Flipping

Legion BoEs in Shadowlands

/ Gra1980 / 4 Comments

You may recall one of my blogs back in 2016/17 regarding flipping Legion BoEs (aka Legion 101 BoEs) and the outrageous profit margins that were achievable. On the first week of the release of Legion, I looted an a level 101, ilvl 850 ring, which I sold for 500k gold. In 2017 I finally surpassed the 100m gold mark, and a great deal of that achievement was down to farming and flipping Legion BoEs. 

Legion BoEs in Shadowlands:

Even today, during Shadowlands, I’m still successfully flipping Legion BoEs on all the realms I play on. Although the profit margins aren’t as significant as before, there’s still value in the market. In Legion and Battle for Azeroth, the territory stat: Leech (plus socket) was very beneficial and demanded a high value. Later in the expansion of Battle for Azeroth, items with the territory stat: Speed became desirable. The speed stat gave the wearer increased speed, meaning farming old dungeons and raids was more efficient. The more Speed items you had equipped, the greater the benefit. 

Sadly, there is a cap at 49% speed, as illustrated by /AGunWithLegs at Reddit.

Shadowlands introduced a level and ilvl squish (which I’ll cover later), zone scaling, and a secondary stat diminishing return. The stat diminishing return meant stacking a specific secondary stat would start losing a lot of its benefit when you start reaching a certain percentage. The developers introduced this because of the level-boosting in Battle for Azeroth and potential gearing issues when seeking your best in slot item(s). Players were exploiting their stats to help pull the whole instance and AOE the mobs, thus clearing content quickly. A great example of this was the Freehold level boosting! Other limitations included party members no longer gaining experience with characters that lock their experience.

Here’s a detailed guide by Wowhead explaining the secondary stat diminishing returns.

Legion BoEs Shopping List:

Flipping Legion BoEs in Shadowlands:

Buy low, sell high is our aim here. Only invest in the gold you’re willing to lose. Ideally, the price range I’m looking at is 2500g per item, and I look to sell at 10k plus. I will add images later to show the sales I’ve made this fortnight. The images will ultimately prove that this is still a viable/profitable market.

Please bear in mind there have been many changes since Legion, importantly, the level and ilvl squish. The level and ilvl squishes mean that searching for Legion BoEs on the Auction House has become a lot more complicated. When I shopped for Legion BoEs, I previously inputted /101/101/i835/armor, and it would filter all armor for that level/ilvl – that search function is no longer an option. Instead, I prefer to do a default search inputting every piece separated by a semicolon. For ease of use, I’ve added a Pastebin below. Simply open the Auction House, hit the Browse Tab and copy and paste the shopping list in to the search bar in the top right hand side.

Legion BoEs Shopping List via Pastebin

Once you’ve completed the search, go to the Recent Searches panel and hit the star to favorite the search. Go into the Favorite Searches panel and edit the name of the search. I named mine Legion BoEs. Feel free to name it what you wish.

You could use a TSM import string and do a shopping search via that method instead, but you could miss out on a lot of items not yet grouped. I have two TSM Strings that maybe of interest to you. One has the Legion BoEs categorised in subgroups, the other is uncategorised (this is ideal for those that prefer their own groups). They both have default operations, so be sure to add your operations. Only choose one of the strings, and be prepared, there’s over 3000 items!

Legion BoEs TSM String (Categorised with Subgroups)

Legion BoEs TSM (uncategorised)

Farming:

If you’d prefer farming for these items, I’d suggest checking out the murlocs in Aszuna [50.33] (screenshot below). I believe this spot hasn’t been nerfed yet, unlike many of the other places I used to farm at. This spot is ideal due to the amount of murlocs in the area. If possible, consider group farming or multiboxing, which will make things a lot more efficient for you. Due to zone scaling, finding a group to farm with should be easier. Otherwise, wait for Legion Invasions. The amount of mobs available is insane and they have large loot tables, so keep your eyes peeled for other loot. If you have other recommendations on where to farm, consider posting below in the comment section.

