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One of the most useful World of Warcraft utilities I've found to date is the Auctioneer Complete Package.  This includes several actual tools, including Auctioneer, Bean Counter, and Bottom Scanner. If you are a regular WoW player and you haven't picked up this add-on set, you're probably not making as much gold in the game as you could be.  In this article, I'm going to cover the major functionality of the Auctioneer package (but there's a lot more I won't be covering - mostly because I haven't used those capabilities enough yet).

After you install Auctioneer on your system, the first thing you'll notice is that you start getting a LOT more information about the items you move your mouse cursor over, as shown in the image below:



The topmost window you see here is the normal Wow information about an inventory item.  Below that is a second window provided by Auctioneer.  Auctioneer provides a lot of information, starting with the item's level (if any), how many times Auctioneer has seen the item up for auction, average starting bid, current bid, buyout, and median (most-common) buyout price, and so forth.  It provides a suggested price for the item you're carrying, automatically quoting the price based on the size of the stack of items you're carrying at that moment.  It also tells you if your "competition" in the auction house is overpriced ("Competition above market"), underpriced ("Cannot match current price"), or not.  The "Buy 20" and "Sell 20" refer to the in-game vendor prices for the item.  In other words, if I tried to sell this stack of Runecloth Bandages to an in-game vendor, I would get 1 gold coin for it.  However, based on the suggested selling price above it, I should be getting 1 gold, 14 silver, and 40 copper from other players in the auction house.  Thus it makes more sense to sell this item at auction than to dump it on a vendor.

This functionality is useful when you're at the auction house trying to price something, but the real value is when you're out questing or farming in the game.  For example, imagine that your inventory is full of things and you've just found a potentially valuable sword.  To pick it up, you're going to have to drop something.  But what?  If you drop something more valuable than the sword, you're throwing money away.  To figure out what to drop, take a look at the suggested price of the item you want to pick up and the items you're already carrying.  This will help you decide which item you're carrying is the least valuable, so that you can drop it in favor of the new sword.  Thus, Auctioneer is helping you make money even outside the auction house.

Aside from the item pricing windows, the next most visible change Auctioneer will make to the WoW interface is in the auction window, which will look something like this when you bring it up:

Notice that there are now several tabs at the bottom of the Auction interface now, and a new button marked "Scan".  This Scan button is a very important one.  When you have about 15 minutes to spare, click the Scan button.  This tells Auctioneer to go out into the auction listings and "learn" the current item pricing on this particular server and auction house.  While it's scanning, you'll see a display like the following in the auction window:



This tells you that Auctioneer is busy learning what items cost at the auction house.  In this example, it has 165 pages of items to go through, and it goes through each page at about the rate of 10.53 items per second.  Based on that, it will take about 12 minutes and 58 seconds to complete the scan.

About 13 minutes later, Auctioneer will have scanned all the items in the auction house and will "know" the real market value of all of them.  The more times you scan the auction house, the better Auctioneer's pricing estimates will be.  For example, while the price on an item it's seen 3-5 times in the auction house MAY be a good one, the price on an item it's seen 120 times is probably going to be a lot more accurate.  Thus it is to your benefit to scan the auction house regularly.  Personally, I like to start the scan when I am about to log off for the evening.  I just go to one of the auction houses, click the button, go AFK (type "/afk" in the WoW chat window), and leave.  Eventually my WoW session will time out, but in the meantime Auctioneer will be able to collect all (or at least most) of the auction data.

Another major change Auctioneer makes to the WoW interface is on the Auctions tab of the Auction interface.  As shown in the example below, it will automatically fill in a Starting Price and Buyout Price for you, based on its past auction house scans.  It will fill in the Auction duration you normally use as well.  If you decide to set a price that is different from Auctioneer's suggested price and you want Auctioneer to always use your price instead of its own, checking the "Remember price" box before creating the auction will ensure that Auctioneer remembers your price and uses it.

Technically, BottomScanner is a separate add-on from Auctioneer, but they are so well integrated in the complete package that you wouldn't notice.  The BtmScan tab in the auction interface allows you to start, stop, and monitor BottomScanner.



What is BottomScanner?  Like Auctioneer, BottomScanner scans through the items in the auction house for you.  Unlike Auctioneer, BottomScanner looks at the lowest priced items and compares them to its database to see if there are any "bargains" on the auction house right now.  That is, if an item currently up for auction has a buyout price that would allow you to make some quick money, it will display an alert like the following:



In this example, BottomScanner is telling us that if we buy the Shadow Draenite that it's telling us about, it will cost us 1 gold and 19 silver.  It believes we should be able to resell it later for 1 gold and 75 silver, making a 56 silver, 15 copper profit before auction fees.  If we think this is a good deal, we click "Yes" to buy it.  If we think it's not a good deal, we click "No" to ignore the item.  If we don't want to "speculate" on this particular item, we can click "Ignore" and we won't see it again this session.

So how do you know if something's a good deal?  Use that Auctioneer window!  Note the following example:



In this case, BottomScanner has found us a Libram of Rumination which is priced at 1 gold for buyout.  It believes we can resell the item for 1 gold and 97 silver.  When we move our mouse over the Libram's icon, Auctioneer tells us what it thinks, based on previous scans of the auction house.

As you can see, Auctioneer says that we should be able to sell this item for 1 gold, 26 silver, and 8 copper starting bid, 1 gold, 57 silver, and 61 copper buyout price.  (I look at the suggested price rather than the BottomScanner prices since you're more likely to get the Suggested prices than the others.)  Auctioneer also tells me that it's seen this item 15 times in the auction house, so its pricing is probably pretty accurate.  If I choose to buy this item and return to the Auction house with it, I can drop it onto the Auction tab and Auctioneer will automatically fill in the suggested prices for me.  With a 1 gold investment and a few mouse clicks, I stand to make at least 57 silver.  (Whether or not that's enough for you to personally risk 1 gold is naturally for you to decide.)

When you use BottomScanner and Auctioneer together in this way, you can sometimes make a lot of in-game money.  You can also, if you are unlucky or not very careful, lose a lot of in-game money.  Personally, I avoid buying any item that Auctioneer hasn't seen a lot of, or for which it suggests a price that isn't at least 50% higher than the item's current buyout price.  Even at that, I occasionally get stuck with something and have to either use it, sell it to a vendor, or auction it off for less than I paid.  A good strategy is to buy items during the week while fewer people are playing, then hold on to them until the weekend.  Then relist them when lots of people are playing and bidding.  This should give you at least a small profit in most cases.

