Jewelcrafting - Sparkly Gems for Fun and Profit

Most people consider Jewelcrafting kind of a money sink. I'm not sure where this rhetoric came from, but go on and ask someone if they think Jewelcrafting is a good money spinner. It's like asking of Blacksmithing can make money for you. Well, it's partly true. You stand to spend a lot of money raising your Jewelcrafting skill, but once you hit 315, you're golden for my purposes.

If you're a miner, save the high-end ore you mine. If you need to, buy it from the Auction House. Once your Jewelcrafting his 275, you can prospect Fel Iron Ore, and once it hits 315, you can prospect Adamantite Ore. Prospecting means you use the ore in order to look for gems in it. Gem drop rates have gotten a boost lately, which is nice, though it knocked prices down. The process is simple: get ore, prospect gems, hope for a blue, sell uncut gems. Even if you have to buy the ore, you might be able to easily make up the profit by selling the gems. Check your Auction House prices on gems before you do this! If they're really low, you might want to wait for the market to go back up.

The best part about this tip is that is conceivably requires no effort from you. Buy ore, sell gems, repeat. With the right economy under you, you can stand to make a ton of money by doing this!

Swiftthistle Is Always in Demand!

Probably the most useful item in a Rogue's bag is Thistle Tea. This stuff gives back 40 energy when you drink it, which is a vital component for many perma-stun combos, and is simply darn useful at any point. Given that, there's always a market for this stuff. Now, take into consideration that Swiftthistle, the herb used to make it, CANNOT be picked directly, and you have a winner. Swiftthistle is also used in some other useful potions, like the Swiftness Potion, and agility potions!

Swiftthistle is randomly-found when you pick Briarthorn and Mageroyal, and has a small chance of dropping off of some mobs. Now, this is important. Not only is Swiftthistle useful, it is very hard to come by. If you know how to farm it, you can make a lot of money!

My advice? Don't bother with mobs. It's too unreliable. Grab your herbalist, go to Westfall, and pick every bit of Briarthorn and Mageroyal you see. Westfall is the best for this, I think, because both herbs are in the area. Briarthorn can be found in lots of places, but usually with higher-level herbs, like Goldthorn, for example. Also, if you're Alliance, you're 100% ungankable while you work, and if you're even level 20, the mobs won't be any problem for you.

So, pick pick pick! When you get some stacks, pop those onto the Auction House. You'll be amazed at how high a stack of 20 of these l0w-level herbs sells for!

Rep and Gold From Skyguard Quests

Right now, the Holy Grail of World of Warcraft is getting an epic flying mount. A massive 280% speed increase, and the added bonus of being able to avoid troublesome ground paths and mobs entirely! No wonder everyone wants one.

To get one, you must first be exalted with the Sha'tari Skyguard faction of Shattrath. Now, grinding rep with them is a little different, because it is done mainly through "daily quests", which are quests that can be done every day, but only once each day. They give not only Skyguard rep, but also 12+ gold per quest! Do the 4 daily quests each day, and you're looking at a lot of gold! Of course, this is intentional, because it takes 5000 gold to get the epic flying mount. By the time you get Exalted with Skyguard, you'll have earned a ton of gold.

First thing to do is complete Threat From Above in Terokkar, to join the Skyguard. Then, simply do each quest every day. Here are the 4 main Skyguard quests, linked to Thottbot. There are more quests that can be repeated each day; I will be adding them soon enough.

Skyguard quests: Fires Over Skettis, Escape From Skettis, Bomb Them Again, Wrangle More Rays.

Grinding Scryer Rep

The Scryer are one of 2 factions that you will have to choose to be friends with in Shattrath, in Terokkar Forest. The main benefit to getting Exalted with one faction or the other is that they sell some pretty nice gear at that level! Plus, the grind up to Exalted will load you with lots of money, and tons of experience!

I recently did a post on the official forums about this, but here it is in a more convenient location.

To get to Honored with the Scryers, you need to turn in Firewing Signets. The best way to get them is to head over to Terokkar's Firewing Point. These mobs, especially the casters, are very squishy, and you'll go through them like butter at high level 60s or 70. Being humanoid, they drop cloth and silver, as well as occasional greens. Bonus! Turn these in to the quest giver on the Scryer section of Shattrath.

For getting to Revered and Exalted, you need Sunfury Signets and Arcane Tomes. The various manaforges in Netherstorm have mobs for the signets (Blood Knights, Bloodwarders, any other Sunfury mobs). There are lots of forges to choose from, so finding one for yourself shouldn't be too hard. They all drop Sunfury Signets often enough to farm effectively. They will also occasionally drop the Tomes!

Don't forget, rep items can be bought easily. Everyone (you included) probably has rep items for the other faction. Don't junk or vendor them. Sell them, or trade them to other players. They're probably holding on to rep items they have no use for, too! Best place to look for deals like this Shattrath, in Terokkar.

Netherweb Spider Silk

Netherweb Spider Silk is needed in almost every Tailoring recipe above 350. This stuff is particularly hard to get (unless you read this!), so a lot of players resort to simply buying it.

Now, one good place to get it is in Terokkar Forest. My favorite spot is the little green strip of land on the East side of the Bone Wastes. Look for Allerian Stronghold on your map, and then follow the mountain range south, and you should see it. There are more spiders here than elsewhere in Terokkar. However, the drop rate is rather low, and it is very often farmed. But even a low amount of silk will sell for a pretty penny!

Now, if you happened to be able to go into the Caverns of Time, I suggest the Black Morass. Look for Blackfang Tarantulas. Like most non-elite instance mobs, they give no rep per kill. Worthless, right? Wrong! They have a decent chance of dropping Netherweb Spider Silk! And the best part is, there is no competition if you're farming in an instance. These mobs are only 67-69; very easy for a level 70 rip through. If you kill them all, just reset the instance. When you're bags are full, hit the Auction House. Don't be afraid to undercut the competition to sell! When you sell all of yours, that negligible loss of gold won't even matter. Happy farming!

Give Me Direction

It occurs to me that I have no idea what level my readers are. Should I focus more on 60+ info, 70 info, lower than 60, a mix of both? Give me direction, folks. With so much info available, I need a way to refine my posts! Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday -- it was the 4th of July, after all. I was out and about most of the day. Hope you all had a safe and happy 4th! No worse injury for a WoW player than losing a finger. =)

Skinning for Gold in Winterspring

Any area that has an excess of animal mobs is a great place to skin. Lately, Nagrand in Outlands has been getting a lot of attention, and rightly so, as it is simply amazing for high-level skinners.

But what if you aren't a high-level skinner? Where can you go to raise your skill quickly, and earn some decent gold at the same time? Try Winterspring! Shardtooth Bears (and Elder Shardtooths more specifically) can be skinned here for Rugged Leather and Warbear Leather. Remember what I mentioned in a previous post: lower level craft items sell even more well than higher ones, because there are simply more lower-level crafters. Head to Winterspring with some nearly empty bags, fill up, and go hit that auction house. Remember, if you're a Leatherworker too, you can turn that leather into other items that may sell even higher than the leather alone. Know your market, and do some research before unloading it all. And remember, let people KNOW it's for sale in the /trade channel!