Farming Gold | Ice Avatars and the Friendly Imp

If the following items are either in low supply or high prices on your realm, you might want to read forward!

• Felcloth


• Gromsblood


• Globe of Water


• Essence of Water


• Elemental Water

Camping & Farming
There are 2 valuable NPCs next to each other in southern Winterspring. These are Ice Avatars and a vendor named Vi'el. To see the exact location, click on a name.

Ice Avatar
Ice Avatars have a decent drop rate for Globes of Water. Globes of Water are needed in a good amount of profession recipes, one of these being the best enchant in slot for caster heirloom cloaks. Even better yet, these are needed to create very valuable companion pets (More on that next week!)

They also drop Essences of Water, which also are needed by professions and is often in low supply. Last, but not necessarily least, they drop Elemental Water. Some "Elemental (Element)" items are valuable, but water is not the most expensive one usually.

Vi'el
This little friendly imp sells some valuable items, mainly Gromsblood and Felcloth. I wouldn't bother with the other items he sells. He restocks usually every 10-30 minutes, so while farming the nearby elementals, check his items from time to time!


Low prices? Low supply?
Most vanilla trade goods are rarely seen in the Auction House in bigger quantities, but they will still generate gold for the patient seller as some professions require these, no matter how high the price is.

That said, if your Auction House has 7 Globes of Water for 2g each, it's very much recommended to buy them all and relist them.. with a few zeros added to the sum! This goes with every low supply item, but use caution when monopolizing items you are not familiar with.

Some prices for invidual items I've used in the past weeks:

- Globe of Water - 250g
- Elemental Water - 3g
- Essence of Water - 250g
- Felcloth - 15g
- Gromsblood - 2g

Note that vanilla trade goods do not sell instantly. It often takes a couple of days for them to sell. More if you're getting undercut.

How Chinese Gold Farmers Make Gold - Part 1 - Karazhan

If you've ever farmed Karazhan actively, you've most likely noticed multiple suspicious characters coming out of the instance and getting back in (usually through solid objects, shame on you gold sellers) in a quite repetitive manner. Ever wondered what they were up to?

Image source: nextnature.net

No hacks allowed!
Because I'm not a Chinese gold seller, I'm can't say my assumptions are 100% right. Hacks are included in what they do, but I'll give the approved by Blizzard way instead. Usually gold sellers use hacked accounts for this and automate the process with 3rd party programs. If you attempt this method and see this filth, you should report them right away!

Since I assume no hack can reset boss kills in a raid instance in the time they take to re-enter the instance, they have to focus on things that do not make you saved. There are no containers in the instance that would make you rich, so they must focus on NPCs. The first mobs that come to mind would be the non-elites in the ballroom and in Moroes' room. I would have guessed Philanthrophists near the opera area first if only they weren't nerfed in the past.

Killing these takes no longer than 7 minutes. Less if you're decently geared, more if your gear is crap. Looting takes longer than the killing though, as there's a LOT of them.

Ni hao
I gave it a try and cleared the first 2 rooms in Karazhan (Ballroom and Moroes' room) and left Moroes standing naturally so I won't get saved. It took about 16 minutes to do it two times on my tank toon that does not have epics.

Note that pro gold farmers sell their loot as it is and do not utilize professions like I do. They want the gold fast, even if it's ten times less than they would get with a small time investment.

Here's the loot I received! Prices are from my realm, not yours most likely!

• 79 gold from silver drops


• 29 gold from junk items like grays, potions and food


• 8½ stacks of Netherweave Cloth, which I will turn into Netherweave Bags - 35g x 8 = 280g


• 1 x Khorium Lockbox - Roughly worth 15g


• 33 x Arcane Dust from greenies - Sells for 61g


• 10 x Greater Planar Essence - Sells for 144g


• 1 x Large Prismatic Shard - Sells for 4g


• 38 x Soul Essence - Sells for 38g. These are rarely needed so it's safe to vendor them for a bit less.


• 1 x Epic Plans (BOE) - Sells for 4000g - Because these rely purely on RNG, I shouldn't even mention this. But the fact remains, the more mobs you kill, the bigger chances you have of finding such items.


• 1 x Darkmoon Card - Sells for 90g

As you can see, even without hacks you can still make as much gold as gold sellers. Mainly because they sell their loot "raw" and do not make their items more valuabe with a profession in most cases.

Nab farmer? Here be protips
- Loot faster! Turn on autolooting to make your gold making 3x faster
- Bags full? There's a vendor outside the instance and another one in the stables next to Midnight

Some of these bots had loot 25000g achievements and they haven't been level 80-85 for more than a week. After checking out what they have been up to, most of them had a crapload of Warp Splinter kills in Botanica for example, so I guess I'll have to take a look at that place next.

Exploring Nagrand - 5000g in 60 minutes

There's some easy gold to be made in some of the Outland zones, especially for Engineers. Previous trick focused on Zangarmarsh, but this time I'll tell you how to make gold in Nagrand instead. Again,  mainly from it's Gas clouds. This zone also has treasure chests, so if you want to, you can make your own route by using the Routes addon with Gathermate2 and add chests to it aswell.

Image source: wowhead.com

Clouds, Ore, Water and Flowers!
While in Nagrand, the best source for gold would be Windy Clouds, pools of Pure Water, Fel Iron/Adamantite/Khorium deposits, Treasure Chests and Felweed. That being said, if you have mining, engineering and fishing, you can make a killing!

Windy Clouds - Engineering
If you have engineering, you can gather motes from the clouds here. Each cloud contains 3-5 motes usually. To extract the motes from a cloud, you need a Zapthrottle Mote Extractor. This can be obtained from a level 62 quest in Zangarmarsh. The reward is a schematic though, so you'll have to craft it. Click here to see the faction specific quests.

