Cooking: Raid Buff Foods

Food in TBC

Whether you are on a PVE or PVP server, there will always be end game raiders. This means there is always a demand for raid food. Although cooking at its’ current state isn’t the biggest money maker, it is a small market with very little competition. Also take into account the low number of people to actually spend the time to level to max cooking, it is down there with leveling fishing as peoples’ least favorite professions. I personally love both. I have been using cooking to my advantage ever since they implemented the cooking daily’s. Your average stack of raid food will sell for 20g, not anything too amazing, but for the time involved for the gold gained is very worth it. It takes 40 seconds to cook a stack of 20 food, add about 20 sec for buying the food and your up to approxamatly one minute spent per stack. If each stack sells for 20g with an investment of 10g, that’s 10g X 60 stacks an hour, which equals 600g per hour. Obviously prices will fluctuate between your servers and which type of food you are making. Below is my process for providing my server with raid food.

• Buy Meat & Fish - Go to the auction house and filter your search for “Trade Goods” then “Meat”. Search down the lists for your typical raid food mats, this may include Zangarian Sporefish, Talbuk Venison, Warp Flesh, etc. I like to buy my meat at 50 silver or less so I can make a decent profit from the cooked product. A few patches ago Blizzard had implemented a PPU (Price per unit) tooltip, which can be access by mousing over the icon of the item. Addons like Auctioneer can sort by PPU to make things a bit easier. Beware that some uncooked meats will cost more than its cooked counterparts, these may include Spicy Crawdad and Golden Darters.  Spicy Crawdad can only be fished up from a handful of pools in Terokkar and requires a flying mount to get to. It is also is used to get the last few points in leveling to 375 cooking and becomes a popular tanking buff when cooked, which may explain the higher prices. Keep in mind items like [Huge Spotted Feltail] is not considered a fish, but an off-hand, so search for those by name.
• Cook it- Very simple, but can be boring while waiting. I used an Addon called “Advanced Trade Skill Window” to make things easier. It will enable to queue up foods you are going to cook and automatically buy the needed reagents when you click on a vendor. Very nice since it will buy all the reagents at once from the vendor, saving valuable clicking time. When you process your queue, once a certain type of food is done cooking, you have to press the button again.
• Sell it – Do a quick search of the item to see the current price. Popular raid food will sell for 20g+ sometimes all the way up to 40g in the recent economy. Tuesday is a good day to list and re-list your items because raid instances reset that day and most guilds have raiding planned that night. One week, I had decided to save up all my food and sell them all on Tuesday afternoon. I listed about 60+ stacks of various cooked food, and by night time, I had made about 1000g.

Cooking can be a profitable profession, especially if your in the world killing things that drop meat. Some may not like the whole micro management aspect of it, but I don’t mind and it’s a nice consistant market that has items that are always in demand. If anything, the profit I make from cooking offsets all those auction house cuts and fees. If you are a max level cook, you may want to give it a try or add it to your current list of markets you participate in.

Wotlk Beta: Cooking was buffed tremendously in the beta. This is great for cooks who profit off this profession. They have introduced a new semi-rare reagent called [Northern Spices], which a only a few are rewarded from the Wotlk cooking daily quest. In addition, you can also use your daily cooking token, [Dalaran Cooking Award] to purchase 10 of these spices. The tokens are also used to buy some of the higher level recipes so it becomes a balancing act on buying spices vs. recipes. All the high level food require one of these spices to cook one piece of food. So if you wanted to cook a stack of the new raid food, it would take you two days just to get 20 spices to make it. This implies that level 80 raid food prices will be closer to potions and elixirs. These spices are only used for recipes 400-450, however there are some decent buff foods before that. The mats are just standard one meat to one food, so you will still be able to afford that stack of your favorite raid food. For example; [Shoveltusk Steak] has +35 Spell and +30 Stamina, vs the version that uses spices, [Firecracker Salmon] which has +46 Spell and +40 Stamina. Also note that the duration has been increased from 30 minutes to 1 hour. I hope to write more about this when Wotlk ships, I really like where cooking is going now, as well as fishing. Here is a sample of what Wotlk cooking looks like, note the new “tracking” foods. [Wotlk Cooking Screenshot]

Herbalism: 1 Week update from Inscription launch

One week ago I wrote about stockpiling some herbs right before the Inscription launch in patch 3.0.2. I had saved up 1800 herbs or 90 stacks to sell as a Inscription power leveling kit. I had spent an estimated 1000g on buying out all the herbs, which I had some left over. The night right before the patch (Oct. 14th) I had bought the final remaining herbs I needed at some marked up prices on the auction house. I really should have did this weeks before since I was paying up to 3.5g a piece for herbs. Good thing I didn’t need much.

