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Lazy Gold Science
It’s practically falling out of the digital sky!
You’d figure I’d be better at this blogging thing. I’ve been doing this long enough, it shouldn’t be an issue. I was going to write this on Tuesday, right after the results… nevermind. Let’s carry on as if I’d planned this – on to the cash, baby!
Last week, right after the server reset, I decided to see which lazy (re: minimal effort) method would make me the most gold in a week. Method one was using the Order Hall treasure missions. Method two was logging in every few days, making Hexweave bags, then selling them on the Auction House.
Both seemed fairly balanced in their own way. They were on separate servers and different factions, and naturally there would be the usual random variables at play. There was no way to know exactly when a treasure mission was going to come up, or how many per character would be available over a week. The Auction House is the Auction House, and while Hexweave bags still sell quite well there’s always ways to manipulate the market.
After their surprisingly profitable run the previous week, I decided that the Horde server would continue running their Order Hall missions. Six characters would essentially just sit by the Order Hall board, renew and refresh missions, and replenish Order Hall resources as necessary. I’d play my main once in awhile as I had time.
The Alliance server would be my Hexweave crew. There were five tailors there, and my Alliance main made six. Since his Order Hall was almost as optimized as the Horde Halls were, he would generate his gold through Order Hall gold missions. That would roughly balance out with the tailors, plus compensate for any extra gold my Horde main might earn by being played. The tailors would load up their tailoring huts with sumptuous fur, and every three days I’d log in, gather the cloth, convert to bags, send to AH mule, then replenish the tailoring hut orders and log off.
Both methods involved minimal time investment once each character was “set up” properly. With the Horde, I could monitor their progression without even logging into the game. I could do it all through the Legion app, and log in only to replenish Order Hall resources. With the Alliance, I had to log in to generate the bags but I only had to do that every three days or so. I didn’t have to touch them otherwise.
Yeah, this wasn’t rocket science. Gold science, is that a thing? Sure, let’s call it that.
So what were my findings after a week?
Well the Alliance was a bit borked. First, it turns out that not all the bags I had been selling in the prior weeks actually sold. So I had more in my AH toon’s inventory than I expected. But the bags all sold this week, and at a good rate. Some other things in the inventory also sold as well, but the bag were selling at 2000g a pop. By the end of the week, the AH netted me over 48000g. The Alliance Order Hall test turned a tidy profit as well, bringing in over 8000g. So the Alliance Lazy Gold results were a grand total of approximately 56000g in a week! Even if I just counted the Hexweave bags generated for the week, that would still be 20000g just for logging in once every three days!
Horde-side, the results were all over the place. The gold missions were definitely random. Everybody got a few during the week, but some more than others. My lowest gold count was 4500g on one character. The highest was almost 29000g! But between everyone, the grand total was almost 83000g! Combined with the 75 grand they pulled in last week, I could almost buy a WoW Token in only two weeks!
I’m definitely going to keep the Horde experiment going. I’m planning on taking a couple more characters to Argus to unlock the Order Hall missions there. Those drop some Champion gear that increases mission successes, as well as tokens that increase Champion iLevels. And THAT opens up more profitable gold missions.
Okay Doc Rokk, what are your conclusions?
Only one, and stand back because Imma shout this one out for you.
*ahem*
THERE IS NO REASON ANYONE CANNOT MAKE GOLD IN WORLD OF WARCRAFT!
Even if you have only one character, and you only use that one character for, let’s say, raiding and running the occasional Mythic+ dungeon. You can easily make at least four thousand gold a week on that character WITHOUT EVEN LOGGING INTO THE GAME! Check my previous post to see how you would go about getting your character set up for success. But once you do, you should be able to make enough scratch to cover your raiding needs at the very least. Maybe, if RNGesus smiles on you, you’ll pull in enough to get yourself a nice transmog piece too.
Have you tried using the Order Hall to make gold? What kind of results have you seen? Give me the deets in the comments below. I’d like to see how this has been working for other people.
Rokk out!
Order Hall Goldmaking
My Grandpappy used to say – “Fucking Goblins keep stealing my lucky underwear!” He also used to say, “When life hands you lemons, kick him in the bollocks.”
Grandpappy was a unique duck.
Still, if you sifted through the madness you could salvage a kernel of wisdom. Like the lemon thing. Make the most of a situation, or something like that.
My work schedule last week was atrocious. I was covering for a co-worker, so I ended up working six nights in a row. That meant that not only was I a barely functioning zombie with blood consisting of 20% coffee, but I wouldn’t have very much time to play World of Warcraft. My non-work waking hours, few as they were, would be spent with actual people doing actual things. Life can be busy like that.
