The Benefits of Economic Freedom (Or How I Got The Ashes of Al'ar)

Ashes of Al'ar.

I'm just going to put this out there right at the beginning: I got incredibly lucky yesterday. Perhaps it is loot karma for those 6 months I spent farming Legacy. I don't know. Please don't hate me. I'm trying really hard not to sound like a douche (although I'm sure i'll fail miserably).

With that said, read on for the incredible story of how my gold-making helped me get one of the rarest mounts in World of Warcraft.

What I wanted to talk about today is the benefits we enjoy as high net worth individuals in Azeroth.  Basically we are rich. It may only be in the game but we are rich. We work hard for our money and we usually have quite a bit of coin to throw around at any given time.

You love to make gold (or else you wouldn't be reading this blog). I love to make gold. Part of the benefits we enjoy as gold-makers is the ability to do crazy things now and again.

Breathtaking.

The Drop 
Yesterday I was on my hunter and saw someone was putting together a Tempest Keep run to try for the Ashes of Al'ar flying mount. I decided to go ahead and give it a try. My wife and I had tried (unsuccessfully) to kill Kael a few times. I figured "why not" and joined in. I still needed the Kael kill achievement on my hunter so the mount would be a nice (but very unlikely) bonus.

So Kael goes down like a ton of bricks and the Ashes of Al'ar drop. There are 7 of us in the raid and we all mash our "Need" buttons. The rolls finally finish and a DK ends up winning the Ashes. Immediately I whisper them and offer to buy the mount for 28k on the spot.

I figure others are most likley doing the same. They tell me to wait a sec. Minutes go by and I don't hear anything back from them.

The fateful roll.

The Deal
I'm tied up in knots at the moment because I've read about people buying the mount for upwards of 250k. A few minutes more pass and I gently ask if they are still considering my offer.

They whisper back that they are. I check my total gold reserves (I only had 28k on my hunter at the time) and see I have a bit more to spend. I offer 38k. They come back with the most beautiful word I'd ever seen. "Sure."

Best 38k I've ever spent.

I let them know I need to switch characters to grab some cash and they say that's fine. A few minutes later I am trading 38k for the Ashes of Al'ar.

The Disclaimer
I know RNG is a helluva drug. I know the chances of this mount dropping are incredibly small. My point is that if I hadn't had the cash on hand to make this deal I would forever be one of those players telling the story of "The time I saw the Ashes of Al'ar drop and lost the roll".

RNG is RNG. Having a lot of gold will not make anything drop faster. You can't buy this particular item from someone unless you were in the run when it dropped.

However you can 'nudge' RNG a bit it the circumstances are right. If you have enough gold and you are lucky enough to see it drop and the winner wants gold more than the mount then having a stash of gold at the ready can put you closer to getting something like this mount.

Yes it really was the first time I've ever killed Kael'thas. *ducks*

Conclusion
Being able to buy nice flashy things for ourselves is one of the reasons most of use put in the time and effort making gold. But it isn't the only reason.

Making gold in and of itself is a lot of fun. We get hundreds of little rewards each day as we see gold come in. We get something that we don't often get in the real world. We see progress. We feel accomplishment. We feel like something we did mattered.

That is why we keep doing it.

Talking Points

• What was the craziest thing you ever bought from another player who won the roll?
• What is the most you have ever spent on a single item and what was it?
• What are the main reasons you put effort into gold-making?