It's often cheaper to buy the raw materials and craft the required items yourself, so here's the basic materials for the mote extractor:

• 16 x Fel Iron Ore


• 40 x Motes of Life


• 1 Thorium Ore


• 1 Arcane Crystal


• 1 Ironweb Spider Silk

From the Windy Clouds alone I can get about 8-10 Primal Airs in 30 minutes. Most of the time these sell for 100-200g each. They seem to be more valuable than their watery counterparts usually.

Khorium Ore - Mining
Nagrand is nothing special when it comes to mining, but you may be lucky and run into Khorium deposits while flying around the zone. Each bar sells for even 150g, but most people don't know their value and will sell under that often. Fel Iron and Adamantite is also often valuable, and they should be mined if you are after Khorium. Khorium ore is rare and sometimes spawn instead of a Adamantite or Fel Iron deposit.

Pools of Pure Water - Fishing Pole Recommended!
There are a few Pools of Pure Water in Nagrand and if you have fishing, you should definitely check them out. More info about Pure Water fishing here: http://www.elsanglin.com/fishing_pure_water.html

Felweed - Herbalism
You may want to pick up herbs while flying around the zone. A stack of Felweed selling for 300g is not unheard of.

Treasure Chests
There's 2-4 Chests per zone usually. See the map below for their spawn locations. These level blues usually sell very slowly though, but still for a decent price. Don't hold your breath when selling them.

30 minutes of farming
The toon I did the farming with had engineering, mining and fishing. I made about 1200g from the Primals, 1000g from Khorium which I turned into Power Cores with Engineering (Sells for 500g each) and 300g from Treasure Chests. That's a total of 5000g if I would have farmed for a hour instead, assuming I would have found the same amount of goods again!

Windy Cloud and Treasure Chest spawn points

Keep in mind though, that none of the above items sell fast. For me it took 7 days to sell them all and I play on a high population realm. They are needed by some professions, but Auction House often has a void around these items, so they are expensive.

 

RNG and Price Difference
Sometimes you don't find a single Khorium Deposit, or alternatively Khorium Power Cores sell for only 100g and Primals 20g on your realm. Gold estimates are based on the prices on my main realm when I performed this method.

Getting rich in Firelands - Solo

NERFBAT
This method has been nerfed. It's no longer possible to kite most of the mobs. I can see why though! Some of the more active farmers made millions from the epics. Some sources claim turtles are still slowable though but I haven't had the chance to confirm. If you know more, leave a comment!


Many of you may have heard of people solo farming Firelands, or even done it yourself. If not, time to give it ago! This is extremely profitable, especially if you're feeling lucky!

My record is 2 epics found in 20 minutes of farming, giving me about 45k quick gold! Total gold I've made from these is at around 200k. Some hardcore farmers have even tripled that amount!

Better to not piss this one off!

Taking the trash out! I can has epix?
Solo farming Firelands consist of only one thing: Running! The goal is to kite trash, mainly Scorpions, Turtles, Hell Hounds and Pyrelords. If your talent spec does not have kiting capabilities, you need to respec or switch classes. Thankfully most classes can do this!

The drop rates for epics were nerfed to the ground, but you should still see an epic or two every few runs. RNG plays a big part here too though. Some players haven't seen even one drop in a week, while others have obtained 3 epics from one run!

But at least every mob drops 1-12 gold usually and you can get reputation with Avengers of Hyjal, all the way to 11999/12000.

Some of the classes that can solo farm here:

• Death Knight


• Hunter


• Shaman


• Mage


• Warlock

Not every spec can solo! You need to check your talents before attempting this. For example, a warlock should be affliction and hunter should have concussive barrage from MM tree. If you're unsure what spec or talents you should use, leave a comment below or youtube the following : <class> solo firelands

Note that you don't need über gear to do this. Even a newly dinged 85 with quest greenies can solo here. You do need to be in a raid group though! Click here to see how you can make a raid group alone!

Hit and run like hell!
There are lots of different spots where you can kite things. Where to go often depends on how many bosses are down. If it's a fresh run with 0 bosses down, it's wise to pull things back to the entrance and kite them around the entrance portal. Just watch your step or you might fall!

You should start by pulling one scorpion pack. Just be careful to not damage some scorpions too fast because they will slow down and become a problem when rest of the mobs run 40% faster. Switch targets constantly and focus on AOE abilities. Once you're getting the hang of it, try 2 packs of scorpions next, or if you're feeling crazy enough, why not try 3!

Once scorpions are ezmode for you, try something else.. But not the Molten Lords! See some youtube videos of what others have been soloing.

But there's a huge giant blocking the way!

Image source: hubpages.com

You don't need to worry. It's aggro radius is ridiculously low. It's safe to pass it, just don't run between it's legs!

Oh, and time your pulls so the mobs won't run into the giant if pulling things back to the entrance. Hug one side and hope the timing was good enough!

10 vs 25
Many people ask if you can see more epics in a 25-man trash run. 25-man offers slightly more loot from trash. But in the time it takes to kill a trash mob, you can kill 2½ in a 10-man run. It's often more wise to farm in 10 mode instead as not even the instance cap will get in your way.

Farming Hellfire Citadel: Ramparts

Most of the soon-to-be level 60 players like to wear the best equipment available to them, mainly the level 57 outland greenies to considerably boost their dps. Farming these items can make lots of gold on some realms, but finding the right suffix on a level 57 greenie is not as easy as it might sound!

Aggroing the whole instance with one pull!
Pre-4.2 you could aggro almost all mobs with one pull while in some instances, including Ramparts by using a well-aimed Saronite Bomb or a Death & Decay for example, next to the entrance portal (See video below). But as of now, mobs have lost their ability to find the player in most cases, often causing them to evade if the pull was made from too far away or the player is not standing on the floor itself. I haven't seen this mentioned in patch notes so it might just be a bug that will get fixed at one point.

