Zuggy’s Gold Guide – Special $27 Discount!

Update: Of our initial 100 discounted copies were’ down to just 43! Make sure you get yours at the special Happy WotLK price before they are all gone! Download Here

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Well, what can I say…it has been one great expansion and we are celebrating in style here at Zug Gaming with huge discounts on Zuggy’s Dominate WoW Gold farming system.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again. I would not be here without all of you guys! In the past several years Zug Gaming has seen ups and downs, but through it all the strong community, readers, and contributors have kept this blog alive and growing. While I can’t personally thank each and every one of you, I can offer my thanks in the form of huge discounts on my gold guide.

The Dominate WoW Gold Master’s Collection normally sells for $64, but the next 100 customers are going to automatically receive $27 bucks off…So you get my entire, proven gold dominating system for just $37!

Download Your Copy Now

I’m not sure how long it will take the 100 copies to go, but by the response so far, not very long. So don’t wait around thinking you’ll get it later. We are currently scheduling to release our super mega delicious jam packed Cataclysm update Sunday, November 5th. So you’ll be fully prepared to tear your server’s economy apart on day 1. And of course…all existing members are getting access to the updated guide for free.

• Next 100 Customers get $27 automatically off…Download Your Copy Now

Thanks again for helping to make  Zug Gaming the juggernaut of WoW glory we’ve become!

Cataclysm Profession Bonuses and Perk Changes

For the most part we won’t be seeing many changes to the existing profession bonus and perk system. A lot of the bonuses / perks were simply upgraded or will continue to scale with level. If you need a quick recap of all the current bonuses and perks in place check out this post:

Current Profession bonuses and perks

New Cataclysm Profession Bonuses

Alchemy

Alchemists will be seeing and upgraded trinket. In addition, the special alchemist only flask is also being upgraded.

• [Mixology]
• [Lifebound Alchemist Stone]
• [Flask of Enhancement] + 80 Strength, Agility or Intellect

Blacksmithing

Same sockets as before, just different materials required for Cataclysm.

• [Socker Bracer]
• [Socket Gloves]

Enchanting

Upgraded ring enchants.

• [Enchant Ring - Agility] + 80 Agility
• [Enchant Ring - Intellect] + 80 Intellect
• [Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina] +120 Stamina
• [Enchant Ring - Strength] +80 Strength

Engineering

New engineering helms and new engineering “gems” called cogwheels.

• Engineering Helms
• List of Cogwheels

Note: the old gas clouds have been replaced with volatile air.

• [Grounded Plasma Shield]
• [Quickflip Deflection Plates]
• [Spinal Healing Injector]
• [Synapse Springs]
• [Tazik Shocker]
• [Z50 Mana Gulper]

Herbalism

• [Lifeblood] – 480 haste for 20 seconds, 2 minunte cooldown.

Inscription

Updated shoulder enchants.

• [Felfire Inscription] 130 Intellect, 25 Haste (+80 Intellect over the normal enchants)
• [Inscription of the Earth Prince ] 195 Stamimna, 25 Dodge Dodge Rating (+120 Stamina)
• [Lionsmane Inscription ] 130 Strength, 25 Critical strike rating (+80 Strength)
• [Swiftsteel Inscription] 130 Agility, 25 Mastery (+80 Agility)

Jewelcrafting

The updated jewelcrafter specific gem:

• [Chimera's Eye]. It gives +27 stats over the normal gems (or +41 stamina). You can only use 3 of these on your gear. (+81 stat, +123 stamina)

Leatherworking

Updated wrist enchants.

• [Draconic Embossment - Agility] – 130 Agility
• [Draconic Embossment - Intellect] – 130 Intellect
• [Draconic Embossment - Stamina ] – 192 Stamina
• [Draconic Embossment - Strength] – 130 Strength
  

Mining

• [Thougness] – 120 Stamina

Skinning

• [Master of Anatomy] – 80 Critical strike rating

Tailoring

• [Darkglow Embroidery] – Restores 800 mana.
• [Lightweave Embroidery] – 580 Spell power for 15 seconds.
• [Swordguard Embroidery] – 800 Attack power for 15 seconds.

