Let’s face it, most of World of Warcraft’s online information, whether it’s talent specs, macros, or instance strategies, favors high-end end users: level 85s. New players looking to get there at that level they must work their way to the top. Armor and weaponry require gold to buy, repair, and upgrade, and the only sure way to get that much-needed supply of gold, aside from being in the AH all day waiting for a deal to emerge, is to strive for it.
Well, here are some suggestions for farmers who want to break the monotony.
Horde
One of the best starting areas for a mining farmer is among the Blood Elves in Eversong Woods. These hills are loaded with copper nodes and a double loop around the perimeter will provide you with enough mineral and semi-precious gemstones that one can carry around, so be sure to get the biggest bags you can afford right from the start. Once your bags are packed, travel to Silvermoon City and smell the forge.
Copper sells well, both in molten bars and in crude ore, at the Auction House. Once you have enough gold from your sales, stop mining and start smelting to level up your skill. Buying AH ore and smelting it is quick and cheap at first. If you run out of funds and are missing a few skill points to level up, head to the Ghostlands and mine any tin or silver nodes you find.
Buy or mine enough tin until you can smell bronze. Keep it up as long as prices are cheap. You may want to download a good auction house plugin (such as Auctionator or Auctionlite from one of the reputable plugin sites) to help make instant price comparisons.
There is nothing worse than going to a new area and finding an ore motherload that is above your skill level, so do it early. You’ll want to be mining Mithril and Truesilver before reaching level 40.
alliance
Although you don’t have the rich resources of the compact copper fields of Eversong Woods, you do have the vast expanses of fDun Morogh to explore. The copper and tin nodes are abundant enough to start with, although it will take a bit longer due to the large size of this area. However, the advantage it has is the abundance of tin nodes around Loch Modan. The combination of copper and tin bars gives you a bronze bar. You can’t extract bronze, just smell it. Bronze sells very well at most auction houses.
You’ll also want the skills to mine mithril, gold, true silver, and iron nodes before reaching level 40. A thousand needles await you!
Mining a thousand needles
For Alliance and Horde characters, you can choose the Thousand Needles quest chain on the call board for your respective cities or find Dyslix Silvergrub in Southern Barrens. Dyslix Silvergrub is a level 65 gryphon and wind rider flight master located just outside of Mudsprocket in the disputed territory of Dustwallow Marsh.
Follow this quest chain:
TThe gloomy totem is coming by Kanati Greycloud
Two if by boat from Montega Firemane (which, by the way, is the fastest canoe ride you’ve ever had, captained by a tauren pirate. Look at his hat!)
do me a favor by Jinky (A) or Razzeric (H)
This is where it gets good! You get a diving helmet! Actually a facial bubble that allows you to breathe underwater indefinitely (as long as you stay in Thousand Needles territory). The trick is to never finish the quest chain. As long as you don’t deliver the Down in the Deeps mission, you can dive into the deep water Thousand Needles anytime you want. His movement speed is increased, allowing him to dash across the cavern floor. Make sure your bags are completely empty because you will be loading them with minerals and gemstones. All nodes respawn every 1-2 minutes.
The singing sunflower
Here’s an awesome quest for both factions. If you want to add a singing sunflower to your pet collection, head to the Hillsbrad Foothills in the Eastern Kingdoms. Behind Sludgefields and Sludgeguard Tower (33.6, 49.2) is a farm.
See Brazie the botanist to start this short 5-mission chain. It is based on the game Plants vs. Zombies and is a refreshing change from the grinding system of Wow’s pound ’em and loot’ em. Finish the quest chain and you can choose the Singing Sunflower pet as a quest reward.
For those of you having trouble with the zombie wave approaching you (like I did), there is a YouTube video for all five missions (starting with Botany Basics) so you can watch an expert do it right.
Quick tracking of your profession
Here’s a quick way to earn lots of gold and materials to level up in your main crafting profession: choose two gathering professions.
Searching for enough leather, ore, herbs, or spell components to level up in inscription, blacksmithing, alchemy, leatherworking, or engineering can quickly drain your wallet. Instead, try putting your trade on hold for a while. Skinning, mining, gathering herbs, and disenchanting (not forgetting fishing and cooking) are profitable. Pick two main collecting professions first, then sell, sell, sell, and store, store, store. By the time you reach level 20 or 30, you may have enough gold and mats accumulated to drop a gathering profession and acquire a craft.
Use your stored resources to increase your crafting skill and you will be able to outperform all other crafters at your current XP level. Higher-level crafted items (such as glyphs, gems, or enchantments) equal higher gold earnings. There are some exceptions. Some recipes depend on the level. You won’t be able to advance your craft up to 525 skills at level 30, but you can keep it maxed out until then. Engineering, jewelry, and enchantment are EXPENSIVE hobbies. Once you get close to level 85, you can quit both collecting professions and learn two crafting professions if you wish, by purchasing all of your materials from the AH or by having an ALT do it for you. Try this method and see if it doesn’t make a difference.
Darkmoon Mark
Regardless of your allegiance, Horde or Alliance, the only common ground we all have is The Darkmoon Faire. Fortunately, for pvp servers Darkmoon Faire rotates its location between both factions and can be a small gold mine for a farmer. Be sure to visit the Lhara booth frequently. She is an Orc in the booth on the right who sells herbs, potions, and the occasional gemstone for patient campers. Plus, they are cheap! So cheap that you can make big profits right from the start. Many of the items you sell have a profit margin of up to 10,000 times at some auction houses. However, you must act fast before the crowd appears and floods the AH.
The fair generally opens at midnight (EST) and lasts for one week. Lhara’s inventory is randomly generated as it cleans up, and respawn times vary, depending on the pressure you put on your stock. It’s definitely worth many, many return trips, even for the brave pvper who wants to risk sneaking into enemy territory for a quick profit.
Deviant fishing
This is an area where the Horde has a distinct advantage. The only place in all of Azeroth to find stray fish is in the Horde territory of the Northern Wastes. There are three separate oases near Crossroads, Ratchet, and Wailing Caverns with ponds containing diverted fish. You must have a minimum level of 16 before attempting to fish in the pools due to the patrolling centaurs and jaw turtles.
If you’re a skinner, miner, or herbalist, these are great bonus areas. While you wait for the pools to reappear, you can collect materials and hunt centaurs to your heart’s delight. Diverted fish sell at auction houses for between two and ten gold each.
Players level 20 and above have a definite advantage by using their mounts to quickly travel between groups as they respawn. However, the Alliance characters come to life, as you can still farm these little fishy gems by accessing the route via Ratchet. Take a boat to this neutral goblin district and head north out of town on the road. Once outside the city limits, head to the WNW until you see the palm trees. Pvpers should have their weapons at the ready, as diverted fishing can be a popular hobby for some Hordes, and they jealously guard their territory.
I hope you find at least some of this information useful to your cause and that it brings you luck and new wealth in your quest to that coveted level 85 status.