How I shuffle: Part 1

This was originally written as a single entry but, as per usual, wound up being far bigger than intended. So I'm splitting it up into two parts, the first is about what can still be salvaged from shuffling ore around and the second will be about what and why I shuffle around.


Last week I wrote about how the shuffle is still viable and today I'm going to talk a little about how I'm doing it. Seeing as how the botters or uber farmers have returned once again to ysera I'll just assume that they're either returning to your server or are just about to. Since I was one of the last people to enjoy the vendor shuffle I think this is a fairly safe assumption. The idea here is to point out the many uses that the shuffle still has and to put it all into practical terms of what to do with it all instead of "go make gold fool!"

First I'm going to reiterate that if you want to shuffle you must, absolutely must use everything you get. Just as the Native Americans used every part of the buffalo to survive, so shall you use every part of ore and it's byproducts to get rich. Ok now that you have been forewarned, on with the show.

After I buy out a few billion stacks of ore and prospect it I take stock of what I have, what I need, and what materials I may run out of sooner than others. Here is my order of priority of all shuffle related products:

1. Celestial essence
2. Inferno ruby
3. Ember topaz
4. Meta gems
5. Other rare gems
6. Hypnotic dust

Let me give a bit of explanation on that order real quick. GCE's are very hard to come by on a decent price and there's still a few out there with a stokpile of them that were gotten very cheaply. After that is rare red gems because they're the most profitable gem cut and sell in stacks each day. After those are orange rares because they can hold a primary stat and a useful secondary which makes them almost as popular as red. Add onto that their exceptionally wide range of secondary stats makes the quantity scale tip over.

Next in line are meta gems because they have huge rates of sales. Even though they sell more often than orange gems, they rank lower because they take less to craft in that the other colors of gems are not used for much of anything at all. That and they're xmuted and make at least 2 per craft means that I'll generally get more of them than other rares making their supply much greater than a specific color.

Next are the other assorted colors of rare gems. These only rank above dust because they're not typically cheap enough to buy and cut on the AH. And bringing up the rear is the dust you get from DE'ing the not so worthwhile common gems. I put this as the bottom rung simply because I can just buy the dust from the AH at my standard price a few days of the week. They're a part of the shuffle because, well, they're a natural part of it. That and it's one less thing to search for and they give me options to not DE them, but sell them as is on the associated daily.

The purpose of shuffling now is to continue to be cost effective and not to get free money. Right now my maximum buying price of ore is 40g per stack where as pre 4.1 it was the usual 55ish range. Instead of prospecting anytime I wanted to make some easy money I only do it when I need mats. Unfortunately with the massive demand currently that means a ton of shuffling for me just to keep up with it all. As I wrote yesterday, you should look at the shuffle as an option, as an investment in materials, not as "insta-gold."


Continuing on with this tomorrow.