WoW Forever Gold Guide: Best Farms by Level, Scarce Materials and How to Afford Your Mount

Gold in WoW Forever is tight at the start. Everyone begins at level 1 on the same day, the auction house is empty, and most beta players reached level 40 between 10 and 30 gold short of their first mount. The players who are not short knew what to farm, where, and when to sell.

This guide is a map of the best gold farms in WoW Forever: the new Scarce materials that only Forever has, Waylaid Crates, fishing and pearls, cloth, leather and elemental farms for every level range, class farms and crafts that sell. Farms tested in the beta are marked; spots known from Classic are marked too, because Forever kept most of Classic's world. Checked on October 30, 2026; we update it after launch.

Contents

1. How gold works in Forever
2. Scarce materials: Forever's new gold farm
3. Waylaid Crates and Merchant's Favor
4. What sells in launch week
5. Fishing, cooking and pearls
6. Best farms by level
7. Class farms
8. Crafts that sell
9. How much gold you will have
10. The mount at 40: what we know
11. Best professions for gold
12. Costs to plan for
13. First 100 gold by level 40: a plan
14. Good to know
15. Frequently asked questions
16. Useful resources

How gold works in Forever

Auction house cut	5% on faction auction houses, 15% on neutral ones
Auction deposit	About 1 silver, hidden in the listing price (beta)
Who shares an auction house	Each faction and server type has its own, according to most reports
Mount at 40	Price not announced; the mount comes with the riding training
New currency	Merchant's Favor, from Waylaid Crates and profession crates
New materials	9 Scarce materials from Mining, Herbalism and Skinning
Death	The spirit healer costs 25% durability

Forever has no list of realms, so each auction house serves everyone on one server type in your region. Common goods have many sellers and get cheap fast; rare goods find a buyer quickly. That is why the new Scarce materials are the best money in the first weeks.

Scarce materials: Forever's new gold farm

Every herb, vein and skinned beast in Forever has a small chance to give a Scarce material, marked "Scarce" in the tooltip. There are nine: three per gathering profession. They are reagents for new recipes, so crafters need them and the supply is small. In the beta, Pristine Leather, Frilled Lichen and Pyrite sold for 2 to 4 times the price of normal materials.

Material	Profession	Where it drops	What it is for	Beta price
Pristine Leather	Skinning	Beasts of level 10-26; best in the Barrens	126 recipes: Leatherworking 80, Blacksmithing 30, Tailoring 16	69 silver to 1.8 gold
Pyrite	Mining	Copper, Tin, Silver veins and Iron deposits (Mining 1-125)	Sulfuric Acid for 45 recipes, 30 of them Blacksmithing	2 to 8 silver
Frilled Lichen	Herbalism	Low-level herbs	Enchant Weapon: Insight, Cerulean Dye, Tailoring at 260	80 silver to 2.1 gold
Bauxite, Pitchblende	Mining	Higher-level veins	New recipes; uses still being found	not tracked
Rosecap, Stranglevine	Herbalism	Higher-level herbs	New recipes and dyes	not tracked
Pristine Hide, Pristine Scale	Skinning	Higher-level beasts	New recipes	not tracked

Where to farm Pristine Leather. In beta loot records the Barrens gave 38%, then Wailing Caverns 11%, Darkshore 8%, Silverpine Forest 7%, Redridge Mountains 6% and Shadowfang Keep 6%. Three tested loops:

• The Barrens: plainstriders, zhevras and kodos around the Crossroads and Lushwater Oasis, levels 12-20.
• Westfall: boars around Saldean's Farm (about 56, 30). One player got two Pristine Leather from a single level 13 boar at Skinning 75.
• Silverpine Forest: Mottled Wolves on the coast near Fenris Isle, level 11. Horde quests leave many corpses unskinned, so a skinner can follow the questers.

