GrendelsBane

The second of the seven primals that I am going to cover will be Primal Life. Just like with Primal Earth, where you’re ahead of the rest in obtaining them if you have the mining profession, the advantage lies in having Herbalism when it comes to Primal Life. When your herbalism reaches a skill level of 300, and you begin gathering all around Outland, you’ll have the chance of getting Mote of Life (10 Mote of Life = 1 Primal Life) from each herb you pick. Receiving mote of life from herbs doesn’t seem quite as common as obtaining mote of earth and mote of fire with mining, but they will still add up for you.

Farming Locations

The real advantage to having herbalism comes when you start killing mobs for primal life. The areas that I would suggest to farm or grind, and where I’ve had the most success, are all in Zangarmarsh. The first area is The Dead Mire which is located in the NE corner of the zone (loc 80, 38) north of the Cenarion Refuge. You’ll want to hunt the Bog Lords and similar mobs (level 61-62). They can drop mote of life as loot and then can be gathered using herbalism for a second chance at more motes. I have had times where I’ll loot 1-2 from the mob then gather another 1-2. Receiving 2 motes of life from one mob is fairly common. While hunting in this area the only issues you’ll run into are avoiding the Parched Hydras and the fact that it can get a little crowded with people running quests and others that are farming motes of life for primals too.

The second area, Quagg Ridge, (loc 29, 62) is towards the SW side of Zangarmarsh; east of the path and the “Cenarion Outpost.” You’re still after Bog Lords and similar mobs (loot and gather them). They are level 63-64 in this area. Only issues here will be people running quests that need them and that the Bog Lords throw Unstable Shrooms at you during the fight. The Unstable Shrooms will stay in one spot and grow until they explode on you causing DD and leave a DoT on you as well. They have very few HP’s so you can normally 1 or 2 shot them or do as I do and just move out of range and keep my focus on the Bog Lord. Very seldom are there people farming motes of life in this area so you should very little competition here.

The Best Farming Location

Now for the easiest area in the zone to farm primal life and the area I always go. Head for the SW corner of Zangarmarsh and find The Spawning Glen (loc 15, 62). The Bog Lords here are level 63-64 and are the only aggressive mobs in the area. They do mostly melee dmg but also have an AoE DD that has a small knock back effect and they will cast a disease based DoT with slow run speed that stacks multiple times. The knock back does interrupt spell casting. If anyone else is hunting in this area they are normally running quests. Very few people seem to come here to farm motes of life for primals; they all head for The Dead Mire. In addition to motes of life from the Bog Lords (I’ve gotten as many as 4 from a single mob between loot & herbalism) you’ll be getting 2 other items that can be turned in for reputation through repeatable quests. Unidentified Plant Parts will take you to Honored with Cenarion Expedition. And Bog Lord Tendril will take you to Friendly with the Sporeggar. You will also receive Sporeggar Rep from killing the Bog Lords until you hit Revered. The Unidentified Plant Parts and Bog Lord Tendril are not soul bound so you can mail them to an alt or sell them in the auction house. The mobs also drop Living Essence that is used in many pre Burning Crusade professions. The only issue in this area to watch for is more of an inconvenience then anything. The Bog Lords will chase and kill the Sporeggar Spawn (npc’s) on a regular basis. When they do, they will evade your attacks while running back to their primary pathing after the kill. A wasted nuke is all it boils down to, but a pain none the less.

Price

As for the auction house on our server, a Primal Life is going for 7-12 gold right now.

Make sure to watch for more strategies about farming primals under Tips of the Trade. I hope that I have helped.

Happy Hunting and Be Safe,

Post WotLK Launch Update:

In the AH on our server Primal Life, as with all the other Primals post launch of the WotLK expansion, have dropped drastically. Primals only seem to be needed by those who a leveling professions so the demand just isn’t there anymore. May I suggest taking a look in the AH to see what kind of deals you can find before spending your time farming. Odds are you’ll come out ahead in the long run.