Wrath is out and today I’m sharing my favorite 8 methods overall. We’ll be decoupling a little bit from specific professions, depending on the market in question.
No farming?
Obviously my list will not include any farming based methods. I hate farming personally. That does not mean it can’t be profitable, it absolutely is, just that it is not for me. I suggest checking out videos from one of several other farming focused creators if that is your jam. Personally I think flipping and crafting is a lot more efficient than farming, so if you want to really accelerate your gold, this is your video.
8: Glyphs
Coming in at the #7 spot is glyphs. I might be underestimating the potential for this method, as the northrend research isn’t in yet. Being the only one with a very in demand major glyph will likely be very profitable for a short period around launch. The long term barrier to entry is low, but when goldmakers need to focus on more markets we might see glyphs do a lot better than they do right now.
7: Material flipping
This has consistently been the best entry level AH method. As long as we keep the old stack-based AH this will be fantastic for goldmaking. My TBC video on this is as relevant as ever, and in fact I will be rolling into wrath using the exact same TSM settings.
6: BoE Flipping
I’m a little uncertain about this method, as finding deals can be inconsistent. That being said the time efficiency of buying and reselling expensive high end gear is incredible. High level gear is the thing players are most willing to spend gold on, and will almost always be the most expensive items in the game.
5: Permanent item enhancements
This includes anything you apply to an item to get a permanent bonus. Enchants, leg armors and belt buckles are the top ones in Wrath. These items have consistent demand as players will need to re-apply them every time they get an upgrade. The raw potential is a little limited, but many of these items are relatively expensive in terms of materials, which makes the profit potential and efficiency very high when you buy the materials. Enchanting, Leatherworking, Tailoring and Blacksmithing are the professions that gets access to these items, with Enchanting clearly being the top dog in this category.
4: Pre-bis gearing
We continue the gear theme at #4. Pre-raid gearing, particularly in phase 1, is fantastic. There’s alot of profession items that are useful here, with JC, tailoring, leatherworking and Blacksmithing all having useful recipes. This is something you want to focus on early, as the initial demand will be extremely high, you want to be there when GDKP mains who have obscene gold totals are gearing their main early on. We can expect some extreme prices, particularly for hard to get recipes like the Deathchill Cloak.
3: Alchemy
Alchemy is a consistently strong gold maker. I prefer focusing on potions and flasks, if you have the profession slots having one each of those specializations can be really good. Utilizing different stack sizes to gain a higher sale price is also incredibly useful in Wrath. This is also a great long term market, as demand will continue indefinitely. I would not focus on Alchemy first, as there’s no demand spike here compared to pre-bis gearing and initial gemming, but the long term value puts it overall a little ahead of gearing for me.
2: Prospecting and selling gems
This is probably my overall favorite goldmaking method in the classic version of WoW. It’s time consuming and RNG-based, which really puts people off doing it. In addition to that recipe acquisition is time-gated so competition early on will be relatively limited, which means you can charge a significant premium. Keep in mind that gems took a week or two to take off in price in TBC, as players won’t start splurging on rare gems until they start getting pre-bis gear or better.
1: Darkmoon cards
The number 1 early expansion goldmaking method by a country mile. Darkmoon Cards have been fantastic in every expansion, and in Wrath the Greatness card is BiS all the way into Ulduar for a lot of classes. In wrath we get the added spice of having to turn in decks when the faire is in town, which makes the market even harder to partake in. All the physical DPS piling into Greatness cards will lead to some likely incredible profit margins, but you have to craft a ludicrous amount of cards, so rev up your secondary accounts for this one.
This will be my #1 focus for the first part of Wrath and I hope I’ll make a lot of gold with this.
That’s it
That’s it, no go out and make some gold. Obviously all of these methods require some gold to get started, but the only really expensive one will be the Darkmoon Cards as you need to craft hundreds of cards before the first Faire to really cash in. Start with what you have, get your professions up and enjoy the first gearing phase!