Or not...
For now, you have to stick to farming it the old style.. Or new in this case! Nonetheless, it's still easy pie for a level 80+ toon and can be done in just a few pulls, taking often less than 10 minutes per run. Also there is no need to run back to the entrance as you can jump off the platform once done.

You'll quickly run into the instance cap/hour so that's often a good point to hearth and clean your bags. You'll find plenty of runecloth on top of the greenies. If you have a tailor, it's extremely profitable to create Bolts of Runecloth and turn them into Runecloth Headbands, which in turn Disenchant into GEEs and Illusion Dust, which both are VERY valuable on almost every realm.

The bosses don't offer anything worth mentioning, except some of the blues vendor for even 10g. If disechanted, they are worthless.

One run usually gives 2-7 greenies, depending if Lady RNG likes you or not. I've been selling level 57 greenies with good stats, such as agi, str or int for 100-300g for a long while now and they still sell surprisingly fast. I've found "of the Bandit" items to sell the fastest, even with a high price! You may give level 58 and 59 items a go aswell if they have useful stats.

If your item ends in whale, it would be wise to disenchant it instead!

Exploring Zangarmarsh - 1650g in 30 minutes

There's some easy gold to be made in some of the Outland zones, especially for Engineers. This time I'll tell you how to make gold in Zangarmarsh, mainly from it's Swamp Gas clouds and while flying around the zone, why not loot the treasure chests you run into aswell!

Gathermate 2, Routes and NPCScan addons in action

Nothing to see here, it's just swamp gas!
Swamp Gas clouds contain motes of water. Usually 3-5 per cloud, and there's a lot of them out there! To extract the motes from a cloud, you need a Zapthrottle Mote Extractor. This can be obtained from a level 62 quest in Zangarmarsh. The reward is a schematic though, so you'll have to craft it. Click here to see the faction specific quests.

It's often more cheap to buy the raw materials and craft the required items yourself, so here's the basic materials for the mote extractor:

• 16 x Fel Iron Ore
• 40 x Motes of Life
• 1 Thorium Ore
• 1 Arcane Crystal
• 1 Ironweb Spider Silk

You need mining, alchemy and engineering to put the above materials into use. If you don't have those, I'd ask around before buying expensive Arcanite Bars and Arcanite Converters from the AH.

While carrying the mote extractor, nearby gas clouds appear on the minimap, as if tracking them. This makes the farming even faster as you don't need to pay attention to the ground, just the minimap.

If you use gathermate and routes addons, you can create a nice route like on the picture above, and follow it easily again only by paying attention to the minimap. I made a route that includes treasure chests and swamp gas clouds. If you have mining or herbalism, you might want to include some of the valuable ores or herbs in the list.

Treasure Chests and Primals
If you are below level 70, you will also receive a nice exp boost per chest looted, as you may have noticed. Though not owning an epic flying mount cuts the gains notably. Personally I do all the farming which requires a flying mount on my paladin, just because of crusader aura.

While flying around the zone for 30 minutes I found the following:

• 9 x Primal Water
• 4 x Treasure Chests

Ever wondered what those
floating clouds were?

A Primal Water is very valuable since no one is selling these usually. You can ask whatever you want for one! Though I'd keep the price at around 150g each. They do not sell instantly though, as they aren't absolutely necessary for anything.

The blue equipment from chests sell for 60-200g usually, depending on how useful it is. These are a slow seller though, but not because of the three digit price, so no point reducing the price too much.

Blood of The Mountain Makes You Rich

If you have mining and/or like to farm "harder" monsters, you should farm some Blood of the Mountain! Especially people that are after Ragnaros' Legendary Hammer are ready to pay for these. Making 4000g in 20 minutes is not unheard of, but your gold income rely entirely on RNG.

Dark Iron Deposits & Molten Destroyers
You have two paths, but they can be combined for even greater profit. You have a small chance of obtaining a Blood of Mountain when mining a Dark Iron Deposit. Molten Destroyers on the other hand have a decent drop rate for these, 7% ish.

Requires 175 mining!

Multiple reports say their drop rate has been stealth boosted in 4.2, but this is not the case. RNG does the magic here! You can obtain one from every Destroyer you kill or alternatively you won't see even one drop. Their new shiny model does not equal higher drop rates.

Dark Iron Deposits and Molten Destroyers are both found inside Molten Core, but nodes can also be found in the zones surrounding Blackrock Mountain and in Blackrock Depths aswell.

In order to enter Molten Core (Blackrock Mountain, Searing Gorge) you must be in a raid group. It's a level 60 raid instance, so a level 70+ should have no problems solo farming there.

Farming Molten Core Trash Efficiently
Since Molten Destroyers are trash mobs, no boss should be killed or you can't force reset the instance after destroying them all. With a stealthy 85 character one run takes no more than 7 minutes, but more if you have mining. The point is to sneak your way to Molten Destroyers, kill them all, run out of the instance and reset it. To reset a instance, right click on your portrait and choose "Reset all instances".

Shiny new models!

To save some time, when you see the first 2 Molten Giants, you can jump into the lava below and swim the lava river down until you can jump out of it. Or alternatively don't fall into the lava, but hug the right wall instead until you can jump off.

One Blood of the Mountain usually sells for about 1000g, but I've seen people buy these for even 3000g each if they are desperate. They usually need 10 of these, so if you see someone selling a few for 300g, don't get your hopes down. Yours will get a buyer aswell, even if you don't undercut!

Protip: Even if it takes days to sell them, do not reduce your prices below 1000g. Not everyone needs these, remember that! :)

On top of the blood, you will also find BOE epics and Lava Cores for example, which sell for 20-100g most of the time.

