Moneymaking 101 - A Newbie Guide (WoW)  

by OzoneSSX

While levelling, money is often scarce though very required. In reading other posts, gathering some info from guildies and experimenting a bit, I put together (pieced together) this guide for new, first time WoW players on how to get some dosh. I'm sure there's a lot of addendums which can be made to this, as well as a lot of advice from seasoned moneymakers, it is in no way concise and complete, but, you can make a CONSIDERABLE amount of cash this way as opposed to simply selling items to vendors, and in some form or another it is utilized by many a WoW player.

Make a stockbroker ( a secondary 'alt' character)

This guide begins with the assumption that you already have a main character running about, if you're truly new to the game, you need to make your main character first, then...

Make an secondary character (an 'alt') and immediately run the nearby quests to get to level 5. One he/she is at level 5 don't bother with any more quests. Your main objective now is to get your alt to the nearest big city with an auction house (e.g. Stormwind, Exodar, Ironforge, etc...). Auction houses are not located in all towns/cities, so if you need to, simply ask in the chat channel where the nearest location of a city with an AH is. When you find the location of the nearest city with an AH, run for it. You may die along the way, but don't worry, respawn and keep running. Don't stop to kill anything as you will no longer level with this character - he/she is going to be a go-between for you your main character and your money. Arrive at the city, have a dance if you like, then go say hi to a guard. Ask the guard where to get 'enchanting' training, then go get it (thats why you need to be level 5 - it's the the minimum level requirement to train professions). As per why you need it, you'll see later. Now, ask another friendly guard where the AH is and go find it, then go find the mailbox closest to it. Your alt will spend his existence (at least, for the time being) running between the two of them. For now, position him/her near the mailbox. Once you're set up with this, log out. All the hard work is done.

Now, set up your supplier (your 'main' character)

Go back to your main character. If you don't already have two collection skills, take two up - make sure 1 is skinning and the second either mining or herbalism. For skinning buy a 'skinning knife'. For mining buy a 'mining pick' and a 'blacksmith hammer'. Herbalism needs no special tools. The collection skills are the big moneymakers of the game at early levels, you simply skin/mine/gather, gain skill levels, and sell anything you collect for profit.

Cry havok and release the dogs of war! As your main runs about on his/her quests, skin everything and mine and/or gather everything you can. Hold onto most everything, do not sell items to any vendors (aside from the gray items, which are common and worthless - these you can sell). When you get to an area with a forge (look for the dwarves, a blower, or a fire somewhere in town (usually at a blacksmith's), use your smelting skill (comes with mining) to convert your ore into bars (if you chose mining instead of herbalism).

When your main eventually gets to a mailbox, mail all your collected items to your alt.

Now, play the market

This becomes your Donald Trump part of the game. Sign in your alt, get your mail, then run with all his/her goodies to the auction house. Browse the auction house for the goods you are about to sell and note the prices - you can do this by opening the 'browse' tab on the auction house panel and right click (or shift click on a Mac) the item in your bag, then hit the 'search' button back in the AH window. Look at the competition's prices for the item you wish to sell, then create auctions for your items undercutting the competition by 5-10%. If an item you are selling is not on the auction house (for example a certain weapon or piece of armor), search out something similar for reference and undercut that price by 5-10%. Most items like skins, leather, ore and bars you can put up for 12 hours (as they tend to sell very quickly, sometimes within seconds of the posting) and you can ptu these up any day of the week resting assured of a sale. When you put up any green items for sale put them up over the weekends. Try to put them up for sale on a Friday with a 48 hour limit on the auction. Why? Because these are, more or less, the 'I want that' type of items, and there are many more casual players online shopping the auction house on Saturdays and Sundays. When all of your auctions are created, run back to the mailbox and wait for either the money from your successful auctions or the next mail from your main.

Note: There is an add on program out there called 'auctioneer' you may eventually want to look into which helps with auction prices, but it does have a tendency once in a while to give you a price way off current market value. The best method is to scan current auctions to get a current value idea.

So, why the enchantment profession on the alt?

Every once in a while you will find you have a green item which just doesn't seem to be selling. If it doesn't sell after two postings, it probably isn't going to sell at all. As an enchanter, you also have the ability to 'disenchant' the item, which breaks the item down into its original magical components which have just about a 100% sell rate. Note that this setup will not last forever as, at some point or another, your main will be sending your alt items which are too high in level for him/her to disenchant, but, at that point, which is a ways off, you should be familiar enough with the game to compensate for it.

A couple of bits of advice if running this scheme

If your limited on bag space, you also have the bank nearby to store any green items for weekend sale.

As you start pulling in cash, consider investing in larger bags for your alt. This allows you to store more items for weekend sales and cuts back on running back and forth between the auction house, the bank and the mailbox, which can get a bit frustrating.

And, lastly, here's a couple of 'advanced tips'

for when you have your scheme going and are comfortable with it:

While scanning the auction house for item prices, keep your eyes open and buy anything which is underpriced. For example, if you are looking to sell 'item x', lets say you scan the auction house to get an idea on price and find 8 'item x's' at 50s each and 1 'item x' listed at 10s, immediately buy the one selling for 10s. Then post both of your 'item x's' at 40s each. There's some good money to be made this way. Your expenditure is 10s, you profit is 70s. I've sat once or twice and played this game for an hour or so with a considerable profit made at the end.

If you visit a vendor and he/she has an item in limited stock (shown by a number in parenthesis, e.g. 'Potion: Major Rage (1)'), BUY IT! These are the equivalent of 'rare spawns' for vendors. My auction house alt character, alone, can make quite a bit of money in just under an hour by running about town, buying every rare vendor spawn, then immediately putting them in the Auction House. For example, whenever you stop in a town, go visit the local enchanting guild and buy out enchanting mats such as 'strange dust' and 'lesser magic essence' as well as any rare recipes they may have. These periodically renew at the vendor and sell for a few silver each for the dust and essence, and a few gold each for recipes, BUT, at the AH stacks of dust/essence may sell for 1g+ and some recipes go for up to 15-20g.

If in Ashenvale area, run south to the building just north of the lake. There you can buy cooking training books for 70s each, I've been selling these with 100% buyout at 2g50s.

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