Making money in early Cataclysm

Hi! This post is my entry for this month  WoW Gold Blog Carnival.
Since I've already talked about lots of things related to how I'm doing golds now, this post will be full of links to precedent posts... I hope this doesn't bother you ^_^

Now that the days of gather-everything-you-can have mostly finished (I still gather sometimes in Vashj'ir as of this post, but it's more because I find it relaxing than out of need) I'm making profit mainly from Jewelcrafting, with some disenchanting... But I'll try to cover some more strategies in this post.

Jewelcrafting/Enchanting
First thing in the morning (when the prices of raw mats are lower) I go to the AH and buy huge amounts of Obsidium Ore and Elementium Ore (and sometimes Pyrite Ore, if it's at sensible prices... but this is not very common on my server) and start prospecting them. I then check which is the JC daily and go back to the AH. If the JC daily is one of the three requiring cutting gems (which can be Zephyrite, Jasper or Nightstone) I check if there are any left at low prices from the last day, in which case I buy them and re-list for an easy profit.
Then I proceed prospecting.
For common gems, you can check this post to have an idea of what to do, but the main things this day (on my server) is:

• [Carnelian]: make [Inferno Ruby] to sell both raw and cut if the prices please me, and [Carnelian Spikes] to disenchant to obtain [Greater Celestial Essence] to sell (on average it's 2x[Greater Celestial Essence] for every [Carnelian Spikes]).
• [Jasper]: sell on the AH if the JC daily requires them, otherwise craft [Jasper Ring] to disenchant (they sometimes proc [Jasper Ring], which could be an unlucky thing depending on your server's economy).
• [Hessonite]: sell on the AH (most of the time this sell well due to people leveling JC)
• [Nightstone], [Zephyrite]: sell if the price on the AH are high enough, otherwise keep them for the day thei're required for the daily.
• [Alicite]: This is really a pain... I sell them, but if the price for one is very low I try to craft [Alicite Pendant] to disenchant (which can proc [Alicite Pendant], in a similar manner to what happens with Jasper).

Then there are the rare gems... I still don't have cuts covering all of them, since [Amberjewel] no my server sell very poorly even if cut. I make sure to have always 5 cut gem of any cut I can make posted on the AH (undercutting when I can).

If you only have disenchant, and not JC: look anyway for [Carnelian Spikes] on the AH. They're selling low in my server, so low you can still disenchant them for profit... Remember that they give you 2x[Greater Celestial Essence] on average.

Farming
As I said, Farming isn't profitable as it was in the first days, but you can still get a good amount of money from it if you're doing it properly.
I follow this blog you'll already know that I found my place to farm in Vashj'ir and I'm sticking to it because of it's awesomeness. I actually made two post about Vashj'ir, the first it's just an introduction, the second explain exactly were you should go for huge amount of profits.

Go diving - Gathering in Vashj'ir - Part 1
Go diving - Gathering in Vashj'ir - Part 2

Another great place for farming is Uldum. Even if your gatherer isn't at level 83, you can go there and farm ores in the mountains without getting aggroed... Farming [Whiptail] near the river avoiding the Crocodiles is nearly impossible, but they're easy to kill even at level 81-82 if you have some green Cataclysm gear.

Cooking
Although today there is a lot of people with high cooking skill, not many more of them (at least on my server) use them efficiently to make gold. Even if most guilds aren't raiding now, lots of player still want cooked food to boost them up in the heroics, since these are more difficult than we are used to.
I'm doing my cooking daily every day, and I now have almost all the high-end recipes (those that gives you 90 of some stat + 90 of stamina... I'm avoiding fortune cookies) and I'm constantly selling cooked food, even if just few stacks a day. In some weeks, with all the guilds raiding, you will sell a lot more of these, so start buying the recipes now.

Flipping items on the AH

If you don't have any profession of those I'm talking about you should start to consider leveling some alt (I can understand you don't wan't them in your main, but you should find some place for at least some of them).

Other than the usual snatching rare items and flipping vendor items, I found these two things to be very profitable:

• As I said talking about controlling markets, there are lot of "cut gem niche markets". I daily buy gems at 100-150 golds to flip them for 250-300 golds... Those who buy blue gems are willing to pay the price anyway, because they're usually gemming gear they're probably keeping for some time.
• If you have a way to check which the JC daily is, you should also buy the gems needed for that daily and relist them for higher prices. The JC daily can require 3x[Jasper], 3x[Zephyrite] or 3x[Nightstone].
  In my server we go from 20-30g for [Jasper] and [Zephyrite] on days in which they're not required for the daily to 100g when they're required.

While the first of these two methods could be quite risky, the second one it's sure to pay you back... So try to do at least that!
Talking about that, if you're a JC remember that the rise in the price of these uncut gems can make prospecting more profitable... So, if you're checking which uncut common gems to flip, consider also buying some ores to prospect.

Stockpiling for later

This isn't how I'm actually gaining money now, but it's what I think I'll need to make some good profits in the future. I'm stockpiling all the enchanting scrolls I see at less than 10 golds (and some at higher prices if I'm quite sure they'll sell well) and now I have a good number of them.

Other plans
I'm taking my miner/BS to lvl 84, mainly by leveling up Archaeology (it gives good amount of XP, maxing out Achaeology will take you from 80 to halfway 83 without any rested bonus), then I'll drop mining and level Alchemy. Right now, it's quite cheap to level Alchemy (compared to other professions) and I want the recipe for [Vial of the Sands]... It was hard deciding to max out Archaeology on an alt instead than on my main, but Archaeology/Alchemy it's the only way to obtain the [Vial of the Sands](I could still do it on my main in the future, I guess). On my server there is already a player selling these, so I'm not hoping to get any monopoly, but it's cool and could  make me money, so why not?
Even if I finish up just making it for guildies having the recipe it's nearly an achievement by itself.... And I could use some more Transmute's cooldowns.

Now, if you still want to read something about what people is doing to gain money in these days, check this month WoW Gold Blog Carnival* hosted by Just My Two Copper: you'll surely find lots of useful information to get rich or richer come Cataclysm!

Update: I'm now organizing a new Blogging Carnival of my own, the Best of the Month Blogging Carnival. If you want to participate you have time until January the 4th to choose your favorite post of December for your blog, add a link to the Carnival and send me an e-mail at kreaton05 (at) gmail.com

On January the 5th I'll publish the posts I've received for the month of December... Go to the Best of the Month Blogging Carnival page to check all the rules!

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*Available from January the 2th.