Unpopular Opinion – Girl Goblin

[Unpopular Opinion] Gold making is better on a low pop realm

I fully admit that this title is a pretty open interpretation of the events. I have played on low population servers almost exclusively for years now and I’ve come to love and hate them. Almost all of my gold making prior to Dragonflight was done on these servers, and I was able to made gold cap without too much issue. Things sell – slowly. They sell for (usually) higher than the higher population servers because there are less people selling there. It also means there’s less buyers.

I am comfortable with that low rate of sale because I diversify my markets. Before the regionwide auction house I knew there were limited raiders, so alchemy was probably not going to be the profession for me. Now with regionwide everyone is fighting about undercuts but there’s profit to be made for a player like me, where as in the past, there was not.

At the start of Dragonflight I went looking for greener pastures. I had never attempted M+ before, and I wanted a chance to raid. I wanted to experience more than just gold making. I have multiple sclerosis so finding people who understand my physical limitations can be a daunting task. My guild on the low population servers is quite small, which is not bad but it did make things like raids more difficult to obtain. There’s also no one advertising boosts or sales on my low pop server. Anyway, I moved to a high pop server and things were really awesome as far as seeing folks around in the world and interactions with others.

The server was less awesome when it came to gold making – except for craft orders. Craft orders were my saving grace. I picked up a cheap copy of the lariat neck, the hourglass, and titanic rings, and I was set. My JC reached 100 without buying a single component. The thing is I didn’t know what the market was like on a high population realm. I would have to learn the market over again from scratch.

After a month on the server, I missed the comfort of my low population gold making. I got into a few undercut wars with people and that is a fight that I absolutely could NOT win, both physically and mentally. I didn’t know what people on this new server wanted. I was frustrated.

Plus, I missed my friends. They’re in a different time zone from me but I missed occasionally seeing a friendly face around. I don’t make friends easily, and while I thought moving to a more populated server was the answer – it turns out, I was wrong.

It also turns out that there are some really amazing and awesome communities out there who do cross realm M+ and raiding and everything else you can think of. People who are known for being patient, and for teaching others. I joined WoW Made Easy, and I joined Dungeon Dojo. Both communities are on discord, and while I haven’t actually participated in any events yet, there are options out there if you’re on a smaller server like I am, or you don’t really have a place with ‘your people’ to raid with.

I believe gold can be made on absolutely any server if you put in the time to learn the markets. Low population, high population, all of it comes down to a personal preference. If you have the time and the willpower to play the auction house pvp game and battle it out, a higher population will grant you faster sales and an instant gratification that a low population can never hope to achieve – but if you’re like me, maybe those servers are just not the place you want to be. There’s no ‘wrong’ server to make gold on. You just have to find what works for you.

[Unpopular Opinion] So you Can’t Make Gold in Dragonflight

For the past few weeks I have been listening to people in the WoW econ discord, and on reddit, and on twitter, talking about how it is impossible to make gold with professions in World of Warcraft at the moment because absolutely everything sells for a loss. My unpopular opinion is that this is simply not true. What is true, is that it takes a lot more work and thought to make gold from professions then it did in the past. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it makes gold making much more engaging for those who manage to put in the time and effort. Keep in mind that ‘time’ is going to be relevant to how much you want to do, and what sort of server you’re on.

There is one exception to this rule, and I will say that lower population servers do have a much more difficult time simply because there are less people looking for things to be crafted, and more people crafting. My perspective for this post is coming from a medium/high population server.

The first issue – crafting for a loss. Well, if you’re used to simply opening your crafting book, taking a look at your list, crafting that, and then putting it on the auction house – yes, most items sell at a loss. Dragonflight completely changed how we craft, and those basic items we all start with are in low demand and VERY high supply. If this is how you expect to make gold, you will be selling at a loss.

Where Dragonflight actually shines is for those who have put in the work to make connections on their server, or those who manage to camp the work table. I do this for roughly 15 minutes each day on my jewelcrafter, and she has made over 400k in gold from public commissions. I do own the BiS lariat recipe, I also bought the two rings, the titanic & hour-glass. I did not spec down gems. I am spec’d into both rings, necks, and multicraft / inspiration.

So for JC alone, there’s necks, rings, gems, and then there are also some toys you can craft for people if you’re lucky enough to find the recipes. So far I have not managed to get a single one (frustrating). Then there’s the cosmetic items we can make, like the rhinestone sunglasses. Dragonflight has a recipe for those that comes from fishing. I usually sell at least one pair every single day, for 20k. Yes, it takes time or money (or both) to get started, but it’s a goal (I fished mine up). Then there’s the JC that’s selling from previous expansions. That’s right, don’t forge that Dragonflight is not the only expansion out there! For whatever reason, 233 and 262 gear is still selling VERY well on my servers. More so if you include speed sets. Then there’s transmog, battle pets, mounts! DIVERSIFY.

