950g Later

This entry exists thanks to Nev of Auction House Addict and She Rides Dragons. In her post "20 Days of Gold Making," she suggests topics and invites the community to write on them. Today I recount my biggest "oops" moment.

Ka-ching!

That's the sound of a cash register. The sound the addon iSold makes whenever one of my character's auctions sells. I find it to be a soothing sound. A regular reminder that while in flight, battling pets, or even while tabbed out of the game, I am making gold.

One time, though, I can remember that sound eliciting panic and dread. Ka-ching! I glanced down at the chat dialogue and read:

A buyer has been found for your auction of Skullflame Shield.

img: wowhead

That's the Skullflame Shield, pictured at right. It's a Vanilla-era world drop. It has a chance to drop from 69 different mobs, and Wowhead lists the best drop rate as 0.06%. The Undermine Journal lists a US Horde average going rate of over 16,000g. So why was I filled with panic and dread on seeing it sell?

I'd literally just listed it. Within the previous five minutes. In fact I'd been listing it over the previous three weeks while deciding whether I should hold onto it for my warrior's transmog outfit. If it didn't sell after a while I'd take it as a sign from the gods that my warrior should have it.

The item once in my possession was no more, and there were two possible explanations for why the shield sold as quickly as it did. Either I'd been extremely lucky or I'd made a serious error.

Should I ever be fortunate enough to loot another Skullflame Shield, it's going to my warrior.