Thursday, July 30, 2009

Dirty Little Secret

Ok, ok, I have to admit it....I didn't play WoW on Sat, Sun, and Tue evenings because I was busy....with Lord of the Rings.

There! I said it!

I bought it on Saturday at Best Buy and just couldn't help but get sucked into it that night. The graphics were gorgeous, the story was compelling, and my youngest son had never seen the Peter Jackson movies.

Huh? Oh, yeah, the movies, silly! It was pretty cool sitting down with my wife and son to watch all three movies. Of course, I'm still upset with a couple of things about the movies - you take the shortest book (the Two Towers), and splice the beginning to the previous movie and the end to the following movie and put in a bunch of junk that never happened....NO!

AND, Faramir NEVER, (read that NEVER), falls under the spell of the ring. That just chaps my biscuits...

Anyways, it still was a visual and auditory masterpiece and very well done, inaccuracies non withstanding.

And as far as trying the LotROnline, I'll just end up coming back to WoW.....(you know I have to do this)....we loves it......we needs it....it's our.....PREEEEEEEEEEEECIOUSSSSSSSSSSS!

....precious....

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

An Open Letter to Amava

(yeah, I sent this to him too! haha)

Hey Amava,
It has come to our attention here at Musings of a Nutjob, that yesterday was the two month anniversary of your last post. This situation has produced, among other things, some anxiety on our part as to your well being.

No, not that kind of anxiety, we're just worried that we will no longer be able to live vicariously through your exploits in Conquest (aka, the Dream Team). You already know our unique demands for entertainment need to be addressed in witty, multiple format, Amava written material and the absence of the aforementioned sustenance has had some serious affects on not only this person, but also the country as a whole.

Consider: How was the economy when you were posting? And how is it now? That's right, when you slowed down your posting, the economy tanked. Coincidence? I think not!

Consider: How close was Iran to having nuclear weapons when you were still posting? And how much closer are they now that you have stopped posting? I'm going to assign this blame to Obama, Congress, and...you.

Consider: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was 18th in the points as of your last post; he now resides in 22nd and is falling farther behind. I'm no Jr. fan, but even I can see his lack of performance bound to the dearth of posting at Amava Knows Aggro.

I don't have time to go into other events that have precipitated from the emptiness that has been your blog, but I will just mention a few: Racial profiling, Adam losing American Idol, the death of Michael Jackson, and my dog crappin' on my carpet.

I'm planning on making this an open letter on my blog because I think it's just too dang funny to waste on only one person. I'm hoping that you feel the same and stop being so dang stingy with your thoughts!

Rusty out!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Good News, Bad News

Good News:
I've been getting skill points crafting!

Bad News:
I've been spending gold to level crafting...

Good News:
My Glyph business is making money!

Bad News:
The undercutters have arrived...

Good News:
My Netherweave bags are selling like hot cakes!

Bad News:
There is a dearth of Netherweave cloth on the AH...

Good News:
Nitrodax went to Kara and got the Mongoose enchant!

Bad News:
Vanco has been sitting around twiddling his thumbs...

Good News:
This past week, I made a lot of gold!

Bad News:
This past week, I didn't actually play my toons very much...

Good News:
My gums are healing nicely from my surgery!

Bad News:
I still have to chew on the other side for two more weeks...

Good News:
We have a Tango lesson this Saturday!

Bad News:
Oh crap....we have a Tango lesson this Saturday....and we haven't practiced...

Monday, July 27, 2009

Netherweave Bags, Part II

Alright, so you know the how, but what about the why?

Why do Netherweave bags sell on a consistent basis?

I've come up with a couple of reasons why this item is the best selling container:

1. The mats (ergo the price).
When compared to other bags, the Netherweave bags are the simplest to make as they require only the cloth + thread. Runecloth bags require Rugged Lether, and Imbued Netherweave bags and Frostweave bags require enchanting mats. Usually, less mats (or less unique mats) converts to less cost. Not always, but definitely true in this case.

And less cost means people are willing to make them.

2. Price per slot. The Netherweave bag price works out to be around 50 silver per slot; while smaller bags offer slightly better price per slot, they fall off in value in that they just don't carry as much. This is where the whole (the total bag space) is more valuable than the parts (the slots).

The larger bags have a much bigger price per slot, so it appears that the Netherweave bags are just big enough.

3. BoE. That's right, they're Bind on Equip. While this might not seem to be significant, it's huge for the market. BoE means that when little Johnny gets all jacked up about starting a Warlock and buys all Netherweave bags for it, and then abandons it at level 6...I make money, and Johnny sells the bags to a vendor for a gold each.

Then, next month, when Johnny gets all excited about rolling a Druid....well, I'm sure you can see the pattern. I like Johnny. I like him a lot!

