Ideal Alts Series | The Herder AoE Farmer

Ideal Alts Series - The Herder

Ideal Alts Series

We've already discussed The Dungeon Farmer and The Collector, which are both excellent options for your factory of alts.  If I were a new player looking to make my first alt new character today, The Collector would be the type of character I would make.  It is an excellent choice for expanding into both the pet and recipe flipping markets as well as the Inscription market selling glyphs and Mysterious Fortune Cards.  Both can be excellent income sources for any gold making player.  Today's Ideal Alt is focusing on The Ideal AoE Farmer Alt - The Herder.

Ideal Alt - The Herder

This was once a very fun alt character for me.  It was a lot of fun during Burning Crusade when this type of character was my main, before I switched to my current Deathknight main character. 

Role:  The Herder - is a farming character, but is a farming specialist.  The Herder can round up large numbers of mobs and survive the onslaught while killing wave after wave of humanids, dragonkin, beasts and more with the AoE abilities and the healing skills that Herders possess.  The Herder is the farmer that doesn't kill things one at a time.  They kill things 5, 10, 20 at a time.  Herders looking for locations with mobs that are closely packed together or in groups.  This allows for maximum benefit for the AoE abilities they posses.

Class:  Paladin is in my opinion the best AoE farmer for an Ideal Alt.  Many players may choose a Mage as the best AoE farming alt, but I disagree.  You can overcome one of the major drawbacks of using the Paladin, it's short range, with one of the profession selections.  A Paladin has some excellent AoE abilities as well as some stacking-DoTs and has the survivability to endure the major damage received as a Herder Alt.  You will be Protection specced similar to a tank, but with talents focusing on mobility as well as AoE damage and survivability.  Something similar to a 0/31/10 Paladin Herder Build would be what you are aiming for.

Race:  Horde - Tauren  / Alliance - Dwarf 
The Tauren is the ideal choce for the extra 5% base health and the AoE stun Warstomp.  Dwarfs are another good option for Stoneform.

Professions:  Goblin Engineering and Skinning
By giving this Ideal AoE Farming Alt Goblin Engineering, we can both further increase the AoE damage and stunning options and also greatly increase the pulling distance with the Engineer Only Rockets.  The Engineer only extra shield belt attachment as well as the rocket speed boost are also excellent additions to the increased survivability and mobility that The Herder Ideal Alt is centered on. 

Skinning because you are a farming character and the sheer numbers of mobs you can kill in quick order make skinning a much better farming option then mining or herbalism.  Then again, you could choose Tailoring over Skinning if your main purpose was cloth farming off of humanoids.  As a Tailor you would get extra cloth from your Cloth Scavenging ability once you hit Northrend.

This is really a fun Ideal Alt to play as you can herd up massive numbers of creatures, zap ones that are far away with your rocket, speed boost for faster herdings of even larger herds of mobs, and tons of other fun tricks.  Creating massive trains of mobs that all stack around you is a lot of fun, especially once you start to take those massive numbers of attacks all at once.  Better burn em down quick!

As an Engineer you have plenty of ways to empty your bags without leaving your farming spot either.  Toss in a Traveler's Tundra Mammoth and you may never need to even go to town.  If you decide to go with this Herder Alt build, you can really do some amazing things with an item like a Demon-Forged Breastplate and a Skullflame Shield.  I would try to collect those 2 items for the alt before I started leveling it.  Trust me, you can do some amazing pulls with built in drains.  You have so many mobs pounding on you at once, that there are soo many RNG rolls for the proc that a lot of times you will visually see them procc multiple times each pull.  Once you get the correct level and reputation, upgrade your shield to the Petrified Lichen Guard with a Shield Spike and it gets even nastier.  Those poison DoTs stack up and inflict the many attackers that are already on your Consecration, while you Hammer them down.  This build is all about letting the mobs kill themselves in addition to the AoE damage.  It is possible to lose you connection and log back in to all dead mobs surrounding you.

Ideal Alt - The Herder AoE Farmer

• Tauren
• Protection Paladin (0/31/10)
• Engineer
• Skinner
• Survival Specialist
• AoE Specialist
• Ground and Mounted Mobility Specialist
• Massive Kills per Hour
• Independent - Engineering Services
• Engineering Portals to Northrend Farming Zones
• Loot-a-Rang - Ranged Looting and Engineering Utility
• Engineering Pet Seller
• Can Farm Anything Mob Related
• Also great option for Profitng From GlowCaps since you want the Sporeggar reputation shield anyways.

Be sure to check out the other entries in the Ideal Alts Series and catch Wes and I discussing them on The Auction House Junkies | WoW Gold Makers Podcast.

Who has a different option for an Ideal Alt that is a Herder AoE Farmer?

