How do you make money in WoW?

[Merusk]

On my server, potion prices are lowest on Friday night and Saturday night.  The weekend WoWers are playing more, but the elite raiders get their stuff done Wednesday-Thursday for some reason (maybe they have social lives or something).

Same for the elites on my server.  Well, they raid every night except Tues and Sat, actually.  However, we have a much, much larger pool of 'casual' raiding guilds & alliances who only go on Sat & Sundays.  Last I heard there's about 40 guilds in various stages of Molten Core, and 26 Chromagus+ BWL Guilds.  Alleria Progression Linkage My own guild doesn't even rate mention on the list because we're only up to learning Chromag.  (5% and a server lag spike, whee! Hooray for the "Hourglass Sand" cockblock.)

[Xanthippe]

I've been selling Thorium ammo lately, when I can buy a stack of thorium bars for 2g and a stack of dense stone for 1g.  I can make 10 stacks, sell them at 60 silver per stack (a reasonable price), which comes out to 6g total, or a 3g profit, which is certainly a decent profit.

Considering that I go through 5-6 stacks per play session, if not more, it's a high-use consumable.

Other people sell stacks for 1gold each.  I can't afford that on something that I use a bunch of every day - who can?  So I dropped herbing and picked up engineering.  When I can find the mats on the AH to make cheap ammo, I do, and make and sell some.  (Again, if other people want to buy my stuff for resale, I don't care).

This is the whacked part.  I put up a stack of Thorium Bullets on the auction house.  There's a 12 silver deposit for the 24 hr option on an item I'm selling for 60silver - which I have to eat if it doesn't sell.

Now, I can put up a stack of Greater Fire Protection potions for 10gold buyout and the deposit is only 22 silver.

I really hope Blizzard is changing ammo sales for BC, because this is just screwy.

Oh, a popular scam seems to be that some asshole will put up 1 bullet or 1 arrow for the price of a stack.  Wish Blizzard would disallow fewer than a full stack on ammo sales.  It's bad for business when people get scammed like that.

[Jayce]

This is the whacked part.  I put up a stack of Thorium Bullets on the auction house.  There's a 12 silver deposit for the 24 hr option on an item I'm selling for 60silver - which I have to eat if it doesn't sell.

Are you sure about that?  I don't watch it closely, but I used to think you had to eat the deposit if it didn't sell, then someone convinced me that wasn't the case.  I have been laboring under the impression that you get that money back if it doesn't sell.

[Fordel]

You get the deposit back if the item sells, you lose it if it doesn't and is shipped back to you.

[caladein]

This is the whacked part.  I put up a stack of Thorium Bullets on the auction house.  There's a 12 silver deposit for the 24 hr option on an item I'm selling for 60silver - which I have to eat if it doesn't sell.

Are you sure about that?  I don't watch it closely, but I used to think you had to eat the deposit if it didn't sell, then someone convinced me that wasn't the case.  I have been laboring under the impression that you get that money back if it doesn't sell.

I'm all but certain you don't get the money back. It tells you when you cancel an auction that you'll eat the deposit, and you just get the item back. In the same way, when an auction expires, you just get the item back.

So at no point are you getting the deposit money out of the mailbox, and it's not magically reappearing on my character either :P.

[Reg]

Check the email that you get when something sells in an auction. The deposit money is added back in to the total that you get. You only lose your deposit if the auction expires or is cancelled.

[Scadente]

The AH still takes a 10% cut or so, and the Neutral AH's take a 25% cut.

[Xanthippe]

The regular auction house cut is 5% and the neutral AH cut is 15%.

The deposits are hugely different also, between the regular AH and neutral AH. 