If you’re farming for a specific level requirement, remember that you need to be a specific level yourself, as the loot will scale depending on your level. Legion BoEs at a particular level/ilvl could demand higher valuations. Even Legion BoEs of the uncommon variety could be of value, especially ones with territory stats and low levels for Twinks. Check this guide out for more information.

Sales:

As mentioned before, I actually repost my expired auction once every two weeks. So my sales could be a lot greater than whats shown below. I don’t cancel/repost so I post and forget. These sales are between 14th Feb – 28th Feb.

Conclussion:

I’ll be honest, at one point, I believed these items were selling based on their stats or possible transmog purposes. But the fact that there’s trinkets and rings selling leads me to think these could be for players leveling. Upon closer examination via in-game TSM Ledger, these items were either level 45 or level 50 with varied ilvls; some had territory stats and/or sockets, meaning that they could’ve been purchased by players leveling or in need of some gear. None of them had Speed or Leech.

I’m unsure at this point, whether there’s a twink bracket that may be farming/using Legion BoEs, given all the scaling in Shadowlands.

It’ll be interesting to see what sales I’ve made when I do my next repost. I’ll be sure to add them here as soon as possible.

Feedback:

Have you been selling Legion BoEs yourself during Shadowlands? How has the market been for you? Have any farming tips that you want to add? or maybe this post has potentially opened another market for you and you might give it a go. If so, keep me updated on how you fair, by sharing your progress in the comment section. If you have any questions, maybe something I’ve not outlined in this post, please feel free to ask below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. I’m approachable on Twitter or via email using the contact me feature.

Until next time…

Tankard O’ Profit Update

/ Gra1980 / 3 Comments

For those that may have missed my updates on Twitter, I’ve had some epic sales with the new Brewfest ilvl 82 Tankards. The Terrific Tankard O’ Terror and Tremendous Tankard O’ Terror have proven to be very profitable on certain realms. I emphasise certain, as I believe this market works best on a low/medium populated realm – but I wouldn’t rule out higher populated realms. If you missed my previous post regarding the Tankards, I originally suggested that these may be difficult to flip, due to the low ilvl of 82, but it appears there is a market after all.

The benefit of this market is the issue surrounding the ilvl when players post on the Auction House. TSM only recognise the ilvl 82 tankards as ilvl 44 which is incorrect. By using the default Auction House UI, we can shop specific tankards by ilvl 82 that have been miss-priced. At first, I only purchased cheap tankards, to test how the market would be and a week into the World Event, it’s proved very profitable.

The lowest sale I’ve had so far is 35k, but I’ve also sold four Tankards at 70k or above. The average price I purchased these at was 6k. Below I’ve added my TSM Ledger for the tankard sales.

I have included the other sales within a gallery below, click the image to enlarge. I will continue to update this market via Twitter, so keep your eyes peeled for updates. If the price is right and you have some gold that you can afford to risk, get involved and make some decent profit before pre-patch hits. These Tankards will not be worthwhile once pre-patch hits as the items available will have a greater ilvl. My guess is pre-patch being delayed further may have aided these sales.

Since posting this post, I’ve been in discussion with @TheSlickrock on Twitter and he was kind enough to transfer a character on to the PTR with the Uncanny crafted Gear and Tankards and I was surprised to see how they were affected by the incoming ilvl and level squish.

Update: The Tankard squished to ilvl 82 (previously ilvl 425) dramatically below that of the incoming pre-patch gear of ilvl 100 at level 50. The Uncanny gear squished to ilvl 72, which is a greater reduction to that of the PTR.

Sadly I have no explanation as to why someone paid for 3 Tankards at 70k each, the only thing that I could imagine is the delay of the release of pre-patch and someone needed sufficient ilvl maybe to enter Normal/Heroic/Mythic Ny’alotha for a boost?!

