Hall of Fame – 500k Gold Club: Kermilion of Medivh-US

The Warcraft Econ Hall of Fame interviews the few elite players that have hit the World of Warcraft gold cap of 999,999 gold 99 silver 99 copper as well as ones who have obtain 500k and 250k. We have with us, Kermilion of Medivh-US, who will be sharing their story with us today.

Please tell us a little about yourself and your gaming experience.

I’m Kermilion of Medivh, an Alliance Holy Pally. Kermilion is the name I used on Shandris, so I decided to keep it for use here. I changed my name when I transferred to Medivh in February of 2010. And for security reasons wish to use it now, but I’m not Kermilion anymore!. Anyway, you can see my submission in the original gold capped players. I have been playing WoW since just before Burning Crusade came out. I played casual and was a total noob, until I got introduced to Raiding. And healing seemed to be my game. I have hit several notable achievements along the way, 1 Billion HP healed, gold capped (2 or 3 times), etc. . I have been playing video games since PONG!

Do you raid or PvP most? Both? How do you enjoy the game?

I only PvP for achievements and have just about quit raiding. I was spending WAY too much time on WoW and had to cut back on time played. But I still worked the auction house twice per day. So taking a long break and coming back to really playing the game when Cataclysm released was a change for me.

Why did you choose to collect this amount of gold?

Just to see if it could be done! Leveling a toon is so much better if you have lots of gold to throw at it!

How did you go about getting to the gold cap? Any creative or original ideas?

I have 3 main toons, enchanting/JC, mining/engineering, herb/inscription. As I said before, determine what people are buying and sell it to them. BC was the beginning of major profits with the introduction of JC. I would take ore, prospect it, convert gems and sell them. You could take the minor gems, make rings/necklaces, disenchant them, and sell the enchanting mats. This strategy has held up until the present, and works very well in Cataclysm. I also purchased minor, low level greens cheap, and converted them to enchanting mats. enchanting mats have always sold well, and you can make a fortune on just them. Wrath was a great gold maker with the introduction of Inscription. Glyphs sold for a great profit margin, were cheap to produce, and easy to post. My Cataclysm strategy is to work all of the professions at my disposal.

FIND YOUR OWN PERSONAL FARMER! I have a couple of dedicated farmers working for me. They will farm the raw mats (ore and herbs) and send them to me COD. It benefits us both. I pay less than auction prices for my mats and they have a guaranteed sell, without worrying about being undercut or paying the auction house fees. I hate farming, the profit per hour is too low and I have less time to craft items for sale. My farmers hate crafting, they just want to farm and get gold without the auction house hassle.

I only craft and sell things with a decent profit margin, and items that actually sell. Gems with spell penetration combined with agility aren’t going to sell. Gems with stamina combined with intelligence will. And food will sell. Most people are lazy or do not have alot of time. Use that to your advantage! Buy food mats cheap make the food and resale it! The food buffs are huge, +90 Stamina and +90 (insert your favorite stat here). Skewered eel seems to sell well, and the food buffs for +spirit and + intel sell well too!

Cataclysm has not changed my  gold making strategy very much. I still get herbs from my farmers, mill them into ink, and make glyphs to sell. Glyphs are still selling but I only make glyphs for sale that go for over 50G. (Profit Margin, remember?) Jewelcrafting is now the “Elementium shuffle”.  Figured this one out first day, just like the old “saronite shuffle”. Here’s how it works.

Take your ore (Right now, Elementium ore works best), prospect it to get your gems. Cut your blue Gems, Purified Demoneye, Solid Ocean Sapphire, Reckless Ember Topaz all sell well right now, and I’m sure other cuts will as soon as I get the patterns! I take the lesser gems (the green ones) and convert them into rings and necklaces. Which I then Disenchant into enchanting materials, which are posted on the auction house. I scan enchants on the auction house. If there is a greater profit margin right then on enchants, I will keep the materials and enchant scrolls for sale.

OK, now that I’ve told you the “Whats”, lets talk about When.  More people are online in the afternoon and evenings than in the mornings. Most raids occur in the late afternoon and evenings. In the mornings, I will post glyphs and some gems and enchantng mats, but not for the lowest price. Why?? The late nighters are just finishing their dungeons, they got new gear and want to enchant/gem. Then they want to run their dailies, before they log off. (You are doing your dailies, aren’t you? Cooking and Fishing should be done everyday! As well as your professions, if they have one. These provide patterns for more diverse products, as well as rep and gold!) Not many people are going to be running dungeons. So I will post at a price just ABOVE 3 or 4 of whats on the AH, I may sell and I may not, but if I do, I make more gold than my competition. So, between 6 – 8 am, post some of your wares. In the early afternoon, people are going to want everything, so I post everything I have, undercutting everyone. You will be cut! Someone will undercut you, not a problem. I f I have time, I will cancel and re-post every 2 hours all night.

