Farming Blood Elf Bandit Masks

This item doesn't boast any stats to brag about. It doesn't even have an armor value. However, there is still a market for this somewhat unique item. Why? Because it looks badass and anyone over level 5 can wear one. But, that's not why we're after it. We're after it because it sells for upwards of 100g on some servers.

So, how does one acquire one of these Blood Elf Bandit Masks?

1. Head to Azuremyst Isle. If you are Alliance this will obviously be a lot easier, seeing as how it's an Alliance zone. I don't think you need instructions on getting there.

However - if you're Horde, fly from Orgrimmar to Zoram Strand, Ashenvale. From there, head north through Darkshore until you hit the lovely little Alliance town of Auberdine. Find the docks and go all the way to the end. That boat takes you right to the doorstep of Exodar on Azuremyst Isle. The guards in Auberdine are only level 45 or so, so they won't be a problem... unless...

... you are below level 50. This might be tricky to get around all the guards, but it can be done. Just be willing to do a lot of corpse runs. Once you get to Azuremyst itself, all the Exodar guards can be avoided if you are careful.

2. Now that you've set foot on Azuremyst isle, you're going to want to make loops around the island sticking mainly to the roads. Write a macro that says '/target Blood Elf Bandit' and spam it while you ride around. Even hunters or people with Blackened Worg Steaks will need the macro because he is stealthed and therefore track humanoids will NOT work on him.

The Blood Elf Bandit who drops the mask spawns at random points around the island. Once he is killed in one spot, he will spawn in a new spot. He is almost *always* near a main road. He is only level 7 and most players will be able to 1-shot him. Hunters, locks, and DKs might want to put their pets/minions/ghouls away or they will kill the bandit and you will not be able to loot him.

3. Be prepared to kill him quite a few times before the mask drops. I believe the drop rate is only around 10-11%, so you will need to take the little guy out a few times before you can get your hands on his mask. Your mount is going to get a lot of excercise.

4. With mask (or masks, if you farmed a little extra you devil) in hand, head to the nearest AH and post that sucker up. It should sell relatively fast as it's a fairly in-demand item that not too many people know how to acquire.

Azeroth Endangered Species: Hardknuckle Foragers

Here's a feature I like to call Azeroth Endangered Species. Each week, we will look at a new mob and discuss the benefits of farming it into extinction. Be it for fun, sport, or profit - no beast will be spared in this virtual world. We have alts to feed!

Hey kids, today's endangered species is Hardknuckle Foragers. They are the white gorilla mobs found in Sholazar Basin in various locales, but most noteably directly south of the Frenzyheart camp. They usually travel in packs which is great news for farmers. They are also a neutral/yellow mob and will not attack you unless you attack them first. Oh Em Gee!

What makes them a prime target for farmers? Well for starters, almost every single Forager drops 1 chilled meat (an almost 100% drop rate), which is used in a variety of Northrend cooking recipes. Chilled meat sells well on the AH, or you can save it to level your own cooking skill. They also drop a hefty amount of vendor trash (including 1 hilarious, but otherwise useless item which is a nod to another video game... however, I'll let you discover that for yourself. It took me a while to put 2 + 2 together, but then I chuckled a bit when I got the joke) which vendors well.

If you're a skinner, these puppies will yield you Borean Leather. Not only that, but their drop rate of Arctic Furs is incredibly high and them furs be sellin for 60g+ per pop, sailor! I've gotten more Arctic Furs off these damn dirty apes than any other mob in the game. So, I think their drop rate might be slightly higher than the average mob. One day, I got 4 furs and they all came off a Hardknuckle Forager in the Basin during the same farming session. In addition to that, I'd say most of the Arctic Furs I've EVER skinned have been off these bad boys. Just sayin'.

So, get out there, stock your bags full of chilled meat and furs, and leave tons of dead Foragers in your wake. They had it coming. Stay tuned for next week's edition in which we will attempt to farm another species into oblivion!

