Mining 1 to 300 Guide by Highlander on EU-Terenas
What you’re going to need:
Mining skill (obviously). Go see your local mining trainer to get trained.
A mining pick. Can't mine without one (these can also be enchanted if you want, makes absolutely no difference, but it's cool to have. Even if you have your mining pick enchanted the standard mining animation remains the same, so you actually see that nice demonslaying glow you got put on there. You will only see the glow when you equip it like a normal weapon. A player on our server even had a Crusader enchant put on their mining pick and told me that the proc happens when they mine, cant confirm this for sure, but it does seem really pointless).
Optional, but recommended extra: get the cheapest pair of gloves you can find and get them enchanted with +5 mining skill (shouldn't cost you more than 2g, as it takes 3 x Truesilver Bars and 3 x Vision Dust). Don’t bother with the +2 enchant as its not worth it.
If you’re an engineer then make yourself a Goblin Mining Helmet ( http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=12859 ) as this will add +5 to your mining skill.
Also, please remember that mining nodes only appear on the side of hills, cliffs, mountains etc. So your unlikely to find any ores in the great rolling plains, unless there is a small hill there. Also note that Darnassus has NO ore whatsoever! So if you’re a Night Elf and want to mine, get your booty over to Darkshore ASAP. So with that in mind, always follow the cliff faces or hillsides.
Got all that? Good, then lets down and dirty, Dwarf style
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Mining 1 to 65
Mining Copper
Estimated number of nodes to mine = 30
This bit is easy. Mine about 50 copper and smelt. You can use any of the following suggestions for mining routes or make up your own, as copper is so abundant:
*At level 50, go back to the mining trainer and learn Journeyman Mining.
Horde
Undead: Start at the entrance to Deathknell, looking out towards Brill. Head South and follow the cliffs all the way round to The Undercity. Skip past UC and keep following the cliffs up to The Bulwark. Now head North up to Scarlet Monastery, hugging the cliffs as you go. When to reach the coast, head west and then south to follow the cliffs down and round to Agamand Mills. Follow those hills south again to get back to your starting point. Average amount of copper ore from this run, should be about 30-40.
Tauren: Mulgore. The natural geography of this place makes it easy to run around. Just pick a starting point and follow the cliffs all the way around in a circle. Remember to check out the Venture Co mine on your way round. Average amount of copper ore from this run, should be about 40-50.
Orc & Troll: You could just do whole circuits of Durotar, but there is so much copper round here that small routes are just as productive. My favourite routes are:
Start at the gates of Orgrimmar and head East towards Skull Rock (make sure you go into Skull Rock and mine the ore there too). Head a short way south to where that Orc is standing on his lonesome, then head back West following the cliff face (keeping the Zep Tower in sight). Carry on over the road and across the top of the canyon and on to the coast. Head North up to the cliff face and then East back to Orgrimmar. I get about 30-40 copper ores from this short run on a good day.
Start at Razor Hill and head West towards the Quilboar grounds. Hug the cliff face until you reach the river, then head north until you reach Orgrimmar. Head East until you see the first little farmstead, now head south and drop into the canyon. Follow the canyon out and head South East until you reach Razor Hill again. You’ll get about 25-30 copper ores on this route.
Mining 66 – 125
Mining Tin, Silver, Incendicite and Lesser Bloodstone
Estimated number of nodes to mine = 60
This part is a pain in the butt, if you don’t have a mount (well its all a pain in the butt, if you don’t have a mount) as the Tin Veins your going to need to mine are more spread out and not as common as the Copper you just being mining. You also stop getting skill up’s from smelting after about level 85 (Silver is the last thing to give you a skill up). The leg from 100-125 is also pretty bad, as Tin is green at this stage and therefore your getting skill ups at fewer intervals (just pray its a Silver spawn, instead of Tin, as this will still be yellow to you).
Horde & Alliance *even on PvP servers you can still use these routes and areas.
Easiest way to level up to 125, is to go to The Wetlands and find Thelgan Rock (its near the entrance to Dun Algaz - 53,64 for those with location add-ons). There is a cave there, that is full of spiders and a quest ore called Incendicite. This is an Alliance only quest, but Horde can still mine the ore. Now the ore itself is worthless and only used to complete the quest, but you can mine it from level 75 until about level 125. The nodes respawn quickly and you can level up your mining in less than an hour if your the only one in the cave.
If your Alliance and want to do the quest, go see Pilot Longbeard in The Military Ward in Ironforge for the starting quest. He'll send you to speak to Pilot Stonegear in Kharanos, who then gives you the quest.
Thank you to everyone who suggested this, especially Plog
Lesser Bloodstone: go to the cave in north east Arathi Highlands, just to the east of Hammerfall (path to cave is at 80,40) and mine the nodes inside. It's used as part of a quest chain that’s started in Booty Bay by Corporal Kaleb (in the tavern). You only need to keep four of them for the quest. Lesser Bloodstone requires level 75 mining
I actually combine two of my routes here, if I have time. They are as follows:
Start at The Crossroads and head West towards the entrance of Stonetalon Mountains. Then head south, hugging the cliffs as you go. Follow the cliffs all the way down south until you reach Blackthorn Ridge, just north of Razorfen Kraul. Follow the cliff to the main road and over. Continue heading east and then north up to the entrance to Dustwallow Marsh. Carry on going north until you reach Northwatch Hold and then head up to the Raptor Hills and the Quilboar Village. Now head back to The Crossroads.
Start at the bottom of the Great Lift in Thousand Needles and head northwest up to Camp Ethok, following the cliff face as you go. Continue on till you reach the border of Thousand Needles and Feralas, then head over to the other side of Thousand Needles and follow the cliffs south. Make a detour when you reach Highperch, as there are a couple of Tin / Iron veins here. Carry on heading south until you reach The Screeching Canyon. Have a quick run into the cave here and pick the couple veins that normally spawn here. Continue south past Freewind Post and all the way to Windbreak Canyon. Now head north, again hugging the cliff face as you go and make your way up to Splithoof Crag. There is a Centaur Village here, with a cave that can have 4 or 5 veins (both Iron and Tin). Mine it. Carry on north past Darkcloud Pinnacle and back to the Great Lift.
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