Mats Speculation for Cataclysm

[Kalyse]

I will be posting a list of the materials which I am stockpiling in a new thread when I get the time to compile it all. At the moment I just do searches and buy out anything I can think of but I want to create a routine from now up until Cataclysm of things I should be snatching up..


Currently my Altaholic says I have :

Quantity / Item / Snatch Price (Stack)
5000 Netherweave 3G.
2000 Silk Cloth 1.8G
300 Wool Cloth 5G
700 Silverleaf 7G (I may be paying way too much for this)
500 Peacebloom 7G
200 Briarthorn 7G
1200 Linen Cloth 1.2G


If you can think of anything please throw out suggestions. I will add them to the list which I will share within the next few days.
I will also share the Auctioneer Snatch Code which you can all copy and paste into your Auctioneer .lua

I want to know Ores, Leathers, Northrend Herbs which will increase, including Northrend cloth? Will Frostweave see a boost?

[Ualaa]

Tried to do one of these posts here: http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=32795
I like the title of your post, as it specifies item speculation, which was my intention.

I've decided on a budget of 100k, for my speculation.
A small portion of that has been used to create five new alts, each purely for banking. So I have five level 2's, each the sole member of their own three-bank-tab guild. I already had two guild banks. That gets me 21 x 98 = 2058 slots/stacks for speculation.



Almost everything at level 80, will likely follow the BC/WotLK trend of becoming virtually worthless overnight.
To that end, I'm slowly liquidating anything that can be sold.
This includes level 80 starter gear, for three teams that aren't 80th yet, as Quest 81/82/83 items will likely surpass this gear.
I plan to have no surplus flasks (each team will retain some for a leveling edge), level 80 green/blue gems, armor/weapon enchants etc.
I am continuing the alchemy transmutations, with my army of alchemists. But instead of stocking 8-10 stacks of Eternals/Gems for each transmute type, I'm basically buying what I need each day; profits aren't quite as good, but I won't be stuck with a pile of worthless mats.



My focus is on trade skill leveling items.

The bulk is level 80 items, specifically: Borean Leather, Adder's Tongue/Goldclover/Tiger Lily, Frostweave Cloth, Infinite Dust and Saronite Ore.
I'm buying anything available at a reasonable price.

I am also buying lower level trade skill goods, with a goal of 30-50 stacks of each.
- Light, Medium, Heavy, Thick, Rugged and Knothide Leathers.
- Copper, Tin, Iron, Mithril, Thorium and Fel Iron Ore.
- Linen, Wool, Silk, Mageweave, Runecloth and Netherweave cloth.
- Strange, Soul, Vision, Dream, Illusion and Arcane dusts.
- Briarthorn/Peacebloom/Silverleaf, Fadeleaf/Goldthorn/Khadgar's Whisker, Kingsblood/Liferoot/Sungrass and Golden Sansam/Felweed/Dreaming Glory/Ragveil.

In addition to tradeskills/first-aid, I'm stocking Netherweave and Frostweave bags.

I'll release these in waves, breaking them into groups to be released during: week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7 and week 8 of the expansion.
The goal is to sell each, as demand is the highest and supply the lowest.

[Kalyse]

- Copper, Tin, Iron, Mithril, Thorium and Fel Iron Ore.

Just the ores? Not the bars?

[Ualaa]

I figure ore is useful for Blacksmiths, Engineers, Jewelcrafters and for Miners to smelt.
It its raw form, it appeals to more classes.

[Alemi]

I figure ore is useful for Blacksmiths, Engineers, Jewelcrafters and for Miners to smelt.
It its raw form, it appeals to more classes.

You have this completely backwards -

For low level JCs, you really want bars (Copper, Bronze, Thorium and particularly Mithril). Ore won't be used until Thorium to prospect and nearly all the low level gems you need in large quantities are already plentiful on the AH.
Engineers don't use ore at all, they use bars.
Blacksmiths don't use ore at all, again they use bars.
In it's raw form, it's the material for two actions - smelting and prospecting.