Archaeology

No specific bonuses or perks as of yet.

Site News and Happy Halloween!

First off, happy Halloween to everyone! Enjoy some candy, tricking, treating, and other “festivities”. This year I decided to test my pumpkin carving skills, the first pumpkin I’ve carved since I was probably 13 years old.

Needless to say…my carving did not go well. Apparently you can’t have floating bits of pumpkin for “A’s” and steak knives are not well suited to carving letters. Also, pumpkins do not have spell check. A sad fact I learned only after showing my friends my fancy pumpkin design.

Site News

A few quick site news points you’ll want to be aware of. With Cataclysm right around the corner we’ve been feverishly preparing for the big launch, and I can tell you we’re going to hit the ground running day 1 for Cataclysm. We’ll have all your major guides ready, including:

• Updated Class Talent Guides for level 85
• New Macro Class Macro guides featuring new skills and abilities
• Dungeon and boss guides for all new 5, 10, 25-man encounters
• 1-525 Profession Guides, including a guide for archaeology
• New gold making guides, reputation, PvP, and more!

Dominate WoW Gold Update

I’ll have more specifics about our updated gold guide in the coming days, but I can tell you it’s going to be big. We’ve been testing and working out new strategies for Cataclysm. We’ll be releasing our updated guide before Cataclysm even goes live, so you’ll hit the ground running day 1 of Cataclysm.

We’ve already released phase 1 of our gold guide update, check it out… Zuggy’s WoW Gold Guide

Cataclysm, Inflation, and the WoW Economy

It’s no surprise that there are many huge game changing elements prepared for Cataclysm, but perhaps the most game changing are those not even planned. I’m talking about inflation and it’s about to take the World of Warcraft economy by storm.

What is Inflation?

A rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation is also the erosion in the purchasing power of money – a loss of real value in the internal medium of exchange and unit of account in the economy.

In short, the gold you have accumulated in WotLK is going to actually be worth less, or in other words, buy fewer items / services in Cataclsym. Ex. you bought infinite dust for an average price of 2 gold in WotLK, but are now willing to pay 3 gold in Cata.

Is this a new phenomenon to WoW?

In a word, no. The inflationary cycle has been an ever present fact for each major expansion pack release. They are caused by several factors, but in my opinion in accordance with the monetarist view of inflationary economics,  the biggest factor is in the dramatic increase in the money supply. The money supply is increasing for several reasons.

1. Quests in Cataclysm will reward more experience and higher valued (vendor) item rewards than those in WotLK
2. The end of a given expansion is always marked by a huge saving period. Raiders often stop raiding several weeks, or months, prior to an expansion and there is a general saving trend. Resulting in huge cash reserves that will be rapidly dumped into the economy upon the Cata launch.

Point #2 is particularly interesting, as the last year of Cataclysm has seen perhaps the greatest increase of WoW rich guys in the game’s history. The world first player to hit gold cap was just January 2008. Since that time, but particularly since WotLK released there has been a huge number of players hitting the gold cap, or at the very least, amassing huge sums of gold.

If Blizzard knows this is going to happen why don’t they do something?

The fact of the matter is, they are! And for most expansions they have done a great job of preventing hyper inflation. In the real world governments can help to decrease inflation by increasing spending or taxation. Blizzard is a bit handcuffed in that regard, because they are not direct participants in the WoW economy so they cannot increase their spending and they don’t currently tax players (with the exception of the WoW auction house).

