As unanticipated, from my scrimping and a LOT of auction sales, I had about 50 gold left over and it was time to blow it all! I stopped by my class trainer and picked up all of the pet skills and most of the hunter skills I'd avoided. In many cases this led to immediately getting to buy rank 2-3 of some spells. These are typically situational skills such as "Track elemental" or a "sting" that drains mana from my target. The latter would be great for pvp, but very rarely do I find myself facing down caster mobs that heal.
I leveled Engineering in earnest, purchasing "Artisan" in the process. I picked "gnome" engineering, which will give access to some uniquely fun dealies like the "battle chicken", over "goblin" engineering, which is just about blowing stuff up. Goblin is better for hardcore pvp players, which I am most assuredly not. I then took it to 210, which is high enough to craft the next level of bullets… and got gut punched again.
So it turns out it costs about 11 silver (opportunity costs) to make a stack of these new mithril bullets. They can be used at level 37 and are a significant improvement over the previous tier. HOWEVER… they cannot be made in the field, as they require a forge. They are also slightly worse than the level 40 ammo that can be purchased from vendors all over the world… for just 10 silver a stack. ARGH!
Well, there's always cooking. It was time to break out of my rut, as I'd been stuck at 225 for ages. This required doing a short trip to Stormwind to buy cheese from a local merchant and all the things I'd need for the Artisan cooking quest from the AH. All total, maybe 6-7 gold worth of supplies. I stuck around in Tanaris long enough to realize I wasn't enjoying the quests there, then headed out for new frontiers.
This segued into an extensive Kalimdor exploration trip as I rode through zones I haven't seen for many years. In retail, there was never any reason to go back to areas like Stonetalon Pass or Desolace and I was shocked by how much of the pre-Cataclysm landscape I remembered. I picked up more flight paths on the western side and finally connected Ashenvale to Ratchet in the process. By the time I made it to Desolace, I half-recalled there was a "secret" vendor that sold rare cooking recipes.
Well, it turns out it's a goblin caravan that deploys trading bot when it makes stops, one at the north end of its route and a different one on the south end. By happy luck I stumbled into it when it was set up shop on the north side. I bought all of the available recipes and explored a bit before camping on the southside. The caravan takes an hour to do a full loop and it was nearly 40 minutes before it came to me. Classic times are classic. I pounced as soon as it set up shop and cleaned out its inventory just as a Tauren came loping up to it, presumably to do the same. Sorry, friend-- the secret of Dragonbreath Chili, Hot Wolf Ribs, and Lean Wolf Steak shall be mine and mine alone.
I then ran south into Feralas and took a ferry to a small island with a night elf outpost called "Feathermoon". This would serve as my next base of operations as I reached level 41 (and a half!) questing between killing wolves and naga. With my new recipes and an ample supply of ready-to-harvest wolves, I raised cooking to 285, amazingly close to the game's 300 cap. Aside from ready-made Fluffers snacks, cooking the meat effectively doubles the vendor value even after factoring in spices. The meat doesn't sell well on the AH, so it's pointless to stockpile. For those who are curious, the margin isn't high enough to warrant buying dozens of cheap wolf meat on the AH. Time is money, friend!
As an amusing side note, at one point as I was riding through Ironforge like an idiot because I was level 40 and on a real mount (not a ghetto freebie like those warlocks and paladins *shakes fist*) when a random person asks me for gold for their mount. There's a stock answer for this, so I glibly replied, "Certainly, friend! I have hidden my fortune in small amounts in creatures all around Azeroth. Crack them open and you make keep it all!"
He laughed and replied, "No, seriously." Rather than blow him off, we start talking.
He's level 30 with 20g to his name. He's both a Skinner and a Miner, but neither of these skills are close to being what they should be for his level. He's been farming cloth. Oh, dear. I take him under my wing and I go into full "teach a man to fish mode" to help get him on the path he needs to be on to reach his goals. (For the record, this is NOT by actual fishing. That is a terrible way to make money.) By the end, he has confidence and a plan and I? I have a new battle.net friend. I'll be checking in on him from time to time to see how it's going, but with skinning and mining, he's going to do just fine.
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