How To Make WoW Gold During The End Of The Expansion
Cataclysm has ran it's course. The final Cataclysm content patch has already been deployed to live servers for a while now. The servers are less busy. Competition is less fierce in many markets. End game raids are being conquered. Players are taking time off until Mists of Pandaria launches. Welcome to the lull that we see at every expansion's end. The Diablo 3 release date has been announced, so we can expect to see even more of a decline in the WoW population once Diablo 3 launches in 2 months.
With the expansion ending the players activities in game tend to change. Understanding how these changes affect the demand for items on the WoW auction house, will help you to supply items in the markets with increased demand. Staying out of or cutting back on other markets may be a wise choice this late in the expansion. Remember that every server is unique and not all server's will follow the same trends, but there are many similarities that can be generalized. Let's look deeper at how to make gold during the end of an expansion.
Increased Demand Markets
These are markets that always see an increase in demand. This increased demand can result in more sales and / or higher purchase prices.
Decreased Demand Markets
The decreased demand markets can get ugly in no time. As demand dries up, you see less sales. As less sales are made, undercutting amongst competition gets worse and drives the prices down. Those items that do sell, end up selling for less gold per sale.
There are many factors that lead to the dropping in prices of raw materials at the end of an expansion. It never fails. Remember the great market crashes prior to Cataclysm? The prices will drop as more players pick up gathering professions on alts or are out in the World of Warcraft leveling new characters or Ideal Alts. Less players will be requiring the materials as the prices of the end products are dropping with less demand. When the prices start to bottom out and reach their lowest points, it is time to build your stockpile for going into the new Mists of Pandaria expansion. Stay tuned for the next Gold Blogging Carnival here at Cold's Gold Factory, where the discussion topic is on Stockpiling and Inflation Hedging for MoP.
The discussion in the comments is getting good.
Be sure to weigh in with your own opinions or share your experiences.
Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.
Cataclysm has ran it's course. The final Cataclysm content patch has already been deployed to live servers for a while now. The servers are less busy. Competition is less fierce in many markets. End game raids are being conquered. Players are taking time off until Mists of Pandaria launches. Welcome to the lull that we see at every expansion's end. The Diablo 3 release date has been announced, so we can expect to see even more of a decline in the WoW population once Diablo 3 launches in 2 months.
With the expansion ending the players activities in game tend to change. Understanding how these changes affect the demand for items on the WoW auction house, will help you to supply items in the markets with increased demand. Staying out of or cutting back on other markets may be a wise choice this late in the expansion. Remember that every server is unique and not all server's will follow the same trends, but there are many similarities that can be generalized. Let's look deeper at how to make gold during the end of an expansion.
Increased Demand Markets
These are markets that always see an increase in demand. This increased demand can result in more sales and / or higher purchase prices.
- Netherweave, Frostweave, & Embersilk Bags - Bored players are rolling new alts. These leveling characters need bags and many can afford the more expensive bags instead of just the standard NW Bags.
- Profession Bags - New characters pick up new profesions and they need bags too.
- Profession Leveling Items / Choke Point Materials - The materials needed to level a profession are good sellers as players are leveling their alts up prior to the expansion, when it will become more expensive.
- Blacksmithing Rods For Enchanters - Enchanting Rods and their required materials are a good seller as players roll Enchanting alts and need the rods to level up.
- Vanity Items - The combination of less things to do and less items to buy, leads to larger gold reserves. Players with extra gold are more willing to spend that gold on high ticket vanity items like companion pets, mounts, and gear for transmogrification.
- Glyphs - New alts and returning Scroll of Resurrection 80's need glyphs.
- BoA / Twink Enchants - New characters with new BoA gear for leveling quickly will buy up the BiS enchants for the heirloom gear. These same enchants are good for twink characters and twinking is always more popular during expansions lulls when players are bored and trying new things.
Decreased Demand Markets
The decreased demand markets can get ugly in no time. As demand dries up, you see less sales. As less sales are made, undercutting amongst competition gets worse and drives the prices down. Those items that do sell, end up selling for less gold per sale.
- Raid Consumables - Flasks, Foods, Potions etc. as they aren't required for LFR and more players are beating the end raid content. Also summer is coming and WoW raid teams tend to fall apart during summer vacations.
- End Game Upgrades - Gems, Enchants, Belt Buckles, etc. will lose demand the closer we get to Mists of Pandaria.
- Darkmoon Faire Cards, Decks, Trinkets, & Inferno Ink - They have dropped enough already, but the value will continue to decline. Inferno Ink is already a damn near dead market and it will only get worse.