So instead they find ways to sneakily increase player spending right before an expansion. This helps to reduce the money supply in preparation for the expansion. They do this in a variety of ways:

• Implementing changes to make players “want” to spend gold. Ex. the glyph craze of 4.0.1, making Wrathful PvP gear require no rating requirement (players acquire this gear and then buy enchants, gems, etc.)
• Introducing very expensive and desirable items. Ex. the Gigantique bag of 3.0.1 (cost 1,200 gold, a huge sum at the time), late expansion vanity pets

In these ways Blizzard is able to reduce the overall money supply and create a more positive economic environment for natural growth to occur in the expansion.

Why these changes won’t be enough for Cataclysm

While Blizzard has made some great changes and helped to reduce the money supply, it’s my opinion that it simply isn’t enough. The main reasoning behind this is simply the sheer volume of super wealthy WoW players. There is a huge, and growing, population of gold top dogs on each server who have the ability to do severe damage to the economy. In addition to the super rich, you have an immense population of players who have simply been saving for far too long.

The glyph craze, wrathful pvp gear, and other 4.0.1 changes helped to get players spending a lot bit, but most of this gold went right back into the hands of the WoW super rich. Unlike with the WotLK launch, most of those changes directly removed currency from the economy by requiring vendor purchases.

What’s going to happen and what to do

The inflationary period will likely not exist long-term in the WoW economy. This is simply because players aren’t going to keep saving. Once the initial period of extreme spending ends, perhaps 12 weeks, prices should drop down into more “normal” levels. However, I would say the first 3 months of the launch will be marked by abnormally high prices, even beyond what we have seen in previous expansions.

Even after the initial inflationary boom there is likely to be a higher than average static inflation that persists throughout the next expansion. The insanely high money supply combined with a substantial increase in the amount of gold from quests should solidify a strong inflationary period after Cata’s launch. That said, it’s not all bad, but it’s important to not buy into the inflationary panic.

• Save your big purchases until after the initial hyper inflation panic has died off
• Virtually any items you can farm / craft / find are going to be their most profitable in the long-term if you can sell them as soon as possible. Don’t wait around thinking you’ll craft or farm something later. If you do it now you’ll make a much higher return over the long-run.

For fear of sounding any more like the fear mongerer Roubini I’ll just leave you with this. Don’t panic! The increased inflationary period will probably persist for a time on most WoW servers, perhaps not all, and for perhaps not as long as I’ve guessed. There are so many potential factors that go into the equation it’s hard to speak in any sort of absolutes. However, without panicking we can prepare ourselves and profit / not lose gold unnecessarily by just being informed.

As always, what are you thoughts? Share your comments below.

November Blog Carnival – Making Gold in Cataclysm

After a really great first blog carnival I’ve decided to make this a regular segment each month on Zug Gaming. If you didn’t get a chance to check out our last blog carnival you can see all the great posts from WoW’s top bloggers…all answering the topic of Help a Noob Day. There were all kinds of great strategies for new players on everything from gold, leveling, class specifics, and more.

This Month’s Topic

Last month we ended up having our blog carnival on the same day as a good friend of mine, Markco Polo and his Just  My Two Copper blog. Which made for a lot of great reading, but for this month we are moving our date so as to not conflict with his carnival. Our next blog carnival will be November 18th and will be on the topic, How to Make Gold in Cataclysm.

Just like before the topic is pretty wide open. Keep it general or specific as you want, talk about class strategies, dungeons, professions, items, farming…it’s up to you! But I want to hear all your stratagies on making huge gold in Cataclysm! I’ve already got some ideas and I can’t wait to share. =)

What’s a Blog Carnival?

If you missed our last blog carnival that’s okay, it’s a new feature here that we’re holding on a monthly basis to bring the best of the WoW blogging community to the spot light here on Zug Gaming. Anyone with a blog or website can join in on the carnival. All you need to do is create a post detailing your response to the blog carnival topic. Write and post your entry (to your own blog or site) and email me with a link to your post by no later than November 17th and you’ll be included in our big blog carnival wrap up.

It’s a great way to build some exposure for your blog and share your ideas with a huge audience. Zug Gaming receives thousands of visitors every day, so show them what you’ve got!

