Here are some ways you can make gold with various professions in WoW.
Fishing
Level Recommendation: Any character level, 1+ fishing skill level
Difficulty: Beginner
Approximate Earnings: 3-10g per fish
Time Spent: As long or short as you like.
How To: Travel to the Northern Barrens on Kalimdor. Don’t forget to train your fishing skill before you leave (and clear plenty of bag space)! There are three small lakes that contain Deviate Fish: The Forgotten Pools, Lushwater Oasis, and the Stagnant Oasis. The Horde have a slight advantage in travel time here, but both factions can fish in these waters. If you are on a PvP realm you might consider zoning into the Wailing Caverns dungeon(located near the Lushwater Oasis) to fish from the pools of water within instead. If you are appropriately leveled for the dungeon (15-25), another option is to use the Looking for Group tool and queue specifically for Wailing Caverns. Once your group has cleared the dungeon you can hang around and get some fishing time in.
A few fishing locations in Northern Barrens.
These locations will yield about a 30% catch rate of Deviate Fish at a fishing skill of 50 or higher. Bring lures, such as Nightcrawlers, if your skill level is below 50 and you would like to start catching them right away. Lures can be purchased from fishing trainers and trade supply/goods vendors within any large quest hub or city. Deviate Fish are used in the recipe “Savory Deviate Delight” and tend to sell well on the auction house as a raw low level material for this reason. They are also very cheap to post, making them an all around great gold maker for lowbies.
Blacksmithing
Level Recommendation: Any character level; 180+ Blacksmithing skill level
Difficulty: Intermediate
Approximate Earnings: Several hundred to several thousand per craft, depending on skill level and demand.
Time Spent: Dependent on skill level and desired craft.
How To: If your blacksmithing skill is low level there are certain sets and extra pieces that will still hold value in the auction house for players interested in transmog. Always be sure to check the auction house before committing to craft and sell. Sets/pieces to consider and skill level requirements below.
Sets
- Green Iron (180) – shoulders, hauberk, guantlets, leggings, boots
- Golden Scale (205+) – shoulders, cuirass, gauntlets, leggings, boots
- Ornate Mithril (220-245 skill level) – shoulders, breastplate, pants, boots
- Truesilver* (245-290) – breastplate, gauntlets, girdle of the dawn (belt), runic plate boots
- Dark Iron (280-300) – shoulders, plate, bracers, guantlets, leggings, boots
- Radiant (300+) – breastplate, gloves, belt, leggings, boots
- Enchanted Thorium (300) – helm, breastplate, leggings
- Fel Iron (325) – breastplate, gloves, belt, pants, boots
- Enchanted Adamantite (355-360) – breastplate, belt, leggings, boots
- Flamebane (350-365) – breastplate, gloves
- Felsteel (350-365) – gloves, leggings
End game blacksmiths (600-700) should craft the Truesteel Ingots and Secrets of Draenor Blacksmithing recipes daily in order to accumulate the materials required to craft entry level epics and upgrade items. The Riddle of Truesteel, Powerful Truesteel Essence, and Powerful Steelforged Essence recipes can be purchased from the traveling vendors Alexi Hackercam [A] or Trixxy Volt [H] in a level 3 Town Hall. Different trade vendors will appear on different days of the week, using the Looking for Group- Custom Group feature will help you locate these vendors if they do not spawn in your Garrison on their visiting day.
Entry level epics will sell between 1-3k each while the higher tier upgrade items will sell in the 10k – 20k range. Keeping work orders running at a Forge in any level Garrison will reduce the time it takes to collect these materials by supplying you with additional materials on a daily basis. Equip a follower with the Blacksmithing trait to the Forge for an even greater material yield on work orders.
Entry Level Epics
Truesteel – armguards, boots, breastplate, guantlets, greaves, helm, pauldrons, waistguard
Steelforged – dagger, hammer, saber, shield, aegis, axe, greataxe
Upgrade Items
Truesteel Essence, Greater Truesteel Essence, Powerful Truesteel Essence
Steelforged Essence, Greater Steelforged Essence, Powerful Steelforged Essence
*These recipes are no longer available to obtain in game, however, blacksmiths that have these recipes already may continue to craft these items.
Leatherworking
Level Recommendation: Any character level, 120+ Leatherworking skill level
Difficulty: Intermediate
Approximate Earnings: Several hundred to several thousand per craft, depending on skill level and demand.
Time Spent: Dependent on skill level and desired craft.
How To: Low level Leatherworkers have a few options to make gold by crafting desirable transmog gear sets and miscellaneous pieces that players are looking for. Always be sure to check the auction house before committing to craft and sell. Sets/pieces to consider and skill level requirements below.
