Making 5000 Gold for the Epic Flying Mount - Part 1
For the second part of my Making 5000 Gold for the Epic Flying Mount post I will share a few tips on how to maximize your earnings and efficiency while leveling.
1. Try to sell every dropped item that's white or above on the Auction House. This should be common sense but I still see people who vendor even greens. I won't even mention those who vendor gathered mats like ore and herbs. Bad! Bad!
2. Always pick up gray items from mobs and vendor them. I find it amazing how many people despise looting gray items. Dudes, those grays add up a lot, especially gray weapons and armor and also those items that stack! If you don't have enough bag space, just get bigger bags.
3. Speaking of bags, always carry the biggest ones you can afford. At the very least you should have 4x 16-slot Netherweave Bags, however, these days 20-slot Frostweave Bags have dropped a lot in price so I would definitely pick those up. In fact, I have equipped my 65 Shaman with 20-slot bags, even back when they were 120 gold a piece. Now that they dropped to 60 gold, you should have no excuse for skipping out on these bags. More storage = more items gathered = less trips to a vendor/mailbox/AH = better efficiency = bigger profits.
4. You do have a bank-alt, don't you? If you don't, shame on you. Just make a level 1 alt and stick him in a major city close to a mailbox, auction house and bank. You should mail all the stuff you want to sell on the AH to this character. While you're leveling you shouldn't even step in a major city unless you're going to the class/profession trainer or for various quests. More time spent in the playing field = more drops = bigger profits.
5. Don't buy useless crap from the AH. People are tempted to buy vanity items or various pieces of gear that won't actively help them to level or be more efficient. On the other hand, DO buy leveling gear with good stats for your class/spec. I encourage this especially before you hit Outland, as the quest rewards up to that point (with few small exceptions) are notoriously crappy (plate with spirit anyone?). So, while I'm leveling, I'm always on the lookout for cheaply priced green gear on the AH. For example if I find a nice AGI upgrade as an Enhancement Shaman for < gear =" faster" survivability =" more/faster" loot =" bigger" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?item=2592">Wool Cloth, Mageweave Cloth and Felcloth.
6. While leveling, don't spend money on food buffs, scrolls, elixirs, etc. You won't need them typically, as most leveling content is designed to be soloed without buffs. Occasionally a few buffs might help you solo a group quest but during your adventures you will accumulate a plethora of food, scrolls and potions anyway.
7. Related to above, don't bother with enchants while leveling. They're simply not worth it (remember, leveling quests are not raid material) and most are expensive. Of course, if your leveling character is an enchanter, do make liberal use of enchants. That's valid for every profession. Another exception would be if you can procure a nice blue or epic weapon which will last you for 10 levels or more; by all means, enchant that weapon but be reasonable with how much you spend. Just use your judgment.
8. When selling ore/bars, try to figure out which one gets you the best returns. Sometimes, ore sells a lot better than smelted bars. Just be aware of your server's economy.
9. Also when selling stacks of something, try to determine whether it's more profitable to sell whole stacks or to split them into singles. For example I've noticed on my server that while Saronite Bars sell for, say 1.5 gold apiece when stacked to 20, they often sell for 3-4 gold apiece individually.
These are just a few of the strategies I use to make gold while leveling. Your mileage may vary and you may discover new ways in which to bring in the cash. These methods work well for me and I hope at least some of them will work for you. As a final remark, I will offer this: if you expect others to "bail you out", give you cash or if you can get the gold from your guild, then these tips are probably not for you. However, if you don't learn how to make gold on your own, you will probably never have enough to buy everything you need and you will always be dependent on others. This works in real life too!
Patch 1.0.5 commentary
12 years ago
29 comments:
Great post , it is a shame they didnt knock down the price of Epic Flying , but i only need it on 2 characters anyway
My Main and a Farm alt , are the only ones
Massive thankyou!!! I shall be testing out your tips asap! Currently im now sitting on 2k gold. I'm hoping with these tips, i can make double asap! Cant thank you enough!
