It's worth noting right off the bat that attitudes about farming etiquette vary from PvE to PvP servers, and even from server to server on the same server types. You may find yourself on a rather combative server, where crotchety players will slay players of the opposite faction before allowing them to reach a node first. On other servers (even some PvP servers), Horde and Alliance respectfully yield to whoever clears the area or arrives first at harvesting points. You'll definitely want to keep your eyes open and see what other players on your server are expecting. Try reading the server forums, too, to see if ninja-farming is a frequent bone of contention.
In general, gatherers are a fairly tolerant and supportive lot. While many PvP players relish a little bit of world PvP in the interest of "Who was here first?", the general consensus seems to be Ye Olde Principle of First Come, First Served. Points to ponder further:
- Anyone fighting mobs near a mining or herb node is very likely to be clearing a path to the node. Players are pretty fairly split between taking the high road and letting the guy who's obviously there first have the shot at it, or considering all fair in nodes and war. Probably more PvE gatherers than not would agree: if you're the same faction as the other guy, pass it by. If you dive in before noticing a nearby player clearing, help him finish off the mobs and say /sorry. On PvP servers, though, you'll find anything from a race to an outright gleeful tussle to be more common.
- Savvy players tend to be more forgiving of certain situations -- such as a warrior fighting near a mining node. Because protection-specced tanks are so slow to clear a spawn, even gatherers who normally swoop in on any untapped node or relish a good fight for harvesting rights may kindly elect to let the slowbie have a shot.
- Unlike mining or herbalism, fishing pools can't be "tapped." Fishers generally agree: Don't cast your line in a pool that someone else from your faction is already fishing in; it's rude. Players on many PvE servers feel the same even in situations involving the opposite faction, although others (as well as most PvP servers) feel a certain amount of "racing" and "involuntary sharing" is inevitable. (Although as player Slow of Runetotem wryly noted in a recent forum post, "That's because they don't want you to whisper them. Trust me, it cuts both ways. It's not about what faction you are -- it's about being able to be rude without having to listen to whispers.")
- A sure way to provoke another fisher to take up arms: Stand on his bobber, blocking him from clicking to claim his catch.
- All bets are off in the weekly fishing tournament, when competition brings out the animals. Anything goes.
- If you need to clear mobs near a fishing pool, keeping your fishing pole equipped on your back is a good way to indicate to others that you intend to actively fish there. (Thanks to Slow of Runetotem for the tip.)
- Keep in mind that farming is EZ-mode, social time for many players. While some classes are too busy clicking away to visit, others farm while carrying on multiple conversations in guild chat, voice chat, tells ...watching TV or movies ... even playing other games on a different system. These players are minimally aware of their surroundings and are not likely to notice others nearby. Don't take it personally. If you run into problems more than once, send a polite /tell, which they'll be more likely to notice among their other distractions.
- Skinners who are following behind questing or farming non-skinners to pick up the leftovers should take care to stay completely clear of the agro pattern in the area. If you're high enough level to help with a few mobs here and there or offer a worthwhile buff, by all means, pitch in – you speed up the process and get more skins in less time.
Transmutation-specialized alchemists constantly struggle with customer expectations over "extra" transmute procs. Who gets to keep the "extra"? Common sense tells us that the extra belongs to the master alchemist, who skill-upped his fingers to the bone to acquire his mastery. When a customer provides mats for one product, then he should get one product, fair and square. Yet some customers reason that without their materials and combine, the proc wouldn't have happened in the first place – so any resulting products belong to them.
It's wise to agree with customers up front what your policy on procs is – whether extra products are yours, theirs, or something else (for multiple procs). Some players have come up with fairly complex formulae for pricing procs.
But there's an even easier solution: Get one combine ahead, and keep your elixirs or potions products in the bank. When someone requests a combine, give them the existing product in exchange for the mats. Then combine the mats for the next one in the relative privacy of the bank vault or your supply vendor – where what procs in the bank stays in the bank.
Insider Trader's Lisa Poisso is a freelance writer and editor – what she procs in her office at home is her own business.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-07-2007 @ 7:38PM
Ryan said...
