Economics of the Auction House, major world events (Legion)

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One would think that there is an easy pile of gold to be made during the time of a major world event like the opening of the Dark Portal, Cataclysm etc if you would have a hunch of the timings.
During a normal economic cycle in the auction houses in Azeroth there are some key states of demand.

1. Exploration

Whenever a new place is discovered or a major world event has turned things up-side down there is a rush to explore that area and to use whatever new resources that are found into making new things.
So all gatherers move to the new area and start to mine ore and gather herbs.
They then go to the auction house and sell it there. During this phase, there is a huge demand for the new material so it will fetch quite a price in gold. This is a small window of opportunity that has clear peak and then a fast fall to the next state.
At this point there are also a lot of people teaching themselves new skills and that requires quite a lot of materials from older areas. Someone with a stockpile of materials could make a fortune.

2. Stabilization

Where the materials from the new area or zone plane out in price. There will always be ups and downs but this part of the economic cycle is quite stable and long.

3. End of cycle

Whenever the rumors start that there is a new major earth shaking event in the horizon the economy has already reached a mature state and there are no real opportunities. Material prices are at a cycle low. Someone with a lot of gold lying around could speculate in materials by buying at this low price and then selling when the economy hits the Exploration phase again.

Reality check

So, how does this theory prove during this last world changing event this year? Let's see the track record of some resources during that timing. The graphs will show the End of last cycle, the new Exploration and start of stabilization. All information and graphs are from www.wowuction.com.

Saronite ore

Saronite ore, mostly mined up north showed a real drop in availability and an increase in price (from ~5 to ~7.5) the August 29th.

Titanium ore

Also farmed up north in Icecrown Valley together with Saronite ore. Here we also see an increase in price as and the drop in availability.

Ghost Iron Bar

Ghost Iron showed the biggest trend upward of the sampled materials. The drop on August 29th in availability is clear and at the same time a steady price growth that has grown over time. This would have given double the gold if you would have bought before the event and sold in portions afterwards.

Leystone Ore

Just to show the new Exploration area material for reference. The Leystone ore had a very significant and volatile start where the early birds were able to make a buck and a very steep downturn to a stable economy. I don't have the numbers from Outland or Pandaria, but it feels like this curve was faster to stabilize itself then during the earlier events. I think I have to dig through old data and see if I can find something relevant there. But for this report, nothing.

So. there is a chance to make a bucket of gold during a world event if you have the gold to speculate with.

Once again thanks for www.wowuction.com for collecting the auction house data and providing nice graphs..

Also if you are interested in investment in general. Go over to Dreamstate living for their nice articles on longterm investment.

Mining Vashj’ir

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I haven’t had so much time to write lately due to other duties. But now a found a free time slot.

Today I’ll tell you all my secret gold-making spot. It’s in Vashj’ir and can be seen on the map below. Just a few trips around the path will fill your bags with Stormvine, Obsidium Ore, Azshara's Veil, Volatile Earth and Volatile Life that fetch a nice price on the Auction House.

Just be sure not to tell everyone about this… Let it be our gold making secret : )

Stuck in Vashj'ir

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I took a ship from Stormwind Harbor over a week ago together with many other adventurers that had been called by the Earthen Ring to help them in Vashj'ir.
Our ship was attacked by a gigantic octopus and dragged under water. Luckily some of us were rescued by the Earthen Ring shamans. Blessed with Sea feet for under water movement we have been battling the Naga since then.
We have now arrived at the ruined underwater city of Vashj'ir. We have had a chance to learn some Naga history, when the Naga overtook the underwater city from the Sea Vrykul.

I do not know when I will be able to go home again, hopefully soon as I feel part fish these days. We have tamed seahorses to use as mounts. They are really useful and well worth the time to tame. I couldn't do the work needed without mine.

Someone who is happy with the fact that I am stuck here is my Banker. As I have scurried the seas I have mined the Obsidian veins that I have found as well as collected all the herbs that I have seen. Evidentially all of these are fetching a very nice price on the Auction Houses and my Banker (a Death Knight, remember) sent me a message that I shouldn't be in any rush from this place. Easy for her to say when she's hanging around in the Dwarven District of Stormwind. But honestly, I hope to get a nice cut of the profits when I return to the surface and I do take some extra mining trips between the missions against the Naga.

Stormwind City from the Air

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For all of us that has bought the license to fly in old Azeroth we made this little overview to let us identify various places in Stormwind from the air. Hope it will help : )

Alliance Quartermasters, after the Shattering

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Ironforge and Gnomeregan Quartermasters can be found in Ironforge at the Flight Master.

