Chasing the Gold Cap: What's Your Ideal Reserve?

Chasing the Gold Cap was a series that documented my slow, steady quest to reach the maximum amount of gold allowed on a character. I finished the task in June '13. It took me nearly a year to spend it. Occasionally, I'll use the topic generally for all-things-auctioneering. 

As the expansion wanes, I can't avoid the beckon of what was a regular safe-haven during the end of Cataclysm and throughout much of Mists of Pandaria: the Dalaran auction house. At this point, my main character is as progressed as he can be, and I don't have the stomach to build up another alt just now. When I log on, likely the first thing I'll do is my profession shuffle, working raw mats into something more valuable with the hopes of turning a decent profit. Unfortunately, the market is saturated right now. There's an excess of material and a smaller pool of buyers. While there's still money to be made, prices on most trade goods remain low, and high volume is the best way to guarantee a decent reward.

While I've opted not to hit the auction house hard---no dreams of another gold cap chase just yet---this means that my gold reserves creep upwards ever so slowly. Perhaps an hour's time on the auction house will yield 10,000g gold in a week, but I tend to spend a good percentage of what I yield each week. This got me thinking: how low am I willing to go? What's the lowest amount of gold I can have on hand without beginning to feel uncomfortable?

The answer came easy: I like having the ability to buy the gold sink mounts that come with each expansion, and those tend to hover right around the 100k gold mark. So long as long as I'm above that mark, I'm feeling OK. Fall below it---like when I transferred from my gold-capped server to my current one---I start to get antsy.

What's your ideal gold reserve?

Spending the Gold Cap #10: Spent

I may or may not have purchased the Magic Rooster you see pictured here. And the spectral kitty. 

What else to do once you hit gold cap, other than spend your fortune? In the Spending the Gold Cap series, I account for the money I earned as I spend it on Unclaimed Black Market Containers, and the occasional pet or mount from the auction house. There will be tears.

The title says it all, folks.

While I began this journey primarily by snatching as many Unclaimed Containers as I possibly could, my server's merger coupled with the fact that I rarely found anything of value in the containers caused me to shift my behavior and be a bit more direct with my purchases. You know, focusing on things like rare mounts and pets from the legit auction house.

As it stands, I don't see any reason to list a final accounting. After all, the ledger essentially reads 0g0s0c, and that's all that matters. Just know that the remaining sum was spent on more rare pets and the remaining few mounts my stable needed to meet the requirements for the Mount Parade achievement. Strangely, it took me a lot longer to spend the gold cap than it did for me to earn it, which may or may not be surprising given my methods. Still, if this whole exercise has taught me anything, it's that anyone can hit the gold cap. I was more of a casual gold-maker, accumulating my fortune over the course of a year. There are more serious goldmakers out there who earn much, much faster than I did. Really though, the common denominator between anyone who's ever hit gold cap is simple: dedication.

I first got into goldmaking from the desire to have more capital than I could spend. I wanted all of the gold sink mounts as soon as they became available. So I made sure I was in a position to never have to struggle over those decisions. I'm really not one for tips, tricks or guides when it comes to goldmaking. There are others out there who do a great job at this. Find a handful of these folks I've leaned on over the years below, and I ask forgiveness in advance as I'm sure I've forgotten some important ones:

Phat Lewts
Power Word: Gold
Stede
Drunken Mogul
Auction House Addict
Selltacular (Copper to Gold)

I encourage you to visit their websites and look at their links and blogrolls where many more goldmaking resources await you.

Now that the gold cap has been both earned and spent, I'm not sure where I'll end up in terms of auctioneering. Granted, I have several hundred auctions posted as I write this, but I don't have any intentions of chasing the gold cap again.

For now.                

RECAP

Spending the Gold Cap #1: 918,167g remaining

Spending the Gold Cap #2: It's easy to spend one-hundred grand

Spending the Gold Cap #3: Competition for containers

Spending the Gold Cap #4: Making it worth my time

Spending the Gold Cap #5: 60,000g  footnote

Spending the Gold Cap #6: Where have all the BMAH containers gone?

Spending the Gold Cap #7: Or is this WoW Weekly?

Spending the Gold Cap #8: End is nigh?

Spending the Gold Cap #9: The day I spent over 300,000g on battle pets

WoW Weekly: Finally, a distraction

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

I have one Pandaria PvE achievement left. A single mob to kill---or rather, have someone kill for me---and the completionist in me will be sated until Warlords' releases. But it's apparently not that simple. According to a number of comments on Wowhead, this particular achievement can be buggy. In fact, I've satisfied the requirement to kill Cheng-Bo three times now to no avail, and I've tried every trick in the book...or at least, every trick suggested by the commenters at Wowhead. Surely, it'll work for me one of these days. Right?

But truth is, I am seriously exhausted with MoP. The majority of my time in-game since 2014 broke has been spent simply talking to my friends and guildmates---not actually engaging in much play. I'm ready for a new distraction. Thankfully, it seems I may have found one at just the right time.

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Pre-Patch

I'm really excited about the new systems changes. I got to play a teeny bit of RoS at Blizzcon, but since I chose the Crusader and played on the new PS4, I had no clue what I was doing and it was hard to get a feel for any of the major changes. Then, after updating my client to the pre-patch last night, I spent several hours, stretching way past my bedtime, tooling around on my max-level barbarian and later, a lower-level witch doctor. It's the most fun I've had playing Diablo 3, period.

Full disclosure: I enjoyed Diablo 3 for a while after release, but became increasingly frustrated with loot and monster scaling. As a more casual player when it comes to that game, I rarely walked away from that game feeling like it was time well-spent. Grinding mobs and levels for hours would rarely reward an item upgrade---I can think of one occasion, honest. After hitting a wall, whether it be a brutal elite mob or even a chapter boss, I'd reluctantly head to the auction house to purchase those upgrades I so direly yearned to see drop from monsters. There was no feeling of reward, there was no feeling of accomplishment---I was just glad I had friends who played enough to lend me crazy amounts of gold to make upgrading my character possible. That's not the type of game I wanted to play. So I didn't. 

But now...now with the 2.0.1 changes, I've found the perfect distraction that has completely nullified my desire for more Warlords information. That will come when it comes. Between the new Paragon system, updated abilities, and Loot 2.0, which is arguably how the game should've launched in the first place, D3 is in a really good place. I'm looking forward to many, many hours obliterating the shit out of monsters.

