Hall of Fame – 1 Million Gold Cap Club: Syntalating of Vek’nilash-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, Syntalating of Vek’nilash-US, who will be sharing their story with us today.

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

Hello Folks, This is Syntalating the hunter of Vek’nilash US. I am an old School MMO player from as far back as Dark Age of Camelot, with a history of platform gaming thrown in. I’ve been playing wow from shortly before the burning crusade expansion, however I have taken occasional breaks to return to Dark Age and try some of other MMO’s like Warhammer as well.

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

I am definitely a raider, I have Raided progressively since Burning Crusade in every tier of content. That being said I do PvP and am currently pursuing my “Justicar” and “of the Alliance” titles on my mage, while competing in arena on a different character. I try to enjoy both of these aspects along with gold making, it’s a comprehensive experience that makes a game more rewarding to me.

Why did you choose to collect this amount of gold?

For me, the end of Wrath of the Lich King was a horrible time, my guild was burned out from raiding, PvP was starting to become a chore and I was looking for something to occupy my time in game, I was looking something up and stumbled across Stokpile’s blog. Being an avid followre of rel life economics it was a natural progression for me to actively seek the gold cap in my off time.

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

I started at the the beginning of cataclysm, I entered the expansion with 27,000 gold, leveled my raider to 85 and used that remaining money to max her enchanting and engineering, realizing I needed seed money I leveled my paladin gatherer (mining and herbalism) next. I did not step foot in an instance with this character, instead taking advantage of the experience gain for gathering professions. By the time my paladin was 85 I had accumulated about 200,000 gold from gathering and selling alone.

Once my seed money was in place I began selling anything and everything I was able to, Glyphs, Gems, Enchants, Vendor pets, Vendor resale from the AH.

My largest gains however came from stockpiling for content patches, reading patch notes, gold blogs and making educated guesses on what would be big sellers or items in high demand. For instance, my 4.2 stockpile netted about 400,000 gold once properly diversified.

What items are in your Snatch list?

• Obsidium and Elementium ore
• All Herbs
• Every Volatile
• Assorted enchanting mats for all levels of enchants.
• Rare patterns and uncommon items from the Consortium Snatch list.

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

I learned how to make gold the way I have thanks in no small part to the gold blogging community, each and every one that I have read/interacted with even during my own not so successful attempt at blogging. My largest influences however have definitely been Alto , Stokpile, Breevok, and The Gold Queen.

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

My AH addons are diverse but all have their purpose. Auctioneer, Auctionator, TSM, Advanced Tradeskill Window, MySales, and Postal.

Auctioneer for market information and Resale searches, Auctionator for Buying in bulk and selling items not in my TSM groups or large ticket items, TSM for crafting in conjunction with ATSW, along with TSM for bluk auctioning items such as Glyphs, enchant gems, and anything else I sell on a large/frequent scale, Postal for ease of mailbox collection, and Mysales so I can track sales as well as what my competitors (people of interest) have purchased from me.

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

I can’t say right now if I will pursue the 2 Million Club actively, however I do plan to continue my Auction house activities minus a few of my larger time sinks, As of this interview I am at 1.1 million and climbing.

Do many people know you have this amount of gold?

I have told a few people actually. My guild, and of course my Girlfriend, have been aware of my progress and have been encouraging of my pursuit….when they aren’t undercutting some of my auctions!

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

I haven’t actually bought anything yet, but I have been on the lookout for a swift spectral tiger From the TGC card game, I am also imagining at some point I will put some gold into a few of my neglected alts.

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

Know your Markets! Start off small in one market, and learn it, what sells, what doesn’t, and where your supply lines are. once you have these fundamentals in place, branch out.

How about an advanced gold making class?

Do not discount anything as unprofitable, everything has value to someone, if you are actively pursuing an amount of gold and you refuse to sell something because it’s not profitable enough, then you aren’t doing everything possible to ensure your success.

Do you have any good farming strategies or spots?

Rep Items are a fantastic source of income, farming Dungeons for rep items such as Coilfang armaments in Steamvault, or Sanguine Hibiscus in Underbog.

What was the best deal you ever came across?

Without a doubt the ability to vendor green gems for 9 gold, completely reducing the risk in the obsidium shuffle. Risk reduction like that was absolutely fantastic while it lasted, even into 4.1 where you could vendor cut gems for 5 gold helped immensly with gold making pactices.

Do you remember any of your worst deals?

Accidentally posting 10 Maelstrom crystals for 150 gold instead of 1500, And realizing the purchaser was one of my main competitors in the enchanting market, insult to injury doesn’t even begin to describe that one.

What are you predictions for the future WoW economy?

I think more and more you will see people reaching higher amounts of gold, inflation and gold coming into the economy is at an all time high and with old money you will see even simple player crafted items reaching previously though ridiculous prices. I think we will see entertainment imitating life more closely than ever, in the rich getting richer and the poor staying poor(er), the struggle to make gold for the new player will be difficult, but in a much different way than some of the older palyers experienced it.

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

I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read my interview, and I would like to thank Warcraft Econ for hosting the gold cap hall of fame, having a place for our achievements to be recognized is a fantastic thing, keep up the great work.