If you watch WoW-related YouTube videos you’ve likely seen content creators talking about making gold with RestedXP and their Gold Assistant service. It is a subscription service for WoW Classic era servers (TBC Classic, SoM, WoW Classic, etc) that offers you recommendations on the best gold farms and professional craftables to make gold. The recommendations are based on your realm and characters. The farms include guides and the craftables include material lists and cost/profit breakdown. I’ve taken a deep dive into making gold with RestedXP and wanted to share my results and thoughts with anyone considering using their service.
RestedXP has received a lot of attention thanks to its affiliate program. Content creators can plug their services, provide an affiliate link, and get paid a commission. Bitt’s Guides is also a member of their affiliate program, and as such clicking on RestedXP links here may result in payment toward the operation of this site. But before I decided to join their affiliate program and create this post I became a paying member of their services to test them. Here you’ll find my review, including examples of how well gold-making using their guides worked for me. And who should (and shouldn’t) consider their services.
Who Is RestedXP
RestedXP started out selling leveling guides for WoW Classic era games. They are single purchase guides with both a web and add-on component.
More recently they introduced their Gold Assistant service, which is what we’re getting into here. That is a subscription service that reads auction house data and recommends farms and professional goods to craft for making gold.
The website is owned by RXP Media, which owns and operates multiple gaming websites for WoW, Diablo, Elden Ring, and New World.
RestedXP Gold Assistant
The making gold aspect of RestedXP is with their Gold Assistant. You get started with the Gold Assistant by creating character settings. You first add your realm. Then you add any characters who are viable for making gold. You’ll be asked for your class, spec, faction, professions, and movement speed enhancements. You can add multiple realms and multiple characters and later filter from one to all.
Your realm and faction are used to retrieve auction house data from TradeSkillMaster. TSM users scan all auction houses many times a day and they collect and share the data every few hours. When seeing promised profits with Gold Assistant, the data delay is significant.
Your character’s professions are used in the Profession Guides section. It assumes you have max skill and all recipes, so only list professions which are at least 350+. The more complete your recipe collection the more benefit you’ll get from this system.
All of your character’s other attributes are used to calculate and recommend farms in the Farming Guides. They estimate your kill times, which is used to calculate your gold per hour rate.
Farming Guides
Gold Farming Guides
The Gold Farming Guides use your character data and realm auction house prices it calculates the most efficient gold farms using gold per hour as the measure. But you can further filter the results depending on your current mood.
Find Your Best Gold Farms
Initially, farms are listed for all of your characters. If you wish to farm with a particular character you can click their class button and it’ll filter the farms best for that class. You’ll find paladins, rogues, mages, and hunters have more options than other classes.
You can also filter by estimated competition, using the Low/Medium/High Contest Guides. Often the most profitable open-world farms are medium or highly contested. How well you’ll do will depend on how efficient you are at farming and how quickly you can tag mobs at range.
There is a User Settings option that will help you to fine-tune the gold-per-hour calculation for yourself.
Guide Details
When you click on a gold farm you’ll get a short guide. It covers what class requirements (if any) you need, the more valuable loot to look for, and how to best run the farm. Often there is a video guide for complicated farms, often in dungeons. Open-world farms have a zone map with farming locations marked and ranked.
Profession Guides
Profession Guides
The Profession Guides focus on items you can craft and sell in the auction house. The initial list has estimated profit and demand levels, which are shown as 1 to 5 stars. The system assumes you have all recipes for your listed professions, so you’ll likely come across a suggestion you can’t craft.
Profit Calculation
Crafting Details
When you click on any suggested item to craft you’ll get an overview. At the top, it’ll list where to find the recipe and the skill required. Then it’ll break down your cost and revenue, including a list of materials needed and their total costs.
The calculations are pretty thorough. They look at the minimum buyout (cheapest one of the auction house), the auction house 5% cut from a sale, the auction house deposit fee (returned if the item is sold), and material costs based on auction house listings. From there an expected profit is calculated.
There are a few things to keep in mind when looking at that profit number. The big one is timing. The numbers from RestedXP have a delay due to TSM only updating its API every few hours. So the numbers you see in real-time may not exactly match. And more importantly, the going rate may change significantly for lower-demand items. Prices can come down over a day or two, especially if they were elevated due to low supply and several other players come in to fill the void.
For crafted items that use other crafted items as materials (such as engineering items that use engineering-created parts), your profit margin will likely be higher if you buy the raw materials and make the needed components yourself. RestedXP doesn’t take this into account and instead uses the going price of the parts in its calculations.
Demand & Sell Rate
When I first started reviewing the gold-making potential of RestedXP Gold Assistant they used a three-star demand system. One star meant low demand (which means a slow sell rate) and three stars were for high-demand items. The single-star evaluations were pretty good, but the two and three-star listings varied a lot more than their system indicated. RestedXP saw this too because they recently went with a five-star system.