Tyr's Hand is Still a Great Farming Spot

Tyr's Hand, located in Eastern Plaguelands may have been the prime farming spot back when the level cap was 60, but believe it or not, this little Scarlet encampment is still a great place to farm, even at 80. I encourage you to try it out for yourself and see what I mean. Seriously, farm your face off. I've pulled over 500g/hour in this spot by just mass pulling, killing, looting and watching Friends. Without the Friends part, but it is a good show. Oh, Ross!

Six reasons that make this spot great:

1. The mobs are only level 50+ elites. Basically, they're weaksauce. This means, at level 80, you can easily AoE the little Scarlet punks down in packs. It's like a hot knife through butter. The more mobs you can kill, the more you can loot. Simple.

2. The mobs drops a fairly substantial amount of silver. Some of these guys drop 20+ sivler/each, making it very easy to mass pull and profit. I haven't found anywhere else in the game where such low level mobs drop such high amounts of cold, hard cash. After a couple hours of farming, it really adds up. I have no idea where the Scarlet Crusade acquired so much wealth, but it's yours for the taking.

3. They drop greens. Lots of greens. If you're an enchanter, you can shard and dust these suckers, or simply sell your greens on the AH. Either way, the drop rate is pretty generous. Besides the greens, they drop an amazing amount of white quality items which vendor quite nicely. Some mobs even drop old world gems. Since jewelcrafting is hot right now and lots of people are trying to powerlevel it, these old gems sell for a nice amount.

4. Runecloth. Spend an hour here and you'll have about 20 stacks of runecloth. Runecloth is valuable because it's used for reputation turn ins with major cities and, therefore, always sells well on the auction house. Personally, I like to stockpile runecloth on a bank alt and save it for days when it's running low on the AH and then unload my entire stock.

5. The Enchant Weapon: Crusader formula drops here off the Scarlet Archmages. While the drop rate has been recently buffed, I don't think many people know about the recent change, so it goes unfarmed. I've gotten this recipe to drop numerous times and each time it sells for 400g+ on the auction house. Crusader is one of the best enchants you can put on the Bind On Account weapons, making it a highly sought after recipe. Besides this enchant, other enchants will drop as well, but none are nearly as profitable as Crusader.

6. Privacy. The place is a ghost town on most servers. Nobody is ever there. It's an overlooked little gold mine, so you'll have virtually no competition. Of course, I can't speak for all servers, but I can at least verify I've never seen anyone else there on mine (minus lowbies who innocently pass by doing their quests... and then I gank them).

So, there you have it. Give the spot a try and let me know what you think. Now, clear out your bags and get farming.

Mining Your Way to Riches in WoW

Please note: if you're not a miner, please stop reading now and go level one to 450. I find mining to be one of the most profitable professions available in the game and compliments many crafting professions. If you are a miner, read these tips to help increase your gold per hour. Also, apologies for length. (I've always wanted to say that, but not necessarily in this particular context if you catch my drift. Heh.).


1. Always clear the node, unless you're a bad or want to get ganked.

Never, ever leave items in a node. Some people tap the node, just take the ore, and move on. This is bad (not to mention frustrating for the miners who come after you, effectively making you look like a jerk). One time I was mining in Badlands and this kid was leaving nothing but rocks in the node. So, I got on general chat and politely asked whoever was mining to fully clear their nodes. Some kid spoke up and said no... then continued to inform me how he was now leaving rocks in the nodes on purpose, so I logged my toon of the opposing faction and camped him into oblivion. When I finally got back on my mining toon, he whispered me and apologized.

Even the stones that appear worthless at first glance are needed by blacksmiths, jewelcrafters, and engineers. A few stacks of stones can net you some decent gold, so don't overlook these like McCampy did. On one of my servers, I remember power leveling engineering and needing solid stones. There was only one guy selling them and he was killing it at 20g/stack. Some people would rather pay that 20g than go out for a few minutes to get a stack of stones. I'll say it again - always clear the node or you're literally leaving gold on the table. And nobody wants that. Except thieving goblins.... who steal gold... off tables.