- Last Tier of Raw Materials - Cata Ores, Herbs, And Leathers will all drop in value as more players are on alts and are gathering while they level. A drop in player population also means less buyers, which contributes to auction house flooding by bots and ultimately leads to drops in prices. You may already be seeing the prices trending downwards on your server.
There are many factors that lead to the dropping in prices of raw materials at the end of an expansion. It never fails. Remember the great market crashes prior to Cataclysm? The prices will drop as more players pick up gathering professions on alts or are out in the World of Warcraft leveling new characters or Ideal Alts. Less players will be requiring the materials as the prices of the end products are dropping with less demand. When the prices start to bottom out and reach their lowest points, it is time to build your stockpile for going into the new Mists of Pandaria expansion. Stay tuned for the next Gold Blogging Carnival here at Cold's Gold Factory, where the discussion topic is on Stockpiling and Inflation Hedging for MoP.
The discussion in the comments is getting good.
Be sure to weigh in with your own opinions or share your experiences.
Enjoy The Posts Here at Cold's Gold Factory? Check Out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Gold Making Guide. Also Check Out My New Favorite All Around WoW Gold Making Guide and J!inx - Clothing For Gamers And Geeks.
I am loving your blog posts and a lot of what i know and use in making gold stems from your knowledge and research. I only have a few professions but i feel i have 3 viable professions and of course engineering is my favorite for fun. I am loving the embersilk bag market right now and i feel like they are going to be the next netherweave bag only because the size difference is huge i don't see as much profit from netherweave bags but is still a large demand so it isn't crossed off on liquidating my gold. Twinking is always fun and i think doing research on changes on how challenge modes and the new panda race and munk class will be a new and fun experience for all of us. Thanks for the post was a great read. Happy St. Patrick's Day. much <3
ReplyDeleteI disagree, I think that Raid consumables will have a HUGE peak towards the end of the expansion. As they want to get the best gear to level the fastest. As for crafting, people will want to max it out and get professions to max before the expansion, it may be viable to buy the herbs and ores now and then sell them at extremely high prices right after the expansion or a bit before.
ReplyDelete@Shannon
ReplyDeleteThanks Brother! I am enjoying your works as well. I hope to have ya back for many more gold blogging carnivals!
@Anon
I respect your opinion, but my opinion is based off of years of historical evidence. Raiding consumables will drop in demand. Raiders will go on vacations. We will lose players to Diablo 3. Materials markets will be flooded. The cost to craft will be down, which brings on more competition, which further floods the market and lowers the prices even more. It's the lull we always see.
You want to hang on to your cheap raw materials that you get to stockpile and sell further down the road when the prices inflate on everything. Like the Saronite Ore stacks I paid 12g for in Wrath that now sell for 50-60 per stack. You can't dump them right after the expansion because thats what most people try to do, which lowers the price. They are worth much more now than they were at the start of Cata when everyone still had a ton of them saved up.
Crafting skills maxed prior to expansion is a great idea. Problem is that you are just selling to profession levelers because most crafters will bail out of the markets as they get closer to becoming obsolete items. So your buyer pool gets smaller and smaller, unless the materials price drops low. Then you have more players coming in trying to make a profit crafting, but with a dead market it just leads to more flooding.
It's time to focus on stockpiling and unloading items that will lose value.
I definitely agree to the focusing your tactics on alt levellers since I moved servers and don't have much money I am going to be doing my best to level a few different alts to 85 in time for Pandaria. I have also benefited from a drop in saronite ore as I have been buying lots up to shuffle for enchant materials to level my enchanting on my priest.
ReplyDeleteThanks this was a solid post.
@Shaft
ReplyDeleteThanks Shaft! Another good plan is to closely monitor the data (Or watch gold blogs closely) that will be released regarding Mists of Pandaria. Watch for items that will be going up in value because of a change or re-vamp.
A good example that comes to mind is when I did the post on green items that would be turning blue in Cataclysm. That foresight helped not only me to make a lot of gold from flipping the new blue gear after the change, but also helped a lot of other readers cash out with easy gold as well.
Enjoyed the post and generally agree. As for gems, I think the Cata gems won't have a long lifespan because of the ilvl requirements. Wrath gems however have consistently sold me me every patch and through every lull - Why? They are the highest gems that alts can get before 85 so "lulls" that push people to alts just promote the sales. Money is so available now that people will fill gem slots while leveling, and sometimes even enchant the biggest gear (weapon mostly).
ReplyDeleteGreat post cold! Can't wait for the next one!!
ReplyDelete