has been replaced with an auction tab.
There are a few details I'm not fond of but this isn't a review, the new version hasn't been released yet and many of those details could easily be changed by release so I'm not going to get into that now. They're mostly little things anyhow, like a double click where I'm used to a single click with other addons or a key piece of information I want to see missing from a scan list.
TradeSkillMaster Release Version Preview
Sapu was good enough to send me a pre release version to play with. Here are my thoughts after playing with it for a few days.
The most noticeable change is the auction house part of the User Interface has been completely redesigned. This is a huge change, everything has been moved around and it takes some time to get used to it.
The configuration window (which opens when you type /tsm) is mostly the same as before. A few things added or moved but for the most part it's the same old familiar configuration UI.
It's hard to say for sure but it seemed to me it's faster and less laggy than before. I'll be able to say more about that after running it when the server is most crowded (prime time raid nights Tues-Thurs).
A few features seem to have disappeared in the process. I don't know if they've been dropped for good or will be added back at a later date. One thing I really miss though is the ability to manually change post prices on the fly while doing a post scan. (Edit: The author says this feature will be in the release version)
Many of the changes are IMO major improvements. In particular I like how the sidebar window is gone (mostly anyhow) and has been replaced with an auction tab.
There are a few details I'm not fond of but this isn't a review, the new version hasn't been released yet and many of those details could easily be changed by release so I'm not going to get into that now. They're mostly little things anyhow, like a double click where I'm used to a single click with other addons or a key piece of information I want to see missing from a scan list.
Friday, 23 December 2011
Glyph Walls - are for teaching lessons
There's been some talk about glyph walls lately. As one who frequently uses glyph walls I'd like to share my views on them.
In particular I'd like to address some of the comments and assumptions made by Croda of the marketsforgold blog. Recently he made the following series of posts regarding glyph walls.
The Glyph Wall – what is it and what is its purpose?
The Glyph Wall - how to combat it
In the first post Croda says "The ultimate aim of this strategy is one of two", then goes on to say it's either to permanently reset glyph prices or it's to force others out of the market.
Actually there's at least one more reason to use glyph walls. The reason I use them. To teach obsessive campers a lesson.
In the second post Croda talks about how to fight glyph walls. He says "The aim here is to bring all glyphs where there is a Wall down to just above cost price and let the glyph wall competitor undercut me and so make losses on each sale. Eventually they will become dispirited at crafting, posting making a small loss and repeating time and time again."
Awesome! When I post glyph walls that's exactly what I want the camper to do. Waste his time, effort and materials obsessing and stressing over undercutting me for very little profit. I will find his real threshold, post just over that and let him be the one to "become dispirited".
Croda assumes the purpose of a wall is to sell glyphs and that's not necesarily true. In fact in my experience the exact opposite is usually true. Walls and especially glyph walls often aren't intended to sell at all, they're there to cap the market at very low profit margins and teach someone a lesson.
When I use glyph walls I don't use them to sell glyphs, I use them to teach obsessive glyph campers a lesson. I'll keep the wall (or walls if they try buying me out) up for as long as it takes. Months, years, it doesn't matter, it's not costing me anything to keep the wall up and as long as they keep undercutting the wall, it doesn't take much effort to keep it up either. When the camping finally stops I raise my prices until the next obsessive camper comes along.
Doing a little simple math it costs 1s to post 1 glyph for 48 hours or 1g per 100 glyphs. If I post 5 of each glyph that comes out to approximately 20g to post 5 of every glyph in the game. An insignificant amount, easily covered by selling just 1 or 2 glyphs a day. Even if no glyphs sell, which virtually never happens, losing 20g a day won't make me go broke anytime soon (it'd take over 800 years).
I guess the moral of the story is don't assume the other guy thinks the same way you do. Doing so increases the risk your plan to combat his strategy is exactly what he wants you to do. You're doing all the work tanking the market for very little profit while he's just posting once every 2 days and laughing at you.
In particular I'd like to address some of the comments and assumptions made by Croda of the marketsforgold blog. Recently he made the following series of posts regarding glyph walls.
The Glyph Wall – what is it and what is its purpose?
The Glyph Wall - how to combat it
In the first post Croda says "The ultimate aim of this strategy is one of two", then goes on to say it's either to permanently reset glyph prices or it's to force others out of the market.