So, there you have it. Availability, value, and consumption combine to create a steady, profitible market where I can make some coin!

Netherweave Bags

I'm a bit leery about posting this, but it's been a while since I wrote something useful.

Everybody knows that I sell Netherweave Bags on a fairly consistent basis, and that it's a pretty lucrative business. So, how do I do it?

First of all, since leaving Outlands on Vanco, I stopped collecting Netherweave cloth in the course of questing, so I buy all of my mats off the Auction House.

For those of you who don't know, 1 stack of Netherweave = 20 Netherweave = 4 Bolts of Netherweave = 1 Netherweave bag (with the addition of 1 Rune Thread).

Rune Thread costs Daxie 40 silver.

Stacks of Netherweave cost anywhere from 3 to 6 gold.

I sell Netherweave bags for either 9.25 gold or 10.25 gold, depending on the market.

There is one particular tactic that I use to make sure that I have bags to sell - Every time I log in on my bank toon, I buy up all the Netherweave cloth that is priced under the current market price.

Sometimes, I don't buy any because the price is at 115% or greater; other times, I buy up stacks and stacks and stacks because someone graciously posted 20 stacks at 75% of the market price. I love those guys.

So, my costs are averaged around 4.5 gold, and my sales are around 9.5 gold. 5 gold profit, or I double my money - either way you look at it, I'm makin' bank!

The sweet part of using this tactic is that I have deprived the other Netherweave bag sellers of cheap mats, and they either have to farm it up themselves or buy more expensive mats. Either way I come out good because most players won't go farm Netherweave and more expensive mats = more expensive bags = my bags sell.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

New Business

So, I'm sticking my nose into the Glyph business just to see how the market is and if there's room for another Inscriptionist.

My first impression is that there seems to be just one major player in the market. Of course, that's just one snapshot, so I'll need more information to make a better assessment.

I do have quite a bit of information on the market prices of the various glyphs, so I made a list of the more lucrative ones and created one of each. I also wrote down all of the glyphs, the ink used to make them, and the price that I listed it at. Yeah, a booking.

I made around 200 gold over night. Not bad, eh? My plan is to list just one of each of the profitable glyphs in hopes that I won't tank the market or attract the attention of the major player. Of course, I've targeted the glyphs above 10 gold, and the mats are pretty cheap (I think), so I could undercut pretty far before it becomes unprofitable. I'm already regretting selling all of the herbs I gathered on Vanco as he's been leveling Herbalism.

I could also look at the middle glyph market (from 3-10 gold) and see what the competition is like in that arena. Daxe is still working on Northrend Research, so I'm sure the glyphs I'm discovering will also have some marketablility.

My other business of selling Netherweave bags nets me anywhere from 30-80+ gold/day depending on how many times I have to post bags (4 at a time, no more) and the current market price.

And I need to grab a bunch of Borean Leather to convert to Heavy Borean Leather as I've sold all of my stacks. This activity is profitable; it's just not a quick profit. As per Greedy Goblin, I need to look at the Ruined Leather Scraps -> Light Leather and the Knothide Leather -> Heavy Knothide Leather conversions as well.

So, why the sudden interest in gold making? Well, Daxie got this Bronze Dragon from the timed Culling of Stratholme and can't use it until she gets epic flying. I know, I know, 3.2 is going to lower the cost (and I may wait), but I'd like to have the money to burn and not have it affect my liquidity. Yeah, that's it, I don't wanna be poor.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Looking back

For those of you who have been reading for a while, I'm sure that it comes as no surprise that when I get busy at work, I tend to let the blog go. Hence, my lack of posting last week.

This week, since I had surgery yesterday and WoW is down for maintenance, I have plenty of time for posting. Yay!

Only, what I really wanted to post about and compile, was a list of Heroic drops for Death Knight tanks, but along with WoW, the Armory is down. Boo!

So, I thought I'd really research the Frost tree as it applies to tanking. But again....the talent calculators are down. Double Boo!!

So, I took Denali for a walk.

Currently, we are working on Sit and Stay. Last week, we put her into a Sit/Stay and walked circles around her while keeping her in that position. This week, we are expanding that to putting her into a Sit/Stay position and doing some sort of activity like cooking, getting ready, making the bed, you get the idea.

Well, so far, she's had limited success, but then again, we're just starting this training, so it's to be expected. Right now, she needs the leash on her to be prompted into the Sit position, but hopefully soon, we'll be able to just command her to sit, and she will.

This coming Thursday, we'll learn about Heel, and I can't wait to get her trained to that! From what Larry said, we will be using the command Heel to call her.

After that, we'll learn the command Heal, and she'll be able to run some instances on Daxie for me while I'm at work. I'm liking this having a dog thing!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Tanking, I does it

Yeah, and not the one-two shot tanking that I've done as a priest, either!

