Patch 4.2 Niche Market

Posted by The Lost Meeple at 8:00 AM

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Patch 4.2 Niche Market for Levels 77-79

The hard reset in itemization with the Cataclysm expansion has created a great niche market for selling BOE’s to leveling characters from 77-79. The level 80 requirement for quests in the Cataclysm zones and to queue for the new dungeons means that characters in the level 77-79 range can only get Cataclysm gear off of the Auction House. I regularly sell these items for 200g on my server, and some of the items can easily go for 500-800g.

Leveling in battlegrounds is fairly popular in this level range, and the level 77-79 Cataclysm greens are vastly superior to the alternatives. Most of the characters leveling in the 75-79 pvp bracket are still decked out in level 70 pvp epics. A few characters will have Northrend dungeon drops that are only marginally better. The few characters decked out in Cataclysm gear absolutely destroy everyone else. Winning battlegrounds in this bracket comes down largely to which team has more people with Cata gear. Aside from saving these items for the Auction House when you get them while leveling, right now is a great opportunity to get into this market.

With the upcoming 4.2 patch, a lot of people are going to be finishing up the quests in Hyjal to unlock the new content. The influx of people into the zone should temporarily increase the supply of the level 77-79 green BOE’s. Now is the time to pick up some of these items cheap if you didn’t earlier in the year. After the initial spike and tanking in the price when the expansion was released, prices have been steadily increasing as fewer people are spending time in Hyjal and Vash’jir. Based on the limited supply of these items on the Auction House, I would guess that most of these items are getting disenchanted. Even the less desirable greens sell for 200g on my server, and I sell almost all of them without having to repost. 

Barring a major change in the future to itemization in this level range, the risk is very low for buying these items cheap now. I expect these items to sell well throughout the current expansion and during future expansions. You can occasionally snatch these items from the Auction house for 20-30g when unaware players price them in the range of level 77-79 greens from Northrend, and I frequently flip Cata greens priced around 100g for 200g. It would not surprise me if the average price dropped down to 100g or lower temporarily after the 4.2 patch.

In my experience, the items that sell for the most are the level 77-78 greens with the appropriate primary stats for the majority of classes using the armor type (intellect for cloth, agility for leather, strength for plate). The level 79 gear will still sell, but not for the same premium as gear that can be used in this pvp bracket for more than one level. The blue dungeon-drop BOE’s are also likely to be a good long-term buy as more people move from the old dungeons to ZA/ZG for their valor points. Plate with strength tends to sell for the most since it seems to be more limited in supply on my server. Mastery isn’t useful as a stat until level 80, so items with mastery won’t sell for much of a premium. Although helms, cloaks, chest-pieces, and shoulder-pieces will sell well, gear for the other slots tends to sell for more since there aren’t any heirloom substitutes. Some people will sacrifice stats to keep the experience bonuses on the heirloom armor. 

The only items that don’t sell well are the rings since the crafted jasper rings are plentiful. Although the crafted blue quality rings will sell for 200g, I haven’t figured out yet if the market for the crafted green rings is worth the trouble. I’ve been able to craft and sell some of the green jasper rings for 30-50g, but too many don’t sell the first time and the AH deposits will quickly eat all your profits. 

If you aren’t making gold off of these items yet, now is a great time to get into this market. The 4.2 patch should create a great buying opportunity to flip these items in both the short-term and for the long-term.

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