Boost to 90

Though I've been somewhat absent from the game and social media due to life's demands, I couldn't help myself from engaging in several lengthy, spirited conversations about the service, mainly the price. On the day the news broke I was sure the number was either a placeholder or some excellent trolling on Blizzard's part. 

.@EntropiaWoW And even if that number is confirmed...which I HIGHLY, HIGHLY doubt...I'll probably just go "meh."
— Ross (@elepheagle) February 18, 2014

Turns out that might not be the case, as Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas defended the pricing and offered rationale in a recent interview, saying most of the reasoning behind the price point was to ensure the leveling process doesn't become devalued.

While I can totally respect Blizzard's desire for people to actually play their game and not simply drop $10 to get a near max-level toon, I feel $60 is way too much to ask. I think $35 would be a sweet spot, though I can also understand why they'd want the boost price to be near what it would cost to roll a second account.

Admittedly, what do I know, sitting here as nothing more than an armchair analyst with no data. Perhaps this is where their marketing strategy and their gameplay strategy teams met. Still, at some point down the road, it will be cheaper than $60 to buy Warlords, MoP, the Battle Chest and pay for the $25 account transfer. It'll be interested to see how Blizzard counters that down the road. That, and there's still a little part of me that's not accepting the $60 price tag. I'm going to have to see it live in order to believe it.

In-game (for reals)

Besides the Know Role Your achievement I'm trying to close out, there are a few other things I'm slowly working on. In no particular order:

• Legendary Cloak for my death knight. I'm at the closing stages, collecting Titan Runestones. I earned two the first week, didn't have the time to run any raids with her last week, and am thinking about making a more concerted effort this week. However, with how I've reacted to the D3 updates, I'm feeling it less and less likely.
• Shadowmourne questline on said death knight. I've completed all the non-RNG annoying bits. Now it's just a matter of getting in there with regularity to collect the items for the next stage of the quest.
• I've spent the gold cap. Expect to see an update on how that all went down in a near-future post. And I may be considering a Chasing the Gold Cap redux. I've started over on a new server, and after some serious expenses, I'm still already 5% of the way there. 
• The guild is still recruiting fun, friendly adults to join our guild. We've seen a significant influx of new members these past two weeks. Learn about us here and here. 

Feckless Leader's 2013 Long-Form Review

@thronus, @kennylogouts, and yours truly in the lobby of the Hilton Anaheim during Blizzcon 2013.

Well would you look at that. It's 2014 already.

I've been meaning to do one of these looking-back-at-the-year recap posts but I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to write something last-minute on New Year's Eve that would miss the cut. I didn't. Technically, I started this blog in December of 2012, but that first month was essentially me feeling out just what the hell I'd use this space for (aside from holding the unpublished carcasses of my failed WoW Insider applications). Didn't think that it was year-in-review worthy. That makes this one the first one!

Patch 5.1

You'll remember that one year ago, Mists of Pandaria had been out just three months. We were roughly one month into MoP's first patch, 5.1: Landfall, which is where many of us spent the next month killing each other in the name of conquest Wrathion. Around that time, I'd been struck with the notion that there were a ton of people out there who'd like to give away their extra battle pets to other pet-collecting enthusiasts. Ever-present WoW Insider comment poster Jeff LaBowski (aka Spacebard) was eager to help me in this endeavor, but it never quite got off the ground despite the fact we created a blog space for it and mentioned it quite a bit. Oh well.

That failed project turned into My Duplicate Pets --- Free for the Taking, something that's been a feature on this blog since early summer of 2013, though it took a few months before I was contacted by the first of what turned out to be quite a few interested parties. I've sent well over a dozen pets to good homes now, and for free!

I began to focus on topics or features I could continue to write on in an effort to ensure this blog regularly had fresh and relevant content. While I attach the tagline of "A World of Warcraft blog that explores enhancement shamanism, gold-making, completionist-leanings, and pet battles, among other things," this is really a general World of Warcraft blog. The gold-making bit of that description wasn't added until after I stumbled across Nev's blog and the "20 Days of Gold Making" feature she'd just started. I'd been acquiring gold at a steady rate for quite some time and had amassed over a half-million by that point, so I figured it was something I could handle.

My initial post about Arcanite Bars spun into a full-on Chasing the Gold Cap feature. After reaching the gold cap in spring, the feature evolved into Spending the Gold Cap. I've met a bunch of incredible people on the gold-making side of things, but I owe it to Nev for providing the catalyst that helped me get into writing about it.

By late winter, I'd published the first of four battle pet leveling guides, all of which turned out to be ridiculously popular --- way beyond my own imaginings or expectations. The first was meant to be an easier leveling path for players who had a few max-level pets. I don't normally bring up numbers or search results and whatnot, but I can't deny that I'm both proud and humbled by the fact the Feckless Leader hosted it's 200,000th visitor over the Christmas break. Granted, the vast majority of those visitors came to the site via the battle pet leveling guides. Still!

After the first guide's popularity, I penned a guide for the complete noob who had absolutely no pets, and yet another for the battler who had a decent stable of max-level pets. Then in mid-summer I discovered that in using a couple of in-game items, players could level a battle pet from 1 to 25 in four fights.

To gloat a bit more (I promise I'm nearly done), practically every organic search query on the web about anything related to battle pet leveling will produce at least one of my guides in the top search results. I'll never forget the morning in early spring when I googled a phrase to find the beginner, intermediate and veteran guides holding spots one, two and three. Should've taken a screenshot now that I think of it. Anyway, after I'd realized the guides were quite popular, I figured the steady traffic would soon taper off. But it continued to grow and I continue to experience 1,000 daily visitors to the site on average.

I don't do ads, and I'd like to explain why: I love being a part of this rich, vibrant community and this is my contribution to it. I need or desire nothing more. That's not a cut against those who do; some folks might think I'm pretty stupid for not making a couple of bucks off the site. Perhaps I am!

All right, enough of the sappy-bragging shit.

Early on, I took a break from the light-hearted fluff I'd been posting up to that point and voiced my frustration at the casual jokes being told regarding gender and race in a pug raid I'd joined. While this group was clearly comfortable with one another, it felt much differently as an outsider. Right or wrong, I wrote about it, and this marked the first of many times I would speak out about something I saw that I didn't like in-game.

