Just prior to the release of Patch 5.3-Escalation, I posted some thoughts on what would be selling on the Auction House and some general gold making tips. In this post I thought it would be useful to see how well my predictions panned out and what’s been making gold in patch 5.3-Escalation over the past few week.

There is normally an increase in Auction House activity across many markets just after a patch and I made sure I had stocks of material sitting in the bank to take advantage of the surge in demand on my server. My main profit came from the following markets:

Alchemy – mainly transmutation and some potions

Jewelcrafting – cut and uncut gems; rings and necks

Enchanting

Engineering

Flipping Cataclysm greens

Best Sellers

Demand for all types of gem was up just after the patch increasing the price and scarcity of Uncommon Pandaren Gems:

Panarian Garnet

Roguestone

Alexandrite

Lapus Lazuli

Sunstone

Tiger Opal

With Pandarian Garnet and Tiger Opal as the best sellers. I sold out of gems very quickly leaving me with a great profit.

Uncut Rare Pandarian Gems

Just prior to Patch 5.3 my Alchemist managed to scour the Auction House for cheap or market price Golden Lotus – around 40-50g per item on my server for general gem transmutation and potion crafting. I must have bought up around 5 stacks. After the patch the demand spiked for this herb and prices soared to 80-100g per item. I made good use of my pre-patch supplies and used them to transmute my remaining Uncommon Pandarian gems to Rare Pandarian gems:

Primordial Ruby

Imperial Amethyst

River’s Heart

Sun’s Radiance

Wilde Jade

Many of these gems I sold uncut giving me on average a profit margin of 50% to 70%. Some Rare gems I also transmuted to Primal Diamonds which I also sold for a greater profit of around 150% to 180%.

Changes to PVP Resilience

Patch 5.3 made changes to PvP Resilience. I thought this would increase demand for those gems and enchants that increased this attribute. Examples included:

Mystic Sun’s Radiance (+160 PvP Resilience)

Stormy River’s Heart (+160 PvP resilience)

Vivid Wild Jade (+80 PvP Resilience, +80 PvP Power)

While I had some sales of these gems at above market price, demand was never that great. Instead sales of gem cuts that increased attributes of Intellect, Strength, Stamina and Critical Strike all did better.

It should be noted that I didn’t cut any of these gems. Just before the patch I snatched very cheap gem cuts direct from the Auction House at around 15-20g per item and resold them for 100-120g, such was the demand at the time. Now, the the Auction House is once again saturated with cheap cuts of these gems and I have abandoned this market until things have stabilized.

Potions, Elixirs and Flasks

I sold a wide assortment of Potions, Elixirs and Flasks after the patch but my best sellers were:

Potion of Treasure Finding

Potion of Luck

Flask of the Earth

Flask of the Warm Sun

Living Steel

I had anticipated increased in demand for Living Steel and had bought up some below market bars for around 300-350g. I sold out on the first few days for a profit of around 100g a bar.

Enchanting

My Enchanter did a brisk trade but the Enchant Chest – Super Resilience (+200 PvP) didn’t sell as expected and prices remained below market. I listed only a few items so nothing lost.

Other best selling scrolls:

Enchant Chest – Glorious Stats

Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step

Enchant Weapon – Windsong

Just before the patch I invested in some cheap Abyss crystals. These I shattered into:

Infinite Dust

Greater Cosmic Essence.

I sold out of these items very early on after the patch.

Cataclysm Greens

I ‘ve been flipping Cataclysm Greens for a while now. I simply scan the Auction House for Lvl 77-80 greens at around 30-40g and flip them for 300-400g on my server. Trading of these items was brisk after the patch and I sold most of my backlog of inventory held in the bank.

Engineering

My Engineer had been busy before the patch mining Ghost Iron Ore to turn in Ghost Iron Bars for the crafting of the Ghost Iron Dragonling and assorted Tinker’s Gears. I crafted about 5 Trinkets and about 50 gears and sold out after a few days.

So there you have it. I hope you had some success making gold with the new patch. Be sure to listen to the Journal of Marcus Podcast where I’ll be discussing these and other gold making strategies in Patch 5.3-Escalation.