My Mists of Pandaria Stockpile? Not Much.

By far the most popular question I've been asked in the last two weeks has been "What should I stockpile for Mists of Pandaria?". Each time I feel that I must disappoint the questioner when I give my answer.

It's not that I haven't given it a lot of thought it's just that I'm not really much of a stockpiler. Never have been. Likely never will be.

That said, read on past the jump for the few items I have decided to sock away and/or wait to sell in Mists of Pandaria.

The (Short) List

• Truegold
• Truegold Materials
• Pyrite Ore
• Glyph Inks
• Hypnotic Dust

Pyrite Ore

I am stocking up on Pyrite Ore in order to make sure I have a steady supply of Pyrium Bars in Mists of Pandaria for creating Truegold. I doubt that Pyrite Ore will be as cheap in Mists of Pandaria as it is now.

I have 944 Pyrite Ore stockpiled. I don't expect to sell this on the open market but rather use it as part of my Truegold-making process.

Hypnotic Dust

I never planned to stockpile Hypnotic Dust. The only reason I am stockpiling Hypnotic Dust is that I am just too stubborn to sell it at 50 silver each.

Much like many of you who have done the ore shuffle in Cataclysm, I just ended up with way too much of this stuff. My hopes for being able to make a profit off this are fairly low.

I have 1048 Hypnotic Dust stockpiled. I don't expect it to increase in value until 5-6 months into Mists of Pandaria hopefully once people's Cataclysm stockpiles have run low. Sadly though I have the feeling too many people have too much Hypnotic Dust and have the same idea to hold onto it.

Stockpiled Glyph Inks

Glyph Inks

Inks to craft glyphs are the final (and most recent) addition to what I am stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria. Well not Mists of Pandaria specifically but the 5.0.4 Mists of Pandaria "pre-patch" that is coming on August 28, 2012. (Anyone else notice that August 28th is the same day that Guild Wars 2 launches?)

I have checked on the Mists of Pandaria beta as well as the 5.0.4 Public Test Realm (PTR) and in both instances the ink trader was no longer accepting Blackfallow Inks as currency for trading inks.

If this goes live then there will be just under a month (between 5.0.4 and the Mists of Pandaria release) where Blackfallow Ink will be next-to useless. If you have Blackfallow Ink and/or Cataclysm herbs to make Blackfallow Ink I'd suggest trading them in before August 28th, 2012.

I expect that if it goes live, this ink trader change will catch a lot of players off-guard. All inks that weren't traded before 5.0.4 will have to be made the "old-fashioned" way by farming older expansions and milling the specific herbs needed to make the inks.

The ink trader no longer accepting the previous expansions inks for trade also happened in the Cataclysm pre-patch. Don't get caught unawares.

I have right around 1100 "glyph inks" stockpiled. I used the "MoP Calc (Have Ink)" sheet in our newly updated Ink Purchase Distribution Calculator (create a copy or download it to use it) when trading my inks and it worked quite well to allow me to get a proper distribution of inks.

I may sell some of them during the gaps between the pre-patch 5.0.4 and the Mists of Pandaria release if prices go up. Otherwise I may hold onto them as my own personal stock or look into selling them during Mists of Pandaria perhaps in the initial "release rush" as glyph sellers fight over each other to cash in on the high glyph demand.

(I likely won't get into the glyph market myself unless I find a compelling reason to. I really dislike the glyph markets with it's hyper-competitors and need for constant "baby-sitting".)

That's Just Me

So there you have it. I am not a huge stockpiler. I know for a fact that some of you likely have multiple guild banks full of tons of stockpiled materials. All of my stockpile could fit in about two guild bank tabs.

So why aren't I a huge stockpiler? I think the main reason is that I don't like to invest a lot of capital in speculative ventures. Much like the tortoise, I like to make my gold "slowly and surely" over time.

I don't like the thought of having thousands upon thousands of gold tied up in a stockpile with no promise that I will ever be able to get my money back out of it, much less make a profit.

This also means that I may miss out on some great "secret" stockpiling strategy. I may look back and say "I wish I had stockpiled more of "this" or "that" because I would have made so much gold.".

That said, each of us has our own threshold of risk aversion. Some of us like to take huge risks in hopes of "hitting it big" (*cough* epic gems from Pryrite Ore *cough*) while others like taking smaller, more measured approaches to stockpiling.

Looking over my stockpile I am really stockpiling more to make sure I keep my own "pipeline" open during Mists of Pandaria. The materials I am stockpiling perhaps with the exception of Truegold (as I still haven't got the Vial of the Sands pattern to drop, curse you RNG!) and Hypnotic Dust (which is really more of an unwanted by-product, the "toxic waste" of shuffling) I have uses for in mind.

If I never sell the materials to others I should still be able to use them. Even if not I'd estimate my whole stockpile has a current value of right around 200k or so. A loss, granted, but not a huge loss if it all comes to naught.

What Should You Stockpile?

I can't answer that question for you. I've laid out what I happen to be holding onto for Mists of Pandaria but you should look over your own gold-making routines and see if there is anything that will a) still be used in Mists of Pandaria and b) is cheaper now then it ever will be again.

If something meets those two criteria then you might consider picking up some to hold onto for Mists of Pandaria.

If you don't decide to stockpile know that the world won't end. You won't go broke and (simply due to the fact that you are a gold-maker) you'll likely be making plenty of gold in Mists of Pandaria. You just have to keep your eyes open and your brain engaged.

No amount of stockpiling can predict every thing that happen in gold-making in MoP. New gold-making markets/techniques will often pop-up quickly, without warning and have a very short "shelf-life" until the "unwashed masses" start flooding into them and kill them off. Work to be the first one to spot them.

Stay frosty my friends!

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