The second issue – You don’t HAVE to be hardcore about any of this. As you can see by the screenshot above, my renown levels are pretty sparse – minus Tuskarr, and that one I did by turning in fish. I also have around 130 JC knowledge points from just casually completing my weekly goals. Yes, I realize this is just one example of a profession, and sadly not all professions are made equal, I will admit to that. My JC is paired with Leatherworking, and I do not make nearly the same amount of gold. I also don’t spend nearly the same amount of time on it, I don’t own LW patterns from expansions gone by, and I don’t check out the LW table very often (most people want that artisan’s sign (toy), go get that and you should be getting lots of orders).

It is NOT too late to start. Be diligent about collecting your knowledge points, and wait for your way in if you’re absolutely certain you can’t make a profit. Check the work order table often! Talk to people in trade chat, let them know what you can craft. Use the crafting sim addon, and use a little research into where you want to spend those points. Stick with it.

Saying there’s absolutely no gold to be made with professions in Dragonflight is just wrong. It does take work. It does take knowing your server, and it does take using a different method that simply “level 1-100, bam, put items on the AH!” but it’s also completely worth it and rewarding. If you’re used to the pre-regional-auction house times, you may also need to simply adjust what your idea of “good gold per hour” is. I’m seeing brand new gold makers upset that they didn’t make a million a day – that is simply an unrealistic expectation. Set yourself with some realistic goals, and you’ll be a lot happier.

As always, happy gaming – no matter where you find yourself!

[Unpopular Opinion] FOMO is what motivates goldmaking

With the release of Dragonflight everyone is looking for ‘the next big thing’ to sell on the auction house to players – before it gets nerfed. Maybe you were doing seed farms – nerfed. Maybe you were working up that crafting faction – nerfed (and apparently some ban waves along with that one). What I’m seeing a lot of in the WoW Economy discord is one person mentioning an awesome thing they’ve found – and then some people jumping right on that where they can, and then it slowly grows until a large portion are doing it and then it becomes less valuable.

The FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is VERY strong at the beginning of an expansion. How many people wanted to dive right into Darkmoon Decks, investing millions of gold right from the get-go. Apparently that one isn’t paying off quite the way people expected, but I imagine December 12th may tell a different tale.

I love watching the conversations that happen at the start of a new expansion. Everyone is excited, and everyone is branching off in a million different directions. Some pay off, some don’t. Some are temporary gains, some are long term. Whatever your decision, the FOMO seems to hang overhead, just slightly out of reach. When you see other people doing something to make gold, YOU want to do that thing too. It’s almost instinctive.

The community I belong to has been pretty open and honest about their gold making methods, and that’s just another reason I love it. There’s no animosity, and while there IS competition, it’s a more good natured flavour than anything else. I’m reminding myself to keep the FOMO at bay, I don’t play on a high pop server where these sales are happening, and I don’t have the time to dedicate to owning the market. Still, when you see the millions rolling in, it’s hard NOT to want to be a part of that.

[Guide] Multiboxing in 2022

We’re going to talk about multiboxing in 2022 and how to do it in a way that does not violate the TOS for World of Warcraft – if you’re against multiboxing, this isn’t going to be the post for you, so I highly suggest you skip right over it. I’m not here to debate your moral issues with it.

In BFA, I started multiboxing for the very first time, and I was almost instantly hooked. I used to have 8 active accounts (downsized to 5) and I absolutely loved the community of people I met through it. They were passionate about pushing the boundaries of what they could do as their own team, and it was fascinating to watch. Then blizzard banned broadcasting software, and a lot of the public became incredibly vocal about their opinion on multiboxers. Rightfully so in some cases, I understand when gameplay is disrupted, it’s not much fun. However, I don’t think that all multiboxers are out to get you.

I stopped multiboxing right then and there. Downsized from 8 accounts to 2, and never attempted it since. I knew there were other ways people were getting around the TOS, but my thoughts on it (and the community) had soured slightly. The thing is, multiboxing appeals to a certain type of person, and it’s REALLY hard to go back to playing just one account after some time. I would look for other ways to entertain myself in game, and none of it came close to the rush that I got when taking on a dungeon with my team that we shouldn’t have been attempting.

That was over two years ago. Now it’s 2022, and yes, multiboxing is still a thing. The community is a lot quieter, more cautious, less likely to discuss anything with anyone for fear of being banned – but it’s there. It’s NOT banned, broadcasting is. So how can you multibox in 2022 and NOT violate the TOS?

First, you need to grab a desktop application called WoWOpenBox (it’s on GitHub). This lets you resize your windows and it also lets you set something called ‘focus follows mouse’ so as you move your mouse around to your windows, those windows will be the focus. It’s seamless and low key. It does NOT broadcast anything. It arranges your windows so they’re all pretty.

