Surveying Your Prospects

It’s that time again, Markco’s Blogging Carnival is back with it’s third installment. The topic of discussion this month deals with niche markets, today I will talk about my favorite niche market…

Prospecting?
That’s right, more specifically gems prospected for skill level 1-300. Jewelcrafting is big business, it has been since it’s inception in the Burning Crusade expansion. The problem with Jewelcrafting has always been the rather steep start up cost. But there is hope for those who are not blessed with alts, patience, or even common sense. You, the opportunistic Jeweler.

As mentioned earlier, the biggest speed bump on the road to JC nirvana is those first 300 points of skill. Many seasoned players when levelling a new profession like this will consult a skill up guide, these guides can be found easily with a Google search. The good thing about these guides is they provide a list of items necessary to skill up. I consulted WOW-Professions Jewelcrafting Guide for just such a list. These lists are obviously not set in stone, but they provide a quick reference on how to skill up quickly. And for us, they provide a quick list of gems we should be producing to list on the AH.

According to the Guide above, a player will need the following gems to level from 1-300 skill:
20 Tigerseye or 20 Malachite
60 Shadowgem
30 Moss Agate
25 Citrine
5 Aquamarine
10 Star Ruby
20 Large Opal
10 Blue Sapphire
20 Huge Emerald

Snatching Ores
Since we’re prospecting you will be on the hunt for ores in amounts (evenly) divisible by five. Now that we know what gems we’re looking for, we can figure out what ores to add to our Snatch list (Markco has a good walkthrough of how to set up and use Auctioneer’s Snatch feature here).

The Ore List:
» Copper Ore – Malachite, Tigerseye, Shadowgem
» Tin Ore – (1-2) Lesser Moonstone, (1-2) Moss Agate, (1-2) Shadowgem, Aquamarine, Citrine, Jade
» Iron Ore – (1-2) Jade, (1-2) Citrine, (1-2) Lesser Moonstone, Aquamarine, Star Ruby
» Mithril Ore – (1-2) Aquamarine, (1-2) Citrine, (1-2) Star Ruby, Large Opal, Azerothian Diamond, Blue Sapphire, Huge Emerald
» Thorium Ore – (1-2) Azerothian Diamond, (1-2) Blue Sapphire, (1-2) Huge Emerald, (1-2) Large Opal, (1-2) Star Ruby

Pro Tip: Since there’s only the common variety of gems to work with from skill 1-300, you will always get a useful gem to sell when you prospect these entry level ores.

Finding the Sweet Spot
When you’re trying to decide which Gems are profitable, you have to take into account the price of the raw ores as well as the sell price of the gems they produce. This can be a bit daunting to newer Jewelers and those who don’t get gooey when someone starts talking about the “Golden Mean“. Fear not, there is hope. In fact, thanks to WOW Prospector a lot of the guess work has been removed entirely. Simply pick the Ore you’re interested in and your server/faction, then hit submit. It’s actually that simple…

Of course, the site also offers the ability to tinker and add in your own data on the fly. Generally speaking though, the site is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to prospect their way into a chunk of gold. From there it’s simple, buy prospect and sell!

Additional Resources
Prospecting Macro
/cast Prospecting
/use Copper Ore
/use Tin Ore
/use Iron Ore
/use Mithril Ore
/use Thorium Ore
/use Saronite Ore
/use Titanium Ore

Of course, there are AddOns that will make your life easier as well. The Auctioneer Suite of addons for example are a staple for people working the AH, but it’s especially good in this instance. The Snatch feature (as mentioned earlier) is key to getting your hands on cheap ores, and Enchantrix will add a nice tooltip breakdown of what gems and the % chance of each on ores.

You can opt to take advantage of the auto Disenchant/Prospect/Mill feature within this suite as well, but I tend to avoid it and use a macro like the one listed above. There are two reasons I favor the macro vs the auto disenchant method, one I don’t have to involve the mouse in what I’m doing. And for another, there’s no chance of my accidentally processing the wrong materials. Okay, there’s also a third: I’m typically the master looter in guild raids, DEing BOEs or items someone may decide they actually DO want is bad. Worse, the Auto DE Prompt tends to glitch out in combat if hit at the wrong time (ie you hit ignore and the prompt stays there, covering a healthy portion of the center of your screen).

Conclusion
The thing I like most about this market is that it’s fairly easy to manage, and though it doesn’t always pull in huge numbers it remains pretty consistent. There’s always somebody working on their new alt, or dropping a profession in favor of JC. And it’s just easier to buy the gems from me than it is to prospect the stuff themselves. As with so much of my business, it’s about providing my customers with a convenience. And capitalizing on that convenience. That’s what makes prospecting my favorite niche market, and judging by the current beta information I think it’s a niche market with a bright future…

Thanks for reading…