Can World of Warcraft have real world applications?

World of Warcraft has been around for a long time now. The developers have always been pouring a consistent stream of new content for players to enjoy in the game. With new patches and expansions come new raids, dungeons, battlegrounds and many other forms of content for players to tackle.

One of the longest standing aspects of the game, and something which has been around since the beginning, is the Auction House. For anybody who has not played WoW, the Auction House is exactly what it sounds like, a place for players to go buy, sell and trade the items they collect and craft during their time spent playing. Very similar to eBay.

The auction house itself, if players choose to spend time with it, can be a very rewarding aspect of the game, so much so, that some players devote almost all of their time to buying and selling to try and acquire more in-game wealth.

So the question is, can the lessons learned through the game be transferred to real world applications? And i believe the answer is yes. When using the auction house as a means of acquiring wealth, some players stick to selling the items that they pick up and craft through their daily tasks in the game, however, there are those who spend hours and hours analysing the market, seeing which items are falling in price and anticipating the next time that price will rise, trying to pick the best time to invest their money in the item to make maximum profit. Does that sound familiar? If so, that is probably because this is the same process that real world investors go through. Calculating risks, anticipating rises and falls in supply and demand, and choosing the opportune moment to sell. And if things go bad, knowing when to cut their losses and move on.

There are various blogs and websites across the internet dedicated to documenting players success, and giving people new to the market advice on how to get started.

One particular site, which i have used myself, is The Undermine Journal. This site analyses market trends, and provides a detailed analysis of the sales of a given item on any players server. Players are then able to use this information to decide on a price for an item, decide what is worth investing in, and decide when to sell.

Obviously this is a very watered down version of the real life stock market, but the same principles apply. And important lessons can be learned from the auction house.

A good anecdote for this, is when my girlfriend was planning on selling her motorbike. She had the bike listed for £1000 and within days of listing it, received an offer from an interested party for £700. The buyer stated that "the money is here right now and then the bike is off your hands". Now when i first started playing WoW, i jumped at the opportunity to sell an item, even if it meant taking less than i had originally intended to sell it for. But as i became more attuned to the market, i learned an important lesson. Never ever back down from your original price just for a quick sale. Potential buyers will often play on the fact that sometimes people just want to get rid of their possessions, and will try to exploit this and get the seller to lower their price. But one piece of advice i would give to anyone, is that "if you've had interest in the item after two days, dont take the offer just yet, wait it out, see who else is interested.".

This advice has made me more money than anything else. Often what happens is, you walk away from the buyer simply saying "i can't take any lower than £XXX" and they come running back with a higher offer.

In my opinion, despite the bad press that World of Warcraft has received over the years, i believe there are some lessons that can be learned from it.

For anyone who is interested in learning more about making money in World of Warcraft, there are a number of sites, which i will list below, that are worth a visit. You'd be surprised how much information people have to share.

Gold Making Blogs and Websites:

• The Undermine Journal - Market analysis tool.
• Just My Two Copper - Blog written by a long time player of WoW who has a lot of useful knowledge.
• The Consortium - Forum where some of the wealthy players of WoW gather to share tips.
• Power Word: Gold - A directory of blogs which discuss gold making techniques in WoW

Thanks for reading guys!

Supplements???

When someone enters the world of fitness for the first time, it can be very daunting, there seems to be an endless amount of information across the various mediums we use on a day to day basis. Take the various fitness magazines that line the supermarket shelves, is it really viable that they're coming up with a new best way to get a six pack every month? Sometimes the workout plans that these magazines endorse are outdated by the time the next issue hits the shelves.

This is a problem for people new to fitness, as they can often become misguided or misinformed by having the latest celebrity fat burner pill plastered over every magazine and website they see. The average gym user generally doesn't care about the ridiculous and dangerous lengths that A-list celebrities are going to in order to get into shape for their new film. All they want to know, is how to get started, and what works best for them. 

Enter, the world of supplements. Just when you thought things were confusing enough. The amount of supplements available on the market today is insane. And what's more, with some of the products available its not even certain that you're going to get anything from it. Supplement companies play on the fact that many people fall victim to the placebo effect, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it means the consumer thinks that the product is working for them, but really its all in their mind. This can provide a boost of much needed motivation but there are other ways to go about this without wasting money on useless supplements.

Now don't get me wrong, I have experienced first hand some incredible supplements, unfortunately for a newcomer to the industry it is quite hard to navigate the minefield of brand names.

Everybody reacts differently to different supplements, this means that while i may recommend a particular product here, one person could go away and find it works incredibly well, and one could find the total opposite and call me out for being a liar, traitor and the human embodiment of pure evil. All of that aside, I'm now going to list my top 2 supplements, and go into a bit of detail as to what they do. 

