In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, farming for gold hasn’t changed much as far as what’s most profitable. For the most part, Herbalism and Mining are still some of the best money makers around. This probably won’t change any time soon, since a lot of people just simply don’t want to take the time to farm materials for their professions.
Obviously the materials change in popularity from time to time, and supply and demand is different based on what server you’re on, but there is always money to be made from gathering and selling on the Auction House if you play your cards right.
The biggest change for gathering in Cataclysm is that you can now fly in the old world zones, making old world gathering a lot easier than it had been.
If you want to maximize the amount of gold you can make, then I’ve compiled some tips to help you out in your farming endeavor.
1. Check out WoW Schools: Reaching Gold Cap guide
If you’re looking for a more in depth guide, with very specific details and tips to maximize the amount of gold you can make, then check out WoW Schools: Reaching Gold Cap guide. This guide has everything you need to know about farming gold in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and goes into more depth than I can in a single article. I’ve personally used it, and got a lot of tricks out of it that I wouldn’t have normally thought about. Give it a shot, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
2. Setup a farming character
This one kind of depends on how you play the game. If you’re an end game raider, then this will be to your benefit. You probably don’t want to keep traveling back and forth to your farm spots with your primary character. Not only that, but your primary toon might need other beneficial skills like Alchemy, or Enchanting, and the best gold farmers have both Herbalism and Mining at the same time. Another benefit is bag space, since your primary character is most likely limited on bag space. The easiest way to pull this off is to just have a designated farming toon. It will save you trouble in the long run.
3. Herbalism + Mining = More Gold
As I said above, you will maximize the amount of gold you can make by having both Herbalism and Mining. You’ll probably prefer one or the other, I prefer Herbalism myself, but you’re already wandering around the world searching for one, why not be able to farm the other while you’re at it?
4. Install the Gatherer UI mod
The Gatherer UI mod is extremely helpful in the collecting process. Gatherer tracks the spots you’ve picked from previously, and spots that your friends have picked from as well. This will help tremendously, especially since you can only track one type of resource at a time, so you’ll be able to see your previous Mining picks even with Herb tracking turned on. This will help you setup routes in zones, so you can hit the best spots very quickly.
5. Fly Forrest, Fly!
Having a fast flying mount is absolutely crucial. It will reduce your down time, and will keep you from getting ganked by other players if you can get there faster. This is even more important now that you can fly in the old world zones in the Cataclysm patch.
6. Know when to gather
Obviously, at peak times when the server is more crowded, you’re going to have more competition for your gathering spots. Try to gather in off-peak times if possible so you have less competition, and a lot less wasted time.
7. Know when and how to sell
Being a gatherer means being a slave to the Auction House. Do your research in the Auction House, and pay attention to trends in what’s selling well, and at what times. Posting your goods at peak times isn’t always the best idea, because there’s too much competition and undercutting. Posting your goods at 3am might not be the best idea either, since less people will be online to buy them. Undercut your competition, but not too much. Never go too low, if anything save it and sell it on a different day. Do a lot of testing, and try to figure out the best times to post goods on your server.
8. Install Auction House UI mods
There are a couple different Auction House UI mods that can help you. The most popular ones are Auctioneer and Auctionator. These mods do a lot of grunt work for you, scanning the Auction House for average selling prices to help you sell your goods at the right price. Don’t let this be a crutch, because you still need to keep a close eye on actual prices, but it will help give you a general idea of what things are going for and trends in the market.
