◊ manly

As I said, this would be how the underlying platform would work. Its trivial to build a UI on top that looks roughly like the AH. I just pointed out an extremely simple example there -- for the most part its nothing more than a glorified list of stuff available. It is *intentional* that all that this would do is give you a list of people who has what you're looking for, and nobody else holds the stuff. It is the job of the seller to COD you the item after you bought it, or meet in person.
Well, ok, then change the broadcast algorithm I chalked up. Remove the 'willing-to-pay' price from requests made on the channel. Picture this

[You are a buyer, and you're looking for 'netherweave cloth'. You send a broadcast to the channel. Every seller in the channel that has netherweave cloth for sale will reply to you in PM the # they have available, as well as the price per unit.]

What would it matter if people scam? All that would happen in that scenario is that the buyer would lose time by not getting the item he wanted to buy from scammer vendor x, and scammer vendor x doesn't get any gold. I don't see much exploitation possible with this, only time lost really.

In the end, all that the system does is link the buyer to the seller. The system does not do any transaction, it just tries to automate it. If the transaction was in fact automatic, then it would have to involve an escrow service. Interestingly, the AH is roughly an escrow service in a way. It costs 5% too. What were trying to do here is essentially remove the escrow, so yes, it will come with pitfalls. Hence why I propose a system that does not attempt to do escrow because thats what I'm trying to remove.

Also, as far as I am aware, despise never having coded in lua, without being in a raid/party/guild with other players, the only way to 'broadcast' data is via a channel. A channel would be essentially perfect for this. What you need to understand here is that what I proposed is the backbones protocol on which a mod would work over -- the user would never see anything in that channel. If someone goes on the channel and starts talking about random junk, then he probably won't have any reply because the channel is purely meant for mod communication. If you feel like sending random junk that will get filtered out, have fun. In practical terms, I think the best part of having an 'open channel' would be able for anyone to see live what items are being requested. Know your market if you will.

---- edit
You realise that it would be equally trivial to have a bot merge the 2 data sets ? You have a dedicated player/bot that scans the ah every time he logs on, remembers the name of the player starting the 'normal AH' auctions, and the buyout prices, store all of that info, and when someone requests on the mod 'auction channel', that bot/player would automatically return matches with the normal AH.

I do realise it would imply that you advertise for other players, and that it would be easy to 'change the names around' and make people believe that gonktarget has indeed every single item from the auction house at 1 copper each. I don't have much to say here besides 'its very doable, but remember that the mod knows also who sent the reply telling you who has x item available', so it would be easy to backtrack whoever was to do that.

Log on with different model:
1- Create a character of the desired model. Log on/off.
2- At character selection screen, select your actual character; mouseover the new, desired model character, and hold down left click; hit enter and release left click at the same time.
bug Arcane Potency only applies to the first Arcane Missile bolt.

 

Risingstar

Great idea Manly, now it's my turn to play the devil's advocate.... <insert evil face>

1) User penetration - or what we call in economics the fax machine effect. You have to have a certain install base for this to work well. The sad facts that a lot people don't use mods or certain mods. Now if this mod becomes wildly popular then it will force people to get it, but that will be a difficult point.

2) Mod doesn't function when user logs off - since the AH stores the information, I can just log off in front of the AH and then log back on say after work and see if any of my stuff sold. Many people also uses AH/Bank alts for this purpose, although that might easily be circumvented by keeping track of all the things you have for sell on all of your alts.

3)Economic costs of CODing - is the extra hassle really worth it to people? I mean with the AH it's at least simple, find a buyer, wait 1hr, collect money from mail box. CODing will be a complicated process that also can cause headaches. What if you mail it to some jackass that doesn't respond forever and then you'd have to wait for three days before you get it back. Even WOWWiki have documented COD scams that forces you to remove your item for sale to gain a market advantage.

Not saying it's a bad idea, but these are just the major weaknesses I can foresee.

 

Pleochism

Part of the reason that it was so incredibly profitable for the early adopters was because nobody really knew how the profession was going to pan out, so designs were being sold for laughably low prices. I personally picked up every single design for a total cost of maybe 3-4k. Now that people have had a taste of what a new profession is like, I think...scrolls? runic words of power? whatever, are going to sell for a LOT more initially...10k might be insufficient. Plus you just know thousands of other people have had the same idea, and are going to be racing to 450

 

jilanea

The main disadvantage to an auction house cod mod is that the people who you make most money from probably wouldn't use it (people who want things instantly and people who have very little clue of worth).

Can see it being handy for bulk buying or selling and for high end raid items. Would be very handy for finding out which guilds have spare sunwell patterns, sunmotes etc.

 

pixelgrunt

More baseless speculation on Inscription. Someone mentioned the difference between re-gemming with gear upgrades keeping the demand up, while spells may only need to be inscribed once.

When you re-spec talents, you are re-learning many of them. Maybe this will be the reset-mechanism keeping the demand for Inscription services up...

