This is the where, to go with the Professions thread’s how. These are the materials that hold value on an x1 realm because raiders and crafters need them every week, and the places you farm them.
Herbs
- Black Lotus is the money herb. It feeds the best raid flasks, so it always sells. It spawns rarely in the high zones (Eastern and Western Plaguelands, Burning Steppes, Winterspring, Silithus), at a small number of spots that share a realm-wide timer. You farm it by riding a circuit of the known spawn points, not by camping one.
- Other raid herbs: the components for protection potions and flasks, like the high-level herbs in Felwood, Un’Goro, and the Plaguelands. Run a herbalism loop through those zones.
Ore and bars
- Thorium is the staple. Rich Thorium veins cluster in Eastern Plaguelands, Un’Goro, Burning Steppes, and Winterspring. A mining loop through one or two of those keeps a steady supply.
- Smelt into bars before selling if blacksmiths are paying more for bars than ore that week. Check both.
Cloth and leather
- Felcloth drops from the satyrs in Felwood and Azshara. Tailors want it for the higher-end sets.
- Runecloth drops from any high-level humanoid, so the Plaguelands undead double as a cloth and gold farm.
- Rugged and thick leather from skinning in the same high zones, for leatherworkers.
Elemental essences
- Essence of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth come from elemental mobs and feed resistance gear and consumables. Un’Goro, Silithus, and Azshara have the camps. These spike in price right before a fire-resistance fight opens.
How to farm without it feeling like a job
Pick one loop, learn it, and ride it on a flying or fast ground mount while you watch something else. An hour a week of one good circuit, sold when raiders are online, is enough to keep a 60 in consumables and repairs.