You might also want two addons which you can get from CurseForge, one is called DynamicBoxer and the other is called MAMA. These are NOT required in any way/shape/form – in fact, you don’t even need WoWOpenBox, you can do it all manually. I just prefer my windows to be neat and tidy/easy to reach.

Negative0 has posted a video over on YouTube explaining how to set it all up. It’s nice and simple, low maintenance. I have a follow macro so everyone will follow, and I have attack macros but they’re just base game things. I have to move my mouse across each screen and hit a button for them to do anything. I’m still getting used to that part, it takes some practice. It works really well with tanks/healers, because I have assist macros set up and my healer can heal and stabilize the tank fairly easily with HoT (heal over time) then I can mouse back to the tank and continue to let them do their thing.

Is it perfect? No. Is it as nice as broadcasting? Absolutely not. It’s slower, bulkier, and there’s no way I’d want to do resource farming like that personally, all that mounting and dismounting and clicking – but it is fun to run dungeons, to farm transmog for myself, and even to make guilds and unlock achievements. I haven’t decided how long I want to multibox for so I’m just going month to month with gold on most of the accounts, but remember you can also recruit a friend yourself, and earn some free game time in there as well. I’ve missed multiboxing, and I encourage people who don’t know much about it to learn why it’s so appealing. It might not always be the reasons your thinking of.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

[Unpopular Opinion] As a Gold Making Goblin – I miss the bots

Without getting into the moral aspect of why botting is bad and against the rules (yes, I realize it gives unfair advantage and all the rest) my unpopular opinion this week is that as a gold making goblin – I really miss bots. The ones in specific I’m talking about are the spirits of harmony bots that used to hang out in droves on the isle of thunder, doing their rotations day in and day out.

In BFA I bought thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of Spirits of Harmony for pennies. Bots provided such a surplus on my low population server that it was amazing for anyone who wanted to buy them – but pretty crummy for anyone who was trying to compete which of course is just one reason as to why they’re not actually good to have around. Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here.

I hear people complaining about bots all of the time, on reddit, discord, the official forums. Honestly the only issue I have run into is when the bots are interrupting active gameplay (ie: they’re where players are questing) – aside from that, I have always been really glad for the lower prices. That’s probably also because until Shadowlands I did very little (if any) actual farming. I realize for players who enjoy harvesting, bots are dirty beings ruining the economy for all. I also realize that supply and demand is completely out of sorts on a lot of servers (especially lower population servers) and there is not nearly enough supply to meet demand in a lot of cases (especially when it comes to older materials). So while yes, I understand the evils they represent and I am not saying they should be allowed to roam Azeroth freely – I’m simply saying that there are certainly instances where I have missed them from time to time, and the deliciously low prices they brought with them.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

[Unpopular Opinion] TSM Isn’t the Reason Everything Sucks

I (no surprise) spend very little time on the official WoW forums, but more and more I see people posting about how much they dislike TSM for ABCXYZ reason and the information they’re upset about is just plain wrong. The person in the post I quoted above doesn’t like cancel scanning. Well, that’s not a TSM specific thing – if anything, be angry that Blizzard has developed an economic system where that is almost required (especially on busy realms) in order to compete. Note; there are LOTS of other ways to compete, cancel scanning is just one. As an example, I personally do not cancel scan. It just doesn’t make sense for me to on my low population servers. I DO post at very specific times of the day. I will even add competition to my friends list and see when they’ve logged in, then post after them. None of this requires TSM, nor is it caused by TSM. It also doesn’t ruin economies.

Blizzard could knock back the efforts of cancel scanning by implementing a timer before you could retrieve your mail from something that you cancelled early – or by having players pay a larger fee, if they cancel their posting. There are work arounds for this either way. Players could just post in smaller stacks so when you’re undercut you just list the next little bundle of items, thus never really running out and never having to cancel.

This comment made me chuckle.

Anything that TSM does, players have done at one point in time, manually. There are spreadsheets, calculators, and a plethora of other methods that players use BESIDES TSM to obtain the same results that TSM gives. With TSM, it’s just in a nice handy package that we can all share. The economy in World of Warcraft is not destroyed, if anything it flourishes under the right conditions (like, players in game enjoying themselves, spare gold floating around, etc). Blaming TSM for your inability to make gold is also an incorrect comment.

TSM requires manual input. If you’re automating it, you’re not using it as it was intended. That would be against the TOS, and isn’t encouraged or supported in any way. What ruins the auction house for others in their head is “I didn’t get any sales, and someone else did, therefor they cheated” – what ACTUALLY happened, is someone worked smarter than you. HOW they worked smarter is up in the air, maybe they listed at the right time, maybe they had more items, maybe they did cancel scan. Those people who are across multiple servers will *always* make more gold than me, they are working at it smarter than I am. It’s simply not something I can do at the moment. I don’t blame them for my lack of time / dedication.

