Cataclysm Beta: Mining and herbalism give experience
by Gregg Reece 
Sep 13th 2010 at 9:00PM
Blizzard added another way to earn some experience with the latest patch for Cataclysm. You now earn experience when both gathering from mining and herbalism nodes. This is being reported about 4,000 experience for herb nodes in Wintergrasp at level 80. However, these do suffer from the same experience reduction that lower level quests are hit with. As an example, a level 83 player mining a copper node earns 5 experience but earns a couple of thousand from a titanium node.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In our Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
Luke Sep 14th 2010 3:56AM
So that means right now the nodes have a fixed XP gain? I wonder if the wording in the article is wrong or if this is a Beta Bug? A quick glance over of the forums hasn't produced more than an affirmation that the experience gains are intended and not a bug. Doesn't seem like Blizzard has made an official announcement yet. They probably want to try it out, get some feedback and go from there.
The only curious thing I've seen so far is more than a couple of posters requesting the amount of XP be nerfed, or that this new XP gain be removed completely.
Do the numbers need to be tweaked before it goes live? Most assuredly. But honestly in that vein I'd rather see proper scaling be tied to the level of your profession and character. Meaning a level 80 of any class with 1 in herbalism would receive more xp than they would at 450 herbalism when picking for example peacebloom. Maybe not as much as they would receive for picking something in the 450 range, but a happy medium between the two.
Collected Sep 14th 2010 3:19AM
When you're levelling up a new character surely it's a no brainer now to take herbalism and mining until 85 and then switch them out? Would this not cause an already limited supply of nodes to become even more limited?
Bossy Sep 14th 2010 3:39AM
Sorry, but while I see some players will love it (no longer need to do blood baths to level), I think the leveling process in present day WOW is already much too fast to "enjoy the ride".
While I think WOW 2010 is still very much better than old Vanilla WOW in choices of play and options, there is some very strange and odd things happening to that leveling process in WOW.
There is a clear non balance between adventuring and gaining levels in the open and the added mechanics put upon it like leveling with heirlooms, battlegrounds, dungeon crawling and now this gathering thing.
I hope that Blizzard knows what they do, but ... I doubt it.
The game is a full speed race to the top without enjoying the world content anymore.
And with the deleted attunements (and even faster progression in reputation grinds with the famous tabard dungeon crawling) ... you see 2 things.
World of Warcraft is less and less "MMO" played, the game becomes indeed a "fast to end" game and people who play like a chicken without a head are ... bored because that race through content to reach that last Raid corridor at their capacity ... calling it all "too easy" and "too fast".
Even Blizzard was surprised by the fact the "epic fight up to the Lich King" was simply done too fast and so the game fell without content for months... You see everyone set out his own "end" with the Lich King and .... not everyone has that capacity to down him in 25 or even heroic 25.
So unless you do end game PvP ... you stand around and ... quit the game. That should NEVER happen in an MMORPG.
While the WORLD of Warcraft I like to play is taking my world adventure to "better" my character.
... I ALREADY put off experience gains to level my professions at my level (and craft now and then my own gear) and try experience all PVE content at my levels.
Ok I admit I like to play BG's and level in them, but on the way up with that experience turned off thing, I NOW see how fucked up the leveling process of WoW has become. I NOW understand what this game was all about in 2004:
A level 200 profession equals around level 35-40. In these days however, everyone passes all these nice things up: just to reach Dalaran in record time and then shouting "I am bored by easy content" while standing in Dalaran trying to up professions which ... SHOULD have been done while they were level 30 something.
I am very curious what Blizzard will do with its next MMO... Perhaps best solution would be to abolish "levels" and put everything in gear and other "gathering" talents and skills.
But as it now stands: new players do not experience the game like it should be (level wise) and the old veterans need to use "trics" like turning experience off to witness still a more traditional MMORPG.
Challenges ahead for Blizz I guess....
I still love the game, but the natural leveling flow - WOW had for me when I started it - is gone.
The sad fact is that even in my playing style (BG's while leveling) is hampered by guys putting on every enchanted heirloom possible, while I go through quests and dungeons to up my natural gear.
Sad.
Skuz Sep 14th 2010 5:01AM
I think Blizzard see the game as being mostly focused upon the high end & "new" content released is where they want to maximise profits, if it takes you ages to level you wont be even needing the expansion packs for a long time, but if you can blast through the levels you will need them relatively quickly & you'll rapidly be where the game is it's busiest, most social & most populated.