So you'll be selling to miners and the occasional JC who wants to prospect for Citrine or Shadowgem.

[crowdx]

Something I have been thinking on for leveling trade skills (particularly lower level 1 - 300) is that being able to fly will make it much easier to level mining, herbalism and alchemy. In turn these mats may drop in price, so might be worth getting rid of them before the patch hits?

[Ualaa]

I could be wrong here, but here is my reasoning.

At the moment we cannot fly in the old world.
So there isn't a lot of farming going on here.

At the same time, there will be a huge demand for herbs, ore, cloth, etc.
Chances are, most people will just want to level initially, and purchase trade skill stuff down the road.
However, there are also those who want the skills as they level, and there is a limited supply.

During Week 1, Peacebloom/Silverleaf/Briarthorn, Copper/Tin, Linen/Wool and the like will sell very well, because of limited supply and huge demand.
Similarly, Week 2 and onwards, higher mats will sell.

With flying in the old world, farming becomes much easier.
So long-term the price of old-world materials will likely fall from their current pricing.

But Northrend will likely be dead, the same as Outland is now.
Aside from the Worgen/Goblins and new DK's, most of whom will burn through the content quickly to level, and not farm it so much.



I look at Ore vs Bars...

If you want the bars, chances are you either have a miner or can pay one to smelt the ore for you.

And if you're a miner, one of the better leveling methods is smelting.
Chances are jewelcrafters won't smelt much until they reach whatever the last ore type is (Saronite/Titanium equivalent).

But the ore appeals to miners.
And can easily be smelted for those who prefer bars.

Ore has sold very well, in previous expansions.
On my server, the first week of both BC and WotLK, copper and tin ore went for 100g a stack.

[riffraff]

I
And if you're a miner, one of the better leveling methods is smelting.


This.. for pre-BC ores anyways.

I'm concerned tho that when you can fly in Azeroth people will tend to want to farm the low level mats instead of paying 100g a stack.. even if it means they have to take some time away from leveling.

[crowdx]

This.. for pre-BC ores anyways.

I'm concerned tho that when you can fly in Azeroth people will tend to want to farm the low level mats instead of paying 100g a stack.. even if it means they have to take some time away from leveling.
Exactly, and flying will make it SOOOO much faster

[Ualaa]

Peacebloom/Silverleaf/Briarthorn.
Copper Ore/Tin Ore.
Light/Medium/Heavy Leather.
Linen/Wool/Silk Cloth.

Pretty much have to sell these in the first week.
There will be a large initial demand.
But they'll be too easy to farm, to retain value.

[Khatovar]

And if you're a miner, one of the better leveling methods is smelting.

This, I think, may become even more vital. If people are leveling up and getting XP from mining, there is a greater potential for outleveling the tier. No one wants to spend extra time in a zone they have outleveled just so they can get those extra points they need so they can actually mine in the area they are questing in.

[Kicksome]

I totally forgot about all the people who are going to make Worgen and Goblin starting toons. I was wondering why you thought everyone was going to need leveling mats.

I wonder what % of players are going to start new toons when cat hits vs going from 80 - 85.

[Lyonheart]

I totally forgot about all the people who are going to make Worgen and Goblin starting toons. I was wondering why you thought everyone was going to need leveling mats.

I wonder what % of players are going to start new toons when cat hits vs going from 80 - 85.

MOST the casual players.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Mark my words:

Cash is King.

[Kalyse]

Mark my words:

Cash is King.

Gold is a constant though. Your 1G isn't going to become 2G. In fact it will diminish in "worth" as more gold becomes available.

Mark my words. Commodities are the key to gold!

[Littleburst]

Gold is a constant though. Your 1G isn't going to become 2G. In fact it will diminish in "worth" as more gold becomes available.

Mark my words. Commodities are the key to gold!

Seems logical indeed. With TBC we had a big inflation, the same is probably going to happen.

