Do you want a Shadowmourne or maybe you want full Beast no matter what it takes, or maybe invincible mounts? Even non-retail players like me sometimes log in to try to get it.

You could leave all those things to random chance. But I definitely prefer making smart investments right now to generate hundreds of thousands of WOTLK Classic Gold to buy the items of my dreams in Phase 4. I’ll cover the 10 best and worst investments to make you rich in Icecrown Citadel.

Investment 10 (Best Investment) - Jormungar Scales

Starting in at number 10, we have Jormungar Scales.

There are a bunch of new 264 crafted item level pieces that require various materials just like the Crusader Orb gear. One crafting item you may have forgotten is the Jormungar Scales. These will be used in two different new recipes (Blessed Cenarion Boots & Legwarps of Unleashed Nature) in Phase 4 and they’re currently rock bottom on my server.

I plan to buy around 5,000 of them, though I don’t plan to buy more. The reason for that is that they have pretty high vendor value. That means you could get saddled with a bunch of posting fees if they don’t sell.

Investment 9 (Bad Investment) - Titansteel Bars

At number nine, we have a bad investment, Titansteel Bars.

Right now, the total cost of supplies for a Titansteel Bar is about 40 gold on my server. Meanwhile, the bars are selling for about 200 gold each.

You may even have a few Titansteel Bars sitting around and you think they’ll hold value throughout the expansion, but not so fast. In Phase 4, the Titansteel Bar cooldown will get removed. That means the price of these bars will tank to be much closer to the material prices.

Also Read: WotLK Classic: Level 80 Crash Rookie's Guide

Investment 8 (Best Investment) - Northern Spices

At number eight, we have Northern Spices.

I definitely over invested in Northern Spices three months ago and maybe this is a cry for help. But we’re nearly a year into Wrath and there’s no way the average player is doing the cooking dailies anymore.

The problem I see right now is that barely anybody dies in ToC. That means food usage is at an all-time low. Unlike ToC, I’m predicting ICC will be a very hard three hours plus raid. I just have to imagine Northern Spices will go up at least 30% in the next four months.

Investment 7 (Best Investment) - Eternal Earth & Eternal Shadow

At number seven, we have Eternal Earth and Eternal Shadow.

There are new arrows (Iceblade Arrows) and bullets (Shatter Rounds) added with the Ashen verdict reputation in Phase 4. Honored reputation will allow you to purchase one of the two new recipes for one Primordial Saronite.

Just think of the Primordial Saronite like the new Crusader Orb. With 1. Gnomish Engineering, you can take two Crystallized Shadow and make a thousand Iceblade Arrows. Meanwhile, with Goblin Engineering, you can take two Crystallized Earth and make 1,000 Shatter Rounds.

As for which specialization to choose for max profit, I’d say way fewer people are Gnomish right now. That means making the arrow seems like the smart play. I’m definitely going to be investing heavily in both these eternals and even making the ammo myself since it should be a great gold maker.

Investment 6 (Best Investment) - Abyss Crystals

At number six, we have Abyss Crystals.

Abyss Crystals are rock bottom right now and people definitely forget how necessary they are for enchanting. As world tours dry up, Abyss Crystal should stabilize and rise in price again. That is, of course, unless we get a new Titan Rune Gamma mode with even more epic drops.

Of course, you shouldn’t forget the Abyssal Shatter, which just came out of this phase as well. That can be profitable by generating Greater Cosmic Essence depending on the prices.

Investment 5 (Best Investment) - Frozen Orbs

At number five, we have Frozen Orbs or Frozen Orbs are either going to be good or terrible depending on your server prices.

There’s a new NPC named Frozo in Phase 3 and it’ll turn your Frozen Orbs into Eternals or Crusader Orbs. It’ll take six Frozen Orbs to create one Crusader Orb.

Currently, on Faerlina, a Runed Orb from last race is 150 gold. I’m going to operate under the assumption that Crusader Orbs will hold value similar to Runed Orb’s next phase. That means it would be profitable to invest in Frozen Orbs under 25 gold each, but under 20 would be even better.

Investment 4 (Best Investment) - Dream Shards

The number four best investment you can make is Dream Shards.

Dream Shards are required for a lot of relevant enchants, like Superior Spellpower for bracers and Mighty Spellpower for weapons. Typically, you’d be getting a lot of Dream Shards from Heroic Dungeons. But pretty much everybody does Heroic Plus now where all you get is purples.

Sure, you could do the Saronite Shuffle and generate shards that way. But I’d wager a lot fewer people are going to be doing that in the next four months. That means Dream Shards should rise in price throughout the rest of the expansion.

Investment 3 (Best Investment) - A Network

At number three, we have invested in a Network.

This is more of a plan than just an investment. But you should definitely invest in a Network of players to do the Ashen Verdict reputation farming with.

It is certainly possible there won’t be epic drops from the early trash mobs. But if there are, you can bet the initial profit will be over 20,000 gold per hour. Finding a tank will always be the hardest part. So, if you can gear out Paladin or a Death Knight right now, it’ll make things a lot smoother.

I’d also recommend trying to lock down a Healer or two before the face even drops and offer them a percentage of the profit. I even plan to practice the trash farming on the PTR whenever it comes out to ensure things go really smoothly.

Investment 2 (Best Investment) - Raid Consumables

The number two best investment you can make is Raid Consumables.

Icecrown Citadel is a really hard raid and the heroic mode bosses are definitely above the level of Ulduar. That means Runic Mana Injectors, Wild Magic, Fish Feasts and everything is going to spike in price the first few weeks.

Right now, consumables like Fish Feasts are only five gold on my server. But I could easily see them at eight or nine on lunch day.

Just think of what Raid Consumables were expensive the first few weeks of Ulduar and stockpile thousands of them. A bonus tip is that I have Alchemy on and all, so I’m slowly making potions of speed whenever the materials are cheap.

Investment 1 (Best Investment) - You

But the number one investment you can make for profit is in yourself.

This investment is really centered all around Primordial Saronite. we unfortunately can invest in futures on Primordial Saronite, but we can prepare to generate as much as humanly possible.

Primordial Saronite is used not only for crafting BOEs but for the new recipes and it’s even featured in the new Shadowmourne questline. That means for the first two weeks it’ll hold value over 3,000 gold per saronite.

You can get the saronite from 23 Emblems of Triumph or from the Icecrown bosses. That means the real investment is having more characters to raid the first few weeks. The more alts you invest in, the more weekly quests you can do, and the more emblems you can farm in raids to acquire those saronite to sell in the Auction House.

Of course, if you think it is too time-consuming and labor-intensive to make gold through the above methods, you can choose to buy gold a lot directly on this website.

Please note: If you use the coupon code “Lich”, you can also get a 3% discount.