Time Is Money: Profit off the Titansteel cooldown removal

As we all read, miners will be able to smelt Titansteel after patch 3.3.3 with no cooldown. What will this mean for you, and how can you make money from this change? Let's start by quickly evaluating the Titansteel production chain.
- Saronite Ore is farmed by miners
- Saronite Bars are smelted by miners
- Titanium Bars are transmuted by alchemists
- Titansteel Bars are smelted with an Eternal Fire, Earth, and Shadow
Where in this do we see people mining Titanium Veins and smelting the Titanium Ore? We don't. Since the cooldown was removed from the alchemist's transmute titanium ability, the ore is no longer worth smelting. Saronite is always cheaper.
Titansteel Ripple
Right now, the supply of Titansteel has an artificial limit-- miners can only make one every day. Well, technically every 20 hours, but who's counting. Once this restriction is lifted, we can expect to see a few changes to the supply and demand of all the mats. We can count on people mass-producing Titansteel Bars as soon as they're able to, which means that miners will be buying Titanium Bars in bulk, which will also increase the demand on Saronite.
This increase in supply of Titansteel will lower its price, and that will mean people will buy more of it. If someone was holding off on an expensive BoE, this reduction might put it into their price range. That means that the demand for other items that go into BoE gear will increase. I'm predicting that Primordial Saronite, at the least, will see a spike in demand for a couple of days after the patch, and I bought 9 of them just in case I'm right. For a full list of items that might see a spike in demand, check the "reagent for" tab in Wowhead for Titansteel Bars.
Eternals and Frozen Orbs
Something else to consider with the patch is the demand for eternals we'll be seeing. Right now, Frozen Orbs are going for triple what they did before the patch announcements, and while these can be turned into Eternal Fires, they might be worth more as Frost Lotus, depending on when the recent increase in supply starts having an effect on prices. I have seen people bragging about the massive quantity of these Frozen Orbs they've managed to stockpile, but in the long run, the fact that they're dropped every time someone runs a random heroic is probably more significant.
Too long, didn't read
Long story short, my personal plan for profiting off this change in patch 3.3.3 is to:
- Buy Saronite
- Transmute it all
- Sell as much Titanium as I can to speculators before the patch
- Sell as much Titanium as I can to miners after the patch
- Buy Primordial Saronite now for resale the day of the patch
Filed under: Time Is Money
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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Rhabella Feb 25th 2010 12:10PM
Remember that because the frozen orbs will be tradeable for eternals AND the cloth cooldown has been removed, you are likely to see a rush for eternals for cloth as well.
Since I now have 3 80 tailors, all clothies, I will be using my mooncloth specialist and shadowcloth specialist to make all the mats I need for the 22 slotters and then just have all 3 make a bag every 4 days for the profit. Those orbs will have a lot of value to anyone, even me who has over 400 stockpiled. Miners aren’t the only ones who might make a killing here. Those people with multiple tailors could wipe the floor with the reduced costs in time and mats for the 22 slot bags.
Pyromelter Feb 25th 2010 2:13PM
one frozen orb = one frost lotus.
Frozen orbs will be worth whatever the highest priced material is. Last I checked, frost lotus was almost 70g on my server. I'm assuming this will come down with the higher drop rate and the patch hitting, but I can't see frost lotus hitting 20g any time soon. I'm guessing that eternal fire and frost lotus will be the main drivers for the frozen orb economy going forward.
Al stephens Feb 25th 2010 11:56AM
Thanks I read about the changes and there was a lot there so one misses a few spots
Pomma Feb 25th 2010 12:34PM
--------- If someone was holding off on an expensive BoE, this reduction might put it into their price range. That means that the demand for other items that go into BoE gear will increase. I'm predicting that Primordial Saronite, at the least, will see a spike in demand for a couple of days after the patch, and I bought 9 of them just in case I'm right. ---------
This part seems a bit foolish to me. It is suggesting that someone was unwilling to make the BoE crafted item because the titansteel cost too much and not the orbs/primordials that go along with it. I can only envision the prices of primordials going down as people finish buying the EoF they want and have the extra emblems to spend on a quaranteed money maker. Titansteel has nothing to do with this.
Pyromelter Feb 25th 2010 2:22PM
have to agree, more and more people are starting to accumulate EoF and we're seeing a lot more for sale now. The price of them have been steadily dropping at a rate of about 100g/week since 3.3. If you have emblems to spare and want to sell, sell it right now.
I have to agree with an earlier poster that the eternals are going to be the biggest bottleneck in this whole thing. I foresee a large increase in eternal demand (and eternals are already pretty high up there).
micktha Feb 25th 2010 4:10PM
You haven't mentioned what is going to happen to the Eternals though???
The increased pressure put on the eternals used in titansteel is going to cause a rise across the board, as eternal earth are popular for making Darkmoon cards (and other stuff) and eternal fire are popular as a mat for creating the raw metagems.
Earth/fire range from 25-40g on my server, and are usually in short supply, and can only see these prices rising as they are vacummed up by miners.
umbra06nz Feb 25th 2010 5:15PM
You're probably all going to laugh at me but never mind. I didn't know you could transmute saronite into titanium! Here I am flying around picking up 200 saronite and 6 titanium and a few gems and selling my saronite when I could have been converting it? Awww :(
Thanks for the tip.
masteroaktree Mar 11th 2010 1:27PM
All this market talk makes me feel like I'm on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.......