[Ualaa]

In beta, people are reporting mobs are dropping 1g+ a kill, which will add up quickly.
There is always a fairly large amount of inflation, with an expansion.
I would bet there will be a lot of inflation this time around too.

If you have 100,000g in the bank now.
It might only retain 50,000g purchasing power.
Not sure that inflation will be 100%, but you get the idea.

Purchasing the commodities which will be in demand... and selling them, near the point of highest demand... can have your 100k turn into 400-500k.
Even if 400k only has the purchasing power of 200k in WotLK, that's twice as much as you had going in.

I wouldn't anticipate Copper Ore to stay at 100g a stack, but that's what it went for during the first few days of both BC and WotLK; I've bought 100 stacks at/under 2g each already, and would be very happy to sell them at even 20g/stack.

The trick will be identifying what will go up in value the most.
Then buying it, in large quantities and at a good price.
And selling it near its peak price point.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Cash is King cause you are going to use it to buy rare stuffs right off the bat. Having a ton of wotlk items in your bank at this point isn't smart. Ya you don't sit on the cash but you need to buy rare recipies and whatnot before others.

[Ualaa]

I've decided on spending 100k, mostly on tradeskill items.
Have 21 guild bank tabs dedicated to these items.

That still leaves a few hundred thousand, to purchase the ingredients to power level professions to 525.

Hopefully the 100k in mats, will equate to more gold then I have now.

[Kalyse]

Do you think Icethorn/Adder's Tongue will increase in price?

Also what do you think about Enchanting gear?
I'm staying clear of Enchanting stuff, since I think it will all drop.

[Littleburst]

Do you think Icethorn/Adder's Tongue will increase in price?

Also what do you think about Enchanting gear?
I'm staying clear of Enchanting stuff, since I think it will all drop.

I'm pretty convinced Infinite dust will go up. People will need it to level enchanting. Once the mass reached lvl 85, a lot fewer people will be in northend still. Same happend with Arcane dust. Went from 50s on lowest to 2-5g now.

[Ualaa]

I'd stick with the generic WotLK herbs, specifically Adder's Tongue, Goldclover and Tiger Lily.

In general they're more common then Icethorn or Lichbloom, which means cheaper most of the time. From an Inscription point of view, all five will mill into the same thing.

The Alchemist is more likely to go with cheaper recipes to level. I did not make BC era Flasks (using the more rare BC herbs), while leveling my alchemy. I'm guessing Frost Lotus will be rather rare, once Northrend is as dead as Outland is now, so many of the Icethorn/Lichbloom recipes won't be a viable means to leveling.



The Northrend items should all skyrocket in price, but will take a while to reach their peak value.
When the majority of new toons in Cataclysm (Worgen/Goblins, but also Tauren Paladins, Human Hunters and the like) reach the 375-450 trade skill range, that will be the time to sell.
I'm planning on selling Northrend items between Week 5 and Week 8 of the expansion.

[Mickthathick]

No mention of Cobolt ore at all? I have 2 tabs of the ore stockpiled and 2 of saronite ore, I can turn them into bars if needed, or prospect them to do the Saronite shuffle once Infinite Dust becomes less readily available then it is now. I've found I burnt through a ton of Cobolt bars levelling Engineering and Blacksmithing.

Higher level WOTLK herbs will tank hard as they won't be needed to level professions, the lower level herbs should double in value, at least at the beginning of the expansion.

I'm stockpiling pets, especially Argent Tournament pets, as inflation and less supply will drive the prices up.

The only issue I face atm is a rumour I read that profession givers to get you past lvl 500 are phased, and require the completion of a lvl 84 quest to access. Can anyone on the beta confirm this?

[Ualaa]

Cannot confirm/deny the phasing rumor.
However, at level 75, your skill cap raises to 525, so I would find it doubtful that you'd need 84th to go over 500.

[Mickthathick]

Cannot confirm/deny the phasing rumor.
However, at level 75, your skill cap raises to 525, so I would find it doubtful that you'd need 84th to go over 500.

