Wednesday, December 18, 2013

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

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.

An unfortunate thing happened last Thursday.

During a basic RAM installation, I seem to have damaged my motherboard. Well, 60+ hours of troubleshooting over the last five days confirmed it had to be the motherboard. I won't go in to the nitty-gritty for time's sake, but in the process of trying to figure out just what the hell was going on I had to wipe my machine --- several times. Among the files and settings I did not salvage was my TSM Accounting log, so I can't promise to accurately explain the significantly large dip in gold that took place between now and the last update. In fact, I didn't even win a container since last time. But with tens of thousands of gold spent, I figured a squaring-up was in order:

675,301g
-50,000g¹
-3,500g²
-3,258g³

Total Remaining Gold: 618,543g


                                                 
¹ Sent with a character when I transferred him to Emerald Dream.
² Partial Pandaria flight costs for two level 90s. 
³ Gear, gem and enchant upgrades for two level 90s. 

Really, I should've probably just filed all this info under a WoW Weekly update considering I didn't even win a container since last post. It wasn't for lack of trying. I'm not sure if we're seeing a general uptick in container interest or if tons of people on the server all of a sudden are finding themselves with a bunch of disposable gold or if people are thinking maybe they'll get luckier since it's Christmas time. I don't know. But if the crowd of bidders at the Veiled Stair two nights ago is any indication, I might have to be willing to try harder spend more if I mean to keep acquiring Unclaimed Containers. 

Anyway, before the nasty computer problems happened, I made the final leveling push with two toons who were both sitting at 89. Achievement? Hell no, I passively finished my quintet in early fall. Getting these two to 90 and in decent gear meant I'd have two more bodies to run through Tempest Keep each week in my futile quest for that stupid fiery bird mount thing. I spent a bit of time on the Timeless Isle with each to ensure their ilvl was at least in the 480s. The key to soloing Kael'thas is weapon strength. Simply put, if you can't burn through the phases of the fight quickly enough you will likely get overwhelmed because of loss-of-control effects and/or damage pileup. 

Ensuring they had at least an upgraded 463 weapon, gem slots filled and decent enchants applied was a priority. I also splurged on Pandaria flight for each right away because how can you not? Lastly, I sent 50,000g with one of the 90s when I transferred him over to my main server. 

And that's where I sit. A full accounting. I've resigned myself to spending at least half of the gold cap before I consider switching my focus on Unclaimed Containers to something that holds more potential to provide a return on investment. Really, stiff competition and dwindling gold reserves aside, after last week's computer issues I'm just glad to be back in the game. But what do you think I should do? I've resigned myself to spending the full amount, though I'm not sure if/when/how I will get there. Should I continue to buy up Unclaimed Containers, WoW's equivalent to Storage Wars? Should I perhaps try to save up some money and buy a coveted mount for near gold cap? Maybe instead I should randomly give it all away in 5-10,000g increments to people I encounter on the server.

If you've got an opinion, let me know in the comments. 


4 comments:

  1. Hey there,
    This is the first of this series that I've read but I just wanted to say that I love the idea. While everyone oohs ahhs and lols at the guy who gives a million gold to a random lvl 8 in Teldrassil, I think a longer chronicle like this can be much more enjoyable and (once I've actually read them) much more enlightening. Thanks for the concept and good luck! Gogo Mimiron and Invincible!

    All the best,
    Reckles
    WTBGold

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  2. Thanks for the kind words! I hope you enjoy the other ones; I think you'll quickly see buying up containers is a gamble that is never, ever in the favor of the buyer.

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  3. Glad you got your computer at least functional again--fate worse than death, to be without it, right?

    Do you find buying the Unclaimed Containers to be fun? If it's not really netting any neat rare things, why not focus on nabbing a card game or other rare mount? Gets you toward that achievement if you don't already have the highest one... Clearly you have the chops to rack up the gold again after a splurge. :)

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  4. Oh Emma, it was torturous. Not only is it my main source of entertainment during these lean times, but it's also what allows me to look for work, among other things. I think that's why I went at it for so long --- just had to know what was wrong with it (and in the process found a temp fix).

    Interesting questions regarding the containers. When I hit the gold cap, I knew that I didn't want to spend it all in one chunk. It took me long enough to get that far and I wasn't ready for it to disappear, so I wanted to get creative with it. Granted, I think I've demonstrated here (and admitted as much) that what I'm doing with the containers is essentially pissing it away. Which is why at the 500,000g mark I'm considering switching strategies. That, or like you said, get back in the money game.

    I have been dabbling as of late. ;)

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