Loot Hunters: Sunwell Plateau Solo Farming

Sunwell Plateau still gives trouble for certain players, but if you know how to play and have good dps, there should be no problems! Bosses on the other hand may prove more difficult, but that does not matter. Today we're focusing only on Trash Farming!

Lootwell Plateau
In case you are wondering how trash farming could make you rich in a TBC instance, the answer is simple: BOE profession recipes!

These are Brutal Gladiator gear equivalent and the materials for them are often very easy to come across, so the profits are insane in most cases. In other words, level 70 PVE epics with proper gems that last all the way to 80. This is the point you must make when selling these items!

If you come across a recipe and can't learn it, you can still make loads of gold by selling the recipe. If it's good, people (especially collectors) are willing to pay even 10k for one recipe, especially if the gear has multiple sockets in it and the materials are not worth more than the item itself.

This time there is no point giving gold estimations from one run, because it varies between 200g to 30000g, depending on if RNG is in your favor.

But I can't kill any :(
If the trash proves too difficult for you and you can reset aggro (Feign Death, Vanish, Invisibility) and can stealth around, you may attempt sneaking to the first non-elite patrol. This mob can be one shotted and it drops loot. The nearby mobs will aggro though, so you will have to get rid of them. Once out of combat, the non-elite will respawn and you can repeat the process for some easy loot epics!

If your aggro reset has a long cooldown, this might not be worth it.

What about bosses?
I haven't even attempted bosses, but as far as I know every boss has been soloed, with the exception of Kalecgos due to the encounter mechanics. If you're gonna try them, I suggest you to check the bosses' comments on wowhead before attempting one!

The trash come in big groups, but should not be too difficult. There's however some mobs that need to be nuked right away or you will get your ass handed to them. The Sunblade Slayers are a pain with their fixed percentage dot, and they use it on you even if your pet has the aggro.

Like usually, I prefer to solo stuff with a hunter and turtle pet that is specced fully into defensive talents. For more information on how a hunter can solo things, check the previous (AQ) Loot Hunters post.

Are there any other drops?
You will find lots of loot here! The recipes are very rare, but your bags will be full of cloth, equips and epic gems. Epic gems have a decent vendor price and should not be auctioned. Like always, greenies should be disenchanted for some yummy gold! On top of that, every monster drops gold coins.

You will also find Sunmotes and Marks of Illidari. Sunmotes in particular can fetch some nice amounts of gold should you find a buyer. There's also some BOP recipes dropping. These are often useless, but if the mat costs aren't that high, you might want to learn them if possible.

So, how do I get to Sunwell Plateau, anyway?
Getting there is fast! If you are not a Mage, use the portal in a big city to Blasted Lands. Go through to Outland and fly to Shattrath. In the middle of Shattrath, use the portal to Quel'danas.

Coilfang Armaments!

If you tried the previous method, there's more gold to be made nextdoors! You can get a bunch of Coilfang Armaments when you kill things in Steamvault and Serpentshrine Cavern, each sell for 15-50g usually, depending on how many there are for sale.

No one farms these yet so it's safe to buy every armament from the Auction House (if any) and resell them for a lot higher price.

As the other instance is a level 70 dungeon and other a raid, a lowbie can only make gold reselling.



You have obtained too much gold recently!
If you are good geared 85 and like to pull one room at a time, you may run into the instance cap, but should have plenty of armaments in your possession by that time. One run yields usually 20-30 Armaments, netting you about 1300g if you sell them 50g each. (However, the price will get too high if you sell them in large quantities, so you most likely have to lower your prices a bit. I usually ask for 25g each when selling hundreds of them.)

And that does not include the almost-as-valuable items, such as clams, greenies and primal waters. Primal Waters alone sell for over 100g usually. TBC pearls have been selling very nicely lately aswell!

And if you're suspicious, here's the breakdown of one run's phat lewt!

• Coilfang Armaments: 800g
• Greenies: 190-240g
• Vendor crap: 14g
• Water Motes: 160g
• All kinds of pearls: 10-150g

Prices may vary depending on realm population, guild perks and your advertising skill!

Power Word: Sell
Like previously, you have to advertise your armaments to make them sell. They are used to raise reputation with Cenarion Expedition, so check what benefits there are for gaining exalted with them and create a macro similar to the one found in the previous post.

The amount of Armaments people need vary. You can get the quest as early as neutral. Most only need to get from revered to exalted though, so also choose how big stacks you are selling.

Hint: There's a shiny Flying Mount available once exalted! c:

Time Spent vs. Profit
This is by no means the best way to make gold, but if you like farming and can clear a 70 instance in a couple of pulls, I'd definitely try this out!

Making gold with Sporeggar

Many people are after the diplomat title + achi pet and perhaps most importantly reputation rewards that are available after reaching exalted with Sporeggar. Since exalted can be reached by turning in non-bop items, this will be a nice gold maker for those that want to put a little "effort" into it.

After a hour of performing this I can get about 3700g usually. I tend to sell the plants for 3000g and the rest comes from disenchanted greenies and prospected adamantite ore mainly.

Bring Me A Shrubbery!
You will need to focus on one item only: Sanguine Hibiscus. This is obtained from Underbog instance in Zangarmarsh. It's dropped by almost every mob in the instance and can also be picked up from the ground while there. Not even herbalism is required! They drop from both Normal and Heroic modes. The instance is easily soloed by a level 70+ person.

You can get around 30-70 Sanguines from one run if you loot every flower and kill all non-naga creatures. In less than two hours of farming you can obtain hundreds of them! Note that you can enter only 5 instances in a hour.

