Wondy's Moneymaking Misadventures!Follow

Okay, I've noticed that a lot of people ask how to make money here. I already have a "how to" link in my signature, but I'm feeling nostalgic (or perhaps it's just bad gas). I figured it would be kind of nice to relate how I started making money in WoW.

My MMO days started in FFXI (don't get me started). I always seemed to need lots of money, so I tried everything. I became more interested in making money in that game than leveling. I also loved giving out free advice on how to make money.

Fast forward to October 2005- my first foray into the world of Azeroth. I had no money, two friends on the same server as me, and all three of us were under level 10. I had no money, and no free handouts. Luckily for me, I knew about Allakhazam, so started looking at the different classes. I was a disenchanted Beastmaster in FFXI, so Hunter looked extremely appealing.

I got to level 10 on grey vendor trash armour & a couple of white NPC peices. I thought I was rich because I'd just made my first silver! Anyway, I couldn't figure out what to do as far as professions, so I asked a couple of people. "Look on World of Warcraft", they said. I went to the site and looked up professions. One friend chose mining & blacksmithing. The other chose skinning & leatherworking. Since we had all agreed to take up different trades, I took up tailoring & enchanting. I also took up all the secondary professions. I felt comfortable using the auction house since FFXI had one as well- it worked a little differently, but I soon got used to it.

Fast forward again to level 20. Both I and my skinning friend were struggling to make money. I was cursing to myself, wondering why people said it was so easy to make money in WoW. It was about then that two of us (me & the blacksmith) got into a guild. I was advised about my choices of profession- that they were money sinks at my level. I dropped both (although I almost wish I'd kept enchanting), and took up Skinning and mining. Suddenly, the money was starting to come in. Copper ores were 50 silver a stack! For me, that was an astronomical amount of money to be gotten in one sale. I discovered the joys of two addons- Auctioneer and Gatherer. Now I was selling my ores for maximum profit, and was able to find the ore veins quickly on the map! I also remembered seeing something about Oily Blackmouths on Alla. I checked it out, and was soon at the bridge at Menethil Bay, fishing for all I was worth.

From level 35-55(ish), I supplemented my income from my professions by soloing instances. At first, it was Deadmines,and Wailing Caverns. Then, I got a little bolder and started soloing Shadowfang Keep. More recently, I have been farming Scarlet Monastery. I've gotten a few good items from SFK and SM (most notably the Shadowfang from SFK), but overall it's been a lottery. Occasionally I get something good, but the amount of trash I get usually barely covers the cost of ammo & repairs. I also fished fairly regularly around Tanaris for Stonescale Eels. I sometimes got a bonus stack or two of Winter squid, which helped raise my cooking and also gives a good agility bonus when cooked.

Finally, last week I decided that the demand for high-end herbs would bring in significantly more money than ores. The lower-level herbs bring in one or two gold, but I seemed to find it easier to harvest ores at low levels than I did to find and harvest herbs. However, with a mount, and being much higher level than I was (thus practically undisturbed in lower level areas), I dropped my mining and picked up herbalism. I'm currently running around Duskwood, picking plants and making small amounts of money, but looking forward to the day I can pick higher level herbs.

Oh, and my fishing isn't quite maxed out yet- it's around 287. I still go back to Tanaris regularly for those eels though. I have tried Azshara, but my fish still get away too frequently for my liking!

Excellent advice, I'd rate you up if I could.