Actually there's at least one more reason to use glyph walls. The reason I use them. To teach obsessive campers a lesson.
In the second post Croda talks about how to fight glyph walls. He says "The aim here is to bring all glyphs where there is a Wall down to just above cost price and let the glyph wall competitor undercut me and so make losses on each sale. Eventually they will become dispirited at crafting, posting making a small loss and repeating time and time again."
Awesome! When I post glyph walls that's exactly what I want the camper to do. Waste his time, effort and materials obsessing and stressing over undercutting me for very little profit. I will find his real threshold, post just over that and let him be the one to "become dispirited".
Croda assumes the purpose of a wall is to sell glyphs and that's not necesarily true. In fact in my experience the exact opposite is usually true. Walls and especially glyph walls often aren't intended to sell at all, they're there to cap the market at very low profit margins and teach someone a lesson.
When I use glyph walls I don't use them to sell glyphs, I use them to teach obsessive glyph campers a lesson. I'll keep the wall (or walls if they try buying me out) up for as long as it takes. Months, years, it doesn't matter, it's not costing me anything to keep the wall up and as long as they keep undercutting the wall, it doesn't take much effort to keep it up either. When the camping finally stops I raise my prices until the next obsessive camper comes along.
Doing a little simple math it costs 1s to post 1 glyph for 48 hours or 1g per 100 glyphs. If I post 5 of each glyph that comes out to approximately 20g to post 5 of every glyph in the game. An insignificant amount, easily covered by selling just 1 or 2 glyphs a day. Even if no glyphs sell, which virtually never happens, losing 20g a day won't make me go broke anytime soon (it'd take over 800 years).
I guess the moral of the story is don't assume the other guy thinks the same way you do. Doing so increases the risk your plan to combat his strategy is exactly what he wants you to do. You're doing all the work tanking the market for very little profit while he's just posting once every 2 days and laughing at you.
Friday, 16 December 2011
Epic Gems in Patch 4.3 - Queen's Garnet flooding and why prices are the way they are
It looks like there's another wave of cheap duped goods starting up now. There have been reports from several servers about being flooded by level 1 toons selling stacks and stacks of Queen's Garnet very cheaply. If it happens on your server don't be the sucker who buys the first few cheap stacks because it won't be long before they're selling even more for far less
There have also been a few mentions of cheap Essence of Destruction showing up in suspicious numbers on a few servers.
You've probably noticed some colors of epic gems sell better than the rare equivalents and others worse. Queen's Garnet (red) sell like crazy, Shadow Spinel (purple) hardly sell at all and other colors sell better than purple but nowhere near as well as red.
It's the same for specific cuts, some cuts that sell well as rare cuts hardly sell at all as epics. Everyone wants Queen's Garnet (red), the other gems don't sell nearly as well. Shadow Spinels (purple) have been hit the worst. Cuts like Veiled, Glinting and Etched hardly sell at all and prices are dropping fast. Yet those same cuts rare versions still sell quite well. It's the same with other colors and cuts too, Rigid Deepholm Iolite for example hardly sells at all, Sparkling, Solid and probably even Stormy far outsell Rigid... Yet Rigid Ocean Sapphire still sells well.
Ever wondered why?
There have also been a few mentions of cheap Essence of Destruction showing up in suspicious numbers on a few servers.
You've probably noticed some colors of epic gems sell better than the rare equivalents and others worse. Queen's Garnet (red) sell like crazy, Shadow Spinel (purple) hardly sell at all and other colors sell better than purple but nowhere near as well as red.
It's the same for specific cuts, some cuts that sell well as rare cuts hardly sell at all as epics. Everyone wants Queen's Garnet (red), the other gems don't sell nearly as well. Shadow Spinels (purple) have been hit the worst. Cuts like Veiled, Glinting and Etched hardly sell at all and prices are dropping fast. Yet those same cuts rare versions still sell quite well. It's the same with other colors and cuts too, Rigid Deepholm Iolite for example hardly sells at all, Sparkling, Solid and probably even Stormy far outsell Rigid... Yet Rigid Ocean Sapphire still sells well.
Ever wondered why?