Felicia from wowhead has posted an excellent farming tip if you're not familiar with the instance. Check it out. There's even a map with the spawn points marked!

Got the flowers! Now what?
To sell them efficiently, create an interesting macro and sell your plants in the trade channel. No one will bump into them in the Auction House unless they're specifically looking for them. Here's an example macro! Use it as a template and modify to make it look nice enough for even yourself to "buy it".

WTS 260 x Sanguine Hibiscus - Enough to get you exalted
with Sporeggar! Get the Diplomat title + Sporeggar Tabard
and the Tiny Sporebat companion pet for only 4000g!

Check how much the flowers go for in the Auction House before deciding a price. Usually there's only a couple for sale so you can ask for thousands easily! You may also remove the price tag and let people give you offers so more people will whisper you in case the price is too much for them.

The amount of flowers is a little lower with the correct guild perk or human racial, so offer cheaper deals for guilded people or humans if you wish.

This is a nice gold maker in my opinion as it only takes a hour or two to get enough flowers, and you don't need to spam your macro long before a buyer is found. I'm always the only one selling these so I don't have any competition either.. yet!

Finding a Niche on your Server- Puzzled Part Deux?!

Hey folks! May today bring you many a happy hotfix! I got an email that I would like to share with you, as there are some great tips for the beginner goldmaker found within. A month and a half in to the gold game, and Mike is already passing up some folks that have been in the game for some time. 


There are a few highlights here, and he even reminded me about a few things that have been on the backburner of my gold making skills (looking for a niche on your server? it might just be listed below!). At the end of the email, I toss in my comments on the different markets listed and answer a few questions this reader had. Get a cup of coffee, pack up yer bowl (of cereal, kids), and read on!


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Hey Alto,

Mike here. Just wanted to say great job on the Puzzled article. It brought to light a lot of issues that I've been having. I'm new to goldmaking as in about a month to a month and a half of actually attempting it. But I must admit the first several weeks weren't that active because I was doing more forum and blog reading than actual posting. 

I've done the basics: I have an alt with his own guild parked in a major city for storage and is my main auction poster, I have an alt parked at one of the neutral AHs (although I'm curious as to which one is more profitable, if any?), and I had a decent amount stockpiled when 4.2 came out. I know you hate to farm but I also have a level 85 alt with mining and skinning that I farm with for an hour a day (when I can) to keep my stocks up in those appropriate professions. 

The professions I have covered are Tailoring, Enchanting, Jewelcrafting, and Blacksmithing. I also have an alt I plan on leveling one day with Leatherworking and Alchemy. I've been doing the Dreamcloth CDs every week (got about 2 and half stacks) and the new Hyjal dailies everyday on 2 different toons to maximize profits the day the professions are available. And I use TUJ like like it's a religion.

Been somewhat successful with about 30k gold to show for it. Top sells have been gems of course with enchants picking up speed. Belt buckles are something I'll be looking into soon when mats are more stockpiled.

Your post made me realize about the high and lows of markets. The volatile market was what I looked into immediately after reading the article and saw sure as day that they are susceptible to this cycle.

I've also tried to venture out into rather unfamiliar waters with enchanting by selling TBC enchanting mats but not much luck so far. However, I may have discovered something for someone that is having luck. Void shatter can be bought from the Shattered Sun Offensive vendor at Honored Rep level (which isn't very hard). Void crystals on my server sell for about 1g currently. The problem I'm having is that there just isn't a market for large prismatic shards right now. Maybe your followers could better benefit from this information since I can't. Of course if this is an old method disregard it.

Prospecting ore and milling herbs as I've both read and experienced can be very time consuming. So can buying and scanning the AH. My current schedule with both work and class simply doesn't allow me enough time to do all those things as much as I should and I feel it's eating into my goldmaking goals. I currently have Auctioneer and Auctionator and recently heard about TSM. What I'm asking is if the new addon TSM would possibly automate prospecting ore for me or buy materials off the AH once I set a certain threshold. If it doesn't then do you know of any that do? I'm also looking for an addon that enables me to open and loot all my mail with just one click instead of me having to shift-click every single one. And finally I'm also looking for an addon that could allow me to look at both my alts' bags contents and profession tabs.


If you know of any addons that have any of these functions please let me know. Again, great article and good luck in future posts and goldmaking.



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So, here's a few bullet points and my two cents:

•  I have an alt parked at one of the neutral AHs - Great idea for a few reasons. One, you get a chance to see what's moving from faction to faction (true blue "flippers" of goods. If you are a dirty dog, you might stealth snatch some goods. Being a true blue flipper watching both sides for the best profits.
• I farm with for an hour a day (when I can) to keep my stocks up in those appropriate professions- I love seeing this. Farming is a very viable way to get your materials, and is a great way to keep "vanilla'ish" stocks of materials on your AH.
• I've been doing the Dreamcloth CDs every week- Love it. If you have cooldowns folks, USE THEM! Any cooldown in any profession is an instant profit, and usually an instant sale (or using them yourself on some BoP's for craftables).
• Hyjal dailies everyday on 2 different toons - Once again, it's kinda like a crafting cooldown. Dailies are an integral part of making gold in WoW. Whether you are doing dailies for rep, gold, or unlocking items, you are not wasting your time by questing. And, it's not a bad grind....until your 30th day getting a friggin epic fishing pole.
• And I use TUJ like like it's a religion - You can never go wrong here. Raiders read up for hours, have specified forums, talk in vent/ts/skype for hours on their schedule to knock down bosses. Why is it strange for goldmakers to do this? 
• Selling gems of course with enchants picking up speed- Alot of folks have made an absolute killing on this patch, and it is still a great market for weeks to come! Keep it up!
• Belt buckles - I don't even need to say anything here, it's a great market. Not just the Ebonsteel, but the Eternal Belt Buckle as well. Don't forget the leveling folks out there, they gots golds too!
• TBC enchanting mats- Greater Planar Essence, Arcane Dust, and don't forget all them Primals and Motes! Great sellers, great markets!
• Void shatter can be bought from the Shattered Sun Offensive vendor at Honored Rep level- Know your server, know your prices. Some work, some don't, but it's a great reminder to check!
• Prospecting ore and milling herbs as I've both read and experienced can be very time consuming. What I'm asking is if the new addon TSM would possibly automate prospecting ore for me or buy materials off the AH once I set a certain threshold. If it doesn't then do you know of any that do? - I would love to tell you about automation, but it's against the ToS. There are programs out there that folks use, but if you really want to know, google is your best friend. Or, just buy a G15 Keyboard. Still "against" ToS (due to automation) though. It just might make you "feel" safer. TSM is a great addon though, I swear by it for glyphs, gems, and enchants. 
• An addon to open and loot all my mail with just one click- Postal is and always will be the best addon for this. Open your mailbox, one click (or if you go into settings on the addon, all you need to do is open your mailbox, no clicking needed- wait. That's automated.......kinda.