Just a thought.

 

Cortabre

They changed the way re-speccing affects your spells last patch. When you respec, your character "saves" the spells you don't have access to anymore, and putting the talent point in the appropriate place will "unlock" that spell again. I would imagine it would work the same way with inscriptions on spells, and is probably one of Blizzard's reasons for implementing that change.

Edit to add to discussion: That is not to say that you will only inscribe a spell once. I would imagine people will inscribe different spells to suit needs for a given situation (i.e. a warlock inscribing +threat on Searing Pain to learn Leo or Illidan, for example). I imagine even given the relatively long time between inscriptions it will still continue to be immensely profitable well into the expansion.

 

pixelgrunt

I thought Blizzard just changed it so you no longer have to pay for the new spells. When I re-spec my mage for example, and take Pyroblast, I see the multiple ranks scroll by in yellow text as 'You learned a new spell: Pyroblast Rank 2' etc. I'm just imagining ways for inscriptions to be a more enduring market.

I could see the desire for users to re-inscribe their spells, similar to how people re-gem gear. Maybe the Lock in your example wants more threat on Searing Pain for the Leo/Illidan fight, but then wants less threat/more damage/longer DoT/shorter casting time/etc. for other fights.

**redundantly edited for redundancy**

 

Whistles

Several folks I know respec multiple times a week (between arena and filling multiple roles in raids). Getting all their inscriptions redone would be pretty ludicrous.

I think you're a lot more likely to see inscriptions that stick and maybe there just won't be a constant market. Think blacksmithing, very few consistent money making opportunities from it and the ones that it does have are a bit random and tacked on (enchanting rods and sharpening stones). I'm expecting something similar from inscription.

 

• Feist-Mok

they could also give some of the more desirable inscriptions a set duration or number of charges. Say maybe that inscription that adds a knockback to your pyroblast when activated only works 50 times and then you need to buy a new one. Or maybe inscriptions that fade every Tuesday with server resets. Any number of ways to do it really.

 

vorda

Actually, for some reason that system still often forgets your spell ranks. I used to respec 4-5 times a week for sunwell and had to relearn my spell ranks at least once a week.

 

Mideci

They could still fix it so that you get a "talent stable" and are allowed to maintain two semi-permanent specs that require, say, a trainer visit and allow you to swap between those. Each could stay "inscribed" and only if you modify something in each sub-spec in a fundamental way would the inscriptions need to be redone.

Many of us have advocated for such a thing here and elsewhere. A search would probably bring up the relevant threads. It doesn't really belong here, so I'll discuss it no further.

 

Macblade

I believe that I read an interview somewhere saying that you'd be able to pick between different inscriptions when you were out of combat, but I've read so much stuff recently that I'm not really sure it was even WoW I was reading about or something else intirely that I'm confusing it with. If that were the case, then you would have to get re-inscribed, you'd just get them both then trade back and forth in another button off your character window.

Anyway, it's possible that Blizz would do something stupid and add something extra to gin up more Inscription trade, but honestly every idea I've read above seems rediculous. What motivation is there for adding some silly rule about number of charges? Most of the professions in WoW are not based around a continuous market - tailoring, leatherworking, blacksmithing, they are all designed around making one thing once (with a few exceptions). Blizz seems pretty happy with that model, I don't imagine they'd go to great lengths to artificially add some way of making inscription something that will be in constant demand.

 

Cortabre

Enchanting new gear, gemming new gear, armor kits, spellthreads, potions, flasks, and elixirs are all made constantly. Every profession is in constant demand (with the exception of blacksmithing, but you could even say runes of warding are consumable although not in spectacularly high demand). Blizz seems pretty happy with this model, so I can't imagine why inscription would be any different, or at least have some component that is constantly desired.

 

Prinsesa

One of the first (and only) leaked Inscription recipes was a chest "enchant" that increased your spell damage by 3 for one hour. It's basically a weapon oil/sharpening stone that doesn't have any competition with the Windfury Totem.

For any min-maxer, this is going to be a must-have for raiding.

Also, wikidot also uncovered spell IDs that seem to indicate Inscription is going to be able to manufacture Scrolls of Strength/Agility/Intellect/etc., which presents another potential consumable.

Given these, even if spell inscriptions like "your Pyroblast has knockback" are permanent and persistent through respecs, there's more than enough room to make Inscription a constantly-profitable profession in the same way Enchanting and Jewelcrafting are.

"We do want Sanctuary to be the tanking seal"

- Ghostcrawler

 

jeleh

in regards to farming waters, as a mage skettis is just godly, if you plan ahead and intend to do a bit of farming. I'm a mage and i buy a few underwater breating elixirs that last an hour a pop, spec arcane for the mana regen and use mage armour, they only have like 6k health or something shameful, couple this with frostward so ya take no damage, mana gems and evo, you rarely have to stop, infact i have sometimes gone 2 hours without having to drink once, on average i make 8-12 primals an hour doing this, and as another tip, if your grinding and a couple of other people show up, dont give up and go elsewhere, typically the average person will spend about 20-30 mins before they get bored and go elswhere.

