Nothing is free

I hear time and time again in the general, guild and trade channel the advice "don't pay good money in the auction house, go and farm it, it's free". But it's not free and I am not talking about the flight costs and battle expenses such as potions, food and drinks, although those should not be discounted. Just because you didn't pay for something, does not make it free. Every item you use is an item that has a market value and could have been sold for real virtual gold in your pocket, I mean bag.

Nothing is free. You may not pay for it in a way that is easy to understand, but you pay for it by not making money from it. In effect, that's very similar than paying for since it's potential earnings out of your pocket. You make not have any less money right now, but tomorrow you will have less money than you could have had if you sold the item instead. Nothing is free.

That brings me to the second point. Time is money. If you are going to farm, then farm for the most expensive thing you can at your level. Don't spend hours chasing birds for a hundred or more feathers that could have been bought for a few gold, if not silver. Farm where the money is, sell your farmed goods and then buy the feathers on the AH if you must.

Whether you farm, craft or work the AH, don't forget the hidden costs: auction deposits lost, the auctioneer cut, postage (30 bronze a pop do add up), the cost of levelling up professions, the cost of recipes and mats, travelling costs etc. I am far from a penny pincher, my postage tallies up to gold very quickly, but I do watch for small savings when I can. I hand things over to someone I play with, log out, log in the alt and then ask the person to hand the stuff to the alt - postage saved. I quest and build up good rep so that my flights and goods are discounted wherever I go. I try to stock up my regular supply where I have the highest rep and the largest discounts. I loot for health and mana potions as well as food and drink - or ask my very local mage to supply me free of charge. I buy recipes from vendors and trainers and plan my route before I set out to minimize travelling costs. Small things that accumulate to save me money.

I don't play the game to stockpile gold, I accumulate gold to play the game as it should be played - with good gear, full supplies and life's luxuries (potions and enchants for me) for pure indulgence sake. I spend my solo time making money so that when I play for fun with C, we can not worry about the money. Now that's how the game should be played.