So we’ve had a few years or approximately 5 years (congrats Blizzard) to figure out what is going on during a holiday weekend like Thanksgiving and from what I have observed in my 4 participating weekends is that this Black Friday just isn’t for the retail sector it’s can be a Black Friday for you in game as well.

Friday is a day off for most of the masses in the US (except those working in retail).   So one thing for sure,  you’re going to see more players on than usual compared to previous weekends this fall.   This doesn’t bode well for the farmers,  things are going to be a bit crowded.   There is some upside to this,  you might be able to find a pug to get a Nax done if you haven’t gotten out in a while,  it might be easier to put a 5 man team together to chain heroics but if you’re bottom line is you focus,  you might want to grab those reserve funds and make some money playing the markets in AH.

If you’ve never done any day trading in AH.   Here’s a few pieces of advice before you go betting piles of gold on certain commodities.

1. Do your research,  if you aren’t using an AH add-on to track market prices.  I’d suggest going over to WOWOAH.com to check your prices.  It’s not as efficient as Auctioneer or some other add-on’s but this is a great place to do some research to help you spot good markets and make educated bets on trading certain items.

2.  Don’t bet the farm on a single item,  what I’m saying here is that you’ve got a real opportunity to shoot yourself in the foot by putting all your eggs in one basket.  It only takes one guy to show up and dump enough mats in there to keep you out of making a reasonable profit or let your efforts turn into a loss,  so diversify.

3.  Set a goal for yourself.  If you’ve got 5000 gold you’re willing to risk,  set a reasonable goal for yourself.  Sure it’s a great weekend to make some extra gold,  but it’s really easy to throw the blinders on and waste a day playing markets.   Go enjoy the other content or even better yet don’t forget to go spend some time with your RL Guild (aka Family) too.

4.  Try to be that guy that doesn’t buy stuff in the AH this weekend.  You’ll be paying some higher prices for sure.  Holding off until next week to make those expensive purchases will save you boat loads.

5.  When the Black Friday hangover hits next week,  keep an eye on prices.  There will be some really good deals.  Take a look at our Patch Notes section for items you might pick up on the cheap that you can resell for a much higher number in the next couple weeks when patch 3.3 hits.

Best of luck in your Holiday Weekend revenue goals!

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As Icecrown is released in Patch 3.3, a record amount of players for the first time have an opportunity to pursue the final boss in the expansion,  all other bosses in 5 man’s and raids will no longer drop Emblems of  Conquest and will drop Emblems of Triumph according to Bornak’s Blue Post in the WoW Forums.

As emblems are a form of in game currency, we thought this was noteworthy.   The change is great way to afford more opportunities for people to get the gear they need to get into Icecrown and take their shot at the Lich King.  However one thing we have to look at is the Law of Unintended Consequences, can Blizzard have its cake and eat it too?  More after the break…

Although one can only speculate,  it’s likely that it will be 6 months or more from Patch 3.3 to the release of Cataclysm.  There has been no mention of Alpha testing yet so we have to assume we are a ways off.   The end result will be an enormous amount of Emblems of Triump available to the players and the direct result will be the average gear level of the player base being higher.

Where the Law of Unintended Consequences comes into play is the balancing act or the great divide that is created between WoTLK players and new players in the game.  Historically Blizzard has only had to account for a very narrow set of players with top level item gear when planning the expansion.   Each server only had a handful of guilds on doing Nax in vanilla WoW and similar numbers in TBC with Sunwell.  Will Blizzard have to amp up the quest difficulty to account for the fact that players are generally so much better geared than previous expansions?   A more important question:  Should the leveling content even be a challenge anymore?

Blizzard historically created leveling content as accessible but nothing that is just steamrolled.   But accessible to a new player and still an entertaining for the masses where the average gear level is going to be much higher is not an easy fix.    Perhaps this represents a change on Blizzard’s philosophy that “it’s not about the trip it’s really about the destination”.  One possible solution is to actually make leveling content a bit more of a challenge where players who ding 80 post-WoTLK be more reliant on gear coming from professions to start working the Cataclysm content.  This might be a solution that would provide a lift to those who want to make gold selling gear they craft and would probably be the easiest fix to bridging the gaps.  The other option, like previously is to just give the players a dozen or so gimmee-gear quests that we’ve seen to make things easier (a likely option,  to bad I thought professions would be the way to go).

Stepping back a bit to wear my RL hat here fore a second,  when you combine the change with Emblem upgrades policy and Cataclysm’s leveling cap change taking us only to 85 this time, it leads me to believe that it may very well be a shift to where future expansions may be “more about the destination” leaving Blizzard to reduce the number of resources required to develop new content therefore improving bottom line for the World of Warcraft balance sheet.   It wouldn’t be a bad business decision.

What do you think?

