Posted by Amatera on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 - 18 Comments
Tags: argent tournament, daggers, gold, icecrown citadel, money, naxxramas, poor, toc, trial of the crusader, twin valkyrs, Ulduar
I’ll tell you right off the bat that I’m not much of an economist. I don’t play the Auction House, I don’t farm for things to sell, and I only do dailies on occasion (usually if I’m determined to raise my reputation with a certain faction). With the guild vault taking care of most of my raiding bills, I don’t usually have a whole lot else to spend money on aside from sending gold to an alt every once in awhile, and that’s almost always repaid by the time they hit Level 80, themselves.
I’ve sat, more or less comfortably, around 4000 gold since Wrath of the Lich King launched. That is, until now. Trial of the Crusader, in all of its incarnations, has made me dirt poor!
Just two nights ago, I finally got the main-hand dagger I’d been looking for, Gouge of the Frigid Heart, off of Twin Val’kyr in 25-man. My guild’s core group also likes to run 10-man Heroic on their own time, and wouldn’t you know it? Nemesis Blade drops off the very same boss. Now, Nemesis Blade is ever-so-slightly better than Gouge of the Frigid Heart, but I’d already gone and spent 7-800 gold on enchanting it with Berserkering and I honestly didn’t have the money left to do it again. So, for now, the superior dagger sits in my bank, completely unused.
I have a feeling that I’m not the only one experiencing this, and it strikes me as something of an unintended side effect. With Heroic versions of standard-level loot and three different kinds of Tier gear, it’s not impossible to find an immediate upgrade each and every time you run Trial of the Crusader. Don’t get me wrong; I can certainly appreciate raid content that I can clear in less than an hour with the right group, but it’s really a double-edged sword. Cutting to the heart of the matter, the wealth of equipment combined with the “speediness” of the content has led me to spend far more gold than I’m actually making.
In the past, with dungeons like Naxxramas and Ulduar, gear came at a slow and steady pace, so all of the money I slowly absorbed through the raids themselves and selling drops was able to account for all the upgrades I needed to purchase (and, as only one of two Rogues in my guild, I got new pieces more often than most). They were longer instances, with more trash and bosses to deal with. And then came ToC. The ability to run four separate versions of the instance, with loads of potential upgrades from each and badges raining down upon me from the heavens, I have had to enchant and gem more gear in a short amount of time than I ever have in the past.
In some ways, I’m happy that Icecrown Citadel is returning to a more traditionally-styled raid. It’ll provide me with the a little bit of extra time to mend my pockets and rebuild my (admittedly meager) fortune from scratch, but I’m still going to have to overcome the lump of initial upgrades first, assuming that even the first bosses drop loot superior to what I’m wearing now.
Until then, it looks like I’m going to have to stack up on Argent Tournament dailies and hope for the best!
What about you, readers? Do you find yourselves with empty pockets after a few trips into the Coliseum?
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By grandobsidian on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I kind of feel that way. I spent 600g in like 2 hours from gems trying to work out my dps set what with balancing my hit rating. Of course, i still have 3.9k but it saddens me to be on a downward decline. Also, blasted flasks are sucking me dry since i started a weekly ulduar 10 and 25 which adds to my repair which i have to take care of. Dailies dont get me much money so I just farm saronite and Titansteel. My real goal is to get that bloody chopper, however i know it wont happen anytime soon.
By TreizeEU on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 1:31 am
When it comes to gem-cost, all i do is buy them from my honor which i make in Wintergrasp
By Pegraath on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 2:39 am
600G on gems??? How?
Run Wintergrasp a couple of times. Do the weeklies there, spend the honor points…
OR spend Emblems…
OR buy/mine the Alchemical mats and get them Transmuted by a guildie or alt…
Or whine about spending 600G.
By barduck on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 6:57 am
No money problems here, I try to farm herbs in WG and Sholazar an hour a day and with it I make flasks to put on AH. Still have 6k atm and 10 stacks of flasks ready to sell so that’s basicly an other 6k sitting in the bank
By pauldy on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 7:44 am
Your doing it wrong. Don’t buy gems off AH, use those conquest badges you get while messing around doing the heroic dailys to buy gems and have a guildy cut them. Next your enchanting mats should come pretty easy from the guild if you guys are DEing like we are our GB has about 8 stacks of abys and rows of infinite dust. We sell to guildies at 1/2 of AH prices to keep money in the GB for repairs. I have done my staff/dagger switch so many times it’s not funny but I spent maybe a couple hundred gold each time so no big deal.
By Togarox on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 9:25 am
No excuses for lazyness my friend. With sooo many ways to make money these days, it shouldn’t be too difficult to take half an hour out of each day to make a couple hundred gold.
BTW you are actually having to spend money on enchants? Being that your guild allows you to use the guild vaults money for repairs, I am suprised that they don’t provide the mats.
By Dr. Jones on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Gotta love that 10.000 honor = 1 gem.
20 emblems = 1 gem.