I've given up on learning why 5.2 farm changes: what would you add? from January continues to receive traffic to this day. On page views alone, this is the most popular post of the year. That blows my mind. It regularly shows up at one of the top-viewed posts for the week. Note to self: use beefier analytics for 2014.

After claiming I knew a little something about enhancement shamans, I ponied up with a simple post about mount farming. Thanks to Ravyncat, the series about the dual-wielding element-lovers has been affectionately titled Bashes with Wolves. I don't do as much with it as I'd like, but I feel there's some decent information there for a newer enhancement shaman.

Patch 5.2

March of 2013 saw us on the Thunder Isle with Patch 5.2. This is also the first time we heard about Hearthstone. While I've only written a couple pieces about the game, expect to see more this year. This is also around the time where my former Co-GM realized that our goals as they related to maintaining our raid guild was no longer possible on our dying server. Keep in mind, this was a couple of months before they announced cross-realm grouping for raids and flexible technology. So I laid out the situation (can someone please teach me the proper use of "to lay/to lie" so that I never, ever forget?) and requested the advice of anyone who happened to stumble across the post.

We ended up choosing the route of server-transferring our guild and merging with an active guild on the Alliance side of things (we were Horde). This was an uncomfortable, but seemingly necessary concession we made to join a good community and continue our raiding. Of our raid roster at the time, all but two made the transition. Unfortunately, that transition was relatively smooth for some, and not so much for others---me being the "others." I was quickly identified as a rabble-rouser and "shit disturber," as my friends jokingly liked to term it. What started as a friendly conversation with an officer one morning turned into me being told I wasn't a good fit for the guild.

It was the first time I'd been cut off from my guildies---people I'd been playing with since Wrath. They were Alliance, and now that I'd been cut off from them, I went back to my Horde toons. Alone. I refused to ask them to transfer back to the Horde and join me once again. After all, I'd been an advocate of the first transition---off-server and to the opposite faction---in the face of serious reservations by my guild mates. That was a weird time in-game.

Just after that debacle, some good news: two local friends and I were able to score four tickets to Blizzcon. Having gone with one of said friends to 2011's, I was super stoked to return again, this time as a "veteran." Bolstered by our successful bid, I put together some tips on how to position one's self to acquire these high-demand tickets.

Patch 5.3

Patch 5.3: Escalation landed in May, perhaps one of its more exciting features being the ability to select a loot specialization. While 5.3 was on the PTR, I'd posted my first of a few pieces having the deal with Looking for Raid, this one about how Blizzard can improve it beyond 5.3 by making it even easier and more pug-friendly. Turns out it may not be LFR that's the problem, but rather a good cross-section of the playerbase and/or its attitude about accessible contact.

Summer brought a Feckless Leader first: even if it didn't make large (read: any) waves in the community, my post about the future introduction of a peacock battle pet was technically breaking news, and I'm pretty sure I was the first (back me up here Liopleurodon). Bolstered by the warm Wisconsin air and the fact that my employer decided a termination would help me enjoy the summer even more, I started putting more of my voice out there as it related to the game and the community. For instance, I incorrectly predicted (and tried to back up) that WoW could soon go free-to-play.

In addition to keeping many of the features I've mentioned above I started publishing more opinion-based posts as my frustration with how people treated others in-game increased. While I'm an advocate for "report every time" as it relates to player behavior, I've never felt the in-game tools were adequate enough. I feel like there's no "positive feedback" when a player reports another player for bad behavior. Essentially, I realized that Blizzard won't, and frankly can't change the culture of the players in game.

But we can. And that's what the post titled, "Be Part of the Solution," is all about: creating a better environment for everyone. It was really the intro (or perhaps addendum) to a ginormous piece I wrote afterwards called "It's Not About LFR." I'd spent two or three weeks putting together a piece about how LFR will be the bane of this game's existence, only to realize LFR wasn't the problem at all. As I alluded to before, the problem, it turns out, is us.

Fall brought us Blizzcon, for which I put together a survival guide aimed at folks who'd never gone and because of it, was featured on a podcast. A podcast! If you told me in January last year that I'd be on a podcast by year's end, I'd ask you just what the hell you were talking about. It wasn't in my mind as a possibility, which to me, made it all the more special. Anyway, people seemed to dig the survival guide, but even I didn't follow it to a T, some of which I covered in my review of the event. Oh, I also put together a list of predictions for Blizzcon prior to the event. You'll want to see the recap post, if interested, since that's got all the information plus the commentary on just how much I got wrong.

I did call "Hit & Expertise....GONE!"

Patch 5.4 

After Blizzcon, I found myself a bit tongue-tied when it came to the blog and Twitter. I think I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of awesome and talented people I met out west. It wasn't that there was this pressure that wasn't present before just because faces were put to names. It was more than that, I think. I was so impressed with the community, as I was when I attended in 2011. That nasty stuff you get in game---you just don't see much of that when you get these people together. I saw more love and acceptance than anything, and I wish the con lasted a week. The whole experience was pretty fucking endearing, and it took me while to regain my voice. Not to mention I straddle the introvert/extrovert line, so being surrounded by that many people near-constant for four days required some serious recharging.

Lastly, I put together some tips for playing WoW with your kids, and finally started the series I've been meaning to about being a Completionist.

Though I could go on, I won't. In looking back at the blogroll from the year, I'm kind of surprised at the volume of posts: on average, one every three days. It sure didn't feel like it. I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us as a community and the game as a whole.

Anyway, if you've made it this far, I owe you something. Snarfabajiggles.

WoW Weekly: Responding to WoW Insider's Community Blog Topic

WoW Weekly is a biweekly-ish, self-absorbed look into the things I've been doing -- or not doing -- in the game. From auctioneering and pet battling to mount farming and raiding.

It has been quite some time since the last WoW Weekly, a normally brief post cataloging bits of what I've been up to lately in game. In fact, in the post prior to this I was prepping for Blizzcon! The whole event was incredible and I don't know where to even start when it comes to writing about that, so I won't start here. Truth is I wasn't really planning on writing an update post like this -- hell, I'd almost forgotten about it completely -- until I saw this week's WoW Insider Community Blog Topic: What are you doing between now and WoD?

