|
Gathering Professions
Introduction Also, you’ll want to download and install some Custom Tradeskill UI’s; Curse’s Gatherer UI http://www.curse-gaming.com/mod.php?addid=44 is an excellent choice for Miners and Herbalists. This UI automatically logs any ore/herb deposits you come across while adventuring. The deposits are marked by green or red circles on your world/mini map and if you place your cursor over a symbol, the UI will tell you what resource (Silverleaf, Copper etc) can be farmed from that deposit. The UI will even give you an estimate of how long it will take to refresh the deposit and how many units are available. This makes gathering especially easy once you have leveled up your skill. You can simply pull up a world map and scan which deposits you want to hit and plot out a route gathering all your materials in minimal time. Mining is a great cash cow because there are multiple professions, which require various metal bars to create items. Engineering and Blacksmithing (and more specialized weapon smiths and armor smiths) assure a solid demand for metal bars in the Auction House. Mining can also yield expensive gems and specialty items. Plus the stones for blacksmithing can be vendored or sold in the Auction House for decent cash. You’ll also want to have an enchanter put a modifier enchantment on your gloves to have +5 mining skill. Here are some numbers regarding metal ore:
Stones used in blacksmithing are also very profitable and usually come in higher quantity than metal ore from mineral veins.
** Update : [Dense Stone] value have sky rocketed since the Darkmoon Faire has been introduced in patch 1.6, These are required for miners to earn Darkmoon tickets to build up faction and rewards. A good idea is to save your stone until the faire arrive (1st week of every month) then you can sell over double the average price. Bear in mind that these prices are simply a sampling and prices will vary and fluctuate on any given server depending you population and rule set (pvp/pve). It is a good idea to take a look at the prices in the AH on your server and modify your farming strategy accordingly. http://www.thottbot.com/ is a great research tool for finding mineral deposits; simple type a mineral like Mithril into the search field and click the item at the top, then select the zone you want to farm from a list. A map will display all the mineral deposits in a zone. Depending on the minerals you are farming, Mining can net you anywhere from 5g – 50g/ hour.
Herbalism Basics Herbalism is another gathering profession that can
yield quite a bit of cash if you are willing to put the time into
farming. It’s not much and you can do it as you adventure. The
benefits are that herbs are abundant and they respawn quickly. As
mentioned in the Mining section, Curse’s Gatherer UI is extremely
helpful, as is http://www.thottbot.com/
As you can see from chart, [Wild steelbloom] and [Kingsblood]are the most in demand among the common plants. The problem is that most of these herbs are only found in certain areas that may be farmed extensively by other players. Grave moss, for instance, is only found in high concentrations in Duskwood and Wetlands. Use http://www.thottbot.com/ to pull up a map on where to find them. Wild Steelbloom can be found in large quantities in Stranglethorn Vale and Arathi Highlands among other areas. Ghost Mushrooms are found off of elite mobs in Maraudon instances. * Nerfed strategies, you can only reset an instance 5x an hour. If you are planning on gathering herbs and selling them in the Auction House your route throughout Azeroth is important since some zones are better for picking herbs than others. Time is a factor as is zone population and risk of death. As mentioned before, [Kingsblood] is one of the most profitable common herbs because of demand from faction turn in quests for the Thorium Brotherhood, and its use in healing and mana potions. Alterac Mountains (level 35+) - One of the best routes for gathering [Kingsblood] and other herbs while on the way ([Goldthorn], [Fadeleaf]) is to plot a route starting in the Alterac Mountains and leading up into the Hinterlands. If you follow the outer mountain ridge surrounding the Alterac ruins you can find lots of Kingsblood plants. Follow the north road up into the Hinterlands, and then follow the mountain ranges east to collect [Sungrass] and [Fadeleaf]. This route can net 20g from the auction house for only 30-45 mins of collecting. * Scarlet