Remember, Auctioneer's prices are always a "guess" and not a guarantee.  While Auctioneer may have scanned 100 auctions and make you feel pretty confident that the shield you just paid 1 gold for will sell for 2 gold, you might find that there really isn't a demand for that particular shield on your server anymore and you end up having to sell it to a vendor for 1 silver (thus losing 99 silver!).  

I hope I've helped you see the value in using the Auctioneer package while playing World of Warcraft.  If so, you can download it here and install it for yourself.  If not, there are other auction tools you might find more useful.  Have a look on the web and see.

Battling, taking damage, and healing that damage is a big part of playing World of Warcraft (WoW). The game offers a number of ways to heal damage. Over time, the character's normal healing processes will restore damage done in battle. In addition, healing potions can restore a set amount of damage instantly, though there is a cooldown period between potions. Eating food will restore hit points as well. Certain character types like warlocks can drain hit points from an enemy and use those to heal themselves. Another useful healing technique, especially for characters who have no warlock-like method of instant healing, is the First Aid skill.

To develop a character's First Aid skill, that character must first receive initial training from an NPC. This NPC varies for each race, but can usually be found in the race's starting city. If you're not sure where to find yours, ask one of the city guards. They can point you in the right direction.

Once you've found the First Aid Trainer for your race and paid to receive the initial training, you can begin very quickly leveling the healing skill using the instructions provided here.

(Click the "Read more..." link below if you don't see the rest of the article here.)
 

 

Collect Linen Cloth

First Aid skill doesn't level up with use, which means it's possible for you to reach the maximum level (currently 375) without ever healing a point of damage. I know that sounds a little odd, but it's true. A character gains healing skill by making bandages, even if he or she never uses them. So if you want to max out your healing skill, that's what you need to do.

At the lowest levels of First Aid skill, you need to make Linen Cloth Bandages. Naturally, this means you need to collect Linen Cloth. Linen Cloth drops most often from humanoid enemies. For example, for the human race, killing Defias bandits near Stormwind will yield Linen Cloth. Personally, I found that going to the Westfall area (west of Stormwind), killing the Defias humans (Looter, Pillager, Smuggler, Trapper, etc.) and the Riverpaw humanoids (Bandit, Mystic, Oracle, Scout, Outrunner, etc.). You're going to need at least 120 pieces of Linen Cloth. What I've done for my characters is take my highest-level character (currently a level 50 Dwarf hunter) and run near (but not ON) the coastline in Westfall, killing every humanoid I encounter, making sure to keep all the cloth. By the time I've made one pass around the coast, I've usually collected 120 Linen Cloth or so. Another good technique is to volunteer to be part of a group adventuring in Deadmines and making a deal up-front that you get all the cloth and give some of the other items or money you get. Failing that, you can also buy Linen Cloth at the Auction House if you'd rather not spend time collecting it.

First Step - Getting to 75 First Aid

Now that you have amassed 120 or so Linen Cloth, you're ready to begin. Bring up the First Aid interface under your Spellbook & Abilities (default keystroke "P") menu. Select Linen Cloth Bandage and click "Create All". Watch your First Aid skill climb as you make bandages. When your First Aid skill reaches 20, hit the Esc key or move around to stop the bandage-making. Go back to the First Aid trainer and buy the Heavy Linen Cloth Bandage skill.

 

Bring up the First Aid menu again, select Heavy Linen Cloth Bandage and click Create All. Watch your skill continue to climb until it reaches 50. Go back to the First Aid trainer again and purchase the Wool Cloth bandage skill. You'll probably be out of Linen Cloth by this point, but if not, and if the item name isn't gray in your First Aid menu, continue making Heavy Linen Cloth bandages until it is.

Wool Cloth can be gathered in Westfall and Deadmines also. It's dropped by Sheep, Riverpaw Overseers, Riverpaw Bandits, Riverpaw Taskmasters, Riverpaw Mystics, Defias Renegade Mages, Defias Diggers, Defias Conjurers, Defias Henchmen, Murloc Tidehunters, Riverpaw Gnolls, and other humanoid creatures in the level 11-20 size range. Kill enough of these that you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 120 to 175 pieces of Wool Cloth (or buy approximately that amount at the Auction House).

Begin making Wool Cloth bandages until you reach 75 First Aid skill. Stop as soon as you reach it.

Getting to 150

Return to the First Aid trainer and buy the next level of First Aid skill from them. Also buy the Heavy Wool Bandage skill. Make Heavy Wool Bandages until you reach 100 skill. At this point you'll need to obtain 120+ pieces of Silk Cloth. You'll use this to make Silk Bandages until your skill reaches the 150 limit.

Getting to 225

At this point, you're going to need to make a trip to Stromgarde castle in the Arathi Highlands, have a friend make that journey for you, or visit the Auction House.  The castle has a lot of humanoid mobs in it, with levels in the 35 to 40 range.  If you can handle those, you'll save money by going to the vendor yourself.  If not, you can get the book elsewhere.

You'll be looking for a Scrolls & Potions vendor named Deneb Walker there. His location in the coordinate system is approximately (27,58). (If you're having trouble locating him, click here for a detailed walkthrough of how to find him.)  For 1 gold coin, he'll sell you a book called "Expert First Aid - Under Wraps". While you're there, you should also buy the "Manual: Heavy Silk Bandage" that he sells for 22 silver and the "Manual: Mageweave Bandage" that he sells for 50 silver. If you aren't high enough level to reach the Stromgarde castle in the Arathi Highlands safely, look in the Auction House for a copy of these items or ask another player you trust to get them for you.

 

 

The Expert First Aid manual will allow you to grow your First Aid skill to 225. You'll begin by making Heavy Wool Bandages until you reach skill level 100 or so. At that point you'll need to start making Silk Bandages.

Silk Cloth can be purchased in the Auction House. You can also obtain it by killing Level 27-40 humanoids such as Witherbark Trolls in the Arathi Highlands, Boulderfist Ogres in the Arathi Highlands, Drywhisker humanoids in Arathi, and Syndicate humans in Arathi. You're going to need somewhere in the 120-175 piece range.

Make Silk Bandages until your skill hits approximately 125. Read the "Manual: Heavy Silk Bandage" at this point to learn how to make those, then begin making them until you reach skill level 150 or you stop gaining skill from them. At that point, read the "Manual: Mageweave Bandage" which should get you to about 200, maybe even higher.

