What do you do wrong?

This was a question I had asked myself several times in relation to making gold in the game. When I stumbled on the Call to Auction podcast and Markco's Just My Two Copper blog site, I quickly realized some of the things I had been doing wrong.

1. For one thing I had always stayed with a gathering profession and a production profession which isn't necessarily wrong. Except that you can only gather so quickly in the game, and it is very time intensive. (However, not being able to gather your own mats does in a way put you at the mercy of others or the AH to obtain mats, which can make certain rare or unique items more difficult to find.) If you have two lucrative, well played production professions, it is much easier to increase your income. Along the same lines, I realized that I put too much focus on earning and retaining what I earned as opposed to reinvesting in the market. I realized by listening to what other people were doing, that spending hefty amounts on items you know will sell, or are grossly underpriced can pay HUGE dividends in terms of multiplying your investments. It's the old adage - it takes money to make money.

2. Another valuable thing I've learned is the importance of diversification in making gold in the game. I sell many different types of items on a daily basis. Some net me a regular income of a few gold per item, but sell with extreme consistency. This allows me to not rely on big ticket sales to keep moving forward. Some items I sell daily are Armor vellums 3, Runescrolls of Fortitude, Netherweave bags, Advanced mining and herbalism glove enchants, Titanium bars that were transmuted, and Primal Mights.

3. I would have to say the third basic key to my success is a better understanding and use of my add ons, auctioneer in particular. Allow automated price checking for items worthy of flipping, or more importantly mats to craft any of the items that I craft on a regular basis at the best prices possible. Besides that learn small areas of the market too. So that you aren't completely relying on an add on to figure out if somethings a good deal or not.

Once I was able to get past these three things I was able to make serious gold. Now I'm no where near gold capped, because I tend to spend alot of what i make. And since I started I've power leveled my Leatherworking to 450, and completely powerleveled Jewelcrafting and Tailoring from 0-450. At the present time I also have 2 Battered Hilts in the AH which I'm trying to flip for at least 2000-3000 gold profit (I bought them at a really good price.) One other very valuable lesson I've learned is when listening to podcasts and reading gold blogs, don't assume your server is the same and the same items will sell on your as on other servers. Again learn the market.

Happy Prospecting!
Fat Jack