As always, I love hearing from you folks out there and what markets you are hitting, what is working, what isn't, so on and so forth. Keep em coming, and you never know, you might be headlining the next post!

Manual: Strong Anti-Venom

 Recognize Valuable Loot!

If you like to level alts or otherwise farm low level instances, you're bound to find one, if not more of certain items that are a lot more valuable than they would appear to be. Most of the time people pass on these, sell them for ridiculously low prices or just vendor them, so clicking on need is highly recommended.

You should also check your AH if someone is doing the above and benefit from it.

World drop items - How to obtain?

One of the most common rare items is the manual for Strong Anti-Venom, a random world drop, mainly obtained from chests around level 30. Even though farming world drops is pointless, this is not the only valuable item a chest may contain. A good place to test your luck is Scarlet Monastery.

There are more than one wing, so the 5 instances per hour limit will not happen as fast as it would in a typical instance. There are no chests in Cathedral, but mobs also can drop valuables and that wing is the fastest in the game anyways :)

Half of the chests are locked, so bring something that can open them, like bombs or skeleton keys. Skeleton keys do not need a profession so they are often the good choice.

How valuable is valuable?

Most of the valuable items I will be listing here are worth 2-15k, sometimes more. They are mainly for collectors who want to learn every possible recipe in the game. That means you shouldn't expect these items to sell even in the first week. It may very well take even a few months to make one sell, depending on how much your are asking for it.

Protips:

•  If you create an interesting macro that advertises your rare loot, it will catch more eyes and sell a lot faster.
•  You will be the only one selling these most of the time, so you get to pick the price!

I will create a similar gold making method containing a "junk" rare item every 1-2 weeks. Next item I will tell about is a bit more rare, but also a lot more valuable. I've sold one of them for 20k after buying it for 15g a few weeks back!

Hint: It's Purple

Making tons of gold as a level 33+ | New player friendly!

With the high Silk Cloth prices still running around, I think some cloth farming methods deserve their own post. Silk Cloth is one of the few cloths that have been bouncing between 30-200g for a few months now, at least on bigger realms.

I gave Silk Cloth farming a go with a level 35 toon and made about 3300g in 60+ minutes. Not only did that contain Silk, but also Wool and the occasional green and rare item. Greens of this level DE into Soul Dust usually, which I've sold for even 150g a stack when supply is low. I've sold Silk Cloth for 40-60g usually and it sells always! Rares have a price tag of 100-200g but sell very slowly.

A hour spent farming should cover all your powerleveling costs until level 85, or if you want to grab epic flying training aswell when the level is right, spend 2 hours farming here instead! :)

Protip: List all cloth in stacks of 20! Most players ignore stacks of 1.

Where to farm?

Slitherblade Naga (Desolace | See map)
Scarlet Monastery: Cathedral (Instance)
Gnomeregan (Instance)

Personally I prefer the Naga farming in Desolace because they spawn so fast you don't even have time to loot them before more spawns. They also drop raw fish that cooks are often looking for. Instances have the 5 per hour limit so it will slow your farming.

If you want to farm more cloth, click on "Farming" and look for more! There's a whole post with secret, instant respawn cloth farming spots if you missed it previously.

Making gold as a Druid | No killing, No AH, No professions

This is a fun little way to make a bit of gold for those that are tired of killing things, playing the auction house or using professions. However, only druids can do this so that it's even remotely a decent way to make gold due to their ability to loot objects without leaving flight form.

Farming (Dead) Mage Hunters

You must have the quest called Rifle the Bodies in your quest log. It's a Dragonblight quest that can be obtained from Star's Rest or Angmar's Hammer, depending on your faction. Minimum level for the quest is 71. If you have done that already, you can't do this anymore.

It's simple. All you have to do is fly around the place and loot the Dead Mage Hunters while staying in swift flight form. They give bags that contain junk, and rarely the quest item you're after. If you manage to find it, just delete it so you can continue looting bags.

This is by no means the best way to make gold in WOW, just a fun little thing to try out if you're in the area with your druid and want to try something new. As a druid with epic flying I made about 600g from the grey items in 60 ish minutes during WOTLK. Not sure if druid looting has been changed since. If so, let me know! It gets boring fast, so don't forget to watch a movie, for example, while at it! As no killing is required, you don't need to pay almost any attention at all.

Farming Clams | Thousands of Gold from Pearls!

Golden Pearls and Black Pearls have been a gold maker since vanilla, a lot less during TBC and early Wrath due to everyone farming Naga, but these days they seem to sell for 100-300g most of the time, even though their main use is gone now. These are mainly obtained from clams, but with a low drop rate.