Getting to 300

After you reach 225 First Aid, you'll need to make a trip to get the next skill level. There's no other way around it. You'll first need to go to the Wetlands and make your way to Menethil Harbor on the west end of the map. There you'll find a dock with two ships departing from it. The left-hand ship as you're facing the water goes to Theramore on the Kalimdor continent, and that's what you need. Ride the boat out there. When you get to the dock in Theramore, walk straight ahead until you see the Hippogriff Master. Turn a bit to your right and walk between the two buildings. Turn right again when you get past the right-hand building and go in that right-hand building. If it's the right one, there will be a man out front practicing fighting.

You're looking for the Trauma Surgeon Gustaf VanHowzen in the building (location 67,48).  (If you are having trouble locating him, I've created a guide to finding Gustaf Van Howzen here.) As you face the front door, he's on the first floor, in the far-right, back corner. He will offer you a quest, take it. This quest will have you healing wounded soldiers in their beds. It's extremely difficult, and you'll probably fail. That's fine. Do it two or three times and you're going to find that you've unintentionally collected a bunch of trauma bandages. Don't get rid of them. You'll want them.

 

What I recommend doing at this point is finding another player who wants to accomplish this quest. If there are more than two, that's even better. Help each other. One of you takes the quest. The others station themselves near the beds with the injured soldiers. All of you use those trauma bandages from past attempts and start healing the soldiers nearest you. If you're all doing your part, few or none of the soldiers will die and you'll all heal enough of them that you eventually complete the quest successfully. Remember to play nice and stay there until everyone completes the quest. Your First Aid skill will now top out at 300.

If there isn't anyone available to help you do this quest, it can be done solo if you're really careful. Before the quest starts, stand in the center of the room so that you can see every bed in it. Press Ctrl-V so that the health bars are activated over the patients to make it easier to assess who to heal first. Start the quest, and make sure that you heal the most seriously injured patients first, keeping track of which ones have been in the room the longest. If necessary, press the Esc key to stop healing a patient and switch to a more-injured one.

To build your skill to 300, you first need to make Runecloth Bandages, then Heavy Runecloth Bandages. The Trauma Surgeon in Theramore will teach you these skills when your First Aid level is high enough. Build your skill to 260, then talk to Doctor VanHowzen. He'll give you the Runecloth Bandages skill. When your skill reaches 290, talk to him again. He'll teach you Heavy Runecloth Bandages, which will allow you to get to 300 skill.

Runecloth is dropped by a number of humanoid mobs. Level 1 snakes, such as those found in Westfall, are also rumored to drop it on occasion (though I've not seen this). Most of the mobs that drop Runecloth are over level 50. For example, many of the humanoids in the Alterac Valley zone drop Runecloth. Rather than spend a lot of time fighting those tougher mobs, I just gathered up a bunch of Silk Cloth, sold that at the Auction House, and used the proceeds to buy Runecloth instead. You'll need another 120-200 units to hit 300 skill.

Beyond 300 First Aid

The current maximum First Aid skill level is 375. Reaching that level isn't easy or cheap, but it's certainly doable. When your skill hits 300, you can either buy the book "Master First Aid - Doctor in the House" at the Auction House, or you can buy it from an NPC named Burko in the Temple of Telhamat on the left side, in a small building.

Make Heavy Runecloth Bandages until your skill reaches around 320-340. At that point, you'll need to acquire some Netherweave Cloth and begin making Netherweave Bandages. At 360 you can make Heavy Netherweave Bandages and get to the maximum skill of 375.

Netherweave Cloth drops off humanoid mobs in places like the Acratraz Dungeon, The SteamVault Dungeon, Shattrath City, and Caverns of Time Dungeon. The mobs dropping it are in the Level 60-70 range. Unless you're capable of taking down these mobs, I recommend buying the cloth in the Auction House.

Alliance First Aid Leveling - Quick Reference Chart

Healing Level	Character Level Required	Trainer Location	Material Needed	Product Made
0 - 75	1	Human: Shaina Fuller in Stormwind at the Cathedral, coordinates (42, 26) Dwarf/Gnome: Nissa Firestone in Ironforge, coordinates (54, 58) Draenei: Unknown at this time. Night Elf: Dannelor in Teldrassil, coordinates (51,12)	Linen Cloth, 120+ pieces Wool Cloth, 25-50 pieces	1-40 Linen Cloth Bandage 41-50 Heavy Linen Cloth Bandage 51-75 Wool Cloth Bandage
76-150	1	Human: Shaina Fuller in Stormwind at the Cathedral, coordinates (42, 26) Dwarf/Gnome: Nissa Firestone in Ironforge, coordinates (54, 58) Draenei: Unknown at this time. Night Elf: Dannelor in Teldrassil, coordinates (51,12)	Wool Cloth, 50-150 pieces Silk Cloth, 150+ pieces	76-100 Heavy Wool Cloth Bandages 101-125 Silk Bandages 126-150 Heavy Silk Bandages
151-225	35	All Races: Deneb Walker, at Stromgarde Castle in the Arathi Highlands, coordinate location approximately (27,58).	Mageweave Cloth, 50+ pieces	151-200: Mageweave Bandage 200-225: Heavy Mageweave Bandage
226-300	35	All Races: Gustaf VanHowzen in Theramore, coordinate location approximately (67,48)	Mageweave Cloth, 120+ pieces Runecloth, 120+ pieces	226-240 Mageweave Bandages 241-260 Heavy Mageweave Bandages 261-289 Runecloth Bandages 290-300 Heavy Runecloth Bandages
300-375	35	All Races: Burkho in the Temple of Telhamat, coordinates (22,39)	Runecloth, 120+ pieces Netherweave, 100+ pieces	301-320 Heavy Runecloth Bandages 321-360 Netherweave Bandages 361-375 Heavy Netherweave Bandages

I've seen a number of people on World of Warcraft forums saying that it's very hard to find Deneb Walker in Stromgarde. In reality, it's very easy if you've done it before, but perhaps not so easy if you are going in blind. This guide is as detailed a step-by-step walkthrough of how to get to Deneb Walker as I could create. Hopefully it will solve your navigation problems.

The first step in getting to Deneb Walker is to make your way to the Arathi Highlands. Once there, you need to follow the road west out of Refuge Point until it reaches a "T" shaped intersection. There, you'll go right (North) until you reach the entry road to the castle, where you'll turn left and face the entrance, which looks like this:

(Each of the images shown in this article is available at "full size" by clicking on the image.)

(Click the "Read more..." link below if the rest of the article isn't visible below this line.)

You'll proceed up the path and under the walkway seen here:

Just past the overhanging walkway, you'll turn right, and your view should look something like this:

You need to go through that doorway you see that's "approximately straight ahead" in the screenshot.