These are great tips. I wish I would have had this list when I was leveling! I'd venture to guess that if you followed the instructions here and in the other post, you would EASILY be sitting on 10K by the time you need epic flying.
I only run Auctioneer on my bank alt since it uses a lot of memory, so on my main I use the addon SellFish to determine which quest rewards will net me the most gold. The general rule to decide which quest reward to choose from (assuming there is no gear upgrade) is Plate > Mail > Leather > Cloth. It's not always 100% true but if you don't run Auctioneer or some other addon to tell you exactly how much something will vendor for, this rule of thumb usually works.
one comment: You get a discount in the auctiontion house based on your honor with that faction. If you really want to maximize your gold, don't have the bank toon actually post items in the AH, but return them to a toon with some rep in that home city.
Oooh! Nice tip Eric!
@Zalenna Feathermoon Thanks! I happen to think that the 5000 (6000-7000) gold, although pretty steep, is necessary to keep the circulating gold in check. Basically the game needs some sort of gold sink or else prices on the AH would be astronomical. New players without high-level "sugar daddies" wouldn't be able to afford anything. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard dropped the cost of the epic flying skill to 2000 gold or so, in the next expansion maybe.
@Joe I hope it works out for you man! I'm telling you, once you gain a bit of experience, making gold in WoW becomes trivial. In fact right now I'm back at around 20G and I'm having a hard time deciding how to spend it!
@TB try using an addon which shows the vendor price for items. Instead of Auctioneer I'm using Auctionator which is an awesome alternative to the former. It also shows vendor prices when you hover over items so it's a no-brainer to choose between quest rewards. I really, really need to do a review of Auctionator.
@Eric I truly had no idea about this. So you're saying that AH deposits and cuts are lower for players that have higher reputations with the city where the AH is located? Intriguing. However, unless you're willing to use a high level character as a bank alt, I'm not sure how practical this is.
Don't forget fishing! That's one gathering skill that everyone has, and food buffs are always in high demand. On my server, Dragonfin Angelfish usually sell for a cool 30g/stack, sometimes spiking up to 60g/stack. And fishing up Elemental Water from Azshara was how I financed both my epic and normal flying mounts. I got between 75-120g/stack for it back when everybody was switching over to Jewelcrafting - one of the recipes used most often for skilling up uses Elemental Water by the truckload.
Cooking can sometimes be profitable as well - just ask those people who sold Delicious Chocolate Cakes on the AH for 30g each during Childrens' Week. And you'd be surprised how few people bother to level up those secondary skills.
Also, Enchanting and Jewelcrafting can function as pseudo-gathering skills - Enchanters can DE gear they don't need to get shards and crystals, while Jewelcrafters can prospect ore to get gems. For a while on my server, prospecting Thorium Ore was a good deal - each of the old-world high-end gems sold for 10-30g apiece, and the ore was 40g/stack.
Then there are dailies. Fishing dailies always reward gold, regardless of level (so go back to Old Man Barlow in Shattrath for an extra 6-7g/day while leveling up). At 80, it's easy to make 100g+ a day doing dailies. Plus, at 80, you can go back through Northrend or Outland and do quests you missed while leveling up - you'll get money instead of XP.
You are right, of course. However, your tips are mostly applicable at level 80, while I was mostly discussing a leveling character. However, they are very good tips. Especially the part about doing dailies and the quests that you missed. You will get a lot of gold from those.
Regarding professions... it depends how much time you want to invest in market research, crafting, buying of mats etc. If that's what you like, go for it, but some people don't sit well with that.
Fishing and cooking are something that I missed. On the other hand, I was thinking about my shaman who's on another server and who will never have fishing and cooking. That's because I decided to level those 2 professions solely on my main. It's simply too stressful for me to level them for my army of alts.
