Arcanite Bars & Me

Martinfury, banker extraordinaire! (est. 2005, pictured in 2012)

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 revisit when I started making gold & what triggered it. 

I know the value of a gold coin.

My introduction to Azeroth happened in late 2005 at the hands of a friend. The better part of the next two years in-game were spent wandering around aimlessly, totally enamored, waving to everyone I encountered and dying too much. I didn't quite know what to expect of Azeroth, nor how much a part of my life it would become.

At the time, 10 gold seemed like a lot of money. There were many instances when leveling up my first character where I didn't have enough coin to foot a repair bill. I remember reaching level 40 and not having anywhere near the amount of money---a whopping 90 gold coins---to purchase a mount and the required riding skill. I nearly reached level 60 before I had earned enough.

But towards the end of the Burning Crusade, I had accumulated enough gold to not have to worry if I'd have enough for mount purchases, gems and enchants. It wasn't a fortune, and it arrived via slow, steady accumulation; one made possible by the occasional auctioning of extra stuff I found in my character's bag from leveling through Outland. See, I wasn't actively trying to made gold.

Almighty arcanite.

Then, patch 2.4 happened. Which, at the time, meant absolutely nothing to me as a player, other than the release of the Magister's Terrace 5-man. Well, that and the removal of the 24-hour cooldown on Transmute: Arcanite. Up til then, I'm not sure my transmute alchemist had ever made an arcanite bar. On a whim, I visited the auction house where I found a surplus of cheap thorium bars and arcane crystals---the mats I needed to make arcanite bars. So I went at it.

The mat supply remained steady for the next couple of months, as did the demand for arcanite bars. Why? Didn't know then, don't know now and don't care. What I do know is auctioning arcanite bars provided the largest amount of gold I'd ever made in the shortest amount of time. Though the scheme lasted only a couple of months, the lesson was apparent: investing a little time in the right area could net a significant profit. I realized there was a potential to make more gold than I'd ever need.

And that's how I, too, became an auction house addict.