Shall I bring the Gold Queen back?
Hey, I miss you. I wondered if you might be missing me too.
I’ve been quietly playing WoW since Jan 2013, pugging alone then finding a guild, fiddling with the WoW auction houses and then unable to resist the urge to own them. I’ve been leveling up alts, building garrisons, ensuring all my professions work with each other. I did my usual new expansion trick of spending all my gold before the end of the expansion, starting from zero and racing myself to gold cap again.
It’s been a while since I was in a good raid guild, and I seem to have found myself one, a comfortable friendly place.
Update on my life
My son still has autism, he will be on the spectrum for the rest of his life. It’s been one heck of a journey as I discovered more about it and how to help make his life less difficult. But life is more settled now as he grows up and the routines are in place, and I have learned to preempt difficult situations.
Rape. Good news: my attackers were found guilty and sentenced on 20th June 2014. Finally had the paperwork come through from abroad. I found it hard to explain at the time that the reason I was in hospital was not because of physical wounds (although there were some ofc) but mostly because of mental distress. You can google for ‘rape trauma’ if you want to know about it. Today I continue to suffer from insomnia, and heightened startle reflex. For some reason I’ve become afraid of night time. Healing is a process not an event.
Update on Making Gold
I still love making gold in world of warcraft more than anything else. I sometimes feel like a spider in a web, tugging the strands of silk and making everything slide inexorably closer to me. Gold cap wasn’t enough, so I made a bit more, and a bit more. Making gold in Warlords of Draenor is different to making gold in previous expansions. The professions are changed. The shuffles are much more obscure. The addons give you more of an edge. And yet anyone can still make gold, and especially with these lovely new garrisons which should be built to synergise with the buildings in your alts’ garrisons until you have a beautiful machine of harmony chugging away, churning out thousands and thousands of gold.
Previously, I had made a brief foray into streaming and teaching gold making live, but discovered quickly that I was a crap entertainer and a much better gold maker. I have recently gained enough confidence to try again, and to simply allow you to look over my shoulder as I make WoW gold, and not feel that I have to be an all-singing all-dancing entertainer. You can find me occasionally at www.twitch.tv/thegoldqueen
I realise that I have a lot of admin work to do to sort out the Daily Cheat Sheet, and the newsletter and get rid of all that Mists of Pandaria branding, but I reckon I can do it, if you want to have me back?
Questions
Now I would like to know from you:
What wold you like to see from me?
- Addon guides
- Information on what can be sold
- Farming places
- Flipping
- Crafting
- Garrisons
- Something else
About the Author
The Gold Queen is written by Alyzande. With many level 100s, 9 years expertise in making gold, 11 garrisons, 17k+ achievements, 1593 days played, and over 32 million gold earned. The Gold Queen blog teaches you how to make gold playing World of Warcraft using ethical trading, auction house flipping, crafting, reselling snatch lists, and farming gold making
The gold queen was the pen name of a player on 3 EU servers 2005-2012 who subtly, elegantly owned the auction house. Starting from a position of zero, she accidentally then purposefully controlled the economy of one small RP server, and moved to the big boys, one of the largest servers in Europe. At the time of her disappearance, she owned 1/4 of all the goods that moved through the server.
Where is the gold queen?
She is in the stock market, in the real gold exchange markets, and on Facebook supporting other mothers of autistic children.
Wait what autistic?
Autism is one of those disabilities that people laugh about, calling “retarded”, stupid or rude. My son was diagnosed. He needs my 100% love and attention. He’s more important than a website. It’s a difficult disability to live with, the bullying is especially nasty.
Aren’t you the gold queen anymore?
You never stop being a gold queen, or gold king. Being a gold king, guru, whatever, is a state of mind. It’s not about how much gold you have in your pocket, its the comparison between how much gold you need/want, and how much gold you can generate. Can you do it?
What happened? I really liked your site 🙁
I lost my electricity, and then I lost my heating for two weeks in the snow. Then I lost my hard drive. then my new hard drive didn’t work, nor did the second. then the third arrived. then it was christmas and my family needed me, and then it was 3 months later and I didn’t know what the point was of returning, in the face of abusive remarks from competitors who were claiming to 1) own kunlai summit and 2) own the business model of cheap -v- quality and 3) accused me of stealing these two ideas, despite my bending over backwards to help this person with their website for 6 hours free work one evening. Running The Gold Queen at a loss (whatever gave you the idea that I took money from this venture? items for sale covered 1/10 of costs) in the face of bitter attacks seemed a waste of my time.
I’ve been begged back. I can’t go back. I only do something I can win. Right now, with my responsibilities to my son, I can’t be in a server first raid guild, and I can’t own more than 1/4 of the AH.
So you’re deposed, you’re not the gold queen anymore!
You missed the paragraph above. Being a gold queen/king is a state of mind. I can go on cheap and cheerful android games or the flipping Sims and be gold queen. You can go on WoW, without any support from me, and be gold king. If you set your mind to it.
image: Dmitriy Prozorov http://tamplierpainter.deviantart.com/
What is this airy fairy state of mind thing?
