As anyone who has watched the market can tell you, expansions are a great time to make some serious platinum. And that’s a good thing, because expansions can also be really expensive for a character! Soon we’ll have to buy 10 levels of riding skills, training, crafting, and more, but fortunately an understanding of expansion economies can pay off both now and after the launch of Storm Legion.
There are three main behaviors that can shape the market in the time shortly before and after an expansion:
- People will no longer be focused on level 50 items. This means that the price of level 50 items is already dropping and will sink like a stone after launch.
- People will be levelling their mains, often as quickly as possible. This means that the value of new Storm Legion items will be very high.
- There will be peaks in the number of active low level alts leading up to the expansion and a few weeks after launch. Low level market prices will increase somewhat.
So what does this mean for players? First, consider selling off any level 50 trade goods you have squirreled away in your bank, because prices will never be this high again. Eternal Planar Dust, for example, will only be used by leveling characters in the future so its value should decrease in the short term. The same can be said for high level raw crafting materials, although keep in mind that the waves of alts should keep lower level raw materials at their current prices for a while.
Interest in raiding usually drops off shortly before a new expansion, so crafters should think about ignoring top tier raid items and instead building up a stockpile of lower level blues. Folks who are levelling alts usually don’t mind paying high “twink prices” for gear that will help them level faster.
Once Storm Legion arrives, the best financial move is to sell any of the new raw crafting materials immediately. The price for new cloth, ore, dusts, and so on are usually insanely high when everyone on the server is trying to level crafting. Shrewd investors are best off selling everything up front and then levelling their own crafting after prices drop, using their new fat stacks of platinum. Crafted goods between levels 50 – 59 are usually of limited value, but armorers and weapon-makers in particular can profit greatly by mass producing any level 60 “starter” pieces that players can buy to quickly fill the gap between levelling greens and expert or raid gear.
Essentially, the point is to sell items now that benefit from the population being 50, and later to sell Storm Legion materials and items that will help a low level alt. However, if you’re not feeling the drive to clean out your bank right now, there is another option: ignore everything for about six months! The flow of level 50 trade goods will dry up to a trickle as people hit 60 and while, say, Eternal Planar Dust may never sell as many in a day as it does right now the rarity will drive up the price.
There will be no shortage things to spend platinum on in Storm Legion! Smart players should look at liquidating their bags and bank before, during, and shortly after the expansion’s launch to best take advantage of the fluctuating markets.
