Written by I know that I don’t usually write “tip” posts, but this one was too big to ignore. I was chatting with some of the guys over at The Consortium last night and something huge happened.
We were running through the usual gold-making banter, speculation, etc. and the discussion turned to Cataclysm epic gems. This wasn’t surprising, since speculation abut the addition of epic gems in patch 4.2. or 4.3 has been buzzing around the blogosphere for some time now. Many people have already started stockpiling pyrite ore with the hopes of striking it rich down the road. What most people haven’t had is solid, tangible evidence to go on…until now.
No Epic Gems from Pyrite Ore!
During the discussion, someone pointed out a wowhead link to a level 83 ore that has not yet been made available in game. That ore is Black Iron Ore, and the ensuing discussion revolved around what its implications are for the future of epic gems. A new type of ore has always been a possible explanation for how Blizzard would choose to implement epic gems into the game, but the prevailing opinion has always been Pyrite Ore. The question many people will probably ask now, is what other reason would Blizzard have for introducing a new type of ore at this point in the expansion? I can’t think of any. It isn’t as though they are offering a new “tier” of mats, since no data could be found regarding a new type of herb or any leather/hide. Just Black Iron Ore.
What should I do with my Pyrite Ore?
Well, it doesn’t look like it’s going to increase in value in the near or even distant future, so you might as well cut your losses before the bleeding starts to get out of control. Once this hits the mainstream channels, people will probably start unloading their pyrite as fast a possible, driving the prices into the ground. There were a number of the “bigger” bloggers in the discussion last night, including Mageshadow of JMTC, Zoxy, and Alto, so I don’t think the window for getting out of the market without taking a big loss will be open for very long. Check out some of their blogs, they should all be on the blogroll, to see what their thoughts are on it, and to see some of the general reaction, but we were all pretty much in agreement about what this means for the future of pyrite, aka “fool’s gold”.
Stay tuned, and be sure to follow some of the other blogs that are reporting this. I don;t know how much time I will have to post this weekend, with all that pyrite to try and liquidate…
-Kathroman
EDIT: I just posted the rest of the story.
I knew as soon as I woke up this morning that everybody in that channel with a blog would be all over this. Thanks for helping to get the word out, Kathroman!
While I agree that Pyrite will not be the source of epic gems, a couple of speculators that do not work for Blizzard is hardly “solid, tangible evidence”. The fact that we agree doesn’t mean anything. We are only speculating still and that MUST be qualified.
I want to quote what I commented on Stede’s blog, since there’s something that most of you might have overlooked. It’s only another possibilty, but still, here is what I wrote:
As I’ve mentioned in a very recent post, there are two (or rather, three) things that make me hesitate to take this for granted.
A short breakdown (didn’t want to repeat it all again):
1. It’s common quality
2. Name refers to Dark Iron Ore
3. Seems to rather “look” like Nethercite Ore (vague)
That’s it basically. Call me disbelieving, but it looks reasonable enough to me to at least consider the possibilty.