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After the break,  we’ll talk about that last leg of leveling the Jewlcrafting profession.   Right now it’s a pricey little journey if but you’ve got one cost effective option already and we’ll discuss how another option becomes quite economical with patch 3.3.

Jewlcrafting options become limited at 430 with Meta Gems and Emerald Choker or Dream Signet type items which usually require a Titanium Bar. Prices have been historically high since the release of Patch 3.2.  With release of Icecrown and Patch 3.3 getting the last legs knocked out will bring some relief to those looking to complete the last leg.  The removal on the cool down for Transmute: Titanium will put immediate downward pressure on Titanum Bars and provide some price relief on Titansteel Bars as well.

The other way to level that last leg provides even more cost savings is by making sure you proc your Icy Prism everyday.  This will take you all the way to 450 if you have the patience.   It’s currently how I’m getting my alt JC’ing up (@439).   Each day I make sure I log in and proc my Icy Prism and also get the JC daily done.  When you hit 450,  you’ll have a bunch of rare gems in your bank and you’ll be able to pick up 5 epic recipes and it cost you very little in gold to do so.  If you combine this with some meta gems here and there the only possible AH material you’ll need is some Frozen Orbs.  Luckily I had a stack in the bank I was saving for a rainy day and I’ve been sticking to the Icy Prism method.

With the patch 3.3 change expect to see the Alchemist quickly take over the Titanium Bar market.  Saronite Bars will surely increase in price.  Miners will start to prospecting their Titanium Ore using an Alt or JC friend looking for a better return on epic gems and Titanium Powder.  Jewlcrafters will see more powder available via AH making it more affordable for those in the profession seeking to acquire recipes.

Personally I feel like someone at Blizzard didn’t anticipate the inflation that would occur in Titanium in patch 3.2 and if this was the answer to bring some equilibrium back to this market segment,  I say well done Blizzard,  well done.

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Enchanting markets are always sensitive to ebbs and flows from doing the content.   Increasing content or reasons to revisit content create inventories of items that can be disenchanted.   Tailors with a passive ability to obtain more cloth drops will also see bags start to fill up as well.  We’ll tear it down to the nuts and bolts after the break.

Patch Note Changes: (Downward Market Pressure)

• Additional 5-man content.
• Cross Realm LFG – allows players run more 5 man / 5 man heroics.  Greatly improving functionality of the existing service.
• Additional emblem awards for running 5-mans
• Auto-disenchant features will allow for more items turned into enchanting materials.

Positive Effects (Upward Market Pressure)

• Icewing Citadel with a dozen bosses,  enchanting materials will most certainly be in demand.

After accounting for the pro’s and con’s here it’s obvious there will be more negative forces at work on the enchanting and frostweave.  

I don’t think anyone is too terribly upset about frostweave prices lowering,  it’s already dirt cheap and a little lower is not going to make anyone’s bottom line cringe.  I would say it may be worthwhile to move any Frostweave you may just have sitting around now though.  Tailors also may want to keep an eye on the price.  About a week after the patch,  Frostweave should start dropping in price and probably see an opportunity to craft items to disenchant for a tidy return. 

As far as enchanting mats are concerned,   I think we’re going to see more materials available pushing down some prices so if you’ve been thinking about moving inventory doing so sooner rather than later might be a good idea.   My main is an enchanter and I keep a good bit of inventory on hand for the Alt’s, I’ll probably push some inventory into AH right at the start of Patch 3.3 but I think the negative forces here will certainly weigh down the value of Enchanting materials as the 5 mans get hit like it’s nobody’s business in search of badges to round out some gear for Icecrown 10/25.

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The economy has treated those who make an in-game living with inscriptions very well during WOTLK however in looking forward to Patch 3.3 one has to wonder if the the money making profession is going to see a serious nerf bat when this patch drops.

A key money maker for the Inscription Entrepreneur has been selling decks for the Darkmoon Fairie events.   These decks have provided some significant benefits even up through patch 3.2.  However the Icecrown Citadel loot tables may very well make these items finally obsolete.  Although some may still be purchased for alts,  they are great trinkets.  Are players going to continue to spend that kind of gold for the alt?  After all,  between gems and enchants on gear coming out of Icecrown the average player is probably going to be a be stretch out.

I thought the value of the decks would drop dramatically in 3.2 however with the release of the trinkets made available with Emblem of Triump had only a nominal effect on prices.  In trying to predict the market,  it’s not hard to guess that Icewing having a dozen bosses and 12 trinkets available to the players according to MMO Champion’s PTR Build Notes as of 10/21/2009.  Perhaps we’ll be surprised even more with a few BOE trinkets which would also put a hurt on the Darkmoon deck market.

At the end of the day,  I don’t think the Darkmoon Deck market will vanish entirely,  Glyphs will still offer good revenue streams and inks will still trade.  I just don’t see a Darkmoon revival until Cataclysm.

What do you think?