Wednesday 23 February 2011

The Second Best Add-On for the AH

Today Cold published an interesting post on his blog about The Only AH Add-On Required... Well, actually on the Cold's Gold Factory there are interesting posts every day, but I wanted to talk about this one in particular.

For Cold, the only add-on you will never need is your brain. Well, I quite disagree: there is another fundamental add-on you should use (especially if you're really using only your brain): Pen and Paper.

Writing notes is fundamental, even when you're using a lot of add-ons: since you're the one inserting manually your notes, the old fashioned pen and paper (or even better: pencil and paper) is nearly free of data-pollution risks.

Writing things down helps reasoning, and makes visualizing a lot easier. You have to choose what to write and what not to write (you can't just mindlessly collect data as Auctioneer would do), so every time you take your pencil you're making decisions. Having to make decision is good.
You learn more by applying and deciding than just by watching.

I remember that in my first days on the AH I used just my brain, pencil, paper, rubber and sometimes a calculator. This was years ago, at the beginning of the BC, and I used to strongly refuse to download any kind of AH add-on. Years later I finally decided to start using add-ons more and it certainly made the AH easier and faster... But I'm quite sure those years weren't useless (and, well, glyphs didn't exist back then, so I didn't have to post those huge amount of different little things).

(BTW, in Rift I'll have to go back to those methods, since there aren't add-ons O.o)

13 comments:

  1. True words my friend, but i normally use a Excel worksheet,wend pen and paper are note around.But most days my brain is to tired from work i usually do not use anything.
    But i am still developing my methodology and focusing mainly in leveling my Lock and inscription.

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  2. Every time I do a spring cleaning, I come across slips of paper with notes on them from games I stopped playing years ago.

    I think the note-taking/number-crunching is more fun than the game for me sometimes.

    Good advice.

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  3. @Alberthus: Excel is great when you need some way to update calculations as prices vary!
    Still, there are lot of things you can do better on some simple paper.

    @Kathroman: I love when it happens! Usually I can understand how old my block notes are from something I wrote down playing a game... It's quite funny ^_^

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  4. Think you guys may have inspired a post by me ;) In broad terms, I agree with the point you are making but I disagree enough that I might be able to post about it. ;)

    But like you, I find old notes, scribblings, etc tucked away from older games all the time. Its great fun when I do find them!

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  5. If you write that post be sure to come back and link it here!

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  6. "I remember that in my first days on the AH I used just my brain, pencil, paper, rubber and sometimes a calculator."

    I am not too sure about the rubber (I can tell you are from over "yonder", because in the states, we use that on our pencil, but not the one you write on paper with, the one you write in snow with...).

    Everything else is my experience to a T. I had a few binders with printouts (from thottbot, worldofwarcraft.com, etc), and notes of what items were what and what price (and where I found them).

    Re-living those days was fun. Thanks for the post!

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  7. Great post, Kreaton! If I were a nicer guy, I'd share my elaborate and extensive spreadsheets I've developed over the years of auctioning. But I'll suffice to say they have served me well, and the principles you blog about here are very important.

    Another great (free) tool is Evernote, which is beneficial for me because I play on multiple computers, and often do research at work (don't tell my boss). So I take notes with Evernote which syncs over the web, and then have access to it from my gaming station at home. Google it if you've never heard of it.

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  8. My desk is flooded with note papers, too (though not necessarily with WoW information), as I tend to write down everything.

    It's really annoying at times when I can't find a specific note, so I'm giving Evernote a try.

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  9. Kreaton: Post is finally up!

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  10. Your blog is really helpful and inspiring. I'm still learning all this gold-making stuff (previously I had limited myself to just flipping the AH, but now am spreading out more). People like you who share their knowledge help people like me out so much - thank you again!

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  11. If you run out of notepaper, you can always write on the back of an envelope or on your jeans, if it washes off... otherwise you'll be walking around with the mats list for your epic chest written upside down on your legs.

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  12. @thesupercasual: Please feel free to link directly to the post, so that people wandering here in the future can will be able to find it easily ^^

    @amity: thank you for your comment! These are the kind of things that kept me blogging so long... Even if I know I'm not posting very much in these days...
    I have to admit I started playing Rift and I'm not following WoW as close as I used to... And I'm still not enough in Rift economy to post about that :/

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