Sonya of Red
24-07-2007, 12:19 AM
A gold grinding guide for the non gold grinder (say that ten times quickly)
This is a guide to non-gold grinding. Essentially what that means is that this is a guide for the average player to accumulate in game wealth without specifically focusing on the gathering of said wealth. If you are specifically looking for a guide that discusses how to maximize you gold in take this is not it. If you follow the steps outlined here you will not be the richest player on your server but you will have plenty of gold to meet you needs including being able to obtain your various mounts when you meet their level requirements.
Why you should listen to me.
First off, I cannot emphasize enough that there are tons of people in World of Warcraft that have more gold then I and easily make more gold then I do per hour. I don’t claim to be the richest person in Azeroth or even the best gold grinder out there because I am neither of these. My only qualifications are these, I started playing Wow about a year and a half ago. During that time I have leveled 3 characters to 60+ and countless others to lower levels. Every character I have created has always been able to afford his level 40 mount by at the latest level 30 and his epic mount by 50. In all cases the gold for the mounts was acquired effortlessly – meaning no gathering profession grinded like crazy or deep analysis of the machinations or the Auction house. My current character, who is now level 55, had over four hundered gold when it came time for him to purchase his level 40 mount and currently has over 1000 gold despite the fact that he has sent lots of gold to a lower level tailor alt, grinded one of his primary professions (alchemy) to 300, respeced countless numbers of times (thank god for the 25 gold limit here), and bought 5 slots in his bank. I don’t state these facts to brag because really they are not that impressive. I state them to show that even the most casual of player can acquire gold easily.
My assumptions
If you are reading this guide, I am assuming that you are either new to World of Warcraft or have decided to roll a new character on a new server (a server where you do not have access to a nice high level character who can proffer gold to his younger siblings).
The Commandments: the Bible has ten I only have five - aren’t you lucky!
First commandment - thou shall not buy the latest and greatest. Yes nice equipment is well – nice. Having an epic sword is a great feeling but if your interest is to level at a normal rate, you will soon outgrow even the greatest of epics swords and all of a sudden that awesome Krol’s blade that you spent 400 gold on at level 51 will vendor for less than 6 gold ten levels later. This does not mean that you should never spend gold in the AH just don’t go crazy. I tend to upgrade my equipment every 10 or more levels (all told I will go through a complete wardrobe change usually within 15 levels). Personally, I almost never spend more than four gold on any one purchase. I want to reiterate, I did not say don’t spend gold. Some people will tell you to get all your gear from instances and quests; If you like that sort of thing - that’s fine. In the long run it will probably save you lots of money but there is no reason to be that parsimonious. By the way, if you really want some nice gear then take a break from the pve content and hit some Battle grounds. Easy and cheap way to get nice gear and often times can be lots of fun especially when your side wins :).
Second Commandment- thou shall get bags. As you make your way through the game, storage space is invaluable – the more the better. I usually, by level 7, take a few hours to pick up the profession of mining and grind a bunch of stacks of copper so that I can purchase a full set of bags (10 to 12 slot bags depending on cost – these will later be upgraded to 16 slot netherweave bags when I find them on sale). By the way, this will be the only time I will ever again mention specifically grinding for gold. After you get these bags you should never need to purposely gold grind again. On my server, copper goes between 1 to 3 gold a stack so in a couple hours I easily have 10 gold or more. After this if you want to ditch mining go ahead. It’s a great profession for bringing in money but in all honesty, most of the gold I make does not come from my professions.
Commandment Three - Thou shall get the addon Auctioneer. For those who don’t know, Auctioneer is an addon that scans the Auction House and keeps track of how much things sell for. A couple of things about Auctioneer. Auctioneer is a great tool but it has its weaknesses. For example, many servers have peak periods where certain items sell for more than they would at other times. For example, before a BG weekend, often times people will stock up on bandage materials or specific potions. During these peak times certain items sell for more than they usually do. If you really want to maximize your profit it is good to develop a sense for how the items that you are selling fluctuate (this obviously has more to do with consumables such as minerals, potions, herbs and cloth). For example, going back to copper again, on my server I know that the price fluctuates between 1 and 3 gold. It behooves me to sell my wares when the ah price for copper is near 3 gold and not when it is closer to 1 gold. If I relied simply on Auctioneer to set my prices I would not be able to capitalize on the market fluctuations. By the way, many people like to play the Auction House game: buying low and selling high. I don’t. Its not that you won’t make money, if done correctly you will and probably lots of it. For myself I don’t enjoy the whole Auction House thing and have a very low threshold for financial risk.