“I can teach you the most clever, unorthodox, and effective techniques in the world, but [you] can undo it all if you have the wrong attitude”
In other words, there’s zero point in drawing you mining routes if you can’t be arsed to get up and mine.
A little squirrel told me you sold your website for $20,000
Not true. Your little squirrel only has half the story. Your little squirrel probably doesn’t know about my gold guide. No, not the old mini-guide, the 150 hour movie guide that shows every. little. thing.
Guess what, I didn’t sell it. And it’s not open to the public either. It’s not for sale. It’s only for gold kings and gold queens. If that’s you, then you’ll find a way to contact me. *Matt N found it. Murray found it.
Is it a coincidence, or a symptom of the methods of the modern auction house player, that I have had two requests for gold coaching this week from players with the same worries? I’m afraid I talked myself out of a job, by giving them very simple, honest advice instead of trying to sell my tutoring services. I wanted to address the issue on the blog because it seems to be such a popular problem.
Here’s a typical email:
“Hi, I’ve tried loads of ways of making gold and none of them are working.
- I tried the obsidium shuffle
- I tried glyphs
- I tried selling kittens and snakes
- I tried leveling a jewelcrafter
- I tried some arbitrage over cross faction
- and then I did some dailies
but the only thing that I really got any good gold was farming and grinding mobs! Why can’t I make any gold, why isn’t it working?”
1) It is working. You’re making gold. Check your Achievement tab under Statistics/ Characters / Wealth.
1B) You’re just spending all the gold. Make yourself a “piggy bank character” and whenever your liquid gold gets over a certain number, send it across to the alt to hold onto.
2) You are not researching which of these techniques will work, and you’re not sticking with them when you do.
About the Author
The Gold Queen is written by Alyzande. With many level 100s, 9 years expertise in making gold, 10 garrisons, 16k achievements, 1505 days played, and over 18m gold earned. The Gold Queen blog teaches you how to make gold playing World of Warcraft using ethical trading, auction house flipping, crafting, reselling snatch lists, and farming gold making.
Big Ticket, or Long Tail
Spectral Tiger, Darkmoon Faire Decks, Trading Card Game Mounts.
Wildvine, Cured Rugged Hide, Raw Rockscale Cod, Scarlet Belt.
A selection of examples of two very different types of items to sell on the AH.
Big Ticket Items for AH
Big Ticket items cost a fortune to buy, or you need a lot of luck.
[quote]The harder I work, the luckier I get.
Samuel Goldwyn [/quote]
If gold were no object, then everyone would want the best, most expensive gear upgrades and vanity mounts and battle pets.
- Reins of the Swift Spectral Tiger
- Pattern: Rich Purple Silk Shirt
- Lvl 25 Rare Battle Pets
- Blazing Hippogryph
- Savage Raptor
- Wooly White Rhino
- Amani Dragonhawk
- Jeweled Onyx Panther
- Tabard of the Lightbringer
- Darkmoon Rabbit
- Relic of Yu’lon
- High Society Top Hat
- Royal Satchel
Harrods. Image from The Telegraph
Long Tail Items for AH
Long Tail items are plentiful. Their value is not immediately apparent. They are not universally sought after. You may have to post them several times in order to find the right buyer. Or you may have to post them at a low price.
Where the long tail works extremely well is in the Mogging Market. To be as brief and succinct as possible, you buy green items cheap, and resell them at a bigger price because their true value is greater than their generally perceived value, due to their visuals.
I wrote about Long Tail in 2011.
http://www.thegoldqueen.com/tips/levering-the-world-of-warcraft-long-tail-economy-with-addons/
“What’s really amazing about the Long Tail is the sheer size of it. Combine enough [rarer items] on the Long Tail and you’ve got a market bigger than the hits. ” Chris Anderson
- Glyphs
- Mageweave
- Essence of Undeath
- Journeyman’s Robe
- Hibernal Pants
- Highland Spirits
- Briarthorn
- Purple Lotus
- Cured Thick Hide
- Dark Silk Shirt
- Potion of Illusion
Walmart. Image from Business Insider.com
Expensive or Cheap?
It’s not as simple as Expensive or Cheap.
Some cheap items are cheap because the seller does not realise their true value.
Some expensive items will be superceded by new expensive items in the next patch and become comparatively worthless.
Many times, when you are selling an expensive item, you are really only selling Boasting Privs, or More DPS, or I got it First. When you are selling Long Tail items, you are selling Rental of Your Storage Space, Understanding How Important This Item Is, and If I Keep Re-Posting This I Will Go Insane
What if if it doesn’t sell?
Expensive Items
- You have to post it again.
- More of your gold is tied up in stock.
Cheap Items
- Chances are, some will sell.
- With experience, you can roughly estimate what percentage will sell, even though you don’t know which exact items will sell.