<3
By Ombrenoire on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 10:01 am
I have had my fair share of ToC on my Hunter, but unlike Amatera I do play the AH, I do run dailies during off periods, and I do perform the mindless grind of farming every so often.
It takes a little more time, but considering I raid 3-4 times a week, the rest of the time is spent increasing my finances.
As a result I have amassed a comfortable hoard of gold to ensure that repairs, enchants and gems are possible at any given time.
This is something that is wholly necessary in this game to ensure you’re not that poor sap in a main city calling out for a loan or free stuff.
By Pegraath on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Not all the gems are 10K honor; not all the gems are 20 Emblems either.
And 20 badges is only 5 or so heroics. AN 20 mins max, UK 20 mins, VH 20 mins. VoA 20 mins early in the raiding week at peak time.
By cocopuff on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 11:54 am
being i am clothy i dont worry about repair bills i went i am JCer so i dont worry about gems i dont have any epic gems true but i think they are jsut a rip of i am not paying 200g for 4 more spellpower or 5 more hit rating
By cocopuff on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 11:59 am
BTW doing WG even if you compeltyly suck at it and do the weekly you can usualy get 3 gems then post trade LF JC to cut so and so and whispers will flood in tips owcurse apreciated
By Aliok (Horde-Malfurion) on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
ToC makes this mage poor. I’m not an officer so I do not get to repair from the guild vault; and flasks being a required raid item - with the AH economy as out-of-whack as it is on Malfurion - I spend around 60G just the two flasks to get me through the raid time. (It would be near 100G if I wasn’t able to bum at least one flask from an alchemist guildie most of the time.)
I try to scrimp where I can. ^.^u
The problem with Grand Crusader gear over Crusader gear is that they are only a smidgen of an improvement. Considering that my guild utilizes DKP to distribute loot (and I can’t raid as often as others=DKP poor), well, it’s just not worth it. I save a little there in gem(s)/enchant(s).
I also save by *never* purchasing gems on the Auction House. With the honor points payout a player can earn from Wintergrasp, from PvP to its dailies to purchasing commendations from the vendor - I almost always have the means to buy the epic gem and have a fellow guild member cut it for free.
As for enchants, I am willing nearly all the time to help contribute materials for it for a guildie. With people still farming ToC 5 (H and Reg), I disenchant a lot of purples. I also try to run dungeons only within the guild because any materials that result will stay within the guild. I feel that it is an investment in the progression of the guild, and it generally is reciprocated.
If a player has a crusader rank, they can also spend the emblems from all the dailies available to purchase a pet and sell it on the AH. There is still a decent market for them (at least on Malfurion); and/or a player is simply storing up Emblems of Conquest because they don’t need the iLvl 226 gear - spend them and sell Runed Orbs for a few hundred gold.
Just my two coppers.
By inkogni on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
im doing just fine, have a mage JC+ench and DK mining+BS maxed. maybe it was me, who sold u those gems for 600 golds
kinda strange that there are ppl out there, that dont know anything about buying gems with honor or badges…
but its ok with me, im still making gold on selling gems
(scarshield legion, HORDE side
(inkognito
By Vic on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
“I don’t play the Auction House, I don’t farm for things to sell, and I only do dailies on occasion[...]”
The above represent two of your biggest problems. Even a modest trader, dealing in resale of green items or cloth, can manage to get a couple of pages worth of ‘Auction Successful’ messages in the mail. There has to be something of value, other than what you’re equipping from these runs, that you could toss up for bidding. Also, failure to do dailies is exactly like failing to go to your real life job - you waste away your reserves and end up broke, unable to recover without either a handout or finally deciding it’s time to put in some effort.
That’s not an effort at rudeness, it’s a wake-up call. The money isn’t going to magically get deposited into your character’s bank account by a mysterious benefactor. Also, at the risk of telling you things you already know or have experienced, the stuff below is worth mentioning and could help newer players not to end up in the same boat.
The Argent Tournament dailies provide a wonderful, and relatively centralized point for raking in a couple hundred gold per day for a few minutes to, at most, a couple hours worth of work (and that’s being leisurely about it). Raising rep with the five home cities of your faction, if you haven’t gotten them exhalted already, makes a great excuse to run the dailies. If you’re down to needing exhalted status with Argent Dawn and Argent Crusade, the solution is a day of boss-runs in Stratholme (Dawn) and putting on the tabard (Crusade), and just killing crap in the instances you’re already going into. Then, when you’ve gotten your shiny new Crusader title - more dailies from the Argent Crusade open up, allowing different quests and opportunities to get more cash / seals for pets (resell them if you don’t want them) or items to make life a little easier (like the Pony Bridle for the gruntling).
The cost of enchanting mats bought straight off the AH can be brutal, and it is theoretically possible that not a single one of your enchanting-professioned guildmates has all the mats you’d need for a particular enchant. However, I’d have to ask, ‘Where’s their contribution towards helping you - their fellow guildy?’ Even if they ’sold’ mats to you at half of AhHpricing (as per another poster’s example above), you shouldn’t have had to nuke 700 to 800 gold on mats for ONE enchant. I know I’m not in your guild, and it sounds judgmental, but I’m honestly getting the sense that your guildmates are letting you down in that capacity. If they’re not helping everyone in the guild, or you’re being excluded from aid while some others are constantly receiving help, maybe it’s time to shop for another guild.
