Sunday, March 27, 2011

New heroics = Profit


I briefly mentioned in my random thoughts entry the other day about the new heroics being able to be ran multiple times per day. This one fact is going to have a massive and immediate effect on many different markets and especially the high end markets. For some of you this could spell the end of your niche markets, but for others it could mean the gates are opening on several brand new markets. I gotta admit that I'm always so fascinated by the butterfly effect on the AH.


Expensive enchants.
This is the big one so I'll get it out of the way first. Since maelstorm crystals are too expensive for most people there isn't a large demand for these on a scroll. The second reason this market isn't around is because over half of the server is in blues and if it weren't for the new heroics, they would stay that way the entire expansion. Since not even I wouldn't spend 20k on an enchant for a blue weapon, I doubt your average player will either. All of these new purples are worth putting a big enchant on and once everyone has themselves and their alts purple-o-fied they'll all get de'd.

Increased supply with increased demand means a healthy (ish) market. In preparation for this I bought the world drop bracer recipes (which may see a moderate price and/or demand increase) along with the rest of the ones from TH. If you work scrolls, get yourself the bracer enchants as they'll be worth selling very soon.

Last note on this is to expect a slight increase in the price of heavenly shards. All of the high end recipes need several of them and there currently isn't much of a demand for them and most people will be spending their time in the new heroics instead of the "lower tier" ones. So I'm going to stokpile a few extra just to be safe. Who knows the price might go way up or they could just prove a decent flip for some quick gold.


Gems.

If most gems aren't worth anything on your server expect there to be a huge demand increase as people will be flooding the new heroics and getting their free purples that all need gems. Gems are already a good market, but I understand that they might not be great on some servers so it is a worth while mention. With a recent ban wave of bots and another one coming soon gem prices should inflate on even the worst servers to a level that is worth working in on a regular basis.

And for those of you that have a healthy gem market already you better start to stokpile a week ago! Even if the new heroics are actually hard and the purples aren't raining from the sky you will still see a large increase in demand.


Epic leg armors and spellthreads.
Again some servers might not have a viable market for these. Personally my server barely has one that's worth working with. So for those of you that are worse off start looking into your LW and be prepared. I'll be sure to have at least two full stacks of hides ready to go once the patch hits. As for spell threads, I hope you've been doing your CD each week and at least holding onto the cloth!


Wrath level enchants and armor enhancements.
These are markets which I cannot say with a good degree of certainty which way they'll go so I can't tell you with confidence which way you should lean towards. But I can say this though, if you have a huge stokpile of mats don't worry because the market will still exist for a good amount of time. My main question is just how long will it last as a great money maker like it is today?

I'll still be stokpiling materials, but not nearly as much as I usually do just in case it really tanks on my server. Since the top enchants are more affordable and more gear is worth having them there won't be nearly as much of a demand for these which is what kept the prices up. Meanwhile the low supply will keep the material prices pretty much the same so this market will experience a large change. We'll just have to see if it remains viable.


General purpose gear enhancements.
Though this is also obvious, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention it. With any large influx of easily acquired gear demand will sky rocket for anything related to it. This means gems, enchants, armors and threads will all see a large increase in rate of sales. In fact the rate of sales may be so high that you'll want to list several times in a day and lower your undercut amount. Though the gear may not flood in this much, but regardless everyone and their brother will be going to the new heroics and getting a few drops.


WILL YOU BE PREPARED?

3 comments:

  1. Nice tip on the heavenly shards Stok, had not occured to me.

    The wrath enchants... I am not sure, I play with a lot of older nich markets. I imagine I am marketing to the twinkers, or those that want to level in style. I know I sell a good number of items mainly Agility for the BG hunter/rogue/kitty crowd, and the stam patch to legs. for tanks and any PVP player above. Many others sell well and I believe its to the BG crowd. I level twinked and in style, and play through a fair number of BGs... I can lay down some pain, live longer than most, and if healing soothe the hurt of the oposing team with great success (if you consider the board at the end worth looking at). I know from doing this that there are a lot of competitive levelers in BGs. Instances also a lot of cometitive players that know time is money and are trying to level fast... that using enhancements is a small investment to the time saved while leveling. I have not done any scans on level 85 players to see if they are equiping those enchants, but I think mosly not. That is based on my experience in dungeons and BGs as I think I have always been leveling some toon or another (or 3), and the types of stuff that sell. All stamina or when stam is not available for the gear slot, its throughput oriented. Example: Stam to boots and bracers and agility to gloves for anything lower level (pre-60). Gloves have no stam enchant, chests are heirlooms, but boots, bracers, gloves need to be refeshed w/ every UG.

    My guess you will see a decline for a couple weeks on the lower stuff as people spend more time in the new heroics, then it will return as they get bored and go back to the leveing toon.

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  2. YOU ARE NOT PREPARED! Well, nobody will be prepared, since nobody can tell for sure what's going to happen.

    Perhaps those heroics are going to be so hard that nothing's changing at all? Who knows...

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  3. I too am licking my chops waiting for enchants to be able to move for a profit finally.

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