Making money in BC: Mine!
GeneriKB, whose money-making guide from the official Professions forums I read with interest back in the days before I had a single level 60, is back again for a guide for this brave new world (of Warcraft). Unlike his previous three-stage philosophy (two gathering profs to 40, switch to one gathering and one crafting until 60, and then switch to two crafting), the recommend procedure in volume 3 of GeneriKB's "Guide to MoneyMaking" can be summed up on one point:
Mine
Why? Well, crafting's a lot harder to make money off of now that the good stuff mostly requires a nether, and farming mobs, skinning, and herbing are all not terribly efficient in terms of gold per hour. The reason mining is so efficient is because you get not only ore, but also motes of earth and fire as well as green and the occasional blue gem -- it's the blue gems that really push it over the top. Also, ore is pretty valuable because it feeds three professions -- mining blacksmithing, engineering, and jewelcrafting. Check out the guide for his recommendation on how best to sell each specific type of ore. Genny claims he makes 200g per hour circling Nagrand in mining loops (and fishing the pure water on the elemental plateau), which is certainly better than I've ever managed to make.
Well, there's one thing I've found that makes more, actually: playing the auction house. That is to say, finding an item that's priced under the market rate, buying it all out, and relisting it at market rate or slightly above. This usually yields a very high amount of gold per hour, but you need a certain amount of starting capital, and there is some risk involved (the going rate for your item may not be what you thought it was). Furthermore, I am not an economist, but I suspect that this practice would end up raising the price of various things over time, which may not be a desired effect. But anyway, playing the AH may turn out to be more efficient than mining. What do you think?