Ideal Alt - Tank AoE Herder

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Ideal Alts Series

• Ideal Alts Series Intro | Wes’s Building A Better Bank Alt
• The Dungeon Farmer – An Ideal Heroic Farming Alt
• The Collector – An Ideal Vendor Flipping and Pet Selling Alt
• The Herder – An Ideal AoE Farmer Alt
• The Low Level Dungeon Farmer – An Ideal Alt For Farming Low Level Instances
• The Solo Raider and World Boss Killer

Ideal Alts Series | The Dungeon Farmer

Ideal Alts Series

Today is the first entry into the series on Ideal Alts here at Cold's Gold Factory.  The purpose of this series is to give you readers an idea for some of your alts to help tweek and tailor your gold making army.  I made my characters a long long time ago and I wish I would have thought them out more clearly.  So you readers get to benefit from my knowledge and my mistakes.

Everyone has a main character, some have a bank alt, but what are all of the others?  What role do they have?  Here's the first idea to get you thinking.  Let's start building some Ideal Alts for your own personal gold factory.

The Dungeon Farmer

Role:  This Ideal Alt only runs dungeons and heroic dungeons, not old dungeon farming for enchanting mats.  This alt is a master of getting the most out of current dungeon content.  The dungeon farmer is an ideal alt to have in your World of Warcraft character arsenal.  The dungeon farmer is designed to help make the most of running dungeons and turning those dungeon runs into profits.

Class:  Resto Druid - We want either a healer or a tank as the ideal dungeon farming character so they can take advantage of instant queues.  Being a healer or a tank also opens up the Call to Arms bonus Satchel of Exotic Mysteries.  We are going to kick the tank idea for dungeon speed running purposes.  Healer it is.  Tank won't mesh with all the other options that require being in the back of the pack of dungeon running characters.  Druid is the best choice because they tend to have the shortest downtime between pulls.  We are maximizing every aspect of this Ideal Alt the best we can.

Race:  Horde:  Any  / Alliance:  Worgen (For speed skinning)

Professions:  Tailoring and Skinning.  Why not enchanting?  Let someone else bring the enchanter.  If you are a low level dungeon runner farming enchanting materials thats cool, but this is a max level dungeon runner.  Every dungeon has humanoids and some also have skinnable mobs.  Having a tailor allows you to scavenge extra cloth off of humanoids after others have looted.  Having a skinner allows you to skin a lot of mobs within dungeons including some of the dungeon bosses, which drop great loot when skinned.

Both skinning and tailoring go hand in hand for a dungeon farming alt because they both require you to hang around after the fight waiting for others to loot.  This goes perfect with being a healer who already hangs out in the back of the party and being a druid minimizes the downtime between fights, so you have time to skin and loot your extra cloth.  And if you are a Worgen you get a speed bonus to your skinning!  Another bonus of being a tailor is that you will be eligible to roll on the BoP Chaos Orbs.  You can use those Chaos Orbs to craft high end gear or save them in hopes they become tradeable in a future WoW patch.  As a tailor you can be used outside the dungeons to craft netherweave bags, Dreamcloth, Spellthreads, Rich Purple Silk Shirts, etc.

So in my opinion, the absolute best combination for creating an Ideal Alt - Dungeon Farmer would be a Worgen Druid with Skinning and Tailoring.  Here's a quick review of the bonuses of this combination.

Dungeon Farming Ideal Alt

• Worgen Druid
• Tailor
• Skinner
• Free extra cloths via scavenging
• Free hides, leathers, scraps, dragonscales, volatiles (from inside Bloated Sacs that skinners get), etc.
• Worgen Skinning Speed Boost
• Healer
• Instant or Fast Queues
• Call to Arms Eligible
• Free pets and mounts, etc. from the Satchel of Exotic Mysteries
• Chaos Orb eligible
• Can sell spellthreads and high end tailoring items
• Netherweave bag seller
• Dreamcloth cooldowns
• Perfect!

Anyone have a better combination for farming dungeons?

Anyone already have a dungeon running Worgen Druid Tailor Skinner?

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Ideal Alts Series

• Ideal Alts Series Intro | Wes’s Building A Better Bank Alt
• The Dungeon Farmer – An Ideal Heroic Farming Alt
• The Collector – An Ideal Vendor Flipping and Pet Selling Alt
• The Herder – An Ideal AoE Farmer Alt
• The Low Level Dungeon Farmer – An Ideal Alt For Farming Low Level Instances
• The Solo Raider and World Boss Killer

New Rugged Leather Farming in Cataclysm

Cataclysm Brought Changes To Rugged Leather Farming

Rugged Leather is selling at a prime price on my server and may also be a pricey commodity on your server as well.  It is often hard to find what the Rugged Leather you need on the auction house, so sometimes you have to turn to farming for the Rugged Leather yourself.

Prior to The Shattering event, the absolute hands down best location for farming Rugged Leather was the Yeti caves to the East of Everlook, Winterspring.  While these yetis do still have the option for Rugged Leather when skinned, the drop rates are lower.  They used to almost always award Rugged Leather when skinning, but now award Rugged Leather at a much lower drop rate.  Since Cataclsym has reshifted the questing level requirements for various zones, Winterspring has dropped from a Level 55-60 zone.  It currently is a Level 48-55 zone and the mobs are much more likely to award Thick Leather when skinned instead of the prized Rugged Leather. 