When you get to the doorway, your view will look something like this:

Notice that the path makes an approximate "T"shape here. You want to go to that intersection and make a right, whereupon your view will look something like this:

You'll go down the right-hand path here, which is heading roughly northeast. Further down that path you should see a view looking approximately like this:

You'll go straight here, stopping just at the other side of the doorway you see in the distance.

Just through the doorway, you'll turn right and Deneb Walker will be straight ahead of you through the overgrowth.

After you step through the overgrowth, turn a little to your right and you'll find him:

If you like to use coordinates like I do, you'll find the following waypoints helpful in locating Deneb Walker. If you go to the Arathi Highlands and make your way to each of these in the order presented, you'll be standing right in front of Deneb Walker:

Entrance to Stromgarde: 26,50

In Stromgarde: 26,55

Heading to the Sanctuary area: 25,59

In the doorway: 23,60

At the intersection: 22,60

Near the archway: 24,58

In the overgrowth: 26,58

Standing in front of Deneb Walker: 27,58

Good luck finding Mr. Walker and improving your First Aid skill (or making a few coins selling the First Aid manual)!

And here's the YouTube version.

Some World of Warcraft players have expressed frustration at trying to find Dr. Gustaf VanHowzen, the First Aid Trainer who will take Alliance players from 225 maximum First Aid skill to 300 maximum First Aid skill.  This page has been created to help players easily locate Dr. VanHowzen and further their First Aid training.

The first step in getting to Gustaf VanHowzen is to make your way to Baradin Bay and Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands area.  When you reach Menethil, head west toward the docks.  When you reach the docks, walk down the left-most pier (as you're facing West) to the ship which periodically arrives and departs.  See illustration below:

 

Board the ship and ride it to Theramore Isle.  Exit the ship there and you'll be standing at the end of a long pier:

Run straight ahead down the pier and beyond, until you reach this intersection near the Hippogriff Master:

Take the right-hand fork of this "Y" and follow it to the next intersection:

Take the right-hand fork at this intersection as well, and follow it to the entrance to the
 Foothold Citadel:

 Enter the Foothold Citadel and turn right.  At the end of that hallway, turn left.  Straight ahead you should see Dr. Gustaf VanHowzen in a room full of bunks with patients on them:

 

Good luck training for Master First Aid.  Here are some quick tips in case you need them.

If you can partner with others to do the quest to get 300 First Aid, do so.  Each of you should get the quest from VanHowzen so that you're armed with the bandages.  Then, press Ctrl-V to display the health bars above each patient.  Heal the weakest ones and then the less-weak ones based on the health bars.  If you work together, with each of you healing in a particular part of the room, you should manage to complete the quest in one or two tries working together.

If you have to solo the quest for 300 First Aid (I didn't, at least not successfully), I am told it is best to stand so that you can see every bed in the room, hit Ctrl-V to get health bars activated above the patients, and heal everyone in order from most-wounded to least wounded, and in the order they appeared in the bunks. 

From conversations I've had in-game and in real life with other World of Warcraft players, it seems that the technique for installing World of Warcraft AddOns isn't well known or understood.  This is really unfortunate, since AddOns can really make the game easier, more fun, and (in terms of the Auction House) more profitable.  I'm going to try to create a step-by-step installation guide here that should work for most of the AddOns (or "mods") you're going to run into out there.  If you find something that doesn't quite fit into the description below, please feel free to submit a comment at the end of this article and I'll try to help you resolve it and add that information to this article.

NOTE:  This guide is written for Microsoft Windows users.  If you play World of Warcraft on a Macintosh computer, I can't really help you because I don't have (and don't want to have) a Macintosh to use for the purpose.  You may still get valuable information out of this guide, but you're on your own when it comes to installation.


AddOns, put simply, are a sort of mini-program created by someone (usually not a Blizzard employee) to improve the World of Warcraft experience.  These mini-programs typically consist of one or more files with names like "MyMod.lua" and "ReadMe.txt".  When these files are placed in the appropriate location, the World of Warcraft game will notice they're there, check them to see if they appear to be outdated or violate any game rules, and then attempt to load them if they seem OK.


Once AddOns are loaded, you should see a small AddOn button on your screen when you login.  (The image below is from the Burning Crusade version of WoW. If you're running a different version, your AddOn button may be located in a different place.)


By clicking on the AddOns button, you'll have access to a menu showing all the interface AddOns installed on your computer.  (Note that Blizzard itself uses this same technique to adjust the game's interface, so AddOns aren't something that they are likely to do away with.)  By checkmarking an AddOn in this list, you're telling WoW that you want to use it.  By unchecking it, you're turning it off.


At this point you're probably wondering how to get an AddOn, install it, and make it do its thing.


There are LOTS of places to get AddOns out on the web.  One of my personal favorites is the site below:

http://wowui.incgamers.com/

At this site, a massive library of AddOns is available for free download.  Depending on your character type, playing style, etc., you should be able to find something that interests you.  When you do, follow the links to download it to your computer.


The example below is going to walk through the installation of a typical AddOn called Fishing Buddy.  Probably 90% or more of the AddOns you encounter will install exactly like this one, which is why I chose this particular example.  If your AddOn doesn't seem to install correctly when you follow these steps, don't despair.  I'm going to offer some more tips at the end to hopefully help you figure out why now.

The first thing you need to do is locate the file you downloaded.  This will normally be a Zip file like the one pictured below (my screenshots are done in Windows Vista, so your images may vary if you use Windows XP, Windows 2000, etc.):


As you can see, inside the original FishingBuddy zip file is a folder named  FishingBuddy" that contains an "Icons" folder and a bunch of files.

If you're knowledgeable about Windows file and folder locations, the "condensed" version of the installation instructions is this... Locate your C: drive, open the Program Files folder, locate the World of WarCraft folder, navigate to the Interface subdirectory, to the AddOns subdirectory below that, and copy the FishingBuddy folder into that AddOns directory as-is (i.e., don't remove the files from the FishingBuddy directory).

If that last paragraph didn't make sense to you, stick around. I'm going to walk you through what it meant, step by step.

First, double-click your "Computer" (Vista) or "My Computer" (XP and below) icon on this desktop (or under the Start menu).  This will show a list of the disk drives installed in your computer.  One of these is normally labeled with the name "C:" and is the drive your computer boots from, and where programs like WoW are stored.


Double-click the "C:" drive icon and you'll see a list of files and folders.  (Note that Windows may prompt you to ask if you know what you're doing.  You'll have to trust me here and tell Windows it's OK to proceed.)  Locate the one named "Program Files" and double-click it.  (Again, Windows may ask you if you know what you're doing.  Tell it that you do and that it's OK to proceed.)


