You'll have to provide some more solid evidence than "i once saw a blue post about it" or "taurens feel they get a bit more". The concept of the number/type of herbs depending on the herbalism skill conflicts strongly with what we know about loot-generation.

Well there is a precedent for an ability giving "more loot": Northern Cloth Scavenging for tailors.

But if it works the same way, it would only be affected by the Tauren racial itself and not skill bonuses. And it would give additional drops, so you would sometimes see more than one rare herb or more than 3 normal herbs, and Taurens could still loot the additional herbs after other herbalists took the base ones.

Actually, based on the way loot is coded, it's logical to assume that Northern Cloth Scavenging works like a passive form of Skinning. Whether and how much cloth is present for those with the skill is determined at spawn time, but only those with the skill have the ability to loot the cloth. This would also be in line with recipe drops that are only visible by those with the profession at the appropriate level to be able to roll.

That's what I wanted to say, sorry if my post was not clear enough.

One method I've used with great success is a little controversial. What I have done is identify a couple people who like to buy up all of a certain item and relist them at 2-3x the normal market value. I then added them to my friends list. If I see one of them log on I will wait about 30-60minutes and then go search for auctions by them and then post items at slightly higher than normal market value but still well below what he has posted. The reason I don't just slightly undercut is twofold. First I want to make a nice profit while still retaining the average buyer as a potential customer and second these guys will also buy my auctions to retain their monopoly and sell at a much higher price. In fact over half my sales are to the very same guys that are trying to corner the market.

To fully take advantage of this method takes a little more work than your standard scheme in both identifying these sellers and being flexible enough to produce the goods they are using on demand. Inscription is especially nice because all you have to maintain is a supply of inks and make the necessary glyphs whenever an opportunity presents itself.

I don't mind making this public because I actually hope more people try this and stop these price fixing schemes from being as prevalent as they have become on my server which has a particularly small economy. I think 5 scribes, including myself, control ~80% of the glyph market.

I have no idea how to test this, but my assumption while playing has been that my non-tailor will receive the Clothing Scrap (gray item, link below) while my tailor rolls a chance to loot cloth instead of that item. I always seem to get a lot more of the gray scraps playing my non-tailor, and I wonder if that's why. Or maybe it's just a coincidence. Just wanted to throw that idea out for the experts.

[Fur Clothing Scraps]

After a non tailor loots his mob, the mob gets lootable for all tailors (grouped with the non tailor) for the additional cloth. The additional cloth is only lootable after the non tailor looted the mob, which means you'll often have to return if you're grouped with "slow looters".

I thought I read somewhere, that the additional cloth is an additional loot table like the pocket pick loot. That would make sense because, as blizzard ones confirmed, all loot is created during spawn time of a mob.

Stands to reason that many mobs have multiple loot tables. I'd compare the cloth scavenging loot table to the skinning/mining/herbing loot table, where they can't be accessed until the primary loot table is clear.

Though, I'm not really sure how that works when it's the tailor's turn to loot, since I can't imagine he'd have to loot twice.


Unrelated, has anyone noticed the price of saronite ore falling pretty drastically? On my server it's gone from a steady 30-35g a stack to 20-25g a stack. I can't imagine it's going to get better with the mining change, I just can't figure out what would be causing the sudden drop. Are a lot more people suddenly hitting 80 and going to pure farm mode?

Could also easily be a lot more people hitting skill 450 and not buying it to skill up anymore, no? It might be that what you're seeing is the end of the start-of-expansion price spike -- it may be settling down towards its steady state price.

Noticing the complete opposite on my server. Saronite ore was 20-25g per stack last week and now it's approaching 40g with no end in sight and a sharp dip in supply.

I noticed a change in ore prices too, but in the opposite direction.
saronite ore: 35g->45-50g
cobalt ore: 45g->55-60g

I blame the cobalt price increase on last-minute Cobalt Chestpiece crafting/DEing, but i have no idea what is behind the saronite change. More expensive saronite combined with an ongoing value loss of gems combined with chinese AH-"farmers" who undercut everyone within 15seconds 24/7 => me pulling out of the JC market and waiting for better times

Should be pointed out there is the added advantage for Horde of Tauren being the only druid race. And you can herb in Flightform. Really, there's no reason a herbalist ALT should not be a Druid or a Paladin.

What benefit do Paladin's get?

....Crusader Aura?

As far as I can see it seems to behave more like a quest-item for a Tailoring-only quest, with the exception that it can only be gotten from mobs where someone else has lootrights once that someone has 'cleared' the lootrights (by opening and closing the lootwindow). Note that the other person doesn't actually have to loot anything from the mob, they just need to have checked it, which suggests it is on the same loottable as the rest of the loot, unlike skinning/herbalism where it only becomes available when all the loot has been picked up before the secondary leather/herb loottable comes into effect.

And bubble! For glorious moments of flying over wintergrasp accidentally.

When you get dismounted over Wintergrasp, you get a parachute.

Thanks for this! It saved me a ton of time.

I find hunter to be about equal. If you are talking only herbing, and only in outlands / northrend, then yes - druid is superior. My farming mule on the other hand is a miner / herb, so I find being a hunter much more beneficial. The ability to trap something and mine/herb, followed by taking 10 steps and feigning, is very powerful. Obviously flight form hax are superior for ground mobs (however you will still have issues in storm peaks and such where there are flying mobs guarding nodes).

Also note, hunters can spec into a flight speed increase.

Could argue in the old world for using travelform. It's especially useful for Wintersprings. Also catform and prowl is very good for mining in any continent; granted this ability is especially useful for Alliance Druids. (Prowl + Shadowmeld = win).

In regards to trapping, Druids can hibernate/soothe animal/cyclone/entangle. Sooth animal is absolutely amazing in Northrend, it works on pretty much everything in Sholazar Basin and Grizzly Hills (which are 2 of the 3 places I mine/herb). But again, I think this is only because my alt is Alliance and I can cyclone + shadowmeld.

In regards to mining though, it should be taken into consideration shifting back into flightform is instant, so it always saves you 3 seconds as long as you aren't in combat (the advantage to herbing is you can herb in combat and then take off in Outlands/Northrend).

Now there is an issue of concern. Given that virtually anyone can eventually get a 310 mount (I consider the holiday achievement to be a gimmie, as long as you spend your 1 year towards it), Crusader Aura is going to gain a huge lead over flightform.

When gathering, you should be flying as low as possible in order to detect the maximum number of nodes and reach them in the minimum time. Parachute should always be enough to save you if you accidentally clip Wintergrasp.

In any case, you are stuck in wintergrasp and can't fly out. With bubble you can jump off the edge to another zone.

It was a joke, I didn't mean to analyze the advantages of bubble over Parachute, sorry.

Lets get this thread back on topic shall we?