Pyrite comes from the same veins you mine while leveling. Alchemists turn two Pyrite and an Empty Vial into Sulfuric Acid at Alchemy 50, and blacksmiths need it for 30 recipes. If you have both professions, sell the acid, not the ore.

The Legacy perk Bountiful Harvest raises your gathering yield; at 5/5 it doubles your chance of finding Scarce materials, so treat it as a bonus, not a plan.

Waylaid Crates and Merchant's Favor

Waylaid Crates drop from mobs across Azeroth, in the open world and in dungeons, with no fixed spawns. Each crate asks for profession materials; you fill it and turn it in for Merchant's Favor, which buys recipes, a Pack Kodo (6,000 Favor) and profession certificates (1,000 Favor).

• Alliance turn-in: Marcy Baker at the Azeroth Commerce Authority camp, Three Corners, Redridge Mountains.
• Horde turn-in: Dokimi at the Durotar Supply and Logistics camp, west of the Crossroads in the Barrens.

Two ways to profit: sell empty crates you will never fill (30 silver to 1.4 gold in the beta), and farm the materials the most common crates ask for, because every crafter chasing Favor needs them.

What sells in launch week

What	Why it sells	Beta price, October 13
Bags	Everyone wants four bags on day one	Journeyman's Backpack 24-58 gold, Small Silk Pack 63-85 silver
Scarce materials	Small supply, many new recipes	see the table above
Linen, Copper, Peacebloom, Light Leather	Every new crafter needs them	Linen 20-73 copper, Light Leather 47-66 copper per item
Food with +5% XP	Levelers buy it every hour	not tracked
Blue BoE items	The biggest single sales in the beta	70-250 gold for the best ones
Services	Warlock summons, dungeon quest handoffs	a few silver to 1 gold

The window for common goods is short: Linen, Copper, Peacebloom and Light Leather fell 40 to 70% within two weeks of the first wave in the beta. Sell those early; hold Scarce materials and blue items for buyers who need them.

Fishing, cooking and pearls

Fishing is slow to level but quiet money: nobody fights you for a fish school. Spots below are from Classic; Forever kept these zones and fish.

Catch	Where (Classic)	Turns into	Who buys
Deviate Fish	Oases of the Barrens: Lushwater, Stagnant Oasis, the Forgotten Pools	Savory Deviate Delight, a fun food that sells to collectors	Everyone, for the transformations
Oily Blackmouth	Coastal schools in Westfall, Darkshore and the Barrens coast	Blackmouth Oil	Alchemists
Firefin Snapper	The same coastal schools	Fire Oil	Alchemists
Stonescale Eel	Coastal schools in the Hinterlands, Feralas, Tanaris and Azshara (45+)	Elixirs and armor kits	Raiders at 60
Any fish with a +5% XP recipe	Wherever you level	+5% XP food	Every leveler

Clams and pearls. Murlocs and turtles on the coasts drop clams that open into pearls, a reagent crafters always need:

• Small Barnacled Clam → Small Lustrous Pearl: Westfall and Darkshore coasts, low level.
• Thick-shelled Clam → Black Pearl: Stranglethorn Vale and Desolace coasts, 30s-40s.
• Big-mouth Clam → Golden Pearl: Azshara, Feralas and Tanaris coasts, 45+.

Open the clam yourself: the meat is a cooking ingredient, and the pearl is worth more than the closed clam.

Best farms by level

The spots below come from Classic's world, which Forever kept. Forever added new quests and faster respawns in busy zones, which helps farming. We mark the farms that need checking after launch.