Gilneas and Darnassus Quartermasters can be found in Darnassus at the Hippogryph master close to the portal that leads to the Rut’theran Village.

Stormwind Quartermaster can be found below the stairs up to the Gryphon Master in Stormwind.

Exodar Quartermaster is found outside the city. When you follow the path out, turn right and you should see him...

Collection of Alliance Tabards.

New Darnassus, after the Shattering

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I returned to Teldrassil a few days ago, help with the Gilneas refugees that have arrived at the gates. The isolation of Gilneas seems to have been hard on the population. They seem to have become Worgen, at least from time to time. But compared to other Worgen I have studied, they seem to have mastered their transformation process. A nice thing.

Rut’theran Village has changed. There are now three piers located in the village with ships to Stormwind City, Darkshore and Exodar.

A new tree has grown in the city behind the Cenarion Enclave and Craftmen’s Terrace. The tree is quite nice and hosts druid trainers, mage trainers and warlock trainers as well as refugees from Gilneas.

A picture of Gilneas refugees standing in front of Druid trainers in the new tree in Darnassus.

A picture of the worgen from the front. They do not dress in the way that I’ve come to expect humans to dress. But then again, they have been isolated from the rest of humankind for a long time. Who knows, their style might become high fashion in cities like Stormwind.

Mage trainers standing outside the Temple of the Moon in Darnassus.

In addition, there is now a Hippogryph master inside the city in Darnassus, as well as both Darnassus and Gilneas Quartermasters.

New Stormwind, after the Shattering

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I’ve been on an exploration trip around the new Stormwind City. A lot has changed, new places come and old places gone. Here I will try to summarize the biggest changes. But the city is full of places to explore and there is no way to write about them all… So please bear with me : )

The first signs of the change can be seen already at the city gates. It is now confirmed that it was Deathwing who landed on the two towers during his flight of destruction. The marks will probably be seen for a long time. One of the statues has collapsed as well and there are building teams working all around the place.

At the main street of the Trade District we can see that the color of the pavement has changed and the whole place seems larger and more alive. Could the Shattering have widened the street?

The Auction House in the Trade District has a new entrance on the bank side now, good or bad? You are the judge. I will have to ask my banker for her verdict as I myself do not spend much time at the Auction House these days.

The Stormwind Bank has also undergone a little change, a new vault has been added as well as the clerks have been moved to the side.

 

The area between the Trade District and the Mage Quarters is the place to be for every fisherman and chef out there as this is where we will get our daily assignments from now on.

The Mage Quarters have not received any drastic changes but a number of minor ones. There are new passages between the streets and shops that were not there just a week ago.

The biggest change for any old area was for The Park. It’s not there anymore, instead there is a view down to the harbor. It seems that the whole area crashed into the sea. I hope that my old druid teachers got away safe.

A whole new area behind the Cathedral Square with a lake for the fishers and a new cemetery for the city. In memory of all the lost heroes, Rest in Peace. You will be remembered now.

The biggest change in the Dwarven District is the addition of a new Auction House and a new Bank as well as an entrance to the ‘backyard’ of the city.

The entrance to the Stormwind Castle has change dramatically. The castle is now surrounded by water, a new statue of King Varian Wrynn directly inside the outer gates.

From inside the castle we are now able to see the above mentioned ‘backyard’ of the city. The area is huge and contains among other things a human (!) Druid Trainer, a portal to some battleground that I was not deemed worthy to enter (at least not yet) and a whole farmstead.

I ran into Harrison Jones in the Castle Library. He presented himself as a Archaeology Trainer and I tried to talk him into teaching me his trade but he insisted that he was not ready with his papers yet. But I was promised a lesson in the near future. A new trade to learn perhaps?

The Old Town is mostly the same, the only huge change is that the area where SI:7 among others were located is now occupied with a park with training dummies and two houses.

Lastly, between the Old Town and the Trade District there is a fantastic shop, new at least to me. A florist in Stormwind! A must to visit if you haven’t already!

A new Dawn!

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As I wrote in my last post, I decided to take a trip down the alcohol lane in Ironforge as a last resort when the doom was over us. Evidently I got evacuated during the night as I woke up outside the city today. I decided that the cool breeze of a Gryphon ride to Stormwind would do me good. And alas, a lot has changed. The city is in ruins and I noted during my flight that the world is not like it used to be. People are talking about the Shattering that occurred last night and whispers about Deathwing seem to gain ground.

As the world is Shattered, I feel that my Unforgotten Places project is over… Too bad I did not have time to do every land there is but maybe I will continue with a Revisted Places or the like some time in the future… As for now.. I will fish in the new area of Stormwind… Until next time..