heavenly-shard
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Gold Capped: Shattering Maelstrom Crystals
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen and Fox Van Allen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! Patch 4.3 will bring with it the ability to shatter Maelstrom Crystals into Heavenly Shards. This is unsurprising, as we have been able to shatter or transform the epic enchanting mats from other expansions. At this time, it looks like it will produce two Heavenly Shards per Maelstrom Crystal, and since it's not disenchanting, it's unlikely to be affected by the guild perk. This is going to be an opportunity for people to make some money, as well as provide a much needed sink for these Maelstrom Crystals, which have been piling up of late. The market for Heavenly Shards is a little odd. In case you've forgotten, you can make one from 16 Elementium Ore and 8 Obsidium Ore. Despite this being "common" knowledge, the price for these enchanting mats has a consistently high profit margin. Maybe it's because of how long and annoying it is to turn ore into shards, or maybe it's because of the large volume taken by the popular enchants this expansion.
How to turn ore into Heavenly Shards
There has been a recent surge of ore supply at ridiculously low prices on quite a few realms. Since grinding up that much ore takes so much time and since the prospected value of ore is having the rug pulled out from under it in patch 4.2, a lot of people are wondering if they have any alternatives. Here's how to turn 24 stacks of ore into a stack of Heavenly Shards with nothing but a blacksmith and an enchanter: Step 1 Smelt 16 stacks of Elementium Ore. Step 2 Smelt 8 stacks of Obsidium Ore. Step 3 Use the obsidium to craft 2 stacks of Folded Obsidium. Step 4 Craft 20 Stormforged Shoulders (or legs). Step 5 Disenchant into Heavenly Shards. Crafting Stormforged blue gear for disenchanting can be one of the cheapest ways to get Heavenly Shards, if ore prices are low enough. Also, other than disenchanting, all the steps here can be done by your character whilst you make dinner. Smelt all, smelt all, craft all, then craft all. The market for the shards is very deep, and as you post more of them at a lower price, the number bought spikes up faster than other markets (from scroll-makers stocking up, presumably). The calculation for your cost is quite straightforward: 16 Elementium Ore plus 8 Obsidium Ore is your cost for a single shard. On my realm, most days, that means I never pay more than 42g, and usually less than 34g. Since Heavenly Shards hover between 40g and 80g, I can usually sell anything I don't use for scrolls for 60g fairly quickly. The price for ore is likely to reduce after patch 4.2 hits, so don't make anything you can't use or sell before (or immediately after) that. Maximize your profits with more advice from Gold Capped as well as the author's Call to Auction podcast. Do you have questions about selling, reselling and building your financial empire on the auction house? Basil is taking your questions at basil@wowinsider.com.