Mainly, I'm pushing through Flex and getting into Normals with our small, casual guild. Since summer, we've been building up this 1-night raid group and it's going extremely well...and growing. Oh right -- what was a Thursday night raid group turned into an active, friendly guild. This week's invite list boasted 22 guildies and three friends of the guild. Granted, only 15 of them will probably show, but it's still a pretty great accomplishment for us.

We are hoping to get our initial glimpse at Flex-mode Garrosh by the time the responses to this community blog topic are published. Though we think we could be slightly ahead of where we're at on three hours per week (11 of 14), I'm personally thrilled: we've only had 10 raids since the Siege of Orgrimmar dropped. Admittedly, it's Flex, but it's allowed us to bring everyone (within reason), which has really been a boon to our guild/raid recruitment.

Anyway, I'm beginning to ramble but I'm seriously a champion of Flex mode and the direction they're taking that part of the game. But I'll generally shut up now and finish this how I always do. In game, I'm also:

• Rejoicing over recently having completed the Frostbitten achievement. I've casually been after it since Wrath, though mobs in Zul Drak, Howling Fjord and Sholazar Basin proved to be rather elusive. Loque'nahak outlasted them all, but couldn't hide forever.
• Still spending the gold cap, albeit it a bit more slowly than I was before. To date, I've spent over 300,000g, mostly on miscellaneous items and Unclaimed Containers.
• Trying to knock out the Pandaria Quest- and Exploration-related achievements. I'm meaning to "complete" as much of this expansion as I can, including achievements, before Warlords of Draenor comes out. Obviously I have some time yet.
• Chasing after the Ashes of Al'ar and have recently added two more level 90s to the weekly runs, which means I have seven toons killing Kael'thas each week (six, really, but I'm sure I'll figure out how to defeat the encounter on my prot pally soon enough).

What have you been up to?

Chasing the Gold Cap: Not a greedy bastard

I logged into my banker earlier today to collect the cash from a handful of sold auctions and repost those that had expired. You may be tempted to remind me I said I was done with the auctioneering routine after having hit the gold cap. I lied. Apparently, these old habits just don't die.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've mainly been dealing in the transmog market while still selling other odds and ends I come across---moving from a low-pop realm to high-pop realm means the markets require a significantly larger time investment to control, and I'm simply not interested in doing that. I'm averaging around 1000g per day on mostly low-level greens; admittedly, a small take, but more than enough to cover the needs of my cadre of toons.

So I always enjoy opening my mail and seeing something like this:

Though the diction and grammar leaves something to be desired (yes, I'm that kind of a dick), I was happy to see it wasn't a player cussing me out. Cause that happens on occasion. I quickly checked the auction house: gloves were still listed at my designated fallback price of 1499g. Though they were the only pair for sale, of course I'd be happy to sell them to this player for their desired price. They took the time to contact me, they were polite, and perhaps didn't have the means to pay top dollar.

Just a few hours later, I checked my mail again to find a pair of Abjurer's Gloves had sold for 1400g, in addition to a C.O.D. and a thank-you from the player above. Seriously, buyers. Not all of us auctioneers are greedy, heartless bastards. Yes, we have more gold than we'll probably ever spend and for whatever reason are constantly trying to fill our grubby little hands with more, but we'd just as soon share it and support those who also love this game.

I know it can seem frustrating to leveling players in general when they hit the AH for an upgrade only to discover the level 23 cloth headpiece they'd like costs 10x the amount of gold they've amassed. But what about you moggers out there...have you ever contacted a seller to see if you could get a better deal?

Sellers, do you often cut players breaks like this, or are you a cut-throat, no-holds-barred tycoon just trying to make his/her million?

Chasing the Gold Cap Casually: Hold onto those greens

Unrelated header image FTW.

So I haven't completed abandoned auctioneering after hitting the gold cap after all. Now I just do it more casually and pass on my tips. 

Haven't totally gotten out of the auctioneering game---but I'm no longer making enemies. I am pleased to say that casual posting every couple of days or so has provided me with a steady income---even a profit in spite of all the silly things I throw gold at. But I'm not seeing income through the channels that were familiar to me on my old server when pushing for the gold cap---mainly gems, glyphs, and enchants. I simply don't have the time or will to spend much of an effort controlling a market. However, being on a more active server has provided some pleasant results in the transmog market.

You see, I run The Eye, Molten Core and Stratholme each week for reasons you can probably guess---oftentimes on multiple toons. This nets me with a ridiculous amount of BoE green weaponry and armor. I've been saving and posting everything (except, of course necks, rings and trinkets, and could probably do the same with cloaks and wrists as they aren't big sellers, either). Even the 80-90 greens I've come across while farting around in Pandaria. Blues, too, will serve as good sellers on occasion.

I had my TSM auctioning group set up with a fallback price of 775g---meaning that if there's no item like it on the AH, that's the default posting price. Now that I've noticed I'm selling roughly three pieces every two days at fallback---that's not counting the items that only go for several hundred---I've raised the fallback price to 1475g. Eager to see what happens, though I don't anticipate sales to slow down, even with doubling the fallback.

So if your server isn't completely dead and you'd like a steady income from casual posting, hold onto those greens! If you think your server's economy is too sluggish, this advice should be relevant come 5.4 with with introduction of virtual realms, which by all accounts will include auction-house sharing. A penny (or item) saved is a penny earned, and this holds true in Warcraft---so long as you can afford the bag space.

Chasing the Gold Cap Revisited: I'm there

There are no dings. No error messages or game crashes. No achievements, bells, whistles, or fireworks. Anyone who's gold-capped a toon knows how it all goes down, without pomp and fanfare. Suddenly, the game won't let you retrieve any more gold from your mailbox. You click, but nothing happens---so I had to do some maneuvering to get the screenshot above showing my banker, Martinfury, holding exactly 999,999g99s99c. That, my friends, seems to be the per-character gold cap.

Truth is, I've had well over a million gold for quite some time now. So while I could've fudged and said that I'd hit my goal almost on time---the end of April---I felt it necessary to stick to my original plan: gold capped on my banker, not an accumulation of all the gold on my account regardless of faction or server. Had I counted the summation of my wealth, I'd have been capped more than a month ago. Sometimes I think I can be too much of a purist.

So that's that. No parting words of wisdom. My methods could be described in but a word: dedication. Just stay at it, and you'll get there (but seriously, if you have questions I'll be happy to attempt answers). When I get stumped, I'll often check out the heavy hitters: Elvine, Cold's Gold Factory, WoW Profitz, Power Word: Gold, Auction House Addict, Copper to Gold, among others.

