When there’s a new patch, you can find new farming opportunities but there are some risks involved with it. You’ll be making the decision on what to farm on your own. I might post a couple of tips after the Ulduar Patch but not on the day of release itself. For now you can read the PTR patch notes to find out what’s in store. For the Ulduar Patch, skinners should stack up on Icy Dragonscales. This is where you can get the most gold from.

Mistakes cannot be avoided. You might see an item get a stat boost and think that it could be your gold source but you missed out on a new item that’s coming with the patch that could make the improved item obsolete. When that happens, you’ll be stuck with storage full of useless items.

But if you carefully read the patch notes, you’ll be able to come up with the best strategy for gold making. You can decide on where to farm and which mobs to grind on. That way you’ll be able to stock up on the item and make the most gold once the patch arrives. A classic example is when a particular recipe will be given a boost on its stat bonus but the drop rate of one of its mat would be nerfed down. A wise man would farm for the particular item before the patch arrives and sell his stock after the implementation of the patch.

Once the patch goes live, the price of the item will rise up. This is due to the rise of the demand of the said item and the lowering of the drop rate will make it rare. When that situation comes, you should control the Auction House by buying items placed cheaper than the market value and placing limited stocks out there. That’s how a good marketer would work the AH.

At present, Leatherworkers need Icy Dragonscales to craft eight items such as Icescale Leg Armor, Icy Scale Belt, Icy Scale Boots, and Icy Scale Chestguard. There seem to be an abundant supply of these items in the Auction House that they become cheaper each day. Most raiders have these items already in their inventory.

You can build up your supply of Icy Dragonscales by playing the Auction House. Buy out those selling lower than the current value. If you’re a skinner and you don’t have any gold to spare, then farm for this item. You can head to the Azure Front in Crystalsong Forest where you can find a good number of dragonkins. This area is located just south of Dalaran. If you can get a group going, Violet Hold is a good place to skin for Icy Dragonscales.

Once Patch 3.1 will be implemented, expect the price of Icy Dragonscales to rise 200 to 300 percent. This is because there are new Leatherworking recipes that would require this item. And because Dual Spec is being implemented as well, expect the demand for Icescale Leg Armor to pick up as well.

Expect the price of Icy Dragonscales to go up in day one of the patch. Then once people catch up with what’s happening, the market will be flooded with under cutters. The price might go down back to 1gold each. When the price goes lower than present value, buy them out. This will regulate the price.

The market would be flooded for a week and it will increase all throughout the week after the patch. Be sure not to flood the market and post just two to three stacks a day. That way you’ll see where the market is going and see your profit going in. Greed is not an option during these times.

The downside to this is that the demand for Icy Dragonscales will not be consistent. Your target market would be the casual players in your realm because raiders would be able to get items by running raids with their guild.

Just like the Primals of TBC, Eternal is made up of ten crystallized elementals. For example, to make Eternal Fire, which is by far the most expensive one in my server at 30gold, you need to have ten Crystallized Fires.

On any given time, Eternals sell for a lot of gold in the Auction House. But they are also the most volatile market around. Prices would depend on the supply. They might be cheap today but tomorrow would be a different story. I saw Eternal Earth dropped to 3gold a piece but today it’s up to 9gold each.

Because Wintergrasp is a PVP zone, players would automatically be flagged for PVP when one goes into it. This is also true in PVE servers. If you fly into Wintergrasp, you will be dismounted as well. Flying mounts could not be used here, only land mounts.

To fully get Wintergrasp’s gold potential, you must farm for elementals when your faction owns Wintergrasp. This is because at that point Elemental Revenants could be seen by WG’s owners. Every elemental have their Revenant version except that for life. Maybe it’s Blizzard’s subtle reminder that players need to get a life outside the World of Warcraft.

For Crystallized Air, the southern part of WG is home to the Tempest Revenants. Just hug the bottom border of Wintergrasp to find them. For Crystallized Earth, the Earthbound Revenants can be found in the middle of the map. A good concentration is around (56, 54).