 

ZeroWashu

Why not a compliment to Alchemy? It fits the usage you don't think will work for Inscription. With alchemy they already have a system to model inscription on. Of the other trade skills some support more repeated usage than others. Enchanters can make oils which are charge based, Blacksmiths make sharpening stones and the like, and Engineers make ammo usable regardless of profession, explosives and bots by other engineers.

So having inscription have a set of items which are charge based is not out of line with the current system. It would be useful if as some as hinted at the ability to make scrolls and similar. One thing I would like see fixed to open the market more for BS is to remove the overlap of shaman buffs and sharpening stones. I am curious if inscription will have the same problem if there is a reusable weapon buff.

I saw hints of it using herbs which I found interesting, this will give more life to low end herbalism and should be good as a burst source of gold for the first few weeks or months.

 

Floria

I think it would be poor planning if Blizzard made inscriptions work in any way like alchemy. Raiders already have food buffs, weapon oils/stones, scrolls, elixirs/flasks, and potions to think about, and that's after the alchemy nerf. It'd be great to finally have a consistent, reliable source of scrolls, but adding additional temporary bonuses to chest, belt, whatever would just go against their previous plans.

An inscribed belt buckle though, that'd be keen.

 

ceasefire

This is the art of making gold, not the art of speculating on a profession that is six months away. Is it really necessary to derail with such talk and to also move into gibberish/intellectual e-preening about programs/algorithms that have no practical use? Auctioneer/BTM have enough functionality to enable a lot of profit regardless. If you could convert WoW currency to RL monies at a more favorable clip, I would be more motivated to push past a certain gold number.

Back on topic, I have started to realize that the inflation from the new waves of dailies has made a lot of people lazy. I'm sure others have stressed it before, but simply taking the time to ask guildmates or trade channel to create combines for you taps into a lot of niche markets that generate a lot of revenue (profits of 200-400+).

If you look across the spectrum of all finished good professions (BS, LW, Enchanting, Tailoring, JC, Alchemy, Engineering)..... almost all of them have incredibly efficient ways of sustaining 1k+ gold a week. Simple examples of taking the time to combine items for the lazy (Epic Cloth Threads, Epic Leg Armors, even Khorium Power Cores and Adamantite Frames) have been provided.

But other markets haven't really been brought up. Other examples off the top of my head are finished goods like Rods (a certain old world Rod creates profit margins of about +30-40g 3-4 times a day on my server), vanity pets (read:Engineering), Scopes, Bags, Meta Gems, and Alchemy (which is basically unlimited, infinite gold with the consumable market and the right spec).

If only we could turn this gold into real life cash . They need to introduce more gold sinks like titles and mounts!

 

Floria

Is alchemy really "unlimited" gold on your server? It seems that between the relative cheapness of leveling alchemy and the expense of herbs, most profit tends to be squeezed out by under-cutting. I'm sure buy-low (in bulk) and sell high works to a degree, but I'm lucky to net 5g on a stack of elixirs on my server, and I don't even try potions because I'm not specced that way.

For comparison, every epic leather armor I craft is roughly 50g profit for rubbing my Tauren hands together and laughing maniacally.

 

Xelopheris

If your server doesn't do Naxx pugs regularly, stock up on some Arcane Crystals, Righteous Orbs, and Nexus Crystals. Post your naxx pug announcement on your realm forums, list the attunement mats on AH, and watch auctions sell.

 

Torq

Except it's already been seen that there are "runewords" that are temporary item enchants.

http://urlshort.com/wotlk/site/views...?spellid=46754 is the only one currently in the spells database, but I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed to be an inscription recipe.

 

alienangel

Late reply, but I suspect the price hike you saw was due to more and more people rerolling leatherworking for drums. You don't actually need Cobra Scales to hit the 350 you need to use drums, but you can use them to get to 375, which many classes will want to do anyway, either for the sunwell patterns, or just for general SSC/TK patterns. And making nethercobra legs is a fairly profitable way to level, and to keep making money after you're levelled.

 

Starfire

Uhm. Isn't that exactly what Enchanting use to do in the original Alpha? With imbues?

 

ceasefire

Well examples are:

Using Terocone as 25g a stack, Lichen as 30g a stack, Netherboom as 30g a stack, and Felweed as 5g a stack (all other herbs are 1g each roughly.

Haste potions are 5g, Major Defense- 4g, Agility- 4g, Draenic Wisdom- 4g, Flasks- +10-20g profit over raw mats and such. The different niche potions that raid classes use are all marked up about 1-2 g and the market is voracious. So counting procs I'd say an alchemist could probably make thousands of gold just from setting certain herb prices to snatch.

 

Floria

Ah, then it's definitely server-dependent. KJ Horde has Terocone at 53g per stack as of last night.