This is a good reference page for the formulas:

http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Auction_House

[SurfD]

The answer to our Disenchanting questions on Page 1, From the lastest test client patch notes:

Skill level now determines what items you can disenchant.
Skill 1= Level 1-20
Skill 25= Level 20-25
Skill 50= Level 25-30
Skill 75= Level 30-35
Skill 100= Level 35-40
Skill 125= Level 40-45
Skill 150= Level 45-50
Skill 175= Level 50-55
Skill 200= Level 55-60
Skill 225= Level 60-65

No word on special restrictions regarding epics or whatnot.  So people with level 1 enchanting alts, are out of luck disenthanting anything level 26 or higher.  But your level 35 skill 300 enchanter should still be viable to de anything that drops in Burning Crusade (time to change one of my lvl 35 alts professions)

[Ironwood]

Good.  That was always a fuckstick way to do things.

[Slayerik]

I always ran a casino within the guild... Random 100 - 1-59 I win, 60-99 they win, 100 they win double. Was very lucrative during the wait between Nef attempts! :)

[Trippy]

I always ran a casino within the guild... Random 100 - 1-59 I win, 60-99 they win, 100 they win double. Was very lucrative during the wait between Nef attempts! :)

Umm...yeah with those odds it would be.

[lamaros]

I always ran a casino within the guild... Random 100 - 1-59 I win, 60-99 they win, 100 they win double. Was very lucrative during the wait between Nef attempts! :)

People played?

People beggar belief.

[Ironwood]

I say the same thing about the National Lottery and Vegas....

[Xanthippe]

That poker mod still available?  It was pretty popular for a while.  I imagine that's a good way to make cash.

One of my guildies is constantly making bets.  Pretty sure that's his main source of income in game.

[Trouble]

Last I heard there's about 40 guilds in various stages of Molten Core, and 26 Chromagus+ BWL Guilds.  Alleria Progression Linkage My own guild doesn't even rate mention on the list because we're only up to learning Chromag.  (5% and a server lag spike, whee! Hooray for the "Hourglass Sand" cockblock.)

Holy crap that's a lot of guilds. There's a total of 19 guilds that have killed anything on my server, 14 have killed Ragnaros, 7 have killled Nefarian, 3 have killed C'Thun (two are transfer guilds).

[bhodi]

Well, we've got more than that. We have killed:

Kel'Thuzad: 1 (1 Alliance : 0 Horde)
C'Thun: 4 (3 Alliance : 1 Horde)
Nefarian: 28 (19 Alliance : 9 Horde)
Ragnaros: 46 (34 Alliance : 12 Horde)
TOTAL: 52 (38 Alliance : 14 Horde)

Oh, top guild on our server killed kel last night. Nice. My guild's one of the c'thun ones, but I haven't logged on in 2-3 weeks -- I'm waiting for expansion.

[Righ]

That site wasn't close to representative of ER server progression. I guess it takes the guilds actively updating things. There's a post in the forums that is better for ER:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=32104561&sid=1

[SurfD]

Well, we've got more than that. We have killed:

Kel'Thuzad: 1 (1 Alliance : 0 Horde)
C'Thun: 4 (3 Alliance : 1 Horde)
Nefarian: 28 (19 Alliance : 9 Horde)
Ragnaros: 46 (34 Alliance : 12 Horde)
TOTAL: 52 (38 Alliance : 14 Horde)

Oh, top guild on our server killed kel last night. Nice. My guild's one of the c'thun ones, but I haven't logged on in 2-3 weeks -- I'm waiting for expansion.

The sad part is, when you actually look at those numbers, It is a very accurate indication of exactly how much more effective alliance is at PvE encounters simply by dint of being alliance.

[Merusk]

It's not going to get fixed in the X-pac either, unfortunatly.  Paladins are one part of it, but Fear Ward really DOES make some encounters trivial.  It's ridiculous the ease with which you can take down fearing bosses using it and just one priest who can cast it.  So of course, they gave it to Draeni as well becuase having more than one makes things harder. 

