The Time Balance

Real life doesn’t allow me to play WoW like I used to play. (And honestly, I used to play way too much) I can’t usually get more than 15 minutes before work in the morning to set up the day’s auctions and then a good 2-3 hours most nights, although I take a few nights a week off. What I’m coming to realize is that the key is setting priorities and doing what I get the most out of with my time.

There are some things that just have to be done. I have to craft the stuff I’m selling. I have to make sure I have the consumables for my 3 raid nights. I have to show up for raids and tank. Raiding Sunday, Monday, and Thursday typically allows me Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday to futz around as I see fit. (Saturday is date night with the Mrs.)

My typical off night plays out like this: I log into the bank alt, collect money (hopefully), run a quick scan, then check the going prices on saronite ore, saronite bars, eternal earth, water, and shadow, eternal belt buckles, netherweave cloth and netherweave bags. I buy what needs restocking and post whatever needs posting. I run to the mailbox and toss crafting materials off to their respective crafters. Then I go back to the AH and check whatever I forgot to check the first time and look around for anything that’s surprisingly low, what’s in low supply that I might be able to turn a quick profit on, and I relog to my crafting toons. I make what I need to and ship it back to the bank alt, log back to that toon, and post all the new stuff. I try to knock all of this out before raid times kick in for most guilds to try and catch a few sales before those guys get into instances.

After that I do JC, fishing, and cooking dailies and then (if we’re being honest) check to see what’s sold already. If anything needs to be cancel/reposted, I do that, then I head off to the druid to do some leveling. I’m taking too much time with the druid, trying to keep him in rested xp for the most part (raid nights help with that). I’m thinking very seriously about switching him to my new main once he gets to 80 and gets geared, but I have to get there first. He’s LW/skinning, which I don’t intend to change at this point. I’m looking forward to some skinning sales once I get up to 80 and get LW done, I think there’s money to be made there as I gear the toon out.

Around 10:30-11:00, I usually log back to the AH alt and collect some more cash and run a full check again on all my materials to see what I can pick up cheap for tomorrow. I may jump back to a crafter if I see an opportunity here, but really I’m pretty much done for the night. I’ll log in in the morning before work, run a quick check to see any steals, collect money, cancel/repost, and then it’s off to work. Unfortunately, this schedule is only doable 3-4 days a week, so I’m never going to be a huge businessman I’m afraid, but I should be able to continually make money, get leveled and geared, and raid without too much trouble.