Update: Jon Kenins, the guys who created the Gold Speed Run (and also the Massive WoW God Blueprint) is doing it again. You can see a short write-up here: 300k Gold in 30 Days, From Scratch

Here’s what I did last year:

The plan is  to see how easy, or hard, it is, I’ll hit 1k gold, in pocket, before 10/4/10. Starting date is 9/4/10. Just as a reminder, no heirlooms are involved, no high levels, no guilds or friends. This is all from scratch, with a level 1 banker, and brand new toons on a brand new server (Emerald Dream.)

The short version of what I’m doing is this:

Gather ores and skins to generate a starting cash flow. Use the cash to buy items of the Auction House that are underpriced and repost them at a higher price. I also buy limited items from various vendors and sell those. More than 90% of the gold I make will come from a few limited items and the buy/sell routine on the AH. Very little comes from gathering, though I also do that, partly for the stat buffs and/or heal.

• Day 1, intro
• Day 2, – 82 gold in pocket
• Day 3 – 127 gold in pocket
• Day 4 – 337 gold
• Day 5 – 358 gold
• Day 6 – starting at 492 gold in pocket, after collecting sales. 729 at end of the day.
• Day 7 – Ended with over 1,100 gold
• Day 8 – mostly taking the day off.
• Day 9 – ditto, but will do some stuff.

Is it worth the effort to wrap this up into a pdf, when I’m done? Is that something that anyone would have any interest in?

If you want to see how this is done, in high def video, all in the AH, with no grinding, no farming, and no high levels, then you should check out the Massive WoW Gold Blueprint. If you do it before Cataclysm hits then you’ll be well set to profit from all the changes. He’s already getting set for Cat. and the guide is regularly updated with new videos.

I’m reading through the forum posts of the finished speed runs. Geez. I’ll do version 2 of this sometime soon and I expect I’ll totally destroy the results of this run.

Now, if you’d like to earn your gold through means other than playing the Auction House game (and there’s plenty to be had) then check out this guy’s guide. It gives you a nice pile of non-AH options. It helps to have some high levels with this one, so if you do, you’re golden.

• Gold run Day 10 – Starting with 1370 gold in pocket.
• Day 11 – Linking to a guide on buying and selling pets
• Day 12 -  1700 gold. Gonna re-read my guides and see if I can come up with more interesting ideas. Maybe I can hit 10k by the end of the 30 days?
• Day 13 – Broke 2k gold.
• Day 14 – Nothing to see here, move along.
• Day 15 – Stats show over 4700 gold earned so far, though the in-pocket amount is a lot less. Added a fe remarks.
• Day 16 – Sent more to alts, made it all back and then some.
• Day 17
• Day 18 – Hit 3k gold
• Day 19 – Spent over 200g on stuff to resell. Highest toon is now 29.
• Day 20 – Mostly taking the day off. Rogue is now 31.
• Day 21 – Not doing much today since we have visitors
• Day 22 – Added a few remarks
• Day 23 – Visitors still here, so not much happening, but still broke 4k gold in pocket
• Day 24
• Day 25
• Day 26
• Day 27 – Broke 5k gold in pocket, highest character is a 32 Rogue.
• Day 28
• Day 29 – broke 6k gold today.
• Day 30 – all done, 6500ish gold in pocket, over 12k earned. Not even close to the experts.
• Beyond – I’ll update this page every now and them with the running gold total, especially since I’ll be keeping the toons that I’ve leveled on this server. All of level 34 as of this writing.

If I was going to do this over again? On a new server? Well, for one, I probably wouldn’t start any characters that I wanted to keep, since I have enough alts already. So I’d have a main banker, a gatherer (to get the seed money,) but that could easily be the banker. Level to 8 or 10 in the belf area, gather a ton of skins, ore, and small eggs, then get started at the AH. It’s easier with two, though, since you have limited bag space.

Another character can buy a port to Dalaran (after you earn a few gold,) leave your hearth in Dal, and then go from city to city via the portals to buy interesting items in those cities. Other alts could be parked in areas that are just quicker to log into, rather than fly/run/walk to. Tranquillen, for example. Log in, check for interesting items, mail, log out.

Have two accounts? Look into cross-faction trading. You will need an alt at a neutral Ah on each side.

Can you make a Death Knight? The make one and use it to clean out the lower level instances. You’ll make hundreds of gold in not a lot of time.

The GotWarcraft Gold Guide: Just the basics, but enough to get you going. Get a full-blown guide (below) if you want all the secrets and really want to be ready for Cataclysm gold making.

• Gold Guide main page
• Gold farming tips
• Your Auction House Alt (banker)
• Network of level 1 characters
• Limited items
• Gold from Professions
• Auctioneer notes – just some basics

Want well over 100 high def videos? Like the AH? Don’t have 80s?  Get the blueprint.

Don’t want to play the AH? Have 80s? Get all the secrets with the Hayden’s Guide.