Whey Protein Powder: Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey

In my opinion, a good whey protein supplement is one of the most important supplements you can buy, and it simply doesn't get any better than Optimum Nutrition's Gold Standard Whey. Many supplements have a nasty aftertaste that lingers after you take them, but Gold Standard tastes fantastic. With a huge amount of flavours to choose from, such as Cookies and Cream, Rocky Road, and Strawberry, you're always going to enjoy taking this. Simply follow the directions on the back of the packaging and take whenever you need it. The key point of a protein supplement is that it allows an easily accessible form of protein which your body can use right away. This is very useful for those who find it difficult to get all the protein their body needs just from their diet. It is also excellent at promoting muscle recovery. Personally i have one scoop of this first thing in the morning to kick start my day and then two scoops when i return from the gym. I'd recommend this product to anybody.

Pre-Workout Drink: Musclepharm Assault

Musclepharm Assault is so far, the single best pre-workout supplement I've ever taken. For those who have never taken one before, a pre-workout supplement is something which is used to give you more energy when training. It does this through a number of active ingredients but the one which people can relate to is caffeine. Each scoop has a huge amount of caffeine in it. This is common across all pre-workouts so i would advise anyone who is very sensitive to caffeine to steer clear of pre-workouts. Another property of pre-workout drinks is that they increase vasodilation, allowing more blood to flow to your muscles, this is what bodybuilders refer to as "the pump". When training any muscle, blood flows to it as it is used. As the blood reaches the muscle it begins to feel tight and the skin surrounding it will feel very taut. This is one of the reasons that i love training so much. The rush of endorphins that you feel when your muscles are pumped up is an amazing feeling. All facts aside, this is a fantastic supplement. I use it before most workouts and it allows me to really push that little bit harder. It gives an insane amount of energy and drive. And in terms of taste, this supplement actually  tastes quite good in comparison to some other pre-workout drinks. The key thing i must point out about this is that the first time i used this i experienced a noticable increase in performance. I was lifting heavier and i was lifting for longer. I rate this very highly and would recommend it to anyone. 

And there you have it, my top two supplements. The reason I have only talked about two supplements is partly because i can see this post turning into an essay, but also because there are so many different products out there that i could go on forever about them, however, i feel that the two most important supplements a person can buy is a good pre-workout, and a good whey protein powder. And it doesn't get much better than these two. 

Thanks for reading! 

Gold farming in MOP! nerf? what nerf?

If you have been active in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, you will probably know that one very popular location for farming gold was actually part of the previous expansion. The area i'm talking about is of course Verlok Stand in Deepholm. (Pictured below)

The idea behind farming here, is that players would use a Potion of Treasure Finding and this would allow them to find Tiny Treasure Chest on the bodies of dead enemies. On top of this, the enemies that you are farming at Verlok Stand, are humanoids, meaning that they already have a chance to drop cloth/greens etc. This was even more profitable as a tailor who had Northrend Cloth Scavenging

Obviously the benefit of farming in this location is that you are able to amass a huge amount of Embersilk Cloth. This sells very well due to the fact that tailors who are leveling their profession require a huge amount of Embersilk cloth. Along with the cloth you will also find various other bits and pieces to sell such as volatiles, ore, and green quality items which can be disenchanted or sold. Below is a picture of my inventory after one hour of farming.

The main reason this spot gained so much popularity is due to the extremely quick respawn time of the enemies there, and at level 90 it wasn't unheard of for people to farm upwards of 1000 cloth per hour here. People were reporting profits of up to 9000 gold per hour.

So what happened? Well as is the way with World of Warcraft it didn't take long for Blizzard to nerf the respawn timer on the troggs at Verlok Stand. There were a number of theories about why they did this but many suspected that it was due to the fact that people were boosting their alts at this spot, gaining enormous amounts of xp per hour and making the leveling process much easier than it was intended to be. This was then deemed to be an exploit and was fixed immediately.

So why am i writing about this if the farming spot has been nerfed? Well i actually found out about this spot post nerf, and decided to give it a shot anyway. And i soon realised that this spot was not necessarily as burnt out as people were making it out to be. When people stopped farming here on my server due to the nerf, the amount of embersilk cloth on the auction house dropped dramatically and prices rose. This meant that because people weren't farming here after the nerf, i had virtually no competition, and was still able to efficiently make upwards of 5k per hour here. Which is a sizeable profit given how easy it is to farm. And because people weren't farming here, i was literally the only major supplier of embersilk on my server. My cloth was selling so fast i could hardly keep up. My final sales figures from the first week (Monday - Friday) were ~28k. This was with a time investment of only 1 hour per day. So i could still complete all of my other tasks for the day.

The main point behind this post is that if a spot like this gets nerfed, pay attention to the auction house, does the supply for the item being farmed drop dramatically? If so then you could have stumbled upon a gold mine!

Thanks for reading!

Split day workout plans?

