On the master list of making gold in World of Warcraft, farming is the second easiest way of making gold right behind questing. It can become a very simple way of collecting materials to sell either to cartel members or to the open market. The only cost is your time and the occasional repair bill if you farm at the wrong place or time (PVP servers are especially nasty at this).
Any of the classes can be adequate farmers. As long as you're able to get to a place that is abundant with materials to sell, you can become a farmer with just a flick of a mental switch. Where it isn't required to have a dedicated farmer for your personal cartel, it gives you a leg up on the competition when materials are not available. Being able to farm items as you quest in new lands gives a new wrinkle into your collection of profits.
When looking at your farming structure you have normally three different types of farmers. The Herbalist, the Miner and the Skinner. In my structure I've added a 4th one which is my disenchanter/item hunter. The reason that I believe there should be a distinction in our setup is that farming lower level instances can be very rewarding for both enchanting materials, as well as vanity items to sell on the Auction House. My Disenchanter/Hunter is my Blood Elf Warlock. It's important to have your enchanter be able to AOE mobs in low level instances instead of having to kill one or two at a time. Druids or Mages are extra strong in these areas.
Currently my setup for my farmers consists of my hunter class having the skinning and mining professions. My other farmer that handles my disenchantments and herbalist duties is a Druid. Druids are especially beneficial for Herbalism due to the fact they stay in flight form to pick herbs. This gives you the ability to be onto the next farming spot while the competition has to wait the 3 seconds to activate their mount (add to this reaction time and you have a good 4-5 seconds head start from the competition). When areas such as Wintergrasp were heavily farmed for materials, this gave me almost an unfair advantage over the other farming classes. Also included was the ability to switch into melee (Cat form and Bear form) as well as having a Boomkin setup (Thunderchicken) for those times I needed to defend my routes.
Your mining and skinning toon selection becomes more of a personal choice of play style than any added advantage. Hunters, Druids and Warlocks have continual longer ranges for their attacks, plus with AOE capabilities they can go through multiple enemies quickly. Warriors tend to be the weakest in farming due to the need for up close combat. For personal selection the Death Knight can be one of the strongest farmers, or the weakest. Play style becomes a factor with many of the classes.
Dedicated Famers gives you a good boost in your time management and much needed materials for your other crafters. Whether you have all four farming disciplines covered. At minimum having a farmer that is linked to what other crafting professions you have with other toons. Having a Blacksmith becomes stronger with a Miner. An alchemy business becomes that much more lucrative with an herbalist in tow.
This is where I usually break from the norm. Profession bags can become expensive. Each level of bags tends to become more and more exorbitant in costs. The High slot bags can cost 1000 of gold based on supply and demand.
But if you lower your amount of slots a good amount of savings can be made. The [Triple Reinforced Bag] (36 slots) costing 1500g. Looking at one of the lower bags, the 28 slot Trapper's Traveling Pack can be found at half the cost. Bag slots were important before Guild Banks became available. Now the larger amount of slots becomes more of a convenience than a necessity.
Your farmer should be prepared from the start with the magical Gnomish Army Knife. Besides bags this is going to be your best investment. Buying enough now while they are inexpensive will benefit you since they will rise in prices with Mist of Pandaria.
The biggest preparation you can do is to have your material farming routes planned out. Wowhead always has good information on where certain items can be found. Whether it's a weapon or an herb, players are your best assets to finding routes to quickly obtain product materials. A combination of Knowledge and time will put your profits on the upturn.
Farming is going to continue to be strong, and setting your mind to a specific structure will allow you to pick, process and obtain gold at your own pace.
Good Luck and Good Hunting
Want to get in contact with me? . Email me at Dragonbearjoe @ gmail. dOT com or find me on twitter at "@JMTCMommar" or leave a comment here. You can find me hanging out on the Shandris Server, chat me up and I will buy you a glass of juice.
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