Here you'll see directories for the programs installed on your computer, which may vary drastically from what you see here on my computer.  Locate the one called "World of Warcraft" and double-click it.


Inside the "World of Warcraft" folder is an "Interface" folder.  Double-click that one to open it up.


Under the "Interface" directory is an "AddOns" directory.

 

 You'll notice at this point that there are already some items in here, whose names start with "Blizzard_".  These are actual interface components that Blizzard (the makers of WoW) have added to the game themselves.

Now, locate your "FishingBuddy" zip file and double-click it to open it.  


Drag the icon for the "FishingBuddy" folder onto the "AddOns" folder icon. (Don't copy the Zip file itself, but the folder inside it!) 

 

Windows should let you know that it's copying the file for you.  When it's done, you should see "FishingBuddy" listed with all the other AddOns, as illustrated below:

If your installation looks like this, with the folder inside the AddOns folder, then congratulations!  You have installed your first World of Warcraft Addon/Mod!

When you find the AddOns button, click it to bring up the AddOns window.


Here you should find your "FishingBuddy" AddOn listed and checkmarked.  If it's not checkmarked, that normally means that Blizzard decided that this modification MIGHT NOT work with your version of WoW.  If you want to try it anyway, checkmark it here.

If you don't see your AddOn listed here, then one of two situations is true.  Either you didn't install the AddOn in the correct location, or the AddOn is one that Blizzard recognizes as problematic and has uninstalled automatically to prevent you from having a problem using WoW.

If Blizzard uninstalled your AddOn automatically, I recommend looking to see if there is a newer version available somewhere.  If there isn't, then look for another AddOn that does the same thing.  I don't recommend trying to use any AddOn that Blizzard has automatically uninstalled.  While you might get lucky and find that it does work, you're more likely to find that it makes WoW behave unpredictably or crash.  Crashing is the last thing you want to happen if you're in the middle of a difficult battle!

Assuming that your AddOn has loaded, when you login to the game you should see some indication that it's working.  For example, FishingBuddy adds a button to your "radar" display:


When you click on that button, it displays an interface:


Thus, you can be pretty sure that this AddOn is installed and working.


No.  Definitely not!  Some AddOns use instructions that Blizzard has decided to disable because they gave some players an unfair advantage or caused trouble.  Those AddOns won't work anymore.

Other AddOns may be designed specifically for use with the original World of Warcraft version, and as such may not work at all with Burning Crusade (or any later release).  While it's commonplace for the creators of such AddOns to release an updated version of the AddOn at a later date, there's no guarantee this will happen.

Some AddOns may be poorly written and simply not work at all.  I haven't found that to be the case very often, but it can certainly happen.

If you find an AddOn that isn't compatible or doesn't work for you, delete it from the "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns" directory if you've installed it.


Because AddOns are written by other players, and because other players may have different ideas about what is the best way to "package" an AddOn, you may find that the AddOn you're interested in isn't a nice, clean little zip file like the one I've pictured below.  


Since I can't possibly predict all the potential ways that such an AddOn might be packaged, I can't guarantee that I have the answer below, but I've downloaded and tested dozens of AddOns and below are the only variations I've come up with so far.

One AddOn I encountered downloaded as a zip file, but inside that Zip file wasn't a folder with the AddOn inside it.  Instead, the Zip file contained a program (.EXE file).  For this particular AddOn, the creator has included a program that installs it automatically for you in the correct place.


Since I am a Windows Administrator by profession, I should warn you that it may not be safe to trust an AddOn packaged this way. When you run that program and give it permission to change your computer, you can't know for certain that it isn't installing a virus, spyware, or other undesirable software on your computer.  I would personally not install a mod like this one without doing some checking first with others who use it, running a virus scan over it, etc.  If you choose to install a mod like this one that does the work for you, realize that you are taking a risk with your computer and your WoW account.  

Another AddOn I encountered was packaged in a RAR file instead of a ZIP file:


The author of this particular AddOn feels that ZIP files are inferior and thus he or she chose to package the AddOn in a different format.  While I respect that author's reasons for choosing RAR over ZIP, I think they made a bad call when people expect and are used to installing AddOns from ZIP files.  I'd personally not bother with a mod packaged this way unless there was no alternative.  So, what if there WASN'T an alternative and I really wanted this mod?

First, note that the author has suggested a couple of programs that can read RAR files and provided links to them.  We'd have to download and install one of those programs, then use it to open the provided RAR file.  As the author notes here, the RAR programs will automatically put the AddOn where it goes as part of the process of extracting it, so you should find the installation pretty easy.

If the specific mod you're looking at doesn't put the files where they go, just extract the mod from the compressed file (ZIP, RAR, ACE, etc.) and then follow my FishingBuddy example from the point at which you're copying the FishingBuddy folder into the Interface, AddOns subdirectory.  It will most likely work fine.

One other AddOn I encountered included what were, in my opinion, "too many folders".  When I opened the Zip file, it looked like this:


If you look carefully, you'll note that the Interface and AddOns subdirectories happen to match up to the ones under the World of Warcraft directory.  In this case, all I needed to do was copy the "FakeMod" folder from the "AddOns" folder in the Zip file to the "AddOns" folder under "World of Warcraft\Interface" on my PC and the mod worked properly.


As a matter of fact, there is.  The UI Central web site offers a program called the "Mod Management Tool" that makes AddOn installation, updating, and removal very easy.  Since I didn't write the tool and I don't distribute it, I'm not going to go into much detail here.  I'm just going to point you to the site where you can get it.  

Note that there are some limitations to this tool.  For one thing, it may not offer the very latest version of mods like Auctioneer if those "latest versions" haven't been uploaded to UI Central's web site.  For another, since it's limited to only the mods offered at UI Central, you may find that a specific mod you want isn't available.

However, given the above limitations, UI Central's Mod Management Tool is actually very useful and very easy to work with.  You'll find that the more-popular mods are available automatically through it, and that you can keep your installed mods up to date with a few mouse clicks.

In a future Gamer Hotsheet article, I hope to provide a more detailed guide to installing and using UI Central's Mod Management Tool.  For now, you're on your own.