So I do think the "rush to level cap" is something Blizzard have put in place deliberately, of course you can choose to level lock if you wish, so the option is there to explore the lower content at your leisure if you want to, but for most players they will be slowly soloing to max level which is where the game becomes very much more involved with other players.
I think Blizzard wil naturally want to focus future development on the high end, the Cataclysm experience will be to streamline & speed up that levelling process while keeping it entertaining & rewarding at the faster pace, with less "gear gaps" etc along the way.
Luke Sep 14th 2010 5:18AM
Bossy,
I don't know how long you've been playing MMO games but the genre has always suffered from a very tedious leveling grind. Traditional does not always equal good, correct, or the only way.
I can to an extent understand how it's frustrating to play with new players who have leveled so quickly that they lack a fundamental understanding of their class, but otherwise I simply do not understand the minority of players who voice the same concerns you do.
The people who level to 80, stand around, and then quit have only themselves to blame, not Blizzard. I can tell you right now with certainty that there is always something that a player could be doing in Warcraft.
Especially when you consider the fact that level does not equal skill or understanding. Meaning, those poor level 80 characters that get dropped very quickly after reaching max level were not explored to their fullest simply because they hit the level cap.
To say that a player should be leveling a profession in step with their character's level is a rather bold statement. In fact for most professions it's not even the best choice for new players. It's expensive, time consuming, and all around inefficient.
Besides as far as these particular changes to mining and herbalism are concerned it's only going to encourage the behavior you believe is the best or only correct way of playing.
Perhaps I can put this more succinctly. Blizzard has made a game with lots of options for different players. Whether you're only able to play a few hours a week or several hours every day, Warcraft can provide content for both parties. Has this design been perfectly executed? No, but Blizzard hasn't even come close to failing completely.
Besides, if you're the type of "hardcore" self hating type that is only satisfied by months of arduous leveling there ARE other games that cater to that play style.
I think what you're overlooking can be surmised best by quoting Nietzsche:
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
Bossy Sep 14th 2010 8:49AM
@ Luke.
Perhaps you misunderstood me. I am not talking about "longer grinding times to reach top level", but I mentioned the odd shifting in game mechanics that makes the game for a lot of NEW people "questionable". There is no longer a natural flow in the leveling department right now.
You said it yourself: NO use to level professions on par with your levels, but ... actually ... when you look at the old leveling system: there was a natural flow between the game elements: you COULD craft your own gear at the correct levels.
Now you simply blast through those levels at a speed that's sometimes double that of the original questing and leveling system of professions.
The "shifting" as such is that the open world quests, along with the dungeon crawling, the honor system (to get lower level PvP gear) is no longer synchronised.
Just one example: in the old WOW it took me around 7 months to level at a rather simple pace. Due to the fact I liked the BG's so much I sometimes stopped for weeks at level 39, 49 and hunted for gear on and off the auction house and upping my professions. (I played around 43 days (in time) to reach 60.
These days: the moment you take on a challeging quest, you risk to run it into green/grey within moments. Playing for 2 days at 5 hours a day is enough to render it completely meaningless.
And hence: you don't see the professions as profitable as such. Which idiot wants to invest in crafted gear when you are aleady are ... 12 levels above the piece of gear you can make. Which noob wants to buy blue gear on the AH when you "outrun" it after 5 hours of playing... ?
The result is that by giving ALL options of levels these days, the natural flow of WOW and that WORLD is gone: why even bother, you ask ... Well remember the words of Kaplan: he found the magic in WOW running from Stormwind to Goldshire in ... a WORLD to adventure in.
If it is now just a simple race to 80 - without looking back at anything - WOW lost its formal status , that of a world to adventure in. Be that through PvP or PVE or crafting.
I think Blizzard should rethink the complete "level" status in their next MMORPG, because with the techniques they NOW use, you could much more easy create a kind of Call of Duty instanced game with character progression in levels.
No need to make a world to flow around your progression: just create every 2 years an expansion with the last 3 corridors to run raids in.
No need to create other content than BG's and dungeons then.
Luke Sep 14th 2010 9:51AM
Bossy,
You're absolutely correct that the natural flow of the game has shifted because of game mechanics implemented during the Wrath expansion.