Really fantastic advice in both parts one and two of your article. You've done the community a service by posting this stuff. Keep up the good work!
Aw shucks! Thanks but there are other blogs out there which are a lot better than this one. What you see here is from the solo-player perspective so if you are one of us, I hope my advice will be useful to you.
There is a problem with the post. It skips from step 5 to step 8
Darth -> it's a very useful post, I enjoyed reading it, and I've decided to switch my uselss lvl61 DK to two gathering professions instead of one gathering and one crafting profession.
And, whilst it's a great human trait to be humble, when someone tells you it's a useful post, accept the praise :)
Thanks once again!
@ Eric
Please post the source for your information. I have found the auction fees to be a flat 5% cut no matter the level or reputation of the character. Your information is plain wrong and misleading.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Auction_House#Fees
OK it looks like there's a major screw-up here. I added the part about enchanting a day ago and I must have somehow deleted the other parts :( I don't know of any way in which to recuperate the missing text. I'll try to fix it later after I get back to work - if I can remember what were those other points. This article was written like almost 2 weeks ago.
@Anonymous, after Paralysedbeaver: which professions did you get?
Besides two gathering professions, another thing to consider is Enchanting + gathering profession. Enchanting is notoriously expensive to level, however at skill cap, when you can simply sell all your dusts and shard and essences with no need to keep them any longer, Enchanting is a huge money-maker. Plus while leveling, you can disenchant your own Soulbound items as well as all that stupid Plate with Spirit gear.
I think Enchanting + Mining is a great combo. Mining can give you the cash to level Enchanting when you reach a skill-up plateau and need the infusion, and then at 450 Enchanting and Mining, you can really rake in the dough when you can sell everything you disenchant and mine
It's not always so simple when AH'ing greens. The market value, deposit, and AH cut can make vendoring more profitable. Deposits can eat up profit if the item requires multiple postings to sell.
@liquid
I find this very true. someone was kind enough to suggest that I get two gathering professions: skin/mine and I have close to 4k banked at 68. I do have a rule to post something on the AH no more than twice. I will try it over a weekend and then drop the price slightly and try it during the week. If the item does not sell then I bank it, give to a friend to DE if I have one or just vend it.
One thing to keep in mind is that, in addition to your bank alt, it can be really helpful to level 2 characters at once. In terms of just leveling, you'll have one getting rested xp while the other levels. And in terms of money, you can get all gathering professions, plus enchanting.
I do find enchanting is an excellent source of money as well once it's leveled. And having 2 characters leveling with one of them enchanting ensures no BOE greens go to waste and, thanks to vellums, you'll have free enchants on your characters to make leveling easier. Enchanting can be a pain to level since BOE greens may not come by frequently enough. But if you run out of mats, simply switch to the other character for a while and send all the BOE greens to your enchanter. Just try to make sure your characters level at the same pace so your enchanter can DE all of the stuff you get.
And don't overlook skinning. While it may not be as profitable per stack as mining or herbalism, it is easiest to level and easiest to obtain items to sell on the AH, plus you don't have to switch between Find Minerals and Find Herbs on your mini map.
My recommendation is to have one character with either mining or herbalism as one profession and enchanting as the other and the other character with mining or herbalism as one profession (whichever you didn't choose on the other character) and skinning as the other.
OK, off the soapbox now!
Darth, you should definately take what Jederus said as a compliment. Follow his link and you'll see he is a pro. Just signed up for both his and your RSS feeds in fact.
Guys, some really good, constructive stuff in these comments. I appreciate all of them and I'm sure they'll be very useful to all who are interested in the subject.
@liquideggproduct you are right, of course. Selling greens is indeed tricky but with a bit of knowledge and the right AH mod you can make an informed decision on which items to sell, which to vendor and which to disenchant. For example, plate with SPI is pretty much useless -> vendor or DE, while leather/mail with AGI or cloth with INT/SPI/STA are good candidates for selling.