In World of Warcraft, a character "rests" when it spends time in a city or inn. If the character rests long enough, it begins to accumulate a bonus which doubles the amount of experience (XP) it earns per kill. You can tell if you're rested by looking at your XP "meter" at the bottom of the screen. If it's purple, you're not rested. If it's blue, you are. Just "how" rested you are is indicated by the presence of a small "tick-mark" or "slider" on top of the XP bar. If you don't see that tick-mark, you're rested at least until you complete the current level you're working on. If you do see the tick-mark, you're rested until your current XP reaches that mark, at which time you'll cease being rested.

I've heard players ask if it's better to log out in a place where you are resting or not. The answer generally comes back as "no, it's not worth it" but that's really NOT the correct answer. The correct answer is, "It depends on how frequently you play that character." Let me explain.

Let's say that you play WoW every single day without fail, for several hours per day, and always log off in a place where you're gaining rest. Odds are that you won't accumulate that much rest during the few hours per day that you're not playing, so the benefit you get from being rested is probably minimal compared to the time it takes you to get from the place of rest to the place you enjoy questing or farming or PVPing. For a person who plays a single character on a very regular basis for long periods of time, resting is probably more trouble than it's worth. So in that sense, the common answer is the correct one.

On the other hand, let's imagine that you're more like me. I play WoW a few times a week at most, with long breaks in between where my job and personal life prevent me from playing as much as I might like. Sometimes I travel for vacation or business, and I can't play WoW for several days at a stretch. In those situations, if I log out in a city or inn, my character gains "rest" even though I am not playing. When I come back a few days later, the character may have accumulated enough rest so that it can complete an entire level earning double XP. Was it worth it for me to rest? You bet! It will take me half the time to gain my next level because I took a moment to log out in a place of rest. So, for me personally, it's very worthwhile to rest my characters. Also, since I have more than one character, I always make sure to log the alternate characters out in a place of rest. That way they, too, accumulate entire levels worth of "rest". So in this case, the common answer of "rest isn't worth it" isn't true. Because I am not in-game for long-ish periods of time, my characters accumulate enough rest that when I AM in the game I can level much faster than I would otherwise.

How do you know when you're resting in WoW? Look at your character's portrait in the upper left corner. If you can see your level number inside the little circle at the bottom left of the portrait, then you are NOT resting where you are. If you see "Zzz" instead of your level number inside that circle, then you ARE resting and accumulating "double XP" time. Generally speaking, you will "rest" inside of the major cities like Stormwind, Ironforge, and the like. You will also rest in certain inns and locations outside major cities, but you won't know for sure unless you check your level indicator and note that it is filled with Z's.

A question I often see asked in chat channels is whether it's better to focus on completing quests or kill monsters if you are trying to gain levels and experience points (XP). In this case, the common answer is generally the right one, which is that questing will probably yield more XP than simple farming of mobs. However, that's a rather simplistic answer to a more complicated question.

As with many of these kinds of recurring questions, the correct and complete answer is that it depends on several factors.

One of the most important factors to consider is the type of quests you're working on and the level those quests are designed for. For instance, if you are a level 20 character working on a quest designed for level 10 characters, you might be wasting your time. The amount of XP you're going to gain for completing that quest is going to be relatively low. If that quest involves killing lots of level 10-11 mobs, you're not going to be getting any XP for those either. So unless the quest involves a reward you particularly want (like lots of gold) or you are just having fun with it, you're probably wasting your time.

Similarly, even if the quest is of a level that provides sufficient reward, if it's the sort of quest that has you going lots of traveling and very little fighting, it's probably not the best use of your time.

To determine whether questing or farming (where by "farming" I mean just staying in an area killing all the monsters you can) is a better option for you, you can do a simple estimation in your head. Estimate how long the quest will take to complete. Let's say it's one hour, and it's a quest where there is little or no killing involved. After looking on sites like thottbot.com or allakhazam.com, you learn that this quest usually rewards 8000 XP when complete. That means you're going to be earning around 8000 XP in an hour, or about 133 XP per minute.

Suppose that your alternative is to stay in an area and farm a particular kind of monster. If you're getting 200 XP from each kill and you can kill one about every 30 seconds, you're earning 400XP per minute. That means you'd earn 3x the XP farming that you would completing the quest. Thus, in that example, you're better off farming.

But the numbers can work the other way, too. Suppose your quest has a reward of 5000XP and requires you to collect a number of items that drop off a certain mob. After killing a few, you estimate that 1 in 10 mobs drops the item, and you're getting 150XP per mob. You can kill the mob about every 45 seconds, resulting in around 80 kills in an hour, for a total of 12,000 XP (150x80=12000). Thus, completing this quest would earn you around 17000XP in an hour, estimated. You're better off in this case doing the quest since you will get XP from completing it, in addition to the XP from the mobs.

Fortunately, it's not necessary to do all this math yourself. There is an add-on called Titan Panel which can be configured to display your current "XP per Hour" and "Time to Level". Using this tool, you can gauge how quickly you're REALLY earning XP and how quickly you can expect to reach your next level. I found that the Titan Panel interface started to annoy me after a while, but it did help me to get a sort of "gut feel" for whether I was better off doing one thing than another.

For me personally, I tend to alternate between questing and farming depending on my mood. If I want to scare up a bunch of money and XP, I tend to go farming mobs somewhere I feel relatively safe. If I'm more interested in traveling or seeing some places I haven't seen before (or haven't seen in a while) I'll tend to quest. This openendedness is one of the nicer things about WoW.

Below is a list of the coordinates in the Un'Goro Crater area where I've found Small Thorium Veins and Rich Thorium Veins in the recent past on the Fenris server. I'm told that the ore locations should be pretty much the same on all the servers, but your mileage (and server) may vary. I'm also told that a maximum of two Rich Thorium Veins spawn at any one time in an area, so it's possible you will visit many of these locations and find nothing, though eventually I suspect you will find a Thorium Vein.

How to use this list: If your character can survive in Un'Goro (approximately a level 50-55 zone) and has mining skill of 275 or higher, you can visit the Un'Goro Crater. It is assumed that you have an addon installed in World of Warcraft, such as MetaMap, which allows you to view your current coordinates on-screen. If not, you'll need one to take advantage of these coordinates. Make your way to one of the locations listed on the map. If you find an ore vein, mine it. If not, move to the next location on the list, and so on. You should eventually run into a Thorium vein. Start over at the top of the list if you reach the end. I find that doing this for about an hour will get me at least one stack of ore, if not more. If you notice a lot of other people mining in Un'Goro at the time, you may want to go somewhere else where there is less competition.