Now. Enough camping the AH. It's time to camp the BMAH!

Series Recap:
Inaugural Post - Chasing the Gold Cap in a Material World
Chasing the Gold Cap Update #1
Chasing the Gold Cap Update #2: A spending problem
Chasing the Gold Cap Update #3: A penny saved
Chasing the Gold Cap Update #4: Ghost iron bore
Chasing the Gold Cap Update #5: Thanks...but why?
Chasing the Gold Cap Special Edition: You've got competition...now what?
Chasing the Gold Cap Update #6: Panic mode
Chasing the Gold Cap Update #7: Two week notice
Chasing the Gold Cap Update #8: The final week
Chasing the Gold Cap: Unrealized Goals

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!

Chasing the Gold Cap Update #8: the final week

"If at first you don't succeed, drink yourself stupid and pass out in the streets." - the Banker

I've mentally checked out. While I would absolutely love to add my accounts receivable -- money borrowed to friends and/or located off-server -- to boost the final number, I just can't in good conscience. Like I said earlier on in this series, I knew full well I was in the midst of a personal competition when I sent away that money, accepting that risk in doing so.

Gold amount at last update: 830,972g
Auctioning activity between then and now: extremely low
Current gold amount: 848,914g
+/- Change: 17,942g

A week involving little posting activity has passed, and my profit shows it. Partially because the amount of gold remaining to hit the cap in seven days is staggering: 150,000g. Also partly because I've transferred the Main off-server, which has pulled my attention off Bonechewer as I get assimilated to a new server, guild and faction.

At this rate, I only need to pull in 21,500g every day for the remainder of this month in order to hit the gold cap. And that's likely to happen. Not. Currently, I'm considering making a last ditch attempt to close that gap. If I decide to go for it, I'll begin tonight, and the vast majority of my playtime will involve crafting, flipping and posting.

Since the amount of gold you can transfer with a character caps at 50,000g, I envision slowly spending the gold I've acquired on Bonechewer's BMAH, specifically on pets and mounts I've not yet collected.

All in all, I am a bit disappointed to be in this position right now, but excited still at the prospect of making a mad dash to the finish line. Either way, if I don't see 999,000 gold within a week's time, I'll still be chasing the gold cap on Bonechewer. It's a goal I've been ambling towards for the past nine months, and regardless of not hitting this goal, regardless of server transfers, I will get there, albeit casually.

Thanks for reading.

Chasing the Gold Cap Update #7: Two Week Notice

Well. A lot of things have happened since last post. Good things, and some terrible, terrible things. The kinds of things that make you not want to write. Or even get up in the morning. But we keep going. We've heard, and will continue to hear enough about the terrible things. So I'm going to talk about the good things as they relate to the subject of this blog.

Our raid group has essentially dissolved on Bonechewer. While some aspects are bittersweet, our core has moved server to be with a more organized and active guild. Overall, this has proved to be a very good thing. While the guild is still wrapping up their recruitment, it's become clear to me that this was the right decision to make. The guildies who've come along -- which has turned out to be 95% of them -- echo this sentiment.

For better or worse, the move has really put a dent in my resolve to hit the gold cap by the end of the month, especially while dealing with the unwitting market-crasher I mentioned in the last posts. I feel like I've given my two-week notice to Bonechewer and my list of characters remaining there: the Alt, the Enforcer, the Banker. Ones I have not yet named -- that's right: the Main is now an Alliance pandaren shaman. You won't find him on Bonechewer, but that deserves its own post. For all purposes, I've mentally checked out.

Gold amount at last update: 848,556g
Auctioning activity between then and now: quasi-moderate
Current gold amount: 830,972g
+/- Change: -17,854g

The nice chunk of cash known as the gold cap? Seems I couldn't wait, and after loading the Main up with sellables, the Banker sent him enough coin to reach the transfer cap of 50,000g -- which, of course, set me back a bit. Which also doesn't help when you're already behind. So! This likely ain't happenin'. Not by the end of the month. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try. Given my current situation, the logical choice is...........HAVE A SALE!

I methodically went through every character I have on Bonechewer and posted every sellable likely to sell. I think at peak I had over 1,500 live auctions. I've sold quite a bit since then and have recouped more than 20,000g of the 50,000g I sent along with the Main. Though I'm not set to recover all of my costs, every bit helps. Though the gold cap is longer be attainable by the end of the month unless I get cute, I'm not going to stop auctioning.

Cause papa don't need more cute. Papa needs new shoes.

Chasing the Gold Cap Update #6: Panic Mode

Red button because Panic Mode (img src: WoWWiki)

Well now.

I've managed to speak with every single one of my main competitors in the glyph and gem markets. Mainly, I wanted to get a sense of their motivations, since I have a pretty clear goal in mind. My glyph competitor, a friendly warlock, seemed happy to "share" the market -- as he put it -- and even offered to whitelist me until the end of month! Whitelisting, for those unfamiliar, is when you essentially never undercut a certain player. Unfortunately, he didn't end up whitelisting me in the end. Thus, glyph sales have been mostly shite.

Gem markets have been equally terrible, and for better or worse, it IS one of my main competitors who is absolutely defecating all over the market -- and it's because she has a soft heart: she doesn't feel it's fair to players to post gems for, let's say, more than 100g. Nope. She feels bad for the players. How cute.

Market price be damned, she's resolved herself to listing damn near every single gem cut known to both man and goblin for a prices as low as 1/5th the crafting cost! IDKWTF to do other than resort to swearing via acronym. It's gotten so bad other players are reaching out to ME, as a big player in the market, in frustration. See the report below to get a sense of how this has affected my profit these last two weeks (hint: I've been averaging 37,000g per week up to this point).

Gold amount at last update: 805,255g
Auctioning activity between then and now: moderate to high
Current gold amount: 848,556g
+/- Change: 43,331g

That's just over half of what I average in one week. Problem is, it took me two weeks to acquire it.

I'm kind of out of ideas here. Truth is I was just planning on working just a wee bit harder to coast past my goal in time. Now I'm facing a situation where I need to work harder & smarter while taking risks. Fact is, the JC market killer isn't going anywhere without some coaxing. I'm considering buying her out -- along with another player -- and reposting at costs even lower than what she's been posting. She farms a good deal of her mats, and we'd like to ensure it's not worth her time. Yes, it entails a significant investment, a cutthroat attitude AND profit loss in the short-term with the potential to return the market back to a more balanced state...but desperate times call for it.

