Money Making in MoP

I'm starting out with a total of about 65k gold across my various characters (Kirin Tor, Alliance).

I've got three plans I'm pursuing:

Gathering.  I've already made about 3k gold just off of the herbs and ores I've gathered with Aeven in the first half of the Jade Forest.  The price per unit isn't sky high, but it's high enough that I expect farming ore and herbs for a while to be a decent money maker.  I've also got a good stockpile of Outland and Northrend ores and herbs that I'll be selling to folks leveling their Pandaren characters.

Materials.  Stuff that comes from killing mobs - primarily, cooking materials, enchanting mats and windwool cloth.  For now, if it's a cooking reagent, cloth, or something else usable by a profession, it's going on the auction house for the best price I can get.

Bags.  I've got enough materials for about 400 netherweave bags and 40 embersilk bags socked away on Laenshield.  While this won't make nearly as much money as gathering or selling materials, I expect it will generate a few thousand gold.

Once the prices for ores, herbs and other materials starts to trail off, I'll start stockpiling materials to level my own professions.  I'm not a raider, except very casually, so having the absolute best gear really isn't an immediate priority for me.  I'm hoping to get to 200k gold by the end of October - enough to fuel whatever initial pursuits might be interesting in MoP.

MoP: First Impressions

Scenarios are interesting.  Hopefully a little more challenging than the Theramore scenario was, though.

Pet battles are amazing.  I thought, "Oh, I'll just learn the skill on Aeven before I hit Pandaria and start gathering," and half an hour later, I had a couple of new pets and a fistful of new achievements.  I can definitely see moar pet battles in my future.

The intro to Pandaria is a bit linear, but I understand that was to help introduce the idea of the Sha and the reasons for the Horde/Alliance interest in Pandaria.  I'm OK with that, especially since it looks like from the second half of the Jade Forest on through the rest of the expansion there's a lot more freedom to accept or ignore quests.  I'll be plowing through with Aeven until I can hit max gathering skills, but I plan on slowing down and seeing everything with Aetherna.

The Sha look like interesting foes.  I'll need to be careful when I play through on Aeth and my other characters, though.  Ive got Aeven specced as protection, which means she can gather up and wear down a large number of enemies at once.  Some of the intro quests will be a bit trickier on a more squishy class.

Pandaria is obviously a land abundant in natural resources.  I've not really even left the starting area (Pado'shan village?) yet, and I've already hit 550 mining/herbalism on Aeven, with 3+ stacks of ghost iron ore and 2+ stacks of green tea leaves.  Note to self: next time, learn the new level of profession training before starting to gather.

The scenery is awesome.

A Maze Of Twisty Passages

The Pandas are coming... and with the 5.0.4 patch today, Cynwise has decided that the best thing you can do is to start over from scratch.

Well, not entirely - not until you have the chance to level yourself some Panda.  But for your existing characters?  There have been enough changes that is makes sense to clear off those menu bars and rebuild 'em.

From my time in the beta, I'd have to say this is a pretty sound bit of advice.  Things have changed drastically; instead of adapting, it's probably best to start over and build a new UI that you're comfortable with.

The Ultimate Gold Sink

Coming soon with Mists of Pandaria:  The Black Market auction house.

Looking for that rare mount?  Rare pet?  An old tier piece for transmog that you just can't seem to get that one boss to drop?

Keep your eyes on the Black Market.

Yoi!

From the UI, it looks like there's no "buy it now" option.  So when those Ashes of Al'ar show up, you don't just have to see it listed - you apparently have to be prepared for the ensuing bidding war.

Double yoi!

I don't see how they can do this, really, unless they implement a proxy bid system.  To do otherwise would be to invite the unbridled rage of millions of bidders...

The Snark Is Strong In This One

In Pandaria, when you get to the Valley of the Four Winds, one of the quests you can pick up is "Li Li's Day Off".  Li Li is a snarky little Pandaren, the niece of Chen Stormstout, and when Chen runs off to investigate an abandoned brewery, she asks you to help her see the sights in the valley.  As part of the quest, you get Li Li's Wishing Stone, which lets you summon her whenever you get to a sight she wants to see.  You will be tempted to hit a point, summon her, then dismiss her so you can be about your business.

Don't do it.

If she's accompanying you as you perform your other quests, she makes some amusing and truly, deeply snarky comments about the situations and things you encounter.

I liked Li Li when I first encountered her on entering the Valley; as time goes by, I'm just growing more and more fond of her.

For The Children

Children's Week is upon us, which means that it's time for The School of Hard Knocks to rear it's ugly head again.

Hey... it's For The Children.

As usual when it's something PvP related, I recommend that you turn to Cynwise.  If you're going to be in the BGs trying for your achievement, take a look at his guide for the event.  If you're a regular BG participant, you might want to consider his Modest Proposal.

Me?  I'm thinking that I'll drop in on a BG or two, just to lend a hand.  Not on Aeth, though, tempting as that might be.  Perhaps I'll get some starter PvP gear on Laenshield or Aretae or even Aeven and see what PvP as a different class feels like.

Scratch That... Apparently, I've Been REALLY Good!

Just got an invite to the Diablo III beta as well.

Looks like I'll be playing lots of games in the future!

...

Yes, yes, I know.  It's not like I wasn't going to do that anyways; but now I have a justification for it.