I think you may have misunderstood me, what I meant was that to get the recipes that require skill over 500, you need to be able to speak to the profession trainers that are located in a phased area. The only way to gain access to the pahsed area, is by completing a quest chain that requires you to be lvl 84 to access.

I'm tempted to finish downloading the beta so I can log in and see for myself, doing this will smash my download cap though.

[128z]

Oh no... if 84 lvl for 500+ skill it true - I'm so dead.. 15 servers to levelup twinks.. oh...

[Ualaa]

So the rumor is... your maximum skill level (ie, Cap) is 525, but you can get there with a 495 skill recipe.

But if you want the 525 recipes (which will probably include all the Titansteel equivalent stuff or Epic Gem transmute equivalents), you need to be basically maximum level.

Would be interested in hearing if this is true, or just a false rumor.

[Ualaa]

Did a bit of googling.
Currently in the beta, alchemists can train entirely in Dalaran/Stormwind, including recipes up to 520 skill.

I'd imagine other professions would have similar availability of recipes.

[Kalyse]

I need advice. Considering I don't have a scribe, an alchemist, or any other profession, what would you do with 2k+ of every Northrend Herb.

I was extremely fortunate to find a farmer and using gold I bought

Lichbloom 12g
Icethorn12g
Deadnettle 10g
Adder's Tongue 12g
Goldclover 12g
Tigerlily 12g
Frost Lotus 4g

Everything is in the multiple thousands except the Frost Lotus which was only 200 pieces. I sold half of them immediately for market price which meant I netted 100 free Frost Lotuses :)

What would you do? I have a few options.


I found myself a Glyph factory on my server. He is willing to craft Glyphs for me if I do not compete with him on Alliance server. I can take them all over to the Horde side. Currently the Glyph market on Horde side is owned by one person. He is on 24/7 and undercuts within 40 minutes throughout the day.

Alternatively, I can sell half of the stack and consider the remaining half pure profit.

Alternatively, I can continue to horde the full bounty and sell in Cataclysm. But, do we think that the prices will rise? The demand will drop, but will the supply drop enough also? I imagine that there will be very little demand for the first week, but after week 1 demand for them will increase as more levelers are around and then supply will be hard.

What do you thihnk?

I should also note, that the person told me that he will send me an identical shipment tonight and also include Ores in it too.

I don't know how those prices are compared to your server, but on mine they are awesome.

[Ualaa]

Depending how many toons you have at 75th, tradeskills are an excellent gold making option too.
Those who have Alchemists, Blacksmiths, Enchanters, Jewelcrafters, Leatherworkers, etc..., at 525 in the first week or so of Cataclysm and who get a decent recipe will make a killing.

Alchemy transmutes, or any transmutes for that matter, are a passive source of income.
I've got 29 transmutes a day, which have made me just over 500k in under a year.

If you can sell half of your herbs, for the price you paid for all of your herbs... the remaining half open some doors.
You can either sell the other half for a profit (and use the gold somewhere), or use them to level a bunch of alchemists or inscription toons.

Stacking scribes doesn't really get you much, but one can be decent choice.
Stacking alchemists is passive income, from transmutes.
Or selling the herbs, could get you tradeskills in time for Cataclysm.

I believe Adder's Tongue, Goldclover and Tiger Lily will drastically increase in value, somewhere around week 4 or 5 of the expansion... Basically, when the Worgen/Goblins and/or Tauren Pallies/Human Hunters etc.., reach the 375-450 alchemy/inscription leveling stage.
Personally, I wouldn't hoard the other herbs, but for all I know they might sell quite well too.

[Kalyse]

Thanks Ualaa.
Its nice to have opinions.

I don't have any professions trained. I don't want to blow my entire bank roll on leveling alchemy for 5 guys, only to find that I have to spend another 20k on buying herbs in cataclysm and I have spent my entire wealth on leveling professions to a useless level.

[boxblizzard]

This.. for pre-BC ores anyways.

