Unpopular Opinion

[Unpopular Opinion] Gold Making is Better on Low Pop Realms

stargrace February 1, 2023 No Comments

I fully admit that this title is a pretty open interpretation of the events. I have played on low population servers almost exclusively for years now and I’ve come to love and hate them. Almost all of my gold making prior to Dragonflight was done on these servers, and I was able to made gold cap without too much issue. Things sell – slowly. They sell for (usually) higher than the higher population servers because there are less people selling there. It also means there’s less buyers.

I am comfortable with that low rate of sale because I diversify my markets. Before the regionwide auction house I knew there were limited raiders, so alchemy was probably not going to be the profession for me. Now with regionwide everyone is fighting about undercuts but there’s profit to be made for a player like me, where as in the past, there was not.

At the start of Dragonflight I went looking for greener pastures. I had never attempted M+ before, and I wanted a chance to raid. I wanted to experience more than just gold making. I have multiple sclerosis so finding people who understand my physical limitations can be a daunting task. My guild on the low population servers is quite small, which is not bad but it did make things like raids more difficult to obtain. There’s also no one advertising boosts or sales on my low pop server. Anyway, I moved to a high pop server and things were really awesome as far as seeing folks around in the world and interactions with others.

The server was less awesome when it came to gold making – except for craft orders. Craft orders were my saving grace. I picked up a cheap copy of the lariat neck, the hourglass, and titanic rings, and I was set. My JC reached 100 without buying a single component. The thing is I didn’t know what the market was like on a high population realm. I would have to learn the market over again from scratch.

After a month on the server, I missed the comfort of my low population gold making. I got into a few undercut wars with people and that is a fight that I absolutely could NOT win, both physically and mentally. I didn’t know what people on this new server wanted. I was frustrated.

Plus, I missed my friends. They’re in a different time zone from me but I missed occasionally seeing a friendly face around. I don’t make friends easily, and while I thought moving to a more populated server was the answer – it turns out, I was wrong.

It also turns out that there are some really amazing and awesome communities out there who do cross realm M+ and raiding and everything else you can think of. People who are known for being patient, and for teaching others. I joined WoW Made Easy, and I joined Dungeon Dojo. Both communities are on discord, and while I haven’t actually participated in any events yet, there are options out there if you’re on a smaller server like I am, or you don’t really have a place with ‘your people’ to raid with.

I believe gold can be made on absolutely any server if you put in the time to learn the markets. Low population, high population, all of it comes down to a personal preference. If you have the time and the willpower to play the auction house pvp game and battle it out, a higher population will grant you faster sales and an instant gratification that a low population can never hope to achieve – but if you’re like me, maybe those servers are just not the place you want to be. There’s no ‘wrong’ server to make gold on. You just have to find what works for you.

[Unpopular Opinion] So you Can’t Make Gold in Dragonflight

stargrace January 12, 2023 No Comments

For the past few weeks I have been listening to people in the WoW econ discord, and on reddit, and on twitter, talking about how it is impossible to make gold with professions in World of Warcraft at the moment because absolutely everything sells for a loss. My unpopular opinion is that this is simply not true. What is true, is that it takes a lot more work and thought to make gold from professions then it did in the past. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it makes gold making much more engaging for those who manage to put in the time and effort. Keep in mind that ‘time’ is going to be relevant to how much you want to do, and what sort of server you’re on.

There is one exception to this rule, and I will say that lower population servers do have a much more difficult time simply because there are less people looking for things to be crafted, and more people crafting. My perspective for this post is coming from a medium/high population server.

The first issue – crafting for a loss. Well, if you’re used to simply opening your crafting book, taking a look at your list, crafting that, and then putting it on the auction house – yes, most items sell at a loss. Dragonflight completely changed how we craft, and those basic items we all start with are in low demand and VERY high supply. If this is how you expect to make gold, you will be selling at a loss.

Where Dragonflight actually shines is for those who have put in the work to make connections on their server, or those who manage to camp the work table. I do this for roughly 15 minutes each day on my jewelcrafter, and she has made over 400k in gold from public commissions. I do own the BiS lariat recipe, I also bought the two rings, the titanic & hour-glass. I did not spec down gems. I am spec’d into both rings, necks, and multicraft / inspiration.

So for JC alone, there’s necks, rings, gems, and then there are also some toys you can craft for people if you’re lucky enough to find the recipes. So far I have not managed to get a single one (frustrating). Then there’s the cosmetic items we can make, like the rhinestone sunglasses. Dragonflight has a recipe for those that comes from fishing. I usually sell at least one pair every single day, for 20k. Yes, it takes time or money (or both) to get started, but it’s a goal (I fished mine up). Then there’s the JC that’s selling from previous expansions. That’s right, don’t forge that Dragonflight is not the only expansion out there! For whatever reason, 233 and 262 gear is still selling VERY well on my servers. More so if you include speed sets. Then there’s transmog, battle pets, mounts! DIVERSIFY.

The second issue – You don’t HAVE to be hardcore about any of this. As you can see by the screenshot above, my renown levels are pretty sparse – minus Tuskarr, and that one I did by turning in fish. I also have around 130 JC knowledge points from just casually completing my weekly goals. Yes, I realize this is just one example of a profession, and sadly not all professions are made equal, I will admit to that. My JC is paired with Leatherworking, and I do not make nearly the same amount of gold. I also don’t spend nearly the same amount of time on it, I don’t own LW patterns from expansions gone by, and I don’t check out the LW table very often (most people want that artisan’s sign (toy), go get that and you should be getting lots of orders).

It is NOT too late to start. Be diligent about collecting your knowledge points, and wait for your way in if you’re absolutely certain you can’t make a profit. Check the work order table often! Talk to people in trade chat, let them know what you can craft. Use the crafting sim addon, and use a little research into where you want to spend those points. Stick with it.

Saying there’s absolutely no gold to be made with professions in Dragonflight is just wrong. It does take work. It does take knowing your server, and it does take using a different method that simply “level 1-100, bam, put items on the AH!” but it’s also completely worth it and rewarding. If you’re used to the pre-regional-auction house times, you may also need to simply adjust what your idea of “good gold per hour” is. I’m seeing brand new gold makers upset that they didn’t make a million a day – that is simply an unrealistic expectation. Set yourself with some realistic goals, and you’ll be a lot happier.

As always, happy gaming – no matter where you find yourself!