If you’re participating in this market, let me know how you’ve got on too or get involved in the discussion on Twitter. Thanks for reading!

EDIT: Since the release of the Shadowlands pre-patch, the items mentioned above have since had their item levels reduced, all Tankards posted above have had their item levels updated to reflect this. If there’s any I’ve missed, please let me know in the comments. [14.10.2020]

Island Expedition Transmog

/ Gra1980 / 10 Comments

Today’s blog post is concerning Transmog from Island Expeditions. Since the release of patch 8.3 I have been regularly buying up cheap Transmog from the Auction House and successfully flipping them for profit. Today I will inform you how you can either earn these running Expeditions or buying them off the Auction House; for flipping now or in preparation for Shadowlands.

This post is written to help those unaware of this market, maybe dipping their toes in to something new. However, if you feel this may help someone, or offer some different information than highlighted before, please feel free to share.

What’s the Benefit?

At the moment, the Auction Houses are saturated by Transmog from Island Expeditions. The Expeditions are a great way to level, and some of the rewards are extremely good, ranging from Transmog, Mounts and Battle Pets. With the lack of content, people are farming; thus, a lot of these items are on the Auction House cheap waiting for players like us to soak them up.

We should buy these up, so when Shadowlands is upon us, and people are enjoying the new content, the supply will drop, increasing the value of the Transmog. As with most things in life, the best items will always demand a higher price, so keep your eyes peeled. I will add later some of the items that I believe are of interest.

Always remember, Transmog is a very fickle market; an item might look nice to you, but may look entirely different to someone else and vice versa. So always take care when purchasing Transmog.

What is Island Expedition Transmog.

The Transmog from Island Expeditions is armor of ilvl 310 or weapons (Plundered) at ilvl 325. These have recolor skins of previous raid/ expansion content.

Island Expedition Transmog sets.

How to earn Transmog Doing Island Expeditions.

Most people use Island Expeditions to power-level characters/alts, complete their weekly objective or farm for Transmog, Mounts or Battle Pets. At the end of each run, you will receive loot and  Seafarer’s Dubloon based on objectives completed and how successful you were. If you didn’t earn any Transmog on your run, don’t worry, you can purchase salvage with  Seafarer’s Dubloon from your factions vendor. They’re situated by the Expedition Table.

Alliance – Boralus
Captain Nightrunner

Horde – Daza’alor
Captain Kitt

These vendors sell a salvage crate from between 50 to 175  Seafarer’s Dubloon. The crates change on a weekly cycle dependant on the current maps. You also have the chance to receive Mounts and Battle Pets, so if you’re farming for these too, this is a great way to obtain them. Click on one of the vendors above, to check the crates available as each crate has different/specific items.

Island Expedition Strategies

Alternative to Running Island Expeditions.

As the Transmog is bind on equip (BoE) we can purchase them off the Auction House if we deem them cheap enough. Remember, the gear is currently saturated on the Auction House, so prices of some items are extremely low. When the demand and the supply change in Shadowlands, so will the prices. Be prepared when the prices change, to make the most amount of profit, adapting is key!

Make sure you consider the size and economy of your realm. Check out The Undermine Journal and see how much 310 and 325 items are. Also, don’t post too many of any one item as the posting costs are extremely high!

I recommend grabbing yourself a few pieces of each, but only spend what you can afford to risk losing. After all, we’re gambling here, and you don’t make large amounts of profit, without taking a calculated risk.

Items of interest

Duskhaven Top Hat
Flamecaster Stave
Stinkrot Smasher
Firekin Items*
Beacon-light Bulwark
Bear-Carved Fists
Tranquil Path items*
Razorfin Items*
Blade of Northern Kings

(*Helm/Shoulder/Chest items demand a higher value) Bracers will be the lowest.

(To be Updated)

TSM Import String

Here’s my TSM import string for Islands Expedition Transmog. There are no operations, but they’re simple to create. The values within the groups are merely for reference.