Mining and herbing nodes 'belong' to nobody, if you can get to them before me, they're all yours and vice versa. Also, 'butting in' on a mining node is also fair game in my book, there are ways to prevent this from happening, and if you don't like it happening to you, learn them.
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12-07-2007 @ 7:40PM
Basic said...
I mute ahead of time just to avoid said muting encounter.
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12-07-2007 @ 7:49PM
Charlie Taylor said...
Here's something that non-skinners often just don't get...
LOOT SKINABLE MOBS!!!!
I REALLY hate it when someone is going around killing clefthoof bulls and they don't loot them, makes farming a bit harder, and as someone who doesn't enjoy farming in the first place it makes life hell.
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12-07-2007 @ 8:30PM
Dan said...
You're assuming everyone farming for clethoof meat has the bag space to pick up every trash item. That's just not the case. Generally I try to clear out a corpse whenever I can but after a point the bags fill up with useful stuff and I can't pick up the trash stuff anymore.
12-07-2007 @ 9:56PM
G said...
I had some moron whisper me, calling me a 'tool' for not looting bulls while I was doing the Nesignwary quest. In fact, my main is a skinning feral druid wearing the Heavy Clefthoof set, so I knew exactly what he was farming and looted accordingly so we could both benefit (quest kills for me, skins for him). I can only guess that he was such an ADHD case he was trying to loot right as the damn things fell to the ground. You can bet what I started doing after that whisper. So try not to be a spaz, too.
12-07-2007 @ 9:02PM
Charlie Taylor said...
Dan:
Trash actually is worth a fair amount of gold when you pick up a lot of it, so I always make a habit of quickly heading to a vendor to sell the trash I have. One farming session to full bags usually nets me 20g in trash vendoring alone.
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12-07-2007 @ 9:20PM
Risa said...
I agree Charlie but there are times, like in the mine in SMV where you can be so deep in it, with quest items, and other things in your bag that you can not simply loot everything. I end up destroying some greys so that the bodies can be skinnable and work my way out. Sadly once in a while I do have to leave something though cause I can not destroy anything anymore. I have a friend who skins who often will say "There is a special place in hell for people who do not loot their mobs."
I'm one of those that will respect someone's stake at a node. I hate how often I will detect an herb, or a vein and swoop down, only to then see a player "spawn" near it fighting a node. In instances/groups I only skin my lootable mob if there are other skinners.
I do get annoyed at those who hit up a vein I am hitting, but usually I get to laugh cause by the time they do, I have the last pick.
Some people just don't give a damn about common courtesy.
12-07-2007 @ 9:31PM
jaxson_bateman said...
Tbh, I believe that the current mineral/herb node system needs a fix or two, in terms of tapping the node. Let me explain...
With the majority of herbs and veins in the World of Warcraft, you must kill a nearby mob or mobs in order to loot them. That's all well and good and all, except that whilst fighting the mob you're generally incapable of looting the node (unless of course you've got a pet or reliable CC that can be used). So whilst you put in the effort to have a chance at getting the node (by killing the nearby mob) you have a 0% chance of getting it, whilst any Joe Superrude can waltz along and take the node without delay. Sure, by no means does everything in the WoW belong to *one* player, but having a 0% chance while they have no hinderence on their chances seems very wrong to me.
I believe they got it right with chests... or at least, a lot closer to being right. Rather than having no chance while you kill a mob and another player loots the chest you were going for, you effectively have a 50-50 chance... perhaps even more, as you know exactly what is going on in the combat so know exactly when you should start trying to loot the chest. With nodes, they could do something similar - if combat is occuring near the node, trying to loot it will pull you into combat. Whilst in combat, you should not be able to loot the node.
But enough of my QQ. It'd be groovy if everyone played nice, but it's not the case. If only Blizz actually cared about customers and not money. =(
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12-07-2007 @ 10:37PM
Lisa Poisso said...
I do wish it were easier to destroy loot you don't want to pick up. That would help in so many ways.
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12-07-2007 @ 11:56PM
Fireflash38 said...
What I really hate is when jackasses like to stand on your bobber. Seriously, whoever does that has clearly never gotten fishing above 10. It's a dick thing to do.
