How to turn ore into Heavenly Shards
by Basil Berntsen 
May 25th 2011 at 8:00PM
There has been a recent surge of ore supply at ridiculously low prices on quite a few realms. Since grinding up that much ore takes so much time and since the prospected value of ore is having the rug pulled out from under it in patch 4.2, a lot of people are wondering if they have any alternatives. Here's how to turn 24 stacks of ore into a stack of Heavenly Shards with nothing but a blacksmith and an enchanter:
- Step 1 Smelt 16 stacks of Elementium Ore.
- Step 2 Smelt 8 stacks of Obsidium Ore.
- Step 3 Use the obsidium to craft 2 stacks of Folded Obsidium.
- Step 4 Craft 20 Stormforged Shoulders (or legs).
- Step 5 Disenchant into Heavenly Shards.
The calculation for your cost is quite straightforward: 16 Elementium Ore plus 8 Obsidium Ore is your cost for a single shard. On my realm, most days, that means I never pay more than 42g, and usually less than 34g. Since Heavenly Shards hover between 40g and 80g, I can usually sell anything I don't use for scrolls for 60g fairly quickly.
The price for ore is likely to reduce after patch 4.2 hits, so don't make anything you can't use or sell before (or immediately after) that.
Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped as well as the author's Call to Auction podcast. Do you have questions about selling, reselling and building your financial empire on the auction house? Basil is taking your questions at basil@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Economy
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Necromann May 25th 2011 8:05PM
40g-80g? I'm happy when I sell my shards for 25g. They usually go for 20g.
Jeff May 25th 2011 8:25PM
Realms vary. On my realm they're fairly reliable at about 50-60g a pop.
SomalorTheRed May 25th 2011 9:19PM
My realm is far worse. Shards hover between 10-15g. Even celestial essence prices are pretty low, somewhere between 25-35g
Quorniya May 26th 2011 12:08AM
God you guys are lucky. On my realm/faction, seeing a Heavenly Shard for 50g or less is a steal. They go up to as much as 80g on bad days.
Grubba May 26th 2011 1:07AM
Lucky if you're buying, unlucky if you're selling. They're low on my server, too.
obandsoller May 26th 2011 3:20AM
On my server there's been an increase in the cost of heavenly shards since the Zuls. I can sell my shards for 90g each, because I'm certain that while I will be undercut all the cheap ones below me will sell.
I think the reasons for the increase in price are:
1) fewer people are doing normal hcs, since the Zuls awards twice as many VPs
2) since Maelstrom crystals have gotten so cheap because of the Zuls people are more willing to buy high-end enchants, and those often require many more Heavenly Shards than the cheaper ones people used to use.
Bwyard May 25th 2011 8:12PM
WHat addon is that you are using to search for things in the picture?
Anton Ochs May 25th 2011 8:22PM
That is Auctionator, my friend.
best. thing. ever.
dj.clayden May 25th 2011 8:29PM
Auctionator :)
John May 25th 2011 8:23PM
Basil, ty for showing me how to stay supplied on materials...specifically heavenly shards...i knew there was a way somewhere and now with this i can take my max miner/bs and get those shards :)
Abelf May 25th 2011 8:31PM
Damn. This seems like a pretty good way to get into the heavenly shard market, but I don't have a Blacksmith. And the ROI isn't good enough on my server to warrant tracking a BS down and tipping well(which I like to do). I'll stick to Carnelian Spikes and Jasper Rings. Although, I almost died when I saw the post on nerfed vendor prices for gems. Not sure if that will drop ore prices or cut into my DE-ing profits. It might also become profitable to make the 2 gem necks and rings.
VegetaPrime May 25th 2011 9:38PM
"Here's how to turn 24 stacks of ore into a stack of Heavenly Shards with nothing but a blacksmith and an enchanter:"
Technically, you need a miner, a blacksmith, and an enchanter...or some combination there of. Smelting is, after all, a mining talent, not blacksmithing (though, you would think blacksmiths would know better how to smelt as they work with metal and miners just sorta dig it up).
Basil Berntsen May 26th 2011 8:26PM
You can usually buy bars for just a little more than you can smelt them. I probably could have elaborated that option, though. I had it in my notes, but somehow it didn't make it out the end of my keyboard when I was writing.
Narshe May 25th 2011 9:56PM
I thought ore was more in demand than bars, so wouldn't it be even cheaper to buy stacks of bars and skip the smelting part or am I missing something?
Schaf May 25th 2011 11:42PM
It could possibly be that bars are cheaper than the raw ore on your server. What you are missing is the tool that basil is Putting in front of you, he is show you how you can take 1 material, put work into it, do a little more work and get something almost completely unrelated.
If you wanted you could make these and choose not to DE them, and then just sell the crafted goods on the market where you are not only pulling from enchanters, but Alts looking for early gear to do heroics. You have to take everything you read from any gold blogger and put it into you server and see if it works on your server, each server is it's own economy, and as such different tactics must be applied to make gold.
As with this it does not work on my server because shards are very very very cheap and have no real profit in them.
de_jabberwock May 26th 2011 5:57AM
TY from all enchanters, this post alone will make the shards a bit cheaper.
baysaz May 26th 2011 6:23AM
I'm a tailor who mines on the side. A stack of elementium ore hit a low of 10g - 30g lately on my server and there are pages and pages of it. I decided to smelt mine into bars and for a short time I could sell 20 bars for 120g. Now that's down. Half the time I don't even sell it.
Archaeology has me in Outland now where I can mine Fel Iron and that brings about 75g for 20. And the occasional Khorium. So I'm not going to change my mining profession until I'm done there anyway. It's so handy, I'd miss mining if I had to give it up.
It was so nice at the very beginning of Cata to have no bot farmers or gold sellers ruin the economy. We had our game back. The end of Wrath things were so out of hand. You'd recieve whispers all day from gold sellers. I just wish something could be done.
Elwoods May 26th 2011 6:34AM
Darn I've been using this for weeks after stumbling onto it quite by accident.
Can I cry you are ruining my market? *sob* *sob*
Revynn May 26th 2011 4:54PM
- Article goes out
- Everyone and their mini-pet tries to get in on the action.
- Mat prices skyrocket and crafted item prices plummet, market becomes unprofitable.
- FotM readers move on to something else
- Market goes back to normal after a few weeks.
I saw the same thug with Netherweave bags a couple weeks back. Bag prices went from 16-20G a piece down to 6-8G, barely above the price of mats. Now they're back to normal. Even if things get all screwed up, just walk away for ancouple weeks and check back in later, or buy up all the undercut shards and stockpile them for 4.2. =)
Chiaa May 26th 2011 7:14AM
Ive got a tailor and enchanter,so whats the cheapest way to go in terms of utilising cloth then disenchanting?Is there a particular blue producing recipe that works well?