Darkmoon decks have consistently been a top goldmaker at expansion launches since they were made crafted in Wrath. As I already mentioned I expect these to do really well, so let’s take a deeper look.
The deck balance
When it comes to making gold with darkmoon decks what matters is the average value of the decks, relative to the cost per card. Usually one or two of the DPS decks outperform all the others when it comes to demand, and will be a lot more expensive. This is also likely the case in Wrath. Darkmoon Card: Greatness is BiS into Ulduar for many classes, and will likely be the deck that brings in the majority of your profits. If you want to play the card swapping game, this is the one to target.
Darkmoon faires
In Wrath you actually have to go to the darkmoon faire to get your trinkets. The first faire will open on the 10th of October, 14 days after Wrath Classic launches. This is going to be the golden faire, and this week is where you will want to make a lot of gold. Obviously later faires will also see a significant increase in activity, but the largest prices and profit margins will be the first one, so you want to prepare accordingly.
Material prices are usually cheap-ish the first week
One trend that has held true over the last couple of expansions and patches is that new materials are often relatively cheap at some point in the first week, then it will rebound slightly before starting the inevitable trend downwards. During this time most players are focused on leveling their characters, and obtaining gold, not leveling their professions. If you want to be in the running for the first faire, you will have to start aggressively buying herbs early. You will need an average of 230 of the high yield herbs or 400 of the low level herbs per deck. To be sure you have relatively low waste you will want to aim to craft as many cards as possible, preferably multiple hundreds or even thousands.
Deck prices go one way, Down
The decks on the other hand usually trend downwards, and downwards only. I expect the existence of the Faire and the need to turn decks into trinkets at the faire will change this significantly, and we will see monthly cycles in the deck prices. Every new fair should essentially lead to a significant step down in price, and then a slow increase until the next fair. With every peak between faires going downwards.
Ink trader
For anyone looking to craft a lot of darkmoon cards you will end up with an ungodly amount of common pigments. Luckily you can trade in 10 inks of the sea for one Snowfall Ink, which will help you get rid of all your Azure Pigments. You can also use excess Ink of the Sea to trade for lower level inks to craft glyphs, which is also going to be very profitable.
Herb preference
Since the highest potential play is to target the first faire you will want to prioritize the high-end herbs. You cut your milling time almost in half, which is going to help you get out a lot more cards. This is likely to be more expensive, and might cut into profits, but having extra trinkets from turning in decks at the faire will also be very profitable. Until the next faire runs around no one can make more trinkets, so we should see some lively prices!
Trade cards aggressively leading up to faires
Leading up to and during the later faires you will want to trade cards fairly aggressively to ensure you have as many quest decks ready. This will help you generate as many finished trinkets as possible, with the lowest possible card waste. Due to how card waste works, you can often pay more than crafting costs for cards you end up crafting fewer of, and you’ll still be making a profit.