The best ways to make Warcraft gold in 2010 is a long way from the best methods you could have employed say in 2006 when the Burning Crusade expansion came out. You will find here 5 great tips for gold making.

But first you might be asking "Why would I still need gold"? Most Wrath of the Lick King players now seem to be high level. They already have their mounts. Well, with Cataclysm on the horizon we can expect some new massive gold sinks - especially in the form of the "must have" item that this expansion will introduce.

Although details are sketchy, and definitely open to change, you can expect Flying Mounts again to be a major focus. It is rumoured that the rights to fly across Azeroth could set a player back 0ver 20,000g. Of course, being the go-getting type of player you are, you will want to have these mount skills as soon as you are the level to buy them (again details are sketchy - it is thought that only level 78 characters and above will be able to fly in new Azeroth)

Then you can expect to need gold to level those professions up again. To compete in the new instances you will be best carrying the highest I-item gear you can lay your hands on. Before you start raiding, these items will probably be ones you craft or buy from others at the auction house.

Leveling crafting professions is about the most expensive thing you can do in the game. Currently the most expensive profession to level from 375 to 450 according to WoWecon is Enchanting - weighing in at a whopping average across US servers at 6,800 gold for materials and rod upgrades.

So how to make gold in preparation for these events.

Here are my top 5 tips;

1) Sell everything. At every level the "grey" junk you get still fetches a decent sum of gold. Between level 70 and 80 the grey scraps, shards and poor quality (none green) weapons and armor that are dropped by mobs will fetch between 1 and 2 gold per inventory slot filled. Sometimes more.

2) Get bag space. Don't go out with full bags. Empty them and if your bags and bank is full of junk that you have not used in ages. Sell it. Many players have 50% of their bank slots filled with low level crafting materials "just in case". Any business will tell you inventory turn over is vital to financial success. If you end up throwing items out because you don't have space - because your bank is full of low level stuff - Well you might as well just throw the gold pieces straight down the drain.

3) Have an alt at an auction house. This tip is an old one, but still valid. If you are leveling miles away from a major auction house, have an alt (a low level character you don't intend doing much with in this case) stood by the post box in Stormwind or the Undercity. Rather than go back yourself all the time, post the items to them as your bag fills, then once a day log on as that player and do the selling and pick up the previous days profits.

4) Leveling. Level your main character as far as you can. I don't care what other guides say about making lots of Warcraft gold with low level characters. The truth of the matter is you will make far more gold with a high level character during normal play. It is quite possible while leveling to make decent sums of gold from loot and quest rewards. The higher the character level, the more you will make. While leveling an alt from 70-80 I was making over 100 gold an hour (once I had sold the items on) I did not sell a single item above "uncommon" level. This is all simple grinding fodder - and the higher the level, the more I made.

5) Gathering professions. If this is your first or main character then I strongly suggest taking up two gathering professions while leveling. Here's a low level example. Between levels 15 to 24 a character with mining and skinning made over 125 gold. And because they were questing, they already had most of the items they needed to level effectively (weapons, armor etc) from quest rewards. Against this, leveling Blacksmithing and Leatherwork would have cost this character over 180 gold. A difference of over 300 gold! (From minus 180 to plus 125). Low level crafted items rarely sell for the cost of the materials, and until Cataclysm comes along this will probably remain the case.