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

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

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since the beta in 2004 and everything I do I take to extremes. I’ve been a guild GM and raid leader, a heavy PvPer (Marshal rank) and now I’ve gone totally overboard on gold making.

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

I tend to go in streaks, but right now I’m doing moderate PvE raid content and heavy AH PvP.

Why did you choose to collect this amount of gold?

I originally turned to making gold as a new way to enjoy the game. Towards the end of WotLK the raid content slowed way down and I needed a new challenge. Naturally having played the game for a long time, I knew the value of a lot of gold. I’ve come to find out that having enough gold to buy whatever I wanted was a nice perk but reaching the goal was the true reward.

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

I’ve found that like most things in life, hard work was the key. Everyone gets lucky from time to time, but the really successful people are the ones who prepare and are ready when luck comes along.

Those times of great opportunity are usually around the times of new patches. Demand for a lot of items goes way up at these times, so one can research and use the past as our guide for the future. I learned the ins and outs of the AH in the weeks leading up to patch 4.0. When the patch came out I was ready with my professions (mostly JC) and turned what I learned into good solid profits.

I don’t have any magic secrets, but have picked up a lot of knowledge along the way. I have max level on all professions (except for engineering) and I research the heck out of any markets I’m in (using The Undermine Journal heavily) and I’m not afraid to lose some gold to learn the ins and outs of a market. Diving in and taking some reasonable risks to gain knowledge is a great way to have fun and learn.

What is your master list?

My server is very high population with several sophisticated goblins in every market, so it is very difficult to sell items that have low demand. Right now I’m concentrating on commodity items with healthy demand and a selection of the most profitable 75 glyphs. If you go to Wowpopular.com and look for the top 3 gems in every color and the top 7 meta gems, that would be my list. For glyphs I use Tradeskill Master to figure out what are the most profitable glyphs that are in demand and sell the top 75. Besides glyphs and gems, I also sell enchanting materials that come from the obsidian shuffle and belt buckles.

What items are in your Snatch list?

I have a normal list of rare snatch items, but mostly I buy ore when it is at a low price. I use Tradeskill Master to buy materials for ink when it is at a low price and keep a reasonable inventory to even out the spikes in material supply.

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

A lot of my basic knowledge came from Basil Berntsen on the Gold Capped blog. I also learned a lot from the #jmtc channel on IRC. Thanks guys and gals!

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

I use a ton of addons for a lot of different things, but the core ones I use for gold making are:

Tradeskill Master — to manage glyph crafting and auction house posting

Postal — used to make the collection of large quantities of mail managable

Altoholic — great for totaling up the gold you have and items in stock on alts

Auctionator — great for buying and selling one offs

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

I’m really looking forward to the new raid content in Firelands, so I’m assuming that I will be spending less time on the AH, but I anticipate continuing to work on the most profitable areas to support the new raid content.

Do many people know you have this amount of gold?

Several members of my guild know that gold is not something I worry about having, but only a few know exactly how much I have.

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

I freely spend gold on gear for alts without remorse, however I’ve only recently started buying things that do not have a functional value (like the Vial of the Sands). It is fantastic to never have to worry about gold.

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

I would focus on the need for patience, preparation and risk. It’s important to do your homework and take a long term view, but you also can’t be afraid to take reasonable risks to learn about something. You only regret the things you don’t do!

How about an advanced gold making class?

There are a lot of good “systems” out there, but you should find one that makes sense for the amount of time and energy you are willing to devote to it. Remember that this is a game and what we’re doing should be fun and challenging!

Do you have good farming strategies or spots?

The only farming I do is at the Auction House. My favorite location is the Dwarven District in Stormwind. The Auction House, Bank, Mailbox and Blacksmith are all within a city block! Dalaran is also a great place to park your glyph maker for similar reasons.

What was the best deal you ever came across?

My most memorable deals were at the beginning of Cataclysm where I bought up a LOT of underpriced the ore on the auction house and flipped it quickly.

Do you remember any of your worst deals?

I’ve lost a fair amount of gold learning new markets. For example, I took a pretty big bath with Jewelcrafting rings at the start of Cataclysm. I saw that many of them were listed as best in slot items and figured that there would be a big demand. I was wrong and it took a long time to re-coop my costs.

What are your future plans with WoW?

I love the game and my guild so I won’t be quitting any time soon. I will probably refocus on raiding in patch 4.2 and dabble in AH PvP to support my gear habit.

What are you predictions for the future WoW economy?

I don’t anticipate any major changes in the pattern of the WoW economy. I think the WotLK pattern will hold true for the Cataclysm cycle. Of course, I can’t read the developers minds about how they want to change things, so I can’t predict how things will be beyond that.

Please tell us a little bit about how you handle your real life finances. What are the differences and similarities with how you do things in WoW?

World of Warcraft provides a great way to take giant risks with money that I would never do in real life. Maybe WoW needs to add children to the game as a gold sink!

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

Work hard, be prepared and you will be ready when luck comes your way.