Mists of Panderia Preparation Pt2 - Space Management

Return of the completely unrelated screenshot :)

This post is part of a series:
Part 1 - Enchanting (Covers the prime leveling enchants and materials to look for)

I know my last post in the series promised more crafts to sale to the new pandas/monks/whatever. I just find this to be much more important for any player but especially for someone wanting to maximize gold during the first part of Mists so bare with me. As Mists approaches you will probably be faced with the dilemma of transitioning from the every day grind and routine to re-utilizing space to prepare for the expansion. We don't all have ten characters half of which are just slaves to the gold making empire each with their own guild bank so having a game plan is good.

Bags

Basic thing any blog/guide is going to tell you to do is always have the largest bags that are in your budget on any character that will either step foot outside of the city (includes raids/dungeons) or will process any AH listings. My personal opinion is that you should never have profession bags in your main four slots (with exceptions). I realize you are a miner and that mining bag is cool..Fact is you never mine enough in one trip out of town to fill that bag and what it is doing is effectively taking up a bag slot (20+ item slots) that could be accommodating other items. The exceptions are characters whose sole propose in existing is to either process a very specific profession based task like glyph making or if the character is just a mule to store things on (effectively making them a bank and not a character).

Profession bags are excellent for long-term storage. Personal bank slots should be full of them (If you plan to store anything for MoP release for example) to maximize items-per-slot in the bank. Example, for those enchant scrolls and materials from my last post it is more efficient to store them in an Otherworldly Bag than it is to fill a guild bank tab with them. Guild bank tabs therefore are best "spent" on items that will not fit into special bags. If you use the remote AH you might also want these items to be the ones you will not sale day to day during current gold making as the app cannot pull from guild banks.

Make Decisions

Broad subject title? What I mean is look at what you are currently doing to make gold and think about whether you will 1. Keep doing it in Mists 2. Stop doing it in Mists or 3. Keep the materials to sale after the push into Mists and handle the items appropriately.

For anything that you will be keeping to sale after the initial patch of Mists start looking to convert this from short-term storage into long-term storage. Good example is current generation materials that are in abundant supply like Hypnotic Dust, Ores, Uncommon gems, and the like that are useful but price has been driven down. Once people are exploring Panderia there is still a need for these materials for leveling professions, or enchants, etc but they will not be over farmed. It is very important you pick stock wisely if space is limited because just because it is more rarely sold doesn't mean it will be worth something. Gems made in Cata will have a limited market because they are ilevel bound unlike Wrath gems that I continue to sale strong. Levelers will take Mists greens (that I don't suspect will take gems) through the level range where Cata gems are useful. Zephyrite is a popular choice to keep but it is iffy to me. It is in great supply now because it is useless - and it will remain largely useless even after the supply is gone.

When you've made the decision to stop trying to sale something altogether make sure you stay aware of your timeline. My previous release predictions are no longer valid (though the advise given there still is). Beta has already started for MoP so I cannot see them waiting until Q4 for release late Q3 is more likely. Go through all your banks and alts and liquidate. Example, Cata epic items will have little value when Mists greens are better. Inscription deserves special mention because it received a lot of attention for MoP. Stocking up for Inscription will be smart (more information in a future post), but do not get caught with too many premade glyphs that will be removed and likely get the charred treatment. On the PowerWord:Gold podcast they discussed a good point in that Blackfallow Ink is barely used for anything except trading down to other inks which if history repeats itself will be removed for Mists in favor of the new Ink.




Stocking in the Raw

A few weeks ago on Twitter I gave a follow up tip to my Enchanting post that Prismatic Shards can be converted back and forth from small to large so you can save room by storing them as large even if you only use small. This started a conversation as to why I don't just make the scrolls and store them. This is because I follow the 'Raw Model' that several people have briefly discussed in the community. In cases where conversion to the finished product you will sale is simple and it doesn't take up too much storage space it is better to stock items in their rawest material form. This is because by producing the product beforehand you are sacrificing the ability to either sale the materials themselves or to use the materials on something else if the market changes. Given that there is a lot of Beta left any change in direction by Blizzard can ruin your plan.

Through Cata I always stockpiled Carnelians and Heartblossom instead of converting them into Inferno Rubies which I planned to sale to people updating their gear that comes with the Valor-to-Justice shift each patch. I did this in case enchanting materials exploded (Carnelian spikes) or in the case of one patch the price of Carnelians and Heartblossoms tripled directly after the patch so I sold some raw. I've already discussed Inscription and why it is better not to make the glyphs. Any Blackfallow you can get cheaply late expansion should be converted into other inks. One instance where it would be good to produce then stock would be if the pattern uses up a lot of materials you otherwise wouldn't be saving. I'm trying to remember who the Twitter conversation was with to give props but they mentioned the Mongoose enchant which I make and sale as well. It uses a lot of materials and half of them I only stock to make Mongoose specifically so they take up a lot of space while the scroll itself stacks.


In review to finish this post off:
1. Make sure your characters have the largest bags you can afford. Those that will be looting or handling multiple types of items need standard bags appropriate for anything.
2. Store items efficiently for the short-term and long-term, maximizing space in limited tabs/slots by storing in large profession bags where possible.
3. If you are going to keep things to sale after Mists first patch choose wisely and start moving it into storage.
4. Liquidate anything you don't need for Mists to clear that space out and maximize profits.
5. Where possible, store in the rawest material form so you are free to change direction with the market.  


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I would appreciate any feedback from those that reach the page. You can reach me here in the comments, on Twitter @formerruling, and on my YouTube channel FormerRuling