On patch day servers took forever to get back up, that’s probably why I saw a huge increase in traffic on the site. It was 9PM server by the time I logged on so I started spamming my power leveling kit. There were only a few offers and it was for 3000g (~33g/stack), which wasn’t anything to brag about, but I took it. I had realized just after selling those herbs how much money 350+ scribes were making, thousands within the first few days. The Inscription leveling guide I had linked to my buyer had you make 275+ glyphs by 350. So my buyer would have made all 3000g back if they sold each glyph for approximately 15g each, which is what the scribes on my server was charging for any glyph. Plus extra for the rare minor glyphs you can only learn by doing [Minor Inscription Research] once every 20 hours. Also with 6 minor glyphs per class and 9 classes, that’s about 50 days to learn all of them, pre Wotlk. I had even heard of other servers selling stacks of herbs for 100g+!

With the severe server lag, my buyer wanted me to C.O.D. him all 1800 herbs with 7.5 messages. I really should have waited a bit, but I got impatient and it was getting late. So a few days later I had recieved only 2200g and 2 returned messages which had a C.O.D. of 400g each. Those mailings were returned Outland herbs. My buyer had just picked what herbs they needed and returned the rest which defeats the point of my herb package! I really should have just randomized the herbs I put in each mailing, which holds 12 stacks. So my profit was around 1200g, but the buyer was still paying an average of 33g+ per stack, which included all the lowbie herbs I bought for only a few gold a stack.

This wasn’t a total loss, I still made some money and have herbs to sell at inflated prices on the AH. I didn’t stop my other sources of income, so in the end I still made a profit for the little work of buying out herbs on the auction house. In the past week I made about 5000g, not too bad since I went back to actually play the game rather than standing in front of the AH for hours. As a side note, the icon above is [Glyph of Pick Pocket], which I found to be appropriate for this post of me getting had by my buyer.

[Related Posts]

Herbalism: Inscription Launches Tomorrow 

Herbalism: Inscription Launches Tomorrow

I am writing this on Monday afternoon, the day before patch 3.0.2 comes out. Already the prices of herbs on my server have increased. Many herbs of the herbs are in short supply and even non existent on the auction house. I have been saving a bunch of random stacks of herbs to resell for a profit when Inscription drops on Tuesday. I decided to sell them as a entire lot along with a link to a guide. While trying to buyout the remaining herbs needed for my power leveling kit, I had trouble finding the mid level herbs. Low level and Outland herbs still have a fair price. I may try later tonight to see if I can finish up buying the stacks I need. Not sure how much my lot will go for, but I will base it on how much herbs go for tomorrow. If anyone has any suggestions on prices they might be charging, please let me know. According to the guide I am using, to hit max level Inscription that this patch will let you go up to, you will need 1800 herbs or 90 stacks to power level it.

The Smoke Shop of Wotlk

As far as trying to cash in on this herb rush, scan your auction house for cheap herbs and prepare to sell them tomorrow after the patch is implemented. Remember many people plan to power level this profession and are also saving their herbs to sell, prepare for some competition. Check specifically for all the mid level herbs. I have posted 2 Inscription power leveling guides below to help you with the herbs you will need for it, even better for you if you are actually planning to level this profession.

• Speedy Scribe – Written by: WoW Economist
• Inscription: Leveling Guide v1.2 – Written by: Banana Shoulders

Tailoring: Spellthread

Prices on the auction house has been going down slowly in the past few weeks. This means our leg armor kits are not selling for as much, however the prices of the mats has dropped respectively. A recent price check on my medium population server showed that [Primal Life] are selling for as low as 9g and [Primal Nether] for less than 15g. While the kits themselves are selling for about 200g, which means there is still a profit to be made! I posted a similar article on making money with Leatherworking armor kits a while back, here is an excerpt on how to make money with the kits. The idea remains the same.

