How To Make Gold in WoW

Author: Jason Batchelor GM: Ravenholdt Nightingales Server: Trollbane

Today I am going to discuss one of the most debated and celebrated parts of World of Warcaft… How to make some extra GOLD!!! These tips are great for anyone; from the level 10 leveling character, to the level 85 hardcore raider. I will provide you with some common and easy ways to make gold, as well as some names of useful addons, that can assist you with your gold making adventures. So grab a pen and paper, or add this to your favorites so you can keep track of everything we have to offer you in the article today! Here we go….

TIP 1 – Questing/Dailies

The fastest and most efficient way to gather gold is to complete quests. It is a guarantee that the gold will be in your pocket. Playing the auction house doesn’t have that type of fallback. Generally a quest takes a short amount of time to complete, and depending upon your level, gives you a cash reward, xp, reputation and in some cases an item.  When it comes to dailies, you can complete 25 each day. If you are a level 85 player, then you will want to focus on Tol Borad and Tol Borad Peninsula. Each quest there provides 24g. All the other Cataclysm Dailies provide the player with an average of 16g. Dailies are not reserved for just the high level players. Cooking and Fishing, Northrend and Outlands all have their own respective dailies, you can find them by looking for a Blue ! (exclamation point) or just ask around.   Remember while questing, if you are presented with items that you can’t use, select the item that has the highest vendor resale value!

Here is a list of addons to assit you with Leveling/Quests:

Zygor's Daily Quest Guide

Dugi's Daily Quest Guide

QuestHelper (curse.com) Carbonite (carboniteaddon.com)

TIP 2 – Gathering

With the launch of Cataclysm, gathering skills became one of the top ways to gather gold, as well as some much needed xp! Try to focus on Herbalism and Mining regardless of what you WANT to end with at level 85. The reason for this is two-fold; you can sell all of the materials you get on the auction house and you gain xp per node. Herbalism and Mining is used in multiple professions each, thus the DEMAND is typically high. As a general rule of thumb for every 5 nodes you gather at the yellow/green level (basically gathering nodes of your current level and zone), you get as much xp as turning in a quest. Do the math, a node takes about 4 seconds to gather, so you complete a quest once every 20 seconds, as well as gain materials to sell. Not too shabby.

Here is a list of addons to assist you with Gathering:

Gatherer, Gathermate (curse.com) and Carbonite (carboniteaddon.com)

TIP 3 – Dungeons

Blizzard has tried to make it as easy as possible to get into dungeons. Not like the days of vanilla and burning crusades when you had to spam chat or your guild to get a group to run with.  The looking for group (LFG) function makes life a million times easier. Get yourself in a random dungeon and you will be rewarded with gold, xp, reputation, items (bind on pickup and bind on equip) as well as a bonus (Satchel of Goods) upon completion of the dungeon.  The bonus bag depends upon your current level. However, it is a nice little perk to complete a dungeon.  While questing, if you get yourself into a LFG que, quest and gather while waiting, you can really get some decent gold, as well as level about as quickly as you possibly can. Take a look at what dungeon quests you have to complete in your log, and make sure to find as many dungeon quests for your level that you can! Also, do some homework about what items may help you best from each dungeon, and que specifically for those dungeons as needed. Remember though, you won’t get the bonus bag for completion if you que specific!

Here is a list of addons to assit you with Dungeons:

Atlas Suite, Deadly Boss Mods or BigWigs (curse.com)

Tip 4 – General

First and foremost, join a guild. With many guilds now at the 20+ range, the amount of XP, Reputation, and Profession Perks makes it next to impossible to not consider one. You will find that a guild provides people to run dungeons/quests with, ask questions, as well as provide your professions with some pretty cool perks for making bonus items or gather more materials per node. 

Secondly, get your mount/flying mount and speeds up as quick as possible. I know, 5000g is a lot for the best flying, but in the long run, the faster you quest, the faster you gather nodes, the faster you make money and level up! It is all about speed and using your time efficiently! Farming items that is low on supply, such as Volatiles, is a great way to make money. It all depends on your server and the going rates, so do your homework! 

Now that portals are gone from the major cities, the Mage class is charging up to 50g a port. Again, for those of us that aren’t Mages, it makes it kind of tough, but you can always level one. 

Finally, use your head! Don’t buy the best enchants or gear that you will be replacing in a few levels. Watch the window/impulsive shopping and make the best use of your money! This will help in keeping your gold for what is really best and needed when the time is right! Speed, having a plan, and exploiting all the tools available will lead you to riches in no time! I hope you find these tips useful! Good Luck and look forward to more tips in the future

Here is a list of addons that are great for General use as well as the Auction House:

Arkinventory or Bagnon, Auctioneer Suite, Auctionator, TradeSkillMaster  (curse.com)