I'm pretty sure very few World of Warcraft players will list farming as one of their favorite activities. Mindlessly grinding the same mobs for hours -- whether for money, drops, or reputation -- doesn't present too much of a challenge. It can be great when you finally hit revered or your recipe drops, but until then, it's one of the most mind-numbing, soul-deadening things in WoW, second only to being in a really incompetent PUG with no excuse to get out.
So let's brainstorm some ways to make farming fun.
- Farm in a group, preferably with someone who can AOE or heal. This makes farming much easier. Also, if you're after a drop, try to confirm that they're not interested in the same drop.
- Set short-term goals. "I'll kill fifty guys, then I'll go quest." "I'll circle this three times and then I'm going to go to bed."
- Put something on in the background. I prefer Pandora Internet Radio, or stealthing and going to troll some forums, but I managed to get down four episodes of LOST in windowed mode while searching for protection potion recipes back before TBC.
- Start randomly talking to people, either in Vent or in PMs. I spent about half of Black Morass last night arguing about whether Superman or Batman was cooler ("Batman just has money! Superman's powers are innate, which makes him better." "Innate powers make Superman a wuss! He's like a rich kid with a bad haircut.")
Can you think of any tips to make farming easier?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
2-19-2007 @ 8:13AM
rvr said...
I'll agree with most of this. Personally I can sit and play all day as long as I've got some decent music going on in the background...
Rise Against... Tiger Army... A Wilheim Scream... the Rezurex... anything that I like and doesn't have a soft beat.
As far as learning to limit my play time?
Someone please let me know when they find a surefire way to actually do it!
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2-19-2007 @ 8:26AM
paul said...
i think everyone can agree that Led Zeppelin is the best farming music.
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2-19-2007 @ 8:36AM
Larawen said...
I defiantly can agree with Led Zeppelin being good grinding music, especially II. As for grinding in general, I just like to have some good music and maybe a few conversations going.
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2-19-2007 @ 8:36AM
Romnious said...
@2... NAW led zeppelin is just, blah.
Nine inch nails! 200+ nin songs in rotation FTW.
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2-19-2007 @ 8:45AM
Spanky Magillicutty said...
Can we start a thread about how Superman is better, perhaps citing Bill's treatise on Clark Kent at the end of Kill Bill Vol. 2 as incontrivertible proof?
And on topic, I love listening to comedy albums when I farm - laughing while farming is a feeling I cannot describe... it feels good.. but you know it shouldn't...
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2-19-2007 @ 8:50AM
Mats said...
For me it's audiobooks.
I have listened to at least 100 books while farming/grinding away stuff. And it ranges from easy stuff like the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, Dune, all the Diskworld books and Artemis Fowl books, to more interesting stuff like Richard Dawkins, David Hume, Sartre, J.S. Mill and Dostoevsky. So not only do I have most of the patterns that can drop in the world, I also have a long list of books I have "read".
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2-19-2007 @ 8:55AM
ntw said...
This may sound kind of bad, but I found that having a few drinks always made the farming adventure fun and interesting. Your motor skills go slightly down hill so your reaction time when trying to interrupt a caster may become a little bit of a challenge. This also makes time go by quickly and since your somewhat inebriated it makes everything that much funner. This helps me out.
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2-19-2007 @ 8:59AM
Stanlee of Destromath said...
I tend to listen to other video game music, like old and retooled final fantasy music. Put on a playlist of some of those epic themes and you really feel like you are grinding to save all of Azeroth!
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2-19-2007 @ 9:38AM
Brad said...
My current trend is going through entire TV series in order. I've made it through Scrubs 5 times or so, Futurama 3 times, Farscape twice, Fawlty Towers once, Arrested Development twice, and Firefly twice.
My other option is comedians cds or audiobooks I've read previously.
Basically the requirements are something that I can still go away from it for awhile (like during a bad pull) and come back and not have completely lost what's going on.
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2-19-2007 @ 9:43AM
krey said...
I play computergames, only WoW atm. So that is why I don't farm, if I don't like too. Why do boring things when there are so much fun you can do in WoW? Sometimes I think people forget why they play. If you have to grind I think listening to audioboooks like Mats said seems like a good idea.
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2-19-2007 @ 9:45AM
Elbows said...
To be honest, I find farming to be pretty relaxing. I really enjoy going to my favorite grind spot and just setting myself on cruise control. It's a nice mindless diversion, that can be pretty profitable too.
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2-19-2007 @ 9:55AM
Andrew Herron said...
For me, it's podcasts. There are so many awesome podcasts around, and I always find some mundane activity to do while listening so I can concentrate on the podcast. WoW farming is but one of those.
I recommend scott sigler books, btw. They're freaking amazing (check podiobooks.com for his first 3 and many others)
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2-19-2007 @ 10:08AM
Mischa said...
I don't farm.
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2-19-2007 @ 10:27AM
Falconous said...
@7 I absolutely have to second that, only if your of age of course. Being inebriated got me through levels 45-58 on my main, and will probably go along way to leveling up my warrior alt.
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2-19-2007 @ 10:54AM
Kabira-Fenris said...
@6 -
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2-19-2007 @ 10:55AM
Kabira-Fenris said...
oops, I meant @6 love your reading choices.
And also, thanks for this post, I don't usually have the attn span for farming but apparently I've been going at it all wrong.
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2-19-2007 @ 11:08AM
Jim said...
Lately, while training up my fishing in order to fish for motes of water in Elemental Plateau and the subsequent grinding for the vast quantities of Primal Water needed by high-level tailors, I've been watching movies and TV shows in one window while playing in another. Helps to have a sizeable monitor to pull this off.
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2-19-2007 @ 11:38AM
Asynchronous said...
Alright, someone else who listens to Pandora! Good stuff.
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2-19-2007 @ 11:41AM
Alarius said...
@2:
I've rocked the 'Zep while farming Thorium back in the day!
@6:
David Hume, J.S. Mill, and Sarte? Looks like we've got a philosopher on our hands! Social contract theory anyone?
Meanwhile,
Batman > Superman, why?
Superman's power's are extraterrestrial while Batman relies on himself, he's not ingrained with superhuman powers. Utility belt is all I need to say.
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2-19-2007 @ 11:59AM
Matthew Rossi said...
Man, it's not like I get pissy enough discussing WoW, now you gotta pull the Superman/Batman thing in?
I'm not biting.
As for farming, it's one of the few activities a warrior can really excel at. Make up a mess of buff food and bandages and go nuts. Downtime is minimal. It's especially nice if the mobs you're farming provide either bandage mats or cookable food.
Also, Superman is better.
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