~ These numbers were gathered on March 20, 2013. I've had way too many distractions in the last week to finish this post in time :(
The Belt Buckle Rush
The belt buckle rush is something I anticipated prior to patch release. Looking at the available gear from the Kirin Tor Offensive, I knew that once people started hitting honored, the under geared alts and returning players would be needing to add that extra socket to their belts. This rush completely ate through my tiny stock of 60 living steel belt buckles, I currently have about 40 more crafted, but sales have slowed back down and prices have begun to drop back to their norm.
Belt Buckle Total - 28776g69s27c
The Lightning Forge
Crafted Gear
Patch 5.2 has brought many new crafting patterns to my arsenal. Sales for this gear are very slow and competition is very high. Prices are bottoming out to minimal profit right now (mostly the tailoring items) but some items still hold a good profit margin and I am continuing to post those for 100% profit or more. I look for this market to make a good rebound once everyone stops learning their new recipes every day and dries up their supply from crafting one or two of each item.
It seems as if crafters on my server leveled up their crafting professions at the last minute, either right before or just after patch release. I am constantly finding ilvl 415 crafted blues at rock bottom prices. I've been snatching every one of them up and re listing them at the normal prices. However, they haven't really been selling well up until this last weekend. I'm not sure if it's because I was getting undercut with ridiculously low prices or if the gear just wasn't selling. Every time I would check for undercuts, I was the lowest seller. Oh well, we're back to making profit in that market now, thanks to all of the leveling crafters restocking my supply and for way less than crafting cost at that!
Crafted Gear Total - 26876g66s24c (Mostly flipped items)
Finding a Major Increase in AH Listing Mistakes
Since patch release I have noticed a lot more mistakes being made across many markets on the AH. I have been snatching up every single deal that I discover and flipping the items for some nice profit. The only items that I'm not flipping yet are the darkmoon cards. I haven't decided whether to take the time and extra investment to craft the decks or just flip the cards themselves. The best deal I've found on a card was the Five of Cranes which is shown below (I'm pretty sure they meant to list it for 726 gold).
When people get busy and try to rush through things, they tend to make more mistakes. I've always known this, but I've never applied this to the auction house. People seem to be listing their auctions in a hurry so that they can get more dailies and LFR runs in. I'm going to apply this principle to peak pre raid times on my server and focus more of my time into deal finding when people are listing as much as they can before they have to raid.
Flipping Total - 25975g (does not include flipped gear or gear enhancements)
The Gem Cutting Market
Sales are still strong in this market and the competition's stockpiles are drying up. Less auctions are being posted for each cut that I sell (basically all but any non pvp cut and the expertise, parry, and dodge cuts). When prices get too low for my taste, it's becoming increasingly cheaper to buy up all the auctions and re list them. This helps keep my stock a little more healthy but it does slightly eat into my profits, but profit is profit!
Not many guilds on my server have progressed very well and a lot are not doing the new raid content yet. Raiding consumables (specifically flasks) are still dwindling in price as well as their raw materials. As flasks get cheaper, so do the Golden Lotus it takes to make them (or maybe it's the other way around). They've dropped from 50-70 gold each to 30-50 gold each. I've been buying them all up and using them to transmute gems. This actually just compensates or over compensates the recent increase in price of the uncommon gems.
Gem Cutting Total - 108435g75s06c
Shoulder Inscriptions
Shoulder inscription prices were drastically affected by the patch release being during the same week as The Darkmoon Faire. Unfortunately, I didn't account for this coincidence. My stock was completely dry before the beginning of week 2. Starlight Inks were either extremely expensive or unavailable on the AH during the week of The Darkmoon Faire. The tanking shoulder inscription has since then dropped to well below pre patch prices. The rest of them still sell for twice what they sold for pre patch.
Shoulder Inscription Total - 25282g44s28c
Glyphs
I finally restocked my glyphs two days ago and have only posted once since the patch. I know, bad Selltacular! BAD! I didn't make very much off of that one posting session, but I did learn something! Most of my competition has left the market, at least for now. I think I am only left with one or two major competitors and the occasional person who lists the glyphs they used for leveling inscription. Some of the levelers are smart and list with the competition, and some of them are blind or careless (KOBOLDS!) and list their glyphs for just a few gold or even silver. I often check for glyphs that I sell often and occasionally am able to restock them by purchasing them for absurdly low costs. Hopefully sales pick back up and the competition stays away for a while.
Glyph Total - 975g ish.... I don't even want to look at the exact number again!
Heirloom Enchants
Enchants for heirloom gear are still selling just as slowly as they were pre patch. I guess my server is just too small for a rush in the heirloom enchant market. As long as it's still providing profit, I can't complain. Heck, maybe the rush will come once more players go back to putting significant time into leveling alts, rather than their level 90s and the new content. Only time can tell.
Heirloom Enchant Total - Less than 5k, but definitely more than 2k.
5.2, Thoughts So Far
This is the first set of content that I've ever attempted to prepare for as far as gold making goes. I feel like I've done pretty well so far this patch. I've made some mistakes as well. Everything that I've learned from this patch experience can and will be applied to the next major content patch (5.4?). My total income for the patch so far is - 219821g54s85c
I'm pretty disappointed that I didn't get into the enchanting scroll market like I had planned. I should be ready for the next major content patch when it eventually gets here. I still have professions that need to be used to their fullest extent, but that will require getting those toons from 85 to 90 and then raising their reputation with the factions respective to their professions. I'm missing major money makers such as; leg armors, spell threads, bracer enchants, and weapon enchants. I can't wait to tap into those markets, especially for 5.4!
