Meet Ohnekase: Why Transmog BoEs sell really really well.

Meet Amastacia

Oh, look it is Ohne....wait, what?  Not Ohnekase

Ohnekase is around, and I will be referencing him, but I decided to start with meet Amastacia today.  Why?  Well, honestly, I like her look better.  I love the fact that she matches and looks really different.  As such, she is a great introduction to this blog.

Ok, so you saw my blog post earlier about Ohnekase's foray into transmogriphication.  It didn't work as well as I wanted it to, but I still made money on it.  And I kept at it (albeit using @DEAzeroth's mog list), and I have been making money.  Well, I logged on this morning and checked my mail.  Wouldn't you know it, I broke 3000 gold.  Not only did I break 3000 gold, but I smashed it and went up to 5000 gold.  Seriously, take a look at Ohnekase's Gold Amount and my sales data for the past little bit.  Its crazy.

Bloodscale Guantlets sold for 1500 gold.  Crazy awesome and crazy good.  I haven't left Orgrimmar in weeks.  And if you do the math, I have earned more than 3500 gold just on Transmog alone.  Why has it been so profitable?  Because BoE transmogriphication sells.  Transmog gear sells really well.

Well, if that was all I wanted to write about, this would  be a really short and boring blog post.  However, @Faidtastic asked if there was a site around about the theory of transmogriphication.  When I could not think of any, I decided to make something myself.

Before we begin...

Before we get started lets go over some ground rules. 

First, this is not a primer on what BoE Items to go out, buy and make a bunch of money.  If you want that, there are other sites that do it so much better.  My big recommation is to follow @DEAzeroth on Twitter.  My other big recommendation the Power Word:  Gold blog.  @DEAzeroth (the Mogfather or Keelhaul, whichever you choose) put his specific money making ideas on PW:G and a lot of people have been good about it.  Alto's Goldish Advice and Vile's Auctions blogs also have great things to say about transmog.  I am just going to talk about why BoEs can and should sell for high.

Here are a couple of specific posts that have specific sales advice from the experts:
PW:G and PW:G Hatchery

http://www.powerwordgold.net/2011/11/confessions-of-mogging-fiend.html#more (@DEAzeroth defense of transmog, this might be what I am writing, but I am still writing it)
http://www.powerwordgold.net/2011/12/keelhauls-big-flippin-mogging-list.html (@DEAzeroth's big list.  I use this a lot).
http://www.powerwordgold.net/2012/01/mogging-item-search-and-pricing-with.html (@Powerwordgold helps with Auctionator and using it to make your life a little easier.)
http://www.powerwordgold.net/2012/01/guide-to-farming-instances-for-mogging.html (yay, me.  Hopeless self promotion, but if you want to farm stuff, this will help.)
http://hatchery.powerwordgold.net/2012/01/unabridged-cloth-mogging-flip-list-by.html (@DEAzeroth Cloth mogging list)
http://hatchery.powerwordgold.net/2012/01/unabridged-mogging-plate-flip-list-by.html (@DEAzeroth Plate mogging list)
http://hatchery.powerwordgold.net/2012/01/unabridged-mail-mogging-flip-list-by.html (@DEAzeroth Mail mogging list)

From Vile

http://vilesauctions.blogspot.com/search/label/Transmogrification (this is his label).

From Alto

http://altosgoldishadvise.blogspot.com/2012/02/selling-transmog-items-how-to-price-for.html

Second, my information, while it will be written in my own words, was not gotten on my own.  I did not come up with the golden ticket of Mogging.  @DEAzeroth did.  In fact, he said a lot of it on the Power Word: Gold Podcast # 24 (I believe also # 25 or 26, don't remember).  However, because I couldn't think of a blog that talks about the theory, I thought I would.  So, yeah, credit to him, cause he is awesome.  I wouldn't have done this without looking at him.

Ok, ground rules done.  Here we go:

So why do BoE Transmog items sell so highly...

OK, so as we have talked about, transmogriphication is simply a system where you can take one type of armor and make it look like another item of that same type:  Plate can look like other plate, etc.  You also have to be able to wear it.  Where does that get us?

Three words:  Unique player look.

As @DEAzeroth has pointed out, Transmogriphication give players an untold level of customization on how they look.  I don't have to look like every other player in Cataclysm.  Why would I want to look like I am wearing Rock Plate, when I am a Death Knight and want to look generally creepy?  Why would I want to look like Deathwing (Warrior T13) when I can look like a spiked warrior?  Transmog can do all of that.