Updated Cataclysm Release Date – Postponed

A few weeks ago we got semi-official word from industry insider’s that we were looking at November 2nd, 2010 release date for Cataclysm. It appears now that that date has indeed been pushed back by approximately 4 weeks.

The current semi-official release date is: December 7th or 14th, 2010

Bear in mind that this date is absolutely un-official, things could still get pushed back further, but at this time this is what the primary industry sources are touting.

Cataclysm Fishing Achievements

For all you fishing lovers out there, here’s a brief overview of the major Cataclysm fishing achievements we’ll get to do!

• [Realm First! Illustrious Angler] – first to 525 fishing skill on your realm. Awards the title, “Illustrious Angler”
  If you’re not first, don’t worry, you can still do the normal version of this achievement. You just won’t be able to earn the special title for the first person.
• [Fish or cut Bait] – complete each of the Stormwind / Orgrimmar fishing daily quests
• [The Limnologist] – catch 50 different kinds of fresh water fish (inland)
• [The Oceanographer] – catch 34 different kinds of salt water fish (coastal)

Guild Fishing Achievements

• [That's A Lot of Bait] – Catch 10,000 fish from fishing pools.
  • Required to purchase the recipe for Seafood Magnifique Feast
• [We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat] – Catch 50,000 fish from fishing pools.
• [Like Shooting Fish In A Barrel] – Catch 100,000 fish from fishing pools.

An Interview with Markco Polo

Today we have a very special interview with a great friend of mine and one of the WoW’s most knowledgeable and well known bloggers, Markco Polo. Earlier this week I had the chance to sit down with Markco and asked him a few questions…including some stuff about gold making in Cata (trust me, you’ll like what he has to say). So let’s hop right to it.

1.  Hey Markco, many thanks for sitting down for our interview. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself as a person, player, and of course your blog?

Thank you for having me on your blog for this interview as I’ve been a reader of your site for quite some time. As Markco’s 20k Leveling Gold Guide and an avid world of warcraft player I have been masquerading around azeroth for over four years now and made over one million gold about half way through wrath of the lich king. Played an arms warrior in bc and held high ranks in 2v2 but never achieved gladiator. That changed when I went prot in s6 and earned the title of gladiator with a 2555 rating alongside my ret paladin partner, thunderion. Here’s a funny youtube video of us trashing a few people in arathi basin with most of the gear we got gladiator in.

Raiding wise I never really managed to stick with it long enough to get into progression raiding. PvP was just too important to me and so I would just do enough pve to get geared and the rest of the time was spent killing alliance.

I started the Just My Two Copper blog during season 5 of wotlk and never knew it was going to grow into the current community it is today. What used to be just a blog is now a hub of forums, tools, tutorials and other sites all collaborating to create the best source of wow gold news in the world. Not bad for a prot warrior huh? You probably thought all we knew how to do was press 1 through 4 while fighting a boss’ crotch!

It’s true, I did think this. =)

2. Cataclysm is absolutely loaded with changes to virtually every aspect of this game, what change are you most looking forward to?

BG’s being more important than arenas as well as professions being more valuable earlier on. BG’s can be very fun even without rewards, I can’t image how popular/entertaining they will be when the best pvpers fight there for the best rewards. I’m sad to see the calculated play style of arenas become secondary to massive BG battles but welcome the change of pace. Since blizzard openly stated that they do not intend prot pvp to be viable in arenas I hope that BG’s will be its saving grace. With world pvp nonexistent thanks to the dungeon finder I can only hope that BG’s are going to be where it’s at in cataclysm.

I am definitely looking forward to professions creating more valuable items while you level than they do currently. I’m also excited to see gathering professions being capable of earning experience. These are very exciting times for professions and we’ll just have to see what blizzard has in store for cataclysm auctioneers.

