World Of Warcraft, WoW Hand Armor

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Alto's "How To" For Finding a Farmer on Your Server

To answer Ian's question from a few days back, I am going to cover how I "attempt" to get/keep farmers. Note the attempt part. The reason I use that word is that I don't know many folks that keep them for an extended period of time. Why?




* Farmers get banned
* Farmers transfer servers
* Farmers find someone that pays better than you
* Farmers quit farming
* Farmers forget about you






I am sure there are more, but these are the top reasons to "lose" them. Of course, we all know that there are bots in this game. Although I am not sure of exact numbers, I can safely figure that there are quite a few that are in game....Bots work in mysterious ways. From seeing plenty around over the years, and from talking with folks that do, I have a few numbers for you "from their side of the world":

I would guess around 20% of bots toss the "farmable mats"  in the Auction House (i.e herbs and ore) that probably another 20% get sold in /trade, and the rest are used by one of the farmers' other toons, sold in their guild, or shuffled through other accounts and "burned up" (either prospected or milled).

Let's look at a few different ways to pick one up.....

*There is the /who in a farming area (twilight highlands, uldum, etc.), then send a tell. If they are botting, they are probably afk and won't answer you, or they are a "human" farmer and they are doing it to relax (and don't want to be bothered). I don't recommend this one....

*There is the "spam trade" to find one, which is another I don't advise, but might work. You can use a macro for this, but if you think spamming Mysterious Fortune Cards is boring, you will really hate this. And others will hate you too. People will block you, report you, or just plain out ignore you. Once again, not my cup of tea.

*The Auction House.....When you see someone with 50 stacks in the AH, as you are buying them, send them a tell offering THE SAME PRICE YOU ARE BUYING THEM AT. Don't try to lowball, as they have a reason for farming. To make gold. If you are buying them for 40g per stack, and you buy them at 40 from the AH, you are paying 40g for them. Offer them to COD or to "friends list" you (and you add them too, with a comment of what mats they sold, the price % of AH, and date), or even to sell in person at the 40g. Please tell them the actual amount you are looking for too. If you ask for COD's and turn half of them down, you will lose your new pal quicker than you can say COD. Make sure you have the gold to pay them. No matter if they COD 10 stacks, 100 stacks, or 1000 stacks, make sure you have the gold to pay. And don't make them wait. As soon as you see a COD in your mailbox, BUY IT. Don't tell me "I don't have room". Bullshizzle. You do. Just pay the full COD, you take one stack. Do that with each and every stack. They have their gold, they are happy, and you have a "mini bank" in the mailbox to hold your purchase until you have room. *Make sure when opening the stacks in each mail that you don't hit CTRL and click, as you will send em right back to them....I know from experience on that one....the CTRL key and SHIFT key are pretty close to each other....

*Use the best option. /2. When you see someone in trade chat saying "WTS [Cinderbloom] 40g [Stormvine] 35g" You likely have yourself a farmer. I send a tell, saying "will buy all you have, invite". Purchase all they have. If you are looking for a farmer, make sure you have gold. Not on another toon, where you have to make them wait, but on the toon you are on right now. If you say "I will pay 35 for cinderbloom, and 30 for stormvine", you are losing out. My guess is if you see that tell, that price is less than AH, and to show "face" with them, don't try "dickering" the price down. Yet.....

Ok. You have picked up a farmer for your herbs now. Anytime I find a new farmer, I always /inspect them, and see what gear they are wearing. For the main fact that I like to "gift" them. They are giving you a good deal on items, and you want to return the favor....Another thing that I do to EVERY farmer that I buy from, whether it's a one time deal or a consistent seller, I send an in game mail to them afterword (normally a day) and toss them 100g, with a letter saying "Thanks, keep them coming!", or if they don't speakie da englash, then "More, More, More!" or something to that effect. This is one of the ways to keep one, or to get one excited to continue the friendship and transactions.

Hope this helps you getting and keeping a farmer. If you skimmed through this post and are only reading this part, I will hit on the most important part of the whole post: Be good to your farmer, and they will be good to you!

12 comments:

Vayaz said... Reply To This Comment

I found it quite profitable to spam trade SOMETIMES, not only for getting farmers, but also to get some COD from normal players as well.

Just make sure you don't spam that too often, and I mean it. When I was spamming more often that perhaps once per 15 minutes, I used to get some annoyed whispers / comments.

