Lesson #3: Trash to Treasure

Hi Mom! You asked about how to prevent Jolynne going broke, so I decided to tailor this next lesson to answering your question.

Making money on Warcraft can be a whole mini-game in itself. I studied it for months (literally) so that I wouldn't be broke all the time, have enough to gear myself up decently, work the Auction House and have enough left over to lend to guildmates and friends. I finally achieved that and now I don't have money problems in-game. But I don't expect you to go through all that -- besides, there's no need at your level.

The first and best thing you can do for yourself is learn to buy and sell, and then sell everything you don't need. Vendors are the first step to not being broke. Get the biggest bags you can afford so you can fill them up when you quest, then sell everything you don't need to the vendors. Any vendor will buy anything from you. You don't have to go to the food vendor to sell food, or to the armour vendor to sell armour, or anything like that.

In lieu of this I've already sent you four Netherweave Bags in the mail. They have 16 slots each, so that's 4 x 16 spaces for you to use. Jolynne will be able to pick them up at the mailbox, which is located just outside the door of the inn. The mailbox looks like a big brown and grey...er...box, with a metal block on top. You see it as you're coming down the outside steps of the inn. Right-click it to retrieve your mail, and then click on the individual items to transfer them into your backpack. You'll have to make sure that you have enough spaces in your backpack, which brings me to my next point.

Keep your bags as empty as possible at all times (which usually means making sure you sell junk you don't need to a vendor as often as possible). Nothing is worse than questing and being unable to get something in your bag because of all the other stuff crammed in there. A good rule of thumb is, when you've completed a series of quests, head back to the inn and empty your bags at the same time as you buy more food. Also, get in the habit of emptying out your bags just before you log out. That way you always have lots of space. Remember: Any vendor will buy anything you want to sell.

Items are colour-coded in order of usefulness. Grey items are junk, period -- they do nothing for you. They're also called "vendor trash" because the only thing they're good for in most cases is to sell to a vendor so you can make a little money. You will collect many grey items as you do quests, and right now that's going to be your main source of income. (Well, besides the extra spending money I'll send you, that is -- which will also be in the mail.)

You can tell if something is a grey item because the name of it will be written in grey. The item itself probably won't be, but the name of it will be in grey letters.

White items can be useful. Notice the word "can". You have to decide if you want to use it or not. If not, sell it to a vendor. Be careful though, as some quest items are white. Like the greys, white items just have their names in white. Most quest items cannot be sold anyway, but some can. More on that later.

Right now, the majority of the items that you find during questing will be grey or white.

Green items are usually good IF you can use them. This is especially true for armor and weapons. As a hunter, you are restricted to only being able to wear cloth and leather gear. Anything that's mail or plate you will not be able to equip, so if you get those, sell them to a vendor. Green items have their names written in bright green. The Netherweave bags I sent you have their names in green. When you go to use them (i.e. right-click on them), you will get a window saying something like "This item will become soulbound. Continue?" Then Accept/Decline.

Soulbound means you can use that item or put it on your character, but when you stop using it you will not be able to sell it. All you can do is replace it. So be careful before you accept a green or higher-level item. You can accept my bags though. ;-)

Sometimes players will pay more than vendors for green items, but not at your level. You don't start making money selling greens to players until you're around level 15 or so. You probably won't see green items through questing for another few levels.

Blue items (name of item written in blue) you won't see for quite awhile yet because they are rare and level-restricted, but if you do, they are very good and are also usually worth a lot of money. These are also soulbound if used. You want to sell these to players rather than vendors, as players will usually offer more money for them. If you get a blue item, let me know and I'll sell it for you.

Purple items you definitely won't see (unless they're on another player), but they are the best items in the entire game and are worth tons of money. For this reason, they are also called "epics". They also become soulbound once used.

Don't ever sell unused blue items or purples to a vendor unless you have no other choice! You want to sell those on the Auction House, because other players will pay premium prices for them, sometimes thousands of gold for one piece of armour. So just let me know if you get any and I'll take care of the transaction for you, since learning the Auction House can be confusing and intimidating for a new player.

So to recap:

Name in Grey = Vendor Junk.
Name in White = Common. Possibly useful. Worth a small amount to either vendors or (maybe) other players.
Name in Green = Unusual. Likely useful. Worth more money to vendors and players. Becomes soulbound (unsellable) if used by a player.
Name in Blue = Rare. Very useful. Worth so much money you do NOT want to sell to a vendor, because players will buy it for more. Becomes soulbound if used.
Name in Purple = Epic. Best items in the game. Never sell to a vendor as players will bankrupt themselves to buy it. Becomes soulbound if used.

Items are usually worth more depending on type. Plate and mail items are worth more than leather or cloth. Swords, staves and maces are worth more than daggers or wands. If you keep this rough guide in mind, then you can exploit questgiver rewards to line your pocketbook faster. Example:

Say you've finished a tough quest and the questgiver offers you a reward of either a sword or a wand. You can't use either of them, but you have to pick one to finish the quest. The smart thing to do is take the sword, because you can then run back to your friendly vendor and sell it for more money than if you chose the wand.

Another trick is to take your mouse and hover over the item. If you look carefully, a little window will pop up that tells you the item's worth in coins. You look for the line that says something like "Sell: 1s 33c" (which means it's worth one silver and 33 copper if you sell it to a vendor). So if you don't know which is the more expensive item, hover over them and it'll tell you. Then just pick the one with the highest sell price.

Finally, if you make a mistake and sell something you didn't intend to, don't panic! If you look at the bottom of the vendor's big window that has all his items, there's a tab marked Buyback. Click that tab and another window opens that shows you the last few items you sold to a vendor. (That's all the items you sold to any vendor, not just the one you're standing in front of.) Right-click the item you didn't mean to sell, and you can buy it back from the vendor at the same price you sold it.

I know that was a lot of info, but save it and refer back to it when needed. Pretty soon this will be all automatic, honest!

Now I'll go online and send you a little spending money, to make up for making you buy all that stuff in the last lesson.