Am I sitting on a toon that is money-capped? No. Yet I do run dailies (when not trying to run heroics and build my two sets of gear from recently dual-spec’ing), I play the Auction House (both buying/reselling as well as making my own stuff from my toon’s professions and selling those items on the AH). I do take the proverbial punch in the wallet once in a while, but my finances aren’t on the canvas listening to the ref yell out the ending sequence of a 10-count either.
All of the above, stated for your benefit and the benefit of others who actually READ the entire post…
By LadyWolf on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
If you are level 80 with any character, there is no need to be complaining about money and saying this one thing is making you broke. My first 60, 70, and 80 was my DK on my main server. She got 80 in March and bought epic flying in July. Okay, all well and good. Yet I also have 8 other toons that I am levelling as well on that same server ranging in level from 24 to 66 currently. No, they are not all money-capped yet have money when they need it.
The solution I have found is exactly some of the things you are neglecting to do. I always have SOMETHING on the Auction House for sale, whether it expires or gives me money is up to the economy on the server. I do my Argent Tournament dailies, cooking and fishing dailies (BOTH Dalaran AND Shattrath) and sell greens/blues/greys I get from kills or quest rewards. I also have not done every quest in the game and being level cap, I get money instead of experience for every quest I do now.
Also, at least you have set foot into Naxx, Ulduar, and Heroic TOC. I have only been in REGULAR TOC 6 times with said DK and that only in the last 2 months. I have been in Naxx for ONE boss fight and that is all. Have yet to set foot into Ulduar. Only just took out Illidan (sp?) over BlizzCon weekend and only him and the council so have not done all of Black Temple. Try wearing your tabards for rep grinding when you go into instances, keeping high priced grey items for vendor bait, and disenchanting (or getting someone to from your guild) the greens/blues that you don’t need.
As for your guild, maybe they need to rethink their position on being helpful to guildmates when it comes to professions. My guild is small still but we do things for free when it comes to each other so we can all have the money for repairs, skills, alts, put in the guild bank, or whatnot. Granted, we offer tips or such but they are usually turned down as we all know that we want our guild bank tabs, money in the guild bank for repairs, and money on our toons to get things we need/want. Am I wrong in the belief that a guild is supposed to be like a family in that you HELP each other to be better and therefore more useful to the guild?
Just my thoughts and you really need to get to work as there is no excuse to be level cap with even 1 toon and be broke. You have dailies from level 70 and up so take advantage of those and just killing sprees for fun and to relieve that stress from a bad day at work or whatever.
By Amatera on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
@Vic
I realize your concern, but it’s entirely a matter of personal habit. Don’t worry, I’m not looking for handouts, and I’ll make the money when I’m forced to. I know how to do it, I just choose not to spend a majority of my time in the game doing those sorts of things.
While rebuilding my fortune is certainly an issue here, my main concern is with a side effect of a raid dungeon set up as Trial of the Crusader is. Even if you have a ton of money, I still think it’s causing people to spend a lot more, a lot faster than normal.
By Vic on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 2:48 am
@Amatera
I wasn’t trying to imply that you didn’t know HOW to do these things, more towards emphasizing the need TO DO them. It seems the end result was the exact opposite of that - I apologize for not stating my intended point more clearly. [However, I did intend to emphasize the need to grind for cash to others who may be reading, as earning the cash is more satisfying / LEGAL compared to buying gold from some farming service.]
In the end, the pacing of money spent to enhance newer equipment (gems, enchants, etc), - to ME anyway - is just brought to light more easily by the Trial of the Crusader. The regular version of the ToC (5-man) is farmed heavily for upgrades by people having just hit 80 / needing to round out slot-fills from greens/blues into epics. I’m sure this was (is?) a process that others dealt with before ToC when their guilds (or friends in other guilds) helped carry them into Naxx or other Heroics to get epic upgrades to their blue/green items. The advent of ToC’s injection into the storyline (and subsequent rush to check out all the new content/people upgrading equipment) just shines a spotlight on the instances and brings it to more attention than previously [IMO]. I liken it to the fact that the Weather Channel reports more hurricanes or tornadoes every year, which seems like a lot; but, these weather events could have been just as plentiful 100 years ago when there was no Weather Channel.
By Antonidas player on Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 2:07 am
yea i did get a drop from VoA 25 the new Windrunners legs for my hunter and i got the gem cut and everything and the JCer asked for a 100g tip… its stupid when they ask for a ridiculous amount like tht i gave him 10g and he went over trade chat and told ppl not to cut things for me… a immature thing to do but yea… but yea its hard to get heroism now a days bc u have to spend your conquest which get u good gear for a gem tht gives u 20 AP or 23 SP… they need to either make things a little bit easier to get… not to much easier bc tht would make the game to easy but come on seriously