What is your master list?

Well, no specific list, but here goes:

Glyphs: any glyph that is selling for over 50G, make 1 or 2 and post them

Gems: Epics always sell well, with that said, I always try to find what cut is going for the most profit at the moment. +stamina, +intellect, +agility gems always sell. And the combo gems (orange/purple/green) do well if you concentrate on what a specific talent tree needs. I.E. healers will want +intellect/+spirit.

Enchanting mats: Dust and Essence sell the best, shards will sell, but not as fast nor in the quantities of dust or essences.

What items are in your Snatch list?

I rarely use these, as stated before, I have dedicated farmers that COD my mats to me, for cheaper that the going auction house prices. But I do scan the AH occasionally. Herbs and ores are what I deal in 99% of the time.

How did you learn to do it? Anyone or resource you would like to thank?

I learned from a variety of places, Warcraftecon, of course, My Two Copper, Greedy Goblin, there are many sites, I usually scan and read articles there at least twice a week.

What addons, if any, do you use to help you make gold and why are they needed?

Auction Profit Master (formerly Quick Auctions 3) and postal. APM has a scan tool to see what you do and do not have posted and what the lowest price is. That is what I base my decision on what to make and post for the day. You can scan just Gems, or Just Glyphs, etc. It also posts much faster than you could ever do manually, once you have it configured properly.

Postal empties your mailbox for you. So much less keyboard time!

Are you still going for more gold?  If so, do you have a new goal? Are you close?

Yes, shooting for the magical 1 million. I’m about 550k at the moment. Now that Cataclysm has released, I’m making about 12,000 G per day in profit.

Do many people know you have this amount of gold?

Nope, my son does, but that’s about it.

Did you spend your gold on fun things? What have you bought? What things would you like to buy?

LOL,  My main has the traveling tundra mount, every toon I have has 4 Portal Hole bags, I even purchased the 24 slot bags for my bank slots too. I’ve got just about every mount and pet in the game. If you can buy it, I’ve bought it. When I hit the first gold cap, I donated 10k to my guild bank, paid for repair for the whole guild for a week! I also send my son gold anytime he needs it!

If you were the professor of a Gold Making 101 college class, what would be some things you would talk about?

K.I.S.S.  an old military acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. You don’t need 47 spread sheets and 5 computers to make gold, it’s really pretty simple. A few addons and a piece of paper, with a pen or pencil is all you really need.

How about an advanced Gold Making class?

Then we would go into specifics on what sells and what don’t. Those crafted epics that sell for 25k are nice, but your only going to sell 1 or 2 a week, most players don’t have that kind of gold. You really wanna be the Wal-Mart of WoW, lot’s of stuff at cheap prices. Deal in volume and have multiple sources of income. NEVER rely on just one profession, it will dry up one day!

Do you have good farming strategies or spots?

Just the strategy of farming farmers! Where to farm? I don’t know. Don’t care. I farm my mail box every day and get what I need!

What was the best deal you ever came across?

A week into Cataclysm, ore was selling for about 275 – 300 g per stack. Someone forget to check the “per unit” button, picked up a lot of elementium ore for about 18G per stack!

Do you remember any of your worst deals?

Yep, I did the same thing, posted Heavenly shards, 5 per stack, for 90G, it should have 90G per shard, i posted them for 18 per shard.

What are your future plans with WoW?

Make my main the most complete toon it can be. I want every pet, mount, reputation, achievement, etc.

What are you predictions for the future WoW economy?

With all economies come ebbs and flows, Glyphs are going to slowly die, once you buy it you own it, so inscription is going way down in volume. Jewelcrafting will be around for a while, as well and enchanting. But my money for the future will probably come from Alchemy, that’s the one profession that has been steady since the start!

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview for Warcraft Econ. Do you have any last words?

Just keep it simple, and if you don’t need it, don’t buy it! Or wait a week or so till the price comes down! You will never amass gold if you pay premium price for everything. Buy Wholesale and sell Retail!

The new Cataclysm gold cap is one million gold, but we do have a 500k and 250k gold club as well. Please read these guidelines on how to apply for our Hall of Fame.