I've asked a
version of this question previously in a Breakfast Topic when I was curious about which class had the easiest time making gold. There didn't seem to be much of a consensus in the comments, which is a good thing. No one class seemed to have an overwhelming advantage when it came to piling up a boatload of gold. But since
Cataclysm launched, it's a question I've occasionally pondered whenever I hear someone grouse about the expense of gemming a tier set or enchanting a new weapon. One of the players in question was a max-level jewelcrafter, which threw me for a moment.
"Shouldn't you be making money hand over fist on the Auction House?" I asked.
"You can," he said. "But a lot of it just pays back the expense of leveling JC in the first place or recouping the cost of buying ore and gems."
I'm curious. For all those of you out there who have two primary professions or just a host of alts with different trade skills, which one has earned you the most?
What is WoW's most lucrative profession?| Alchemy | 952 (13.1%) |
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| Blacksmithing | 256 (3.5%) |
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| Enchanting | 1292 (17.8%) |
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| Engineering | 225 (3.1%) |
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| Inscription | 1185 (16.3%) |
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| Jewelcrafting | 2980 (41.1%) |
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| Leatherworking | 165 (2.3%) |
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| Tailoring | 193 (2.7%) |
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Jan 23rd 2012 at 8:00AM 
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 5)
slim1256 Jan 23rd 2012 9:21AM
Heh - I had so much dreamcloth saved up (and bolts of embersilk) I ended up just saying EFF IT and made 4 illusionary bags for both of my "mains."
The money I could have made with the dreamcloth wasn't worth it to me compared to the utility of my two primary toons having 120 slots worth of bag space.
That said - my new theory is that when chaos orbs were unbound, and then the price tanked (they drop to 30g at times on my server), combined with the very low price of volatiles - dreamcloth got so cheap and easy to make that the spell thread cost plummeted, and I just haven't mentally adjusted to the new price point. Also - I'm sure there are a bunch of people that had dreamcloth stocked up hoping 4.3 would give them a use for it, and then the expense of the raid patterns and the Essences of Destruction deterred them from making any of the new 397s... and so they just dumped their stock however they could.
Them's my theories, anyway.
RS Jan 23rd 2012 9:11AM
When I skin, I usually skin elite 83 dragon. Stay skinning my friends...
Base mats are usually a good market on my server, Savage leather, you can usually sell for a pretty decent price. That alone has funded 3 characters, (from 1 skinner). It may not be a fancy as jewelcrafting, but it can bring home the bacon.
It's a cool thing to check your toon via the Mobile Armory and see that you have beau coup gold waiting for you in the mail because of the auctions you posted the night before.
rs
Justin Jan 23rd 2012 9:19AM
Tailoring. It's one of the less-obvious ones, but doing just my Tol Barad dailies, I can make three or four Embersilk bags with the mats I collect and sell them for 250-500g apiece. So on a good day, I make 2000g WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING EXTRA. All other professions require you to actively farm mats, or buy them, but with Tailoring, I get mats as I work. There's always a market for bigger bags, or even just regular bags (Netherweave and Embersilk) for new alts and new players. I'm working on my Netherwing rep grind right now, and I come out of those dailies with enough mats for two Netherweave bags as well. Most non-HoT dungeons give me enough mats for one or two Embersilk bags (there's very little lootable trash in the HoT dungeons).
Of course, if you take it with Engineering.... you lose all your profit just leveling it.
slim1256 Jan 23rd 2012 9:32AM
So – just some cocktail napkin math from my server, but here’s why I got out of the bag market (my tailor almost exclusively makes bags for my own toons right now):
One embersilk bag is 15 bolts of embersilk (= 75 embersilk cloth) and 15 hypnotic dust.
On my server: mean price of embersilk cloth is 4.2g (and I can sell it higher, regularly) and mean price of the dust is 1.7g (and again, I can sell it higher, regularly). So – net cost (VALUE) of mats (on average) is about 330g. If I could sell the bags for 500g, yeah, I’d be in that market, but… they average 330g on my server. I can usually get more than that for them, but not much more. Ultimately, it’s quicker and easier to just sell those mats for me.
Your server may be different, but the point is – make sure you’re taking into account what the value of the materials you’re using to make those bags, even if you’re not paying the AH price to obtain the materials. In the long run, it might be better just to sell the mats.
Justin Jan 23rd 2012 9:34AM
Oh, I definitely do, but it's also a question of how reliably I can sell them. Bags will sell. Always. I've been playing since the original beta, and I've NEVER had a bag get returned to me in the mail. But cloth doesn't always sell, and for someone who's only casually working the auction house, that gets frustrating fast.
slim1256 Jan 23rd 2012 9:40AM
Gotcha.
It's a subtlety a lot of people miss.
And - I think the resounding theme here continues to be "Depends on your server" because I've had numerous bags returned to me. :)
Cloth to, but it always eventually sells, and for good profit. Though - I'm in the process of stocking to make more Illusionary bags. I loves me my storage space, and, truth be told, I'm a bit of a mat hoarder.
bjorn9486 Jan 23rd 2012 9:21AM
I would say Jewelcrafting and Enchanting for 1 reason; every new piece of gear you get you need to gem/enchant it. The patterns are a rare drop from raids in addition to the raid materials they need. Thus, Leatherworking/Tailoring/Blacksmithing were not profitable in 4.2 and now add the fact that the LFR allows you to get your set bonus (which you will probably not break unless its an odd-numbered piece) these professions are no longer money makers IMHO. The only thing that may bring Tailors and Leatherworkers a slight amount of money is the leg enchants, but profit margins will not be high. I could also see Alchemy having realm-specific profits, but by this time I'm sure most established guilds have the guild cauldron, so profits will have dipped since the start of the expansion.
