Well I'm now at 350 and set to start mining in Northrend. As far as I'm concerned I've effecively lvl'd my BS to a point where current content will provide me the mats I need.
Here's a basic summary:
1. Always check the AH for some cheap ore/bars. Even the most rare mats are sometimes listed at well below the norm.
2. The speed at which you want to lvl a skill is directly related to the cost. If you want to take your time/save money - Mine all your own mats. If you want it fast - buy mats. I took the middle road, buying mats cheap or when I was frustrated with mining them.
* Vanilla Wow - Unless you feel like wasting money - you're just plain dumb buying this stuff unless it fits rule #1. A few trips around any starter zone will do it for you. I'm not sure of the exact amount, but for Copper + Bronze (Tin and Copper) you can easily mine your own.
- This is not too hard to find. You should be able to do this as easy as copper. Alway look out for rule #1.
- This is the combo of Copper and Tin. Again - no prob. Check AH for rule 1.
- This is the first annoying one. It's a bit harder to find and I noticed that my rule #1 was stretched.
- More annoying than Iron - Need to buy useless coal. Luckily coal is cheap. (I'll admit - I bought some steel.)
- Suprisingly easy. I did the tarnasis loop. Didn't buy more than a few odd-lot stacks that were selling at big discounts. A lot of people complain about the cost of getting BS through the steal phase. I found that the higher ore (Mithril) was better to mine than the lower ore (Iron + Coal). So while I might have been making a higher end item (Which is generally frowned upon in P. Lvling) I found it to be much easier to get mithril - than make steal helms at something like 20x bars per helm.
- This was rough, but not as bad as people made it out to be. I bought some, I'll admit... Best place seemed to be Sithilus. You could go into the bug holes and get 2 - 3 nodes. At 70 - they don't stand a chance. I did the EPL run, but it was too long and I didn't get too many hits. I must say - the above post is right - you get 1 node per "Scar" in EPL. Tried DM, but as a fire mage - it wasn't worth the repair bills. Much easier to nuke bugs, than run/kite elites in DM.
* Outland - Annoying that it's suddenly 2 for 1, but not particularly bad. I bought some, but it was just annoying doing circuits of Hellfire. If you do choose to circle hellfire - unlike many of the other zones - the nodes are fairly spread out. I did a 1/2 circle from the center (SOUTH) upto the Center North. (Basically move in along the edge from the entrance to Ter. Forest - Move counter clockwise till you get to the waste pools. After that - check the demon camps North of the horde base, then check the demon camps between the Allies and the gate. Don't circle the gate - nothing there.
- WoW - this stuff is cheap. I bought it on multiple days for about 10 - 15 G per stack of 20. (I point out that I bought it over multiple days because - it wasn't just some idiot dumping it on the market at stupid-cheap prices. Over multiple days - this stuff was dirt cheap.) Took them to 250, then Jumped over to Northrend to get cobalt...
Closing notes before I go off to Nothrend: 1. Save your stone. Even if you don't need it, you can vendor it for good money. We've all dumped loot for good drops. A stack of 20 stone will sell for upwards of 8 - 15 G in some cases. Don't dump a 1/4 stack of stone for a Vanilla WoW green.
2. Save the gems, but sell them individually. Yeah - back in 2004 people wanted 20 arcane crystals. Not so much now... Sell them at a slight rate over the market, but in singles. (Example: 20X of item sells for 200G. Sell your sigle mats for 11g each. But sell singles in groups of 2 - 3.)
3. Bringing a lower lvl guildie through a zone is easy. I had someone with me in Sith. He just tagged along, looted all the mobs we agro'd. He also completed his cooking quest for that stupid spider/serpent thing.
4. Be prepared to grab a few pieces of cloth to get you through mithril. (Mage cloth) Stop buy some of the Orge mounds in tarnasis while farming your ores.
5. Do the math. Look - those leveling guides are helpful, but strictly sticking to them... is tough. If you are faced with 2 decisions --- Craft 4 orange (100% chance of skill up) or 10 yellow (75% chance of skill up) - Go with the higher number of skill ups based on the chances of them happening. You are guarenteed to get 4 skill ups with the orange. You might get zero with the yellow. But statistics say that you'll get about 8 with the yellow.
6. Really this is 5A. Learn when things go green. If something is going to go green in 2 crafts and it will mathmatically make you lose the ability to make something else, perhaps it's better to go with the orange item you can make fewer of, if the yellow item is going to turn green quickly. (For example: If you consider the example in #5 - imagine your 10 yellows would turn into greens after two (2) craftings. Now you have 2 crafts @ 75% and 8 at 25%. That's equal to 1.5+2 = 3.5 skill ups. GO WITH THE 4 Guarenteed Orange...
7. Don't be lazy. Don't roll into the forge with 100 bars, start crafting "Create All", and get up and walk away. When that orange turns yellow - STOP. Re-evaluate your situation. When it turns green - STOP - you likely can get something else to craft at a better skill up rate. Check with the trainer every 5 skills. (aka 140, 145, 150, 155, etc.) Buy new recipe you will use. Ignore the junk you will not craft because it requires 14 bars, 2 Gems, 4 heavy leather, and 6 grinding stones....
8. Dense stone (the last stone in Vanilla WoW) was not highly needed. Don't waste a lot of time/money trying to build up stocks of it. Many of the recipes I used didn't need it.
Edited, Dec 12th 2008 2:12pm by Borsuk