3. What changes do you think will have the greatest impact on the WoW economy?

PvP craftable gear is going to be huge in cataclysm since you will always be able to craft the 2^nd best pvp and pve items throughout the expansion. When a new tier of raiding/pvp is released then a new tier of craftable items will also appear which are only slightly worse than high end epics. Even today I still sell rare quality pvp/pve gear and I can only imagine how profitable that market is going to be come cataclysm.

I’m also interested in seeing what happens with inscription as there have been what seems like a brand new change every week in the beta.

4. What’s the most important piece of advice would you give Zug Gaming readers to help them prepare for making gold in Cataclysm?

Saronite ore is going to be your ticket to gold when stockpiling. Here’s a post I made for ferraro on the topic which will explain more in depth the ways to make gold with this item.

This is a great point here, and one which everyone should take a hard look at on your server. Make sure to check out Zug Gaming’s recent, 3 Tips for Cataclysm Gold Prep

5. Looking back at WotLK what would you say was your favorite / most successful gold making strategy?

The strategy is nerfed now but back in the early days of season 5 you could craft cobalt chestpieces and disenchant them for about 10x the value of the mats it took to make them. Was like growing gold on trees and made me a good 14k gold per week.

6. What’s your favorite WoW memory (any expansion)?

We were fighting Void Reaver in burning crusade and the main tanks died. I being an arms dps warrior dutifully swapped on my tanking shield and sword and rotated cooldowns until the boss was dead. I told each healer when to use their cooldowns to keep me alive and chained my cooldowns. Having taken the boss from 6% to 0% in a mix of pvp and pve dps gear the raid leader noticed a tanking piece dropped and said: “Man I don’t know if [main tank’s name] or markco should get these.”

Definitely one of my more favorite moments in burning crusade. That or when my 2v2 druid partner at the time would “dc” in an arena because he didn’t realize that his f4 button was his nature’s swiftness and pressing alt with that would cause issues… He never told me about that until about a year later after he’d already quit. Let’s just say I wasn’t happy.

Aside from writing one of the most interesting and informative blogs in WoW, Markco is also the author of what I consider one of the best gold making guides out there. It’s jammed packed full of Markco’s tactics and secret strategies, make sure to check it out at Markco’s 20kLeveling.com

Help A Noob Day!

Let’s face it, at one time or another all of us were noobs. With a game as massive and immersive as WoW some of us were noobs for quite some time (/raisehand). From making gold and leveling to PvP, professions, and everything in between there’s no shortage of shoulder shrugging encounters new players encounter. But thankfully today is their lucky day!

October, 2nd, 2010 is now officially Help A Noob Day here at Zug Gaming. Since Zug Gaming launched one our primary missions has been to help new players enjoy this game by providing useful guides, strategies, news, tactics, videos, and other resources. But today I’m putting the question out to the entire World of Warcraft blogosphere…

What’s that mean?

If you have a blog or website (or are getting ready to start one) then this your chance be featured on our homepage by simply creating a blog post / guide / resource that’s designed to Help a Noob. The topics are as wide ranging as your imagination, all you have to do is simply create a post designed for new players. Take what you’re an expert at and let the community know and you’ll be featured in our first ever blog carnival (idea courtesy of Markco of justmytwocopper.com, thanks Markco!)

Just write your blog post and drop me an email before October 2nd and you’ll be one of our featured contributors.

Cataclysm Release Date Announced

Well, it’s official…or at least as “official” as it can be right now. The world of warcraft Cataclysm release date is looking like it’s going to be November 2nd, 2010. This information is coming from mmo-champion, and is backed up both other industry new sources. It’s primary based on a timeline that Blizzard has used for other expansions. The pre-cataclysm launch sequence started a number of months ago, and as evidence of the 4.0.1 patch going live on the PTR we can say with some level of certainty that things are moving forward to launch.

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that things can certainly changed and this date could be pushed back, but currently it’s looking like early November is the go live date. Let’s hope it stays that way

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