Today I’m going to go through the first couple of days of a new expansion, how they often play out and what you should try to get done.
Basic idea: Level your professions and start crafting for profit
In my experience you can start crafting items for a profit as early as the first day. That means you want to level your professions as fast as possible, and in many cases you can make a profit from leveling your professions if you focus on the right recipes. This means you want to invest a lot of gold in powerleveling your professions, as profits are by far the highest they ever are early on and you want to be in the market, even if materials are overpriced early on.
Day 1: get leveling
Day 1 I usually focus on leveling, particularly if you are playing from the hour servers go on. After 2-3 hours you can consider checking the AH and look at prices to see if anything makes sense. I would also strongly suggest running all your characters into Pandaria to unlock Pandaria professions. Prices can vary a lot on materials and some times materials are a little cheap as very few people are buying as most players are just trucking away leveling. Depending on prices I may level some professions day 1, this is particularly valuable for professions with daily cooldowns. Inscription is a good choice here as you can use any herb, which often lets you level at a reasonable price.
Day 2: Profession time
Day 2 there should be reasonable supply of all materials, and this is where you want to start hitting the gas when it comes to professions. You want to level at least all the professions that can craft gear, and any with powerful daily cooldowns. I think the main one you can consider delaying is alchemy, as the transmutes are the only relevant crafts until raids open. I would look to level up all other professions on day 2 and start unlocking recipes, in particular PvP and rare gear. On your main you should start working on reputation to unlock epic crafts if you have access to Spirits of Harmony.
Material prices on day 2 are often stabilized, but fairly high. Prices will often have a lot of variability before raids open as none of the markets have stabilized.
Day 3-raid release: Leveling, recipes and restocking
Day 3 you should focus on leveling characters and restocking any profitable markets you’ve found. You will also want to check your profession windows every day to see if any new items show up in the profit column. From this day until raid releases you will want to monitor herb prices and other material prices used for consumables. Raid release usually means a significant increase in demand and you want to have supply available. Often prices will not spike up or only spike for a short time, so the main play is to have a lot of volume that you hav acquired at a reasonable price.