[Trippy]

Well, we've got more than that. We have killed:

Kel'Thuzad: 1 (1 Alliance : 0 Horde)
C'Thun: 4 (3 Alliance : 1 Horde)
Nefarian: 28 (19 Alliance : 9 Horde)
Ragnaros: 46 (34 Alliance : 12 Horde)
TOTAL: 52 (38 Alliance : 14 Horde)

The sad part is, when you actually look at those numbers, It is a very accurate indication of exactly how much more effective alliance is at PvE encounters simply by dint of being alliance.

Or maybe it's just a reflection of the population imbalance on that server.

[caladein]

Well, we've got more than that. We have killed:

Kel'Thuzad: 1 (1 Alliance : 0 Horde)
C'Thun: 4 (3 Alliance : 1 Horde)
Nefarian: 28 (19 Alliance : 9 Horde)
Ragnaros: 46 (34 Alliance : 12 Horde)
TOTAL: 52 (38 Alliance : 14 Horde)

The sad part is, when you actually look at those numbers, It is a very accurate indication of exactly how much more effective alliance is at PvE encounters simply by dint of being alliance.

Or maybe it's just a reflection of the population imbalance on that server.

A 2.7:1 Alliance to Horde Guild Instance Clears Ratio isn't too bad when you're looking at a 2.4:1 Alliance to Horde 60s Ratio.

I'd compare it to my current server, but the Alliance won't use Census+ :P.

[Righ]

The sad part is, when you actually look at those numbers, It is a very accurate indication of exactly how much more effective alliance is at PvE encounters simply by dint of being alliance.

Or maybe it's just a reflection of the population imbalance on that server.

Or perhaps they go hand in hand. Perhaps there's a significant number of people who choose Alliance because it is easier. You're not denying that 'Alliance is easy mode' are you?

[Valmorian]

Or perhaps they go hand in hand. Perhaps there's a significant number of people who choose Alliance because it is easier. You're not denying that 'Alliance is easy mode' are you?

I love hearing these sorts of things.  Actually, my favourite is when people say things like "The Horde just attracts people who are more skilled at PvP", but then turn around and say "The Alliance is just overpowered when it comes to PvE".  That same amusing line of thinking happens in reverse: "Horde are overpowered and have better abilities in PvP" as opposed to "The Horde side just attracts people who are bad at doing Raids."

Everyone wants to take credit for that which their side is "good" at because of personal skill, but if they're "bad" at it, it's just because the other side has "easy mode".

[Trippy]

The sad part is, when you actually look at those numbers, It is a very accurate indication of exactly how much more effective alliance is at PvE encounters simply by dint of being alliance.

Or maybe it's just a reflection of the population imbalance on that server.

Or perhaps they go hand in hand. Perhaps there's a significant number of people who choose Alliance because it is easier. You're not denying that 'Alliance is easy mode' are you?

If that was the case you would expect an even greater disparity between Alliance and Horde in terms of raid accomplishments and I don't see that on bhodi's server. In other words the ratio of Alliance vs Horde raid accomplishments on his server is the same as the population ratio: roughly 2.5:1 to 3:1.

I only dabbled with Horde during Open Beta -- all my characters upon release were Alliance -- and I never raided so I couldn't say personally which side should be better for raid encounters though I do hear people say that Pallys >> Shamans in raids so there's presumably that advantage but apparently that advantage is not so great that the Horde is unable to complete the same raids.

[Slayerik]

Its basically a numbers game. If your side has 2-3 times the other side, your pool of players will have more skilled raiders. Maybe by only 1.5 to 1 but thats a different argument.

Alliance PvE is easier than Horde, there is no doubt about it. Eventually, once the BE Pallys catch up gearwise to some of the current alliance ones, things will change slightly. But for now there is no denying that:

Blessings > Totems
Lay on Hands is better than having an Ankh.
Paladins can Spec
Fear Ward beats WotF by a mile.

In general, I find the race specific abilities to be fairly even in PVP, with a slight horde advantage with Will and Tauren warstomp.

