Grilldyret's guide to 375 Mining!

[Grilldyret]

   
First of all, this guide is mainly aimed towards lvl70s that want to change professions and start at the bottom, but if you're already levelling a skill and need some advice, check this guide out;) 
Levelling a profession to 300 takes time. Or in some cases (enchanting) shitloads of gold. I managed to get my mining to 300 in two days of intense and effective grinding, and I tell you, the key to success is to keep levelling, no matter how bored and maybe disoriented from lack of sleep you are It's a pain in the ass at lower levels but it gets better along the road when you actually can earn some money from it.

   Second of all, my guide is based on information from www.thottbot.com and www.allakhazam.com as well as personal experience and knowledge.
   
So here goes, Grilldyret's guide to mining powah level!:

Before I start the main part of the guide, I'd just like to add a list of what minerals can be gathered at what skill levels:
Copper:1
Bronze:65
Tin:65
Silver:75
Iron:125
Gold:155
Steel:165
Mithril:175
Trusilver:230
Dark Iron:230
Small Thorium:250
Rich Thorium: 275

This is a list of roughly what minerals can be found on the zones I have explored with mining so far, ranging from most dominant to least:
Durotar: Copper.
The Barrens: Copper, Tin, Silver
Stonetalon Mountains:: Copper, Tin, Mithril(Charred Vale only), Silver.
-To be continued-


I'd suggest you start out in Durotar, mining copper up to a level of about 65(Tin Mining level). You'll find a lot of copper along and atop the canyons. I found one canyon especially rich with Copper. Check out this map of Durotar.. the pink circle indicates the canyon I found the most copper-packed.
When you get to a skill of about 65, you should get going to The Barrens. The reason for this is that if you had gone to The Barrens at lower skill level, you wouldn't have been able to mine the Tin Veins, which sucks. So, basically.. when you get to the barrens the first thing you should do is to check out the Oasises. In each of the "ponds" there's an underwater Tin node to mine, as well as an occasional copper vein. Then, you should go south, along the rims of Barrens. Check all the quilboar camps for nodes. Should be a whole bunch of those=) When you get south, go back up north along the other rim, and repeat a few times.

When you hit a skill of 100, the most boring part of the entire process begins.. This is where you have to hunt for Tin, as copper is of no use to you.
Tin Veins are by a large margin most common in the quillboar camps and the excavation site in the southerh barrens. If you're not planning on staying for hours, you can leave the copper nodes. However, if you mine the copper veins, there is a chance that a tin vein will spawn next time. So use common sense on this one, a lap around the barrens only takes about 25-30 minutes if you do it thoroughly. However, through heavy testing, I have found out that once you ding 100, maybe even before that, it's best to go farm Wetlands (see below)
Durotar Map:


IMPORTANT!: If you see a "cave�" symbol at your map(Check inside the red circle on the Durotar map.) you should take the time to examine it. It's likely to contain at least one node.

Now, I'll tell you about a real mining hotspot to level quickly to 125, try going to Wetlands. There, you will see a cave called "Thelgen Rock" on your map. Inside that mine you will find bundles of rapidly spawning Tin Veins and also a load of even more rapidly spawning Incendicite Mineral Veins. Just run through the mine and get all the minerals, go back to the start and the Incendicite should have started spawning already so you can do a second round right away. This is a real hotspot to level mining to 125 quickly. Also contains occasional Silver veins(Skill 75.)
Wetlands Map:


When you get to a skill level of 125, you can finally mine Iron! For this, I suggest you go to Arathi Highlands. This is the drill: You start out at Hammerfall(Horde camp) and go south along the mountain side. Just do a lap around Arathi Highlands, mining everything you can see. Pay the caves by the ogres in the south a visit. Should contain a few nodes. Notice that at this point, levelling mining will get slower. The nodes are fewer than the bundles in the Barrens and Durotar and you'll have to start working for your skillpoints. But as I said, just do the lap around Arathi Highlands. Always move along the hillside. When you're done with the lap, the start should have respawned, so you can do another lap right away. Of course, this place might be farmed by other people too, and if that's the case, I'd suggest you go to Alterac Mountains and try there. Never been there to mine so I'm not quite sure about the hotspots. You should be mining iron in Arathi till you reach a skill level of 175(Mithril level).

   When you get to 175 skill and can mine mithril, the place to be is Badlands. I levelled a lot here. You do the usual lap around Badlands and mine all the Iron/Mithril/Gold you can find. (Gold requires 155 skill) An important note: Sneak up the hill everywhere you can. I've marked some important places to go up to on my imba map. These are the stone elementals spots. Check the map for locations in green. Also visit the Lethlor Ravine(Spelling?) for loads of gold/mithril.(Marked yellow.) When doing the round, don't bother going up to Uldaman, there's nothing there xD. Also, I suggest a "secret"� cave in Feralas, appearantly located on the Isle of Dread. Marked the map for you retards to see<3
Badlands Map:

Feralas Map:


   Anyway, you get skill from Mithril for a while, so I'd suggest you keep doing the Badlands laps or Isle of Dread cave till you get to a skill level of 250. That's the Thorium Age. You can now mine the small thorium veins. For this level, I would highly recommend Burning Steppes. From this place you'll get lots of thorium, and in addition a lot of Dark Iron Ore. Dark Iron needs about 265 skill or something I think. Try Dreadmaul Rock, an ogre camp to the east. Go inside the caves and on top of that mountain. You might have to kill some ogres on your way in. So, simply do the lap and visit every cave on your map. You will be able to mine the Rich Thorium Veins at a skill of 275. That's when the money starts jumping into your pockets with imba crystals and stuff=) Anyway, if BS is overfarmed, you should pay Feralas a visit. Or might try Un'goro.
Burning Steppes Map:

That's the way to do it guys. Basically, do laps around the maps and check everywhere along the rims.

