Hall of Fame – 1 Million Gold Cap Club: Camanokid of Runetotem-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, Camanokid of Runetotem-US, who will be sharing their story with us today.

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

Hello, my name is Camanokid, CK to my friends; I am located on the US-Runtotem (A) server. I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since vanilla, although my gold cap journey only started last year during Wrath of the Lich King. I successfully made the old gold cap of 214k before 4.0 was released.

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

I like to think that I have tried most everything in the game at one point or another during my time with the game. In the past I had been the main hunter for all of MC and could do the pulls with my eyes shut, this was a time before Misdirect! I also tried my hand in PvP in Vanilla and got one character to Knight-Champion, A Fury Warrior back in the day. Currently aside from making gold on the Auction House, you can find me either doing Heroics on one of my many alts, or investing money into Twinks. I truly feel that xp-off Twinking is a solid form of PvP, where everyone can be on the same level without having to grind out honor week by week.

Why did you choose to collect this amount of gold?

Just a personal goal I set for myself. I have always been in the AH market in one form or another. I remember the first time I tried out Auctioneer back in Vanilla, a friend had pointed me in the direction of add-ons to sell my random pick-ups while leveling. I made my thousand gold back in Vanilla by disenchanting and reselling, and also by farming ore and herbs and selling on the AH and was able to buy my epic mount. This was a time when a level one could disenchant any Bind on Equip item. In Burning Crusade I made my first 5k for epic flying again farmingOreand Herbs in Nagrand.

How did you go about getting to this gold amount? Any creative or original ideas?

My main markets are Blacksmithing; Jewel crafting, Inscription, Enchanting, and Vendor Pets. I also have Engineering and Alchemy that I rarely use for AH sells, but mostly for Transmutes and the occasional range weapon to sell.

Blacksmithing – There is money in Belt Buckles! According to Tradeskillmaster sales, this is my highest selling item that has made me the most money. This is the item that everyone will use. Also, PvP wears for plate classes. I think blizzard did a very smart move by allowing crafters to make PvP gear for that season and not having to have us craft ilvl 339 for the next year. Also, make sure to make plenty of rare (blue) items. I was shocked to see how well the Obsidian Executioner would sell, as well as the Hardened Obsidian sets.

Gems – I really think this one is a no brainer. With the right add-on (or a calculator) you will have no problem making gold with gems. Always remember to have your most popular primary and secondary stat gem first, Strength, Agility, Stamina, Hit, and Spirit, and so on so forth. And then invest your daily tokens into your split gems, the 20/20’s. At the time that I am writing this, 4.2 just dropped, and with it came the vendor price of Uncommon (green) gems from 5 gold uncut to 75 silver uncut. I still do not know if this will bring the price of raw ore down to a favorable price for prospecting. But always remember that if you do have excess gems, they can make for some cheap enchanting mats or transmutes.

Enchanting – This was my last profession that I tried making gold with. The problem with enchanting is the price and the amount of the items on the AH. You could go onto your AH and have 100 Large Brilliant Shards for 5g each one day, and the next day have 10 for 100g each. The market is so sporadic with mats on my server. But take a look on your server, what kind of players are on it? Do you have any Twinks guilds on your server? BC enchants only take ilvl 35 to enchant. Wrath enchants take lvl 60. Fit your gold making around the needs of the server. With enchanting, you don’t want to forget the alts, the people who will be enchanting their heirlooms with the best enchants they can find. +100 hp to chest, +15 agility to weapon, Crusader, spell power, healing power, these are all enchants recipe’s that you should have. And always have at least one out there.

Inscription – My love hate child. I can truly say I made my first 200k with this profession in WotLK (even more after glpymas). But that was in the good ol’ days when ink of the sea was 1g and it took one ink to make a glyph. I have even made a successful glyph wall a couple of times just to chase the compition out. I loved inscription back in the day. It is a huge time sink now. Even with the add-ons to speed up the process its still 5 steps from buying the mats (or farming), milling, turning into ink, making the glyph, posting the glyph. And you will need at least 2 alts with inscription bags if you want to post at least one of each glyph. I am still in the glyph market now, but mostly if I can find the ink’s on the AH for a cheap price. I also make darkmoon cards from the excess ink uncommon ink I have left over, I am always on the lookout for primal life and mote of life.

Vendor pets – people will pay 5g for the Tabby Cat you buy outside the Stormwind gates for 36s. They’ll pay 200g for the Hatchling you buy from the Dalaran pet seller for 50g. I have made 10’s of thousands of gold in the past year from these items. Whenever I create a random alt on a server, this is one of the first things I do to make a quick gold.

