Hall of Fame – 1 Million Gold Cap Club: Icey of The Forgotten Coast-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 obtained 500k and 250k. We have with us, Icey of The Forgotten Coast-US, who will be sharing their story with us today.

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

Icey, US-The Forgotten Coast, GM of Order of Chaos (Formed January 2007)

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

PVE is my primary focus, though I do enjoy wrecking up level 70 battle grounds on my twink paladin.

Why did you choose to collect this amount of gold?

I am a very goal oriented person and prior to cataclysm, I put a majority of my attention towards achievements. I started losing interest there, though, once I finished Loremaster.  I am a guildmaster in a small raiding guild, and we’re pretty casual (6 hours per week).  Reaching the gold limit was a goal that offered a unique challenge and a certain amount of prestige (not many people have reached the gold limit) that I was unable to find with collecting achievements; and through my endeavors I became able to further assist my friends and guildmates.

Anyone or resource you would like to thank?

All Bloggers, and TUJ.  Most of my markets have come from the bloggers.

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

I started out reading the blogs and trying adapt some of the ideas I found interesting.   I’m primarily a copy-cat, taking the ideas from many of the blogs and working them on my fairly small server.  Using the new json worldofwarcraft.com provides has made my job as a gold maker significantly easier.  If you know databases, and want to make your own TUJ, the new json allows it.

The main markets I work in are:

Blue Gems, Enchanting Scrolls and Mats, Bloodthirsty Items from Tailoring, Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting and Inscription, low level blue weapons, pets (both vendor and daily) and  glyphs.

What is your master list?

I have hundreds of items, but here’s the list .

What items are in your Snatch list?

All cataclysm herbs, elementium ore, and essence of air.

How did you learn to do it?

Mostly learning on my own, and by reading through many blogs.

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

My main addon is TSM, with additional usage of auctionator and auctioneer.

I use TSM for inventory management, posting and cancelling of most of my auctions.  Auctionator for individual postings of random items and auctioneer for the snatch list and disenchant option.

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

I’m not sure, I’ve given away over 100,000 and just got back to one million, going to give more away, then probably go for two million.

Do many people know you have this amount of gold?

My guild does have a very significant amount of gold, and I suspect some players on the server also do.  I actually announced it in trade the night I first hit it.  I thanked the server for their patronage, and went back to making gold.  As a fun guild event, I had many of my guildmates guess the day I’d hit one million gold, and the winner received 50,000g.  All participants got 2,000g just for entering their guess.

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

I’ve been considering purchasing all the mounts, specifically the expensive and rare ones.   There is not much I would like to purchase for myself, though; I truly enjoy helping others, so I will be buying many epics and the like for my guild.

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

I’d discuss inventory management primarily.   Find a profession you enjoy doing and make as much as you can from that.  Organizing your items is critical to success.  Keeping stock rolling can be difficult with price fluctuations.

How about an advanced gold making class?

I find market exposure to be a major thing.  The more gold you have in the auction house, the more you’ll end up making.  It’s very important not to saturate markets. And also that you should try not to make enemies when posting hundreds of items, though I often refer to playing the auction house as an alternative form of pvp.

Additionally, evaluate for yourself if using the json feed from worldofwarcraft.com is worth using.  I’ve been using it since they released it in 4.2, and it’s absolutely fantastic.  I convert the json into a small access database and create unique looks at the database.  It’s similar to what TUJ provides, but focused on what markets I’m into.

Do you have any good farming strategies or spots?

Halaa disenchanting, simple but effective. Blasted Lands rare spawns, also very effective.  UBRS is super fast, and gets a ton of mats.  Finally, Silithus and the air elementals for essences.   When asked, I usually say I farm the AH.   I don’t farm often, but like to be efficient when I do.

What was the best deal you ever came across?

50G for the Ahn’Quiraj cooking recipe.  I’ve had it up on the auction house for 90,000g for 3 months, don’t expect to ever sell it.

Do you remember any of your worst deals?

Pyrite Ore early on in cataclysm.  Thinking 4.1 or 4.2 would mean pyrite was high profit.  I have many guild bank slots filled with it.

What are your future plans with WoW?

Continue to play and have as much fun with it as possible. I have many good friends there and it makes for a fun environment.

What are you predictions for the future WoW economy?

4.3 will have epic gems, how you get them is up in the air, but if I were to guess, pyrite will be a source.  Blizzard has rehashed a lot of content and ideas from the past, I don’t see why they would change and make epic gems different.

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?

I’m fairly conservative, sitting on 401K investments primarily.

What your favorite artists, songs, movies, shows, or streams to watch while you are making gold?

I’m very eclectic in my musical tastes.  It runs the gambit from Vivaldi and Beethoven to Glen Miller to Cold Play and Eminem.

What are your thoughts on the real money auction house that will be implemented in Diablo 3? How will you take advantage of this new change?

I make enough not to have a need for real currency in a game.  Have exceptionally little interest in this.