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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe value of questing after level 80
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 7th 2009 at 3:01PM
I'm always amazed when people hit 80 and then start wondering how to make gold. Sure, there are all kinds of money tricks floating around (playing the AH is always fun, and everyone has their own tips they've picked up), but quite frankly, the easiest and most reliable way to pick up a ton of money at level 80 is just to do what you've been doing: go quest. Blizzard has made it so that there's no way you've hit all the quests in Northrend when you've reached the highest level, so odds are that you've got at least one (if not two or three) untouched zones of quests to do. And as folks have discovered on the forums, there's a ton of money to be made there.Given that after level 80, experience turns into gold, the return on time invested with leftover questing is awesome. You can pick up over three thousand gold easily just by clearing out the zones you haven't hit hard, and by vendoring off the quest rewards that you get for completing the quests, you can pick up even more. Sure, some folks will have AH schemes that will bring in more money, but Blizzard has done their darndest to make sure there's money in them there questgivers, so if you're slouching around at 80 wondering what to do, go finish up your quests.
And of course if you really have finished up all of the quests in the game (and seen all the amazing storylines and character development that go along with doing so), then there's always daily quests to work on. While they won't pay out quite as much as one-time quests, when you break down the time you invest versus the gold you get out of it, they're often the best way to cash in your playtime as well.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Economy, Leveling, Factions, Guides, Making money, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Aurix Jan 7th 2009 3:19PM
Hitting 80 on my warrior, I still had Grizzly Hills, Storm Peaks, Icecrown, and Sholazar to hit. I won't be hurting for gold any time soon, and if I do, well, there's always my titansteel CD.
Will Jan 7th 2009 3:27PM
obviously not as lucrative as mining, herbalism or playing the AH but it also can give you rep towards factions while you quest.
Best place I've found to get gold is in wintergrasp, when you control the fortress, revenants spawn in the fire/water/air and shadow areas, and they each drop 1-3 of their crystallized [element] that go for 2g-3g each for fire/air, and 1g-2g each for shadow, the fire area is heavily camped but the shadow one is empty and all revenants are always up. Blizzard put a lot of gas clouds in these areas too, raises gold/hr if you have engineering mote extractor and mining.
http://www.wowconfidential.com
hold up Jan 7th 2009 3:29PM
I used a quest helper to do almost every quest in Howling, Borean, Dragonblight and then I jumped to Icecrown to finish up. I went to Storm Peaks to do the Sons of Hodir questline and I've never set foot in Scholozar, Zul Drak or Grizzly Hills (except when summoned to a dungeon). I've always thought about going back and doing the quests but usually the heroic daily plus the Sons of Hodir dailies are enough to keep me busy and fund my repairs/consumables. I guess if I ever decide to go for the 'super rich' achievement I'll start doing those.
Amaxe Jan 7th 2009 3:30PM
Of course once you finish all the zone achievements, it becomes a little more challenging finding those quests for money levelling. Some of the dailies have a poor return for investment.
Still, I do the Icecrown and Storm Peak ones daily, and it keeps me going
Marc Sadowski Jan 7th 2009 3:31PM
I just hit 80. Can't wait to do the quests to earn some gold. I'm torn between buying a Chopper or the Mammoth. Both look cool!
Cyrus Jan 7th 2009 3:32PM
I did both starting zones in Northrend before moving on, so I dinged 80 when I was mostly done with Zul'Drak. I still had all of Icecrown and Storm Peaks and almost all of Sholazar waiting for me. I blew a lot of that money on eternals for leveling Leatherworking to 440 and buying a Kirin Tor ring last week (I know, their stats aren't worth the cost, but I liked the convenience of basically a second hearthstone, and besides, it's an achievement). I haven't been doing too many dailies since hitting 80, but I'm confident that I'll get around to it eventually.
In addition to all the little details of the AH, I think level 60 dungeons are a good way to make money. Go in with at least one empty bag, and come out with some epics that will vendor for 1-5g each, a couple stacks of runecloth, hopefully a few recipes or rare crafting mats that you can sell on the AH, and vendor trash in whatever space you have left. It's not as much gold per hour as doing daily quests - although there are exceptions, like killing Onyxia, who drops more than 150g and can easily by killed by three or fewer people - but it's far more fun and interesting, I think, and if you care about achievements at all you'll wind up doing that content eventually.