[Zetor]

Horde has it easier in pvp. (wotf >>> fear ward in pvp, etc)
Alliance has it easier in pve. (fear ward >>> wotf in pve, paladins, etc)

This isn't really a new revelation, and the new racials seem to reaffirm this. (alliance get a free scaling slow-cast dispellable HOT, horde get an aoe silence that can give rogues burst energy, it's half a renataki's basically)


-- Z.

[Ratama]

Or perhaps they go hand in hand. Perhaps there's a significant number of people who choose Alliance because it is easier. You're not denying that 'Alliance is easy mode' are you?

I love hearing these sorts of things.  Actually, my favourite is when people say things like "The Horde just attracts people who are more skilled at PvP", but then turn around and say "The Alliance is just overpowered when it comes to PvE".  That same amusing line of thinking happens in reverse: "Horde are overpowered and have better abilities in PvP" as opposed to "The Horde side just attracts people who are bad at doing Raids."

Everyone wants to take credit for that which their side is "good" at because of personal skill, but if they're "bad" at it, it's just because the other side has "easy mode".

WoW devs themselves publicly stated, both at Blizzcon and on their forums, that Alliance has a PvE advantage, with Paladins > Shamans for raids.

If you still can't/won't believe/understand that after 2 years, then you just might be retarded.

I only dabbled with Horde during Open Beta -- all my characters upon release were Alliance -- and I never raided so I couldn't say personally which side should be better for raid encounters though I do hear people say that Pallys >> Shamans in raids so there's presumably that advantage but apparently that advantage is not so great that the Horde is unable to complete the same raids.

The biggest difference is the difficulty in mastering new encounters; with Salvation, Kings, and Infinite Healers (that generate almost no healing agro), Alliance has a distinct advantage.

...

Back on topic; does/did anyone camp the Twilights in Silithus for Texts?  Probably slowing down a bit now, but counting turning Crests into Signets and selling those on the AH as well, I was running at about 100g/hour farming down there with my brother's T2 Rogue.

But now I'm fairly sure only the clueless would...  how 'bout buying some texts off me, Val?

[Zetor]

I still farm the twilight camps with my rogue [have him parked there actually]... though not being a raider, I only have full tier0.5. :P

The texts still sell, but prices are way down. On my server I can only sell'm for about 30-40s a pop, if that. But the money/vendortrash/runecloth drops are still respectable.. and I send the twilight sets to my lock main to turn into crests.


-- Z.

[Malathor]

I love hearing these sorts of things.  Actually, my favourite is when people say things like "The Horde just attracts people who are more skilled at PvP", but then turn around and say "The Alliance is just overpowered when it comes to PvE".  That same amusing line of thinking happens in reverse: "Horde are overpowered and have better abilities in PvP" as opposed to "The Horde side just attracts people who are bad at doing Raids."

Everyone wants to take credit for that which their side is "good" at because of personal skill, but if they're "bad" at it, it's just because the other side has "easy mode".

WoW devs themselves publicly stated, both at Blizzcon and on their forums, that Alliance has a PvE advantage, with Paladins > Shamans for raids.

If you still can't/won't believe/understand that after 2 years, then you just might be retarded.

I don't recall any such dev statement, do you have a quote? I have to say that given that assumption it's quite odd that the Horde should be the first to clear MC, AQ40 and Naxx. In China as well, where the pop imbalance is reputedly heavily on the horde side, horde has been getting the raiding firsts there as well. Maybe they are too retarded to realize they are playing hardmode? Heh.

[bhodi]

Alliance has a minor pve advantage in a very select, few fights. Horde also has a minor pve advantage in a very select, few fights. Unfortunately, alliance has more 'advantage' fights than horde. Generally, horde centers around poison cleansing or slowing totems, for the aoe, and alliance has the advantage of targeted dispells and "most importantly" fear ward. Also, when they raised blessings from 5 to 15 minutes, they did not give any corresponding ease of use to shamans. They are still totems, totems, totems.