Wish me luck. I need it.

Chasing the Gold Cap Special Edition: You've got competition...now what?

Well, seems I've a bit of a problem on my hands.

In previous CtGC updates, I mentioned how I actually knew my main competitors in both the glyph and gem markets. Both are RID friends, and one even has a toon in our guild. My competition in the gem market has an empathetic heart, which causes her to choose to never post gems for more than 75g. While this practice confounds me, I ignore it and instead focus on the high-priced gems in the market.

My competitor in the glyph market? I want to unleash the most harsh-sounding, yet graceful tirade of curses right now. This player literally posts for 16-18 hours every single light-forsaken day...that ass is just like me! Within a few minutes of me posting my glyphs, they usually log on (if they're not on already) and undercut the majority of what I've posted.

ANGRY FARM KIDS! ADDER-FILLED KNICKERS! APACHE FUNK KNIVES!! I still don't feel better. Curses! CURSES!!!!! When you find yourself in this position, there's only so much cursing you should allot yourself before it becomes unproductive. Time IS money. Well, gold in our case. So if you're gonna complain, do it while you're cancelling and reposting auctions like I do.

But seriously. I've got a damn gold cap to hit and I've got four weeks to hit it. Doesn't my competition know that?!? Here are some things I'm considering in order to fight back. Perhaps they will be of use to you as well.

• Talk. Nothing is stopping me from whispering this player to get a feel for what's going on. Because the truth is that they are aware of me just as much as I'm aware of them. They're cancelling auctions just about as often as I am. Maybe we could work out a schedule so our efforts wouldn't involve pooping on the efforts of the other? Perhaps I could ask them to take a few weeks off while I make this final push for the gold cap? I don't know the answer to those questions. But it never hurts to ask.
  
  
• Dose them with their own meds. This is the route I'm currently taking. To be forthright, camping the auction house isn't practical, and it makes me feel dirty. Also, it can be a colossal waste of time, especially with respect to the glyph market. I do actually like to play the game. However, this is also psychological warfare, in a sense. You know that feeling you get when you see you're being undercut as soon as you post? They get that feeling, too. Control your reaction and exploit theirs.
  
  

• Research their posting habits and maneuver accordingly. This involves checking out The Undermine Journal. There, you can look up any player and get a snapshot of their auction house activity. This includes a heat map of when they post, the type of items they post as well as the volume posted.
  
  With this information, I know that my competitor prefers to go to sleep between 4am and 12pm local time, which indicates this player is being controlled by a real human being...not a bot. They show heavy posting shortly before bed (coinciding with the time I normally log off if I'm on at night), right after waking up in the morning (midday), and around suppertime/end of the work day. 
  
  They may or may not be employed, but if they are employed, it's at a place where they have access to the desktop version of the AH (like me); the volume they post and the rate at which they cancel and repost indicates they're not doing this activity via the mobile auction house or web interface.
  
  The key here is to maneuver in and post when you know you won't be undercut for a solid chunk of time. Given what I've learned above, if I wished to fully maximize my positioning, I'd post my glyphs at 4:30am, 8:00am (before heading to work), after they log off over the noon hour, and 5pm (end of work day). This, of course, while taking time to cancel and repost auctions during my normal play time.
   
• Choke them out. There are several ways to do this, and not of them screams "easy." I'd actually recommend this WoW Insider article from 2010. It talks about the advantages and disadvantages of "walling," as well as covers some strategies on how to drive your competition from the market by choking their supply. I haven't executed this strategy to date, but I've definitely not ruled it out. 

What about you? Any strats to add to the list?

WoW Weekly: All about the benjamins

I've gone fully operational.

There's a good chance if you're reading this, you've been to Feckless Leader before (but if you're new, hi!). You probably know that I've just entered the final four weeks of a challenge I set and accepted, which I affectionately call Chasing the Gold Cap. The lead-up to these final weeks has consisted of a rather high volume of posting activity. But this is WoW Weekly. On to that.

Good news is, I've finished Raiding with Leashes, which means I am done farming pets FOREVER until 5.3. Now you know where this is going...Raiding with Leashes II! We'll be sent into BC raids -- Karazhan, Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep -- to collect ten pets for the achievement which, like its predecessor, awards a pet on completion. Though I was a weekly regular in Karazhan until Attumen dropped his horse, the place has a hold on me, and I won't mind heading back in. I'm still farming Tempest Keep for the Ashes, though I haven't been to SSC since The Lurker Above.

Earlier last week, Malygos dropped the Blue Drake, which I already own. Kind of makes me think I should have a blue drake-less friend tag along for the kill. I don't believe having an extra body in the raid would cause mechanics to be more of a challenge than they are solo.

I've effectively ceased all activity on the new Isles for the time being, partly because of time restraints and partly because there's nothing of benefit I can acquire for the Main at this point. The treasure room was fun, but since I have no use for Elder Charms -- all upgrades for both main and offspec come from the Throne of Thunder or Shado-Pan -- I've no good reason to farm keys. The Alt still has a ways to go when it comes to gear, but he gets attention as time allows.

As far as the next two weeks go...it's all about the money. That's my main focus. I don't want to have to take stupid risks at the end of April just to hit the gold cap. Those of you who know me know I prefer safe bets. And in this case, that means slow and steady.

Emphasis on steady.

Chasing the Gold Cap Update #5: Thanks but...why?

Found this in my mailbox earlier today.

It's been one of those weeks.

While managing not to send small sums of gold to random players, I've been maintaining a steady profit. In fact, this is probably one of the largest sums I've made over a two week period. It's surely the largest I've posted since I started keeping track for this Chasing the Gold Cap exercise.

Gold amount at last update: 716,084g
Auctioning activity between then and now: high
Current gold amount: 805,255g
+/- Change: 89,171g

There's been a resurgence in glyph sales. I've done well over 10k during these last two weeks, and that's mostly just by posting and leaving them to expire; I rarely scan the AH for undercut glyphs to cancel and repost like I do with gems. Whatever the reason for rise in demand, it's been a nice complement to the killing I've been making with jewelcrafting.