I have now tanked UK and Nexus twice on my little DK. I can confidently say that I'm getting better.

I just finished the Nexus for the second time. We did not have a wipe, only two players died (one of them was not my fault - he went AFK), and we completed the instance in under an hour. Not bad if I do say so myself!

I also have yet to read any suggested tanking rotations...oops! BUT, here's what I've come up with:

Drop a Death and Decay where you want to tank the pull.
Yank a caster to the D&D, or another mob if no ranged mobs.
Icy Touch and Plague Strike him and hit Pestilence.
Smack Blood Boil.

After that, I pretty much just switch targets and hit which ever cool downs are up on my different strikes. If it's a 4 mob pull, I'll try to wait for D&D to come up again to throw it down. I just found the talent that takes time off the cooldown - I might respec to grab it before I tank again.

Vanco is 72 now, and I did decide to head to Borean Tundra after I dinged 69 in Howling Fjord. I'm almost through with the area and will be headed back to Howling Fjord to try and complete all the quests there before moving on to Dragonblight.

I'm also looking forward to tanking AN as it has the first real tanking drop in it of the beginning Northrend instances.

In other news, Daxe, Daxie, and Rysteranch have all been doing at least one daily. Daxie, the JC daily; and Daxe and Rysteranch the two fishing dailies. Don't ask me why the fishing dailies, 'cause I have no idea, but they've been gettin' me a little xp, a little money, and an occasional rare item. That and they're easy! (I've fished in Wintergrasp 4 times now!!!).

And finally, my oral surgery went well today. The dentist cut open my gum, drilled into my jawbone, cleaned out the infection, and capped two of my tooth's roots. Now I get to eat ICE CREAM!!!!! WOOOOOOOT!!!

Oh, and have today and tomorrow off! Woot!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Maintenance, oh how I hate thee

So, our house guest tried to cut her thumb off with one of my son's knives yesterday, and today, she requires surgery to repair the tendon.

What does that mean for me? Well, I have lots of leave saved up and my wife doesn't, so I get to run her around to the surgery and stuff....in short, I get the day off! Yay!

Except, it's maintenance day....Booo! I guess I'm glad I stayed up late last night to finish off Outlands for Vanco; yes, he hit the big six eight and has made the journey to Howling Fjord.

I know the quests over in Borean Tundra like the back of my hand, but didn't really like Howling Fjord. So, I figured I'd force myself to pound out the quests from the right side of Northrend just for something different. I may end up doing both of the starting areas if I'm not quite up to the right level for Grizzly Hills or what ever is the next area after Howling Fjord.

The next item up for ole Vanco is probably dual specs so I can start playing around with a tanking spec. I know that I'd be giving up a lot of burst DPS by respecing from Blood, so I'd like to have the option to switch specs without having to go to a trainer. I can also practice tanking rotations and still have the option to switch back to Blood if killing things is taking too long.

And finally, I'll be waiting for 3.2 before buying any flying mounts. It's useless for Vanco and all of my other toons that are below 77, so I might as well wait.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Why do I do?

Firstly, I must apologize to Jay and Robin for not responding sooner to their entreaties to return to the Horde.

I have no idea why I feel like playing this or that toon. In the past, it was easy -

Which toon needs to or has the opportunity to progress?
Which toon will contribute the most to my overall goal of progression in raiding?

Now, it seems that I pick according to:

Which toon am I really enjoying playing?
Which server provides the most support (from my other toons) to continue playing the toon I'm currently enjoying playing?
And, a little more relevant question in light of Jay & Robin moving over to Andorhal, do I feel like PvP or not?

It seems that my like for PvP waxes and wanes according to the cycles of the Jupiter moon, Europa, and even at that, I prefer the organized PvP of the Battlegrounds vs. the world.

Does this mean I'll never go back to Andorhal? Heh! No! I'm sure that Europa will continue to move through her cycles, and I will respond accordingly. I am enjoying playing my little Gnome DK, and I know that my Troll DK would be a blast as well.

So, in short, I have absolutely no idea why I'm playing my Alliance toons over my Horde toons. All I do know is that I am....

Wrap Wrap Wrap, Wrap it up!

I didn't get in a lot of WoW time this weekend, but it was fruitful time.

I logged on Saturday night to check auctions and saw someone LF ranged DPS for a speed Naxx run. I whispered them that I could do that on DV. They sent me an invite once I switched toons, and lo and behold, Teurion was in the raid! Score!

Long story/short, we smashed through Naxx10, Dwarfvader got his T7 shoulders, and got the Naxx clear acheivement. Oh, yeah, and I placed 5th on the damage meter....I wasn't very happy about that. I take some solace in the fact that I did stay above Teurion the Tank....

