As I sit here waiting for the battleground queue to pop up with yet another sure Horde loss, I can't help but observe how the WoW economy is so much like the real world economy. Buyers and sellers operate in a free market, and price is still the balancing point between supply and demand.
Being successful in making gold in the World of Warcraft requires understanding some basic principles.
1. All products must have a buyer in order to be profitable
It doesn't matter that you spent 50 hours camping that Bloodstained Journal. If no one wants it, it is not going to sell and you are not going to make any gold on it. The same goes for pets, mounts, and any other low-demand item. Sure, that Rogues Deck may be useful to someone, but its not going to sell very fast.
2. Manufacturing based businesses must have a reliable source of resources.
Manufacturing businesses in the real world place a lot of value on protecting their supplies of raw materials. After all, those materials are the lifeblood of the business. The same goes for crafting professions in WoW. A scribe can't make glyphs without ink, and a jewelcrafter can't cut gems
3. Market research is critical in determining what items are being demanded.
Corporations spend hundreds of thousands of dollars researching the markets they are in. They establish patterns, profile their customers, and do everything they can to get inside their customer's head. Luckily for us WoW players, we have sites such as The Undermine Journal, Ask Mr. Robot, and www.wowpopular.com.
4. Reinventing the wheel is costly and frustrating.
As with anything else we do, chances are, someone else has done it and wrote about. Instead of beating your head against the wall trying to figure out how to make gold, read up on what other gold gurus are doing to make money. Then, when you have some experience and expertise, branch out into your own strategies.
5. There is no such thing as overnight success.
All the businesses in the world did not spring from start-up to Fortune 500 overnight. A real world business requires time, dedication, and motivation. It is easy to pick up a crafting profession, buy materials at whatever price you can get them for, and sell your goods by undercutting the lowest price auction by several gold. It's not going to make you any money though. You have to put in the time to figure out what you are going to sell, how you are going to make it, and how much you are going to charge for it.
6. Record keeping is essential.
Keeping track of how much your items cost to make and how much you sell them for is going to be extremely helpful. At the very least you should note the amount of gold you start with at the beginning of the day and how much you end with. There is an old saying in business that says you manage what you measure. A high volume of sales does not necessarily equal a profitable business.
7. Stay up to date with the news of the day.
This is very important. Many successful businesspeople read the paper on a daily basis. This gives them a perspective on world events. For example, if a Texas oil tycoon reads about war breaking out he knows that is going to have an affect on the crude oil prices and in turn affect gasoline, refined oil, diesel, natural gas, and other energy prices.
The same holds true for reading patch notes and checking in on the PTR. If you see a recipe is no longer going to be dropped, but remain in game, and the recipe is for something useful, then the smart money would be to stock up a bit on that recipe and wait for prices to soar.
8. ABL, baby!
Always Be Learning. If you haven't noticed that central theme in most of these principles is knowledge then are you sure you aren't better suited for some other game? Farmville, perhaps? Successful goblins are always learning, whether it is in-game skills such as leveling another character to cover a new profession, or out-of-game skills such as researching their competitors, profiling their buyers, or calculating out their maximum material prices they can afford and still remain profitable.
9. Do what you love and the gold will follow.
Don't make the mistake that I did of dropping a profession you have had for a long time and enjoyed doing because of the lure of greater profitability in a different profession. I dropped tailoring to pick up alchemy because of volatile transmutes and the possibility of being able to transmute epic gems when they are added to the game. However, transmute alchemy is boring! I had a lot more fun with tailoring as I was making bags, pvp armors, and cloth epics. Now, I just log on my former main once a day to do my transmutes and that is all.
10. More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar.
Being nice to people, even if they are complete jerks, is important in business, especially in WoW. No it is not likely that people will boycot your auctions as they don't even pay attention to who they are being from. Case in point: I offer guildies free crafting services with their mats, but instead, a guildie brought some items from me off the auction house.
The nicer you are to people, the better the reputation you will get on your server. Now this not only makes you feel better about you as a person, but sometimes results in higher tips. Since it takes the same energy to be nice or be a jerk, take the high road and be nice.
