UPDATE: Since I made this video, the Shen’dralar reputation situation has changed. Blizzard announced that the “Insane in the Membrane” FoS will still be available in Cataclysm; however, they are removing the Shen’dralar rep as one of the requirements. Since this announcement the prices and demand for PBD and the 3 Librams has dropped considerably. My advice now is to stop buying at high prices and work on liquidating any you have on hand at the best price you can get. As of today (November 15th), prices are still pretty good on most servers; some folks are still going after the Shen’dralar reputation since Blizzard announced that being exalted with Shen’dralar will have its own FoS.
In the last few weeks before the expansion goes live, many players are scrambling to finish off achievements that might not be possible to complete in the post-Cataclysm world. The most interesting of these from a gold-making point of view is the “Insane in the Membrane” Feat of Strength (FoS).
On servers where several (or many) players are going “Insane”, you can make a lot of gold right now by supplying the hard-to-find items they need to complete parts of the achievement. This is a short-term opportunity, and you need to take advantage of it as soon as possible. The big spending on quest items for this FoS is fueled by speculation that certain factions will no longer be in the game after the launch of Cataclysm.
I prepared the “Insane Gold” video in late September for members of MGB. I explain the best ways to profit from the rep grinding efforts of players intent on completing “Insane”… the achievement involves gaining Exalted reputation with several out-of-the-way factions.
The gold making opportunity comes down to three factions: Shen’dralar, Ravenholdt, and Darkmoon Faire. The video details the most lucrative items that you should concentrate on for each faction. I also tell you how to determine when people are working on this FoS on your server. The window of opportunity for the highest profit is very narrow, so be sure to check for the most recent updates and information surrounding Insane in the Membrane in the Cataclysm Gold Blueprint members’ area.
Darkmoon Faire
The Darkmoon Faire centers around deck turn-ins. You can focus on the cards/decks, the rare inks that go into making the most popular cards, or the herbs themselves. See also: Darkmoon Faire Card/Deck Arbitrage
Cards and Decks focus on:
- Lower-level Rogues and Swords decks
- Cheaper level 80 epic decks of Undeath, Chaos, and Prisms
Herbs focus on:
- Briarthorn, Bruiseweed, Mageroya, Stranglekelp, Swiftthistle
- Grave Moss, Kingsblood, Liferoot, Wild Steelbloom
- Deadnettle, Tiger Lily, Talandra’s Rose
Inks focus on:
- Hunter’s
- Dawnstar
- Snowfall
Shen’dralar
Each turn-in for Shen’dralar rep requires one of three specific Librams (Protection, Rapidity, or Focus) that drop in Dire Maul, as well as a Pristine Black Diamond, 2 Large Brilliant Shards, and a BoP item that the player can only farm for themselves. Historically, the scarcity of the librams and diamonds in the Auction House make this is one of the rare times where I suggest you *might* consider farming Dire Maul for the items yourself.
Ravenholdt
For each Ravenholdt turn-in the players will need 5 Heavy Junkboxes (around 1400 boxes in total) and this presents a very unique situation. Junkboxes can only be pickpocketed by Rogues. They CANNOT be sold in the Auction House, but CAN be traded player-to-player or sent through the mail. This is a Trade Chat opportunity only. A good plan of attack would be to set up a “wholesaling” operation where you hire Rogues to sell all the Junkboxes they can get their hands on directly to you, and then you turn around and sell for a profit via the Trade Channel.