MMORPG.com World of Warcraft Correspondent Hylton Bujis writes this look at teh Hunter-gatherer in Blizzard's hit MMO.

Throughout the evolution of Homo sapiens, there has been this group of people dedicated to the gathering and acquisition of resources: hunter-gatherers. Originally, the entire human race was made up with these men and women, gathering berries and wood or hunting Woolly Mammoths or various mammals. Present day, hunter-gatherers are all but extinct, due to the progress of agriculture and the domestication of animals which used to be hunted.

This, however, does not discourage the average World of Warcraft player from making big piles of gold from the latest sales of his or her Saronite Ore. It does not discourage them from letting out an exuberant cry as they finally pick up that last Arctic Fur they've needed since forever, or even, when that darn coin finally lets itself get fished.

Read Hunter-Gatherers

0.7% crit < 500 health?

Yeah.... Right.

I don't think this guy knows the meaning of the term "min-maxxing".

"...making big piles of gold from the latest sales of his or her Saronite Ore..."

Haha, what? I dunno what server the author plays on, but on the two I frequent you can't hardly give away Saronite, the market is flooded with it. If I don't have an immediate Engineering need for it, I just smelt it to bars and vendor it for 25g a stack. Most days you can't sell it for that on the AH after the fees (a stack of bars is 7g50s for a 24 hour listing).

 *Edit - I would add that if you are serious about making money from Mining, you are far better off going after Mithril and Thorium, esp. Thorium since no one spends much time in those zones any longer and people leveling up trade skills need large amounts. There is usually little of either on the AH and when it appears it commands premium prices, at least double what Saronite goes for and they are only 1 ore to 1 bar whereas Saronite takes 2 ore to make 1 bar.

This is about the 3rd profession topic that has come up in a month or two.  We all know about them.  Pick a new topic.

Originally posted by Longswd

"...making big piles of gold from the latest sales of his or her Saronite Ore..."

Haha, what? I dunno what server the author plays on, but on the two I frequent you can't hardly give away Saronite, the market is flooded with it. If I don't have an immediate Engineering need for it, I just smelt it to bars and vendor it for 25g a stack. Most days you can't sell it for that on the AH after the fees (a stack of bars is 7g50s for a 24 hour listing).

 

 *Edit - I would add that if you are serious about making money from Mining, you are far better off going after Mithril and Thorium, esp. Thorium since no one spends much time in those zones any longer and people leveling up trade skills need large amounts. There is usually little of either on the AH and when it appears it commands premium prices, at least double what Saronite goes for and they are only 1 ore to 1 bar whereas Saronite takes 2 ore to make 1 bar. 

longswd - the bit your missing is the smelting it to bars 

ores are needed in large amounts by the jewelcrafters - if your smelting it up and trying to sell as bars then you are cutting out 1/3 of your market and thus losing at least 50% of your profit.