Crafting these leg armor kits were one of my most profitable items sold on the auction house. After the patch that removed BOP primal nethers, I was able to just buy the mats, craft the kit, and sell on the AH for about a 100-150g profit. Estimated time to buy, craft, and list was 1 minute per kit. So essentially, 6000g+ per hour! Of course money from the auction house does not grow at a similar rate compared to farming primals where it is more dependant on the time you put in. Auctions take time to sell, this is where you will be spending most of your time. Keeping just a few of your auctions up, re-listing, undercutting, and playing the auction house will take more time that it did for you to craft the item. I had even made 5000g in one day, all I did was check my mail for successful auctions. This method is pretty much a cruise control for steady income.

Here are the steps needed for this method:

• Buy Mats- Check the AH for the mats needed. Make sure the total price of the mats are less than what the kit sells for. Eventually you will know the prices by heart and know when there is a good deal when you see one. Try the trade channel as well, some of the best deals can be found there. Also note that individual motes may cost less than the whole primal itself. Buying a large volume of mats consistently may also keep the prices on them steady. Say primal life costs 35g a piece, but you decide you will only buy them below this price. So every time you see airs going for less than 35g you buy them out immediately, this causes the price to stay around 35g. High prices in mats sometimes is relative to the prices of the kits. Keep the cost of mats high on your server than your kits will retain a higher sell price. This usually can only be done by logging on multiply times a day to control the market like this.
• Craft it- This part is pretty straight forward. If you do not have this profession than either have a friend craft them for you or find someone that is a Tailor. If it is only a few kits, no one would catch on to what your doing, however when you put in the volume that I did, others will catch on.
• List it- Do a quick search of the item to see the current price. Usually there is no more than one page of them. Undercut the lowest one with a price you are comfortable with or even just 5g. It will sell before the current lowest priced either way. Set time to 48 hours. Sometimes there only be 1 other on listed and for a very low amount. Depending on how low it is, you may want to just buy it and re-list it at a higher price. If you do not want to take the risk, than list your own at a normal price. Usually the other item will be bought quickly based on its’ low price and yours will be the only one on there. Please avoid flooding the market with all the kits you have crafted, this will just drive prices down. I usually only keep 1 kit on there at a time. Be aware that the auction house takes a 5% cut of the final price, so if it is bought out for 500g, you will only receive 475g in the mail.
• Re-List it- Sometimes your auctions will get undercut or simply will not sell. Just repeat the last step. Always have a supply of these kits, you will use them to undercut people that just undercut your auction. This makes sure that your kit is always at the top. This really depends on how often you check your auctions. I found that through out the day people will eventually undercut you. This is a waiting game so try not to check every 5 minutes because eventually the market will get flooded and prices will go way down. I always kept about 5 of each kit in my inventory at all times. Sometimes I made more but realized that it was safer to carry a lower amount. This is because price of kits and the mats can go down at the same time. The last thing you want is a bunch of kits that are just going to break even when you sell them.

[Golden Spellthread] Buyout Price: 175-220g

• 10 [Primal Life] 100g
• 1 [Primal Nether] 15g
• 1 [Rune Thread] .5g

[Runic Spellthread] Buyout Price: 175-220g

• 10 [Primal Mana] 150g
• 1 [Primal Nether] 15g
• 1 [Rune Thread] .5g

[Silver Spellthread] 130-150g

• 5 [Primal Life] 50g
• 1 [Rune Thread] .5g

[Mystic Spellthread] Buyout Price: 130-150g

• 5 [Primal Mana] 75g
• 1 [Rune Thread] .5g

~Prices are estimates, the will differ for many people.

You may have noticed I included the blue quality kits as well. Although they net you a lower profit, it is a good idea to diversify. Prices fluctuate constantly so when certain kits are not doing so well, sell other types. This also brings in gold faster, but if you really want to make the most profit, just sell the epic quality kits. The only drawback really is the amount of time to sell all of them, the AH will only sell them so fast. Volume is the key here. I have found out these kits sell at a consistent rate; there is a constant demand for them. Just remember to be patient and consistently list your auctions.

