This week saw some massive changes to WotLK Classic with the introduction of the Classic Token. As a gold making blog, this is significant news and we dive into it’s implications and where opportunities might lie. We also take a look at gold making for returning players and what they can do to make some gold.
My name is Samadan and I’ll be your guide through the World of Gold Making!
WoW Tokens
The major new this week was the introduction of the WoW Token for WotLK and the thoughts behind it. The Classic scene was obviously rocked by this sudden appearance.
So what does this mean for gold making?
- You can use gold in WotLK Classic to add game time.
- You can use gold in retail to add to game time OR Bnet balance.
- You can use gold in retail to add to Bnet balance and then use that to buy gold in WotLK Classic.
Using gold to buy game time has always been an appealing feature and has long been the motivation for many to get into gold making in the first place. Now a player has two options, depending on the game they play and how they prefer to make gold.
Currently, the prices for Tokens in Classic NA are …
Prices courtesy of classic.token.app
The price going up sharply at the start would be players cashing in gold for gametime. After that, the sharp drop clearly indicates more players are willing to pay real money to buy in-game gold than those cashing in for gametime.
Have a look at the corresponding graph for retail since it’s introduction…
Graph courtesy of wowtokenprices.com
The economy in Classic is very different to retail. The whole economy in Classic is fueled by GDKP (Gold Dragon Kill Point) runs. Players willing to pay gold to bid for top end loot in an organized raid. The raid attendees in return get a share of the gold bid on items during the raid at the end. This keeps the gold flowing at the top end and the economy churning.
In turn to feed such activity, botting is rife and RMT (real money transactions) have been prevalent. Introducing the Token was a way to combat this. It also has the by product of legalizing the purchase of gold officially, thus fueling the GDKP process even more.
It also serves as a by product that those interested in making gold for the purposes of game time have another option in classic as well as retail.
Manthieus has a video going through his thoughts on the matter ..
Perhaps this will bring renewed interest in gold making in Classic as well as Retail?
For many, the developments over the years with retail has changed the landscape for gold making.
- Commodities becoming region wide.
- DF Professions requiring customer interaction through Work Orders and Trade Chat.
- Removal of Mission Tables.
- Slashing of Vendor prices for items from dungeons.
However, in Classic many of the old gold methods remain viable, thus introducing more options..
- Specific AH per faction per server plus Neutral creates niches.
- Farming old Dungeons for gold is more viable.
- Pretty stacking and flipping on the AH has more possibilities.
- If well geared and have time, GDKP runs for gold.
- Profession recipes are harder to get and open up more options as a barrier to entry.
- Levelling professions takes time and resources, which can in turn be flipped.
- The use of TSM and all it’s tools such as sniping are all viable options.
Whether, this means gold is easier to obtain for game time in Classic or Retail depends entirely on the player, what options they have available and what they find fun.
I ran a poll over on Twitter to see how people felt.
So, with this token in WotLK..
If you’re just looking at gold making for game time, which would you do?
10k in Classic or 350k(eu)/230k(na) in retail?
Both take a lot of setup time. Classic Levelling & DF professions as they are.
— Samadan đŸ’™ (@SamadanPlaysWoW) May 23, 2023
So, it would appear at first thoughts, retail is where many will stay. I’m planning on trying both. What is it actually like to make gold in Classic in the current landscape as a casual solo player?
What will do be doing?
Returning Players to Retail Gold Making
In line with this, many players are returning to Dragonflight after a long break and trying to find ways back into gold making ..
I’m returning after quitting early in Shadowlands and I’m unsure what gold making method to pursue. I’m thinking about using professions (herbalism + LW) but it seems like most of the crafting professions aren’t worth it at this point. Am I better off going mining and herbalism or another method?
The best time to really invest in a profession for gold-making is at the start of an expansion as well as any major patches. This has been true for every expansion in WoW and more-so in Dragonflight just because of the increased importance of crafting as a way to get meaningful loot.
Gathering is a staple but you’ll only so far with it. Professions like Enchanting, Jewelcrafting, and Alchemy can be okay because they’re constant staples though I’ve read bad things about Alchemy in particular.
Better bet is to do some market research on your server and learn how to flip, as this can be applied at almost any point in the game once you’ve got the knowledge, it just takes way longer to learn than other methods.
I always enjoyed gold making towards the lull of a patch, when I normally would just raid log. But this new system means you need to grind out KP from the start, just if MAYBE you might want to do some gold making later on. I expect Blizzard to iterate on this for the next expansion because it’s not a great game design to have players do 2-3 months of work before they can start seeing the benefits of it.
However, not all is doom and gloom. It takes some preparation to start now with a view to making gold in the future.
Professions take time to build up the required Knowledge Points to boost your skill and inspiration chances.
Pick one area, Leather or Mail, then one section, and then one specific item slot to start. Max out the points for that slot, and max out the profession specific General Skill and Inspiration points as well.
You should be able to craft at least 1 piece at max rank within a couple weeks. Scan trade chat and find people who need that item. Over time you’ll max more and more item slots and can offer more and make more.
It’s never going to be what it was, but you have to start somewhere or you have limited options with DF.
There are smaller pools to be had more readily with a few alts …
Right now, because you’re so far behind in knowledge points, your best bet is going to be world quests and things like the sanctum quests, etc. You can clear 12-14k a week easily for only a couple hours work per toon. I do 10 toons and can easily get them done between quest resets with time to spare. only takes about 30min to an hour per toon.
Obsidian Combatant Gear
Following on from the above comments about getting into gold making this late, The Lazy Goldmaker has a timely video talking about Obsidian Combatant gear which is fairly easy to get into if you are a returning player…
Have you had any success on your server with this gear?
Further Reading
Most of this information was discussed and originally posted on the /r/woweconomy subreddit or in the accompanying Discord Server.
I hope you found this useful and If you have any suggestions or feedback, please do say so in the comments below..
Until next time, Happy Goldmaking!
Samadan