And btw..  being an insomniac helps a lot when it comes to farming, as you've probably noticed^^ A lot of places are overfarmed at daytime and will be hard to mine at.
So, that's Grilly's 'lil guide to how to level up your mining quickly. Hope it helps people=)

[Grilldyret]

Here's Grilly's EXTENDED MATERIAL for 300 to 375 mining!

First of all, some information on when you can mine different Outlands minerals and when they turn orange/green.
Fel Iron - 300 - 325 - 350
Adamantite - 325 - 350
Rich Adamantite - 350
Khorium - 375
Eternium Ores are found occasionally in any of these deposits, and does not require skill to obtain, other than the skill needed for the vein.

300-375 mining can be done fairly easily in the Outlands, you get skill from green nodes most of the time and Fel Iron nodes are green up to 375 mining skill.
The Fel Iron Veins require 300 mining, and will stay orange till 320 and yellow till 350. Now, in Hellfire Peninsula you'll only find Fel Iron and an occasional Khorium Vein. I wouldn't worry about the khorium for now as it requires 375 mining skill and as far as I know it can spawn on any node at all in the entire Outlands.

            So, I've painted on a small map again, to show where the really big amounts of Fel Iron Veins are at. I have chosen a pink line this time. FOLLOW THE PINK LINE, IT'S YOUR FRIEND! Basically just go along the eastern rim of Hellfire, near the Dark Portal. If you're lucky, you'll bump into 5 or 6, or maybe even more nodes on a trip.
http://img222.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hellfirecw5.jpg]
(This time I have posted images as links to avoid excessive use of screen space)

You can keep doing this for ages if you find it effective enough, and from my own experience it's the best place to be, at least till the veins turn green(350 skill).

Now, as an intermission, I'll inform you what minerals can be found in which parts of the Outland.
In Hellfire Peninsula, you'll find Fel Iron and an occasional Khorium vein.
In Zangarmarsh you'll also mostly find Fel Iron, but quite a few adamantite veins, and Khorium can spawn here too.
In Terokkar Forest, you can find adamantite and fel iron, quite a lot up around the Cenarion Thicket. Khorium cna also spawn in Terokkar.
In Nagrand you will mostly encounter Adamantite, sometimes Rich Adamantite deposits or fel iron. Also, a tiny bit of Khorium, like everywhere else.
Shadowmoon Valley mostly contains Adamantite and Rich Adamantite.
In Blade's Edge Mountains, you'll find Adamantite and Rich Adamantite.
In Netherstorm there's also mostly Adamantite and Rich Adamantite.

I have discovered that in The Outlands, you nearly always find lots of minerals in caves, just like in Azeroth. I'd like to bring to you a couple of examples of nice mining caves. Sadly, the ones I've used here will require you to kill some mobs, and it will therefor take some time to obtain the minerals.
http://img69.imageshack.us/my.php?image=netherstormoz2.jpg
http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shadowmoonvalleypj5.jpg
Also, I am using maps from Thottbot, and these maps are blurred out at some areas. Do not ask me why, because I don't know the reason for this

So, my advice to you would be to stick around in Hellfire Peninsula and do the "pink lap" till they get green, but if you are levelling up your character at the same time, you can just mine as you stumble upon nodes throughout the Outlands.
That's it for this guide for now, let's hope it'll be a while before I have to update it again to 425 mining skill..

And please do post comments or tips for the guide as it's currently only from my point of view. Would love some input.
Sources for my guide: wowwiki.com(deposit level requirements), Thottbot.com(maps), own experience.
-Grilly.

[Nachmanun]

'Tis working quite great - you can follow it word by word so far (I'm 175 as we speak) and it's not grillys fault it takes ages .
Don't expect this to take a day.

[Smorisha]

DR Grilly please make small changes, the Dread Isle thingy is not so uber, u can get 2-4 veins there and while they are respawning nothing else to do (no other vains anywhere near). Also u can add Drywhisker Gorge, its a cave east of Hammerfall and it totaly INSANE! there u can find 5-7 veins of Lesser Bloodstone Ore, Iron Ore and Mithril Ore. If u are lvling mining on char that u dont play just log out there and come online every 30 min to take all nods (noone ever goes there). I got my hunters skill from 100 (for Bloodstone) to 220 (Mithril green) by just doing so.

[Zakk]

And i wish to be credited with the hellfire peninsula root!

also in the sporregar cave often their is 2-4 nodes of adamantite and on top of the ogre hill place in nagrand there used to be tons and tons of adamantite

[Grilldyret]

I checked the hellfire route yesterday, and there were no farmers and no nodes, so they might just have nerfed that:| But yeah, you tipped me off on that one, thanks!:D

[Rhenai]

Isnt their another place then Badlands to go? Can't seem to find alot of mining material there, even though i were the only one there except a 39 mage, but he wasn't miner?!
And aswell, no alliance in sight.

[Grilldyret]

Rhenai, today I ventured to Badlands to see for myself, and I cannot udnerstand how you can react to the number of nodes :O I got 25 Iron Ore, 20 Mithril Ore, 4 Gold Ore and 4 Truesilver Ore, split on 18 different nodes, on one lap. drew a rough outline of my route on this map, with blue dots marking the nodes.

[Comrade Nox]

Would just like to add that if you're farming for adamantite in Nagrand, just give up during daytime, if you have a slow flying mount. It's like finding a needle in a haystack. It's just sooooo over farmed.

[Rhenai]

Well.. dunno either
But hey, i will totally check it out later today!
And thanks for going there your self to check it out !
Appricate it alot!!!!