So i just arrived home from my Monday training session where i hit my chest and triceps. A friend of mine was in the gym with me last Monday and asked me why I was only training two muscles? My answer? Split days!
The whole split day workout routine is not something new to the fitness world, however it is quite new to me, and I'm still experimenting with different combinations to try and find what works for me best. The principle is, you take all of the major muscle groups in your body and divide them up into groups, then dedicate an entire day to one group, the next day to another group and so on. For me, my plan looks something like this.

• Monday: Chest and Triceps.
• Tuesday: Cardio
• Wednesday: Shoulders, Back and Biceps.
• Thursday: Legs and Core
• Friday: Rest 
• Saturday: Rest
• Sunday: Cardio

This is by no means an "optimal" program, as i do not consider myself to be a bodybuilder or fitness guru, and am simply doing this for my own personal pleasure. So this is what i find works for me at the minute.
The theory is that by dedicating a single day to working out one or two muscle groups, and then letting them rest for a while is that the window for recovery is much greater. Meaning that your muscles have more time to grow and recover. One of the benefits that I've also found is that when i go into the gym knowing exactly what i'm going to be training, i tend to have a lot more focus. There is definitely less standing around trying to decide what to do next. It also helps people avoid falling into the trap of only working out muscles that they enjoy working.

Like i said earlier, the best thing to do is to experiment with different combinations and find out what works best for you, at the end of the day no two bodies are the same and we all respond differently to different things. So go out there and find out what works for you!

On that note, if anybody who is reading this, feels a bit lost and would like advice from someone who has been there/done that. Then feel free to drop me an email at liam-potts@hotmail.com. I've been doing this for about 7 years now and while i still have a huge amount to learn, i have gathered a fair bit of knowledge over the years. So drop me a message with any questions and i'll try to help where i can.

Thanks for reading!

My Inspiration?

The idea for this blog has been in the back of my mind for a long long time. But it was only recently that I decided to finally take the plunge and start writing content. This is mainly down to one particular internet personality who some know as the popular streamer Ducksauce, from Twitch.tv 

For those who are not aware of Twitch, it is a website that allows gamers a means of streaming content directly from their computer screen to the world wide web. What it means for average gamers like myself, is that we can watch our favorite players and teams play the same games as we do and maybe pick up a couple tips along the way. 

Ducksauce himself is a popular streamer on twitch, and is known for being a very charismatic person with a talent for entertainment. He also happens to be a big fitness advocate. One day when i was watching his stream, he began answering some of the viewers questions and what struck me, is that a lot of the viewers were asking fitness related questions, despite the fact that the purpose of his channel is to stream video games. To me, the idea of someone like Ducksauce being able to pass on fitness advice to people who may not have had any prior knowledge of the subject is fantastic! I like to think that through his advice, many people have chosen to pick up the weights who may not have thought about it prior to listening to him. 

This inspired me and made me think that maybe I have advice or tips which can help someone too. The thought of even being able to help one reader achieve their goals is an amazing incentive to keep writing.

Anyway, if you guys haven't seen Duck's stream, i highly recommend heading over to Twitch.tv and checking him out, if nothing else he is an incredibly funny guy and never fails to entertain. 

Thanks guys! :)

An Introduction

Hi there,

Much like most twenty-somethings these days, my life has been filled by many different hobbies and interests which have come and gone as the years passed by, but two which have stayed with me since my early teens are my passions for video games (World of Warcraft specifically), and fitness.

As this is my first post on this blog, I feel that I should quickly state that yes, I do understand that these two interests are incredibly contradictory. As anybody who has ever experimented with World of Warcraft will know, it requires an enormous time investment to get the most out of the game. At the peak of my time playing this game, I would spend up to 8 or 9 hours per day with my face glued to the computer screen. However, I have always found time to feed my other addiction, fitness and health.

I believe that my interest in working out and keeping healthy, was largely inspired by my father. My father spent the majority of his working life as a bricklayer, working 8-10 hours per day, 6 days a week, and would then come home every night and still find time to get himself down to the gym. He has always been in great shape, and has always tried his hardest to ensure that I make the same efforts. He took me to my first gym session when i was 13, we went to exercise classes together, shared advice and tips that we learned with each other, and generally kept each other going when motivation was low. However, one thing he has always had his reservations over, is the amount of time i spend playing video games.

I have always believed that the negative stereotypes that are associated with gamers, are just that. Stereotypes. Personally I have always tried to fight against the stereotype of the "typical gamer", who sits in a darkened room, playing video games from dusk till dawn, living off a diet of sugary drinks and greasy foods. I workout whenever I can, I follow a strict (ish)  diet, I make an effort to maintain a healthy social life, and I occasionally venture out into the sun if I'm feeling adventurous.

This blog is mainly an outlet of all the experiences I've been through over the years and will be a mix of fitness related advice such as supplement reviews, workout plans and general advice, and my rants and raves about what is occurring in the world of gaming.

Thanks guys!