How to earn gold in WoW Classic Hardcore

Items and gold in World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore are the two most valuable resources you have at your disposal.

While obtaining items is quite straightforward and mainly depends on luck, getting gold is a bit more complex than that and you need to know secret gold farms and techniques.

In 2024, WoW Classic will be celebrating its 20th birthday and, by now, the game’s already figured out with all of us knowing the quests and best leveling routes by heart. But each WoW player has their own unique method of earning gold. While some play the auction house and get all their precious gold from there, others are hard-working farmers, and some even join the Devilsaur mafia and monopolize that set. 

You can always get creative and find your own way of earning gold, but here are the most efficient ways of earning gold in WoW Classic Hardcore.

Can you trade and use an auction house in WoW Classic Hardcore?

Yes, you can both trade and use an auction house in Hardcore. This is the most important aspect of earning gold in WoW and Blizzard Entertainment didn’t want to remove this entire system from the game. It should be available from level one and there aren’t any other limitations to this.

Best ways to earn gold in WoW Classic Hardcore

Professions

If you take up any profession that doesn’t require you to spend any mats, you’re guaranteed to earn gold. By far, the best professions are gathering professions—Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning. Initially, these professions won’t bring in much gold, especially because everyone is swimming in Peaceblooms and Copper Ore. But as you level up your profession and get your hands on rarer materials, you’ll surely start earning a lot of gold.

Related: Official WoW Classic Hardcore rules explained: Deaths, PvP, dungeons, and more

On the other hand, crafting professions are not that profitable, unless you have rare recipes. These recipes, however, can be obtained while completing end-game dungeons like Stratholme and you still have to be lucky to first see it drop and then to get it.

Looting everything and then selling it

Along your leveling journey, you’ll defeat many gnolls, boars, and yetis, and most of them drop trifles you can later vendor. I never throw away these gray trash items and I always sell them to a vendor, whenever I’m back in town running errands. These items can be worth a lot and this all adds up when you sell dozens and dozens of items.

Playing the auction house

This is an advanced method of earning gold, but the jist of it is that you buy valuable items from the auction house that should rise in value further down the road. This, however, is quite risky and unless you understand WoW’s economy deeply, it’s best to stay away from this gold-earning method.

Farming

Farming is the old-school way of earning gold and it’s incredibly straightforward—you kill mobs that drop precious items, loot them, and sell those same items at the auction house. Ideally, you’ll do a bit of researching beforehand and you’ll know which items are precious, and you’ll be looking out for those. 

Related: The top 10 quests every WoW Classic Hardcore player should avoid at all costs

You can also go solo into dungeons like Dire Maul as a Mage, Priest, or Hunter and farm mobs there for drops you can later vendor, but you have to nail down the farming strategy, especially because you don’t want to die. 

Tips to make gold in WoW Classic Hardcore

Create a bank alt

We’re all working with limited bag space in WoW Classic, and the easiest way to bypass this is to create a separate character, park them in your capital, and stock them up with bags. This character will serve you as an additional bank and you can easily mail reagents and other mats you might need between them and your main.

Use addons

Not only can addons like HandyNotes and RareScanner help you find rare mobs, but they can also come in handy to find the best farming spots. 

Related: The 10 best addons for WoW Classic Hardcore

If you’re looking to play the auction house, Auctionator will be your best friend because it allows you to track items’ value even when you’re not near vendors, look over prices at the auction house in greater details, and create shopping lists.