As the War Within expansion winds down and World of Warcraft fans look ahead to the upcoming Midnight expansion, one feature is already stealing the spotlight: Player Housing. With the beta now live, players can explore the new housing system, which is not just a fun way to personalize your space but also offers significant gold-making potential.
In this guide, we’ll dive into how you can leverage Player Housing to make gold in World of Warcraft. Whether you’re crafting decorative items, gathering valuable materials, or selling finished decor, this system offers a multitude of ways to boost your in-game wealth.
1. Player Housing Explained
Player Housing is a brand-new feature introduced in the Midnight expansion. After completing a brief introductory questline, players can purchase their own home in private or public neighborhoods. Each Warband can own up to two homes—one for Alliance and one for Horde—allowing players to personalize their space, both inside and out.
Customizing your home requires a variety of housing decor items, which can be crafted via different professions or purchased from the Auction House. These decor items are tradeable, and their high demand means they can easily be turned into a reliable source of gold, even before Midnight’s official release.
2. What You Need to Craft Housing Decor
At the time of writing, there are 243 decor items available, each linked to different professions. These decor items can be crafted as long as you have the necessary profession, skill level, and recipe. Housing decor recipes are tied to specific expansions, and can be purchased from that expansion’s profession trainers.
For example:
- Cooking recipes are sold by chefs like Arthodas and Yan Ironpaw.
- Alchemy recipes are available from Tarig and Apothecary Antonivich.
- Blacksmithing recipes are offered by trainers like Metalshaper Kuroko and Grix “Ironfists” Barlow.
These recipes typically require a specific expansion skill level, and most don’t require maxed-out professions—only around 80% of that expansion’s maximum skill level. Recipes are sold for gold, Resonance Crystals, and sometimes other currencies.
3. Lumber Gathering: Essential for Crafting Decor
To craft many of the decor items, you’ll need a new material introduced with Player Housing: Lumber. This material is gathered using a Harvesting Hatchet from your housing vendor, Xiz’ro for Horde players and Lestia Goldenstrike for Alliance players.
Once you’ve acquired the hatchet, simply equip it and start chopping trees marked with a glowing axe icon on your minimap. Lumber is gathered in specific zones tied to different expansions, such as:
- Dornic Fir Lumber from The War Within (gathered in Khaz Algar zones).
- Thalassian Lumber (available in the Midnight expansion, currently unreleased).
At the time of writing, you can farm 11 types of Lumber, each tied to a specific expansion.
4. Two Ways to Make Gold with Player Housing
There are two primary ways you can use Player Housing to make gold in World of Warcraft:
1. Craft and Sell Housing Decor Items
One of the most lucrative methods to make gold is by crafting housing decor items and selling them in the Auction House. The demand for these pieces is already high, and it’s expected to rise once Midnight officially launches. Players will want to fully explore the new housing system, but since crafting these items requires a variety of professions and materials, many will choose to buy finished goods instead.
Tip: To maximize your sales, keep a varied selection of decor items listed for sale. The more types of decor you offer, the higher your chances of making consistent sales.
2. Sell Materials for Decor Crafting
Another great way to earn gold is by selling raw materials used in crafting decor items. Crafters will need herbs, ores, cloth, and other crafting reagents to make these decor items. If you prefer not to craft, you can farm these materials and sell them to crafters who want to avoid gathering their own resources.
Popular Materials to Farm:
- Dark Iron Ore: This is used to craft decor items like the Blackrock Lamppost and Shadowforge Sconce. Dark Iron Ore sells for about 50 gold per piece, and Dark Iron Bars can be sold for 300-500 gold each. It can be farmed in Blackrock Depths and Molten Core.
- Storm Silver Ore: Selling for around 30 gold per ore, it is needed for decor items like the Boralus-Style Lobster Platter and the Brennadam Grinder. Storm Silver can be farmed in Tiragarde Sound and Stormsong Valley.
By selling materials, you can either make this your primary gold-making strategy or use it as a side income to complement your crafting efforts.
5. Which Decor Items Are the Most Profitable?
The profitability of housing decor items depends on your server’s economy, the current market demand, and the materials required to craft the items. Before committing to a particular craft, research the prices of items and their components on your server’s Auction House.
Use addons like CraftSim and TradeSkillMaster (TSM) to calculate crafting costs and potential profits. CraftSim helps you simulate reagent costs and highlight the most profitable recipes for each profession, while TSM tracks material prices, manages crafting costs, and automates your Auction House workflow.
