A farm’s gold per hour is only as good as the runs behind it. On Gold Cloud, each run’s gold per hour is its total value divided by the time it took, so a run timed loosely or valued at wishful prices makes a farm look better (or worse) than it is. Here’s how to record a run properly.
Before you start
- Empty your bags. Running out of space halfway through costs you time and loot, and makes the run harder to count.
- Freshen your prices. If you use Auctionator or Time Is Money, open the auction house first so they value your loot at today’s prices.
- Pick your timer. Time Is Money starts a run on your first loot. Or use the run timer at the bottom of every Gold Cloud page.
Time the whole run
Start timing as you start farming and stop when you finish. If you go AFK, pause, so the time stays honest.
The Gold Cloud run timer is in the footer of every page. Press Start as you begin, Pause if you step away, and it keeps going if you change page. Doing several clears in a row? Press Lap at the end of each one to time them separately. When you’re done, “Submit this time” opens the submit form with the time already filled in.
Count everything it earned
The Submit a Run form splits a run’s value into a few boxes. Only the first two are required:
- Time taken: how long you farmed for, in minutes (e.g. 20), or minutes:seconds for a quick clear (e.g. 4:37).
- Raw gold: the gold you looted, plus anything from selling grey junk to a vendor.
- Materials value: what your cloth, leather, herbs, ore, fish and so on sell for on the auction house.
- Equipment value: the gold you got from selling armour and weapons to a vendor.
- Transmog value: what any gear you sell on the auction house is worth.
We add these up and work out the gold per hour for you.
Value items honestly
Use the price items actually sell at on the auction house, not their highest listing. If something rarely sells, leave it out. A run that’s slightly too low is far more useful to other players than one that’s too high.
Add the details that help other players
The rest of the form is optional, but it’s what makes a run useful: your class and spec, whether you were solo or in a group, your region, any profession the farm needs, and notes on your route (where to reset, which mobs to skip, what sold best). You can add a screenshot of your loot or gold, or a YouTube or Twitch link. The form remembers your class, spec and region for next time.
What happens after you submit
Your first 3 runs are checked by us. After that you’re a Trusted Farmer: your runs go live instantly, with a badge by your name. Other players can upvote runs that worked for them, and runs with 3 or more upvotes get a Confirmed badge. Every approved run is added to your farmer profile, and the most active farmers appear on the Top Farmers board.
Ready? Pick a farm, start the timer, and submit your run. Want help working out what your loot is worth? See the best gold farming addons.