That might be fun, but if you want to actually get people to COD you, I wouldn't recommend it.

Still, the best method to get a real farmer (Chinese or not) is contacting them after THEY advertised in /trade.

XanderEragon said... Reply To This Comment

Nice post Alto as always...Vayaz great comment did you read the post at all He already covered that.

XanderEragon

Frenan said... Reply To This Comment

Another way that i've got farmers in the past is sending in-game mails to the sellers i've bought from in the Ah.

I usually write something about noticing that i buy from them alot and then i offer to buy at the price they sell at in the AH. And don't forget to mention that they make more money throught not selling in the AH since they don't have to take the 5% cut.

So it's basicly the same as whispering them, it's just easier sometimes when they use Alts to post from.

Bangkok Bill said... Reply To This Comment

Great post Alto.

I've always used the same method Frenan describes above because I always figured for some reason that farmers wouldn't be advertising in trade chat. I'll definitely start paying closer attention to /2 and will start sending out some whispers!

Admin said... Reply To This Comment

Frenan,

Yup! I totally agree with that one, i missed writing about it. Although it's not a guarantee, it's a better chance than not trying at all! Great point!

Bangkok,

Yeah, Frenan hit an area that I left out, it does work, but in my experience, I rarely get responses that way. But if you don't try, you are already declined...right?

/2 is where I have got many farmers to "work" for me. In fact, I have been struggling to get herbs on the AH, and I just recently picked up and "herber" that is sending me quite a few daily via COD. Gotta love it!

Just don't forget to take care of them so they don't forget about us. Build a relatioship so they almost feel guilty to leave. And once again, don't forget to toss them some profits now and then. =)

Unknown said... Reply To This Comment

Thanks for the tips I never thought to look at the name of the seller when I'm snatching those cheap mats, which has finally been happening on my server 143 stacks of obsidium at 40g is awesome.

Thanks

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

Ok, I usually never put my 2 cents but today I am going to for 2 reasons.
#1 If farmer is a Human then of course you can low-ball them. Why you ask? Because your buying in bulk, and appeal to their greed and common sense. If they are posting on the Ah, they are losing 1-2gold per post. And what about bulk discount? "I'll buy all 50 stacks of your Cinderbloom but not at 40g but at 35g a stack because XXXX...explain to them." I am not saying to cheat them but you are doing them a favor buying as they are doing you a favor selling.
#2 If it is a Chinese farmer, they are just getting rid of their trade goods, less time is better. You give them a reasonable price and they take it. I honestly dont think they are looking at the actual number in the trade box.

The Siz

Admin said... Reply To This Comment

@ The Siz,

Great points there. However, I beg to differ. I don't lowball on the first couple purchases. The reason why? First off, I want to establish a "friendship". Picture yourself at a bar with your buddies. Your bud buys a round, and gets bud light for everyone. When it's your "turn", he changes his mind and gets a Heineken. Not cool, is it? Same, same (karate kid 80's reference there..)

For the "chinese" farmer, I have rarely had more than one transaction with them. Buy, buy, buy, that's about it. I have seen blogs with how to "talk" chinese to them, but not too sure about that. I want to play a game, not learn how to speak yet another language....but that's just my opinion. =)

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

Alto,
I've been reading your blog for quite some time now and this is the exact question on my mind at the moment, I was just about to send an email asking about it. gratz for reading my mind. would be even more dramatic if my name is lan.

One thing: mats on my server goes back and forth and farmers of course, adjust price levels accordingly. With a fixed price in mind, is it effective to offer a deal such as "I'll buy all under Xg"? assuming one has constant demands, this method won't guarantee the supplying as much.

On a side note, having the natural advantage of being a Chinese (watch out everyone, WATCH OUT), I plan to spam trade chat in Chinese for a little while and see how good/terrible it'll work out. x)

Sok

Admin said... Reply To This Comment

感谢您的文章索你!这将是非常有趣的,看看有什么人“试“说还给你。你必须让我了解你找出更新!*我用这个谷歌翻译,所以不知道如何以及它赶走了。

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

Alto,

Thanks for the reply! While I appreciate the effort, frankly reading it felt like decoding a secret message during war times. Google translate is too horrible so please don't do that ever again. x) If you're interested I'll keep you updated about trade channel spams.

Sok

Admin said... Reply To This Comment

@ Sok,

HAHAHA! I tried mang....

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