Mists of Pandaria is merging to one mega server which is likely to shake up goldmaking quite a bit. Let’s talk about it.
More players = more activity
With a significant increase in players the activity in all parts of the market will obviously increase. There will be more people posting items, more people selling materials, more people buying. Increased competition on crafted items usually means crafting profits drop, particularly for stackable items. At least that is what we saw on retail when they merged the AH.
Larger swings
With a much larger population swings due to patches can be bigger. We are now all in the same boat so if the AH runs dry it will be really dry. This makes going all-in when a market is booming a lot more valuable and being able to go hard around patch launches will likely yield much higher rewards. The first time we will see this is likely around the time we get Throne of Thunder. Investing for future patches and market swings will also be better if you can hit, but the downside risk is higher and you will likely have a very short timing window to secure your profit as with many players things will normalize quickly.
Cancel wars
With more players posting to the AH there will be a lot more competition for sales. You will get undercut even faster than you are, but there’s also more buyers so items can sell very quickly. The end result is that you will often get the sale within the first 30 seconds, or you won’t get it at all. Cancel scanning will become even more of a must to sell items, particularly for stackables that sell quickly, but the potential gold made for a full evening of reposting is also a lot higher on larger realms.
First to market is better
Being the first person in a new market with new patches is now a lot more valuable. You have a much larger market to sell into, including more players willing to pay very expensive prices for items when they are new. There are a limited number of new recipes coming where you can outpace the pack though. The main new recipes we will be getting in later patches are new catch up PvP pieces, which will sell, but the demand is limited in how much gold players are willing to invest.