A post on Brennvin's US forum reminded me of the existence of this feature, added to Mists of Pandaria, the black market. As I told myself that maybe I was not the only one to have forgotten this place (reassure me!), Here is a little guide on what to know.
The black market can be found in the Veiled Staircase, this small area wedged between the Vale of Eternal Spring and the Jade Forest, below the Tavern in the Mists:
In her little house, Madame Goya, head of the black market, escorted by Monsieur Chu and 3 exchange guards, runs a somewhat special auction house. It is neutral, that is to say that all players, whether they are Alliance or Hordid, can come and spend their gold there.
To spend because it is only possible to buy and even, to be completely precise, to bid. Indeed, the principle is simple: rare objects are regularly put on sale at a call price of 10k gold coins, it is totally random and unique per kingdom. You will thus be able to have:
- old items from T3 sets
- Current Epic Gear: iLvl 509 PvE and iLvl 12 Season 483 PvP
- frames
- mascots
- objects from card games
- craft recipes
Notice the names of the vendors, they are all "real" NPCs you have encountered in Azeroth such as Jasper Lagangrène, a fish seller in Stormwind, Mei Francis, a mount seller in Dalaran, or the now famous Nexus Prince Haramad.
Sometimes the prices are astronomical for an item easily found elsewhere and especially at the classic auction house (like this swift baby raptor here at 10k gold). Other times there are real opportunities for very rare items, only dropping a few% on instance or raiding bosses (like now the North Wind Drake Reins). And optimization freaks won't be able to miss out on these excellent quality items.
Here is the list of unnecessary (i.e. the most interesting) items that can be purchased here:
- Mounts
- Tournament mascots
- Other mascots
- Cards
- Ashes of Alar
- Swift White Hawkstrider
- Smoldering Millagazor Egg
- Reins of the Deathcharger
- Reins of the North Wind Drake
- Reins of the Blazing Drake
- Reins of the Onyxian Drake
- Reins of the South Wind Drake
- Reins of the Volcanic Stone Drake
- Reins of the Blue Proto-Drake
- Reins of the Green Proto-Drake
- Reins of the White Polar Bear
- Alysrazor's Flame Talon
- Agneau d'Elwynn
- Enchanted broom
- Tirisfal Bat
- Sen'jin fetish
- Flagellin du val d'Ammen
- Teldrassil seedling
- Mécacuicui
- Dun Morogh Bear
- Durotar's scorpion
- Mulgore toddler
- Proto-dragon
- Parrot cage (green wing macaw)
- Cat basket (Siamese)
- Dark baby whelp
- Cat basket (black tabby)
- Sportswear lowercase
- Captured firefly
- Baby Gundrak Raptor
- Giant sewer rat
- Cat basket (Bombay)
- Bananas
- Baby hippogriff
- Dragon kite
- Diabloboule
- X-51 Nether-rocket X-TREME
- Paper Flying Machine Kit
- Goblin Weather Machine - Prototype 01-B
- Gobelin gumbo marmite
- Picnic basket
- Fishing seat
- Tabard of Flames
- Riding Turtle
Lists of items have been made by players, including NPC Madame Goya commentary, in guides on Wowhead and MamyTwink. So if you have a lot of gold and something tempts you, try bidding to expand your collection! I really need to find the Ashes of Al'ar, I love this mount, and you, do you like one item more than another?
