With Shadowlands openly welcoming the new players, WoW gold is going to be a huge first step. And this is a perfect time to get one up on the competition. So, no matter if you’ve been around for a while or you’ve just joined the ranks of Azeroth, gold will still be one of the most critical things in the game.
Not only does gold lets you catch up to everyone, but it also gives you a “free pass” through most of the content. This is incredibly valuable for those of us who play more than one character and simply can’t spare the time to grind gear on all toons. So, gold can buy you all the BiS (Best in Slot) items in no time and without breaking a sweat!
But suppose you’re not really interested in raiding and simply want to enjoy the game on your own? Well, numerous mounts, pets, toy boxes, and other collectables can only be purchased on the Auction House. That is unless you want to spend months and weeks farming them in the open world. Or, perhaps you need some WoW time? Then gold can buy you a WoW token which gives you one month of free gameplay!
So, if you’ve already made your Covenant choice in Shadowlands and just want to make some gold, then here’s how to do it!
How to Make Gold in WoW?
First of all, please understand that there is no only one way or method to make gold in WoW. The game is over 15 years old, and over its many expansions, things have completely changed. Right now, there are multiple approaches to making gold in WoW. And these are:
- Auction House flipping
- Professions
- Farming old raids
- Reselling pets and mounts
- World Quests
- Mission Table
- Selling boosts
- Trade Chat deals
Of course, these aren’t all the ways of making gold in WoW, but they are the ones people mostly use. If your gold is to make as much gold as possible in WoW, then you shouldn’t limit yourself to one or two of these methods. Actually, the more of them you get into, the better.
However, you should know that many different things can have an impact on how much gold you end up making. Things like factions, servers, classes, specs, and even the mounts you use, will be factors on your gold making results in WoW. That’s why we’re first going to talk about these specific topics and give you a clear idea of where what, and how you should do things. Let’s begin.
Servers
There is no rule for picking servers, and that’s the harsh truth. Every server in World of Warcraft has its own player base and its own economy. That means that, for example, an item that you could easily sell 100k gold on one realm, you might struggle to sell it for 50k on another. And vice versa.
Generally, you want to choose a server that has a steady population but is also on the board with the current content. Low pop servers aren’t the best idea because you can end up finding neither materials nor customers. And high pop (full) servers in WoW have so many gold makers that won’t let you compete with them. Plus, the thing about the high pop servers is that they’re very competitive and a lot of veteran players try out their hardest there. This means that those “older” players have pretty much everything in the game and chances are that you’ll labor for nothing. However, with new raids, these competitive players fight for every ore and herb on the Auction House for their potions and gear. So keep that in mind.
Factions
The faction isn’t really important as long as you’re on a good server. Actually, the choice of faction should depend on your server choice. For example, if you’re on a realm that is 80% populated by Horde players, you’d want to choose Horde. And the other way around for Alliance.
The reasons for this are obvious – you need to work with people if you want to make gold in WoW. Joining a faction on an empty realm would be wasting time.
Classes
Classes play a big part in your gold making. Typically, if you’re going to farm around, you want a class that is naturally fast or has a lot of movement speed buffs or jumps. The best class for farming since Vanilla has always been the Druid.
Druid is a self-sufficient class that can do pretty much everything in the game. In travel or flight form, Druids can pick up herbs and ores without “dismounting” and losing additional time. The Balance and the Feral specs have excellent AOE for soloing older raids. And with the addition of the Legion Order Halls, they have multiple portals around the world accessed through the Emerald Dreamway.
Mages and Demon Hunters are also amazing at gold making in WoW. Their damage is instant and enough to solo everything while having two charges on their Blink/Fel Rush is great for moving around. Rogues and Monks also provide some unique advantages, but they’re up to personal preference.
But suppose you only want to make gold by flipping deals on the Auction House. Then your class won’t matter at all. However, if you’re going to do even a bit of farming, then those are our choices!
Mounts and Consumables
Please be aware that most class-problems can be avoided with consumables for either picking up herbs/ores, not dismounting or general movement speed ones. Here’s what you need to consider:
[Drums of Fury] – equivalent to Bloodlust, Time Warp, or Primal Rage.
[Darkmoon Firewater] – allows you to gather herbs and ores faster. Works for looting too.
[Hardened Stirrups] – allows you to farm and loot without dismounting.
[Swiftness Potion] – optional movement speed buff.
If you aren’t quite geared and are looking to solo older raids, then food that grants you either health, critical strike, mastery, or haste, can be quite helpful.
But if you’re farming outdoors and don’t want to spend gold, then the [Sky Golem] mount will be a good one-time investment for you. The Sky Golem has the effects of most of the consumables mentioned already in it, so it’s perfect for any class. And with the addition of mount equipment in WoW, you only need [Comfortable Rider’s Barding] to not get dazed, or [Inflatable Mount Shoes] for walking across water areas, and you’re good to go!
Add-ons
Add-ons are mandatory for gold making in WoW. That’s because the basic WoW interface isn’t optimized for such work at all, so you’ll need to manually enhance it.
