How To Make Gold In Cataclysm: New Characters

An Eruption of Gold

How To Make Gold In Cataclysm
Mining, Herbing, and Skinning will be big sources of gold early into the Cataclysm Expansion as people will pay primium prices.  The server first ability to craft items and gear that no one else can craft yet will be a huge advantage.  Knowing which items to mass produce to sell for quest completions will be a nice bonus.  Once the population starts acquiring epics and raid gear, the enchanters and jewelcrafters will be raking in the gold.  There are tons of ways to make gold in any new expansion, but what I will be focusing on is making gold off of new players and new characters.

New Players
New players are different from new characters.  A new player is someone who just logged in to play the game for the first time.  New characters are alternate characters of an already existing account.  New players tend to be clueless for the first few weeks of the game.  Some don't even know what the auction house is for months after they first start to level their first character.  New players tend to spend their gold foolishly because they just don't have the experience in game to know when to buy and when to wait.  Regardless there are things that even new players want to acquire quickly like bigger bags or a "cool glow" on their weapon.  New players, or Christmas Noobs as I like to call them, may have a stack of gold given to them from a real life friend who got them into the game.  So don't dismiss these new players as poor noobs with no income.  We can make gold off of these new players too.

New Characters
New characters can be created for all sorts of reasons.  There will be a ton of old players that will return to see the new content and changes from the Cataclysm expansion.  Many regular players will be rolling one of the new races, either Worgen or Goblin, or both.  Some players will be creating new race / class combos like a human hunter or a troll druid.  Some players will switch factions completely.  On my server the top Alliance raiding guild is all re-rolling as Horde come Cataclysm and forming a new Horde guild.  Some players will just decide that they are tired of their old main and will be leveling a new characters as their new main.  Some people will decide that they finally want to give in and roll a deathknight.  Twinking will return in Cataclysm, so many players will have an outlet for spending their masses of gold on a nice twink or two.  Any way you break it down, you must agree there will be a huge market for supplying new players as well as new characters.

What Do You New Players and Characters Buy
There are many items and markets that can be used to supply the soon to be exploding population of new players and new characters.  Here is a list of some of the strategies that I am going to be banking on.

1. Netherweave Bags - The standard of any new character, the surge in demand will push these to an all time high of sales and profits.
2. Profession Bags - Think of how many of these new characters will have a gathering skill.  Mining bags should sell very well, even to old characters that are gathering for the first weeks.  Goblin and Worgen racial bonuses will steer those races towards herbalism/alchemy and skinning respectively.
3. Twinks - Twinks are a whole market of their own.  This market will pick up later in the expansion, but for starters check out green gear that turns blue in Patch 4.03.  Stock up now buying the greens, to sell as blues in Cataclysm.
4. BoA Gear Enchants - BoA gear gets enchanted by the same enchants that 10-19 bracket twinks use.  New BoA gear is being added as old BoA gear won't work past level 81.  New BoA gear is being added through the guild vendor system to slots without current BoA gear (helm and cape).  Are you prepared with all the common Twink and BoA gear enchants on your enchanter?
5. Vanity Pets - When the population surges, the sale of vanity pets explodes as well, especially after any holiday events which reward a vanity pet, and we will be fresh into vanity pet season with all the forthcoming holidays, not to mention the gifts from Great Father Winter.
6. Quest Items - Quest items always sell well to new players questing.  I plan to keep a list once the data starts rolling in on what items are needed for quest completions.  This has always been an easy money maker for me and many times you don't need to be a high level crafter to profit in this market.
7. Glyphs - With the changes to the glyph system, all new players will be buying glyphs, as will any new characters that are created.  Old players returning to the game will log in to find out that they now need to go buy a ton of glyphs as well.  Glyphs sales should be even bigger that with patch 4.0.1, since many more people will be back playing the game and sheer numbers will raise the demand to highly profitable levels again.

Be Prepared

Hopefully, you are thinking about the new player / new character markets that you may have overlooked.  Best advice is always to be prepared!  Get you netherweave stockpile build and bolted.  Snatch those cheap greens that are turning to blues soon.  Get those glyphs crafted and ready to go.  Finish collecting those rare twink enchanting recipes you are missing.  Get you game plan together by planning ahead and then you can relax while the gold just keeps rolling in.  Maybe you too can catch some of the golden nuggets spewing forth from the Cataclysm volcanoes.  

What are you banking on for making gold in Cataclysm?

Setting Early Goals

Zuggy over at ZugGaming has invited myself and other bloggers to participate in a blogging carnival.  This carnival will be on October 2nd, the same day as the blogging carnival at JMTC.  We should all break some traffic records on that day.  Zuggy is also author of the popular Dominate WoW Gold Guide, which is well worth a read.

Setting Goals
Every player, whether old or new, should always be setting goals.  Setting goals will help to keep you focused and on track.  There is also a feeling of accomplishment once you reach one of these goals.  As one goal is reached, another goal should be set for a new objective.  Here is my take on what a brand new player should do to set and reach those goals.

Early Goals
From very early on you are exploring and learning, unaware of the world you have entered.  This is very similar to our first stages of infancy in real life, but unlike real life, no one is assigned to help us, care for us, or  watch out for us.  As you begin to explore, you begin to learn.  You get the feel of game mechanics, you learn where your trainers are, you learn what major city is near you, you learn where the flight paths are and where they connect.  Early on  you goals are just to level, learn your abilities, learn to battle, and learn where the inn is to log out.

Next Goals
Now you shift your focus to leveling, and gathering copper, silver, and gold.  Everything costs money, but your main expense should just be on training your skills as you level.  Never buy gear at low levels, you can quest just fine with what you find by looting monsters and completing quests.  You should be setting a new set of goals now.  The first goals you should set are for saving enough money to buy 4 larger bags, preferably netherweave bags from a tailor or the auction house in a major city.  How will you afford these bags which go for anywhere from 8-12g each?

Gathering
As a new character you have a wide variety of options when it comes to training professions.  You can only have 2 major professions.  At low levels you should ignore the crafting professions as these cost money.  You want professions that will make you money.  I recommend picking up Mining and Skinning as your first two professions.  Herbalism is another option, but the ores you mine and bars you smelt are used by the most other professions.  The hides and skins from skinning are also used by multiple professions.  Mining Nodes and Herbalism plants and herbs both show up on your mini-map, but you can only see one kind at a time.  Thats why I recommend Skinning as your second option.  You will be able to post every item you mine or skin onto the auction house to make good amounts of cash as you are leveling up.  You can worry about other professions once you understand the game more and are much higher level.  You can always switch professions later, so you are not stuck with what you originally chose.  So choose the money making gathering professions as gold will be needed to meet your next set of goals.

Mounts
Your next set of goals is to reach level 20 and be able to purchase riding skill and a mount so that everything becomes much easier.  All the skins, ores, and bars that you collect and sell, while only spending gold on training your skills up, will earn you the gold you need to get your very first mount and riding skill.  Once you obtain a mount your new goal should mainly be to level up and continue to learn your character.  Then once you are higher level and have plenty of funds, you can think about change professions.  I highly recommend keeping both of your gathering skills until you hit the level cap, and then switch them out one at a time for a crafting profession that suits your liking.

Summary
So remember to set a goal to lead you into the right direction.  A brief summary of your early set of goals would be:

1. Gain levels, experience, and new skills.
2. Find the closest major city.
3. Choose 2 gathering professions.
4. Gather, level, and sell materials on the auction house.
5. Buy 4 netherweave bags.
6. Get to level 20 and purchase a mount and riding skill.

Image borrowed from jeremythiessen.typepad.com