Linen to Bandages: the day-one cloth flip

Why linen floods

Every fresh realm does the same thing, and Forever is going to do it harder. There are no realms this time, just one big market per ruleset and faction, so instead of a few thousand level 5s you get everyone on your side of the auction house pulling Linen Cloth out of Defias pockets on the same night.

Their bags fill up by Westfall. They don't have a bank alt yet. So the cloth goes on the AH at whatever undercuts the last guy, and the last guy was also desperate.

That's our opening. Nobody wants to stand next to the mailbox making bandages while their friends are questing, so whoever does gets paid twice: once in First Aid skill-ups, and once when the dungeon crowd shows up wanting heals between pulls.

Prices to watch

These are the three numbers I check before I spend a single copper. Vendor prices come straight from game data. The AH columns fill in once we have scans for your market, which you can switch at the top of the page.

ITEMVENDORMINMEDIAN

Linen Cloth13c——

Linen Bandage10c——

Heavy Linen Bandage20c——

— = no listings in the latest scan on US·NORMAL·HORDEPrices from AHledger

The vendor price matters more than it looks. Linen sells to a vendor for 13 copper, so any stack listed near that is someone who has given up. Those are the stacks you want.

The crafting route

You learn Linen Bandage the moment you pick up First Aid. It takes one linen and stays orange until 30, so it's both the cheapest skill-up in the game and a bandage people actually use at low level.

Once the trainer gives you Heavy Linen Bandage, switch over. Heavies cost two cloth each and stay orange until 50, but they're the bandage dungeon groups buy, so they're where the margin lives.

If you're levelling First Aid seriously rather than just flipping, the full route keeps going: Wool Bandage from 45, then silk, mageweave and runecloth. I'll cover that in the full First Aid guide. For this flip we stop at linen.

What's new in Forever

Two changes make First Aid more interesting than it was in the original game.

First Aid Kits. The trainer now teaches First Aid Kit, made from three Linen Bandages and a Refreshing Spring Water. You drop it at a campfire and everyone sitting nearby gets a Stamina buff that doesn't stack with Fortitude. All camping items share a one-hour cooldown, so nobody needs a stack, but groups who level together will want one. That gives Linen Bandages a second buyer: other First Aiders who don't want to grind the bandages themselves.

Potions might live here now. Forever's game data lists Minor Healing Potion under First Aid, made from an Empty Vial, Mild Spices and a Peacebloom. If that holds at launch, First Aid players will be competing with alchemists on low-level healing potions, and that's a market worth watching in week one.

When to sell

Evenings and weekends, when groups are forming for Deadmines and Wailing Caverns. During the day the buyers are levelling solo and eating food instead.

Post in stacks of five. Nobody running a dungeon wants twenty, and a wall of 20-stacks just tells everyone your price is negotiable. Small stacks also let you match the cheapest listing without dumping your whole inventory at that price.

What I'd actually do

If you're not playing on launch night, don't chase this. By the second week the cloth flood has slowed down and the bandage market belongs to whoever is already sitting on stock. Pick something else from the guides list instead.

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