Confirmed Un'Goro Crater Thorium Locations
20,42
21,61
28,70
30,74
34,69
31,81
39,70

39,77
41,65
51,48
54,51
54,46

Unconfirmed Un'Goro Crater Thorium Locations

25,39
45,53
51,45
46,45
40,53
46,44

I've managed to get this skill to around 189 on one of my characters, and I can confirm that Herbalism does generate some cash in WoW.  I've heard some players say it doesn't, and others saying it's a fairly well kept secret how profitable it can be.  The truth may be somewhere in the middle.  According to one guide I read, "Herbs are a bit hard to find, but if you know the spots it becomes actually easy if you have no competition. Herbs sell surprisingly well on the AH and are not offered often."

If your Herbalism skill is 245 or above, you should be able to gather Ghost Mushrooms.  They are one of the most sought-after herbs in the game.  These are located in a cave called Skull Rock in the Hinterlands.  Supposedly you can gather 10-25g worth of these per hour in that cave.  Your character needs to be at least level 44, because the mobs in the cave are level 46-48.  The mushrooms respawn approximately every 12-15 minutes.  The first spawn area is on the upper ledge of the cave on the east side, occasionally on the pathway down to the lower level of the cave.  The second area is on the lower level in the western room with the small pond in it.  The third area is on the lower level in the easternmost room.  The mobs in the area will occasionally drop rare and epic items.

A guide I read says that if you start an Undead character, get it to level 5, learn Herbalism, and then start looking for Silverleaf, you'll find that it's very abundant in the early Undead and Human areas.  You should, they say, be able to accumulate a stack of Silverleaf in about 10 minutes and sell it for between 85 silver and 1.25 gold.  The prices for that ore are lower on my server.  Your mileage may vary.

A different guide suggests creating a Tauren for Herbalism because they start with a 15-point bonus in the skill.

Following is a list of the various herbs in the game, and the places where each one tends to be most common, other locations where it can be found, and the kinds of locations it likes to grow in, as well as a typical price you might expect to get for a stack (based on Auctioneer's scanning of the prices on the Fenris server for the Alliance Auction House):

Herb	Minimum Herbalism Skill	Locations Where Most Common	Other Locations	Growing Locations	Typical Selling Price per Stack
Peacebloom	1	Teldrassil, Elwynn Forest, Durotar, Tirisfal Glades	Dun Morogh, The Barrens,  Mulgore, Loch Modan, Westfall, Darkshore, Silverpine Forest	Open areas	19s-24s
Silverleaf	1	Teldrassil, Elwynn Forest, Durotar, Tirisfal Glades	Darkshore, Dun Morogh, Durotar, Loch Modan, Mulgore, Silverpine Forest, Teldrassil, The Barrens, Westfall	Shady areas, such as under trees	35-44s
Earthroot	15	Dun Morogh, Teldrassil, Durotar	Darkshore,  Elwynn Forest, Loch Modan, Mulgore, Redridge Mountains, Silverpine Forest, The Barrens, Tirisfal Glades, Wailing Caverns, Westfall	Hillsides	1.37-1.71g
Mageroyal	50	Loch Modan, Silverpine Forest, The Barrens	Ashenvale, Darkshore, Durotar, Duskwood, Hillsbrad Foothills, Redridge Mountains, Stonetalon Mountains, Teldrassil, Wailing Caverns, Westfall, Wetlands	Open areas	1.25-1.56g
Briarthorn	70	Loch Modan, Silverpine Forest, The Barrens	Ashenvale, Darkshore, Duskwood, Hillsbrad Foothills, Orgrimmar, Razorfen Kraul, Redridge Mountains, Stonetalon Mountains, Westfall, Wetlands	Hillsides	4.76-5.95g
Swiftthistle	50-70	Loch Modan, Silverpine Forest, The Barrens	Ashenvale, Darkshore, Durotar, Duskwood, Hillsbrad Foothills, Orgrimmar, Razorfen Kraul, Redridge Mountains, Stonetalon Mountains, Teldrassil, Wailing Caverns, Westfall, Wetlands	Found with Briarthorn and Mageroyal	9.4-11.76g
Stranglekelp	85	Stranglethorn Vale, Wetlands	Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Ashenvale, Blackfathom Deeps, Darkshore, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Hillsbrad Foothills, Silverpine Forest, Swamp of Sorrows, Westfall	Underwater	1.48-1.86g
Bruiseweed	100	Duskwood, Hillsbrad Foothills, Stonetalon Mountains, The Barrens	Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Ashenvale, Blackfathom Deeps, Darkshore, Desolace, Loch Modan, Redridge Mountains, Silverpine Forest, Thousand Needles, Wailing Caverns, Westfall, Wetlands	Hillsides	42-52s
Wild Steelbloom	115	Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Stranglethorn Vale	Alterac Mountains, Ashenvale, Desolace, Duskwood, Hillsbrad Foothills, Stonetalon Mountains, The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Wetlands	Hillsides	6.8-8.6g
Gravemoss	120	Duskwood	Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Desolace, Razorfen Downs, Scarlet Monastery, The Barrens, Wetlands	Graveyards
Kingsblood	125	Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Hillsbrad Foothills, Stranglethorn Vale	Ashenvale, Desolace, Duskwood, Dustwallow Marsh, Stonetalon Mountains, Swamp of Sorrows, The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Wailing Caverns, Wetlands	Open areas
Liferoot	150	Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows	Ashenvale, Desolace, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Scarlet Monastery, The Hinterlands, Wailing Caverns, Wetlands	Riverbanks, Shorelines	1.54 - 1.93g
Fadeleaf	160	Badlands, Swamp of Sorrows	Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Dustwallow Marsh, Razorfen Kraul, Scarlet Monastery, Stranglethorn Vale, The Hinterlands	Open Areas	7.47-9.34g
Goldthorn	170	Alterac Mountains, Badlands, Stranglethorn Vale	Arathi Highlands, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Razorfen Downs, Scarlet Monastery, Swamp of Sorrows, The Hinterlands	Hillsides	6.95 - 8.82g
Khadgar's Whisker	185	Badlands, Stranglethorn Vale	Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, Hillsbrad Foothills, Swamp of Sorrows, The Hinterlands	Shady Areas	6.66 - 8.33g
Wintersbite	195	Alterac Mountains	Doesn't appear to be elsewhere	Snowy Hills
Firebloom	205	Tanaris, Blasted Lands	Badlands, Searing Gorge	Desert areas and Hillsides	1.96-2.45g
Purple Lotus	210	Tanaris	Ashenvale, Azshara, Badlands, Feralas, Stranglethorn Vale, Tanaris, The Hinterlands	Hillsides	3.6 - 4.5g
Sungrass	230	The Hinterlands	Azshara, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Feralas, Un'Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands	Open Areas	5.88-7.35g
Blindweed	235	Swamp of Sorrows	Un'Goro Crater	Riverbanks, Shorelines	5.48-6.86g
Ghost Mushroom	245	The Hinterlands (Skull Rock cave)	Zangarmarsh, Maraudon	Southeast of the lake in The Hinterlands	28.1-36.2g
Gromsblood	250	Desolace	Blasted Lands, Felwood	Hillsides	7.8g-9.8g
Arthas' Tears	250	Western Plaguelands	Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Razorfen Downs	Hillsides	7.37-9.21g
Golden Sansam	260	Un'Goro Crater	Azshara, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Feralas, The Hinterlands	Open Areas	3.29-4.11g
Dreamfoil	270	Un'Goro Crater	Azshara, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Un'Goro Crater, Western Plaguelands	Open Areas	7.92-9.9g
Mountain Silversage	280	Un'Goro Crater	Azshara, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Felwood, Western Plaguelands, Winterspring	Hillsides
Plaguebloom	285	Eastern Plaguelands	Felwood, Western Plaguelands	Shady Areas	11.96-14.96g
Icecap	290	Winterspring	Doesn't appear to be elsewhere	Open Areas	9.93-12.41g
Black Lotus	300	Winterspring	Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Zangarmarsh (Bog Giants/Lords Corpses), Silithus	Various	233.2-291.6g

