There really isn’t that much of a difference between a player new to World of Warcraft and your average WoW player. The game itself is pretty good at teaching a completely new player everything he needs to know to progress through the game and eventually reach the level cap.

What World of Warcraft is really bad at teaching new and average players alike is how to be an advanced player. WoW relies almost entirely on players interacting with each other through guilds and groups to learn advanced tricks. Learning how to raid, where the best places to farm are, and how to make gold is learned by interacting with other players.

Unfortunately, many of the players in the guilds are average players, especially when it comes to earning gold. If you want to learn how to attack well, join a superior looter guild. But if you want to learn how to make gold, who do you join? As far as I know, there are no major guilds that make gold.

So really, most gamers have to figure out how to make WoW gold themselves. That’s not an ideal situation because there’s a lot to know, a lot of insider tips, and a lot of traps for the unwary.

I’ve written this little guide to help new players at lower levels earn enough World of Warcraft gold to easily afford their first mount when they reach the right level.

After creating your new player character, go to level 6 and leave the starting area. Head to your racial city.

Then choose two gathering professions. Do not choose a craft profession other than cooking. Crafting professions are expensive to train and will cost you gold. If you’re so inclined, wait until you hit the level cap and have a lot of gold. Also if you can afford it, train to fish.

You have three options for gathering professions. These are mining, herbalism, and skinning. I suggest you choose to skin and one of the other two. This is because it can only track one resource node at a time, and it skins what it kills. It doesn’t really matter which resource you choose. Mining provides minerals and gems for blacksmithing, jewelry making, and engineering. Herbalism gathers herbs for alchemy. Both are in high demand.

The next step is to create an alternate character, also known as an alt. This can be any race from the same faction you are playing, Horde or Alliance. Take your alternative to the home city, don’t worry about leveling up, just be careful while racing there.

At this point, log in with your main character and head back to the level 6 zone. Now as you adventure make sure to stop at each node and harvest it. Skin each beast you kill. You should also level up your fishing in ponds and rivers.

When you have enough heaps of resources, find a mailbox and send them back to your alt. Submit it to the Auction House and put the resources up for sale. First check what the resource is being sold for. You don’t want to sell for less than you can get.

You will find some players undercut you. In the early stage, try to be competitive, but when you have enough gold, buy the low-priced auctions and relist the products at the higher price.

Do this and before you know it, you’ll be on your way to buying your first mount.

Of course, this is just one of the many tips that will help you make gold. Fortunately, there is a wealth of information available in a multitude of Warcraft gold guides. One of the best of these is Warcraft Millionaire.