You're also correct that many, (if not most, but certainly *not* all) low level crafted goods are lacking a solid market because they are of little use to leveling players.
So yes, I agree there is a certain disconnect now between early content and the end game. However much of this problem is being fixed in the new expansion.
It was your comment:
"So unless you do end game PvP ... you stand around and ... quit the game. That should NEVER happen in an MMORPG."
That stood out to me, and perhaps I shouldn't have focused on that statement but it seemed like a distillation of your opinion. To restate what I've said previously, that type of attitude isn't as a whole Blizzard's fault. Meaning, the content is there, the quests are still there, the old dungeons still exist, and it's not entirely Blizzard's fault if someone is too lazy or uninterested in seeking that content out.
Obviously you're not one of those players. But I think it's short sighted to shame Blizzard because they haven't done a better job of forcing, or at the very least encouraging new players to fully experience that content.
A lot of those Pre-BC quests and dungeons are a lot of fun. Quests like Balance Of Light And Shadow, and dungeons like Stratholme, come to mind. That's why there exists guilds that specifically run Pre-BC raids. Are there a lot of these guilds? I don't think so but the fact that they exist speaks directly (and I would argue negatively) of the type of player that you mentioned in your comment.
So I think the question getting begged here is: how do we fix this without punishing older players or making the leveling process in general more work than it is fun?
WGSXFrank Sep 14th 2010 6:21AM
Considering I only do Herbalism/Mining, I welcome this change.
I don't play very often so the extra xp boost I'll get while picking up nodes during my normal questing will help out immensely.
fernando Sep 14th 2010 9:57AM
ups, just move my rogue from minning to engineer... but put the mining on my mague, so its ok... nice, don't think this will create new farmers, it is boring if you don't like it, you can gain exp as well killing beasts
...but how about fishing and cooking and first aid and archeology ?
Amaxe Sep 14th 2010 11:10AM
I think this is a good point. We may see an influx of ore/bars and herbs on the market with a resulting dive in prices.
Good for the crafters. Not for the person trying to AH the ores/herbs
Thestreal Sep 14th 2010 10:39AM
I think this is the opposite of good... As it is w/ the Dungeon Finder and PvP leveling or recruit a friend there are more and more inexperienced 80's running around. I personally wouldn't want a lvl 85 in my raid who leveled completely by PvP and farming mats.
leoshortmane Sep 14th 2010 11:36AM
Well currently you recieve about 3600 exp per herb node and there are a ton of spawn points. As to the thoughts of leveling through gathering skills, well between level 82 and 83 you need 6.45 million exp to level.
Janaan Sep 14th 2010 12:06PM
So what I'm getting here is that the best place to wait out the Cataclysm and log back into would be Freya's room in Ulduar? Seriously, you could probably get an entire level in there if not more pretty quickly.
Peter Sep 14th 2010 12:29PM
I think people are getting a little overexcited about this. Yes, it will be nice while leveling to get a little extra exp.. but in reality, there really is no way you could level doing this. It would literally take 100's of flowers to get one level... and respawn rates just are too random and spread out to make that a reasonable way to level. It would be more difficult then just finding a fast spawning mob (like the rhinos in southern borean tundra) and mindlessly camp than for hours.
The only thing this is going to do is if you are questing, and you see a node, you will now be more tempted to kill the mob next to it in order to grab it.
It takes 15 seconds to kill a green mob in a high spawn area. It will take much much longer to be able to 'chain pick' nodes.
iceveiled Sep 14th 2010 2:49PM
I do not think this will have a big impact on the economy, and I don't think it will inspire people to farm more than they currently do. It's just a very small bump in EXP when you harvest a node, with a not-as-small bump in EXP when you harvest a rare node (such as titanium).
Auto farmers will still be auto farmers, regardless of exp gains.
Red Viking Sep 14th 2010 3:53PM
I wouldn't worry about it. Even if that does happen, basic supply and demand will cause the AH leather prices to skyrocket. People will take notice of that and some of them will switch to skinning since they'll be wanting a piece of that pie.
The economy will even out as more and more people take up skinning.
dashrendar72 Sep 14th 2010 9:05PM
Ore node crits you for 3,657.
Your attack is blocked by Ore node.
Ore node casts Divine Shield.
Ore node cast Hearthstone........
Nic Oct 11th 2010 12:10PM
If Skinners get XP for Skinning..Tailors should get XP for looting Cloth.