Low levels should never expect to make gold by killing mobs. But that’s not the best way to make gold. Low level mobs drop low amounts of cash and lower value items. Why? Because of the GPH rate! High-level players could go to low-level areas and blitz. So Blizzard has to keep the high-speed drop rate down in line with the GPH rate of other high-level areas.

Also, until level 300-375 in a crafting profession, that profession will not be very profitable. The reason for this is that high-level players with lots of gold sometimes ‘power-level’ a new profession. In other words, they may drop skinning and take up alchemy. They buy all the mats needed to level the profession to 300 from the AH, make tons of potions to level it up, and dump them on the AH. They don’t care about making money on the potions…they just want to get back a little money. So they sell the potions for less than a low-level player could even make the potion in the first place. It drives me crazy that people sell crafted items for a loss, but they do. This makes it hard for lower-level players to profit with professions.

Having said all that, low-level players CAN make gold, and they can use the best method for making gold. They can still play the auction house. Here’s why: Blizzard is NOT in charge of what people are willing to pay. Someone will always be in a hurry to make a little money and sell an item cheap, but fast. Someone else might be willing to pay above the normal price because they want the item RIGHT NOW!

I recently talked to a player who was a very low level. They had only been playing WoW for a couple of weeks. After reading the guide, they sold the herbs that were sitting in their bank, and made 2g over night. Even a level 5 with 2g can start turning that into more, without killing mobs or traveling around. Recently I bought an enchanting recipe (Frost Protection on Shield)…I paid 3g for it and sold it for 53g! Can you imagine a level 10 with 53g! It CAN happen…just not in the way that people usually think.

FACT #5 – Low levels CAN make gold by playing the AH much faster than by any other method.

I get frustrated when I read guides that push a player toward certain specific items as a means to make gold. The worth of an item isn’t set in stone…it’s based on supply and demand.

Supply — if there’s only a few of those items available, it is generally worth more. If they’re as easy to find as dirt on the ground, it will be worth less. (Think Diamonds and Dirt….Diamonds are hard to find, Dirt isn’t.)

Demand — how much do players want the item. You can have the only Slimy Ogre Loincloth on the server. If it doesn’t do anything and doesn’t help anyone, no one is going to want it, and it will be worth less. (Think Diamonds and Dirt….Diamonds are pretty, and a symbol of wealth and love, so people may want them. Dirt is…just dirt.)

OK…thus ends the quick lesson in the law of Supply and Demand. There are OTHER factors that tie into the Supply and Demand. Think about what those might be. If you’re on a young server, the first time a rare weapon drops, the supply is still low, so the value might be higher than if it dropped on an older server. So from server to server, values differ. But even within a server, because Blizzard is always changing the game, the supply and demand can change. If Blizzard increases the drop rate, the supply will go up, and prices will drop. If Blizzard adds a new quest that uses a common item, the value of that item will go up (like Jaggal Pearls).

This is why it’s important to use Auctioneer or WoWEcon to track prices. Even if you don’t use Auctioneer to scan for deals, having some tool that gives you the general ballpark feel for what an item is worth to other players is a critical weapon in the arsenal of a gold-maker.

FACT #4 – The Law of Supply and Demand directly impact your ability to make gold in WoW.

What is true is that you can make SOME gold, if you know what you’re doing, but you’re NOT going to make a lot of gold this way. I’ve seen guides dedicated almost entirely to lists of vendors, and what they sell. Depending on how developed your server realm is, most people know where to get the recipes they need. Yes, some people will rather pay 5g at the AH than take the time to travel to Tanaris to buy a recipe for 2g, so you CAN profit by doing it. But I look at selling recipes like finding a penny in a parking lot…I’ll still pick it up, but I don’t go running around in parking lots just looking for pennies. If I’m near a vendor, or buying from a vendor, that sells certain recipes or limited numbers of recipes, I might buy one to resell. I’m not going to make that my primary gold-making strategy, though.

Of course you’ll make some gold if you get a rarely dropped recipe. But the tactic, that many guides push, about going to vendors to buy recipes to resell is old and tired, and more importantly, ineffective.

FACT #3 – You can make SOME gold, but not very much. The GPH rate is too low to make it a primary strategy.

Believe me, if there was such a spot, EVERYONE would know about it, especially the professional Gold Farmers. And what would happen next? Blizzard would ‘nerf’ it (they’d make it not as valuable). Blizzard strives to keep everything in balance. For example, grinding on mobs for cash and items will generally earn about 10 gold per hour (gph) at level 60. Certain areas MIGHT be better for you, depending on your class, but in general, it will be balanced across the realm. If they detect something out of balance, they WILL change the drop rate.

Case in point: I’ve seen videos of mages soloing Dire Maul by kiting one of the bosses up and down a ramp. Do you know how fast Blizzard ‘fixed’ that as soon as word got out?

Another example is the Cemetary in Scarlet Monestary. I’ve seen gold-making guides that talk about all the silver and the blue items that the mobs there drop. “Kill them all, reset the instance, and do it again!”. The mobs drop copper now, and nothing more.

FACT #2 – Blizzard keeps the gph rate balanced across the realms. It is something they totally control and do adjust.

I have read that countless times in message forums, and even in chat from my own guild-mates (who I promptly slap and give them the following lesson). Let’s use a simple example to prove how this is false. Let’s say that Mt. Silversage (MS) and Dreamfoil (DF) each sell for 1g. Greater Arcane Elixir (GAE) uses 3xDF and 1xMS…which means that it costs 4g to make (excluding the vials, but let’s ignore that for a minute). Let’s suppose that Greater Arcane Elixirs sell for 3g a piece on the AH as an average. That means that YOU LOSE MONEY if you sell Greater Arcane Elixirs instead of selling the raw herbs.

“But…what if you’re not buying the herbs…what if you farm them yourself! Then they’re free, and it’s all profit!” If you believe that, please read the next part slowly and repeatedly until you get it: If you could farm the herbs yourself, then you could sell the HERBS for 4g! Which would you rather do…sell the potion for 3g or sell the herbs for 4g? The value of an item is the value of an item, regardless of how you acquired it. If you farm it, it’s worth 1g. If you buy it for 1g, it’s worth 1g.

FACT #1 – Mats aren’t ‘free’ just because you didn’t pay for them. You earned them by farming. If it makes sense, sell the mats over the crafted product.