Hall of Fame: Zerohour

Posted by Warcraftecon | September 23, 2009 .

The Warcraft Econ Hall of Fame is a column featuring the few elite players that have hit the World of Warcraft gold cap of 214,748 gold 36 silver 46 copper. We have with us Zerohour, who will be sharing their stories with us today.

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

I live in Texas, my profession is sales, and I play on the Alliance. My hunter is my raiding main and I have several other alts. I used to raid on my priest in Vanilla and halfway through TBC. I play on a medium population server (I wish to remain anonymous for various reasons) and I focus on endgame raiding, lower level PvP (twinking, and yes it’s still alive), and some Arena/BG play. Prior to WoW I was a Diablo 2 player for many years, and I was wealthy in that game, too.

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

I raid the most. In the past I’ve always enjoyed playing the endgame of WoW and perfecting a character. I really enjoy just sitting in vent with friends and chatting while playing. I have always been a very charitable person and derive a lot of happiness from helping others out whenever it’s something I can do within reason, but I’m not out buying people Motorcycles because they ran my alt though Stockades.

Why did you choose to collect this amount of gold?

For the most part it was a challenge from friends and from myself. Since Level 5 of my first character in WoW and discovering the AH, I had played the Auction House. I always had large quantities of gold laying around through Vanilla and TBC (I had my first epic riding skill about a week after hitting 60 and I had 7x70s in TBC with epic riding) and when I heard the news of the gold cap being discovered I saw it as a personal challenge to do the same thing. It took me a little while to commit to actually doing the grind, but when I put my mind to something I go full bore.

How did you go about getting to the 214k? Did you use professions? Auction House arbitrage? Any creative ideas?

The first thing I did was set a goal of 60 days. I knew this would be adequate time and I always made sure I kept a spreadsheet and log of what my gold income was daily to reach that goal. I had developed my own spreadsheet for arbitrating a long time ago and so I just added this feature to it. I needed roughly 3000 average per day and I could ease up as needed if I exceeded that figure. In the end I averaged around 4400 profit per day.

I used several methods because I have so many alts at max professions. I started with about 35,000 gold (I had spent a ton of money already when Wrath came out on mounts for my main and an alt) and climbed to the 214k figure in 47 days.

I used the JC/DE method, enchanting scrolls, leatherworking, inscription, and buy low/sell high whenever I uncovered a good deal in trade chat or the AH. The real key however was being able to hold a monopoly on being the low price leader in each category.

How did you learn to do it?

I read many suggestions on this site, and discovered most of the methods through good ol’ fashioned trial and error. Like I said I had been doing it since I started WoW so this was just full blown application of everything I knew.

What addons, if any, do you use to help you make gold.

Auctioneer Suite, QA, Wow-econ’s proprietary mod, and pencil and paper. I spent about 10 minutes per session when I was posting.

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

Once I hit the cap, I retired the glyph business to a friend who is currently going for the cap. I hated having to use that method to make money because it’s a high maintenance method but is an easy supplement to your daily income. I shared my secret with several people but few have actually applied it. I like the “teach a man to fish” saying, but this also goes in hand with “you can lead a horse to water”.

I still post things daily because it’s like an addiction. I usually only deal in bigger ticket items anymore because I limit my time at the AH. My new goal is to find a way to spend this gold in a fun way before quitting the game. Whatever’s left will go to long time friends. I’ve considered several things, but can’t decide what would be the best way to go out.

Do many people know you have this amount of gold?

Only friends and a select few. When you have lots of free gold laying around, the most foolish thing you can do is advertise. Lots of people know I am very good with making gold and sometimes ask for loans. Generally I turn them down if the amount is excessive.

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

Motorcycles for alts! Lately I have been buying the BOE raid epics for my alts whenever I see them appropriately priced. I got the Dalaran rings for my alts. Someone post the stupid Spectral Tiger already!

Do you have any special tips that you would like to share?

Learn the value of patience and be frugal with your gold. Gold is your lifeblood in the game, and money is meant to make more of itself. now your prices and price-points. When something is appropriately priced, buy it all!

Do you have any fun stories from when you were grinding?

Yes, the time I lost it because I had a plethora of competition in glyphs. It was a weekend and the competition decided to undercut every minute so I collapsed the price of glyphs for a few days insuring they felt the burn. The prices got so bad that half the competition gave up for the week and I netted an additional 25k because they got out..

The nicest day I ever had while grinding was over a holiday weekend when everyone was thinking that the server would be dead. I stocked up anyhow and pulled 12,237 gold in profit on that Saturday. I had several 5 figure days during the grind but that was my best day. Imagine grinding the gold for a motorcycle in one day!

I never got any of those fun hate emails from people whining about my prices or habits like Gevlon posts, so I felt left out.

What was the best deal you ever came across?

I will always remember getting a stack of Black Lotus for 5 gold when TBC was released. The flasks were still viable for some classes and my Alchemist was Elixir specced.

Do you remember any of your worst deals?

I think any good business person remembers their failures because that’s the only way you’ll learn. But worst? Dealing in rares in TBC. Untold hundreds of gold lost there. The most expensive shards I’ve ever made.

What are your future plans with WoW?

I would like to retire from WoW someday. I won’t be buying the next expansion. At the moment I’m actively hunting down Crusader Orbs to gear up my alts. Only a few dozen needed now!

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

Keep at it! Giving up is not going to make you rich. Always keep up with what’s changing, because if you aren’t researching you’re going to die on the vine. Realize that the average person is below average at business, and if you want to be at the top you have to do the things that will separate you from the pack. The difference between mediocrity and excellence is merely effort.

Also, being completely financially free is fun ALL the time! If I was rich in real life I imagine this is probably how it would feel. You can’t buy everyone, but you can get whatever you want most of the time. And no matter how much you have, you still want more.

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7 Comments so far

Zerohour September 23, 2009 9:28 AM

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@Zerohour… /golfclap

oh wait!
Zamboni September 23, 2009 10:07 AM

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Agreed. Where are the Tigers?

I’ll settle for a Chicken at this point.
Zerohour September 23, 2009 10:15 AM

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Chicken would be awesome, too. I have them in my search queue but none of them are ever up either.
Twan September 23, 2009 10:47 AM

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NO card loot on Doomhammer AH either.
I’m not at the cap but would love a polo loco!
Warcraftecon September 23, 2009 8:21 PM

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No TCG mounts on my server either. I guess all those people trying to sell them before were scammers.
Zerohour September 28, 2009 9:09 PM

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Just as a followup, MMO-Champion posted a gold making guide that reiterates everything that we’ve always discussed here as to how to make gold and describes in detail how I made my fortune. Before everyone QQs on it over there, remember my saying: I like the “teach a man to fish” saying, but this also goes in hand with “you can lead a horse to water”.
Zerohour October 25, 2009 12:56 AM

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Acquired the Twilight Drake this evening thanks to the efforts of my guildmates and 22,000 gold. Can’t wait to acquire the other missing pieces that are out there. Since I can’t raid anymore at the moment and have spare moments, it’s nice that there’s something people want that can justify their time in helping me.