Herbalism for Inscriptionists… or Scribes… or Whatever

Yes, I’m back peoples. Sorry I haven’t written in a while, but I’ve been on vacation. I know that sounds counter intuitive, but I’ve been too lazy to write. I’ve got a nice post coming about my leveling adventures, reputation grinds in Northrend, and my never-ending pursuit of achievements. But before I post that clusterhump of a diatribe, I wanted to share some goodies with you. If you’re an Herbalist, I’m sure you’ve seen the mad dash toward herb nodes all across Northrend. If you’re also an Alchemist, you need specific herbs to make your wares. But if you’re an Inscriptionist (this is the horse I’m betting on, so sue me if you wanna call ’em Scribes), any old Northrend herbs will mill to Azure Pigment and Icy Pigment.

When you stumble upon half a dozen nodes of the same herb in a relatively small space, it’s pretty exciting for an Herbalist/Inscriptionist. The problem at the time was that the herbs in question were Tiger Lily, which required a skill level of 400 in Herbalism to gather them. When I first hit Borean Tundra, my skill level was somewhere south of 400. So, when I came across the motherlode of Tiger Lily surrounding Lake Kum’uya, I could do nothing but drool at the possibilities. I eventually wrapped up my questing in the zone, moved into Dragonblight, leveled to 73, then moved on to Grizzly Hills. At some point, my Herbalism capped out at 450 and Inscription hit 400. Before digging into heavy questing in Grizzly Hills, I decided to head back to Valiance Keep to have a chat with the Inscription trainer. Rather than blow over 1G on flying, I decided to ride back, gathering herbs as I traveled. Somewhere around Star’s Rest in Dragonblight, I considered scrapping the idea and flying the rest of the way. But I didn’t. As I cruised across Borean Tundra, I gathered a Goldclover here and there. Then, I approached Lake Kum’uya from the south. Little gold dots started popping up like acne on the face of a teenager with a Hershey bar addiction. Mother… of… pearl! I’d forgotten about that place.

The screenshot above shows my secret spot in the red circle. Yesterday, in about an hour,  I gathered 90 Tiger Lily, 52 Dreadnettle, 33 Crystalized Life, and 4 Frost Lotus. Keep in mind that the Dreadnettle is millable to the same pigments, so it’s really like two song lap dance for the price of one night at the strip club. I don’t mean that in a sexist way. In fact, I’ve never been the beneficiary of that bargain. But if you’re taking your soon-to-be-married buddy to the nudie bar to show him one last good time, that’s the night to do it… dollar for dollar. Where was I? Herbs. Right! As yet another added bonus, Loot Crazed Divers will attack you while you’re gathering. Why is this a benefit? Because those mofos drop Nesingwary Lackey Ears like they’re hot. Turn in 15 of those for the repeatable “Can’t Get Ear-nough…” quest and you’ve got yourself 150 reputation with Cenarion Expedition and a Blessing of D.E.H.T.A. Plus, they’ve got an 18% drop rate for Frostweave Cloth.

One final word of wisdom. If you happen to be playing on Silvermoon-US and see a Death Knight named Predatore gathering  Tiger Lily from around the lake, take a step away from the area. It’s been bugged lately. According to Blizzard, my account is one of only a handful of accounts which are not succeptible to random disconnects when farming these herbs at certain times. Just stand back and let me gather all of the Tiger Lily in the area. I don’t actually need them for anything, I’m just doing a service to my fellow players. As soon as I’ve gathered up all of the bugged herbs and it’s safe for you to gather again, I’ll give you a sign. It may be as subtle as “Predatore laughs at you,” but you’ll know it when you see it. So long, suckers!