Gold Farming

Level 1-10

Don’t listen to the gold farmers or gold sellers. Farming for gold is one of the simplest parts of World of Warcraft. There is no need to buy gold or hire a personal farmer or stand on a street corner and beg. You can do it yourself.

The simplest way for a player to get gold is through gathering professions. The best way to build a fortune is to get a gathering profession as soon as you can. The only profession that has a level limit is fishing, which is set at a minimum of character level 5. If you want to get even more gold, grab a second gathering profession. The crafting professions can earn some gold, but not as much as materials.

It stands to reason that materials will earn more, because they are gathered completely free of expense, other than time and effort. Players spend enormous amounts of money to other players who gather materials for them.

Players buy materials to level their own crafting professions, but they seldom buy crafted items themselves, unless the crafted items are in demand. For example, bags sell well in the Auction House, but only high-level bags, so you can spend an enormous amount of time and money making low-level bags before you can earn any gold.

While you are at it, get fishing when you are level 5 or more. Fishing will not earn you a fortune, but you can earn some gold by selling fish. Don’t laugh! Some fish sell for more than 50 gold a stack, and I can tell you which fish sell well in the Auction House.

Herbalism has been launched into a real gold-earning profession by the new profession of Inscription, introduced in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Players are spending gold to level Inscription. And Inscription has become a great craft for earning gold at the Auction House. But, like all crafting professions, it takes time and effort to level it to the point that you start earning gold.

One of the best early professions is skinning. Skinning is limited only by the levels of animal monsters, so gathering is not limited by specific nodes that spawn in a particular location, and animals are almost everywhere. Many players leave bodies of skinnable animals behind, so you can follow them to skin the ones that are looted. Be polite about it and ask them if they skin. They may be gracious enough to loot all the bodies so you can skin them all. No one likes ninja skinners who barrel in to skin before asking. At least wait until the other player has moved on before skinning.

Mining is another good gathering profession to practice. Jewelcrafting (introduced in the Burning Crusade expansion) has made mining important. The price of ore has risen on many servers to be higher than bars because of the ability of Jewelcrafters to prospect ore for random gems.

Beginning at level 1, sell everything you pick up, especially the grey items. Grey means useless, so don’t wear grey items, hoping for extra protection, or wield a grey weapon, hoping for better damage. Don’t make the mistake that I did and try to buy white (common) armor and weapons from vendors. All your armor and weapons should come from quest rewards and loot, especially at low character levels.

By level 6, if you took skinning and herbalism, you should have a few pieces of light leather, leather scraps, silverleaf and peacebloom. You should have some linen cloth from the humans you kill. Head to the Auction House and put it all up for sale.

The idea is to put as much as possible up for sale, because you cannot predict the nature of the market in the Auction House. It literally changes from day to day and depends on the whims of players like you. One day, leather sells; another day, cloth sells, and so on. I have not found good predictors of the market, except very general trends that hold true, such as the tendency for materials to sell better than crafted or found items, except higher-level items can sell as well as higher-level materials.

Put your character to rest in the city and wait for the profits to roll in. You should make nearly 1 gold, your first profit for your efforts. Congratulations! You have made your first gold before level 10!

If items do not sell, you have a choice between vending and trying to resell items. Frankly, I generally vend any items that do not sell the first time. I figure it is not worth the price of the small fee that the Auction House charges for listing the items. One exception might be in the case where the item is so inexpensive that the Auction House is charging a negligible fee or no fee. Another exception might be when you want to fill out a 20-stack, hoping it will sell better that way. But I think it generally is not worth the time or effort to try to resell items once they do not sell.

By level 10, you should have close to 5 to 10 gold, depending on how well items are selling.

Admittedly, it is a small amount, but as your character levels, you will be earning more than enough for one character.


Level 10-30

Here is where the benefits of your early discipline and patience start coming in. The goal is to earn enough gold to buy that first mount at level 30. The latest patch made mounts available at 30. Previously, it was a long wait until 40 to obtain mounts. The advantage of the change is that a keen player can earn the gold to get a mount by 30, while the disadvantage is that many may fall prey to the goldsellers.

The way to earn enough gold for a mount is to keep practicing your two gathering professions.

Skinning becomes more important as you level, because the skins get more valuable. Medium and heavy leather will sell at higher prices and the market only gets better. Herbalism and mining work in a similar way. The more you level your profession, the more valuable it becomes.

If you are approaching 30 and don’t have enough gold, go on gathering trips to make up the difference. Find some animals to skin and sell the leather. Find the best locations for mining. One of the best areas for mining copper, tin and silver is in Loch Modan, where the dwarves and other experienced miners go. Find where to go for herbs that sell well at your server’s Auction House.

BlizzCon tickets an instant sell-out

The official Blizzard site and GameSpy report BlizzCon tickets sold out after going on sale the same day. It is a credit to Blizzard that tickets sell out so quickly.

After all, this is Blizzard, holder of the title of the Most Popular Game of the Century. The company decided to make its own event after not getting enough publicity out of other conventions. I don't think other gaming conventions sell tickets as quickly as BlizzCon.

Fans still have a chance at buying tickets on May 30, so get your Night Elf costume ready for the next queue for the Big Event.

Industry leader bows to WoW

In an in-depth new Gamasutra interview, Cryptic's Bill Roper discusses World Of Warcraft's unprecedented success, suggesting that its 11 million subscribers is a "totally ridiculous goal" for MMO creators.

Roper is suggesting that World of Warcraft is the most popular of games, no matter what. His statement implies that any MMO creator will have to forget about meeting or beating the 11-million-subscriber mark.

Everyone knows that World of Warcraft has a head start, a long-established leadership in the MMO field. I love Blizzard's games. But I can't believe that no one else can create a game that would compete with Blizzard's lineup. If Blizzard can do it, any number of people with the right resources can do it, too.

It is about time some company made a real attempt at denting Blizzard's lead. So far, the attempts have been many, but they end up being weak in one way or another.