Patch 4.0.6 is widely expected to be go live on Tuesday. Although this can change, and with my luck probably will, here is an overview of the changes so far and how you can make gold by being prepared. If the patch doesn’t go live this Tuesday, be patient, it’s coming!

Instead of reading through pages of patch notes yourself, here’s a summary of the things you might be interested in along with the most notable gold making opportunities at the bottom:

• Every class is receiving some big changes. See the patch notes to see your classes’ changes. For example, Hunters will be able to auto-shot while moving.
• Several pages of PvP and Battleground Changes. For example, Bloodlust, Heroism, Time Warp and Ancient Hysteria can no longer be used while in an Arena.
• Most Alliance racial traits and some Horde racial traits have been modified.
• Ink traders are being added to Stormwind and Orgrimmar
• Several epic quality crafted items are having their stats reduced and a gem slot added. Example: Elementium Deathplate
• Commodity vendors will now sell trade goods, these will accept Honor Points and Justice Points as payment. These are not meant to be a cheap way to get materials, but they will probably make some of these items cheaper to get by finding a raider with extra points and offering them less gold than normal.
• Illusionary Bag is being changed from 24 slots to 26. These cost 8 Dreamcloth to craft.
• Small changes to level 80-85 dungeons which will make the encounters slightly easier.

All Chaotic and Relentless meta gems are having their activation requirement changed to 3 red gems. This is going to cause a lot of people who are currently using these gems to need or want to regem the rest of their gear in order to activate their meta. According to WoW Popular, Chaotic Shadowspirit Diamond is the second most used metagem in the game! This means that there is going to be a lot of people looking to buy red gems on patch day.

How can you capitalize on this? Pretty easily, Inferno Rubys (and their various cuts) should already be a big seller on your realm but they should take a step up in price shortly after the patch goes live. If you’re tracking prices already for this gem, buy as many as you can below price and start selling them when the patch goes live. This won’t change the price of these gems in the long run, but for several days we should see increased prices.

Volatile Life and Flasks

The number of herbs used make flasks are being reduced slightly and the amount of Volatile Life required is being increased slightly. Considering the wide range of uses for Volatile Life, this will only have a minor impact on the price of Volatile Life. Never the less, it will be beneficial to hold onto your Volatile Life until the patch is released on Tuesday.

Enchanters and Maelstrom Crystals

There are several new enchanting recipes being added to the game, including three new Bracer Enchants: Agility, Major Strength and Mighty Intellect. All three of these recipes requires 2 Maelstrom Crystals. Currently Maelstrom Crystals are really expensive and this is probably going to shoot their price up even higher. If you can get your hands on some cheap Maelstrom Crystals, wait to sell them in the week following Patch 4.0.6’s release date (hopefully Tuesday). All three of these recipes are available only as a world drop so it might be awhile before people start buying Maelstrom Crystals for this purpose.

Jewelcrafters

Along with the addition of 3 new meta gems (which are world drops), Blizzard is also adding a new design: Vivid Dream Emerald. Jewelcrafters will be able to buy this design for 3 Illustrious Jewelcrafter’s Tokens on day 1 of Patch 4.0.6. It would be wise to make sure you have 3 of these tokens so that you can be one of the first to start cutting and selling this gem.

All the changes above are subject to change without notice. You should always follow Blizzard’s patch notes yourself. To see the latest Patch Notes, including all the details of the class changes, visit:http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2011384