Preparing for the Wrath

It is still months away, but the Wrath of the Lich King is throwing a long shadow. The closer it gets, the more you have to ask yourself how much time you want to spend on achievements which are rendered obsolete by the expansion, and how much time you want to spend on preparing for the expansion. And if you want to prepare, what could you sensibly do?

I haven't been playing all that much World of Warcraft recently. But I've been logging on occasionally to do things like Shadowcloth and alchemy transmutes, and to put things on the auction house. Or playing short bursts, doing a few daily quests. I've also been cleaning up my inventories, for example selling the metal bars and gems I had stored for jewelcrafting. All that accumulated a lot of gold, and this weekend I had the 5,200 gold for my third epic flying mount together. So now my mage joins my priest and my warrior in having an epic flyer. Not immediately useful on release, but as I'll probably level the mage to 77 before I do the warrior (if ever), I wanted the mage to have that mount. So, cleaning up inventory and buying an epic flying mount are definitely on my list of things to do in preparation for Wrath of the Lich King.

While metals and gems were certainly things I don't foresee needing in WotLK, cloth and herbs are a different story. Death Knights start out with 270 in First Aid, and will need Runecloth and up to train that skill further. And anyone trying the new Inscription profession will need tons of herbs of all levels. I think many people already stored the lowest level herbs in abundance, and most alchemist have stock in Outlands herbs. But the mid-level herbs could suddenly become extremely expensive on the auction house, and gathering those, or buying them for cheap when available, could be a great money-making opportunity. I'm not 100% sure about enchanting supplies, but the new ability to put enchantments on scrolls and sell those could also increase demand a bit there.

As I mentioned in the intro, getting new gear for your level 70 characters might not be the best use of your time right now, as the stuff you'll find in Northrend will quickly replace even your epics. But what about Death Knight twink gear? I wouldn't bother with anything below level 60, as the starting gear for Death Knights is so good that they won't need twink gear for the first 5 levels. But level 60 to 70 blue bind-on-equip plate armor and weapons, for example a [Blade of Misfortune] might well be in demand shortly after the expansion comes out. Death Knights can use one-handed and two-handed axes and swords, as well as polearms. In plate armor they'll be looking for gear with strength, stamina, and critical hit bonuses, like a dps warrior. BoE stuff will be valuable because the classic bind-on-pickup gear from dungeons will be difficult to get for Death Knights; there just won't be any healers in Outlands.

Did I forget anything? How are you preparing for Wrath of the Lich King?