In the west (16, 50) is where you can find the Shadow Revenants for your Crystallized Shadow needs. For Crystallized Fire, the place to go is at the east (84, 70) where there’s a number of Flame Revenants mixed with fire elementals as well. If you need Crystallized water, Water Revenants are found in most pools and frozen lakes around Wintergrasp.

If you’re looking to get some life (Crystallized Life that is), then go to the Steppe of Life. There you can find the Living Lashers. There’s no Revenant available for this mob and the drop rate for Crystallized Life is around 26%.

There is still a market for Fel Armaments and Marks of Sargeras these days. Death Knights going for achievements would still want to get exalted with the Aldors. Plus, there are still some people who might not have encountered the Sons of Hodir yet.

As it was during the Burning Crusade, the best spot for me is located at the Legion Hold of the Shadowmoon Valley. Even a decently geared level 70 can make minced meat out of the Shadow Council Warlocks with their 5k+ HP. Plus, you will not run out of them because of their fast respawn rate. Just be careful of the wandering elite but a max level character can easily take care of those elites.

Not only will you be looting Aldor rep items but you’ll be getting lots of Netherweave cloths as well. This cloth is still in demand as well with all the Death Knights leveling their First Aid skills. And don’t forget the Tailors who require this type of cloth for their crafted items.

You could also try the Arklon Ruins in Netherstorm. This would be a good spot if you’re a skinner. The Artifact Seekers found in the area can be skinned for Knothide Leather. These are easy kills and in just an hour you can loot around 1 stack of Fel Hide, two to three Fel Armaments, 30 to 40 Marks of Sargeras, and a couple of greens. Manacasters though show be aware of the manaburn these mobs are capable of doing.

If you’re looking for Scryer rep items, then go to the Southern ramp before going to the Black Temple. You’ll know you’re there when you see lots of Black Elves lined up waiting to be killed. These mobs have a decent respawn rate as well. You’re only downside would be going back to the bottom of the hill once you’ve killed every single one of them.

Aldor and Scryers might be the thing of the past but they can still be worth something. Check your Auction House to see if there are competitions in this market. You might be lucky if you can have the monopoly for these in your server.

There’s an area in Zim’Rhuk where you can find Level 76 to 77 Elite Guardians of Zim’Rhuk. They have the same drop rate for Crystallized Earth as the Revenants in Wintergrasp. That means the Guardian of Zim’Rhuk has a 30% chance to drop the coveted item.

Don’t let their elite status scare you. At max level, you can easily bring their 33K HP to zero fast. They are soloable by any cast. Just watch out for Whammy, which is a watered down version of the Shaman’s Hex. Just to be sure it is advisable to have a PVP Trinket with you so that you can pop out of the Hex.

The Guardians of Zim’Rhuk are spaced just right to avoid unnecessary adds. You can go around the area with no problem. You can loot ten Crystallized Earths in less than two minutes. That means you can make one Eternal Earth every two minutes. What’s nice about the Guardians of Zim’Rhuk is that they would respawn when all the guardians are down.

You might be wondering why anyone would waste their time farming for something that’s considered the cheapest when compared to its other Elemental cousins. In my server Eternal Earth sells for 4 to 7 gold at any given time. That’s definitely low compared to Eternal Fire’s 20g a piece price tag.

What you need to do is to talk to a Jewel Crafter and Enchanter friends. You can ask your Jewel Crafter friend to make Stoneguard Band for you. It requires two Eternal Earths. Once you have a couple of Stoneguard Bands made, make an Enchanter friend to disenchant them for you. You can get two to five Infinite Dusts, one to two Greater Cosmic Essences or a Dream Shard.

If you average one Eternal Earth per two minutes, in an hour you can make 15 Stoneguard Bands. Depending on your server’s Auction House, you can get at around 100 to 400 gold for your effort. As you can see, selling raw Earth is not the way to go. You can even check the AH for cheap Crystallized Earths or Eternal Earths and have them made into the ring and disenchanted for dusts.