The first addon that every gold farmer in WoW should have is Auctioneer. What Auctioneer does is that it lets you scan the whole Auction House and collect all the data for you. This can take somewhere between 10 minutes to 2 hours, depending on your server. But once it does, you’ll be able to see the lowest prices of items, and then figure out which deals you can make.
The next best addon for gold making is TradeSkillMaster. TSM transforms the Auction House into organized info for you, so you can better determine how to buy and sell items. For example, it can show a total graph of an item, its price through history, as well as when or how much it has been selling. TradeSkillMaster is a complex tool with many features, so it might take a bit of getting used to.
There are tons of other addons that can be quite helpful, like GatherMate2 which remembers the exact spots of herbs and ores, and Bagnon which combines and organizes your bags. But they’re all optional except for TSM and Auctioneer.
Auction House
Flipping deals on the Auction House is a straightforward idea – buy a cheap item and sell it for more gold. But although it sounds very elementary, it’s also tough to find these deals if you have no idea where to start. The addons mentioned above will give you insights into the economy of your server’s Auction House, so make sure you use them.
Here, you want to think statistically and strategically. For example, if there is a new raid coming up, people will need a lot of potions, flasks, scrolls, foods, and whatnot. So buying the materials for these items a month or two beforehand can give you some great deals when reselling them later.
But to be successful in this, it takes a lot of dedication. You must follow the Auction House daily and watch which items sell and which not. It certainly takes a lot of time and thinking, but if it sounds fun to you, then go for it.
Professions
Perhaps the best way to make gold in WoW is professions. Many are very profitable and will most likely take the same amount of grinding to fully level them up. There are gathering professions (Herbalism, Mining) and crafting professions (Alchemy, Tailoring, Blacksmithing, etc.).
You have the option to either go for the gathering two and spend all your time farming in the real world, then sell the mats on the Auction House. Then, you can combine one gathering and one crafting profession and sell fully crafted items. Or, if you already have some gold, you can ditch out the gathering ones and take up to crafting professions. This way, you can buy the raw materials for less gold, then turn them into full stacks and resell them for more gold.
Typically, Inscription and Alchemy will always be good because people need Tomes and Flasks all the time, either for raids or mythic dungeons. But Tailoring, Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, and Jewelcrafting can all shine up at the end of a patch where new recipes and substantial craftable items are introduced. So you want to choose interesting professions for you and stick with them.
Farming Old Raids
Running old raids can be an excellent source of gold in WoW. Not only you can do this solo, but the gold you get with every run is actually “raw” gold. Plus, your bags will be full with BoE (Bind on Equip) items, which you can additionally sell them on the AH. And a lot of these are very cool transmogs that people will want to have. Just beware that on high-pop servers, the competition will be tough.
Whichever raids you can clear faster and are easier to you, then those are the ones you should run. However, statistically, you can get the most amount of gold per run out of the Legion and WoD raids. But, if MoP, Cata, or WOTLK raids are more comfortable for you, then you’ll be happy to hear that they result in a similar amount of gold.
On average, a run through an old raid will take you up to 20 minutes max if you’re good, and will result in anywhere between 800 and 2000 gold.
World Quests
Not a lot of people are aware that World Quests are a great tool for making gold in WoW. Here we’re talking specifically about the World Quests that give gold as a reward for completing them. On a good day, there are 15+ such quests throughout the map, and each of them gives somewhere between 100-250 gold. However, if you play with a War Mode on, you can go up to 30% in bonus. So, we’re looking at about 3000 gold in total.
But the real power of this method is that you can repeat this on all characters! The World Quests are amazingly easy to complete and won’t take too much of your time. And if you complete them on at least 3 characters, then you’re looking at some easy 9000 gold per day.
Mission Table
The Mission Table is the laziest way to make gold in WoW. It only has one requirement, and that is for you to have multiple max-leveled characters.
On the Mission Table, very frequently, there are missions that also rewards you with gold when completing them. And these as well can bring you anywhere between 100-200 gold. But, if you save up your followers and troops only for these missions, you can 200% them and get double the gold.
And repeating this on all your alts can be an excellent passive income for those players that don’t have enough time to farm all day. The missions take only a few minutes to set and plus you can do it through the mobile World of Warcraft app. We recommend it to take advantage of it regardless of which way you make your regular gold.
Final Thoughts
Making gold in WoW is as much art as it is science. There are numerous variables and details that influence the results, so you might have to try different methods and see what works best for you.
If you have a good eye for deals, then you’ll want to follow both the AH and the Trade Chat and profit from the random people there. Then, if you’re good at Battle Pets, you can spend your [Polished Pet Charm] on rare Pets and resell them for a lot of gold. And, if you’re a high-ranked competitive player, you can offer various PvE or PvP boosts to new or aspiring players.
It’s essential to keep in mind that gold making in WoW takes time, and it can’t happen overnight. That’s why a lot of people opt for buying gold in World of Warcraft, instead of farming it themselves. But with our insights, you should have a pretty good idea where to start in your journey. Good luck!