WoW Mining Guide

WoW Mining Guide

Ok, admit it, you want to start mining for one of two reasons. Reason Number 1: You wanted a profession to compliment your primary crafting profession Reason Number 2: You realize that mining can make you insane amounts of gold. It doesn't matter which reason you picked, but it does matter how you

level up your mining. One thing to note in this guide. I have 2 sections to each different mining area, the one you should do if you're leveling while you're mining and the other is if you just want to level your mining up quickly, regardless of your level or gold supply.

Skill Level 1-65

OH boy! BOORRRRINNNNGGG...and yes I mean boring. In this stage you'll be mining mostly copper, fun fun fun, its not too valuable unless you have a maker profession to use it with. Sooo...with this in mind

"Mine While-You-Level" For this method you should mine within your character's starting area, there's not really anywhere else to go for you yet. If you're alliance, I would head to Dun Morogh if you can, it has the most mining spots, just do loops around the outside, make sure to visit that quarry they have there to, that’s a good spot. Horde, I'm sorry to say, but Travel to the Barrens, yeah it sucks, but hey its got some good spot for copper.`

"Just-get-it-over-with"

Buy the Ore off the Auction House and smelt it. Simple and easy.

Skill Level 65-125

Whoohoo, Tin, again, usless to you money makers, not so much to you people with complementing professions. HOWEVER, there is a light side, you are now able to mine for silver. Silver is valuable, a stack of 20 ore can net you about 50-75 gold depending on your server. Yes thats a nice sum of gold, now pick your jaw off the floor and listen to the downside. There's not very many Silver veins out there. Silver Ores is what is considered a "rare spawn" of Tin. Basically when a Tin Vein spawns it has like a 5% chance to become a Silver Vein. Good money, Baaaad spawn rate. But keep your eyes peeled for them. Annyywaayyyss...

"Mine-While-You-Level" For Alliance, I would head down to the Wetlands. You can also mine Lesser Bloodstone Ore at 75 there, which is only used for a quest but has a quick re-spawn rate, so its good for quick leveling. For you Horde, you can stay in the barrens, the far North and the far South Sections both have a nifty little pool of Tin. Want a change of Scenery, head off to Tristfall Glades, they're not half bad either.

"Just-get-it-over-with" Same as the Copper, a bit more expensive, but man its a lot easier and less time consuming then running around trying to find all the necessary ore, you can minimize the gold that is spent by buying the ore, smelting it, then putting it back on the market, it won't sell for as much but you get 75% of that gold back, not a half bad deal! Tin will stop giving you skill near the end though, you can go and mine it, cause smelting grey's out WAAAAYYYY before mining the ore does, or you can go buy the expensive silver if you have so much gold that you could care less.

Skill Level 125-175

IRON! Yay, these bad boys are MUCH MUCH more profitable than tin or copper. Not what I'd call the "Big Bucks" Yet, but still very nice and profitable. Also, BONUS ORE ALERT! GOLD ORE! Same thing with Silver, Gold Ore is the Rare Spawn of Iron and Mithril (I'll get to Mithril in the next section) like Silver these things go for VERY good gold, heh gold for gold, why can't you just make gold coins out of this stuff...

"Mine-While-You-Level" To be perfectly honest, there is no "Perfect Place" to level this up, any level 30-40 zones will have a TON of ore for you. I would recommend going to Athari Highlands/Thousand Needles. Both are contested territory so both Horde and Ally can go there. Here's a nice little hint to save you some time, get your skill up a few points, about 10 or so, and then go back to a major city and smelt some of that iron before it grays out. These skill ups mean less running around for you, and quicker to 175 where you make GOOD money.

"Just-get-it-over-with" Ok sorry guys, can't smelt your way through this. Sorry, just can't do it, you're going to have to mine, however, can start going to the Badlands just below Loch Modan, this place has a lot of Iron, but its all level 40's so I would recommend if you're going to crank out some good ore mining there to be level 53+.

Skill Level 175-245 (275)

Mithril. If you read "Mithril" you just read it wrong, you should have read "$$ Money Maker $$" This is where all you lowbies begin to love choosing mining and all you high level people get a real taste for money making power of mining. A stack of Mithing Bars can go for 25-30 gold a stack. A stack can be made in under 30 minutes if you know where to go. If you put that and all the Stones you get from the ore on the AH, you can about 50-75 gold an hour. Yes thats right, 50-75 gold an hour. Its VERY good stuff. This skill will not grey out until you hit 275, but you can start mining Small Thorium Veins at level 245 and the Rich Thorium Veins at 245, so its a bit of a trade off, I personally just crank out the Mithril until I hit 265.

"Mine-While-You-Level" Any level 40+ areas have Mithril Ore, Tanaris, Ferlas, etc... Not really one good place, ok, well there is one, but read the "Get it over with" section to find out about it because it requires a higher level.

"Just-get-it-over-with" If you tried my suggestion with the Badlands ore, you noticed more than your fair share of Mithril ore there, yes that’s right, Mithril ore is in abundance there, just do full circuits around the entire badlands, hug the edges of the map and scan the walls, this place is the BEST place for Mithril Ore. You can get about 3-4 stacks an hour here, that could be 100 gold for ya! :) Good stuff. Bad News time, if you want to mine this area quickly, be a high level 53+ if preferable, but if you have a 60+ with Epic Ground Mount, its a piece of cake.