Screenshots

I can understand that some of you reading this blog post may seem very sceptical of all this. But to provide some reassurances, I’ve added some screenshots below, covering some of my sales. Bear in mind these sales are during Battle for Azeroth, and these prices will only increase once Shadowlands releases.

Have you been buying and selling Island Expedition Transmog? how’s your sales? Do you have a sufficient inventory ready for Shadowlands? Let me know how you’re getting on, in the comment section below.

As always, a shout-out to Wowhead for use of their database. All links directed to them. If you enjoyed this post, please share. Thanks for reading.

Legion BoE’s

/ Gra1980 / 7 Comments

If you were a playing during Warlords of Draenor, LegionLogo_lessglow
you will be familiar with the crafted levelling gear you could equip at level 91 which boosted your ilevel and stats, these boosted your ability to kill mobs and speed up your levelling or assisted you in gaining entry to ilevel restricted dungeons etc. Sadly these were unique equipped items, meaning there was a restriction of 3 items which you could equip at any given time.

Thankfully this time around in Legion, the restrictions have been removed, but the BoE items are no longer crafted, but are available from random drops. The items of interest, will be the items that are available to level 101 characters and have an ilevel of 835 and above. These cost a very pretty penny as they will be of interest to mains (Mythics/Raiding), alts (levelling) and the new twink bracket (PvP) for Legion.

When I levelled my main, I was very fortunate to loot and sell Fran’s Intractable Loop ilevel 850, which I was able to sell for 100k (90k after AH cut). The ring was of no interest to me as I already had a better ring stat wise equipped, but with that said, the 90k helped me buy materials to assist me power levelling my professions etc.

for-blog-1

Now I wouldn’t recommend farming these items, due to how low the drop rate is, and sadly, there’s no way you can guarantee getting the item you want, as it’s completely random! So the best scenario we have, is using the gold we’ve successfully built and invest it in cheap Legion BoE’s posted onto the Auction House.

If you use TSM, you can use this string to shop. Simply copy and paste the string below in your search box and hit enter.

/101/101/i835/armor

What this will do, is search the Auction House and narrow down, all the items that are available to a character at level 101, then will narrow the search down further, by showing all the items that have an ilevel of 835 and above. All these items will be within the armor category too. Remember to save and rename the search, so you can search for BoE’s on a regular basis!

Once your search is complete, hit the ilevel column header to put all the items in order of their ilevel. This will make it far more easier to differentiate between each ilevel and prevent miss-clicking and over purchasing items of a lower ilevel. You can limit this further, by adding another /i835 within the above string and this will just show ilevel 835 items. Simply change it to i850 if you wish to just search for ilvl 850 items.

I’ve been buying up a lot of cheap BoE’s off the Auction House to flip. Below is an example of the prices I’ve been buying at and the minimum I’ve been flipping for. This isn’t a guide for what you should buy and sell at, as each server/realm is different.

for-blog

Some things to consider, always opt for items with good stats. for example, rings only have Stamina so check for good secondary stats and a bonus stat, this could boost value for your item. Also have consideration for items with Prismatic sockets, these give players the option to add a gem to the item, these will also increase value to the item.

Although this has been very profitable for me, it doesn’t guarantee to be profitable for everyone. The way servers/realms are, each one is different in every way, it’s exactly the same with Transmog etc. The higher populated your realm is, the more items available to you, competition will be high, with a lot of customers to sell to. Lower populated realms, have less items available, but bring low competition and lesser customers at your disposal. Always check your Auction House and The Undermine Journal to see how your server/realm is doing.

If you have alts, like myself, this method CAN be seen as risk free. Any items I don’t sell, will easily be used for my alts. If this is the case for you too, then you too can feel at ease that you know that the items wont go to waste.

Here’s some screenshots of some flips I’ve made…


Feel free to post in the comments below and share your success’s or if you have any questions, please ask away! Alternatively, tweet me on Twitter @GrahransWoWGold
Thanks for reading guys and I wish you all the best of luck!