[Ratama]

I don't recall any such dev statement, do you have a quote?

It was Tseric or Eyonix, iirc, that made the post in the general forum of the old boards; something along the line of 'the developers are aware of the heightened difficulty for Horde raiding; perhaps this will be addressed with the expansion, /wink /wink' (this was just prior to the Draenai Shaman/BE Paladin announcement).

Also, at least one blog/msg board mentioned a conversation with some of the devs during Blizzcon (I'm fairly certain said page/blog was linked to from this forum); the main two points I recall being discussed were moving Paladins back to the frontlines, and the Pally Advantage w/raiding; they hinted they were working on fixes for both, to be implemented ASAP (fucking liars).

As hunting for said links to 'prove' it to you appeals to me about as much as looking for and linking a Newton wiki page to 'prove' to you that gravity exists... I suggest that you go look for them yourselves (I guarantee you they're archived/remembered somewhere; perhaps try on the current WoW forums).

[Slayerik]

I love hearing these sorts of things.  Actually, my favourite is when people say things like "The Horde just attracts people who are more skilled at PvP", but then turn around and say "The Alliance is just overpowered when it comes to PvE".  That same amusing line of thinking happens in reverse: "Horde are overpowered and have better abilities in PvP" as opposed to "The Horde side just attracts people who are bad at doing Raids."

Everyone wants to take credit for that which their side is "good" at because of personal skill, but if they're "bad" at it, it's just because the other side has "easy mode".

WoW devs themselves publicly stated, both at Blizzcon and on their forums, that Alliance has a PvE advantage, with Paladins > Shamans for raids.

If you still can't/won't believe/understand that after 2 years, then you just might be retarded.

I don't recall any such dev statement, do you have a quote? I have to say that given that assumption it's quite odd that the Horde should be the first to clear MC, AQ40 and Naxx. In China as well, where the pop imbalance is reputedly heavily on the horde side, horde has been getting the raiding firsts there as well. Maybe they are too retarded to realize they are playing hardmode? Heh.

Its a numbers game... if you have 40 horde guilds trying Naxx and 15 alliance, chances are that one of the horde guilds will do it first. Especially since they have a larger playerbase to choose the most 'ubar' guys.

Cleanse, blessings, bubbles...comeon...Blessing of Protection is pretty big. A get outta jail free bubble... I hope you arent arguing the PvE imbalance. Its not massive , but its there.

[Ratama]

Cleanse, blessings, bubbles...comeon...Blessing of Protection is pretty big. A get outta jail free bubble... I hope you arent arguing the PvE imbalance. Its not massive , but its there.

I would argue that back in the day of MC/BWL being cutting edge, it WAS a massive advantage in all those tank-and-spank fights, and insufficient-dispelling-will-wipe-you fights like Geddon and Chromie.  BoS for Vaelstrasz?  Infinite Healing for Broodlord/Drakes?

And any Horde guild that's farming Nefarion will tell you how much harder learning that fight is without Fearward and Blessings (and the potential wipe that is the Shaman Call, as opposed to the pattycake Pally Call).

[Merusk]

Back on the main topic:

GO OUT AND FARM ORE NOW!   Seriously.  Even low-level shit like copper will have you rolling in cash come jewelcrafting.  I copied the character I've been hording ore & gems on over to the beta so I could try out jewelcrafting and found I was short some Silver bars and Shadowgems for the leveling process.

Copper ore, from which you can prospect shadow gems, was selling for about 5g a stack of 10. Silver Bars were anywhere from 18g-50g for 20, and silver's VERY MUCH a required part of the leveling process if you're trying to reduce the amount of mats you're using.

Truesilver bars were about 55g for 20 at the lowest.  I didn't look up Thorium or Mithril, but at a rate of consumption of 5 ore per prospecting attempt, they're going to be pricey as people try to get the rare gems like Opals, Emeralds and Diamonds.

I know what I'm going to be farming for the next few months.