I'm concerned tho that when you can fly in Azeroth people will tend to want to farm the low level mats instead of paying 100g a stack.. even if it means they have to take some time away from leveling.


people are lazy, and will pay top price. business for ya

[Ualaa]

The lowest level items:
- Copper/Tin ore.
- Peacebloom/Silverleaf/Briarthorn.
- Strange Dust.
- Light/Medium leather.
- Linen/Wool cloth.

They'll spike in value initially.
Because with everyone in the starting zones, even if you want to farm your own, it will be extremely difficult to get enough in a reasonable amount of time.
Also, the majority of the new characters have level 80's with a decent amount of gold.

But, with the advent of flying in the old world.
And the initial price spike, which will make farming these mats much more worthwhile.
The greatly inflated price will not last long.

I did dailies faithfully, on three teams at 80th, purely for gold while I was leveling Alchemy.
Was easier to raise 3,200-3,500g a day in 3.5 hours, then to farm the herbs.
Farming level 80-85 content, selling what you farm, and using the proceeds to purchase lower level mats will be much faster progression through a tradeskill, then wasting time farming it all and not buying anything.
Plus, if you have 5k in the bank, it's a lot easier to be lazy.

The timing of the release of these items will be important.
Copper might reach 100g/stack again, during the first week; but there's no chance it will sell that well by the end of week 2.
Similarly, you'll want to sit on Saronite/Borean Leather for at least 5-6 weeks; you will get a decent profit initially, but the price won't spike until the majority of the new toons reach the point where most need the same limited resource at the same time.

[Kalyse]

Saronites on a reall bottom on my server. Its at 15G a stack now.

Should I dump all my eternals also? And also dump Frost Lotuses?

[zenga]

Should I dump all my eternals also?

please do a server transfer and i'll buy your whole stock at a dumping price
if there is one thing a sure investment it's eternals, seen quite a lot of data to backup that statement

[Ualaa]

Chances are Eternals won't be worth a whole lot in Cataclysm.
But if you right click on them, the 10x whatever they turn into, will be a limited resource with a fairly decent demand.

I wouldn't stockpile them for Cataclysm.
But don't dump them, unless you get a decent price, as there will be some demand when toons are working on their 375-450 skill range.

[Kalyse]

Well I pick up all my materials at 50% market price now. I've realised that if I do a scan regularly I can get all the materials I need for my professions.

Five days ago I bought 60 Eternal Life for 600G and flipped for 1200G immediately to a private buyer. They are worth about 25G each. I bought another 30 yesterday for 15G each to get some gold back onto Alliance side (since I do arbitrage) and I'mwondering if I should stockpile some for Cata or just sell.

I bought also got some Eternal Shadows.

[Littleburst]

Eternals will always be needed to level up skills. Look what primals cost on your server.
It depends on what new craft are availible, if i'm correct new recipes will always be availlbe once you've reached the previous max level. If you're 440, you'll probably always have to craft epics with LW/BS etc to gain those last 10 points. Those will require eternals.

Somewhat similar to Iceweb spider silk, allthough i'm far from sure. I think that could be a good investment aswell.

[zenga]

If you wanna make a profit with eternals in the first week after cata, it will not be worth it. In the longer run, it will definitely be worth it. Eternals have decreased in price on my server with bout 2/3rd over the past month(s), lets say 6 weeks. Look at the price curve of bc equivalent. 100 gold in wotlk doesn't have same value as 100g in cata, take inflation into account. And I think if you invest 1g in eternals, you'll get 3-4g back in cata. Obviously if frozen orbs are lower in price, I buy those, as I'll be able to trade them for what the market needs.

[Tonuss]

I'm wondering if mid-level materials will be a much better bet. Having leveled every profession at least once, and most of them 2-3 times, I have always found the middle range to be the worst for finding materials in the AH. After all, lowbies can farm copper or peacebloom and both are found in huge amounts throughout starter zones.

