Maelstrom's guide to
INSCRIPTION
(plus resale tips for non-inscriptors)
Patch 4.0.3a
Hello everyone.
Let me introduce myself first. My name is Maelstrom, and I've been lurking the mmowned forums for quite some time now. As you may have realized, I was quite reluctant to posting, because I though I had nothing to share that was meaningful in any way.
That is, until now.
Now before you start pointing out the fact that there are inscription guides all around the forums, let me tell you the following.
1- The most recent Inscription moneymaking guide dates back to june '09 (severely outdated)
2- There are many resale tips I will include which, although partially covered in other places, do not include some of the things I've discovered recently
3- I think its always good to ocassionally ''revive'' old goldmaking methods and apply them into live realms, just to see if they still work (and hell yes they do sometimes)
Know that the objective of this guide is not only providing a profitable business, but also keeping the amount of time required to do so at a bare minimum.
Sure, you can make 5k gold a day if you farmed 24 hs a day, but some people (like me) don't have the time nor patience to do that.
So here, you'll find a series of tips and techniques which will provide great profits while only wasting a minimum of your time.
Last but not least: this guide will probably be extensive, so be prepared to read.
And now, onto the guide.
Consider the following...
[spoiler][/spoiler]
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Jessica Sellers no longer trades ink of the seas for lower level inks..
Glyphs now cost more ink per glyph, although they're permanent now
Players can now use up to 9 glyphs per character (once they're 80)
What does this all mean? Simple. It means the glyph market is HUGE. Filled with people ready to purchase loads of glyphs for their characters.
It means glyphs are at an all time high in terms of pricing, due to the increased costs. Prices will fall in cataclysm once higher level herbs stabilize.
This means that NOW is the time to profit from Inscription, while the transition to Cataclysm is taking place.
''Sure'' -you may say.. ''there is a high demand, but there is also a high supply. Dozens of people ready to undercut you every 3 seconds, and loads more posting glyphs at cost price... how could I profit from that?''
Well my friend, this is what this guide is for.
1- REQUIREMENTS
-Inscription 450 (not required for technique 2 [read below])
-At least 30 minutes of your time a day (60-90 min recommended)
-Cancelling and reposting auctions at least twice a day (very fast with APM addon, read below)
-The more glyphs you have available, the more market you'll cover, thus more gold.
-Herbalism is not required (it may improve profits if you have the time to farm though)
2- THE ADDONS
Meh, you just REALLY need one: Auction Profit Master
It will basically allow you to automatically post, repost, and cancel, all of the glyphs you have.
If you still don't have it, get Postal. Really.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1- Install the addon via curse
2- Log on with your character
3- Type ''/apm config''
4- Click 'item groups' and create a new group called 'glyphs' or whatever.
5- Click on this group, and proceed configuring all the aspects of it. I will tell you mine, but know that this is VERY SERVER DEPENDANT. So use mine at your own risk.
All of the options I don't mention should be left on the default settings.
Override Stack Settings. Ignore Stacks over 1.
Override Threshold: 60g
Override Fallback. Fallback price: 175g
Override Max price: 480%
6- Go to 'Add Items'
7- On the 'Mass Add' area, type: ''Glyph of'' and type enter. This will automatically add all the glyphs you're carrying into the 'group', therefore automatically posting using the rules defined above.
Note that you may have to repeat this step once you get a hold of different glyphs, otherwise they will stay on your inventory without them ever getting posted.
8- Once you're done, close the window and go directly to the AH.
9- On the Auction tab, click the 'post' button. The addon will automatically post all available glyphs using the instructions specified earlier.
Using my settings, the addon will post all glyphs that are 60g or higher, in stacks of 1, undercutting the competition by 1 copper. It will also post the glyph at 175g if no other glyph is available in the AH, or if the price of the Glyph is over 700g gold.
This of course, is completely configurable, and you SHOULD set it according to your realm, or you may fail miserably.
Now, as to the technique itself:
TECHNIQUE 1: CRAFT SMART:SELL SMART
1- Go to the AH, and click on the auctions tab
2- Click the 'Summary' button
3- Click the 'Glyph' tab, then the 'Get Data' button.