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12-08-2007 @ 2:06AM
itsthemechanec said...
I have fishing 375 and I do it all the time.
Especially in Swimming Form on my druid. How you gonna click the bobber now biach!!?!?
Seriously, all is fair in love and Warcraft. Stop being so emo.
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12-08-2007 @ 7:11AM
Theserene said...
Oh do grow up
12-08-2007 @ 7:48AM
Miyari said...
Rather offsubject, but it's probably not a good idea to link to a screenshot found on that particular site. I took a new version of that shot for you to use, if you feel like it, that can be found here: http://www.nordrassil.org/mining.jpg
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12-08-2007 @ 11:19AM
Milktub said...
I very much agree with #10 -- it'd be great if I could choose "destroy" when looting something. As it is now, I have to put it in my bag, then trash it. If I have full bags, I have to take something out of my bag, put the new loot in, then destroy it.
As for node sharing, I participate in node sharing, even with the other faction (but not with Gnomes). If I see a human hacking away at mobs near a node, and they're having trouble, I'll step in and kill the mobs. Most of the time, they'll appreciate it, take a swing at the node, then step back so I can take a swing.
Oddly, the other day I was farming for fel iron. Spotted a node, rushed down to clear out the two orcs that were near it. In the middle of the fight, someone drops down from their flier and starts mining. To my surprise, it was a guildmate! He realized after two pulls from the node that he'd ninja'd a guildmate's node and backed off with apologies.
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12-08-2007 @ 1:46PM
Xevious said...
I have no problem killing an opposing faction for a node, or just ninja it while they fight mobs. Same faction players are hard to kill, so I can only ninja...but I don't tap a mining node if someone is already on it - that's just rude.
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12-08-2007 @ 3:16PM
Willis said...
For those who are wanting an auto delete function there is a nifty mod It's called loot filter and you can set it to delete all the grays you pick up or you can pick and choose what you want to keep or delete :)
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12-08-2007 @ 4:21PM
zygote said...
I won't ninja a node if someone else is clearing the area. However, I will take great delight in someone dying when they try to ninja me.
I was chillin in Skettis, you know, saying hello to the GIANT BIRDS FROM HELL, when I noted a Rich Adamantite node and worked my way over there, killing a few spawns around and moving in for the kill when I noted a warp lizard vanish right behind the node.
I get my pet ready to go in and kill while I mine and what should to my wandering eye appear but a Belfadin doing a death from above run straight into the node to get there before me.
Warp lizard popped and started to eat him. I went right next to him and mined while he was attacked. Apparently already injured he started backing up — right into a water elemental. He swims further in, trying to get away from the lizard, and draws another water elemental.
As he gurgled and fought for his life, I saluted him and rode off into the sunset.
We salute you Mr. Stupid Belfadin Ninja Guy.
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12-08-2007 @ 5:08PM
rcdan said...
Blackwater Raiders is full of mineral node ninjas. In other words u can be mining a node and some nub will run up and start minig it. Maybe nub isn't the right word...asshat is more apropriate.
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12-09-2007 @ 11:22AM
Pingmeister said...
I am on a PvE (aka Carebear) server and last night my young alt was heading for a GOLD node when I saw someone trying to find a way up to the same node. They were trying to get up teh wrong side of the hill and I got to the node first, but caught aggro and was fighting the mob when they walked past me and mined.
As I was fighting I was sitting at my computer bitching and moaning out loud about dumb kids nowadays, etc.
Then, when my fight was over I got a tell asking if I wanted the node, at least for the skillup. They just mined to get the skillup and were even offering me the gold ore.
I felt like such an idiot for being so grumpy and told them they were very welcome to the whole node and I slinked off grumbling about what an moron I was.
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12-10-2007 @ 2:42PM
Ktok said...
When I’m farming nodes in Outland, I’ll always hover over an ore node if someone is fighting nearby to see if they mine it or not. Most of the time they’re just doing a quest and probably not even a miner, but I like to think people appreciate my consideration.
Now, if someone ninjas a node from me, I’ll follow them around for hours if need be making sure they never get another node. Ninjas will be punished!
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