One of the best uses for Auctioneer is that often times it saves you from vendoring an item that one might assume to be useless. For example, I have made tons of gold off of clam meat. That’s right, clam meat. How many times have you found clam meat and either tossed it or sold it to the vendor? Turns out, at least on my server, people buy it up like Big Macs. Often times it goes for 2 to 3 gold a stack and I have sold it for up to 6 gold a stack. Without auctioneer giving me a median price for this delicious delicacy I would never have assumed clam meat had any worth and would never have bothered keeping it. Get in the habit of having auctioneer price the various junk you pick up, you never know - one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
Commandment Four - thou shall Clip thy coupons. Ok, there are no coupons in World of Warcraft but the meaning is the same, be a conscientious shopper. If you know that in a couple of levels you will be replacing that rusty dagger then start looking now. Place some bids on some things you would like to have, or if you see a great deal buy it. The key here is that time is on your side. Don’t feel like you have to buy the second you decide you want to upgrade. A desperate buyer is a shopper waiting to be taken advantage of.
Commandment Five - thou shall gind smart. If you are grinding to level quickly, pick mobs that have decent drops. When I say decent drops I am not talking about blue and purple gear. That stuff for the most part (instances not included) is not mob specific. And while getting the random blue or purple BOE is awesome its not the way to make money – just as playing the lottery is not the way to earn a living. Grind instead on mobs that drop cloth, or clam meat or some other thing that can stack and sells well on your server. My current character has found only two blue boe’s and both have sold for less than 30 gold. From my own experience, simply by vendoring the vendor trash and auctioning the stackable materials and all the greens I find, by level 20 I am usually making at least 20 gold per level. That's not earth shattering and you might now want write home and tell mom about it but that means by the time you hit level 40 you will have plenty of gold for you mount. By level 45 I am usually making at least 75 gold a level. Again, nothing to brag about, but still very decent and easily obtainable by even the most casual of players. Warning, about auctioning your greens. I have a rule that has served me well. If an item does not sell after the first time I put it up in the Auction House, I will usually vendor it. This may surprise some readers but, auction house fees can be expensive. I would rather cut my losses then risk taking even more gold and time losses on an item. Also, I tend to price my green items for less than the going market price. The key here is that the item sells and I make a profit. Please, don't take this as a commandment. If you think that an item will sell and that you can make gold from it, then by all means relist it. All I ask, is that in your dealings with the Auction House you remember that there is an associated cost.
Conclusion
That’s it, that’s all you need to know. As you can see there is no special trick and not much effort is required. If you take these commandments to heart you should easily have all the gold that you will need to make your trip though the lands of Azeroth comfortable while not hindering your enjoyment of the game.
~red
This is a guide to non-gold grinding. Essentially what that means is that this is a guide for the average player to accumulate in game wealth without specifically focusing on the gathering of said wealth. If you are specifically looking for a guide that discusses how to maximize you gold in take this is not it. If you follow the steps outlined here you will not be the richest player on your server but you will have plenty of gold to meet you needs including being able to obtain your various mounts when you meet their level requirements.
Why you should listen to me.
First off, I cannot emphasize enough that there are tons of people in World of Warcraft that have more gold then I and easily make more gold then I do per hour. I don’t claim to be the richest person in Azeroth or even the best gold grinder out there because I am neither of these. My only qualifications are these, I started playing Wow about a year and a half ago. During that time I have leveled 3 characters to 60+ and countless others to lower levels. Every character I have created has always been able to afford his level 40 mount by at the latest level 30 and his epic mount by 50. In all cases the gold for the mounts was acquired effortlessly – meaning no gathering profession grinded like crazy or deep analysis of the machinations or the Auction house. My current character, who is now level 55, had over four hundered gold when it came time for him to purchase his level 40 mount and currently has over 1000 gold despite the fact that he has sent lots of gold to a lower level tailor alt, grinded one of his primary professions (alchemy) to 300, respeced countless numbers of times (thank god for the 25 gold limit here), and bought 5 slots in his bank. I don’t state these facts to brag because really they are not that impressive. I state them to show that even the most casual of player can acquire gold easily.
My assumptions
If you are reading this guide, I am assuming that you are either new to World of Warcraft or have decided to roll a new character on a new server (a server where you do not have access to a nice high level character who can proffer gold to his younger siblings).
The Commandments: the Bible has ten I only have five - aren’t you lucky!
First commandment - thou shall not buy the latest and greatest. Yes nice equipment is well – nice. Having an epic sword is a great feeling but if your interest is to level at a normal rate, you will soon outgrow even the greatest of epics swords and all of a sudden that awesome Krol’s blade that you spent 400 gold on at level 51 will vendor for less than 6 gold ten levels later. This does not mean that you should never spend gold in the AH just don’t go crazy. I tend to upgrade my equipment every 10 or more levels (all told I will go through a complete wardrobe change usually within 15 levels). Personally, I almost never spend more than four gold on any one purchase. I want to reiterate, I did not say don’t spend gold. Some people will tell you to get all your gear from instances and quests; If you like that sort of thing - that’s fine. In the long run it will probably save you lots of money but there is no reason to be that parsimonious. By the way, if you really want some nice gear then take a break from the pve content and hit some Battle grounds. Easy and cheap way to get nice gear and often times can be lots of fun especially when your side wins :).