Through WoW and TBC Classic, I’ve used TradeSkillMaster’s sale rate numbers to gauge demand. The sale rate is the percent of auctions that result in a sale: a 0.3 sale rate means 30% of postings sold.
I require my go-to professional items to have a sale rate of 0.25 or higher (1 in 4 listed get sold globally). Anything 0.3 or higher has a great sale rate and I rarely need to relist them more than twice. So I took TSM’s sale rate data and compared it to RestedXP’s demand ratings.
| RestedXP Demand Rating | TSM Sale Rate |
|---|---|
| 5 stars | 55-71% |
| 4 stars | 37-49% |
| 3 stars | 24-36% |
| 2 stars | 12-23% |
| 1 stars | 0-11% |
In the short amount of time the new five-star system has been available I’ve found it more accurate. Essentially 1 and 2-star items can take days to sell and are at the greatest risk of dropping in value if you didn’t get good deals on their materials. Most 4 and 5-star items sell the same or the next day, but you often find they have smaller profits. Many other players have identified them as high-demand items and there are more of them competing on price. You shouldn’t focus on any single-star rating, but rather look at the estimated profit and keep the sale rate in mind when deciding whether to craft something new.
My Making Gold with RestedXP Results
For my testing of making gold with RestedXP Gold Assistant, I focused on their Profession Guides. The majority of my in-game fortune was earned through the use of professions in WoW Classic and TBC Classic. So I felt I could give an expert analysis of the professional guides over the farming guides. I believe the professional guides are also more complex and carry with them a higher risk of loss than any of the farming guides.
My Testing & Results
For over two weeks I used RestedXP Gold Assistant daily to find recommendations for craftable items to make that I don’t normally produce or sell. I would post these items to my realm’s auction house a few times a day as necessary. Here are the results of those sales. All numbers are rounded to the nearest gold.
| Item | Material Cost | Revenue | Profit | Profit Listed By RestedXP | Sell Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delicate Living Ruby | 34 | 65 | 31 | 35 | Same day |
| Runed Living Ruby | 34 | 72 | 38 | 42 | Same day |
| Teardrop Living Ruby | 34 | 76 | 42 | 45 | Same day |
| Bright Crimson Spinel | 160 | 360 257 | 187 97 | 173 | Few days |
| Rigid Lionseye | 123 | 215 | 92 | 82 | Same day |
| Inscribed Pyrestone | 121 | 184 | 63 | 86 | Same day |
| Veiled Pyrestone | 124 | 156 | 32 | 59 | Few days |
| Sovereign Shadowsong Amethyst | 43 | 65 | 22 | 154 | Next day |
| Bracing Earthstorm Diamond | 85 | 133 | 48 | 42 | Next day |
| Pendant of Frozen Flame | 184 | 277 | 93 | 93 | Next day |
| Pendant of Null Rune | 103 | 143 | 40 | 60 | Same day |
| Pendant of Shadow's End | 136 | 266 | 130 | 126 | Next day |
| Pendant of Thawing | 191 | 380 | 189 | 188 | Next day |
| Prospecting Mithril | 247 | 170 | -77 | 228 | Same day |
| Cobrahide Leg Armor | 78 | 114 | 36 | 32 | Next day |
| Nethercobra Leg Armor | 170 191 184 | 279 285 227 | 109 94 43 | 98 91 84 | Varied from same day to several days |
| Nethercleft Leg Armor | 85 111 111 96 | 238 276 190 243 | 153 166 79 147 | 194 124 90 56 | Varied from same day to several days |
| Riding Crop | 109 100 | 187 160 | 78 60 | 76 85 | Same day to next day |
| Fel Leather Gloves | 139 | 279 | 140 | 129 | Few days |
| Fel Leather Leggings | 176 | 285 | 109 | 168 | Several days |
| Felstalker Breastplate | 131 | 0 | -131 | 153 | Unsold after several days |
| Netherscale Ammo Pouch | 78 | 102 | 24 | 62 | Several days |
| Quiver of Thousand Feathers | 47 | 171 116 | 123 69 | 81 | Several days |
| Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer | 635 | 884 | 249 | 350 | Many days |
| Khorium Scope | 100 | 143 | 43 | 80 | Few days |
| Golden Spellthread | 81 | 126 | 45 | 42 | Next day |
I made over 2600 gold in profit. RestedXP estimated I should have made closer to 3600 gold profit. That difference is mostly explained by the timing of the auction house data made available. I reported two losses, one of which will likely turn into a profit if/when the item sells. The remainder of the difference is either material prices were higher when I bought them compared to what was listed, or the item’s price dropped during the time it took for me to secure a sale.
My Takeaways from the Results
Overall I’m impressed with my numbers using THE Gold Assistant professional guides. I made a lot of items I don’t normally and I got a nice profit out of a half-hour of effort each day. The Mithril prospecting was the only complete bust, and to be fair that I got bad RNG on the gems it produced.