Leatherworking: Leg Armor Kits

Crafting these leg armor kits were one of my most profitable items sold on the auction house. After the patch that removed BOP primal nethers, I was able to just buy the mats, craft the kit, and sell on the AH for about a 100-150g profit. Estimated time to buy, craft, and list was 1 minute per kit. So essentially, 6000g+ per hour! Of course money from the auction house does not grow at a similar rate compared to farming primals where it is more dependant on the time you put in. Auctions take time to sell, this is where you will be spending most of your time. Keeping just a few of your auctions up, re-listing, undercutting, and playing the auction house will take more time that it did for you to craft the item. I had even made 5000g in one day, all I did was check my mail for successful auctions. This method is pretty much a cruise control for steady income.

Here are the steps needed for this method:

• Buy Mats- Check the AH for the mats needed. Make sure the total price of the mats are less than what the kit sells for. Eventually you will know the prices by heart and know when there is a good deal when you see one. Try the trade channel as well, some of the best deals can be found there. Also note that individual motes may cost less than the whole primal itself. This applies to the leather scraps as well. Buying a large volume of mats consistently may also keep the prices on them steady. Say primal airs are 35g a piece, but you decide you will only buy them below this price. So every time you see airs going for less than 35g you buy them out immediately, this causes the price to stay around 35g. High prices in mats sometimes is relative to the prices of the kits. Keep the cost of mats high on your server than your kits will retain a higher sell price. This usually can only be done by logging on multiply times a day to control the market like this.
• Craft it- This part is pretty straight forward. If you do not have this profession than either have a friend craft them for you or find someone that is a Leather worker. If it is only a few kits, no one would catch on to what your doing, however when you put in the volume that I did, others will catch on.
• List it- Do a quick search of the item to see the current price. Usually there is no more than one page of them. Undercut the lowest one with a price you are comfortable with or even just 5g. It will sell before the current lowest priced either way. Set time to 48 hours. Sometimes there only be 1 other on listed and for a very low amount. Depending on how low it is, you may want to just buy it and re-list it at a higher price. If you do not want to take the risk, than list your own at a normal price. Usually the other item will be bought quickly based on its’ low price and yours will be the only one on there. Please avoid flooding the market with all the kits you have crafted, this will just drive prices down. I usually only keep 1 kit on there at a time. Be aware that the auction house takes a 5% cut of the final price, so if it is bought out for 500g, you will only receive 475g in the mail.
• Re-List it- Sometimes your auctions will get undercut or simply will not sell. Just repeat the last step. Always have a supply of these kits, you will use them to undercut people that just undercut your auction. This makes sure that your kit is always at the top. This really depends on how often you check your auctions. I found that through out the day people will eventually undercut you. This is a waiting game so try not to check every 5 minutes because eventually the market will get flooded and prices will go way down. I always kept about 5 of each kit in my inventory at all times. Sometimes I made more but realized that it was safer to carry a lower amount. This is because price of kits and the mats can go down at the same time. The last thing you want is a bunch of kits that are just going to break even when you sell them.

[Nethercobra Leg Armor] Buyout Price: 500-550g

• 4 [Knothide Leather] 10g
• 4 [Cobra Scales] 120g
• 8 [Primal Air] 200g
• 1 [Primal Nether] 30g

[Nethercleft Leg Armor] Buyout Price: 300-350g

• 4 [Knothide Leather] 10g
• 16 [Thick Clefthoof Leather]  60g
• 8 [Primal Earth] 30g
• 1 [Primal Nether] 30g

[Cobrahide Leg Armor] Buyout Price: 250g

• 4 [Knothide Leather] 10g
• 2 [Cobra Scales] 60g
• 4 [Primal Air] 100g

[Clefthide Leg Armor] Buyout Price: 100g

• 4 [Knothide Leather] 10g
• 8 [Thick Clefthoof Leather]  30g
• 4 [Primal Earth] 15g

~Prices are estimates, the will differ for many people.

You may have noticed I included the blue quality kits as well. Although they net you a lower profit, it is a good idea to diversify. Prices fluctuate constantly so when certain kits are not doing so well, sell other types. This also brings in gold faster, but if you really want to make the most profit, just sell the epic quality kits. The only drawback really is the amount of time to sell all of them, the AH will only sell them so fast. Volume is the key here. I have found out these kits sell at a consistent rate; there is a constant demand for them. Lets take 5000g for example, the price for epic flying training. You will need to sell about 50 epic kits to produce a 5000g profit. That many kits will only sell so fast along with your competition on the AH. Just remember to be patient and consistently list your auctions.

~Thank you for reading my very first post.