Gold Secrets

Rating:
Guide last updated: Updated for Cataclysm
Review last updated: September 17, 2011
Guide suitable for: Beginner - Advanced players

The Gold Secrets Guide -- formerly known as the Cash Creating Guide -- is the original WoW gold guide. With more than 5 years running, I'm sure it will be around a lot longer.

Completely rewritten for Cataclysm, the guide has received a major graphical facelift, as well as a massive infusion of gold tips for levels 80-85 and tons of updates (for 1-60 mostly), as a lot of things changed in 'the old world'.

The main guide is a gigantic 470 pages long PDF and full of pictures, maps and links accompanying the large variety of gold tips. There is truly something for everyone in this guide. Whether you like making gold with dailies, crafting professions, auction house trading, vanity items or other rare items, grinding spots, fishing, gathering profession routes, seasonal events etc. etc., it's all covered.

The sheer volume of tips is its downside, though. Sometimes I just wish I could get to the very best tips, instead of having to sift through so much info.

There are nevertheless good gold tips here for every level. Luke, the author, thoroughly covers the important gold-making avenues you can use, including:

• Gathering (using gathering professions to gather and sell mats to other players)
• Auction House trading (This can be very easy gold if you know the secrets)
• Loads of farming spots for different items and for all levels (it’s great to not be dependant on one single spot that may be nerfed / camped / competed for) (There is a special "profit chart" that shows a handful of locations to grind for every level range up to 85. Very cool.)
• Crafting 
• Instance runs
• Profiting from special events (some seasonal events can earn you piles of gold with almost no effort because the items can only be obtained once a year so they’re very rare)
• Mods/addons that can boost your earnings 
• Twink items (yes, this market still exists)
• Daily quests. Updated with all or most of the new Cata quests. Good stuff!
• Much more.

It isn’t just old, recycled advice, but some very original ideas for lucrative profits.

Out of the bonuses, my favorite is the 52 page 'Fishing Facts Guide' (updated for Cataclysm) which describes exactly how to go from 1 to 525 fishing for Horde or Alliance separately. Even if you don’t know how to cast a line yet, this guide will teach you EVERYTHING you need to know. More than a few pages are also devoted to making money with fishing. An earlier version of this very fishing guide was what once inspired me to take up fishing to begin with, and I’ve never regretted it.

If I had to complain…

The techniques could have been a bit better organized, by level or by type of strategy. A bit too much info really; there are more than 600 pages in the guide... Also, updates could be more frequent and timely.

Conclusion

What's there left to say? You will make a lot of gold with this guide, period. Oh yeah, one more thing actually. Free updates for life. I purchased this guide in 2006, and I received an absolutely free update for Cataclysm patch 4.2 in my inbox 5 years later! Awesome.

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