I did find some things were missing from their recommendations. And I believe the system favors more established players over newer players.
What Is Missing from Gold Assistant
A few professional gold makers I use regularly are missing from Gold Assistant, due to the nature of how it works.
Prospecting Adamantite Ore only got listed once during my testing. RestedXP’s system only looks at the value of raw gems. The way one can profit from prospecting is by cutting gems and crafting Mercurial Adamantite. Any multi-step crafting system will be missed by RestedXP due to their more simple X – Y = Z profit model.
Another weakness I found was a carry-over from TradeSkillMaster. In TSM you can see a profit estimate on most crafted items, with the notable exception of enchanting. For most enchanting recipes that is because there is no price data on the value of an enchant, as it doesn’t appear in the auction house. But the limitation carries over to tradable goods enchanting can make, in this case, Brilliant Mana Oil. Brilliant Mana Oil has been quite profitable since the release of Sunwell, but TSM doesn’t list a profit estimate for it. RestedXP is leveraging TSM’s systems, so they also don’t list it or any oil.
I am hoping the enchanting listing issues go away in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Then enchants can be listed on the auction house using vellums and TSM (and thus RestedXP) should update how they handle them.
Finally, I found a recipe missing: Biznicks 247×128 Accurascope. No real reason why, it lists a profit estimate fine in TSM, but it never came up for my engineering character. When I crafted and sold a few I got well over 100 gold profit, so it should be high on the list with a lower star rating. It makes me wonder if a few other recipes might be missing from their database, too.
Gold Assistant vs Buying Gold
If I had spent the $6 to buy gold directly (ignoring for the moment that is a TOS violation and carries the risk of my account being suspended) I could have bought 500-780 gold on my realm. Based on my two-week test I could easily clear 4000+ gold profit during the month. It would take more time on my part compared to buying the gold, but spending that money on the subscription is both more profitable and doesn’t go against the game rules.
Who Should and Shouldn’t Consider Using RestedXP Gold Assistant?
While the system worked well for me, not every player will have the same experience. In short, veterans will get more out of it than newer players. This is unfortunate, as newer players often need extra help.
Who Should Use Gold Assistant
- One or more level 70 character
- Skilled up professions: Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting, Leatherworking, Tailoring
- Have a few hundred gold available to invest in materials
- The more characters with profitable professions and good recipe lists you have the better the system will work for you
Who Shouldn’t Use Gold Assistant
- Players leveling up their first character, focus on getting to 70 first
- Your only professions are Enchanting, Herbalism, Mining, and/or Skinning
- Not enough gold to buy expensive materials or recipes
- Without a max-level character who has profitable professions you’ve already invested in your best option are the farm guides
Farming Guides Work For All Level 70s
- Any level 70 can use the farming guides, the only thing that varies is your estimated gold per hour, not actually making gold
- Finding a farm you like means less need to keep a subscription going long term
Would I Recommend RestedXP Gold Assistant?
For players with profitable professions, I would recommend taking a look at RestedXP Gold Assistant. The gold-making with RestedXP is real and your hard-earned cash is better spent with RestedXP than buying gold. You can find many gold-making tips and make heavy use of TradeSkillMaster to get a lot of the same information for free. But RestedXP is offering the easiest, single-source system I’ve come across.
My Recommendation
If you have the right professions and the ability to invest in initial materials until you secure your first few sales, then my recommendation is for you. RestedXP is a much simpler tool than TradeSkillMaster while giving you similar profit estimates and sale rates. It also does what TSM can’t, filter the most profitable items right to the top of the list.
In general, I recommend professional gold-making instead of farming. That is largely due to my own bias, I farmed a lot in the original game and simply don’t want to this time around. But also because of the time investment. Not counting your effort to get your professions in order, it only takes minutes to check Gold Assistant, buy mats, make the items, and post them to the auction house. Each day I ran my tests I spent close to 30 minutes and made more gold from that time (with a significant delay in delivery) than any half-hour of farming.
I Plan To Continue Making Gold with RestedXP
I plan to continue making gold with RestedXP and their Gold Assistant for the time being. During TBC Classic Phase 5 it is harder to make big profits using professions. Epic gems for Badges of Justice have cooled the prospecting game. Abundant Marks of the Illidari make flasks less profitable. And some players are taking a break with the summer, the more difficult Sunwell content, and higher interest in the upcoming WotLK Classic than in TBC Classic now. While I’m not making a small fortune with RestedXP Gold Assistant it does offer alternative income options with crafting, which is my preferred gold-making approach.
I also want to see how well the system works during the early weeks of WotLK Classic. Material costs and crafted item demand is in rapid flux during the start of a new expansion, so it’ll be good to have another source of insight.