Last Monday before I started work, I was at the gym trying to sweat some life back into me while running on the treadmill. Soaked in my sweaty shame, I came across this Youtube video from Bellular – How to use the Order Hall to make some easy gold. Like, a lot of gold.
I was intrigued. Most of my Order Halls were functional enough to run like the video suggested. I did use the catchup mechanic and bought the armor tokens for a few of my Order Hall Champions. Once everyone was sitting at 880 iLevel, I spread some resources around to everyone and set things in motion. I decided I’d try this for a week, from server reset to server reset. I’d do this with the five characters I had on my Horde server, using the mobile app to check on their missions while I was at work. I would only run gold missions, or armor missions to boost any Champion who was not yet at 900 iLevel. When resources ran low, I would log into the game for a few minutes to redistribute bloods to resources. I’d pop in, snap a few screenshots, and log out. I didn’t farm, didn’t sell on the auction house at all. I also didn’t pay attention to how much gold was on each character until the week of testing was done.
Today was the magic day. I would see just how much gold my five characters made with almost next to no playtime. I logged in and transferred all the gold to one character so I could see the results.
The grand total: 75,092 gold.
I was a little shocked, and a little more impressed. Granted, the gold missions were more plentiful on the two characters with more epic followers. But even the characters who has mostly blue level followers still managed to make anywhere from 5-8k each. Prior to this, I was making my gold by selling Hexweave Bags on the AH. But the Order Hall seemed much more lucrative without sinking a whole bunch of time into it.
Naturally it’s not as easy as it sounds. Like Warlords of Draenor’s Garrison gold factories, it took a great deal of setup before they became profitable. Order Halls are much the same. You need the Champions, the gear, and the missions for it to pay off. Maybe this past week was just a run of good luck. Maybe I couldn’t repeat those results.
So I decided to try it again.
I wanted to compare the Order Hall results with my previous passive gold-making technique with Hexweave Bags. I have four tailors on my Alliance server, and one character with a fleshed out Order Hall. On the Horde side, I will run the Order Halls again. In another week, I will compare the results and see what the results are. Will the old lazy style bring in more gold? Will the Order Hall method pay off again? I will find out in a week!
In any case, I think I’ll have a WoW Token waiting for me at the end of this.
Looking Back and Moving Forward
Serious face is serious.
Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me.
I will occasionally allow myself to reflect on the past when it comes to my birthday. Another year older, and maybe another year wiser? Maybe? This year I’m looking back on things and I have to question that. Specifically as it pertains to this blog.
My very first blog post was on October 22, 2008. You can see it here, but I’ll save you the click. That post consists of two short sentences. “This is a test. I’ll delete it later.”
I’ve followed that post with almost six hundred and fifty other one, with topics ranging from my thoughts on classes and class changes, my personal journal entries, some gameplay tips, and even suggestions for making gold. The focus of the blog has changed a few times. So has the name.
Sometimes I’ve taken my blog seriously. Other times, I just didn’t care as much as I should have. There’s dead links, and links to sites that might not even exist anymore. I put them there for myself as much as for anyone who might come to the blog. Truth be told, I probably haven’t clicked on any of the links on my own site in years. If I’m not doing it, why would I expect anyone else to?
The same goes for the blog in general. If I don’t take it seriously, why should anyone else?
I’ve always said that it’s important to know your “why”. Why do you play World of Warcraft, or any game for that matter? What’s the hook? What draws you in, or compels you to play?
The same goes for blogging, or writing. My goal for this piece of digital real estate has been twofold. One, I’ve got a shitty memory and I like to write down my experiences in the game. Two, I have this desire to know stuff. That stuff might be making gold, or playing the game better. I’ll spend the time trying to find out how to be better and due to Reason the One, I’ll write down what I find. Not just for me, but for others who might be looking for the same information that I’d found. That’s why I smartened up and put tabs in the menu bar at the top of the page for things like Gold. To make it easier to help others as well as myself.
If I could go through the cross section of WoW players and pick out who my blog would be geared toward, I’d say Casuals. I hate that label, because it doesn’t accurately reflect the people I’m going after. WoW is a big open game. People can play however they want. The people I put my focus on are the ones who might not have tens of hours a day to play but still want to contribute in some way. They still want to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth out of their subscription, without being a drain on the player base. If I’m offering help, it’s guidance in making the most of their time and getting better in some way.