This comment rings true. You don’t HAVE to use TSM at all to make gold. It is not a requirement in the least. It IS a popular go-to because it is very simple to pick it up and start using it, as it were. Makes it easy to blame, too when things don’t go the way you imagine.

Finally.

I play the market in World of Warcraft more than the ‘actual’ game – and I love it. I love collecting, I love challenging myself. On days when my multiple sclerosis is really bad and I can’t actively participate in combat because it’s too painful – I can still browse the AH. I can still make sales. I can hit the ‘craft all’ button. I can plan and decide what I want to focus on (economy wise) next. Some days, that’s all I can do. I WANT to play, but some days I just physically can’t, and playing the economy has opened up an entire amazing community to me and lets me feel connected in a way that I am unable to experience in base game with my limitations.

I wish the World of Warcraft community at large would realize there are many ways to play this amazing game. Stop being so angry.

[Unpopular Opinion] You don’t HAVE To Make Millions

One thing I’ve noticed when it comes to making gold (honestly this translates to anything anyone ever feels passionate about) is that there is a handful of people who consider their opinions elite – and they are not afraid to let you know it. They talk with confidence about things they may or may not actually know about, and if you’re making gold in some other ‘lesser’ way you feel shamed over it. Consider this the min/max conversation of the gold making realm. It’s no different than raiders discussing the best mechanics and gear to wear. There are plenty of great gold makers out there who are successful at what they do and don’t make you feel like a lesser being. Those are the ones I love listening to.

My unpopular opinion: You don’t have to make millions of gold to be a successful gold maker. You don’t have to min/max and optimize every second of every play session. Making gold is a frame of mind, and if it’s something you enjoy doing then guess what, that makes you a goblin (or whatever other phrase you want to use). Are there optimized methods of making gold out there? Yes, there are. If you don’t enjoy doing it the chances of you sticking with it are not going to be that great. Be open to learning new methods, trying new things, and taking in advice – but you shouldn’t feel pressured into it. This is, after all, a game. It is OK (and even expected) to make mistakes. Learn from them.

If you happen to be an amazing gold maker, try not talking down to the newer goblins who are still learning the ropes. Embrace their sales (yes, even those small ones), encourage their methods, and make suggestions that could help them out when requested. We don’t have to be condescending. This is an amazing community, with some fantastic people that I’ve gotten to know over the years – but it can still be an unwelcoming place if you’re not constantly playing by those unspoken ‘rules’.

Unpopular Opinion – Why Gold Making Guides Work

Time to share an unpopular opinion – and it’s one we’ve all heard discussed time and time again in the WoW Economy discord. Lots of people have some pretty strong ideas about clickbait videos, guides, and other methods that streamers use to boost their views and get people looking at their content. You know the ones, “make 1,000,000 gold by doing this ONE thing!” Or “I sold two pieces of transmog and hit gold cap!” One gold maker in specific, Studen Albatroz, comes up almost every conversation – and my unpopular take is that his methods work – but not for the reason you might think.

I am a firm believer in raising your fellow gold makers up and being encouraged by them and using them as motivation and inspiration rather than seeing them as competition. When Studen came out with his gold making book, I bought it. I also support goblins on Patreon, I donate to TSM, and I support addon developers. I understand that not everyone can do this – but I can, and I believe in it, so I do. Anyway. I purchased his gold making book curious about whether or not it worked – and it absolutely does. You might not find it especially useful if you’re already an established gold maker, and yes, the information is definitely already out there for free if you’re going to go looking for it, but Studen offers something that is almost essential to any gold maker, and that I find beginner goblins tend to struggle with.

His book tells you specific goals to aim towards, and how long to work towards them. It gives people with zero direction a specific and detailed list of items/places to go, along with videos. We (as humans) spend so much time just wondering what we should do and how to spend our time. This book is a neat and tidy ‘to do’ list. Will everything sell? Heck no, but if you pick 30 farms out of the ones listed, SOMETHING is going to stick. It would be almost impossible to make ZERO gold by doing the suggested farms. Doing SOMETHING is almost always going to net you more gold than doing nothing. Some times, I spend a lot of time doing nothing.

That’s all there is to it. It’s not some magical theory that gold makers haven’t heard of. It’s simple good habits and organization. That’s why things like doing your mission tables, halfhill farms, and garrisons are popular methods of passive gold. They are habits and rituals built over time that reward you. Maybe not millions all at once, but slowly.

Obviously take videos and farms posted with a grain of salt – the chances of you making millions from a publicly posted RNG type farm are not guaranteed and with Blizzard cracking down on raw gold farms and vendor tricks at the end of BFA, you’re going to have to put in the effort to make gold this way. That doesn’t mean you should instantly discount everything, though. Eventually, something sticks.