Because transmogriphication gives the ability to look like few others in the game, you can show up to the party in style.  Wanna look like a Stormwind Guard or an Orgrimmar Grunt?  There are looks for that (Imperial Plate set and Sentinel Leather Set + Cabalist Shoulders).  Hell, WoWInsider.com just ran an article to look like High Inquisitor Whitemane.  It is really neat.

Let me give you a real world example of the idea of Transmogriphication.  Have you ever looked for an Ipod/Iphone/Ipad/Nook/etc. case?  Ever seen how many there are?  I have.  During the Christmas Season, I worked at Barnes and Noble.  We had probably 40-60 different Nook Cases.  We had a few strong sellers, but pretty much all of them sold.  Why?  Because people were going for looks.  There were a few feature differences, but people wanted certain looks for their Nooks.  From leatherbound book to Organizer black cover to looking like a hardbound book, there were a ton of different styles.

Buying a case for your gadget is no different than buying transmogriphication gear.  When you buy an iPad or Nook, you want them for their features, there price, and how they benefit you.  But, you want them to look different, unique, and/or cool.  You wouldn't willingly settle for something else that is weaker just cause it looks different.  You want the look as well, which is why cases are so expensive and sell so well. 

Transmogriphication is the same idea.  I will give you an example from WotLK.  Back when I was playing Wrath, I got Tier 9 sets with Justice points after ICC came out and I liked the way my rogue looks.  However, I thought Tier 10 looked aweful.  I thought that T10 looked like a Big Daddy reject from Bioshock.  However, the stats were better, so I bought a couple of pieces when I could, while still trying to keep my T9 look as long as possible.  I even threw a tabard over the chest to get away with what I could.  The reason was cause I wanted what I thought was the better look with the better stats that came with T10.  Now, I can keep whatever look I like without having to worry about stats.

In terms of bad looks, here is another example of a single item that I hate.



 This is my Mage.  Level 85 Blood Elf Mage.  I haven't played him much recently (other than for gold making purposes), but he is still fun to play on occassion.  Now, lets look at his ascetic look.  To me, it looks ok.  Not great, not terrible.  The shoulders look a little off, but only a little, and I kinda like the Robe.  But...oh my god, his belt.  I hate that damn belt.  Why the hell do I have a girdle on?  It looks awful.  While wearing it, I expect people to come up and ask me if my Mage is pregnant.  Or, I expect Stone Cold Steve Austin to come and challenge me for the heavy weight championship.  It is just bad.  Would I pay an ethereal to make it look like something else?  Yes, Yes, Yes, 1000 times yes.

OK, great, transmog is good, but who really pays 10,000 gold for a piece of plate mail

If you have been reading @DEAzeroth, lots of people.  But why would people pay for specific items.  Well, in order to answer that question, I will use a few rules.

Oh yeah, pure badass

1) It has to look cool or iconic:  The set needs to look good.  I remember back in Classic, I saw this set and just went "Wow, that is so cool."  Hell this set almost made me play a Paladin and start raiding back in classic....almost.  But that is the idea.  This set shows the idea that some sets are just iconic, which is why rogues where Bloodfang and Paladins wear this.

Another quick example of this is the Bucaneer set.  People like looking like pirates.  They like looking like they would love to start singing "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me".  It is very inconic and something a lot of people can relate too (just watch out for ninja's they are everywhere).  I put up the Swashbuckler's Eyepatch cause it is iconic.  Guess what?  It sells for 1000 gold.  Cause people want the iconic look.






2) The set has to look unique (See below for example):  Wanna know why I say that?  Look at this:

Sweet, I look unique...just like every other Wrath Armor.

Seriously, look at the Wrath of the Lich King Green items.  They look the exact same.  Sure the color is a little different, but they look largely identical.  I kinda chop it up to the amount of content they put in that these suffered, but you need a set to look unique.

The short answer to why the Mogfather tiered his gear the way he did boils down to that.  You want it to look unique.  You want a player to be able to show their awesomeness without getting outshone by everyone else for their awesomeness.  Hell, the lack of uniqueness is why people loved this feature in the first place.

Oooh...Flesh!

3) Sex Sells: Yes, it is true.  Deny it all you want, but sex sells.  How many men play female characters?  a lot of them.  You know what my response has been (like a lot of others when I have done it)?  Well, if you have to look at someone's butt while you are running around, it might as well be female.  Take a look at the Glorious set to our right.  It is cool, unique, and is plenty sexy on the female form.  Males don't look bad in it either, but lets be honest, females look great in it.

