Mining / Farming for Gold

If there is an activity in World of Warcraft that is money from nothing more than your time, mining / herbing / skinning / fishing / grinding is it. The idea here is to either provide the raw materials other people need or to provide yourself the materials you need to manufacture the stuff you find profitable. The only hard part is to know what to farm that will provide you with the kind of profit you want in the timely manner you want.

In my case I am an herbalist. I farm herbs in Sholazar Basin and resell them for a good profit. Occasionally I make all my potions and it costs me practically nothing, saving me tons of cash. The trick here is now to figure out a way to make enough money in the time you have that is to your taste.

The following will be ideas and tips on how to farm, what to think about, Auction House considerations and what gear may help.

What to farm?

This may seem like a no brainer, but really, it is not nearly as stupid as you may think. The obvious thing is to farm what you are specialized in. I am an herbalist, I farm herbs; but what herbs. The top two most difficult herbs to “pick” are technically Ice Thorn and Lichbloom. These herbs are also used in most high end potions and many inscriptions and enchantments. You would think they would be the right stuff to pick because they may be more intrinsically valuable, but you would be wrong. There are so many people picking these herbs the market is flooded and the price swings all over the place. People are desperate to sell the stuff so the undercutting is ferocious. True you may be able to use these herbs in a second profession, but we are not talking about that. Also, the area that spawn these herbs are big, really big to the distance between the herbs is bigger and therefore it takes more time. Honestly, if there were more node of these or the area where they grow was smaller (and the mobs you have to fight less difficult) I would probably farm these myself. (BTW, if you are dying while farming you are in the wrong place. Either find another place or get better gear; death is too expensive to be a consideration when farming.)

So what do I farm on a consistent basis? Adders Tongue, Tiger Lily, and Goldclover. The most consistent seller here is the Goldclover because there are fewer of these nodes to draw from and it is still used in many high end products. I also do all my herbing in Northrend which have three adds, Crystallized Life, Deadnettle, and Frost Lotus. These adds also sell really well and Frost Lotus is the undisputed king of all herbs.

When if comes down to it the only way to know what to farm is what works for you. Experiment, farm one thing for a day then try something different the next. Watch how it sells or how well it works in your manufacturing. I know there are some herbalist that pick a lot of lower level herbs and some of these sell really well (better in fact than some of the high end herbs) and they make a lot of money. Remember people have to create things at a lower level before moving up to more expensive stuff so there is always a demand for low and medium level herbs; same thing for minerals, skins, fish and mob drops.

Just remember, you can farm ANYTHING!

A Node?

A node is a spot that produces a collectable such as herbs, minerals, fish, or even mobs. I will be using the word node often to refer to a “gathering spot” for farming.

What Races / Classes make the best farmers?

It really does not matter what race or what class you are if you want to farm. All races and classes have access to gear and abilities that make it possible for them to farm pretty effectively. That being said there may be some advantages in class (and thus race restrictions) that can help them farm well.

Rogues: For whatever reason I am seeing (or not seeing as the case may be) more Rogues as farmers than ever before. I am assuming this has to do with the increased speed they can run and the fact that they can avoid conflicts (either beasts or other players) by being invisible. It is very interesting to watch the mini map with the nodes you are tracking and watch a node blink off and there is no one by the node. Whether this adds to the overall productivity of farming is beyond me, I cannot see the advantage.

Warrior Classes: Where the rogues approach by stealth the warriors (Paladins, Death Knights, etc) use force and high armor to grab their nodes. Even if there is a mob on the node they generally just walk up and take it ignoring the mob beating on them. Once the node is taken they can then hack the mob to pieces and continue. This does increase farming productivity by allowing them to take the node first then handle the environment frustrating other players who would try to ninja the node out from under them. This can be important when the area you are in is crowded and there are a lot of people to contend with.

Warlocks and Hunters: If there is one huge advantage these classes have it’s that they can have combat pets. The pets can tank mobs allowing the farmer to get to the node faster and then move on after the environment is dealt with. This can be important when the area you are in is crowded and there are a lot of people to contend with.

Druids: If there is one class that you want to be as a farmer (specifically mining and herbing) it is a Druid and for one reason only; Flight Form (at epic speed). The fact that the Druid does not have to dismount and remount is an incredible bonus in shear time. They spend least than half the time on the nodes than other classes do and that means they can visit more nodes faster. More nodes mean more money in less time… always a bonus. Also in flight form mobs are less likely to bother them. If you are considering making a character just for farming, consider making a druid.