Classic Paladin Goldmaking Guide: The Best Ways to Make Gold

Earning gold is an incredibly important part of Classic WoW and will be very important for many things. There are large purchases that you will want to make, such as getting your epic mount or getting better gear from the Auction House. You will also have lots of reoccurring purchases, such as consumables for raiding and PvP. The bottom line is that gold is important, both for quality of life and getting important items to help your gameplay. One of the most important things to do once you hit Level 60 for the first time, or even before that, is to work to establish a gold-making source.

In Classic, there are no passive combat bonuses for choosing specific professions. This means that you are free to choose whatever you would like. Despite this, professions can be incredibly important for lots of things, and it is important to consider the possible benefits before choosing. Some professions are great for making gold, while some are more suited to helping you in actual gameplay.

Especially at the start, materials will be expensive. This is especially true for minerals, herbs, and skins that come from higher-level zones and enemies. Mining, Herbalism, and Skinning are all great choices early on, as they allow you to farm much-needed crafting materials yourself without having to buy them. This is a great way to level up a profession that uses those materials, such as going Mining and Engineering. As a Paladin, Mining will be your best option since you are most likely to pick up Blacksmithing as your crafting profession to make gear, if you want to make some of your own pieces at 60. Mining will pair great with Engineering or Blacksmithing, allowing you to be more self-sufficient and earn some reliable gold through farming ore.

One of the single most expensive materials in the game is Devilsaur Leather from the Devilsaurs in Un'Goro Crater. This is an important crafting material because it is used to craft Devilsaur Gauntlets and Devilsaur Leggings, which are best-in-slot items for some classes. If you choose to go Skinning and can reach Level 60 quickly, you can go farm these before they become heavily contested. After more people start to reach Level 60, Devilsaurs will be farmed by many people, and it will be extremely difficult to reliably find them. If you are on a PvP server, this can be especially dangerous, due to the groups that will form to find them on both factions.

Tailoring, Leatherworking, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy are all excellent choices for professions and can be quite profitable. Tailoring, Blacksmithing, and Leatherworking all craft important gear that people will want, while Enchanting and Alchemy can make consumables that are important for raiding and PvP. Alchemy especially has tons of important potions, elixirs, and flasks that are high in demand.

While not a profitable profession, Engineering can be very important for PvP and raiding. The different bombs and trinkets are very strong, making the profession worth considering if you want to be competitive at either PvP or raiding. Some higher-end guilds will require their members to have Engineering, with some even going as far as requiring Physical damage dealers to be Gnomish Engineers because of how good Gnomish Battle Chicken is.

Paladins are not a good solo class, especially for farming. Your kill speed is on the lower end of other classes, and while you can solo farm if you choose to, know that other classes like Hunters and Warlocks will simply be better suited for it.

Protection Paladins are one of the strongest classes in the game for mass pulling and AoEing down low level dungeons as Protection, due to Consecration and Holy Shield. They have the best tank AoE in the game, making them perfect for speed clearing low level dungeons to quickly level up alts. Many players will pay anywhere from 2-5g per clear of low level instances, and with 4 people being brought along, that quickly turns into a decent gold per hour rate, if you are clearing well. This is all in addition to just the normal gold and loot drops, which you can vendor for some extra gold.

For an example of what you can do, check out this Stockades clear done by Roly.

Tyr's Hand is an encampment in the Eastern Plaguelands that can be a very profitable farming spot for solo farmers. The Scarlet Archmages there have a chance to drop Formula: Enchant Weapon - Crusader, which is the formula for the most sought after weapon enchant that most melee use. The formula itself will sell for lots of gold, or if you are an enchanter, you can learn it to be able to use the enchant. Having the enchant is rare, enabling you to charge people decent amounts of gold to enchant their weapons. The enemies at Tyr's Hand also drop Runecloth, Major Healing Potion, and other useful items.

Essences, specifically Essence of Fire and Essence of Water, are a valuable resource for many crafting professions early on in WoW Classic. These can be a nice, relatively low effort way of farming gold if you are worried about being too under-geared to use some of the other methods. Essence of Fire can be farmed in Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, and Blackrock Depths from Fire Elementals in the zones. Similarly, Essence of Water can be farmed in Felwood, Winterspring, and Eastern Plaguelands from Water Elementals.