Monday, 12 December 2011
Epic Gems - How the market is shaking out
This analysis is server specific to Antonidas (US) and may not match what's happening on your server though I do believe the epic gem market is following a similar pattern on most servers.
Prior to patch 4.3 I made some educated guesses and came up with the following:
What I expected
I figured epic gems would start out insanely high priced (20k+ per gem for reds, 10k+ for other colors) and virtually none would sell at those prices. I also thought it would be possible to pick up the occasional far more reasonably priced gem out of trade chat, especially after someone spent a day or two *not selling his precious red gold mine at the crazy initial prices everyone would be asking.
For the short term (the first month or so) I decided 4-5k would be a good price to buy red epic gems at and 2-3k for other colors. The plan was to buy raw gems at those prices, then cut and resell them for a 1-2k profit (maybe even more for the first few of each color).
Over the middle term I figured red epic gems would go for around 4k raw and 5-6k cut. The other colors about 1.5-2k raw and 2-3k cut. I felt this would continue until several guilds have been farming most of the new bosses for a while, upgraded most of their gear, gemmed it with epic gems and began getting more epic gems than they use. It's hard to predict how long this phase will last, it could be just a month or so or it could last for several months.
For the long term I expected red epic gems would eventually drop to around 2k raw, 3k cut and other colors to 1k raw, 1.5-2k cut. This could take several months, particularly for red gems. Other colors will almost certainly drop in price sooner and possibly much sooner than red.
Of course there are other factors that could affect the market by increasing the availability of epic gems. For example the possible future addition of transmutes, prospecting, vendors or any other new source of gems could cause prices to drop further and faster.
Then the patch finally landed....
Prior to patch 4.3 I made some educated guesses and came up with the following:
What I expected
I figured epic gems would start out insanely high priced (20k+ per gem for reds, 10k+ for other colors) and virtually none would sell at those prices. I also thought it would be possible to pick up the occasional far more reasonably priced gem out of trade chat, especially after someone spent a day or two *not selling his precious red gold mine at the crazy initial prices everyone would be asking.
For the short term (the first month or so) I decided 4-5k would be a good price to buy red epic gems at and 2-3k for other colors. The plan was to buy raw gems at those prices, then cut and resell them for a 1-2k profit (maybe even more for the first few of each color).
Over the middle term I figured red epic gems would go for around 4k raw and 5-6k cut. The other colors about 1.5-2k raw and 2-3k cut. I felt this would continue until several guilds have been farming most of the new bosses for a while, upgraded most of their gear, gemmed it with epic gems and began getting more epic gems than they use. It's hard to predict how long this phase will last, it could be just a month or so or it could last for several months.
For the long term I expected red epic gems would eventually drop to around 2k raw, 3k cut and other colors to 1k raw, 1.5-2k cut. This could take several months, particularly for red gems. Other colors will almost certainly drop in price sooner and possibly much sooner than red.
Of course there are other factors that could affect the market by increasing the availability of epic gems. For example the possible future addition of transmutes, prospecting, vendors or any other new source of gems could cause prices to drop further and faster.
Then the patch finally landed....
Saturday, 10 December 2011
TSM Blacklist Modification
In a prior post Dealing with obsessive campers - Part II advanced I detailed how I modifed TSM's post.lua to calculate price cuts differently to bring prices down fast and discourage camping. At the time my server was literally infested with campers and auction bots. There were so many campers at that time the best approach was an indiscriminate blanket approach that simply lowered prices quickly until the camping stopped..
Conditions are a little different now. There's far more cooperation between big auction players, fewer obsessive campers and the worst of the campers (the bot) transferred. On top of which demand is high and supply lower than in the past. I found the old approach too extreme for current conditions but there are still a few obsessive campers in certain markets. A more targeted approach is needed so I tweaked my modification to use the blacklist and only target specific campers.
Most of it still works the same as before except it only kicks in for blacklisted players.
Conditions are a little different now. There's far more cooperation between big auction players, fewer obsessive campers and the worst of the campers (the bot) transferred. On top of which demand is high and supply lower than in the past. I found the old approach too extreme for current conditions but there are still a few obsessive campers in certain markets. A more targeted approach is needed so I tweaked my modification to use the blacklist and only target specific campers.
Most of it still works the same as before except it only kicks in for blacklisted players.
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