Will Jan 23rd 2012 9:37AM
In terms of profit margins, inscription. The only trouble is the vast amount of listing and relisting needed to make a sale, not to mention milling.
For me, the profession that has been the best for turning out large sums of gold consistently with minimal time investment is xmute alchemy.
ravyncat Jan 23rd 2012 9:34AM
I think the best answer if you want to make gold is to have all of them. Different professions yield better results at different times. The best way is to use one or more together.
Jewel Crafting doesn't make me near the money it did at the start of the expansion so I have moved into other things. Especially since ore is crazy expensive now--it is worse than it was at the start of Cataclysm. I am pretty much dumping old stock and not cutting any new.
The glyph market on my server is impossible to break into unless you are willing to camp the AH. I am not. But I still make a good profit selling Mysterious Fortune Cards or Fortune Cookies. I sell whichever is more expensive.
I admit that I don't utilize my alchemist to the full potential, but there is a good market for flasks again on my server due to Raid Finder. If they ever release those data mined epic gem transmutes, I expect I will use them heavily. And then cut them with my JC or sell them raw if that is more profitable.
I wish I had a maxed Enchanter, because I know I could use that one...but I don't. My enchanter is a baby alt.
I also have a nearly maxed Engineer and Tailor, but I don't really use either to make money with. I only have the patience to do so much AH stuff before I get bored.
slim1256 Jan 23rd 2012 9:44AM
Ahh - I switched mains with 4.3 from an Alch/JC Ret Pally to a Ench/Inscr Frost DK.
And let me tell you - running the Twi-roics and always knowing I'll have an enchanter along to DE useless purples into 378s is AWESOME.
I make really good money using those crystals to make and sell enchants, but even if I didn't I could sell them for 200 a pop on the AH, or shatter into Shards and sell each shard for 100+
Not to mention - being able to feed all my toons with enchants...
That's actually another factor for having Max level professions. It's not just about how much they make for you - it's also about how much they SAVE for you.
slim1256 Jan 23rd 2012 9:45AM
GAH! (looks for edit button.... doesn't find it)
"DE useless purples into maelstroms"
Daerial Jan 23rd 2012 9:43AM
Inscription, as long as its midway through a patch cycle. Mysterious fortune cards and darkmoon trinkets can make a killing, as long as people have money to waste. But just after a patch drops, gems/enchants and other things cost a lot more money, which means there is less money to waste on frivolous things. I made 13k profit in a week before 4.3, but still had 229 cards left after it dopped, and noone is buying them anymore. I opened all 229 but only made 500g off them, at a loss of 3k =(
evoxpisces Jan 23rd 2012 9:43AM
I chose alchemy because it is useful for any class. I also enjoy it the most (hate it the least). It's easy to get useful gear from questing and dungeons but to get useful potions you either have to spend ridiculous amount of cash or make them yourself.
puffcake Jan 23rd 2012 9:47AM
Honestly, I've made most of my money with mining, and a little less with tailoring. Embersilk sells for about 50g a stack, and I can get between 10-15 stacks just running Tol Barad dailies with a little extra farming. Also, few people tend to hit up Tol Barad for Pyrite and Elementium for some reason, and these can be mined while doing dailies as well. Between that and farming saronite/titanium in Wintergrasp (which still sells quite well), I've made some decent cash so far.
Really, though, it all comes down to effort, as others have said.
robsmith77 Jan 23rd 2012 10:14AM
As far as the listed professions go, Jewelcrafting has been the best for me.
But I actually prefer to just do some mining or herbalism if I'm in need of some extra gold.
Zamboni Jan 23rd 2012 10:20AM
Jewelcrafting has the advantage of being boosted by your other professions. If you have Alchemy, you can make your own Shadowspirits and some extra Inferno Rubies with the junk gems that many JCs dump on the AH for peanuts. If you have Enchanting, you're making your own dust and essences for scrolls. It's an efficient combination for squeezing the most out of each stack of ore.
Inscription, on the other hand, is horrible. Stay away. The amount of gold you can make from selling a few dozen trinkets every Faire is absolutely...horrible. Yeah, horrible, that's the ticket. Worst profession ever.
Dillioney Jan 23rd 2012 10:30AM
After making a little money with two gathering profs I recently levelled JC to max in about a week. It cost about 6k gold which I made back in a few days.
I seem to have hit the buffers a bit as I cant get enough red infernos to satisfy demand. Vicious rings and necks tick along but big money is a long way off.
Any tips would be very welcome!
sharkeater75 Jan 23rd 2012 10:29AM
Ink for a glyph. 9-12g Glyph sale price. 575-200g
I don't even cancel repost but once or twice a day. If I get a newbie on the market who doesn't know how things work on my realm, I bang it down to cost for a few days, buy up his undercuts and remove herbs from the marketplace.
Right back to 575g.
Artificial Jan 23rd 2012 12:15PM
How many glyphs per day do you sell at that price?
sharkeater75 Jan 23rd 2012 12:37PM
Tu, Wed, Thurs about 75
Mon and friday a solid 200
And the weekends the sky is the limit. I do alot of cancel reposting on the weekends.
Key is we keep the price up there. and it's a high pop server, sure there are the people that try to play white knight and drop it to 85-30g those it's either bang down or buy up depending.
I have two other people who are players in the market white listed. Between us the price stays up.
People have to buy ONE glyph nowdays. It's not like JC or chanting where there is some rollover but the market is thick with competition. In regards to JC we have people on server who do it with their profits based off of transmutes. :S
Of course there are garbage glyphs that get made while leveling, and aren't very much sought after. those are left to waste unless the market is soft.
In all honesty 100-120k a week on glyphs is quite possible. provided the server has the population and the market is kept up.