Many readers are finding their way to Cold's Gold Factory via google searches for "Rugged Leather Farming."  This post is for those of you wondering where the new best locations are for farming Rugged Leathers.

Top Rugged Leather Farming Hotspots

Farming Rugged Leather Hot Spot #1 - Dire Maul North

Gordok Mastiffs are perhaps the best and most easily farmed mobs in all of the World of Warcraft.  They are found within Dire Maul North and the Crescent Key is no longer needed since Cataclysm.

Once inside Dire Maul - North, you will find a large number of Gordok Mastiffs in packs.  Any high level class can dispatch these easily, especially if you have an area of effect attack.  These awesome mobs have a skinning breakdown as such:

•  84% chance to award 1-2 Rugged Leather
• 11% chance to award 1-2 Thick Leather
• 5% chance to award 1 Rugged Hide

This is the best spot to farm Rugged Leather.  You can clear the packs of mastiffs, then rest the instance to clear it again.  If you are looking for a level appropriate area to quest and collect skins while leveling, then I would opt for option #2.

Farming Rugged Leather Hot Spot #2 - Blasted Lands

Blasted Lands is now the best zone for farming Rugged Leather in the wild.  Some players prefer to farm while leveling, so this is the spot for you guys.  There are plenty of basilisks, boars, hyenas, and fel hounds throughout the Blasted Lands zone that can produced Rugged Leather when skinned.

So there are the 2 best places to currently farm Rugged Leather since the changes from Cataclysm have rendered the yeti caves of Winterspring less than ideal.

Anyone else found and other hot spots for farming Rugged Leather?

Check out Cold's Mysterious Fortune Card Mastery Guide

Free Blackened Dragonscales and Savage Leather Scraps

Twilight Dragonkin in Mount Hyjal

Free Savage Leather, Scraps, and Blackened Dragonscales

Sethria's Roost in the Cataclysm zone Mount Hyjal is an excellent spot to find already dead Twilight Dragonkin.  When leveling a character witht the skinning profession, I liked to periodically check this area of the zone.  Remember how profitable the old Yeti cavern was east of Everlook when you would arrive and find a non skinner killing the yetis for the quests there?  Well this area in southern area of the Cataclysm zone Mount Hyjal is another one of those great finds.  The quest chains are in the middle of the leveling process of this zone and are often completed by many players, both Horde and Alliance.  Most players will complete this part of the zones quests because they are still not level 82 when they begin the quests.  Some players will head off to Deepholm as soon as they hit level 82.

I love checking this area for free dead mobs for many reasons.

• The Twilight Dragonkin are heavily concentrated in these small areas.
• Questing traffic from players is very high, which increases the chances of dead mobs waiting to be skinned.
• During high traffic times of the day, you may have more corpses than you can skin before decaying.
• The respawn rates are very rapid.
• These Twilight Dragonkin drop Savage Leather, Savage Leather Scraps, Blackened Dragonscales, and Strange Bloated Stomachs when skinned.

The types of Twilight Dragonkin that can be found at Sethria's Roost in Mount Hyjal are:

• Twilight Dragonkin
• Twilight Dragonkin Armorer
• Twilight Juggernaut
• Sethria's Hatchling

Strange Bloated Stomachs

Strange Bloated Stomachs are a rare drop from skinning any Cataclysm creatures.  These Strange Bloated Stomachs can be opened and will contain 1-2 of the various Cataclysm volatile elements: 

• Volatile Earth
• Volatile Air
• Volatile Life
• Volatile Fire
• Volatile Water

In addition, any Skinner / Engineer carrying an Electrostatic Condenser can get an additional 1-2 Volatile Air contained within the Strange Bloated Stomachs.

What other sweet spots are there for free skinning oppurtunities in Cataclysm?

Farming: Rugged Leather

Where to Farm Rugged Leather?

I can never find Rugged Leather on the auction house for a decent price, so sometimes I have to resort to farming it myself.  My top 2 spots for farming Rugged Leather are:

1)  Dire Maul North.  Just into the instance, down the first ramp, is the first boss who is surrounded by packs of Gordok Mastiffs.  A quick pull and AoE of the whole room will net you a ton of Rugged Leather.  So if you are a skinner and working on Freeing Knot for patterns or reputation with the goblins for the insane title, then make sure to knock off all the dogs here.

2)  Winterspring Yeti Caves.  East of Everlook is the most abundant area for Rugged Leather farming.  Excellent respawn rates combined with mobs that drop greens and coin, make this the most farmed area for Rugged Leather.

Continue on to the most recent post on Rugged Leather Farming since Cataclysm.

Are We There Yeti?

Yetis are by far one of the best mobs to skin. Why? Yetis are the only mobs that are humanoid and skinable, which means they drop gold. The yetis that are level 34 or below also have a chance to drop Large Fangs, which can be sold on the auction house or saved and used for craftables such as Barbaric Bracers. So if you are a upcoming skinner, make sure to spend some time on the yetis to get more cash than just skinning animal types. Also these yetis will always be found near caves and mining nodes for anyone with mine-skin combo.