In preparation for WotLK, you should certainly consider powerleveling herbalism.  For at least the first few months, herbs are going to be selling like hotcakes at the AH, and as of now we really can’t tell which particular flavors are going to be the biggest sellers.

We already recommended that you start buying up all of the herbs you can get your hands on at the AH and then sitting on them until the xpac, but those will be gone in very short order no matter how many of them you are able to collect now.

The only way to make sure that you can make the big bucks long after the initial push, and especially after prices stabilize is to add herbalism to one of your toons, or at least max out that skill just in case.

Now, I normally don’t go in for farming much, but there may be so much gold to be made with this one that it will actually make it worth your while for a few months.  I still keep one toon around with mining as a profession feed, and you may want to do the same with herbalism.

So overall this is going to be pretty short and sweet. What we’re going to try to do is give you the best areas for major Herb farming. This will be especially helpful if you’ve picked up herbalism as a higher level character and need to rush back through the lower levels in newbie zones.

As you go through this guide, remember that when doing circuits of an area, try to travel in a zigzag pattern. The more of an area you cover, the better your farming will be overall. Also, when you get to the higher level herbs, don’t skip the lower level stuff just because you don’t get skill ups for it. Part of the way nodes spawn is related to how many empty nodes there are in the area. The more nodes you pick, the more new nodes will spawn in the general area. You can actually speed things up by picking everything that pops up on your map. Besides, you can either sell the mats you don’t need at the ah or turn them into potions to use or sell if you are doing Alchemy.

1 – 50: Silverleaf and Peacebloom

  • Alliance:
    • Dolanaar
    • Dun Murogh
    • Elwynn Forrest
    • Azuremyst Isle
  • Horde:
    • Mulgore
    • Tirisfal Glades
    • Eversong Woods
    • Durotar

51 – 70: Mageroyal & Earthroot

  • Alliance
    • Westfall Coast
    • Gol’Bolar Quarry, Dun Morogh
  • Horde
    • Northwest Badlands

71 – 100: Briarthorn

  • Alliance
    • Darkshore
    • Twilight Grove, Duskwood
    • Eastern shore of Loch Modan
    • Lakeshire, Redridge Mountains
  • Horde
    • All of Northern Barrens
    • Southern Silverpine Forrest

101 – 115: Bruiseweed

  • Alliance
    • Western Ashenvale
    • East of Loch Modan
    • Stonewatch Keep, Redridge Mountains
  • Horde
    • Ramparts North to Splintertree post in Ashenvale
    • Stonetalon Mountains
    • Southern Barrens

116 – 125: Wild Steelbloom

  • Alliance
    • Stonetalon Peak
  • Horde
    • Southern Barrens
    • From Great Lift to Highperch in Thousand Needles
  • Both
    • Outer edges of Arathi Highlands
    • Nek’mani Wellspring in Stranglethorn Vale
    • Zuuldaia Ruins, Stranglethorn Vale

By this time, both Alliance and Horde will be farming similar areas, so we’ll just lump them all together and you can look for herbs as you travel. Also, the higher levels have more scattered spawn points, so you’ll need to do complete circuits of each of these areas to find all the nodes.

126 – 160: Kingsblood

  • Ashenvale
  • Charred Vale, Stonetalon Mountains
  • Wetlands
  • Hillsbrad Foothills
  • Misty Reed Swamp, Swamp of Sorrows

161 – 185: Fadeleaf

  • Swamp of Sorrows

186 – 205: Khadgar’s Whisker

  • Hinterlands
  • Eastern Arathi Highlands
  • Swamp of Sorrows

206 – 230: Firebloom

  • Searing Gorge
  • Blasted Lands
  • Tanaris

231 – 250: Sungrass

  • Felwood
  • Feralas
  • Forlorn Ridge, Azshara

251 – 270: Gromsblood

  • Felwood
  • Mannoroc Coven, Desolace
  • Blasted Lands

271 – 290: Dreamfoil

  • Un’Goro Crater
  • Azshara

290 – 300: Plaguebloom

  • Western Plaguelands
  • Eastern Plaguelands

300 – 330: Felwood

331 – 350+: Zangarmarsh

350 – 375: Shadowmoon, or continue Zangarmarsh

As a level 70, you could easily do this in just a few hours. Also, if you are power leveling, be sure to watch where the herbs overlap, you could very easily go from 225 – 350 in Felwood alone, and maybe pick up a few Felcloth while you’re at it. Zangarmarsh is also just packed with herbs, so once you get there, there’s no real reason to leave, unless you just get bored of looking at giant mushrooms.