Second Commandment- thou shall get bags. As you make your way through the game, storage space is invaluable – the more the better. I usually, by level 7, take a few hours to pick up the profession of mining and grind a bunch of stacks of copper so that I can purchase a full set of bags (10 to 12 slot bags depending on cost – these will later be upgraded to 16 slot netherweave bags when I find them on sale). By the way, this will be the only time I will ever again mention specifically grinding for gold. After you get these bags you should never need to purposely gold grind again. On my server, copper goes between 1 to 3 gold a stack so in a couple hours I easily have 10 gold or more. After this if you want to ditch mining go ahead. It’s a great profession for bringing in money but in all honesty, most of the gold I make does not come from my professions.
Commandment Three - Thou shall get the addon Auctioneer. For those who don’t know, Auctioneer is an addon that scans the Auction House and keeps track of how much things sell for. A couple of things about Auctioneer. Auctioneer is a great tool but it has its weaknesses. For example, many servers have peak periods where certain items sell for more than they would at other times. For example, before a BG weekend, often times people will stock up on bandage materials or specific potions. During these peak times certain items sell for more than they usually do. If you really want to maximize your profit it is good to develop a sense for how the items that you are selling fluctuate (this obviously has more to do with consumables such as minerals, potions, herbs and cloth). For example, going back to copper again, on my server I know that the price fluctuates between 1 and 3 gold. It behooves me to sell my wares when the ah price for copper is near 3 gold and not when it is closer to 1 gold. If I relied simply on Auctioneer to set my prices I would not be able to capitalize on the market fluctuations. By the way, many people like to play the Auction House game: buying low and selling high. I don’t. Its not that you won’t make money, if done correctly you will and probably lots of it. For myself I don’t enjoy the whole Auction House thing and have a very low threshold for financial risk.
One of the best uses for Auctioneer is that often times it saves you from vendoring an item that one might assume to be useless. For example, I have made tons of gold off of clam meat. That’s right, clam meat. How many times have you found clam meat and either tossed it or sold it to the vendor? Turns out, at least on my server, people buy it up like Big Macs. Often times it goes for 2 to 3 gold a stack and I have sold it for up to 6 gold a stack. Without auctioneer giving me a median price for this delicious delicacy I would never have assumed clam meat had any worth and would never have bothered keeping it. Get in the habit of having auctioneer price the various junk you pick up, you never know - one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
Commandment Four - thou shall Clip thy coupons. Ok, there are no coupons in World of Warcraft but the meaning is the same, be a conscientious shopper. If you know that in a couple of levels you will be replacing that rusty dagger then start looking now. Place some bids on some things you would like to have, or if you see a great deal buy it. The key here is that time is on your side. Don’t feel like you have to buy the second you decide you want to upgrade. A desperate buyer is a shopper waiting to be taken advantage of.
Commandment Five - thou shall gind smart. If you are grinding to level quickly, pick mobs that have decent drops. When I say decent drops I am not talking about blue and purple gear. That stuff for the most part (instances not included) is not mob specific. And while getting the random blue or purple BOE is awesome its not the way to make money – just as playing the lottery is not the way to earn a living. Grind instead on mobs that drop cloth, or clam meat or some other thing that can stack and sells well on your server. My current character has found only two blue boe’s and both have sold for less than 30 gold. From my own experience, simply by vendoring the vendor trash and auctioning the stackable materials and all the greens I find, by level 20 I am usually making at least 20 gold per level. That's not earth shattering and you might now want write home and tell mom about it but that means by the time you hit level 40 you will have plenty of gold for you mount. By level 45 I am usually making at least 75 gold a level. Again, nothing to brag about, but still very decent and easily obtainable by even the most casual of players. Warning, about auctioning your greens. I have a rule that has served me well. If an item does not sell after the first time I put it up in the Auction House, I will usually vendor it. This may surprise some readers but, auction house fees can be expensive. I would rather cut my losses then risk taking even more gold and time losses on an item. Also, I tend to price my green items for less than the going market price. The key here is that the item sells and I make a profit. Please, don't take this as a commandment. If you think that an item will sell and that you can make gold from it, then by all means relist it. All I ask, is that in your dealings with the Auction House you remember that there is an associated cost.
Conclusion
That’s it, that’s all you need to know. As you can see there is no special trick and not much effort is required. If you take these commandments to heart you should easily have all the gold that you will need to make your trip though the lands of Azeroth comfortable while not hindering your enjoyment of the game.
~red