Depending on the deposit, I will post and item 2-3 times, not more, and if it doesn't sell, I will vendor it. I will also wait for the right moment to sell on the AH i.e. when there aren't any similar items listed.
@jederus thanks again for the kind words. I didn't realize who you were :) but I was well aware of WoWenomics.
Quick random comment, I buy recipes from vendors and sell them. I made a crapload of gold on the recipes found only in Stranglethorn - jungle stew and what not. Reselling faction only pets - like cockroaches - on the booty bay AH can be really good too, if you feel like making the trip.
Yes indeed Kimberly. There are so many ways of making gold in WoW that almost every player their own method. Selling recipes (especially limited quantity ones) is one method. It is based on the fact that people are inherently lazy and can't be bothered to 1) research where the recipe can be purchased and 2) actually go there and buy it.
Vanity pets are very profitable and I have an article concerning a particular pet, coming up soon.
Personally I only sell 1 pet consistently because I don't have time for running around and picking all pet types. As for recipes, I don't find it worth my time.
Over a month late on this, but I wanted to add/clarify something. Don't necessarily put ALL greens on the AH. A lot of greens (especially weapons, and especially Outland + Northrend weapons) vendor for a great deal of money. This also means that the AH deposit fee on them will be a bit steep. If you put up something on the AH and can't sell it, then you were better off just vendoring it to begin with. And high level greens frequently do no sell well on AH because the quest rewards at that level are themselves pretty decent.
There is a whole class of greens that I consider vendor trash to begin with. Got a nice level 80 green axe that says "of the whale"? Yeah..
Anyway, nice blog. I quit wow myself from commitment phobia and general social burnout. Considering some light rehab by rerolling and going solo. My whole life I've been called a lone wolf anyway. Can't figure out why I felt so compelled to be a good guildie all that time. Should have just gone solo to begin with.
@Altaholic you are right, of course. People should learn to make their own judgments regarding which items are good for the AH, vendoring or DE-ing.
I won't advise you to return to WoW if you are afraid of becoming addicted. If you have other hobbies IRL, maybe you should enjoy those. However, you can definitely enjoy WoW by playing it on your own, without making any commitments to a potential guild. I mean, look at me and others like me. I am still fairly addicted though, even playing on my own.
Thoroughly enjoy your blog and tips - thank you!
Definitely agree on the gathering to start. But I do have enchanting on alts that have one one gathering profession. Nice to d/e drops/loot or even green items the other alts make.
I have a bank alt in Booty Bay (lvl 1) that I send Horde/Alliance only recipes and pets for the neutral AH. I've found this works best on a PvP server.
I have an enchanter too and I find the profession very useful. Read more in this post:
http://wowalone.blogspot.com/2009/06/lf-crafter.html
Hey, I've never been good with gold, if i have it, i spend it, i try painlessly to save up for epic flying, but i either get bored of quests or just spend spend spend! i have 2 80 toons one ally one horde, ally is sitting on 2.5 k gold and hordey on 1.5 k, i still have another 240 quests between SP and Icecrown for the horde charachter, how much do u think i stand to make from them if i do dailies in and around them? also any tips on how to make another 2.5 k quickly for my ally main, ive done all quests a nd have the breadwinner acheievement, i just dont know where the gold has gone but now i only have dailies available, i dont do professions as i find them mundane!! any advice would be welcome
Well, at level 80, 240 quests * 13 gold (if I'm not mistaken) should give you around 3000 gold, give or take. Plus drops from mobs and quest rewards that you can sell, for a total of around 5000 I would guess.
If you don't have any professions, I would suggest you grab a couple of gathering skills. Those can make you a lot of gold. I know gathering may be boring but you need to think about the end result which is a nice new flying mount.
For more gold making tips try reading the articles under my "gold making" tag or at this address:
http://wowalone.blogspot.com/search/label/gold%20making
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