Making enough money to get everything you absolutely need now is very easy I agree. However this was not the case back in Vanilla (at least not for me). I never skipped quests, ever. I made sure I did every last quest in a zone before I moved on. I never spent gold at the AH buying gear or reagents, etc. But I STILL wasn't able to amass the 100g needed for my level 40 mount until I was like 50.. and the 1000g mount at 60? yeaahhhh.. took over a year.
Thing is I had absolutely no luck with the AH EVER. I mean I could never sell a damn thing ever. I'd make the buyout price like 20% less than every other thing, and it would STILL fail to sell, costing me the d eposit cost, I had this happen again and again and again, eventually I just learned I lose money when I try to sell shit rather than make it.
I probably could have made some if I was one of those people who sell via trade using trade channel in capital cities. But I don't like wasting my free time trying to virtually sell shit for hours for virtual gold. I'd rather just play a damn game and have fun y'know?
I'd never beg for free gold though, ugh I hate those people. I could never understand total strangers who aren't yet even level 10 asking for over 100 gold sometimes. WTF?!