First, the lava story. This is another story mocking Hussain, which might seem mean, but I should point out that I had taken Malguont to level 14, and in fact started over at level 1 with a brand new Troll Rogue (this one named Guoljin), just so Hus and I could play on equal footing. So it's not like I'm a bad guy.
Anyway, the lava story. Hussain's orc hunter, Blort, has the grave misfortune of being driven around Azeroth by Hussain. Hussain can be a good World of Warcraft player, but he has a singular talent for getting spun around, confused, and staggering off into a pool of lava from time to time. With Blort, that appears to be right around level 17. Last night, we found a Warlock and a Mage to group up with and do the Ragefire Chasm instance dungeon. Ragefire is an unusual instance, in that the generic monsters in it respawn. So, if you've fought your way into the dungeon, and somebody dies, they ressurect at the entrance and everyone has to fight their way back to clear a path for them. Not only that, but everyone has to fight their way back shorthanded, thus putting everyone at that much more risk. So last night, we had fought our way through hordes of Ragefire Troggs, and gotten to the objective of our struggles. A natural stone ramp led up over a pool of lava, and turned into a room with a Trogg boss in it, as well as the loot we needed to finish the quest. As Guoljin snuck around the room, deciding which Trogg to club in the head, Blort set up for his shot, shouldered his blunderbuss, set his feet, and slipped off the ledge into the lava.
So, the party turned around, and headed back to the entrance, to clear a path for Blort, who was cowering in the face of a pair of very intimidating worms. All in all, despite Hussain embarassing us again, it all worked out great, since the other guys in the party didn't complain at all, nobody died in the fight back to Blort, and we all made it out with the quest complete. Pretty good group, the L20-21 Undead Mage, Solzidane, that headed it up, did a good job. After we got out, I had Hussain give me his current chest armor, so I could enchant it for him, and I was dumbfounded. I'm not sure exactly what armor it was, but lets just call it Crappy Grey Armor of Newbtown. I'm not kidding when I say that Blort was still wearing level 4 type armor at level 17. How Hussain allows this sort of shit to come to pass in a world with an Auction House is beyond me, but it clearly demands that I write a short article on it.
How To Make The Auction House Work For You
Successful use of the Auction House is critical to keeping a WOW character competitively outfitted. Obviously the AH can turn cash into useful items, but it also acts as a conversion filter, allowing players to turn items they can't use into items they can. Sell stuff you can't use, and pick up stuff you can. With enough population on your server, you're very likely to find exactly the right item for your character, so long as you have the right strategies for doing so.
Basics of Buying Weapons and Armor
The AH is a good avenue for obtaining a variety of stuff, including weapons, armor, potions, crafting materials, etc. Each of these has its own particular tricks, but when it comes to weapons and armor, the process is most involved, and best captures the methodologies that work with the AH.
When buying weapons and armor, the first thing to do, is to figure out which Attributes are most useful to your character, and prioritize them in order. For example, a Warrior might value Strength, Stamina, Agility, Spirit and finally Intelligence. The idea here is to be prepared to assess the usefulness of the bonuses on a given item you're considering For example, a Warrior looking at two items, one that gives +3 Str and +3 Spi, and one that gives +3 Str and +2 Sta, might go with the latter, even though the total bonus is less, simply because Spirit isn't particularly important to him.
From there, the other considerations are DPS in the case of weapons, and Armor in the case of armor. These stats are pretty straightforward, you want better DPS, you want better Armor, all very simple. There's a few exceptions to this rule, for example missile weapons that you use for pulling. If you only plan to take one shot, then fight, you really want a weapon that does a lot of damage per shot, you don't care how long it takes to shoot again.
Lastly, you want to go with an item that's got a Minimum Level as close to your own as possible. Some items don't have this stat, or are unusually good/expensive for their Minimum Level, but you can still use the general items as a baseline, and assess from there. Put simply, you'd like to have your character fully outfitted in the best gear they can use at their given level, all the time. This is rarely possible, but it's the edge condition you're shooting for.