In conclusion, if you want to make the most gold you possibly can, don't leave anything behind, and don't piss off the other miners.


2. To Smelt or Not to Smelt - that is the question.

Now, before you sell, there is one key thing alot of miners casually overlook. The market price of both ore and bars. Yes, it had to be said because I still see miners not bothering to do this one simple thing. Before you smelt your ore and cackle like a madman all the way to the Auction House with a trail of awesomeness in your wake, check out the going price of ore AND bars before you smelt.

On some days, the ore sells for more and other days the bars sell for more. It's all about supply and demand and it's never the same from day to day. Remember - ore is mostly valuable to jewelcrafters and alts looking to powerlevel by smelting whereas bars are valuable to alot of the crafting professions. Watch the market and check before you smelt - you'll be a few gold richer.


3. Sell on weekends (and Give Your Bank Alts Funny Names).

This is the probably the most important part of making money as a miner (or any profession for that matter). Just because you spent the last 5 hours riding around Azeroth and mining nodes on your pimp ride, doesn't mean you have to sell all your product at once.

I know it's tempting to unload all your phat lootz on the Auction House the second you get back into a city, but don't. Put it in the bank and relax you sly devil. During the week, prices will be a lot lower than weekends. The logic behind this is simple. More people play the game on the weekends. That's the only secret.

The other day I went out and farmed 6 stacks of thorium ore (see my next tip). The going price for thorium bars was 45g/stack. I waited until Saturday morning and checked again. The going price was 75g/stack. I unloaded my 6 stacks and every single one sold within hours. So, get yourself a bank alt and have him store your ores/bars until the weekend. I normally make 20-30% more gold this way. I also recommend giving your bank alt a funny name. It won't help you make gold, but it's hilarious.


4. Thorium is the most valuable ore.

Thorium is one of the best ores to farm and definitely the most valuable. A lot of people are probably thinking, "Well, what about titanium ore?" (Yes, this will be briefly true for the first few weeks after patch 3.2 hits, but more about that later). Well, titanium nodes are a random spawn and never a sure fire thing. Usually if I'm out mining for a couple hours in Northrend, I may see 1 or 2 titanium nodes. The time-to-money ratio clearly favors thorium all the way.

Thorium ore or bars *always* sell for two reasons:

#1- Nobody ever wants to farm it because it's located in out of the way areas that don't allow flying mounts or paladins. Okay, I was lying about the paladin part, but that wouldn't that be cool? The fact it's located in isolated areas makes it extremely valuable; Never underestimate the lazyness of others.

#2 - It's used in liberal (dare I say excessive?) amounts for crafting professions and is always in-demand by people powerleveling their crafts.

But, where do you find Thorium? Ah, glad you asked! The best place to farm thorium is Silithus. Do a loop around the outer edges of the zone, making sure to swing into the 3 main cave systems. These caves are a thorium miner's paradise. After Silithus, I recommend Winterspring. Head south from Everlook and mine until your hearts content. Eastern Plaguelands is another good spot loaded with thorium but it is highly farmed during peak hours, so I usually only mine there late at night or early in the morning when nobody else is on.


5. "Mine" the Auction House.

Did you know you can use your mining skill to make gold without ever leaving a city? This is a little method I use to make a few quick gold when I don't have alot of time. Let's say for example copper ore is selling for 5g/stack and copper bars are selling for 10g/stack. Simply buy the ore, smelt it, and relist the bars. You've just made a tidy little profit without leaving the city. It's not sneaky, it's smart.

There are alot of players who really have no business sense that use the AH on a daily basis, so this little tip will work from time-to-time. If they didn't bother to check the market prices (see tip #2), then it's their loss and your gain. As the saying goes, a fool and his gold are soon parted. Hopefully, that gold will be lining your pockets.