I’ll give you an example. If you go over to the search box and type in “Gnomesequencer”, you’ll find a few posts describing an addon that configures macros in such a way that you can play just about any class by spamming a couple of buttons. Many people found that addon controversial because it seemed to take the skill level out of playing any given class. I showed how powerful it was by taking a class that I had never played before and leveled it from 1-100 (which was level cap at the time). I then took it into LFR, which was my first raiding experience in WoW, and held my own on the DPS charts.
That was the idea of the addon. That was what I loved about it. It wasn’t going to help you put up bleeding edge numbers. But it could take a shitty player and make them passable. Decent. People said that using the addon was cheating. But here’s what I say. First, it doesn’t violate the EULA so it’s not cheating. Second, if I was running dungeons or raids with someone who was always performing poorly, I’d rather them use Gnomesequencer and not know their rotation rock solid. Of course it would great if they knew their stuff, but if they’re struggling I’d rather them use the crutch. Let them build their confidence by knowing they’re not going to get kicked for sucking.
Gold-making tips was another of my favorite things to post. It blew my mind how people would constantly complain that they couldn’t make gold. Everyone can make gold. There’s just some ways that are more profitable than others. Most people won’t make fifty thousand gold a week with a limited time schedule, but they can absolutely make enough gold a month to pay for a WoW Token. On US realms at least.
Here’s the thing. Tomorrow I will be getting on a plane and unplugging from the World for a week. No news, no internet. Just time to relax, think, and plan.
I’m ending this post with a screenshot of Rukgut. I was playing him back in 2008, and I’m leveling him now. No matter what other class I prefer or use, Rukgut is the OG.
Ah, memories.
How Long Will Garrisons Last
Gotta make hay while the sun shines.
“But despite the fact many of us have developed a fondness for our Garrisons, Hazzikostas suggested we may not want to get too involved as there’s no guarantee it’ll be kept running when the next expansion rolls around.”
Uncle Ion gave this interview back in January of this year. Back then, we were still being teased with the possibility of flying at some point to be determined, and the three million subscribers who have left WoW weren’t newsworthy yet. Also, much to the delight of the developers I’m sure, people still enjoyed garrisons.
Now people feel that garrisons are chores, work, and a pain in the ass.
Not me though. For me, garrisons are a super easy way to make gold. I just wish I had put the pieces together sooner. I’d probably be gold-capped by now.
But therein lies the issue. I am by no means what you’d call a “smart man.” I’m not the only one who uses garrisons strictly to generate gold. Granted, the amount of gold a person makes depends on things like how many alts are being used as gold generators. But it’s not unhead of to have a single character’s garrison generate two to three thousand gold a week. That’s eight to ten thousand gold a month! Ten thousand gold for maybe five minutes of work a day!
There are other ways to make gold, and some of them can net you more gold than a garrison. The difference being the time invested and the net reward. Farming raids takes time, and even if you sell every drop you still have to put in the work. Garrisons give you a sweet payout without having to invest a whole bunch of time to it.
That’s why I can’t see Blizzard allowing garrisons to exist beyond this expansion. It’s too easy to earn gold with them. Having players thick with gold works to their benefit (see WoW Tokens) but it would keep people out of the new content if it were allowed to continue.
Patch 6.2 is going to introduce a shipyard into the mix, obtainable only via a Level Three garrison. But once 6.2 drops I’ve got a feeling that it also signals the beginning of the end for garrison gold. Until I receive my eviction notice, my game will continue to consist of maximizing the gold making aspect of garrisons (Treasure Hunters, Harrison Jones) for as long as I can. I may not reach gold cap, but I’d like to be in the realm of throw away cash before Blizzard pulls the plug.
Baller, yo.
Making Gold In WoD – Patch 6.1
This is Warlords of Draenor. The expansion that asks the important question: “Who needs flying? Are you too lazy to walk across your own garrison? Y’know, since nobody leaves their garrison anymore.”
True story too. The recent patch 6.1 now gives you even more reasons to stay inside your garrison – from a Juke Box (to change the mood music while you mine/herb) to World Bosses who come right to your door (dude don’t step on my stable). Fight the good fight without ever leaving the comfort of your cushy home away from home. Aren’t we supposed to be waging a war against the Iron Horde?
Now about gold. What of gold? Turns out, Patch 6.1 just made it easier to earn gold without having to leave your garrison. The life of a shut-in just got a whole lot more profitable, and Bellular will tell you how to cash in.
Rokk Talk 