Since my Shaman is a Miner, I dragged the pickaxe into the new zones, and to my surprise, the new materials were active. In addition, there is some post in the American forums from the times of Alpha and a lot of information on Wowhead about spells so it is easy to get a lot of data.
Like all professions in Cataclysm, Mining can go up to a level of 525. The new range is known as Illustrious Grandmaster and it will be necessary for us to collect the new types of minerals that we will find in Cataclysm. In addition, this new rank will allow us to reach Rank 7 of Consistency which will now grant us a not inconsiderable 120 Stamina points.
New "eternal"
Within the new ores we can find a new type of material that will serve us for professions such as Enchanting or Engineering. In The Burning Crusade they were the Ancient Ones, in Wrath of the Lich King the Eternals and in Cataclysm ... we don't know yet but the fragments are characterized by "volatile".
Here is the list:
It is likely that later several can be joined to form some type of elemental as happens in the rest of the expansions but there is still no data in this regard. The great "novelty" is that it allows us to stack stacks of 200 of these volatiles so our bags will no longer fill 10 by 10.
New minerals
The first mineral that we will find in the zones is the Obsidian. It is a fairly common mineral and when mining it we can find Obsidian Shard, Gems and some of the new volatiles already mentioned. Miners can Carve Obsidian and they will get Carved obsidian that will serve the rest of the professions to make objects.
Although Obsidian can be mined, there is no obsidian ore as is and we will not be able to create conventional bars.
The next ore in order of rarity is Pyrite. We could compare it to Cobalt from Wrath of the Lich King. In order to Smelt Pyrite in a Pyrite Bar we will need 2 ores of this new metal.
In addition, Pyrite and Obsidian give us the ability to create Ebony steel.
- 4 x Pyrite Bar
- 4 x Carved obsidian
Lastly, the rarest metal in Cataclysm looks like it will be the elementium. Does it sound familiar to you? It is normal. They have chosen the same name that it had in classic World of Warcraft. Classic items have been renamed Elementium Ingot (the old Elementium ore) and Hardened Elementium (the old Elementium bar).
It could certainly be compared to Steel of Titans although, for now, it has no cooldown when melted (in Wowhead).
- 10 x Elementium Ore
- 20 x Volatile Earth
I hope it gives you an insight into what we can see in Mining in Cataclysm. Soon we will see the professions directly affected by mining: Ironworks. e Engineering.