In other news, Vanco finished up Zangarmarsh, dinged 67, can mine/herb anything in Outlands, and has moved on to Terokkar. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at 68. I'll definitely ding it soon, and Northrend is beckoning...I'll just have to burn that bridge when I get to it.

IRL, my wife and I are continuing to learn the Tango. We were asked to dance Tango in a showcase dance for one of the Friday night dance parties; thankfully, it will be a couple of months before that happens, and we'll have plenty of time to learn new moves and practice our technique. My wife isn't too hot on the idea, though...

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Da Patio!




Hey, how'd that puppa get in there?? Awww...isn't she cute? Denali had a big day at the day spa (groomer) today, and she's all tuckered out.

Things are heating up

..both in RL and in game!

Hopefully, I'll have pictures tomorrow or later tonight....of my new patio! WoooT! It really looks good! The contractor says that it'll lighten up a bit with sun exposure. Now we just have to buy some patio furniture. Hey! I'm like the federal gubment, providin' stimulus's! I'm a hero!

(For the record, I highly disagree with the government taking money from citizens in order to give to other citizens for any reason not directly in line with the specific authorizations spelled out in the U.S. constitution.)

It's looking like Denali is house broken! Yay! We aren't quite ready to let her have the run of the house as in, we have to keep an eye on her, but she has been faithfully going to a door and scratching/whining/jumping when she feels the need to "go".

We felt the need to give our oldest son a deadline to move out. It's unfortunate that he has been unwilling to follow the simple rules of the house in order to remain, but he cannot or will not adhere to what we have stipulated (which is not very much at all), so he has until Aug 31st to find other accommodations. I don't think that he thinks we are serious, but now that the genie has been let out of the bottle, we would lose all credibility if we tried to put it back in, and I hope that he will take action soon to prepare for his exit.

At work, the new MRI is here! I went to Cary, NC for a month to learn about it, and it's good to see it finally being installed. I think it's supposed to be up by next week so that it can be shimmed (the magnetic field needs to be homogeneous); in order to make this happen, the magnet will be ramped up to field, checked for homogeniuity, ramped down, and have metal added in various quantities at precise locations to even out the field.

And then, the whole process is repeated until the field comes into specs. It can take a while to do as the magnet needs to stablize for 2 hours after ramping up.

Oh, yeah, I've played WoW lately too. Vanco is up to 65, trained both profs up to the Grand Master level, and is halfway through the quests in Zangarmarsh. I ran out of rested xp just before I hit 65...so sad.

I also decided to make some glyphs for him; Glyph of Death Grip totally ROCKS!! I love the fact that I don't have to wait for a cooldown in order to yank my next victim! Sweetness!

And, I still haven't found a B&B on Kauai for Sept, so I'm still looking for that...

Monday, July 6, 2009

Random Thoughts

I've been leveling my Alliance DK lately. I am so OP'd!

At lvl 63, I took on the Overlord with a lvl 62 druid and beat him down! I remember "back in the day" that it took a well geared tank to do that. Shoot, even lvl 70's couldn't solo him! Now, I'm sure it's a combo of my OP'dness and the great nerf of whatever patch, but still....

I've almost completed all of Hellfire Penninsula, and it's nowhere near as hard as on my other toons. Now, I did start questing at lvl 60, because I did a couple of levels of Midsummer Festival stuff, but still, it seemed much easier.

The price of Netherweave bags is outrageous! And I love it! I buy full stacks of Netherweave cloth for anywhere less than 6 gold, make a bag, and sell it for 9 - 10 gold. It's a nice racket.

So, all weekend, the price of Netherweave cloth hovered above 5 gold; when I looked this morning, there was at least one screen's worth (25 auctions?) of the same listed for 4 gold buyout. I bought up 19 stacks to make into bags and will buy up more this afternoon if it's still there. I like shooting fish in a barrel!

I ran two Heroics on DV. The first one (where I played a hunter in a Heroic for the first time in many months....what, is that some sort of excuse???), I lost the top DPS slot to a DK by 400 damage.

FOUR HUNDRED OUT OF OVER 400,000!!

Sheesh. So we had the same group for the next one. I made sure that I smoked him that time. You could say I remembered how to play.....

Ishvi healed both of those runs, and nobody died except the DK that DPS'd below Teurion (served him right!). Ishvi is awesome!!

The other day, I healed H. Nexus on Daxie with Teurion tanking. I had huge lag spikes, Teurion forgot to equip some tanking gear (leaving him critable), and we didn't have any deaths. We are awesomesauce!!

Anybody know a good B&B on the island of Kauia that's on the beach and reasonably priced for Sept 16-19; we're lookin'.....