Monastery (level 35+) - If you have a love of repetitive tasks; you can even farm [Kingsblood] and [Fadeleaf] from the Scarlet Monastery instances. Being a rogue will help though since you will need to stealth past, or kill a few mobs first. Go to SM Library for [Fadeleaf], it’s a 100% spawn (second room) resetting the instance every time you get one. To reset an instance simply invite a friend, leave the instance, then leave the group. For [Kingsblood] , go to the graveyard; there are 2 picking plants for [Kingsblood] in there, just pick, then reset. You can make 20-30g/ hour this way. Stranglethorn Vale (level 40+) - Another nice little path is in the surrounding roads of Lake Nazferiti in Stranglethorn Vale. [Fadeleaf] and [Kingsblood] are abundant around the lake and surrounding coasts. [Wild steelbloom] grows in the northern and western mountains. [Khadgar’s Whisker] grows through out Stranglethorn Vale as well. A few rounds about the lake, mountains and coast can net upwards of 100 gold per trip. Blasted Lands (level 45+) - Another route is Swamp of sorrows to Blasted Lands to collect [Fadeleaf] and [Gromsblood]. Take a look at the Swamp of sorrows map of fadeleaf plants http://www.thottbot.com/?m=21502 If you start at the northern central area of the zone and move southwest you will come across many fadeleaf plants to pick. This path leads directly to the Blasted lands. If you follow the southern road around the bend to Nethergarde keep there should be [Gromsblood] plants on the right and left. If you are flying in via griffon it might be a good idea to follow the road around Blasted lands and up into the swamp of sorrows, then double back to Nethergarde keep for your exit. One of these runs can net about 20-30g for a quick 30 mins of work. * Dire Maul
(level 50+) - Farming Dire Maul east is also a decent place
for gathering herbs and you don’t even need Herbalism. Simply zone
in to the instance on the eastern side of Dire Maul and kill the
whip lashers to the left. They are pre-grouped and thus great
AoE’ing with a mage or warlock. The loot tables can be found on http://www.thottbot.com/ but the plants can drop
[Dreamfoil], [Briarthorn] and [Blindweed]. Additional drops like [Living Essence] and items can result in net gain
of 20-40g per hour depending on drops. Skinning can be a lucrative profession as well,
since like Mining and Herbalism, it takes little more than a few
seconds between adventuring. Here are some stats on leather supplies
and the level mobs you need to farm. Leather is in high demand
because Engineers, Tailors, Blacksmiths and of course Leatherworkers
need it to craft their goods.
Unfortunately, without leatherworking you can’t
make the higher end leather trade supplies. That’s ok because unless
you plan on going the route of elemental or tribal, leatherworking
as a compliment to skinning is not very profitable. However, staying
on the supply side and gathering resources with skinning can net you
some cash. The best way to gather the skins to place in the Auction
House is to farm skinnable humanoids. Farming skinnable humanoids
kills two birds with one stone. Being humanoids, the mobs will drop
coin. Skinnable corpses will allow you to glean some leather working
supplies for extra cash. Here are some spots to find higher-level
skinnable humanoids. Hillsbrad Foothils (level 30+) - In the central part of Hillsbrad foothills, north of Southshore, you’ll find a cave with Cave Yeti and Ferocious Yeti. These mobs drop decent coin about 1s a piece and they are skinnable. The yetis also have a chance to drop dome decent loot. The yeti can even be AoE farmed if you have a mage or warlock. Just gather them up with a wand or have a melee do it. You can make 5-10g here per hour as a good start. Alterac Mountains (level 30+) - Giant Yeti in Alterac Mountains will also yield a lot of leather and coin since they are skinnable humanoids. You can find these mobs around the mountains surrounding the Ruins of Alterac. They can be skinned for [Heavy Leather] and [Heavy Hide] which sells moderately at 50s a stack. You can make about 5-10g per hour here. WinterSpring (level 45+) - Winterspring is a good place to kill skinnable humanoids. The Ice Thistle yeti around everlook and off into the East near the Ice thistle caves will drop 4-6silver and can be skinned for rugged leather. The Yeti also have loot tables with a few blue and purple items. There are lower level Feral Scar yeti in Feralas also