It’s all about speed

This is about the truest statement a farmer can make. The faster the better. When farming it is highly recommended you have an epic mount moving as fast as possible. It’s a matter of numbers, the more nodes you gather and the faster you do it the better. I use a drake for most of my movement (280% movement increase) and I want in the worst way a 310% movement mount. I am working on it, the 10% speed bonus would be nice.

So why a drake? This is actually a very conscious decision. Let’s say I am racing another person to a node. The drake is fast and very large and covers the node. Ever try to pick a node you can’t see? It is very difficult. This frustrates other people and allows you the chance to grab the node. Call if offensive farming.

While it is possible to farm on foot or with a slower mount, you will have to be more aware of your “flight path”. Most farmers get into a rhythm optimizing the distance between nodes; obviously the shorter the better. Stringing nodes together will get you more nodes but be prepared to have nodes ninja’ed out from under you.

Speaking of “Flight Paths”, if you find you are following someone, turn off and go somewhere else or even double back on your path. You never know when a node will respawn, but you do know the guy in front of you will get the next node and you will be fighting over all the nodes in the area. It is just not worth it, go somewhere else.

It’s all about time

What was the number one thing to remember about getting WoW gold rich? Patience. The more time you put in the more you make. Personally I find if the area I am farming is not too crowded I can farm for about 4 hours and make about 2500g in one day. This translates to about 75 stacks of herbs BTW. After that I can do whatever I want. Heck these days I do not even farm every day since most of what I want can’t be got with gold but rather badges or in raids. I try to farm 4 days a week and if the market is good I clear 10k a week less my raiding costs.

Don’t get mad

If you get upset because someone stole your node you will waste time griping about it while the guy who snaked you just continues on. Forget about it, just move to the next node and get over it, there are always more nodes.

Now I have to admit there are times when it seems everyone in the area is out to get my node. I land there and suddenly there is someone else there taking my stuff. It can get really frustrating. If you do get frustrated just do something else or find a different area to farm. Personally if I am not farming Sholazar Basin I am farming Storm Peaks or Ice Crown. Why these areas? Because they have a lot of nodes and the secondary gather of Frost lotus is very lucrative. You may have other areas to farm. In any case when you find you are loosing your cool, do something or go somewhere else and come back later.

Be a good citizen

The one thing that really burns my blood while farming is I get on a node and am attacked by some mob and while fighting the mob some opportunistic jackass then comes in and takes the node. Personally I pass by a node if I see anyone within a reasonable distance of the node. After all I don’t like people stealing my nodes, I am not going to steal a node someone else got to first. When you think about it this really saves you time and it is all about the time. I just wish there was a way of “tagging” nodes like you can tag a mob for experience and drop credit. That would certainly put an end to the ninja farmers.

Get geared

It should go without saying that the best farmers are highly geared level 80 toons. Why? Because a well geared character can deal with whatever might happen. In this case the gear can include anything that maximizes your farming such as armor, mounts and bags. I have one toon that is both an herbalist and a miner. He is equipped with a red drake, two Mammoth Mining Bags (32 slots each), and two Emerald Bags (32 slots each). This equipment and minimal amount of other items that take bag slots, allow him to hold 140 stacks of stuff before he has to empty his bags. When he is running well I can make 5000g from straight sales or if smelted bars are selling well I can shift those over to a BS character and make even more.

There are two other luxuries that I afford my farming characters because they reduce the time I have to spending finding vendors and going into cities. The Travelers Tundra Mammoth may seem an extravagant luxury, but if you can afford it I recommend it, if for no other reason than to empty bags of junk and cash in on the odds and ends (remember we are making cash any way we can). Not only are there vendors on the Mammoth, Gnimo is also a repair bot. I can comfortably say that I have made back my 18k investment for the mammoth in vendoring junk and time savings. The other luxury is the Argent Squire pet with the pony upgrade. The upgrade not only puts the squire on a pony when you mount up but it allows the squire to do things, like visit a bank, visit a mail box, and be a vendor. Similarly if you have engineering you can get these services as well (and I think an auctioneer too) but it takes one profession that may or may not be suitable to farming.

Having a well rounded and well geared character will make the whole process easier. Obviously you don’t need to have the absolute top of the line gear, but you should have at least all blues and better all purple gear. With the new random dungeon process it is simple to get well geared and you should take advantage of it.