Out of 500 Big-Mouth Clams I got 12 Golden Pearls and 33 Black Pearls, which sold for about 6000g. That amount does not contain other pearls I obtained, nor does it include the gold I made from the Clam meat, which is needed by cooks to level up. A stack of meat can sell for even 100g if no one else is selling it.

A Big-Mouth Clam may contain:
- Golden Pearl
- Black Pearl
- Iridescent Pearl
- Small Lustrous Pearl
- Zesty Clam Meat

TBC, Wrath and Cata clams can give other pearls aswell, but they aren't as valuable usually.

It's a nice money maker because you don't need to be level 85 to farm these. You can bring a lowbie here and gain level ups aswell!

Not a fast seller

A word of warning though! Pearls do not sell fast. It may take weeks to get rid of all your pearls. But do not lower the prices unless you are being undercutted. When someone needs them, they will buy your pearls, even if they cost 300g each.


Where to farm?

I've found 2 places to be worthwhile. Sea Giants in Tanaris and Naga in Blasted Lands.

Tanaris
Tidal Strider
- 93% Drop rate
- Goblins and Gnomes have to swim here :(

Blasted Lands
Bloodwash Naga
- 61% Drop rate

There are other places aswell, and you may look for more by clicking here.

Loot Hunters: Farming Karazhan for lots of gold!

It be loot hunting time, mon! Loot Hunters focus on soloing raids and other dungeons for gold, so phat lewt awaits! First post is about Karazhan. Not only is Karazhan the best instance in the game, but it can also be very profitable and you might even get yourself a nice Fiery Warhorse mount while at it. Big chunk of the gold comes from professions, mainly Enchanting and Tailoring, along with pure gold drops from bosses.

If you're a new player or just having early dementia, Karazhan is located in Deadwind Pass, next to Duskwood. Fastest way to get there is by using the portal to Blasted Lands in any of the capital cities!

Make even more gold from Karazhan

The instance is full of humanoids, so you will find loads of Netherweave cloth on top of direct gold drops. This means you should not skip any mobs here to maximize your gold earnings. The amount is noticeable, even after the Philanthropist nerf which made the mobs drop about 12g less gold per kill.

To make use of the cloth drops, Tailoring is a very good choice, but it's not a requirement for the solo-toon, as cloth can be sent to other alts. Netherweave has 2 profitable paths, Netherweave Bags or Netherweave Bracers, which will be disenchanted into Arcane Dust and Planar Essences. Check your realm's prices for them and see which path is more profitable. Usually Netherweave Cloth has too low prices for it to be more profitable to sell as it is.

Whatever you do, do NOT disenchant epics unless Void Crystals are more valuable than the item's vendor price. Most epics sell for 3-15g to a vendor, while a Voidie sells for about.. 30 copper usually in the Auction House!


Farming profession recipes

There are many profession recipes that are BOP in Karazhan, most well known being the enchanting formula for Mongoose. Most of the following enchants and items are profitable to sell on some realms, but at least on my realm the mats are more valuable and also sell faster than the creations. Tailoring patterns are profitable only if they have 3 sockets, as people are ready to pay even 3000g for a 70 epic with 3 sockets, especially if you insert some WOTLK epic gems into it and don't forget the best fitting Wrath enchant. :)

Here's a list of profession recipes you can find from Karazhan. I'm fairly sure there was blacksmithing plans aswell, but I can't seem to find them.

Formula: Enchant Weapon - Mongoose
Formula: Enchant Weapon - Soulfrost
Formula: Enchant Weapon - Sunfire
Formula: Enchant Boots - Surefooted
Pattern: Soulcloth Vest
Pattern: Soulcloth Shoulders

Fuck the key, we'll take the shortcut!

When 4.2 arrives, the gate is no longer locked. But for now, you still need The Master's Key in order to enter Karazhan, or alternatively have engineering, blacksmithing or lockpicking available. Engineers can blast the door open, Blacksmiths can use skeleton keys and Rogues can lockpick.

However if you don't have any of those, you can just kill yourself next to the gate and walk through it as a ghost, releasing between the gate and the instance portal. To make a succesful suicide, hop onto your flying mount, fly high enough and unmount! Fun, fun, and it's not even friday! Or if you're slacking and don't have "old weather flying", you can pull nearby mobs and let them rape you. To save yourself from repair bills, strip a bit before doing so.

If that doesn't interest you either, the key quest starts next to Karazhan and leads you to Hillsbrad and then Shattrath. After that you have to clear a few TBC instances and the key is yours.

You also need to be in a raid group in order to enter a raid instance for some unknown reason. Perhaps so mentally challenged players don't accidentally enter green portals, pull elites and get some repair bills? :) *shrug*


Sources of gold

- You will find lots of greenies. Disenchant them!
- You will find lots of epics. BOE? Enchant/gem and sell them! BOP? Vendor!
- You will find lots of blues. Sell them!
- You will find profession recipes. Learn them and sell if they're profitable!
- Humanoids and bosses drop silver and gold!
- Netherweave can be turned into valuable bags and other items



Conclusion

If you're having "Lol, didn't read" thoughts, here's a quick summary!

- Get tailoring and enchanting
- Commit a suicide or open the gate
- Invite a random player and convert the group into a raid
- Something moves? Pew pew! Leave no one alive.. Oh wait.
- Loot every corpse!
- If you are decently geared level 85, you can do huge pulls and AOE farm
- Turn trade goods into something more profitable

Lootwalker: Free Epix

When you were lower level, you may have flied past Doomwalker/Lootwalker/Loot Reaver while questing in Shadowmoon Valley and while at it, drool at it's loot lists, wishing you could take it down single handedly. Since Cataclysm it's been possible to solo the tin can with basically any class, though some specs without self healing might struggle. The boss doesn't hit that hard and has a lousy 1.5 mil health pool.