Sets
Dusky (120-280) – armor, leggings
Green Dragonscale (260-300) – breastplate, gauntlets, leggings, hands
Frostsaber (285-300) – tunic, gloves, leggings, boots
Black Dragonscale (290-375) – shoulders, breastplate, leggings, boots, gloves (Nerubian), belt (Nerubian)
Wild Draenish (330) – vest, gloves, leggings, boots
Fel Leather (330-350) – gloves, leggings, boots, breastplate (Primalstorm)
Felstalker (350-360) – breastplate, belt
Heavy Clefthoof (355-360) – vest, leggings, boots
Overcast (425) – headguard, spaulders, chestguard, handwraps, belt, leggings, boots
Misc
Stylin’ Adventure Hat (350)
End game Leatherworkers (600-700) should craft the Burnished Leather and Secrets of Draenor Leatherworking recipes daily in order to accumulate the materials required to craft entry level epics and upgrade items. The Spiritual Leathercraft and Powerful Burnished Essence recipes can be purchased from the traveling vendors Jake the Fox [A] or Zeezu [H] in a level 3 Town Hall. Different trade vendors will appear on different days of the week, using the Looking for Group- Custom Group feature will help you locate these vendors if they do not spawn in your Garrison on their visiting day.
Entry level epic gear pieces will sell between 1-3k each while the higher tier upgrade items will sell in the 10k+ range. Keeping work orders running at a Tannery in any level Garrison will reduce the time it takes to collect these materials by supplying you with additional materials on a daily basis. Equip a follower with the Leatherworking trait to the Tannery for an even greater material yield on work orders.
Entry Level Epics
Supple – boots, bracers, gloves, helm, leggings, shoulderguards, vest, waistguard
Wayfaring – belt, boots, bracers, gloves, helm, leggings, shoulderguards, tunic
Burnished Cloak – nimble, brilliant, powerful
Upgrade Items
Burnished Essence, Greater Burnished Essence, Powerful Burnished Essence
Tailoring
Level Recommendation: Any character level, 1+ Tailoring skill level
Difficulty: Intermediate
Approximate Earnings: Several hundred to several thousand per craft, depending on skill level and demand.
Time Spent: Dependent on skill level and desired craft.
How To: Tailoring has several great ways to make gold at various skill levels. Some skill level options include viable transmog pieces and sets, shirts, and bags. Always be sure to check the auction house before committing to craft and sell. Gear, shirts, and bags to consider are listed below.
Sets
Black Mageweave (205-230) – headband, shoulders, vest, gloves, leggings, boots
Red Mageweave (215-455) – vest, gloves, leggings (Flarecore), boots (Deathsilk)
Dreamweave (225) – vest, gloves
Cindercloth (260-280) – vest, pants
Spellfire (355-375) – robe, gloves, belt
Frozen Shadoweave (355-375) – shoulders, robe, boots
Battlecast (375) – head, pants
Primal Mooncloth (355-375) – shoulders, robe, belt
Whitemend (375) – hood, pants
Misc
Blue Overalls (100)
Tuxedo Set (240-250)
Shirts (1-400)
Bags (315-600) – Bags less than 16 slots are unlikely to sell.
End game Tailors (600-700) should craft the Hexweave Cloth and Secrets of Draenor Tailoring recipes daily in order to accumulate the materials required to craft entry level epics and upgrade items. The Primal Weaving and Powerful Hexweave Essence recipes can be purchased from the traveling vendors Dorothy “Two” [A] or Calvo Klyne [H] in a level 3 Town Hall. Different trade vendors will appear on different days of the week, using the Looking for Group- Custom Group feature will help you locate these vendors if they do not spawn in your Garrison on their visiting day.
Entry level epic gear pieces will sell between 1-3k each while the higher tier upgrade items will sell in the 10k+ range. Keeping work orders running at a Tailoring Emporium in any level Garrison will reduce the time it takes to collect these materials by supplying you with additional materials on a daily basis. Equip a follower with the Tailoring trait to the Tailoring Emporium for an even greater material yield on work orders.
Entry level epics
Hexweave – belt, bracers, cowl, gloves, leggings, mantle, robe, slippers
Hexweave Cloak – nimble, brilliant, powerful
Upgrade Items
Hexweave Essence, Greater Hexweave Essence, Powerful Hexweave Essence
Enchanting
Level Recommendation: Any character level, 1+ Enchanting skill level
Difficulty: Intermediate – Advanced
Approximate Earnings: Potential to become a great source of steady income with mid to high tier skill level.
Time Spent: Can be time consuming at first, but quick once the basic concepts are understood.
How To: The two best ways to make gold with the enchanting profession is to disenchant mid to high tier gear and weapons for the dust, essence, and shards, and by creating end game enchants (particularly for weapons).
Check the auction house for the price per item on materials like Hypnotic, Illusion, and Vision Dust. Don’t limit yourself to just those materials though. To make the most from this method, use these charts of conversions to get an idea of how to purchase gear/weapons for the purpose of disenchanting. The basic concept here is to buy cheaply priced gear and weapons, disenchant them, and post the materials on the auction house for greater than what you paid to make a profit. This is why it is important to price out the materials before you invest your gold into buying items to convert. Tailoring is often times picked up as a second profession to use synergistically with enchanting because you can disenchant the items you craft. If you farm older content raids, you will most likely have plenty of cloth to use for this purpose.
Addons like TradeSkill Master and Auctionator can assist you by providing pricing information specific to your auction house. Quality of life addons, such as Postal and Bagnon, can increase your efficiency by helping you to retrieve large quantities of items from your mailbox quickly, and locate them across your characters easily.
End game weapon enchants seem to hold their value even as an expansion ages, so be sure to check pricing on those items if your enchanting is level 700.
Tip: Advertising your ability to craft different transmog gear pieces by linking your profession in /Trade chat during peak hours is a great way to generate more business.