Pzychotix Jan 7th 2009 3:34PM
Dailies and questing have a terrible gold/time ratio.
Seriously, don't do it for the gold.
Chebu Jan 7th 2009 10:27PM
They do now, in outland they were easy money...
Amaxe Jan 7th 2009 3:45PM
Very true... I tend to focus on rep ones, and then on ones that give more money.
Once you hit exalted, there is no reason to go to the low reward Kalu'ak for example
Chebu Jan 7th 2009 10:25PM
I'm weird, I guess, but when the expansion came out, I leveled all the way to 75 in - Outland...
I came to North, Did Borean, Fjord, and when I started out in Dragon, I suddenly found myself level 80. This had the huge benefit that I could actually fly to most of my quests in North.
And now, well, I'm making G hands over fist and I'm only in Scholo..
Hands over fist to the sound of over 10000G so far....
Feonor Jan 7th 2009 3:47PM
Onyxia can definately be done by 2 DK's and you get 60+gold per person. It's a great way to make some good gold in 10 minutes of actually doing something. Plus if you take alts along, you can get them some T1 epics for outland.
Pzychotix Jan 7th 2009 3:51PM
Onyxia can be done with one DK.
Solo it and get twice the money.
Barnister Jan 7th 2009 4:10PM
I go Howling Fjord -> Borean Tundra -> Dragonblight -> Grizzly Hills -> Zul'Drak, and half-way through Zul'Drak I ding 80 when I use rested from 70-80. Complete Zul'Drak when I don't.
So I have (half Zul'Drak), Sholazar, Storm Peak and Icecrown to quest and make money.
Dave Jan 7th 2009 4:47PM
At 77 I had to shell out for epic flying + cold weather which left me with 0G. I then proceeded to ding 80 and continue questing and get Loremaster of Northrend. Now I'm back up to 6500G, pretty much solely from continuing to quest at 80. It's definitely worth the effort!
Matt Jan 7th 2009 5:19PM
I have a JC alt that I've been ingnoring for everything but the cooking and JC dailies. So far he's gained a level and a half just from doing those dailies, about 3 or 4 dozen JC tokens and lots of Northrend spices. When the new patch goes through and he gets buffed I'll probably start playing him again, so in addition to the gold he's gotten (not much, only about 4.5g for the JC daily) he'll have an extra level and a half worth of quests that will pay out.
Evi Jan 8th 2009 1:29PM
That's exactly what I've been doing. Poor thing just sits in Dalaran all day, except for that brief time when I let her out of her cage to cook and do the daily JC quest. She's already 71, and I only started working on her in the last week or two!
Squiddles Jan 7th 2009 5:30PM
Plus also it's worth considering that the blue quest rewards you can get in Icecrown are not too shabby. Would be good if more people went on to get those, instead of leaping right into heroics wearing quest reward stuff they got in Grizzly Hills.
Tordenflesk Jan 7th 2009 5:44PM
"odds are that you've got at least one (if not two or three) untouched zones of quests to do."
How people manage to ding 80 before Icecrown without doing massive grinds is beyond me. I had to do a long(2 hours pluss) grind, fully rested in Zul'Drak just to even be allowed to quest in Sholazar. The same had to be done before i could quest in Zul'Drak. Unless you run fully rested from 68-80 i don't see how this could possibly be accomplished.
Ice Princess Jan 7th 2009 7:50PM
I've completed all the quests in Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Dragonblight & Zul'drak for the achievements and yes, that's where I've played from 70-80. I was rested all the way! I also kept getting experience by flying around for the exploration achievement.
It doesn't hurt having epic flying skill, I made full use of my netherwing drake and nether ray as soon as I hit 77.
Harlequinne Jan 8th 2009 1:22PM
Howling Fjord, Tundra, Dragonblight, Grizzly Hills and a bit of Zul'drak was enough for my main.
On my priest alt... Didn't even see Zuldrak (except the Arena there). Healers level insanely fast if you get a whisper every free hour.