Geting your miner/blacksmith out of the copper age

[Sir_Die_alot]

My warrior's blacksmithing was lagging due to the low quantity of deposits I was turning up. He was in his late teens and still making copper crap of the nothingness. Then I remembered that when I had done a certain cave quest in Mulgore (I am tauren) there was a higher level tauren there farming the copper deposits. So I say to myself "Okay if it was good enough for him...", and indeed it was good enough for me as well. But wait! Instead of heading back to Thunderbluff with my 13ish pieces of copper ore, I left the mine and started mining nearby deposits. I continued on counter-clockwise all the way around mulgore which takes very little time due to there being no real threat from anything that might attack you (I'm pretty sure there is nothing in Mulgore greater than level 13). When I was done I had over 85 copper ore to play with. It took almost 5 minutes just to smelt it all! If your horde miner/blacksmith is uselessly lagging in the copper age like mine was, this is a very good way to get yourself out.

I know there are other places with high concentrations of copper ore, but I haven't found it as efficient to harvest as exiting the west side of TB, circling the valley, and re-entering at the north east entrance. The deposits get few as you near Narache so it might be faster to skip that lower edge and pick it up close to where Mulgore exits to the Barrens. On a side note, this is also a good way to train up new weapons and first aid or tailoring (lots of linen). While I did this, I switched to being a full fledged axe user as well. B)

[vor_lord]

I am suffering from a similar problem with my blacksmithing--I am level 21 and my blacksmithing is still under 90. This means whatever I can make is useless when compared to the stuff I can find down in the Deadmines.

I finally decided to bother with First Aid (seeing how much punishment our party took down in the Deadmines), so I've been working on getting that skill up too, however that is much easier than mining.

Being alliance now, I haven't found a good place to farm copper in a similar fashion to what you describe. Anyone suggest a good place? I'm on Doomhammer so I probably wouldn't interfere with the mining activities of most lurkers :D

[Tal]

I am suffering from a similar problem with my blacksmithing--I am level 21 and my blacksmithing is still under 90.  This means whatever I can make is useless when compared to the stuff I can find down in the Deadmines.

I finally decided to bother with First Aid (seeing how much punishment our party took down in the Deadmines), so I've been working on getting that skill up too, however that is much easier than mining.

Being alliance now, I haven't found a good place to farm copper in a similar fashion to what you describe.  Anyone suggest a good place?  I'm on Doomhammer so I probably wouldn't interfere with the mining activities of most lurkers  :D
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Loch Modan. Start on the rock wall north of Thesalmar and follow it around to the right (east). Once you get to the Dam you can then follow the lake shore around to Grizzly ridge. Follow that to the hunter's lodge should net you similar results as the OP.

[Raziel]

Psst. Here's a trick. You know that special ore you're asked to mine for certain quests? Sometimes, you can skill off it!

Find a vein and go crazy. Sure, you can't smelt any of it, but who cares? It sells good to vendors. Mine the mineral when you need the mineral. Mine the quest item in the cave with a billion repops and low level nobodies when you need some free skill points.

[Artega]

My Lv.34 Warrior currently has 188 Blacksmithing and 192 Mining, and is in the process of completing the third Blacksmithing quest (bring Omosh four Green Iron Helms, four Green Iron Bracers, and two Green Iron Leggings.) I can't really remember what kind of item(s) I spammed to get out of the copper age, but I know that Rough Bronze Leggings were practically all I made to get out of the bronze age.

My favorite places to hunt for Iron Deposits are either the Yeti-infested cave just outside of Tarren Mill in Hillsbrad or The Charred Vale - both areas are pretty easy to farm for people of my level, and you often see gold (in the Yeti cave) and tin (in The Charred Vale), as well as a fair amount of mithril (I currently have over 30 mithril bars, and can't even use them yet!) The Harpies in the Charred Vale even drop Coal (used to smelt Steel) sometimes!

[Raziel]

^ Funny you should mention that place, because that's near where the skill veins I found were. I got a quest from Booty Bay that sent me up behind Hammerfall into a little cave, I think the ore is Rethban or something. Skilled like crazy there, over 200 and still gaining strongly. I think the special ore veins there were considered the equivalent of iron. I don't know if they'd have continued to skill me past 225, but I got a whole whack of skill running around collecting ore for the quest and killing kobolds for motes of Myzrael.

[vor_lord]

Loch Modan. Start on the rock wall north of Thesalmar and follow it around to the right (east). Once you get to the Dam you can then follow the lake shore around to Grizzly ridge. Follow that to the hunter's lodge should net you similar results as the OP.
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I'll give that a try. I was only briefly there and I didn't remember there being too many mines, but at least the levels of the mobs will give me experience while I'm farming (I was all set to walk around Crystal Lake in Elwynn Forest due to the high concentration).

Thanks!

[Ruvanal]

There are also at least 6 copper ore veins under water in Loch Modan itself. Since most players tend to avoid swimming and do not have any skill at controlling their characters in the water, these veins tend to go untapped for considerable periods of time. It can be a decent source of the copper ore and a place to practice swimming techniques if you need them. The main damger are the crocolisks near a couple of islands that the level 20 Thresadons that are scattered throughout the deeper waters.

[Roland]

^ Funny you should mention that place, because that's near where the skill veins I found were.  I got a quest from Booty Bay that sent me up behind Hammerfall into a little cave, I think the ore is Rethban or something.  Skilled like crazy there, over 200 and still gaining strongly.  I think the special ore veins there were considered the equivalent of iron.  I don't know if they'd have continued to skill me past 225, but I got a whole whack of skill running around collecting ore for the quest and killing kobolds for motes of Myzrael.
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You forget: mining skill is COMPLETELY independent of blacksmithing skill. My gathering is that he NEEDS copper to get out of it in his blacksmithing. Your tip, while helpful for mining, does nothing to solve his real problem.

