Ok so I don't always buy my alts the best gear in the world...
I decided to finally sit down and write about the top ten items I see rising in price during the upcoming Cataclysm Expansion that you can start stockpiling immediately. In the comments section feel free to naysay any of my top ten or suggest your own additions you deem better than my own list.
Item #1: Saronite Ore
I spoke about stockpiling saronite ore for cataclysm already on
Ferraro’s blog, but let me reiterate the main reason to start stocking up on saronite: Transmute Titanium. Alchemists (and there will be a lot of new goblin alchemists) are going to be chomping at the bit for fast, sure fire skill ups getting those last few skill ups before they can use the new cataclysm materials. Transmute titanium is the answer to all their leveling issues.
Economic Analysis: Saronite ore can be purchased for near vendor price currently which means that there is very little risk behind buying the ore and crafting it into bars while preparing for the expansion. Low risk, Medium reward.
Item #2: Pets
With the changes to Azeroth scheduled to be released when cataclysm goes live, it is possible that several vendor pets and rare drops could
disappear forever. Two examples of the pets I’m referring to would be the black tabby cat or ancona chicken. Since these items will sell even if a vendor is added to stormwind and orgrimmar (there are plenty of vendor items that sell for 200-400% markup!) there is almost no risk involved in stockpiling pets for cataclysm. With all those new characters I’m sure there will be a quite a few achievement hunters among them.
Economic Analysis: Since pets will sell regardless of who sells them you will get at least some money back in the worst case scenario and have priceless pets in the best case scenario since the playerbase will no longer have a source to get more of them. Medium risk, High reward.
Item #3: Netherweave Bags
Netherweave bags ALWAYS sell. I have no doubt in my mind that the market for these will explode when the first goblins and worgens step foot inside the auction house.
Economic Analysis: 99.99999% chance of profit stockpiling these beauties. Low risk, High reward.
Item #4: Infinite Dust
This item falls into the category of leveling materials that what will be required to reach the skill ups necessary for cataclysm level enchanting. I expect that they will rise in price over the course of the expansion to sit around the 4.5 gold mark per dust. With inflation it could get even higher and since you can occasionally find dust as cheap as 50 silver this is an easy investment with very little risk involved.
Economic Analysis: The price cannot possibly get lower on infinite dust as it is going to be required to level up efficiently prior to cataclysm skill ups in the expansion. Low risk, High reward.
Item #5: Lesser Cosmic Essences
Greater Cosmic Essences sell for about 20 gold each and their lesser cousins for approximately 9 gold each today. I expect these to go up to around 30 gold for greaters and 15 gold for lesser. Pure speculation based entirely on guesswork, it could turn out that infinite dust is all you need to level through the wotlk skill ups in cataclysm in which case saving these would be pointless.
Economic Analysis: Chances are the lessers will still be very valuable in cataclysm but be accepting of the fact that you may take a loss with this investment! High risk, Medium reward.
Item #6: Cobalt Bars
Cobalt is going to be essential for engineering and blacksmithing leveling (jewelcrafters will most likely prospect the cheaper saronite ore unless of course no one entering saronite zones in cataclysm because they stay in starter wotlk zones changes that). Having a healthy stockpile will probably net you decent returns in Cataclysm and if you asked me to guess… oh you are asking me? Ok well in my humble and experienced opinion cobalt bars will sit around 50 gold per stack in the expansion.
Economic Analysis: Medium risk, High reward.
Item #7: Alchemy Leveling Kits
Ok so this really is a collection of items but the idea is that you gather all the materials needed to powerlevel someone from 1 to 450 alchemy and you sell it. The only problem is that leveling requirements and recipes could change drastically in cataclysm. There’s no guarantee that your stockpile will even work! However, the rewards for doing this are massive, in saving someone the time to gather the materials themselves they will often be willing to pay THOUSANDS of gold more than the items are worth as a whole. I’ve sold alchemy and blacksmithing kits for 4k profit and come cataclysm I wouldn’t be surprised to see kits worth 2.5k going for 7-8k gold easily.
Economic Analysis: High risk, High reward.
Item #8: Enchanting Scrolls for BOA Gear
Low level characters wearing their fancy smancy BOA gear have no reason NOT to enchant it. Although many people have boa gear already, there is still the chance that they decide to create a character on a new realm or a class which does not have the BOA gear already. In either scenario they will need enchants and lots of them! Popular ones will be speed to boots, enchant chest health, enchant chest mana, firey, crusader and spell power to weapon. There’s still plenty of time before cataclysm to get a healthy supply of these into your guild bank and ready for the wave of new levelers eager to enhance their characters.
Economic Analysis: Low risk, High reward.
Item #9: Borean Leather
This is an item I’ve not seen anyone talk about when preparing for cataclysm. That’s a good thing too for people wise enough to start stockpiling it today as I predict prices for borean leather will reach the 35-55 gold mark per stack during the expansion. Right now it goes for about 20 gold a stack so that’s a pretty nice profit margin if I’m right! No matter what the price should remain as high as it is today so you will at worst break even or at best double your money.
Economic Analysis: Low risk, High reward.
Item #10: Crystallized Water and Earth
These are super cheap right now (buy in eternal form, not crystallized since it’s cheaper) and are needed by engineers to level engineering into the cataclysm skill up range. Again, this is an item I’ve not seen anyone suggest stockpiling and I expect it to be quite valuable come cataclysm, maybe even 1-3 gold per crystallized element. Considering the fact that these go for less than 50 silver that’s quite a lot of profit! The only downside is that if these don’t sell you will pretty much be stuck with them as they won’t be necessary for any other leveling professions when cataclysm hits.
Economic Analysis: Medium risk, High reward