Something else to note is that there are not a lot of tier sets that look like this.  Most of the tier sets cover a lot more than this.  So if you want to go with the sexy look (Black Mageweave also comes to mind), then you aren't really gonna be able to farm the sexy pieces.

I like it, it looks good, but it is easy to get.

4 (correlary of 2) The set cannot be easy to get:  So, one of the things that I was looking at when I first started (and didn't do Transmog right) was to just buy up all of the interestingish looking items on the Auction House, turn around and flip them for high prices.  But most of those didn't sell.  Why?  Well, I broke these rules.  But one of the rules I broke was that I was buying items that were easy to get.

An example from that is the Darkmoon Robe.  I had one sell, which was good, but the other 4 I had bought sat on the Auction House for several months not selling.  Why?  Well, you get them from Rogues Decks.  The Inscription Decks that people use.  Those aren't hard to get.  So they haven't sold.

Another example has been some weapons.  Weapons have not sold well and they have higher deposit fees on the AH.  So they have been sitting.  There are some cool weapons, but people seem to rather get those from instances.  And they aren't too hard to get.


So, those are the rules for what the Mogfather has pointed out has made for good transmog sales.  So lets put them together and talk about why certain items sell.

So, if you look at the Plate Transmog list and look at the first tier (Lets take Glorious as an example), why would anyone pay for it.  Well, first off, lets go over the rules.

1) It looks cool.  It is gold plate.  Even discounting females, it looks unique.  How many others have gold armor that looks like that.

2) It is Unique:  Most the other gold stuff is kinda paladin-like.  This is definitely that way, but any class can use it.

3) It looks sexy:  I mean...come on, did ya see the picture.

4) the Set is not easy to get:  This set does not show up on the AH often.  In fact, I have yet to see it on my main server.  Where do you get it.  AQ 20 and AQ 40.  Who do you know that runs those?  Not many people.  So, if no one is running it, and those that do are still working off of RNG, how often will you see it?  Never.

So, if you wanted something super unique and sexy, Glorious is a good choice.  Would you pay for that set?  Absolutely.

Now the other piece of the price tag (which you don't need to continuously undercut people to sell): there are 2 factors at play for the price tag.  First, Farming the whole set would take a lot of time.  I have run AQ several times and I haven't seen a single piece.  Now imagine I am farming several of these pieces.  Would I pay 10k to save myself hours of farming?  Absolutely.  Money isn't as important to some people as time. 

Second, how many times do I have to buy a tranmogriphication item? Once.  If I buy one set of armor for a super unique look, I am only buying this once.  I don't have to buy it for each set of armor.  Think about that.  How much does one person spend on enchantments over the course of 1 expansion.  I guarantee it is more than 10k.  With a 1k+ weapon enchant, you can spend 3 or 4k just on that.  Add in the added boots, gloves, shoulders, and helm enchants and it adds up quick.  And how often do you buy 1 item that you never have to replace (for what you are using it for).  Transmog offers that.  Your unique look will last you forever.  The only way it won't is if you DE it/sell it/etc.  Is that worth it...for some, absolutely.

Back to Ohnekase...He got the grade...

So real quick before I conclude this.  Ohenkase did it, he got the 3000 that would get him the A.  Hell, he is probably at an A+ grade.  Woot, great.  So, am I done?  Hells no.

But where do I go from here is an interesting question.  I have a little debate for myself.  I can keep the Earthen Ring Ohnekase and keep him making money.  No reason not to really (other than time).  I might also open up my activities on Earthen Ring and use it as a staging ground for the look on the inside (you would see my characters and my experience).

On the other hand, I am considering doing the same thing, but on Lightbringer, US.  That way, I can play with the Power Word:  Guild Crew.  I know it is a huge market, but a Market I can use and meld to what I want to do with it.  It is a tough choice.

So if you have thoughts on this, let me know.  It could be a fun debate for me.

Fine, Fine, but Trolls are still gonna hate on you for putting a level 50 green up for 3000 gold...

Yeah, you are right.  Trolls will always troll.  It is what they do.  They like being their trolly troll self.  But for every troll I hear about, I get at least 10 times the sales, I would normally get.  So why is it a problem.  Who cares If I get hate mail.  Guess what, I got someone calling me a noob yesterday (I really don't know why he did, but he/she did).

So next week, I want to discuss gold mining peaks to get past.  As you notice, I put the poll up on my blog to ask where you all think the hardest peak of gold to get is.  Guess what?  The answers were super varied.  I want to explore why the different peaks are the way they are.

So, until then

See ya next time...