The addon then will gather the prices of ALL of the glyphs, and list them in an orderly fashion.
Glyphs with an X next to them are glyphs you cannot craft.
Glyphs with a number colored green means you have posted that Glyphs (number means amount posted)
Glyphs with a number colored red means you have posted that Glyphs but you were undercut
4- Click once on all the Glyphs that meet the following requirements:
-Over 60g (server dependant)
-Can be crafted by you
5- When you're done, leave, and immediately open the Inscription window, followed by the 'APM' button at the top.
6- You should see there a list of all the glyphs you clicked before, plus, at the bottom, a list with all the required mats.
Proceed to buy them from the auction house. Note that due to the fact that Jessie won't trade inks anymore, you may have to buy vanilla or outland herbs.
Quick tip: NEVER purchase herbs if you can't cover the costs. On average, vanilla herbs provide mats for about 4 glyphs, and bc/wotlk herbs for 3. Consider this when buying mats.
7- Once you obtained the mats, click on the name of the glyph inside the APM tab, and your character will start crafting it in the set amount
8- Once you're done, remember to /apm config and 'Mass Add' the recently crafted glyphs (refer to step 7 in the addon section)
9- Go to the AH, click the auction tab, and 'Post'
10-??????
11- Profit
TECHNIQUE 2: BUY CHEAP + SELL HIGH + STALK AH = $$$
This is a great reselling technique, that everyone can do with the APM addon.
If you're inscription, you should do BOTH techniques to maximize profits.
1- Go to the AH, click on auctions, then summary. Click on 'glyphs', then 'get data'.
2- Once its populated, check the bottom 10 glyphs of all classes
3- Say for example, Glyph of Gouge is posted at 10g. More often that not, you will see 5 glyphs posted at 10g, and then another 3 posted at 190g.
Well.. buy those cheap glyphs, ''mass add'' them in /apm config , then resell them at 10 times what you paid for them.
Prime example of when to buy:
[spoiler][/URL][/spoiler]
Prime example of when NOT to buy:
[spoiler][/URL][/spoiler]
Bonus Track: Oligopoly
Oligopoly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
After following these techniques for a few days-weeks, you'll quickly notice that some inscriptors are casuals, while others are very present, have many different glyphs, and post very aggressively.
THOSE are the ones you want to contact.
Send them an email, link them to this guide, and make them understand that If you work together, and agree to set price minimums (like for example, all glyphs at 60+ gold) ; 1c undercuts, and a maximum of 2 glyphs per inscriptor (so as to not overflood the market).
By doing this, EVERYONE wins (that is, except the poor customers )
He/them will probably agree, which will result in a large portion of the market shifting towards insanely high prices, small undercuts, and all 'small' inscriptors who post glyphs at 20g pretty much working for you so that you don't even have to craft (buy from them, sell at 10x the price)
Even if 80%+ of your glyphs end up expiring, you'll make AT LEAST 1.5-2k gold with minimal effort, and all you gotta do is post, repost, ocassionally craft, and resale. That's it.
Doing this IRL would be illegal by the way... good thing this is WoW
And now, a few screenshots.
Screenshot 1: Profits.
This is actually 2/3 of it. I got another 800g about 6hs before that, but I forgot to screencap that. This was taken yesterday. And this is ALL glyphs, nothing else.
[spoiler][/URL][/spoiler]
Screenshot 2: APM settings.
[spoiler][/URL][/spoiler]
Screenshot 3: APM crafting tab.
[spoiler][/URL][/spoiler]
Screenshot 4: This is how your bank will look after a while.
[spoiler][/URL][/spoiler]
Screenshot 5: You will profit in spite of these people. By the way, this is the kind of guy you might wanna talk to if he tries to deep undercut you. The guy on this screen is ok, because he only undercuts by 1c, thus keeping the prices high.
[spoiler][/URL][/spoiler]
Well folks, that is all! . I'd be glad to answer any questions you have.
I will also edit in some info if I come up with new tips/ideas, or if I forgot something :P
Maelstrom