which are good for looting/skinning. The ones in the west center area are around level 45 and the ones in the north Rage Scar Vale area are 48-50. Skinning will only net about 5-10g per hour, but the drops are an added bonus as is the skinning skill ups and XP if you need them. Un’Goro Crater – Devilsaur (Level 50+) - Devilsaur mobs are usually level 53 elites that wander around the southern part of the zone near the entrance from Tanaris. Skinning [Devilsaur Leather] can be extrememly profitable. The leather sells for about 5g a piece. Devilsaur mobs are fairly uncommon so it’ll take some tracking work (Hunters will do well here) so you can hunt down 4-5 inside an hour for at least one Devilsaur leather per piece which translates into 20-25g per hour. Block Rock Spire/Wetlands (level 55+) - Later on, you’ll want to skin high level elite Dragonkin mobs like Rage Talon Captain and Chromatic dragonspawn and in Black Rock Spire to get Dragonscales, which are used for Dragonscale armor and can fetch 1-3g each. There are also elite dragon mobs called Red Dragonspawn in the easter mountain pass of the Wetlands. You can skin Red Dragonscales off these as well. You can farm 20-40g/hour depending on your group and how many dragons you can kill. Molten Core (level 60) Molten core mobs will also yield [Core Leather] for Chromatic and Dark Iron armor. Guilds usually run Molten Core raids and thus designate a guild skinner to gather up the leather, so you’ll have to be creative if you want to farm core leather. If you find a way, these leathers will be very valuable. Level Progression Gathering professions should occupy your two primary profession slots on up into your 40’s. We’ve talked about all the tips of the gathering progressions and how to make them profitable from an end game perspective. However, as a new player or simply a new character, it’s important to start out on the right foot so that you can easily gather enough gold to purchase Spells, Equipment and a Mount (level 40) It’s important to start out knowing which zones
will be appropriate to level and gather items. It’s recommended that
as a novice player without any gold (Assuming a new player or new
server) start with two gathering professions, Skinning and Mining
are preferable since Herbalism supplies like Silverleaf and
Peacebloom don’t sell well in the Auction House. Leather supplies,
however, are in great supply and have a healthy demand from other
production professions as we have discussed. Mining starts out
fairly lucrative since the earliest metal you can mine is copper,
which as we said sells for at least 50s - 1g/stack. Level Mining (65) Most any starting zone (levels 1- 10) will be plentiful with copper veins, Silverleaf and Peacebloom plants, humanoids for cloth and beasts for leather. Here are some zones that are filled with all of these: Trisfall Glades (Horde) Remember to utilize your downtime wisely, and farm every bit of trade material you can. Granted at earlier levels you will have limited pack space for equipment and quest items, that’s why it’s important to farm the trade materials so you can buy pack space. If you come across a body of water, spend a few minutes fishing there for a food stock as well as some sill level increases. This is another reason you want to spend your time wisely, as you level your skill levels should increase also. Level zones and the skill levels required for certain profession skills correspond. In other words you won’t want to waste time going back to lower level zones to farm skill-increases so its best to do it as early as possible and continue throughout your adventuring. Level Mining (125) The Barrens Loch Modan Stonetalon Mountains Wetlands Level Mining (175) Scarlet Monastery Stranglethorn Vale Alterac Mountains Arathi Highlands Gathering Zones Levels 40-50 Level Mining (225) Blasted Lands Hinterlands Once you are well into your 40’s and 50’s it’s time to put the gathering on hold. If you want to switch to other crafting professions, now would be the time to do it, although you should be aware that Gathering will always be the most profitable professions and if you drop a profession you will need to backtrack in lower level zones to build up your skill again, should you decide to use them again. |
|
_________________________________________________ Home | Members | Contact Us This site is not affiliated with World of Warcraft or endorsed by Blizzard Entertainment Copyright © 2005 UltimateWoWGuide.com |