I have been pretty aggressive in the gem market, but I've also acquired some new competition. Normally no big deal, but the issue here is that he's a Real ID friend. Meaning we both get to see when the other logs on, presumably to post auctions. Up to this point, I hadn't decided whether this is a good or bad thing. It's a good thing. He's on his JC as I write this sentence, most definitely undercutting the auctions I posted earlier this morning. So as soon as he logs off of that toon, I'll cancel my auctions and undercut him. As a child of the Aughts might say, it's a Doggy Dogg world.

And there he goes.

Some notes, in no particular order:

• I'm not counting on seeing the 25k+ Vial of the Sands loan money. If I were being less strict about this exercise I'd simply pile it onto the final sum and mark it as an asset. But I chose to loan the gold fully aware of my gold cap chase deadline, which means I assume all risks. Including untimely/no repayment. 
• In recalling the last update, I remarked how the glyph market was doing surprisingly well, meaning it's been strong for about a month now.
• The transmog market has been quiet. I'm still occasionally buying up pieces on the cheap.

I need to have weeks like these past two. That happens and the cap is definitely in reach by the end of April. And I think I've figured out what I'm going to do with part of my profits: give them away. Perhaps randomly, perhaps in response to acts of kindness I witness...haven't decided the method, just the madness.

Read the first post
Read Update #1
Read Update #2
Read Update #3
Read Update #4

Chasing the Gold Cap Update #4: Ghost Iron Bore

Greetings! So 5.2 happened, and after spending an hour crafting, mailing, and cancelling and posting auctions on that first night, it dawned on me I must be friggin' crazy. All the activities I could've been engaged with at that very moment, I chose to ensure my gems were positioned at the most attractive market price. Charming. Within each driven pursuit there is a line that, once crossed, signals unhealthy addiction.

Gold amount at last update: 640,414g
Auctioning activity between then and now: moderate
Current gold amount: 716,084g
+/- Change: 75,670g

While I didn't carve out nearly as much auctioning time as I had in the weeks prior, the additional profit came via gems: the market, which had previously crashed, experienced periodic resurgences. For a brief period it became super economical to buy up Golden Lotus and send them to my transmute alchemist. Spend a grand, make four. Not a bad return.

Not-so-surprisingly, the Ghost Iron market hasn't moved much. If you've read gold-making tips in the lead-up to patch 5.2, you probably read about buying cheap Ghost Iron to resell for a profit post-patch. And there were probably dozens of disappointed investors scanning the auction house on patch night. The prices on my server are currently hovering just above their historical average. So what gives?

For starters, the Thunder Forge wasn't available to players when the patch went live, meaning there wasn't an immediate demand for extra Ghost Iron bars. Secondly, the new engineering mount recipe, which called for Ghost Iron, got pulled from the patch at the last second, with Blizzard providing no ETA on when engineers might see it in-game. And the new method to level blacksmithing from 1-525 quickly with Ghost Iron? Chances are leveling an alt blacksmith is a low priority for most players at the moment. There's also the chance that everyone followed the advice to "buy low" and now the market is flooded.

With this reality, I've been quelling panic by prospecting stack after stack of Ghost Iron to sell as cut gems. Luckily, the market has been receptive of this practice...for now. But, so far this week, the gem market hasn't been as volatile, which worries me, as I plan to lean on it heavily during this final push towards the gold cap.


Some notes, in no particular order: 

• I received 3k more in repayment for the Vial of the Sands loan. I'm hoping to be able to call on the remaining 26,500g before this all ends, as it may be the final bump I need to hit the cap!
• Was able to put together an Ox Deck from cards I had on my scribe. It sold immediately for 6.5k. To build it using cards purchased from the AH would've cost more than double that, but we all know no one pays that much for a Relic of Niuzao.
• A couple of weeks back I mentioned how someone seemed to have purposely tanked the gem market. Turns out, I wasn't too far off the mark: she posted her gems at 50g flat or lower with absolutely no regard for the current state of the market. How do I know this? One of her toons was recently recruited into our guild! Apparently, she's received quite a bit of hate mail from other gold makers regarding her practice. She apologized profusely to me, after which I assured her I wasn't "one of those types of gold-makers." 
• I've sold more glyphs than anticipated these last two weeks. I don't know why this is, but I'll allow it.   

When it comes to spending, I've been a good man. A very good man. I did purchase an Amber Scorpion with the Main, but that was with finances he earned all on his own. I've limited spending to fail-safe investments where the worst-case scenario is breaking even. Still, maintaining this current profit rate won't yield enough gold to reach the cap by the date of the final update, scheduled for May 1.

Three more Chasing the Gold Cap updates remain before the final post. There are four days between that last update and May 1st deadline during which I will be making an insanely huge push to hit the cap if I haven't already. That should be fun and enlightening in its own right. I'm also kicking around the idea of what to do with the gold once I've reached the cap, since being able to accumulate and save that amount of money is evidence that I don't really need it. Would like to do something for the community, and at the least, something meaningful for my guildies. Thoughts?

Read the first post
Read Update #1
Read Update #2
Read Update #3

Chasing the Gold Cap - Update #3: A penny saved

The above image was supposed to be taken with the Banker's concubines, but they may not actually exist.

I did it, kind of. Well, I didn't spend much gold in the past two weeks. At least, I didn't spend it on crap I didn't need. Not surprisingly, when you don't spend gold, it begins to accumulate. D'ya think it would work in real life but with teh moneys? Hmm...

(Yes. It works IRL, too.)

Gold amount at last update: 561,888g
Auctioning activity between then and now: moderate to high
Current gold amount: 640,414g
+/- Change: +78,526g

Even though I finally reached exalted with both the Shado-Pan and Klaxxi on the Main, I wouldn't allow the Banker to bankroll the mount purchases. I've managed to pay for the Shado-Pan mounts by just doing random stuff, but March will turn to May before I'll be willing to drop 7000g on a friggin' bug mount from the creepy bug people. Plus, I'm Horde: we already have a scorpion mount. Speaking of the Klaxxi, WTF was up with that "Your gods are not your gods" thing underneath Klaxi'vess? I know I'm a bit late to the soiree, but that line sort of gave me the shivers.

Moving forward, I may need an auctioneering equivalent to Bloodlust; while these last two weeks have been profitable, they weren't much better than the two weeks prior even though I've reported moderate-to-high auctioning activity. Granted, the profit from two weeks ago came at a time where the majority of cut gems on my server were selling for between 150g and 400g. Highway robbery, I know.