- You can reinvest this gold.
The Big Ticket Seller thinks “what can I get cheaply, sell fast, and make a huge profit?”
The Long Tail Seller thinks “what can I get really cheap, that people will need, and no one else will be selling?”
Should you be a Big Ticket Seller? Or a Long Tail Seller?
Both.
I believe you should cover Harrods market, and put as much time into the Walmart market as you can spare.
Automate your Long Tail, and give personal attention to your Big Tickets.
Business Supply Chain. Image WTG News
Should you sell off your cheap stock?
YES if:
- you don’t have time to do them all
- they’re starting to annoy you
- you’re experiencing Burn Out
NO if:
- you dont want to lose any gold
- you can’t bear to see your competitor buying it, then reselling for a profit
About the Author
The Gold Queen is written by Alyzande. With many level 100s, 9 years expertise in making gold, 10 garrisons, 16k achievements, 1505 days played, and over 18m gold earned. The Gold Queen blog teaches you how to make gold playing World of Warcraft using ethical trading, auction house flipping, crafting, reselling snatch lists, and farming gold making.
What is Burn Out?
[quote]Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place. See: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htm [/quote]
Raiding Burn Out
Pretty common, caused by pushing yourself too hard, not knowing your physical limits, and using the stress as a driving force too often.
If you must go to the after-raid heroic, or rated battleground, then leave before the happy-rush of the raid success turns sour. You have work, school, and a life to get to in the morning! Three hours sleep never made a good raider. So what if your warlock class leader stays up until 5am and does ALL the weeks heroics in one night?
It can be frustrating when you slip from top dps to second, or your guild is no longer server first. Don’t take it personally. Two hours less sleep will not make you raid better. Resolve to do a little more research before the next raid, to spend another 15 minutes on the dummies practicing, or to play a FPS game pre-raid to sharpen your reaction skills. Tearing your hair out is not allowed. Neither is going to bed with your raid leader’s insults rattling around in your brain. Give yourself wind-down time: reading a book, listening to music, or, ahem, whatever else you like to do in bed before you sleep.
More about Raiding Burn Out on WoWinsider
Gold Making Burn Out
“If it feels more like work than fun, you’re doing it wrong” say my twitter readers.
Whilst true, not very helpful.
Blizzard have introduced no limit on the number of daily quests you can complete. You could be online all day and always find more quests to complete, more mobs to kill, more areas to farm, more hours in the AH.
This list is for my personal benefit, but you might find it helpful too:
- Limit yourself to 2,000 auction items. This includes glyphs.
- Only do the daily quests that you enjoy. Then stop.
- Reward yourself with some PvP, a heroic, or some raiding. Change the scenery.
- Visit some of the beautiful places in Azeroth. Choose Nagrand, Mulgore, Teldrassil, Hinterlands, Grizzly Hills, Hyjal and Jade Forest. Not Silithus, Dread Wastes and Icecrown.
- Give your alts some love.
Your tips are also very welcome in the comments!
What to do
Recognise your limits. Work with them, rather than against them. Recognise that it’s good to have limits, not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of strength to have a truthful knowledge of your abilities.
This site has some good ideas for taking time out and sorting yourself out.
http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/about-us/mental-health-help-you
Picture belongs to The Stoppable Force blog
What not to do
It’s ok to take a break, but don’t let the break take you.
Since my last post on this blog, I let the “break take me”, and wallowed around in self pity for days, feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Er, don’t do this.
Drink
Alcohol is a depressant
Alcohol causes further depression. It seems the easy way out, to veg out in front of the TV with a beer or another bottle of wine. You don’t need to stop drinking forever, just until you feel yourself again. The sooner you put that bottle aside, the sooner you’ll be back to your own self. Just set it aside for a few days.
If you find yourself turning up to a raid drunk twice in a row, then complete the “Challenge Mode” I set: go sober next time.
May I recommend
Limit yourself to 15 minute bursts of activity.
[quote]Anyone can do anything for 15 minutes. Even Argent Tournament Dailies[/quote]
If you don’t want to look silly (like me) and have an actual kitchen timer on your desk, you can use this online timer. http://www.thegoldqueen.com/15m
Once your 15 minutes is up, move on to the next task. Do not continue to kill virmen “just in case” the next one drops that last juicycrunch carrot. It won’t. And if it does, you don’t care, because you can buy one in the AH from all the gold you’re about to make.
Make yourself a checklist. Use my one if you like. I have a free “cheatsheet” that you can get when you sign up to regular updates and newsletters from me.
Keep rewarding yourself. You’re making more gold every day.
About the Author
The Gold Queen is written by Alyzande. With many level 100s, 9 years expertise in making gold, 10 garrisons, 16k achievements, 1505 days played, and over 18m gold earned. The Gold Queen blog teaches you how to make gold playing World of Warcraft using ethical trading, auction house flipping, crafting, reselling snatch lists, and farming gold making.