Cataclysm Gas Clouds and Electrostatic Condenser

Where are the Gas Clouds in Cataclysm?

There are none!  The Zappthrottle Mote Extractor that is used by Engineers to gather motes in Outland and crystalized elements fron Northrend gas clouds is useless within the World of Warcraft Cataclysm zones.  Why?  There are no gas clouds in Cataclysm zones.  Maybe they will be added later or maybe not.

Electrostatic Condenser

New to Cataclysm Engineers is the Electrostatic Condenser.  This gadget allows engineers that also have a gathering profession to occasionally collect extra Volatile Air from Cataclysm mineral veins, skinnable corpses, and herbalism plantlife.  This new gadget is worthless to any engineer that has another crafting profession as it only benefits gathering professions.  Luckily, my main is an Engineer / Miner.  I would not recommend changing professions just to benefit from the procs of the Electrostatic Condensor.  Think of it more as an added bonus for gathering Engineers.  If you are a Engineer / Miner, Engineer / Skinner, or Engineer / Herbalist be sure to either buy one, have one crafted, or craft it yourself before anything else.  This will allow you to instantly reap the benefits of occasional extra Volatile Airs.

SPOTLIGHT:::Zapthrottle Mote Extractor

Zapthrottle Mote Extractor

Another one of the ways to make money with engineering is the Zapthrottle Mote Extractor.  This handy device allows the engineer to see gas clouds on the mini-map.  Unlike other resource nodes, gas clouds are mobile so sometimes you must wait for them to travel out of an unreachable area to a more accessible area.  When you extract from the gas clouds, you will receive 3-5 motes or crystallized eternals depending on which cloud you are extracting from.  These gas clouds are numerous and the low population of engineers makes for less competition.  Here is the list of where to find the various gas clouds and what they produce.

Outlands

Felmist - Shadowmoon Valley - Motes of Shadow

Swamp Gas - Zangarmarsh & Steamvault - Motes of Water

Arcane Vortex - Netherstorm - Motes of Mana

Windy Cloud - Nagrand - Motes of Air

Northrend

Steam Cloud - Sholazar Basin & Borean Tundra - Crystallized Fire & Water

Cinder Cloud - Sholazar Basin, Wintergrasp, & Dragonblight - Crystallized Fire

Arctic Cloud - Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, Storm Peaks, & Icecrown - Crystallized Air & Water

So if you are an engineer, make sure to complete your quest to create your extractor and carry it with you at all times.  My favorite spot to farm Crystallized Fire to create Eternal Fires is at the Cauldren of Flames in Wintergrasp where you can kill the revenants and elementals as well as pick up 2 cinder clouds in the same area as well as a titanium node.  Then while waiting for respawns, I fly just below into Dragonblight and grab the Cinder Cloud outside the Obsidian Dragonshrine and the Arctic Cloud towards the Wrathgate and loop back to the Cauldren of Flames.

Do you have any great spots that allow you to access the clouds while farming other things?