Engineering – Make some pets, make some range weapons, make some scopes. This profession is mostly just for my main for having some fun and the tinkering items you get from it. I hope to continue making gold with making some of the new guns from the fireland dailies.

Alchemy – Transmutes, if you are a pre-cata player, I hope you have done the quest to be able to see the dead outside of Scholomance. There is a NPC that sells the Transmute Essence of Water into Essence of Air. Essence of Air is used for 2 of the best Heirloom weapon enchants, 15 agility to weapon, and 25 agility to 2h weapon. The drop rate of essence of air was dropped in silithus, and this gives a good market for people to use their cool down on. Also this will be good for epic gems if they ever come into play.

What items are in your Snatch list?

I have items on my list that I will go through frequently, Celestial Essences, Volatile Fire, Earth, Water, Life, Air, Primal Life and mote of life. Cheap Inks for glyphs since I’m lazy and don’t want to mill all day. Also make sure you have the undermine journal hooked up for e-mail alerts. I am a user of the remote AH and often get my best deals when I am away from the computer.

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

My gold cap journey started last year, and the first person I would like to thank is Basil Bernsten over at WoWinsider.com for his Gold Cap articles. I had never had a problem with making gold for repairs and regents, but his first couple of posts really rocketed my profit. I’ve never talked to the man, or sent him an e-mail, but always tuned in every week for his articles and also his old podcast, Call to Auction. Also a big thanks to Markco for all the work he put into Just My Two Copper blog and forums. Lastly, a podcast I have been listing to for the past couple of weeks is The Warcraft Lounge.  The podcast’s Economical Minute is usually pretty unique and doesn’t go over the same thing one blogger said 2 weeks earlier.

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

Trade Skill Master is the number one add-on that you must have if you really want to increase your gold and make life a hell of lot easier. Next, have at least one character with Auctioneer just to run your daily scans and snatch list. Beancounter that comes with Auctioneer is good to keep running on all your toons incase TSM resets on you. Also, I keep Auctionator running on all my toons to make buying and selling that much easier. For crafting other than TSM, lilsparky’s workshop will make it easier to track the profit that you can make at the time of crafting.

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

I will continue to post and craft items, but I will be slowing down on reposting and undercutting, I’ve made my million gold, I’ll let the vultures of my realm fill in the hole I will leave.

Do many people know you have this amount of gold?

My RealID friends do, and a couple of guildies, but no one else really. It’s not that I don’t want them to know, it’s that I don’t want beggers. Also my wife knows… She also wants to know why we arnt millionares in real life!?!?!

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

Mounts, I’ve  made the chopper, sandstone drake, and bought the mammoth. I’ve also tossed a couple ten thousands of gold into the guild banks of where my main is located. As for  a new gold sink, if Blizzard would release an achievement for us millionaires I would love if it was a Devilsor with a top hat and monocle, that would be epic.

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

Communication, open up your communication to your farmers and your competition.  See what their goal is.

Do you have good farming strategies or spots?

I’ll probably get flamed for this, but it’s a statement that I left on the JMTC forums before “Farming is for peons”. After spending hours on end in burning crusade farming in Nagrand, I don’t farm anymore. I do have a gatherer, but I use him mostly for when new expansions come out and prices are through the roof.

What was the best deal you ever came across?

I bought an ilvl 359 leather agility chest off the AH for 40g. It showed up on my disenchant Auctioneer scan, so it was up for a while, at least 5 minutes.

Do you remember any of your worst deals?

I’ve made the mistake of spamming post with my mouse key through an option of TSM and logging off. I’ve often returned with gems selling for 2g, and enchant scrolls selling for way less then what they should have been posted for. Remember to sort your auctions by price on the standard Blizzard AH UI and making sure you have not done what I have.

What are your future plans with WoW?

Get into raiding again hopefully. I found a new good home with my main and hope to continue playing with all of them.

What are you predictions for the future WoW economy?

Epic Gems, when will they be here? Where will they come from? Players will want to keep an eye on the patch notes and also other popular data mining sites and get the leg up on the competition. Players who like to make gold through farming will want to get their paths down early and post often. Also with each new patch with Cataclysm, come new BoE epics, I think the price of these items will rise to above 50,000g by the time the next expansion comes out. Gold is truly easy to make now, even if you just do the dailies.

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

A lot of times you will read that people stock pile mats for that rainy day. I have never been a fan of stockpiling. Not stockpiling might have prevented me from making the cap a lot earlier, but I am still happy with the outcome. Good luck to all those out there on the long journey to 1 million gold.