Levels 10-30: gather while you quest

Farm	Where	What you get
Pristine Leather loop	The Barrens, Westfall, Silverpine (see above)	Pristine Leather, Light and Medium Leather
Low veins	Elwynn, Durotar, Loch Modan, the Barrens, Westfall	Copper, Tin, Pyrite, stones
Herbs	Every starter zone, Silverpine for Briarthorn	Peacebloom, Silverleaf, Briarthorn, Frilled Lichen
Linen and Wool	Defias in Westfall (Moonbrook, the Jangolode Mine), gnolls in Redridge	Linen and Wool Cloth
Deviate Fish	Barrens oases	Deviate Fish

Levels 30-45: cloth and mid-level gear

Farm	Where	What you get
Silk	Lost Ones in the Swamp of Sorrows; the Syndicate at Stromgarde, Arathi Highlands	Silk Cloth, blue drops
Scarlet Monastery	Graveyard and Library wings, Tirisfal Glades	Silk and Mageweave, green and blue items to sell or disenchant
Mithril and Truesilver	Badlands, the Hinterlands, Stranglethorn	Mithril, Truesilver, solid stones
Black Pearls	Stranglethorn and Desolace coasts	Thick-shelled Clams

Levels 45-55: Mageweave, Thick Leather and the first essences

Farm	Where	What you get
Mageweave	Dark Iron dwarves in Searing Gorge, Gordunni ogres in Feralas, the Wastewander in Tanaris	Mageweave, Dark Iron Residue in Searing Gorge
Thick Leather	Yetis and beasts in Feralas, the Hinterlands	Thick Leather and hides
Elemental Fire	Fire elementals in Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes	Elemental Fire, Heart of Fire
Golden Sansam, Sungrass	Feralas, the Hinterlands	High-value herbs

Levels 55-60: Runecloth, essences and the high-end market

Farm	Where	What you get
Runecloth	Winterfall furbolgs in Winterspring, Deadwood furbolgs in Felwood, Scourge in the Eastern Plaguelands, Tyr's Hand	Runecloth, reputation items
Felcloth	Satyrs at Jaedenar and the Jadefire camps, Felwood	Felcloth, a raid tailoring material
Devilsaur Leather	Devilsaurs in Un'Goro Crater	Devilsaur Leather for the best physical-damage leather set; often contested
Elemental essences	Fire Plume Ridge in Un'Goro (fire), water elementals in Felwood and Azshara, rock elementals in Un'Goro (earth), the Plaguelands (undeath)	Essences of Fire, Water, Earth, Undeath and Living
Thorium and Arcane Crystal	Un'Goro Crater, Winterspring, Silithus, the Plaguelands	Thorium ore, the rare Arcane Crystal
Top herbs	Felwood, Un'Goro, Winterspring, the Plaguelands	Plaguebloom, Dreamfoil, Mountain Silversage, and the rare Black Lotus

At 60: quests pay gold

At level 60, quests give gold instead of XP, so any quest you skipped while leveling turns into income. Estimates of up to 60 gold an hour exist, but nobody has confirmed them for Forever yet.

Class farms

Some classes have farms the rest cannot copy. These are Classic methods; check them in launch week, because Forever changed some class talents and dungeons.

Class	Farm	Why it works
Rogue	Pickpocket humanoids in dungeons and camps; open lockboxes for other players	Lockboxes and coins from every humanoid, tips for opening boxes
Mage	Pull large groups of the same humanoid and kill them with area spells	Cloth and coin from many mobs at once
Hunter	Kite elites and solo farm routes that need a pet tank	Herbs and drops without a group
Warlock	Drain-tank humanoid camps with the Voidwalker	Steady cloth farming with almost no downtime
Any class	Solo Maraudon runs at 60 for the Princess	About 9 gold per run in Classic

Crafts that sell

Craft	Profession	Why it sells
Sulfuric Acid	Alchemy 50	Blacksmiths need it for 30 new recipes; made from Pyrite
Cerulean Dye	Alchemy	Sold for 1.7 to 4.7 gold in the beta
Linen, Wool and Silk bags	Tailoring	Everyone needs bags in the first weeks
Food with +5% XP	Cooking	Levelers buy it every hour
Healing potions	First Aid	First Aid now makes potions, so they sell to every class
Shards and dust	Enchanting	Disenchant green items that do not sell

How much gold you will have

Point in the game	Typical gold	Where the number comes from
Level 30	5-10 gold from a few hours of play	Beta players
Level 40	10-30 gold short of the mount, for most players	Beta players
1-60, no professions	100-400 gold in total	Classic experience
1-60, with gathering	1,000 gold or more	Classic experience

Class training eats more gold than most new players expect: one beta player went broke on skills by level 20. Buy only the spell ranks you use.