According to one gold-making guide I read, "Mining is maybe the most profitable gathering skill.  Why? It's used for 3 different tradeskills."  That means you always have lots of potential customers for your ore.  Some ore veins will drop rare gems, which are in high demand for jewelcrafting and other skills. I can tell you from my personal experience that mining can be very profitable.  I put together a list of all the places in Un'Goro Crater where I found Thorium Veins.  Then, I spent an hour or two moving from one of those places to another, looking for a Thorium Vein to spawn there.  When it did, which was maybe 1 in 4 places, I would collect anywhere from 1-6 Thorium Ores, Dense Stone, and sometimes a gem or two.  At the end of the night, I was able to sell a stack of Thorium Ore for 19 gold.  That's definitely a nice profit.  Along the way, I also gained XP from killing the mobs and managed to complete a quest or two for additional XP. So if Thorium sells for as much on your server as it does on mine, and you're level 50+, this could be a very valuable tip for you. If you're going to be serious about mining, get an add-on like MetaMap that allows you to keep track of where you find ore in a given area.  Ore spawns in a limited number of locations in an area, so if you mine that area for long you will have a pretty good idea where all the ore locations are.  This can make your mining efforts incredibly efficient.  You can literally just run from one location to the next picking up ore.  Remember, this can be useful even if all you're doing is loading up on Copper Ore, since there is always someone who needs whatever ore you're selling.  An area that's rich in Copper Ore is also probably populated with very low-level mobs an thus is pretty safe for you to mine in. Following is a table of the various ores, the skill needed to mine them, and the most fruitful places to mine them (places whose names are in bold are those other players have recommended are ideal locations for mining that ore): Ore Skill Needed to Mine Best Locations to Mine Other Locations With the Ore Price per Stack Copper 1 Darkshore, Orgrimmar, The Barrens, Mulgore, Thousand Needles, Westfall, Elwynn Forest, Redridge Mountains, Loch Modan, Dun Morogh, Hillsbrad Foothills, Silverpine Forest, Tirisfal Glades Wetlands, Duskwood, Desolace, Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale Forest 63-79s Tin 65 Darkshore, Ashenvale Forest, Stonetalon Mountains, Desolace, The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Duskwood, Westfall, Redridge Mountains, Loch Modan, Wetlands, Hillsbrad Foothills, Silverpine Forest The Shimmering Flats, Stranglethorn Vale, Arathi Highlands, Alterac Mountains 1.68-2.10g Incendicite Mineral 65 The Wetlands (in the cave near Loch Modan) No other concentrations of Incendicite Mineral noted. 60-75s Silver 75 Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Redridge Mountains, Duskwood, Stranglethorn Vale, Thousand Needles, Desolace Silverpine Forest, The Hinterlands, Wetlands, Loch Modan, Swamp of Sorrows, Westfall, Tanaris, The Shimmering Flats, Feralas, The Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale Forest, Darkshore 12.4-15.6g Lesser Bloodstone 125 Arathi Highlands (near Hammerfall) No other concentrations of Lesser Bloodstone noted. 1.67-2.13g Iron 125 Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Swamp of Sorrows, Stranglethorn Vale, Tanaris, The Shimmering Flats, Thousand Needles, Desolace, Ashenvale Forest, Badlands The Hinterlands, Wetlands, Badlands, Searing Gorge, Duskwood, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, The Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains 3.12-3.92g Gold 155 Alterac Mountains, The Hinterlands, Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Burning Steppes, Searing Gorge, Stranglethorn Vale, Tanaris, Thousand Needles, Desolace Eastern Plaguelands, Western Plaguelands, Wetlands, Duskwood, Swamp of Sorrows, Blasted Lands, The Shimmering Flats, Silithus, Dustwallow Marsh, Feralas, The Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale Forest, Azshara, Felwood, Winterspring 10.8-13.6g Mithril 175 Desolace, Azshara, Felwood, Sunrock Retreat, Feralas, Tanaris, Stranglethorn Vale, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Badlands, Searing Gorge, Hinterlands, Alterac Mountains, Western Plaguelands, Winterspring Eastern Plaguelands, Hillsbrad Foothills, Arathi Highlands, Swamp of Sorrows, Silithus, Un'Goro Crater, Thousand Needles, Mojache, Dustwallow Marsh 6.39 - 7.99g Truesilver 230 Eastern Plaguelands, Western Plaguelands, The Hinterlands, Badlands, Burning Steppes, Un'Goro Crater, Azshara, Winterspring, Uldaman Alterac Mountains, Hillsbrad Foothills, Arathi Highlands, Searing Gorge, Swamp of Sorrows, Blasted Lands, Stranglethorn Vale, Tanaris, Silithus, Feralas, Dustwallow Marsh, Stonetalon Mountains, Felwood 14-17.5g Dark Iron 230 Blackrock Depths, Burning Steppes, Searing Gorge No other concentrations of Dark Iron noted. 2.90-3.62g Thorium 250 (Small Thorium Veins), 275 (Rich Thorium Veins) Winterspring, Azshara, Un'Goro Crater, Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Western Plaguelands The Hinterlands, Searing Gorge, Blasted Lands, Tanaris, Silithus, Feralas, Felwood 13.72-17.15g