Phase 3 Classic WoW Auction House Guide
This page contains all relevant information for the Auction House in Phase 3 of Classic WoW. Blackwing Lair, the second major raid and the Darkmoon Faire are added during this Phase. For the most part BWL uses all of the same consumables as Molten Core so not much will change there. The Darkmoon Faire makes the largest changes in terms of different items being valuable, for a complete list check out the Wowhead Darkmoon Faire Guide and the Darkmoon Faire Prize Ticket page. They will list all of the items you can turn in at the Darkmoon Faire for Reputation and other rewards.
*New In Phase 3* Darkmoon Faire: After the Darkmoon Faire is added some items will increase in value for a short amount of time. Examples of these items include Glowing Scorpion Blood, Vibrant Plumes, Evil Bat Eye, Small Furry Paws, Dense Grinding Stone, Thorium Widget, Rugged Armor Kits, Soft Bushy Tail, Rugged Armor Kits and many more. Each of these items is turned in for Darkmoon Faire Prize Tickets and Reputation.
*New In Phase 2* Dire Maul Items: Larval Acid will become valuable and it's an item not many people know the value of (or farm). You can normally get it for cheap or make a pretty penny farming it if no one else wants to. Frost Oil, Thorium Widget, Rugged Leather, Large Seaforium Charge and Truesilver Skeleton Key are the items people commonly use in Dire Maul Tribute runs. The last two items are optional but many people still use them to speed up the run.
*New In Phase 2* Twinking Items: Now that Battlegrounds have been released, twink items will finally start selling for a lot. Check out my Level 19 Twink Items and my Level 29 Twink Items lists for more information about which items you'll want to keep an eye on.
Engineering Materials: One of the most popular professions in Classic WoW is Engineering. This is even more true on PvP servers since most people who use Engineering do so for PvP purposes. Due to this, any items used in raising the skill of Engineering or for consumables will typically sell for more.
Fire Resistance Items: Items that give bonus Fire Resist normally retain value throughout this entire phase and the next. They will start to lose value once the majority of guilds get Ragnaros and BWL on farm. By the time Ahn'Qiraj is released almost no one cares about Fire Resist gear anymore and the value of it plummits.
Elemental Fire: One of the most farmed items for all of Classic is Elemental Fire. These are used in many recipes but most commonly you'll find them used in Greater Fire Protection Potions. Until everyone gets Ragnaros on farm these items sell for a premium. They get a renaissance when BWL is released since some people consume them in that dungeon too. By the time Ahn'Qiraj comes out Elemental Earth will be the 'new' thing everyone wants.
Elemental Earth: These are used in Greater Nature Protection Potions and Field Repair Robots. The nature potions aren't going to be used until Ahn'Qiraj, at which point the price of Elemental Earth will skyrocket.
Winterspring E'ko: E'ko are items that drop in Winterspring once you complete the Luck Be With You quest and you carry the necklace. The Juju Power (Winterfall E'ko) is probably the most valuable one, but the Winterfall Furbolgs are basically perma camped in this era since they give reputation with Timbermaw and drop Winterfall Firewater (a raid consume). Other E'kos which are worth money include Juju Might (Frostmaul E'ko), Juju Escape (Ice Thistle E'ko) and Juju Ember (Shardtooth E'ko).
Grilled Squid & Tender Wolf Steak: Two of the best foods during this phase include Grilled Squid and Tender Wolf Steak. You can only fish up the Squid during the winter months, it's the best agility food for all of classic. The Tender Wolf Steak is best until Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops are added in a later phase.
Raid Consumables: During Classic WoW most raiders abuse the consumable system and stack tons of different potions/buffs to maximize their DPS. You can take advantage of this in two key ways, first is to learn what consumables most people use and the second is to learn which day most guilds raid. Typically (the lazy players) will log on and buy the consumables they need on raid day which typically results in them paying more. Consumables I normally track include ones I use + tank/melee ones like Elixir of Giants, Elixir of Greater Defense, Elixir of the Mongoose, Elixir of Fortitude, Mighty Rage Potion, Greater Stoneshield Potion, Greater Fire Protection Potion, Arcane Elixir, Thistle Tea and Greater Arcane Elixir. You also have non-crafted consumables like the Winterspring E'ko, Winterfall Firewater and all of the Blasted Lands buffs.
Hardcore/PvP Consumables: Technically the consumables in this section can be useful in PvE too but I notice that most people use them on Hardcore WoW or on the PvP servers. Free Action Potions, Limited Invulnerability Potions and Target Dummys are the main three which come to mind.
Tradeskill Recipes: There are a few recipes that you can get which will sell for hundreds (usually thousands) of gold or help you control the market if you decide to learn it. I won't list them all here, but basically every Flask recipe for Alchemy, many high level Enchants like Crusader, Fiery Weapon, Lifestealing (raid ones like Spellpower are good too). Blacksmiths get a few too like Arcanite Reaper and Lionheart Helm. Circling back to Alchemy, getting your hands on Greater Fire Protection, Greater Nature Protection or any of the popular protection potions will be a huge boon for money making. Buy up the reagents for cheap and convert them into potions which you sell on raid nights/weekends.
Upcoming Phase 4: Zul'Gurub
Phase 4 is when you will start to notice a significant change in the end game market of Classic WoW. At this point in time Molten Core and BWL are on farm status for basically every guild and most people are now fully geared in epics. Some guilds will use a lot less consumables during this phase and they'll start to save up their gold for all of the spending they'll be doing in AQ.
The big changes that start to happen during Phase 4 are with raid consumables and resistance gear. By this point anyone who needs Fire Resistance gear has it and there is not much of a market for it anymore. During this phase Elemental Earth will climb in price as people start making Greater Nature Protection Potions with it. Regular Nature Protection Potions will see a jump in price too. Instead of fire, everyone is now going to care about Nature Resist. Jewelry with high Nature Resist and good items with it will all sell well during this phase.
Some items which are used to craft Nature Resist gear will go up in price too, one such example is Larval Acid again. It's used in a couple different recipes which I link to. Like I said back on the main Auction House page, it really comes down to learning your server and paying attention to the AH. You need to learn what is in demand and what is over saturated because on every server (and faction) people will be doing different things.