THE PIVOTPLAYBOOKENCHANTINGALCHEMYFLIPPINGECONOMYTIMELINE
PROFESSIONS · THE PIVOT

Gather now, brew later

An old bookkeeper's instinct: capital first, then the trade that compounds it.

Level with Skinning and Mining. Free capital, gathered while questing anyway, and it funds the switch.
At 60, unlearn both and power-level Enchanting and Alchemy with that gold.
Why not Engineering. Its best output is Bind on Pickup: toys, with nothing to sell.
Inscription isn't in Forever. The original nine primary professions only.
THE TRADING PLAYBOOK

Six ways to make gold without farming

Disenchant arbitrage
Buy underpriced gear off the AH, where sellers price it as gear rather than as enchanting material, disenchant it and sell the mats.
Recipe monopoly
Raw materials scale with population; a rare recipe doesn't. Sometimes the recipe itself is the thing to flip.
Transmutation
Upgrading the Philosopher's Stone unlocks Transmutations. Once per cooldown, high value, little time. The best fit for limited playtime.
Market cornering
Only on goods with no substitute and a capped supply. Anything freely gathered gets undercut the moment the price rises, and the capital sits as inventory.
Neutral AHs
Booty Bay, Gadgetzan, Everlook and Powderfuse Port are the only cross-faction markets. With triple fees, they're for arbitrage rather than daily listing.
Worth knowing
Leatherworking and Blacksmithing specializations lock recipes to a branch, a built-in scarcity if an alt ever goes that way.
ENCHANTING AT 60

Own a formula every melee needs

Some new formulas need mats that didn't exist in Classic: dyes, starwood, pyrite, sandpaper, sulfuric acid. The new disenchant tables are unconfirmed.

Monopoly formulas, classic sources to reconfirm in Forever's reworked tables: Crusader (Scarlet Archmages at Tyr's Hand, about 0.5%, and a quest chain can remove the spawns), Fiery Weapon (Pyromancer Loregrain, BRD), Spell Power (Molten Core), Lifestealing (Scholomance), Unholy (Stratholme), Superior Striking and Greater Strength gloves (LBRS), Superior Impact (UBRS), Greater Intellect bracer (Hinterlands Vilebranch), Superior Stamina (EPL). One scarce weapon formula is the whole game; every melee needs it.
Disenchant shuffle. Essences run chronically short because players disenchant far more armor than weapons, and that's where the margin is. Cheap Runecloth-crafted items are the classic feeder.
New in Forever (datamined). About 65 new formulas, many sold by the Azeroth Commerce Authority for Merchant's Favor. Craftable relics, staves, wands and off-hands, a market with no classic competition. Self-only ring enchants. A small-to-large shard transmute on a shared 20-hour cooldown.
After Dec 9. The new raids drop Malleable Essence of Nature, a disenchant material for crafted tier sets.
ALCHEMY AT 60

Sell the cooldown, not the bar

Black Lotus find rate went up and three endgame herbs were added. If that softens Lotus prices, flask margins drop; whether flasks still need Lotus is unconfirmed.

Transmute: Arcanite. Still in, marked changed. The recipe is about 5g from Pestlezugg in Gadgetzan. Sell the cooldown rather than the bar: the customer brings mats and pays a fee, with no AH deposit.
New transmutes (datamined). Transmute: Legionite plus reworked elemental essence transmutes. Cooldowns aren't datamined yet.
Philosopher's Stone. An upgradeable trinket that starts as Crude. Upgrading unlocks Transmutations, and it boosts potion healing while equipped.
Raid consumables for Dec 9. Flasks, Greater Fire Protection (the Onyxia staple), Mongoose, Greater Arcane Elixir, Mageblood, Free Action, Swiftness, Giants, Mighty Rage, Limited Invulnerability. Protection-potion recipes are rare drops, and that scarcity is pricing power.
New in Forever (datamined). Attack Power flasks (the Flask of Natural series, skill 300), reputation elixirs (the first consumable tied to rep, with demand that doesn't depend on raid weeks), thrown AoE potions, DoT potions, tiered stat potions and role elixirs. Mixology extends the alchemist's own flask duration.
Also. Basic Healing Potions moved to First Aid; alchemists get a Discolored version with a downside. Camp objects: Mana Well (skill 20), Fermenter (140, Blueprint) and Alchemy Laboratory (300, Blueprint), which advanced recipes need, so flasks can be made in the field.
FLIPPING

