What To Snatch With Cataclysm New Player Influx

Cataclysm New Players Incoming
With Cataclysm approaching we already have been seeing the increased population of lower level players.  Many of these players are experimenting with the new race and class combos now possible after The Shattering Patch 4.0.3a.  Watching the auction house may prove very profitable for older Vanilla craftables.  There are a lot of new players and new characters questing through the new content.  Not all of these players know the true value of some of the premium items required for some key vanilla crafting recipes. 

Many of these components drop in the lower level zones, which increases availabilty of these items on the auction house.  Many times these are horribly underpriced.  Example:  I just bought 2 Spider's Silk for 39 silver total.  You can snatch these premium materials up at very low prices as these are often listed incorrectly.  The end products that many of these lead to are also craftables that should be selling very well to new players and new characters alike.  The population is about to explode once Cataclysm launches.  I expect to see even greater steals to snatch off the auction house as the new players post incorrectly priced goods.

Auction House Keen Vision
These are some of the vanilla commodity items to watch for.  Cold's Gold Factory is already seeing an influx of cheaply priced goods on the auction house in World of Warcraft.  Look out for these.

1. Spider's Silk - Tailors can profit from Spider Silk Boots and Spidersilk Drape, while leatherworkers can craft Toughened Leather Gloves.
2. Arcane Crystal - The rush of miners has led to a surplus of arcane crystals.  Using the Transmute: Arcanite is very profitable selling Arcanite Bars and a Transmutation Master gets extra bars created.  These Arcanite Bars can be sold individually or turned into Arcanite Rods for all the soon to leveling enchanters. 
3. Large Fang & Small Lustrious Pearl - Barbaric Bracers are an excellent item to add to your aresenal.  I sell these for 125g each and buyout fangs and pearls under 1g.  The profit margin is excellent and these are a trusted seller.
4. Perfect Deviate Scales & Deviate Scales - Both are required for the very popular Deviate Scale Belt.

So make sure to keep an eye out for these materials.  Even if you aren't into crafting the items you can buy these out while you find them cheap and relist them for their normal market value to the crafters.
Image Credit:  http://rlv.zcache.com/

New Race & Class Combos, Shadow Hoods and The Shattering Event

The Shattering Event Coming Soon
The Shattering Event will be upon us quicker than you might think.  The elementals have already started to invade the cities of Azeroth.  The World of Warcraft, as we know it, will be changed forever.  Twinks have already begun to crop up as bored players decide to make a twink.  One of the biggest changes coming to characters is the addition of new race and class combinations.

New Race and Class Combos
These new race and class combos in WoW will be able to be created once The Shattering patch goes live.  This means as soon as The Shattering goes live, some players will be rolling up their new alt, their new main, or their new twink.  Here are the new race / class combos.

Horde

1. Orc Mage
2. Undead Hunter
3. Tauren Priest
4. Tauren Paladin
5. Troll Druid
6. Bloodelf Warrior

Alliance

1. Human Hunter
2. Dwarf Mage
3. Dwarf Shaman
4. Night Elf Mage
5. Gnome Priest

I expect to see Troll Druids and Tauren Paladins as the most popular on the horde side.  Looking at the new combos allowed the Alliance, 4 out of the 5 are caster classes.  Can you think of any great leveling and PvP head slot items that these characters may want?

Shadow Hoods

One of the hardest to get gear slots in the early levels are head pieces, hoods, helms, etc.  Some comments have people stating that these are already starting to sell well.  The demand will rise even higher come The Shattering.  The alliance side will be particularly profitable as they are getting a lot more caster race and class combos.  Shadow Hoods are also excellent choices for twinks as they currently have a boat load of stamina after the recent stat changes.  The pattern for Shadow Hood is a rare drop so keep an eye out for it on the auction house.

Profiting Off Shadow Hoods

The problem with crafting Shadow Hoods is that they take a Shadow Oil per hood.  Each shadow oil requires 4 Fadeleaf and 4 Grave Moss.  To be efficient making these requires the use of a tailor and an alchemist, so this may discourage some players who are not into multi-profession crafting.  This will be another feasible market of vanilla items much like Barbaric Bracers, Toughened Leather Gloves, Spidersilk Boots, Deviate Scale Belts, Robes of Arcana and other Vanilla craftables that continue to sell.  

So be prepared and start snatching up Fadeleaf, Grave Moss, and Shadow Oils to turn into nicely profitable Shadow Hoods for twinks and levelers.  Myabe you have been looking for a use for all the extra Grave Moss you found while farming herbs and chests in Scarlet Monastery during the Headless Horseman instant queues. Silk is usually dirt cheap on the Horde side, so importing silk from the other faction could help bring your material costs down on the Alliance side.  Let me know how it goes or if you have been selling these already on your server.