Chasing the Gold Cap: Unrealized goals

Ahh, gold. Such a wonderful, wonderful history we've had. It all started in the Burning Crusade when I was flipping Arcanite Bars to make sure I had more gold than I'd ever need. At that time, 20,000g was more than enough. I've been a quarter-millionaire a couple of times and a half-millionaire once between then and now, and would've hit the gold cap long ago were it not for my penchant for gold sinks. Would've, could've, should've. I know. Enough with the excuses!

I'll admit that when I set May 1st as the goal for reaching the gold cap, I knew it was likely I would get there so long as I maintained my normal level of auctioning activity. Heck, I was averaging 60,000-80,000g per week...no problem, right?! In surveying my profits over the last month, it's hard to believe I had that much flow at one time. Seems like it was so long ago. The glyph market has long been taken from my hands, while at the same time several very aggressive sellers have jumped in. The gem market has been on a month-and-a-half-long dive thanks to a farmer who feels bad when posting cuts for over 100g, and I didn't have the time or patience to try taking it back.

So in liquid gold -- meaning a tally of all of the gold held by the Banker on his server -- I've reached 888,663g. Do I have 26,500g out on loan? Yes. Did I send 50,000g with the Main on his journey to Emerald Dream? Yes. Do I have another 17,000g sitting on an Alliance toon? Yes. But even if you add all of that up, I'm still shy of the cap.

Needless to say, this has been fun. I hope everyone who has read one or some of this series gained some insight, or had a laugh or two at my expense. I've never claimed to be doing it right, just claimed to be doing it. I've enjoyed writing about it, and will continue to do so, probably from different angles---I'm in no hurry whatsoever to make another million.

Gold-making is fun and rewarding, however, it's also time-consuming. I could easily log into the game and spend a chunk of the evening auctioning, crafting, prospecting, cancelling and re-posting. Coincidentally, now that I've reached the target date, I'm tired and want to be done with it! It's time to get back to playing alongside friends: chasing achievements, battling pets, raiding, leveling alts, and occasionally scoping the BMAH for things I can buy with my profits.

I'd like to say I'll continue to write about gold-making on a regular basis, but I'm not sure that's true. I've already alluded to the fact I'm meaning to take a break from any gold-making activities (once I do hit the cap, of course). Also, I'm not that great or efficient at it overall---'slow and steady wins the race' is my mantra. Lastly, there are plenty of other gold-makers out there who offer regular content and a larger amount of resources.

In closing, I'm going acknowledge those who've inspired or helped me along the way---these are the folks I'll be reading for the best gold-making tips; that is, once I'm ready to belly up to the auction house once more.

Nev @ Auction House Addict - If it weren't for Nev and her 20 Days of Gold Making series, I would've never written Chasing the Gold Cap. Though that series began in late December/January, just today I saw a blogger who tackled one of the 20 topics in my Twitter feed.

Elvine - The amount of resources this guy has is staggering. I did pick up some valuable transmog tips in the last few months here, and I have Elvine to thank for several thousand gold via armor sales. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. You can get lost in the forums, and that's not such a bad thing.

Phat Lewt's - Great info here, and he publishes content regularly. While podcasts and streams are great and all, I prefer to read as I can pick and choose where I want to go next. Time is money!

Til next time!