Mining will ALWAYS exceed Blacksmithing. This just furthers that gap.

[Warlock]

(long time lurker on these boards, finally decided to register)

I've found that Heroe's Vigil (the island east of Goldshire) is an excellent place to mine copper. There are half a dozen copper nodes within a single minimap area and they respawn fast. So do the Defias wizards in the area, but they're spread out and not hard to kill.

And with copper selling for almost the same as bronze does (on my server at least), I might not bother with the hotly contested tin and silver mines for a while.

[Taeme]

Almost all the newbie zones, from what I've seen, are rather friendly when it comes to copper. I know Durotar is just absurd for having five veins on the minimap at once.

Blacksmithing can be raised via gold dumps into the AH for bars. I find people don't sell much in the way of ore, since it sells in smaller chunks. It's almost worth noting that there's no penalty for having higher level mining, whereas with low level, you'll see early mithril and truesilver veins you can't crack. And that just sucks. Having more ore available over time leads to higher blacksmithing.

My serious problem was being stuck in the "Bronze Age". Tin, and then Iron, seem to be quite difficult to mine before getting mounted. Now that I have the horse, and the corresponding levels, I was able to peel off a good 60 or so (I believe) skillups in two nights just by doing a loop and a weave through Desolace from Shadowprey then going into Stonetalon. I wish I'd known about the blood ore going all the way up to 200ish skill though, dang :/ I'll remember that for later.

[MongoJerry]

Almost all the newbie zones, from what I've seen, are rather friendly when it comes to copper. I know Durotar is just absurd for having five veins on the minimap at once.

Except for the night elf area of Teldrassil, which as no mining nodes at all -- the area being in a tree and all. :D I found Dun Murogh (dwarf starting area) to be a good place to get copper myself.

[Concillian]

Loch Modan. Start on the rock wall north of Thesalmar and follow it around to the right (east). Once you get to the Dam you can then follow the lake shore around to Grizzly ridge. Follow that to the hunter's lodge should net you similar results as the OP.
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This seems to be pretty good for copper, though on my server at least there are a few others who also do this.

Got me out of copper and into bronze WELL before lvl 20. You have to mine a lot of copper to get in the 110-120 range though... Then you still need copper for bronze (albeit not as much).

I was trying to mine in the human areas some, and that just didn't work at all for me. People lvl 40 in the mines in Westfall camping the veins and I wasn't really keen on the idea of camping veins in the mines in Elwynn Forest when in the high teens, denying the lowbies of their opportunities.

Often, I'll log my smith out in the Farstrider lodge, and play another character. Then log in for 10 minutes every once in a while to look around the area for tin and copper veins (I've seen a couple silver veins over there too, but they are rare). The only thing that sucks is you'll often catch Tetanus from the buzzards just getting out of the area, and that's a 20 minute de-buff, minor, but still.

Right now my smithing is ahead of my mining by quite a few points. I can make stuff from bronze and get smithin skillups, but rarely get a mining skillup from mining tin, and never from copper. My level is still low enough that I'm not seeing silver much at all, unless I happen into the Gold Coast Quarry and there aren't any lvl 30+ in there, which was rare the last few times I've tried.

[Artega]

^ Funny you should mention that place, because that's near where the skill veins I found were.  I got a quest from Booty Bay that sent me up behind Hammerfall into a little cave, I think the ore is Rethban or something.  Skilled like crazy there, over 200 and still gaining strongly.  I think the special ore veins there were considered the equivalent of iron.  I don't know if they'd have continued to skill me past 225, but I got a whole whack of skill running around collecting ore for the quest and killing kobolds for motes of Myzrael.
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That would be the kobold cave east of Hammerfall. The ore is Lesser Bloodstone, and is used for a dirty, stinking Alliance quest. Doesn't sell for much, either.

Alterac is by far the best place to skillup once you get to the level 34 or 35. Iron and mithril spawn very frequently in the two ogre caves, and you can always go raid the mountain yeti area for another vein or two.

Currently searching for a mithril-rich farmable area. There seems to be a giant cave or something of the like that's near and literally under Stonard (I've seen grayed out mithril deposits inside the inn.) Beginning to think the entrance to said cave is in Burning Steppes, though.

[Ruvanal]

Currently searching for a mithril-rich farmable area. 
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That is usually the Badlands for most players. Over in the area with the dragonkin for the richest concentrations of deposits.

There seems to be a giant cave or something of the like that's near and literally under Stonard (I've seen grayed out mithril deposits inside the inn.)  Beginning to think the entrance to said cave is in Burning Steppes, though.

Yes, what you are seeing is the deposits that are in the Garrison Armory there. Note that there are a lot of alliance NPCs that patrol throughout that mine. There are also few Small Thorium Veins in the mine also. You could also head to the murloc cave the is east of Stonard for some mithril deposits that are toward the back of the cave. These are hard to spot from the Swamp of Sorrows side as they are far enough back that they do not readily show up on the ore radar. They do show up frequently on the ore radar when in Netherguarde Keep (sort of the reverse of what you are seeing in Stonard).

[Concillian]

Except for the night elf area of Teldrassil, which as no mining nodes at all -- the area being in a tree and all.  :D  I found Dun Murogh (dwarf starting area) to be a good place to get copper myself.
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I found it over-mined. Occasionally it's good but usually Loch Modan is better, for me at least.

Plus you get some tin in Loch Modan, which can help you get several points of skillups as soon as you cen start making Bronze stuff, and/or start making more useful stuff for yourself immediately.