Is Your Toon a Warlords of Draenor NPC?

     One of the things I've been really impressed with the Blizzard staff and World of Warcraft over the past couple expansions has been how they make high-profile raiders, podcasters, bloggers, youtubers, and streamers feel loved by naming an NPC or piece of gear after them. With WoD it looks like they're extending that honor to a whole lot more people! When you first enter the Dark portal, you're greeted by the Alliance and Horde Vanguard, but it turns out, all of these random non-playable characters are actual toons.

Camera positioning ftw! Also, A+ transmog, Barbery.  :)

You have Gorehowl and I don't. I'm sorry, but I hate you and we can't be warrior friends anymore.

It's warm on Draenor? Yah, i don't know...

     From the looks of it so far, it may be that the Warlords staff and anyone who made the Tanaan Jungle intro just picked their favorite transmog set they'd seen so far. Or maybe I just don't know who these wonderful people are. If it's the latter, I'm sorry! And now, to save on loading time for this page it's time to UNLEASH THE GNOMES!

Left to Right: Johnny Oshimo - puntable but brutal, Lupas - One tiny dagger for each enemy,
Salty Futz...wait, like Foots? I don't get it. Cause your a foot tall? 

     The Alliance Vanguard and Horde Vanguard is also composed of a few famous names. One of them that I did recognize is Starcaller Astrylian, the creator of Rawr. We've seen this impatient bear before in the firelands quests and in the raid gear of ICC. Pretty much, any programs or websites that calculate gear optimization originated because of this druid.

Other matches I found were:
Challe Tebrilinde - picture
Rainiara the Kingslayer - picture
Yoori - (No photo available but it looks like Yoori has created 100 alts, and the only class not created has been druid, so either they stopped playing or its a little joke?)
Malothas - picture
Corselle - picture
Bonesaw - picture


      So if you've got a Beta key go out and explore! These aren't the only Vanguard NPCs and I'd bet my guild vault that they aren't they only named NPC easter egg in the new expansion. There's a whole herd of other NPCs out there! Let me know if any of y'all know these guys, or heck, if any of you are readers. :)

Thanks for reading my little WoW blog! And remember that in the end, the key to making gold in World of Warcraft is just to
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<Prev: A Mount That Costs 1.5 Million Gold

A Mount That Costs 1.5 Million Gold

     Throughout Mists of Pandaria,  any server has seen an occasional mount sold in trade chat or on the Black Market for gold cap- 999,999g. After all, that's all you can give someone...right?

All the badass mounts and the stupid chicken is the most expensive.../sigh

      The development team behind Warlords of Draenor is making strides to reduce the incoming inflation caused by people earning gold questing all their characters to 100, gathering resources, and then turning each of those into enchants and gear worth thousands. They've increased the material cost of crafts. They've done away with Justice points and Valor, and made it so non-raiders (read: goldmakers) will be able to spend gold on non current items and gear, and they've added plenty of new gold sinks. But with an average inflation rate in WoW that has always been on the cusp of hyperinflation, I'm not the only one who doubts prices won't rise in Warlords of Draenor. So, what?

      So, prices rise. The value of gold decreases. 999,999g only buys you a mount that would have previously sold for 500k to 700k. We've got a gold cap and we might start seeing some creative moguls in trade chat start requesting a toon and a half worth of gold for those almighty mounts, especially as the supply of TCG mounts dwindles over the next year or two. Granted, I'm making two or three assumptions in this post, but if anyone sees this happen, or happens to ever see a SST sell for gold cap, let me know so I can know I wasn't entirely speculating.

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Is Your Toon a Warlords NPC?  Next>

Why You'll Pay 2,000 Gold For Gems in Warlords of Draenor

     I hate to be a doomsayer for anyone used to buying gems for under 300g, but it looks like we have some changes coming in WoD. At the same time, I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news for those who decided to keep Jewelcrafting as a profession or not. But it looks like we're going to see 2,000 gold gems in Warlords of Draenor.

Get shocked now, so you can prepare later, and share in the wealth. :)

     Did a little talking about this on the YourWoWMoney podcast, but I just ran some numbers. The rare gems for WoD cost 50 Taladite Crystals, 10 Sorcerous Air, and 5 Warlord of Draenor Herbs. Taladite Crystals at max level are crafted from 20 Blackrock ore and 10 True Iron, yielding 10 crystals. So, essentially you'll get 1 crystal for 3 ore. Sorcerous Air is a byproduct of crafting, so it's worthless and it's price will be entirely dictated by demand, competition, and server size. Expect prices to be pretty high initially, and settle in somewhere in the 10g-200g range depending on your server. Ore routes from my testing give 600-900 ore per hour, so we'll see about the same prices at the start of the xpac, in the 2g-5g range, maybe leveling out back to 1g or maybe not (we don't know enough about long-term demand yet to figure out that equilibrium but we can assume what people will put the ore up for at release).

50 Crystals = 150 ore = @2g, 300g  @5g, 750g
10 Sorcerous = @10g, 100g  @200g, 2000g
5 Herbs = 10g
Total ~ 410g-2760g

Currently, with the prospecting mechanic we all know and love are used to, you can generally get 1 rare gem from 20 ore. In MoP, we're seeing gems at 100g to 300g with a mat cost of 20g for a stack of Ghost Iron. When Lore first announced that Jewelcrafting and Gem prices would be higher because Blizzard was reducing the number of slots in gear, who would have thought they were going to do it by increasing the mat cost  x10? Share this with any JC friends and let me know in a comment what you think.

Long story short, on a high pop server, we're looking at gems that cost a minimum to craft of 400g, and a maximum of almost 3000g.  And depending on where sorcerous prices stabilize at (I'd expect 25-40g personally), you should be expecting gem prices in the 1,000g to 2000g range FOR THE ENTIRE EXPANSION. Start saving.

Thanks for reading my little WoW blog and remember that the key to making gold in the end is just to
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Every Day.

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