I saw a documentary on it where they interviewed a couple of people who ran Chinese gold-farming operations. They have warehouses full of people who spend all day long grinding, farming, and spamming. It’s a pretty big industry. If I remember right, they made reference to “millions” of dollars.
[mod hat on]
It’s a living. Doesn’t pay well, but it’s a living…
[mod hat off]
For what it’s worth, when I started playing this afternoon after getting off work, the Blizzard background downloader downloaded 200 MB of the 3.2.whatever patch…
It’s trying to download it for me right now.
And to think I just bought journeyman riding for my hunter because I was so tired of that darned slow nightsaber…oh, well, this means a charger for my paladin, like, now, since she’s already level 25.
It’s just background loading. The live patch could still be up to a month away.
Ah.
At level 69.6, I’ve finished out most of the easily solo-able quests in Nagrand. I say screw it. Onward to Northrend and item upgrades!
I have a proposition for a new achievement.
Today, I was grinding some skills when one of my guild officer’s alts asked if anyone wanted to run him through Ulduman. So I obliged him (since he’d tanked my first heroic the other day, I figured I owed him for being semi-craptacular). So we go through, and I’m 1- or 2- shotting everything, and it’s all going great. We down each boss (and get lost several times), and get to the end, and the last boss falls with ease. I hearth back, and go to sell some of the trash off from where I’d been fishing earlier. And then I notice my dagger and off-hand item… in my inventory. And on my back was my fishing pole.
Yes, I cleared an entire (albeit low-level) instance with a fishing pole. (Well that, and lots and lots of Shadow Bolts.) I just can’t think of any clever names for the achievement.
The old “I’d rather be fishing” achievement.
Ah, that makes sense - and thinking about it, I would be scared to eat any fish that *could *thrive in bubbling green goo. 
My undercity fishing expedition netted me about 10 regular skulls plus a Teamster’s skull. (No special abilities, just a sellable grey).
Perfect. And hey, some of those fishing poles are decent weapons!
I would also like to suggest the “I told you not to bug me when I’m fishing!” achievement for a PvP kill while having a fishing pole equipped.
I wonder if that’s supposed to be Jimmy Hoffa…
Gouge, blind, vanish, these will be the Oh Crap Run Away ablilites. Vanish is what you will usually use.
Ahhh, OK, for some reason I lumped them all together. You’re right.
SDMB goes PvP. COOL!!
Tom found Jimmy Hoffa
Yeah, but Wombat doesn’t get honor for it, since he’s definitely skull level to the guy…
Guess whose home is now Booty Bay?
Someone in my guild named Amberale (name itself makes me want a beer SOOOO bad!:)), has kinda taken me under his wing and we both finished off some quests in Stranglethorn Vale this morning, which made me level to 33! (He’s a 55)
We did raptors, panthers and tigers, and so now I’m in Booty Bay looking for a Pineapple Willie’s!
Gotta watch your step here too, dontcha?
Anyway, thanks for telling me about the other places I can now go! Looking forward to doing more quests!
Thanks guys!
ETA: Amberale also challenged me to a duel which made me win the “duel-licious” achievement! 
Quasi
I liked Stranglethorn. Let me give you a bit of advice, though, which I would have dearly loved to have back when I was doing that zone.
The pages of “The Green Hills of Stranglethorn” aren’t consecutive. There are gaps. I can’t look it up here at work, but there are only about 16 or so pages of the book that you can actually get (or that you actually need) to turn in. I’ll post the pages you can get when I get home from work tonight if someone who DOES have access to WoWwiki or thottbot doesn’t first.
That quest messed me UP…I killed HUNDREDS of those damn trolls looking for pages that didn’t even exist.