One really nice thing about the AH interface, is that when you mouse over the items on auction, not only does it display their stats, but it displays the stats of your current gear alongside, so you can compare. This is one of the many features of WOW that I love, and it makes the AH very quick to use.
Auction House Key #1: Upkeep
The first key to making the AH work for you, is keeping constant tabs on it. Every time you're in the capital city (Orgrimmar or Ironforge), you should take a look at the AH. The goal is to avoid getting into situation where you really need to get a certain item. Don't be buying healing potions while your party tells you to hurry up and get to the instance dungeon with them. Don't be walking around with a piece of level 4 armor when you're level 20, and then flip out and decide you need something new right away. If you don't need to buy anything at any given time, you can afford to look for deals. Scan the weapons listed. See if there's one that'd work well for you, one that's better than what you've got, and that has a low current bid. If you spot something good, check the time left. Medium or less, and you should probably bid on it, as you're likely to win. Take a look at the buyout. If it's set very low, or is just a trivial sum for you to afford, just buy it out. Scan the armor listed. Look for healing potions that are cheap.
Remember, the key here is to stay ahead of the game. You want to get items at or very close to your level, you want to get them cheap, you want to get them with Attribute bonuses that help you. Above all, you want to be in a position such that you're never under pressure to upgrade an item because you've been lax about it for too long. The vast majority of the time, you'll pass on the items you see. It's not common to find an item that's your level, that's got bonuses you want, that's got a low bid, and that's in an auction that's about to expire. That's why you need to keep taking quick glances at what's available, every time you're around the AH. Run through your weapons, chest, shoulder, wrist, leg, foot, and hand armor... If there's nothing that jumps out, that's fine, you can try back later. Every now and again you'll see something that's great.
Other General Buying Tips
If you know you want an item right away, the only option is to buy out an auction. Filter the search criteria down to just items of the sort you need, and then look for the lowest buyout listed. Try to avoid doing buyouts without a fairly large set of data to look at. Some people set their buyout at “the most they can imagine some idiot paying for the item.” Others set it at “a price they're content to sell it at.” You want to hit the latter, not the former. If there's a lot of bids out there, you've got a better chance of spotting the going rate, and also of finding people who are trying to set undercutting buyout prices, in order to get their stuff sold.
Don't bid on stuff that's Long or Very Long, unless it's late at night when population is lower. All that does is tie up your money, and raise the price on the item. Wait until it's Medium or less to bid, and jump on stuff when the time is Short, and the price is low. In addition to being unlikely to win you the item, bidding on long duration auction also ties up your progress... For example, if you bid on a pair of bracers you like, you now have to wait 8 hours, 12 hours, whatever it is, before you can bid on any other bracers, lest you end up with two similar pairs, only one of which you can use.
Selling on the Auction House
When you're buying gear, you're pretty much always looking for the best deal on the best gear. When it comes to selling, there's more of a range of motivations. Some people (like me) are happy so long as they get vendor rates or better for an item. I don't need to get every penny out of an item that I can, I just want to get it sold in one shot for something more than I could get for pawning it to an NPC vendor. Other people will want to calculate things more carefully, and get the most they possibly can for an item, even if they have to repost it a few times to get it sold.
My strategy is pretty simple. I search for identical items, so I know what the going rates are. Then I put the item up for auction, I take whatever starting price it offers me, and I set the buyout slightly lower than whatever the lowest one I see is. If there are no buyouts listed for identical items, I use items of similar level and stats. If there's nothing listed there either, or if I'm just in a hurry, I set the buyout at double the starting price. In general, I find this to be pretty successful.
The same tips for timing bids apply to setting up sales. Don't put too long a duration on your auctions, as people are likely to ignore them until they get down to the wire. Don't post your auctions late at night, as population is down, and the auction will expire over night. The only exception to this, is if you're trying to set up an auction that's designed to be bought out. In this case you set it to the maximum duration, set the starting bid close to your buyout, and then set a very low buyout, that is likely to compete with other people's starting bids. In general, there doesn't appear to be too many bidding wars at the AH, so setting a low buyout and taking it isn't as bad as it sounds.
That's really it. It's a simple system, but powerful if you keep on top of it, and keep your character in good gear.