Do not proceed. You will be eliminated.

Camping the spawn spot all night long!

Doomwalker has a lengthy 2-4 days respawn timer, but the zone itself is unpopulated and almost everyone has forgotten what this boss offers. Basically a kill is worth even 6k if you find a buyer for your epics. I've found him 3 times this week, gaining 6 BOE epics and also lots of gold coins as drops, even though it's purse size was reduced dramatically at one point.

To make the epics sell faster, I gem and enchant these items and sell them in the trade chat for 1-3k each usually. When players click the link and see a fully gemmed and enchanted leveling epic, they often get interested if they have a class that could make use of it.

Tip: Ignore the socket bonuses, go for pure int/agi/str!

And again, I need to make the message nice looking and not just "WTS <item>" to maximize the potential buyers. It's good to convince people why they should buy it!

An example macro could be "/2 Bored of Brutal Gladiator grinding on your soon-to-be 70 toon? Use this weapon instead to speed your leveling {skull} <link> {skull} Costs 0 honor! Pay with gold instead!"

Protip: In Soviet Shadowmoon, the boss comes to you!

If you don't want to waste time flying to Shadowmoon multiple times a day, it's wise to park an alt near Black Temple where it spawns, and then either kill it on your alt if it has spawned, or bring your main quickly there if your alt doesn't have big enough ego to take a huge fel reaver down!

You might also want to try your luck in Hellfire Peninsula and see if Doom Lord Kazzak has spawned. He will be harder to find alive though!


Are you high enough level to take it down?

On a side note, if you don't have a level 85 character yet or have alts waiting to be leveled, Zygor Guides is having a discount today, with all prices cut in half! The offer ends tomorrow (5th), so you have to be fast if you are interested in this speed leveling addon!

Personally I've used his 1-85 leveling guide on all my toons and so far my leveling record was 3 days /played. I'm still trying to beat that! There's also profession and dailies guide available but that infomation can be found for free elsewhere, not that the price is high.

Making Boatloads of Gold from TBC Trade Goods: Part 1

If you haven't noticed, most TBC trade goods prices are even more expensive than their Cataclysm equivalents, making them extremely good for gold making. It's often wise to farm the reagents yourself, because some Primals cost even 200g each, like Air and Water. But if the reagents sell for more than what the product itself does, assuming you are not the only one selling it, it's often a better idea to sell the reagents instead.

Image credit: iloveeurope

Alchemy and Primal Might
Requires Alchemy (350)

The recipe is almost as valuable as the Primal Might itself, but at least its easily obtained so you can learn it yourself and also grab a few that you will resell. It's sold by 3 vendors, click here to see which one is closest to you.

Reagents:
Primal Earth
Best place to farm: Auction House

Primal Water
Best place to farm: Terokkar Forest

Primal Air
Best place to farm: Shadowmoon Valley

Primal Fire
Best place to farm: Hellfire Peninsula

Primal Mana
Best place to farm: Blade's Edge Mountains


Farming Vs. Auction House

Image credit: Sanrya

Some of the Primals are very cheap and should be bought from the AH, like Earth, Fire and Mana usually. See for yourself which one is profitable to buy instead of farm on your realm.

Motes of Water can also be fished from Pure Water pools in Throne of the Elements, Nagrand.

Remember that Throne of the Elements is a good choice for killing too, if you don't mind waiting for respawns.

Engineers can also farm motes by hunting Gas Clouds around Outland. Different clouds give different motes, like Zangarmarsh is for Water and Netherstorm for Mana. You need a Zapthrottle Mote Extractor to extract motes from the clouds.


Making use of the Transmutation Specialization
Alchemists can choose from three specializations: Elixir, Potion or Transmutation specialization. When a xmute alchemist creates Primal Mights, a proc might happen, giving them even 5 extra Primal Mights when crafting.

This might given you even 5k additional gold per proc if Mights sell for 1k on your realm. Average price I've seen is around 300-700g. Usually no one is selling these so I can choose any price I want!

"Treasure Potion Trash Dash" Entry for PW:G

Flux over at PowerWord:Gold decided to toss a contest out to all the folks that wanted to take a challenge. Always loving a contest, I rocked one of my favorite farming spots....Ascendant's Rise in Hyjal.

Now this contest gave me interest.... Nothing about goldmaking, nothing about your AH, it's all about two things. One, you need to use a Potion of Treasure Finding. Two, you have to vendor everything (well, at least get the vendor pricing) for all that you get from mobs. 

So I broke down and did it. I used my rogue, but.....I didn't pickpocket on this run, although I originally thought about it, but due to the "return" on time, I decided not to.....For once, I actually farmed non-stop, no rest, no smoke breaks, no beer breaks. Not even a drink. Non-stop farming. And I was pleasantly surprised with the results.....

First off, I never picked this many Tiny Treasure Chests in an hour (21). Never. The rest of the drops seemed around normal. One thing.....In the midst of the hour, I never had to reset my slice and dice. Not once. Non-stop.....

The numbers to the right is just the loot dropped. Not factoring in any Tiny Treasure Loot, as that pic is below. Vendoring everything that dropped, I cleared just over 221g.

Remember, this does not count the gold looted from the mobs (which ended up at 147.5g in case you were wondering- and no blue or epix dropped, just greenies).

Here is the loot from the Tiny Treasure Chests that I picked up:

So to Flux and fellow contestants, my total for the entry is: 296g10s58c


In case you are wondering where, what route, or if my drops are correct, or worse case just want to see Alto running around killing mobs at 8X speed, take the next 8 minutes to see 60 minutes of farming...."Speedy Gonzales Style"