Try Panhandling?

I generally have never had money issues on my characters, in pretty much all the years that I have played WoW. I always have at least one gathering profession and I know how to effectively work in the Auction House to make a pretty penny. So Rai's present situation is a little depressing.

I had originally played Rai in earlier BC, I think I stopped sometime around when Quel'Danas and the Sunwell and all that stuff came out, because I never did those quests on him. At that time I hung up Rai's bow, let my Boar and Wind Serpent get housebroken, ended his heroic exploits, and started up a shaman named Koji (the first, not the present). I hadn't intended to play Rai again, of all the characters I played, I never seriously revisited any after starting a new one. So I pretty much liquidated all my funds to friends and whatnot save for a few hundred gold in the slim chance I ever really did dust off the ol' Troll again.

So when I actually did start playing Rai again, he was flat broke. He was level 70, but didn't have an epic flying mount. I never thought it was worth the investment, and boy how wrong that was. If I bought an epic mount right when Koji turned 70 (and I could have), it would have made a world of difference. The time saved in travel almost certainly would have offset the cost and then some. Besides, my real time is infinitely more valuable then game gold. But I digress.

So when I dusted off Rai, I knew that one of my big goals was to get 5k gold for epic flying. It wouldn't offer me serious benefits until I hit 77 (which I presently am) but that didn't change the fact that I wanted to get it as soon as I can. Rai was a miner and enchanter and through some effort I afforded my epic flying skill at 75 or 76. Some more work, and I scrounged up another 1k gold for cold weather flying at 77.

My original goals completed, I needed some new ones. Two (technically three) came in my sights, all of which I have (and still are) attempting to complete at once.

Goal 1: Nesingwary 4000. This bad boy pretty much blows most range weapons away, I'm not sure if any heroic drop can match it. I don't get my racial bonus and I'm not a fan of loud guns, much unlike Mr. BRK, but you can't deny the sheer allure of that boomstick. I was going to just save up another 1.5k gold to buy one, but I found that it would be pretty cost effective to just get the mats. I already had a frozen orb from some of my investments as well a few Eternal Shadow and Fire from mining. The rest of the stuff I bought, the sun scopes, the gems, the titanium, and about 10 eternals each. I still figure that it cost my no more than 1k gold, probably less. I generally only bought when they were for sale below median. Even though I'm only 77, I managed to get this cobbled together to grace my bank for a few levels.

Goals 2 and 3 are interrelated. Rai was an enchanter, or to be more specific, a disenchanter. I hadn't really intended to level up his enchanting... maybe to get a ring enchant, but not very high. Koji is already an enchanter and didn't want to repeat going through that. I found Jewelcrafting quite alluring both for its utility and potential profitability. However, I didn't want to give up disenchanting, and certainly not mining. So I compromised...sorta.

I started up a Death Knight, got him through all his starting quests. It was pretty quick since I've done them all on Anguish. It was actually pretty entertaining too, now that I've seen most of the questgivers and NPCs in Naxx and other areas throughout Northrend. And so I went on the task of raising up his enchanting for the sole purpose of being a disenchanter. He's almost there. I hit a snag because I couldn't for the life of me find a Golden Pearl but I finally found one today. Hurrah!

However, at the same time, I'm leveling Jewelcrafting on Rai now. I have spent the last week or so buying materials to level it up when I can find them pretty cheap. However still I haven't been able to find everything and I underestimated the expense of leveling it. I'm sitting at about 200 right now, waiting for some mats to be for sale again (I'm surely not going to hunt them down myself).

The issue however is that my funds have completely exhausted. I spent pretty much every gold I have getting the last of the mats for my Nesingwary 4000. If I were sensible I would have just waited until I actually got 80, but that's not my style. But Rai about 20 silver, my AH character has about 10 gold, and my Death Knight has about 50 gold to use towards finishing his enchanting.

I'm sure it won't be long until I have plenty of cash again. A little questing will get me some buffer and I have probably 100 some odd auctions up that just don't seem to want to sell. I have no fears of getting money again soon, it just came as quite a surprise to me that I'm in such a situations, since I've never really experienced it before.