6. Titansteel Cooldown.

You are allowed to smelt 1 titansteel bar every 20 hours (requires 3x titanium bars and 1x each of eternal earth/fire/shadow) . If you don't have the mats available to smelt your own titansteel for the day, sell your cooldown. Do NOT let it go to waste. Advertise in trade chat that you're selling your cooldown and chances are you will get buyers. I've had people pay me up to 50g just to smelt them a bar with their own mats. It takes 2 seconds and you lost nothing because you weren't going to use your cooldown that day anyway. So, even if you don't want to smelt your own titansteel you can pocket an extra 350g+ per week just selling your cooldown. Don't overlook this incredibly simple way to make some easy gold.


7. Mining an Instance.

I was debating whether or not to include this tip, but decided to anyway. Many instances have mining nodes. This is especially true in Outland in the Auchindoun dungeons. If you are level 80, you can probably solo any instance in Outland with ease (If you can't, get some better gear). Go in, mine the nodes, reset and go again. While you're in there, don't forget to loot everything off the mobs you kill and sell it. While mining in an instance isn't the best way to amass huge quantities of ore, it's still a fun way to make some extra gold, mine at the same time, and maybe snag up achievements that you missed.


8. Saronite is Easy Mode

Saronite is to Sholazar Basin what ganking is to Hillsbrad foothills. It's that good. Hit up the basin, and do a few loops around the outer edge there. This should take no more than 20 or 30 minutes and you could easily have 5 stacks (100 pieces to the slow among you) of ore. If you know a Jewelcrafter or are one yourself, prospect it. Otherwise, sell it or bank it until later.

If you get really ambitious, you could always head west into Icecrown and do a few circuits of that zone too. The reason I try to avoid mining in Icecrown is because the nodes have this peculiar way of spawning right in the middle of a group of elite mobs or at a weird angle on top of some rock that is impossible to land on. If you're like me and would just rather fly in circles while watching TV, then Sholazar is the place for you.

So, there you have it. 8 easy tips for making some extra bank with your mining.

Welcome to One Gold Coin

Welcome to One Gold Coin, the semi-humorous, semi- serious blog focused on discussing the economics of World of Warcraft, and in simpler terms - how to make lots and lots of beautiful gold. But, first a little bit about me and my history with the game...

I have been playing WoW for about a year now, and in that time, I've managed to rack up an impressive amount of gold and have many alts with full bank tabs stuffed with valuable mats. I remember struggling on my first toon trying to afford my first 30g mount and how I never, ever wanted to grind that out again. I think I put Murlocs on the Azeroth endangered species list with the amount of them I killed for silver. I knew there had to be a better way.

So, I stepped back and looked at the game from a money-making perspective and started to realize that making gold in this game is not that difficult. It involves the simple principle of supply and demand, not wasting your gold on frivilous things, and anyone can do it with a little bit of effort and a few hours per week. I guess it's alot like making money in the real world, but let's face it - it's more fun and ten times easier in WoW.

To date, I have about 8 different toons on several different servers, and none of them are hurting for cash. I can afford to buy whatever I want in the game, when I want to buy it. I'm not bragging here (Okay, I am a little, amidoinitrite?), just showing you that I definitely know what I'm talking about and I want to teach you how to do it too. All this glorious information is yours for the reasonable price of "free". All I ask in return is you pass along this blog to your broke friends so they can pass it onto their broke friends... and so on and so on.

That being said, I prefer to remain 100% anonymous throughout the course of this blog, so I won't be talking about my toons, what my toons are up to, what servers I play on, or what content my guild is progressing through. I won't bore you with all that and I certainly don't want people whispering me in game with "how due i make teh goldz lol". But, I do plan on showing you readers how to make piles upon piles of shiny, glistening gold. You'll be able to walk into Orgrimmar or Stormwind sportin your shiny new bling, making the haters jealous n' stuff. You'll be up to your eyeballs in hot, gold-digging female Blood Elves. You'll be... oh, you get the point.

So, if that sounds like your cup of Winterspring firewater, welcome to One Gold Coin and I hope I can help you amass WoW riches beyond your wildest dreams. You're in my world now, princess. Time to learn and earn.