Recipes, BoEs, trade goods

Limited-supply vendor recipes. Buy the single stocked copy and relist it; people pay to skip the trip. Start with the Alchemy circuit (Pestlezugg in Gadgetzan, Evie Whirlbrew in Winterspring), then engineering and tailoring vendors. Which ones survived re-itemization, and whether restocks changed, needs checking at launch.
Rare patterns. Devilsaur set, high-end Blacksmithing plans from BRD, Strat and Scholo, Mooncloth and Bloodvine tailoring, engineering schematics (Goblin Sapper, Field Repair Bot, Arcanite Dragonling, Battle Chicken). Worth flipping without the profession.
Merchant's Favor arbitrage. Turn in Waylaid Supplies crates picked up while leveling and spend the Favor on recipes that resell above their Favor cost.
Blueprints drop from dungeon bosses, the strongest in Blackmaw Hold and Shaper's Terrace. If they turn out to be tradeable, they're a prime target.
BoE epics. The classic flip lists are unreliable; Forever rebuilt the world-drop tables and cut the bad epics. Previewed reworks: Hurricane, Ankle Slicers, Skullflame Shield, Stonerender Gauntlets. Stats stay hidden until an item first drops on the server, so the first weeks are a price-discovery window.
Buy and hold for Dec 9. Arcane Crystal, elemental essences, Essence of Undeath, Righteous Orb, Black Lotus (with the find-rate change in mind). Accumulate in the November lull, sell when raids open.
ECONOMY STRUCTURE & LEGACY PERKS

The rules of the market

Confirmed. No WoW Token, no paid boosts, GDKP stays banned, and Blizzard says it will be "very, very actively monitoring the economy." Each ruleset is its own economy with its own AH and mail. Whether the AH is region-wide within a ruleset isn't documented.
Legacy perks (account-wide). Bartering, 5% off vendor prices per rank, two ranks. Reagent Economy, free vendor reagents after 10 points in Resourcefulness. Bountiful Harvest, 20% more scarce mats per rank up to double. Diplomat, 2% rep per rank. Dedicated Study, +1 to the lowest tradeskill, or random Elemental Essences once everything is maxed. Working Overtime, 4% skill-up chance per rank. Performance Bonus, a chance at double Merchant's Favor. Each crafting profession grants a point at 150, 225 and 300, once per account.
Dungeon mob XP was cut to stop boost spamming, which also keeps boosters from flooding mat markets.
TIMELINE & PRIORITIES

The calendar

0 of 6 done
Now → Nov 4
Install a price-tracking addon. Write down the vendor-recipe circuit and the rare-formula watchlist to reconfirm at launch.
Oct 27
Reserve Torvin Ledgerhand. Name reservation opens, first come first served.
Nov 4 → ~Dec
Leveling with Skinning and Mining: sell raw mats, flip vendor recipes along the way, bank Waylaid crates and scarce enchant mats.
At 60
Swap to Enchanting and Alchemy. Transmutes on cooldown from day one, the disenchant shuffle, a monopoly weapon formula, and a stockpile of flask and protection-potion mats.
Dec 8
Inventory pre-built.
Dec 9
Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia open. Sell flasks, Greater Fire Protection, elixirs, Arcanite and essences into the demand. The biggest revenue window of the launch.
RANKED BY VALUE-PER-HOUR

Where the hours go

  1. 1Arcanite on cooldown
  2. 2New transmutes (Legionite, elemental)
  3. 3A monopoly weapon formula
  4. 4Disenchant shuffle
  5. 5Shard transmute
  6. 6Reputation elixirs + AP flasks
  7. 7Vendor-recipe flipping
  8. 8Protection potions and flasks for Dec 9
  9. 9Repeat-buy elixirs
  10. 10Buy-and-hold trade goods
  11. 11First-week BoE price discovery
  12. 12Merchant's Favor arbitrage
  13. 13New enchanting craftables (relics, staves, wands)
  14. 14Selling cooldowns and services
  15. 15Legacy setup (Bartering, Reagent Economy, Bountiful Harvest)

If the AH turns out region-wide, flip margins shrink and cooldown transmutes and formula monopolies matter more. If Lotus gets cheap, consumable capital moves to rep elixirs and AP flasks. If Blueprints trade, farm them. The live client beats anything datamined.