Thursday, January 17, 2013

Chasing the gold cap in a material world

This entry exists thanks to Nev of Auction House Addict and She Rides Dragons. In her post "20 Days of Gold Making," she suggests topics and invites the community to write on them. Today, I look at gold-making goals.

By the time I'd accumulated my first 20,000 gold in profit, it was early on in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Yeah, I know. I move fast. I'd transitioned well beyond flipping arcanite bars and had diversified into another market: gems through prospecting and transmutes and of course, still selling everything else I picked up along the way. 

Though my memory is naturally fuzzy, I know I wasn't thinking about the gold cap at the time. Hell, I may not have even heard about it. It wasn't something to shoot for then. I was happy with 20,000g, and though I'd soon spend most of it on some items I needed for my main, including the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, I knew I had to earn back that 20,000g soon in order finance my cost of living raiding. That's when I started ramping up my auction house activities.

After a few weeks, I was back at 20. Then 25. Then 30. Then 50. Wasn't spending much time---half hour a day---but it was paying off. Slow and steady can win this race. But that was years ago. And as we grow and change, so do our aspirations.

Soon enough the gold cap I once cared nothing for reared up. I'd crested 100,000g and knew that 500,000g was within my grasp. If that were possible, why not just double it and cap gold on a toon? I was at the halfway point before Cataclysm's end, but I just couldn't stop buying things. Things I absolutely had to have---a mount, membership to an exclusive club and a secret gift---which in total cost me 250,000g.

Don't panic. I know what I'm doing. No I don't. But I've got everything under control once again, and there's nothing left for me to throw my gold at---well, almost nothing. So...I've set a new goal: gold-capped by the end of April. Yes, I know, I don't set the bar too high, but it works for me. That's how I am, and that's how I'll hit it: casually.

Hopefully, no one will hold me to it. I'd bet some gold on it, but you know me. I'm trying to save money.

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