Some items of note, in no particular order:

• Sold the Relic of Xuen I purchased from a guildie last week. I am delighted to have made any profit, even 1000g.
• The 37k I borrowed to a guildmate for her Vial of the Sands? Still out 30k on that loan and it has been a month since she last made a payment. I'm not going to get that money back, am I? I kid. I'm sure it has simply slipped her mind. She'll remember at some point in the near future and apologize profusely. And probably pay me the rest of the debt right there. I just hope it's before the end of April.
• I'm not super well-versed in this whole market shift thing and what-not; currently on my server, the supply and demand of cut gems is such that one minute the gem sells for 25g---less than the going price of the raw gem it was cut from---and six to ten hours later sells for 275g. I've made lots of gold by paying a greater amount of attention to the gem market. Really. I made tens of thousands of gold just by monitoring it more. Hint. Hint.
• Been flipping here and there; lost several hundred gold trying to reset the Mysterious Essence market. But transmogs? It seems like a slow-but-steady trickle market akin to glyphs. Given the small investment I've made, I'd call it a success. However, because I've been regularly collecting auction proceeds and purchasing items through the mobile armory, my accounting addon isn't able to accurately track my sales. That means you'll have to take me at my word. The addon did record purchasing Overlord's Gauntlets for 3g75s, which I promptly resold for 855g. That, my friends, is what I call a Critical Profit.
• Invested roughly 5k gold in ore and Golden Lotus in anticipation of 5.2. Invested, not spent. It's diction, baby.
  
  

See you in two weeks!

Read the Intro Post
Read Update #1
Read Update #2

20 days of gold-making: a wrap-up

This will be my final post as part of the 20 Days of Gold Making series.

After crawling out of the bottomless cavern Blizzard affectionately refers to as pet battles and grimacing at the searing pain mere light inflicts on my eyeballs, I was surprised and happy to see Nev's 20 Days of Gold Making Challenge still thriving and, even more, the list of participants growing. By my count, twenty days had passed, but to be fair I don't really know how these things work. I'm just grateful she suggested such a challenge.

In addition to connecting with and learning about other gold makers both casual and hardcore, Nev's exercise nudged me towards organizing my own approach: I now at least have an idea about the sorts of things I'll write about in this space. Chasing the Gold Cap was borne out of answering a question about goals, and I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun writing it. So thank you, Nev, and to all of the participants who answered, shared, tweeted, retweeted and connected with one another.

If you have a WoW blog you keep current, you can bet I'll be a reader. If you're not listed amongst the blogs below, please leave me a comment...I'd like to see what you're doing. Be warned: I'm a lurker. If you see hits from Wisconsin in your analytics, that could be me.

Current Reading List
Most of these aren't strictly gold-making blogs, though some did participate in Nev's 20 days. Please check them out.

Admiring Azeroth
Alternative Chat
Auction House Addict
Curse of Exhaustion
Elvine
Grown Up Gamer
Memoirs of a Pet Collector
Phat Lewt's
To All the Squirrels
Vault of Light
Way of the Totem
WoW Tipper

Chasing the Gold Cap - update #2: a spending problem

That's it. Hand over the debit card.

At face value, it appears I didn't do too horribly. Unlike what I reported last time, I'm posting a net gain today. But on seeing my two-week yield, veteran gold makers may laugh. Scoff. Chuckle. Tee-hee. Pshhh. 50,000g. That's like, the amount the biggun's pull in over the course of a day. Truth is, even as a casual seller my net gain could've been one hell of a lot bigger.
   
Gold amount at last update: 510,051g
Auctioning activity between then and now: moderate
Current gold amount: 561,888g
+/- Change: +51,837g
 
This week's confession: gains aside, I spent roughly 25,000g on items not related to gold making in the past two weeks, and technically I have 30,000g out on loan. Still, the 51k net gain I posted surprises me given how my main markets---jewelcrafting and inscription---have absolutely tanked. I've started to research flipping---buying to resell at a higher price---but I haven't been able to subdue my penchant for avoiding risk when it comes to spending gold. 50,000g for a Brawler's Guild invite on launch night? A tangible reward, and worth it. 5,000g on AH items to immediately list to try to make a profit? That's when I start sweating.

Some items of note, in no particular order:

• Paid a guildmate 2,500g for a extra Pandaren Air Spirit he had in his collection; the next day, a spirit he didn't have dropped for me, so I proposed a straight up swap. He happily agreed, but must've spent a grand because he only sent back 1,500g. Or he forgot. Oh well.
• Of the 37,000g I loaned to a guildmate for her Vial of the Sands, I've received a total of 7,500g in repayment. This will provide nice boost towards the cap when I get it back.
• Sold the Mechano-hog, breaking even on that investment. 
• Reached Exalted status with both the August Celestials and the Golden Lotus last week. Normally I'd be all like "Yay!" but my current situation warrants a "but...but...don't let it be over I want to grind more!" because finishing those reps meant a 7,000g mount from the Celestials and three mounts totaling 3,100g from the Golden Lotus. Yay.
• Sold an Eight of Cranes for 9,477g. Yes, a single Eight of Cranes, not the entire deck. My TSM Darkmoon Cards group has a fallback of around 10,000g, and someone paid it. I've added the buyer to my friends list as I'm considering offering them a partial refund, however, I have yet to see them online.
• A guildmate was looking to sell a Relic of Xuen with the intention to use the cash to purchase the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth from Mei Francis in Dalaran, specifically for the mount's armor repairing capabilities. I bought it for an undermarket price of 12,000g. Initially I thought I'd save it for my up-and-coming rogue, but quickly realized you idiot, you're supposed to be hitting the gold cap by the end of April so it's currently on the AH with the rest of the lot. Truthfully, I'm just hoping to break even.

TL:DR: Failing to reign in spending means I've managed an average of a measly 4,000g net gain per week over the course of the last four weeks. People make more without trying. Yikes. I need to get my act together. Quick-like if I am to hit my goal. February's not going to wait for me and come March we'll all be elbows deep in Patch 5.2. No goals for the next two weeks, only a mandate: no spending on goods unrelated to money-making. Here goes.

Read the Intro Post
Read Update #1
Read Update #3