Herbalism Tips

Stuff I remember from the beta. This may have been changed but I doubt it.

Hyjal - there`s a question at one point where you have a satyr chained to a wall. He gives a quest to go kill the lasher vines near him. Do NOT turn the quest in. These little things spawn in tight aoe groups, have pathetic health, no real damage output, and spawn very quickly. If you turn the quest in, though, they phase out. Now the main thing with these is they`re the only monster in the game (when I did it..) that drops Volatile Life, the new primal.  Alchemy requires a few hundred of these to get levelled up quickly. You don't even need herbalism for the drop, you just need to kill them. I did it on my warrior in tank spec (Hehehe, Blood & Thunder made it stupidly easy...), and had no trouble. There's a mailbox very close so you can farm easily. They're also neutral, and don't call for help or pull in groups. There's 25+ of them that spawn at any given time. To continue the zone you do need to turn it in at some point, but FARM THE HELL OUT OF THESE FIRST. Or continue on and do it with an alt later.

Also in Hyjal, there's this section of the area that's on fire. Cinderbloom is rampant here. When you pick one, another spawns almost instantly. Just go nuts on your flying mount with it, you'll want a few hundred to level up.

Azshara's Veil comes from Vashj'ir. There's a good portion of it near the initial area, and all along the first mini zone (Vashj'ir is composed of like.. 5 of them, including the glitchy-as-hell giant fish. Spoiler alert.). It's one of the rarer of the Cata herbs, so get as much as you can, you need a lot.

Stormvine is located in Vashj'ir as well, in the second area; the Shimmering Expanse. It's found on the deep floor, generally in the trenches around the giant fish god thing. Sorry, did I spoil that again? Yeah...sorry. It's around there though. It's part of why Azshara's Veil is rarer than the others, it's fighting for the area's herb nodes with Stormvine, meaning there's less of each.

Whiptail comes primarily from Uldum. Follow the rivers, there's plant life on their banks that Whiptail tends to grow in. Cinderbloom randomly spawns in the desert areas, but it's easier to get in Hyjal. I got killed by Deathwing farming these. Prick.

Heartblossom is easily found all the way around the center of Deepholme. Just go out the front door of the temple you zone in to, and go crazy. It's everywheres. There's some Cinderbloom too, but again, more is in Hyjal.

Twilight Jasmine is found, surprise surprise, in the Twilight Highlands. It's not near the coast, which is riddled with more Cinderbloom (It's a god damned weed is what it is...), but inland there is plenty of it around. Mainly on the green areas, of course. I found a fair amount near the dwarves, when you're killing their faces off.

Lifegiving Seeds (hehehehehehe...hehe..) are an item that comes randomly off herbs. Any cata herbs. It turns you into a random plant, and regenerates your health and mana extremely quickly. You're technically feigning death while it happens, so things will in fact ignore you. It's kinda rare, but not too bad. With the state of mana regen at early 85, you're gonna want these.

You're going to want at least a hundred of each herb, and about 50 more Azshara's Veil, since they're used in nearly everything. Sales are going to be worth a hell of a lot early on, so get out there and make some money. I'll post the more abstract boss strategies that I remember later. Some of them require explanation to understand - pretty much every five man has been turned into a raid encounter now, requiring timing and knowledge of mechanics. You can brute force most, but it won't end well very often. Perhaps after Christmas I'll be able to get Cata and log in to show people more interesting bits that largely go unnoticed.