02-23-2007, 05:27 PM
I'm a chanter/jeweler, and my ore sources are the AH, and my brother's mining operations.
Recently I bought 2 stacks of adamantite ore (40 ores) for 15 g / stack. Prospecting produced 9 small gems and one biggie. This is repeatable, this is what I have come to expect.
Small gems are going for 2 - 3 g each, biggies are 30 - 40 g.
If this is representative, it means prospecting breaks even, and can double your money if you hit a biggie.
Some observations:
Ore prices have dropped by a factor of 2 since I last bought ore. They will rise again, however, if prospectors can routinely double their money on 2 stacks of ore.
My observed drop rate of 1 biggie to 40 ore is exactly the published prospecting rate, 2.5%.
This thread is about the economics of prospecting. It is not about mining, which always has been lucrative.
It is not about jewelcrafting, which is still in its loss leader stage. Designs cost many hundred gold, products cost more than mats, skilling up is expensive.
It may be, however, that designs (and patterns, enchants, etc.) are the only items of lasting value in the game. The only thing I still have and still use, for example, from when I bought the Crusader enchant 1.5 years ago, is the Crusader enchant.
Recently I bought 2 stacks of adamantite ore (40 ores) for 15 g / stack. Prospecting produced 9 small gems and one biggie. This is repeatable, this is what I have come to expect.
Small gems are going for 2 - 3 g each, biggies are 30 - 40 g.
If this is representative, it means prospecting breaks even, and can double your money if you hit a biggie.
Some observations:
Ore prices have dropped by a factor of 2 since I last bought ore. They will rise again, however, if prospectors can routinely double their money on 2 stacks of ore.
My observed drop rate of 1 biggie to 40 ore is exactly the published prospecting rate, 2.5%.
This thread is about the economics of prospecting. It is not about mining, which always has been lucrative.
It is not about jewelcrafting, which is still in its loss leader stage. Designs cost many hundred gold, products cost more than mats, skilling up is expensive.
It may be, however, that designs (and patterns, enchants, etc.) are the only items of lasting value in the game. The only thing I still have and still use, for example, from when I bought the Crusader enchant 1.5 years ago, is the Crusader enchant.
![[Image: spangles_sig_3.jpg]](https://home.comcast.net/~swesson5/spangles_sig_3.jpg)