Gold Gathering Thoughts

Where Have the Herbs Gone?

I spent some time today on a couple of servers looking for herb bargains, to use for Inscription or to resell. As you might already know, many of the herbs needed for Inscription are being snapped up as soon as they appear.

So you’ll log into the AH, search for (herb) and see… nothing. Or you’ll see something, at about 10 times the price you were paying not so long ago. Peacebloom at 20+ gold a stack? Wow.

Herbalism For the Win!

Herbalism is the new mining, but better. Start a new toon and gather stacks of the basic herbs and you’ll be able to sell them for far more than you’ll sell copper ore or light leather.

Given the way Inscription research works there will be an ongoing increased demand for the low level herbs which means more gold in your pocket.

Prices will stabilize as more people start farming all the necessary herbs, but I think prices are going to be permanently somewhat higher and much higher in the short term. So if you have an Herb Gatherer, now’s your time.

Mining and Skinning Are Still Good

I also think ores and skins will see some degree of price rise. Why? People will drop one or the other skill (I dropped mining and I’ll drop skinning tomorrow) to get Herbalism and/or Inscription. More herb gatherers means fewer ore and skin gatherers, leading to a somewhat lower supply of those items with little decrease in demand. Hence, higher prices.

I’m sure that the Chinese (and other) farmers will also see this opportunity, which will dampen prices somewhat. Still, it’s a good time to be a gatherer.

Getting Your Skills Up Fast

If you want to level your Herbalism skills to take advantage of these prices then take a quick look at my quick and dirty herbalism leveling guide.

If you’re interested in a deeper guide to leveling your Herbalism and/or Inscription skills, then take a look at my review of Penn’s Profession’s Guide.