Skill Level 245-300

That’s right ladies and gents, I present to you: THORIUM! Whoohoo! This ore is just like Mithril, except you can sell it for 5-10 gold higher than normal. Unfortunately its not as easy to find as Mithril and you won't get as much in until you hit 275. Why? Because Thorium has 4 different types of Veins. Small Thorium Vein, Ooze Covered Thorium, Rich Thorium Vein, and Rich Ooze Covered Thorium Ven. So basically you only have 2 types of veins since the Ooze Covered ones have the same attributes as the "Non-oozed-Covered" ones. Small Thorium Veins give 2-3 Thorium Ores. Rich Thorium can give you 3-5 Ores. Unfortunately Rich Thorium Veins and their ooze covered counterparts can only be mined at Skill level 275. There is no easy way to do this, in fact the way that you do this while leveling would be the exact same way that you would do this if you wanted to level it up quickly. The three main areas that have Thorium, in least to Greatest are: Winter Spring, Un' Goro' Crater, and Sithilus. WARNING: SITHILUS HAS PRIMARILY RICH THORIUM VEINS. Meaning its a bad place to go if you're only level 245, besides Sithlius is mainly made of upper level 50s and a few 60s. The principle of making all of these areas quick mining spots? Just run circles around the perimeter of the area. Easy Enough. If you're in Sithlus, Explore all three of the Hives there. They're your best source of Rich Veins. I made about 3 stacks in 45 minuites, not as good as Mithirl, but it moves me along and brings to the Big 300!

Skill Level 300-350

Yessir, you have reached the outlands, pick up the next level of mining and its time to mine some Fel Iron. Fel Iron actually doesn't sell for as much as either Mithril or Thorium, why? Because the market is flooded with the stuff. There are so many level 300+ miners out on WoW that are selling the Ore on the AH that price drops to about 20g per stack or ORE. Please note I say ORE, not bars, ORE. Why? Because Smelthing Fel Iron is different than other smeltings because it takes 2 Ores to make 1 Bar. This sucks. My recommendation? Sell your Fel Iron in Ore form. Do not smelt it. If you want to, fine, you'll make about 25-30g for a stack of 20. You could have sold the Ore for 20g a stack, giving you (Do the math here boys and girls) 40g. Anways, I say that this is mined from 300-350, but that is only half-true, why? Because Fel Iron never Greys ouT (Until Wrath of the Litch King that is)! That means that you can mine it until you hit 375. Then you're mining level is maxed! HUrah for you! Ok, best place to mine Fel Iron Ore? Hellfire Penninsula. Its where you start and where you virtually always go if you want to farm Fel Iron. Fel Iron appears in every zone on the outlands, but most heavily in Hellfire. For those of you who just came to outlands, AKA the "Level-as-you-go" people have a HUGE disadvange to mining versus a level 70 who's mining for Fel Iron. Listen up you level 70's reading this guide because this is your number one tip to Farming. Epic Flying Mount. For those of you nubs who don't know that is its a mount that can fly...at 280% speed. That means that a person on an epic flyer can merely fly over mobs all over the map at break-neck speed looking for Ore. For you low levels, yeah, it sucks. You're fighting your way through mobs trying to get that Fel Iron when suddenly a Blood Elf pops out of the sky, mines, and is gone before you could finish killing your mob. For you high levels, this means that you can collect about 10 stacks an hour if you're good. That means you can earn 200 gold an hour. Thats Epic on an Epic Mount. Level 70's if you have been debating if an Epic Mount is worth it, IT IS! (See My "Should I buy an Epic Flying Mount?" guide for more reasons) Regardless of your level and mount, Hug the Perimeter of the map (DO NOT FALL OFF THE EDGE) and mine that ore! ADDED BONUS: You know all those gems you've been getting from Rocks? Well that still happens and you now get Motes from Rocks. Combine 10 Motes of the Same type and you can create a Primal, Primals sell like None-other. Fires go for 30g, Earths for for about 16-20g. Those are a nice little bonus for making gold. This happens from ALL Mineral Deposits in the Outlands.

Skill Level 350-375

Hurrah, some more big bucks, and I mean BIG BUCKS if you can do it right. Adamantite. Yup, at 350 you can Mine Regular Veins of Adamantine. At 375? Rich Adamantite. Adamantite Ore can sell for about 40-50g a stack! There we go, thats what you wanted to hear. These bad boys bring in cash so fast it'll make your head spin, now if you have an Epic Flying (Still Highly Recommended because some of the best places to get Rich Adamantite are only accessible by Flight). Best place for non-flyers is Nagrand. Best Place for flyers is Shaodow Moon Valley (Check the Flight-Only Netherwing Ledge! Its FULL of Rich Veins). Also, remember the rare spawns of Gold and Silver? Well they're back in a new form. Khorium. Khorium sells for approximatly 70-75 gold a stack! WHOOHOO! Talk about something that’s just so freakin' cool its almost not funny! Again, Flying Helps to find this stuff, but hey I found some in Shadow Moon in non-flying areas and in Nagrand.

There you go now you can mine and make some serious gold! WhooHoo! Have fun and enjoy your self!!