The mount at 40: what we know

Blizzard has not published the price yet. What is confirmed: as in Burning Crusade, the cost sits in the riding training, and the mount comes with the skill. Secondary sources quote 100 gold at 40 and 1,000 gold for fast riding at 60; players on Reddit expect about 80 gold for the skill plus 20 for the mount.

Paladins and warlocks get their mount from a class quest, and in the beta the warlock route was still cheaper than training. We update this section with the real price in launch week.

Best professions for gold

Two gathering professions are the safest start: on launch day the auction house is empty, raw materials sell before anything crafted, and only gatherers get Scarce materials.

Profession	Gold rating	Why
Skinning	S	Pristine Leather, the most used Scarce material, plus steady leather
Mining, Herbalism	S	Scarce materials and steady sales from day one; Herbalism is rated the best gatherer
Fishing, Cooking	S	Food with +5% XP and fish oils sell all the time
Enchanting	S	The only profession rated top for both power and gold
Alchemy	S	Potions, dyes, Sulfuric Acid and transmutes
Tailoring	A	Bags on day one, later Felcloth and Mooncloth
Engineering, Blacksmithing	A	Bombs any class can throw, armor and weapon upgrades
Leatherworking	B	Fewer buyers early, more with Pristine Leather recipes
First Aid	C	Useful, little profit

Pair	What sells
Skinning + Mining	Pristine Leather and Pyrite: two Scarce materials while you level
Mining + Herbalism	Raw ore and herbs, the most buyers at launch
Herbalism + Alchemy	Potions and dyes: Cerulean Dye sold for 1.7-4.7 gold in the beta
Skinning + Leatherworking	Leather and gear: Barbaric Bracers sold for 6-14 gold
Tailoring + Enchanting	Bags early, enchants and shards later

For picking a pair by class and goal, see Choosing a Profession in WoW Forever.

Costs to plan for

12-slot bag from a vendor	10 gold each, 40 gold for four
All 8 bank slots	786 gold in total; the last two cost 200 and 400
Reagent bag	Has its own sixth slot; 4-slot gathering bags from the start
Herbalism training	10 copper at 1, about 40 silver at 75
Class skills	The biggest early cost: buy only the ranks you use
Bartering (Legacy perk)	10% off vendor goods, not training or repairs
Frequent Flier (Legacy perk)	Flight paths cost half

First 100 gold by level 40: a plan

1. Learn Skinning and one more gathering profession in your starting zone: the first quest at level 3-4 gives the tool and the book.
2. Skin every beast up to level 25 and keep the Pristine Leather; sell normal leather early.
3. Pick up Waylaid Crates and sell the ones you will not fill.
4. Send every white or better item to the auction house instead of a vendor.
5. Buy only the spell ranks you use.
6. Make a bank character in a capital to list and collect auctions.
7. Keep blue BoE drops for the weekend, when more buyers are online.

Good to know

• Buying gold for real money is against Blizzard's rules. If you ever do, be careful and avoid large amounts at once.
• GDKP raids are against Blizzard's rules in Forever.
• Pay for carries directly. Gold that goes through a middleman can be removed.
• Bots buy cheap stacks within seconds, so undercutting by 1 copper does little.
• Vendor tricks are closed. Wand and crafted-item vendor prices were changed in October.
• The black market price is a ceiling. The 50 gold vendor price of Black Lotus and Arcane Crystal is the most anyone should pay.
• Check the price twice. A beta player bought a fish for 700 gold by mistake.

Frequently asked questions