But starting with briarthorn, or mageweave cloth, or mithril ore, supplies start to thin out pretty severely. I'm thinking that in the next couple of weeks I'm going to want to stockpile stuff like kingsblood, mithril ore/bars, silk/mageweave cloth, medium leather, and so on. I'm betting that if I went to the AH on my server right now, there would be page after page of linen cloth and copper ore, but only a handful of those other items. I think that's where the money will be within a week of the expansion going live.

I figure I'll also try to stockpile a fair amount of tBC materials as well, because those might be in shorter-than-expected supply as well, as people power-level their new characters. Remember, not only are there new races and new race/class combos, but the old world revamp means people will play just to see that content as well. Even if players slow down or stop altogether upon reaching tBC, they'll be able to advance those professions.

The weird thing is that it seems that Blizzard is working harder than ever to de-emphasize gold. You have fewer spells to buy anymore. Mount and riding skills are cheaper, and with the boost to the initial flying skill you don't really have to spend the 4k or 5k necessary to advance it. Gear looks easier and easier to get without spending gold. From what I've seen, quests will reward 8-10 gold, and I can only imagine what you will get from daily quests at 85 (20? 25? 35 per completion?). Right now I've got about 25,000 gold across my characters, and no real idea how to spend it. I'm looking to make more gold mostly out of inertia. This isn't a complaint, mind you. It's just that I keep stopping myself and wondering why I'm still trying to earn gold.

[Littleburst]

I'm wondering if mid-level materials will be a much better bet. Having leveled every profession at least once, and most of them 2-3 times, I have always found the middle range to be the worst for finding materials in the AH. After all, lowbies can farm copper or peacebloom and both are found in huge amounts throughout starter zones.

http://www.justmytwocopper.org/2010/11/profession-powerleveling-cataclysm-gold.html

Markco agrees :)

[zenga]

@littleburst

do you find that guy any reliable? read/heard quite a few things about this guy, his marketing techniques and goldselling. i avoid his site as pest tbh

[Littleburst]

@littleburst

do you find that guy any reliable? read/heard quite a few things about this guy, his marketing techniques and goldselling. i avoid his site as pest tbh

Well, I screen several blogs for usefull information, but I don't use any of them. Just cba. Don't need more gold. So i can't really tell.

What I do know is that he interacts with several blogs, where justmytwo2c seems to be the 'main' site on which info gets posted. So the other blogs seem to be happy to contribute to his blog, without getting anything in return besides free 'advertising' for their blog. He also has a podcast with 2 other AHjunkies which can be usefull. I listened to one so far, not to much new things in it, which was expected due to the market being quite stable before patch 4.0.1.
Based on those two, I'm quite confident that the info on there is good. But a lot is common sense. Like buying mats -> craft -> sell with profit. focussing on tradegood markets, don't buyout but bid on lowerlevel tradegoods etc.

So I can't really say that the site proved usefull to me, but I don't think any other blog did either. No real OMG insane profit things.

[Ualaa]

Anything, where the demand will outpace the supply is a good bet.

The only tricks are identifying the items which will be in demand.
And selling when the most people want them.



I personally think, the majority of new toons will have a main with a fair bit of gold.
And prefer to buy 'x', rather then slow their leveling pace and farm it.
Particularly, with 800 other new toons in the same zone also farming.

I'm not infallible, and could be wrong on this.
I've got 30 stacks each of Peacebloom, Silverleaf, Briarthorn, Copper Ore, Tin Ore, Linen Cloth, Wool Cloth, and am working on Strange Dust.
A tiny bit over 1000g on mats, which I anticipate selling a large mark up.
But if they don't sell in the 25-100g a stack range, it's not like 1k is that big of a deal; and they'll sell for something.

[Littleburst]

Anything, where the demand will outpace the supply is a good bet.

The only tricks are identifying the items which will be in demand.
And selling when the most people want them.



I personally think, the majority of new toons will have a main with a fair bit of gold.
And prefer to buy 'x', rather then slow their leveling pace and farm it.
Particularly, with 800 other new toons in the same zone also farming.

