Today I’m covering an extremely profitable niche which is various pre-raid Best in slot crafted items.
Epics and rares
There are a lot of crafted items in TBC that are really good before the raids open, and even when they are open. There are both epic and rare items that are up there, with the epics generally being more expensive. Interestingly this often means the rare items are better for goldmaking, as they are cheap enough that a LOT of players will buy them, whereas only a smaller portion of the playerbase has enough gold for the more expensive epics.
Bracers of Havok
Bracers of Havok is one of the best recipes in TBC for goldmaking. I sold so many of these in TBC classic. They are rare cloth bracers with every piece of the stat budget dedicated to offensive strong stats. Pretty much every caster will want these. They are actually phase 1 BiS. If you have tailoring you should be scanning the AH every day for the recipe and grab it as soon as possible.
Fel leather set
The Fel leather set from leatherworking is very good for physical DPS. Warriors and hunters have better options in some of the slots it covers, but the Boots are pre-BiS for pretty much every physical DPS: Good for all physical dps, Boots pre-bis for all specs. All three recipes are from reputation with the Consortium, so if you are a Leatherworker make sure you prioritize farming Consortium rep early.
Ragesteel pauldrons
The ragesteel set is the plate equivalent of the fel leather set. The recipes for the Ragesteel set are world drops from various zones and mobs and they are BoP so you have to farm them yourselves. This is a blessing and a curse as obviously you can get unlucky with drops, but you will also face a lot less competition. Since it is plate it obviously also applies to fewer classes.
Girdle of Ruination
The Girdle of Ruination is an epic BoE belt that is very good for casters. Sadly the recipe is a world drop and will likely be very expensive. On top of that the recipe requires 10 shadowcloth, so I expect the belt will also be very expensive. If you can get it there will be a lot of demand as it is not just pre raid BiS but also BiS for the entire phase 1.
Vengeance wrap
Another epic crafted item and another Best in slot item for all of phase 1. The Vengeance wrap is a physical dps cloak and pretty much every warrior, hunter, rogue and shaman will want to get their hands on it. Once again the recipe is a random world drop and can be traded so it will be very expensive, but the cloak is phase 1 BiS for many classes so getting it will turn a massive profit.