Overview
A brief discussion on how we were handling funding the guild bank mid-Wrath.
Guide
Today there was an interesting thread on our Turalyon forums. The poster claims:
There was once a wise old saying that man cannot live on bread alone, given that you still need water and a scource of Vitamin A and C, this saying would not be far from the truth. In the wake of the most recent expansion, coupled with a change in attitude from Blizzard toward the gold selling scourge (Sunwell island daily quests etc) these here are profitable times for many. But is it enough? So here is the issue I am putting forward to debate from anyone willing to answer:That a level 80 raider using only the income derived from Raids and heroic 5-person dungeons, sustain a profit after all expenses (Flasks, repairs, enchants on new gear etc) have been taken into consideration. Without having to rely on outside revenue streams like the AH or tips from crafting.
Where do you stand on this myth?
The poster claimed it was possible as long as you were raiding 3x/week, in wasn't progression content (i.e. not too many wipes) and you can run two heroics a day.
With the content as it stands now and if these conditions are met, the profits sustained from doing all the above would be at best marginal, but I would say its within the realms of possibility.
There are a lot more conditions here than specified so far. The big one I am thinking of is:
Is a guild allow to AH BOE raid drops that mains no longer need (surge needle rings, BoE Sunwell patterns, nether vortex crafted goods, or even to sell stuff like Amani War Bears).
If the answer is yes, than a guild can support players 100% for raiding, with no outside farming needed (as long as you put some work into maintaining the guild bank.) However if the answer is no, then the answer is no.
There has to be an income source somewhere. Flasks don't grow on trees, and bosses don't drop enough gold to sustain repairs + consumables (not to mention enchants and gems).
Fusion members as a whole have not had to pay for any raiding type item for years now. All flasks, gems, enchants, repairs, etc, are all paid for by the guild. We even finance people swapping trade skills. This comes with a price though. We ran ZA speed runs for months after the guild had bears. I don't know exactly how many we sold, but for the last 3 weeks we were selling 3 bears per reset (3 days). That's over 20 bears at 5k gold a pop. Prior to that we had been selling 2 bears almost every reset for a fairly long time (2 months maybe?).
In addition, we had been supplementing this by selling sunmotes, hearts of darkness, and nether vortexes. For a short time we also sold BT and Hyjal loot, however it is a bit cumbersome, and not something we actively try to do.
If there is a mechanic similar to those listed above, then yes, a guild can be 100% self sufficient without any member having to individually farm (unless it's for personal reasons).
However, with that said, it is very hard to sell stuff right now. Purely speculation, but it seems that a lot of gold has been taken out of the system, or people are sitting on very large stashes for no apparent reason. In addition, the fact that content is a joke allows anyone to do it, and consequently, there is no market to sell items (BOE epics already hitting rock bottom prices).
We've sold the occasional achievement (e.g. 2k for just running Malygos), and some gear, but most people want the rare best-in-slot items and for one, those don't drop that often -- but more importantly, our raiders still need them.
Even selling Sarth3D mounts is difficult (Admittedly, our asking price is steep -- 25k -- and Turalyon is cheap.) Even so, I know some people can afford it, but I am curious as to how much gold is in the economy.
I have a feeling that items such as the Travelers Mammoth, Grand Ice Mammoth, Mechanohog, etc - have proven to be extremely large money sinks that are taking a great deal of wealth out of the economy. That combined with the fact that a Isle of Quel'danas does not exist at the moment. The influx of gold to the economy we seen at the end of the expansion was like no other, and I'm not sure Blizzard will introduce another quest hub like that again.
Anyone had any experiences trying to make money on a guild level since Wrath launch that they'd like to share?
Hei I'm a holy raiding Priest since MC. I can tell you it was hard back then. Grinding was near impossible and I had(!) to learn how to play the AH.
Nowadays I don't grind any more. Nor do I farm anything. Repair costs seem to match with what raiding gives back to me. And all the consumables, enchants and glyphs I take from the guild bank. And so does everyone else.
We di enough for crystals and stuff. Freya drops enough flowers and flasks for one week.
In my guild only the fish seems to be a problem sometimes. We dont have a lot of fisherman ;)
How ever, a good Guild system is the only thing one needs to cover all the outgoing money I think. It seems to be working for you guys as well. With a little different scale at least ;P We only do 10s.
Good read btw, thank you.
-Priest