I'm not infallible, and could be wrong on this.
I've got 30 stacks each of Peacebloom, Silverleaf, Briarthorn, Copper Ore, Tin Ore, Linen Cloth, Wool Cloth, and am working on Strange Dust.
A tiny bit over 1000g on mats, which I anticipate selling a large mark up.
But if they don't sell in the 25-100g a stack range, it's not like 1k is that big of a deal; and they'll sell for something.

I have -never- checked herb prices. What's a normal price these days? I just checked AH and they're all 1,5k-2g each. Which i found extremely expensive. Actually considering to go farm herbs now.... 4/5 x herbalism will never harm. Or just one 1 toon. Since I'd like to have some alchemists.

[Ualaa]

I've been buying the lower stuff, whenever I can get them for under 3g per stack.
Average is closer to 10g a stack, for this level of mats.

The WotLK era herbs, seem to be 20-30g per stack.
So I've been buying those whenever they're under 20g, but have enough of the higher ones.

I wouldn't mind more of the mid-range herbs, for Cataclysm.
But won't be paying 50g a stack, which is the going rate for stacks of Khadgar's, Sungrass, Firebloom etc.

When I was doing the alchemy leveling..
I'd just buy all of the herbs, primals, etc.
And averaged 6k per toon, to go from 1st to 450 alchemy and transmutation spec.
I occasionally had to farm Briarthorn, Stranglekelp and Sungrass... had herbalists parked in the relevant zones.

[birdbleed]

How's this going for you guys so far? I remember the price of low level mats soaring in previous expansions but, at the moment, prices have actually dropped on my server :(

[Mercbeast]

The rush on my server was pre-cata. I think most people bought up what they wanted before the expansion.

[zenga]

I never believed prices would rise day after expansion. There is still a good part that does not have cata yet. Once people start to make new alts, i.e. when their main is geared and leveled, and they start to level professions you'll notice an increase.

[birdbleed]

I never believed prices would rise day after expansion. There is still a good part that does not have cata yet. Once people start to make new alts, i.e. when their main is geared and leveled, and they start to level professions you'll notice an increase.

That's kind of what I've been thinking (hoping) too. I didn't invest nearly as much as Uaala though so worst case scenario for me = I've got enough mats for a couple of my own alts.

[Tonuss]

How's this going for you guys so far? I remember the price of low level mats soaring in previous expansions but, at the moment, prices have actually dropped on my server :(
After two previous expansions, it's possible that lots of people stocked up. I haven't really checked, to be honest, because I've been busy playing. I've managed to skin a few bags full of leather, but those have gone to my paladin to level up LW, which then goes to my shaman to DE for mats to level enchanting.

From my quick visits to the AH, prices for everything seem to be low. I got some level 79/80 greens for my rogue because they were selling for 15-50 gold each. Crafters are dumping items, people are dumping world drops... it could be that Blizzard finally managed to make gold worthless, I dunno. But at least in terms of armor and weapons there seems to be very little gouging. I certainly will not buy low level armor and weapons for 100-1000 gold, but lots of new items are listing for 100-200 gold, which isn't really gouging IMO.

[zenga]

Basically you can take advantage of whats happening now:

- you stocked up low prior to cata (weeks)
- the masses heard about the stocking up theory without having a real clue, they decide to save instead of selling
- cata launches
- they see that mats didn't magically go up ... they wanna get rid of their stock before it lowers even more
-> you buy, wait, profit

[Ualaa]

My Week 1 mats, alliance side.. aren't selling terribly well; horde side, going great.
But chances are, that's what has happened alliance side at least.

Not sure that I want to spend 3g per stack, to buy 25 pages of auctions; somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 auctions up...
I paid a maximum of 1g per stack... and am listing at 10g a stack at the moment.

Horde side, spent no more then 1g per stack on Copper, Tin, Peacebloom, Silverleaf, Linen and Wool.
And they're selling in the 20-30g per stack range.