In World of Warcraft, there are 6 varieties of cloth, if we include Netherweave Cloth, which is only found in Outlands (requires Burning Crusade). Pieces of cloth drop most commonly from mobs, but bolts can also be found in various chests as well as trunks you may find while fishing.
They are:
- Linen
- Wool
- Silk
- Mageweave
- Runecloth
- Netherweave
Cloth is very useful for all classes and all races, because everyone can take the First Aid secondary profession. Indeed, everyone not only can, but should. In addition to First Aid, cloth is useful to almost every one who has a Crafting (as opposed to Gathering) primary profession.
Cloth is obviously crucial to tailors to craft their wares. A limited number of Leatherworking and Blacksmithing recipes also call for Bolts or Pieces of cloth. When a leatherworker or blacksmith requires a bolt of cloth, he will either have to call on a guild mate, or, more commonly, purchase the bolt from the local Auction House.
The best way to gather cloth is, like almost everything else in World of Warcraft, to farm it. Here are the best places and the top mobs to kill to farm the different types of cloth. Please note that unless you are a tailor, the cloth you pick up during the course of your adventures should be more than enough to level up your First Aid skill, with stacks to spare for the Auction House!
Useful Farming Tip #1
You should always farm with the highest level character you have in the same faction (i.e. Horde or Alliance) as the intended recipient of your farming efforts. This will save you countless hours of frustration, death, and below-par farming.
Linen Cloth
Humanoid mobs in the 5-15 level range drop linen cloth.
- Westfall: Defias Looters and Defias Trappers have an average combined drop rate of 76%. They are level 11-14 and are mostly present in the Central and Western areas of Westfall.
- The Barrens: The Kolkar Wranglers, Bloodchargers and others, located in Central Barrens near Crossroads, all have similar excellent linen cloth drop rates. They are mostly level 11-16 and should present no problems.
All these mobs also have excellent respawn rates, so the place would have to be very crowded for you to run out of mobs to kill.
Wool Cloth
Humanoid mobs in the 14-36 level range drop wool cloths. The mobs with best drop rates are:
- The Mosshide Gnolls in Wetlands. Mosshide Gnolls of every stripe except the Mosshide Alphas have Wool Cloth drop rates of about 36%. I speak from experience when I say that the respawn rates are incredibly fast, sometimes so fast you won’t have time to loot the chests that appear every so often in the Mosshide camps.
- Stockades and Deadmines Instance. If you are farming with a high-level character, as you should, then you should have no problems clearing out either of these instances in little over 30 minutes. You should have between 60 and 100 pieces of Wool Cloth, and quite a bit of Linen to boot.
Silk Cloth
Silk cloths primarily from humanoid mobs in the 25-40 level range, some exceptions apply. While they can be found in Gnomeregan (instance) as well as from the Bloodsail people in Stranglethorn Vale, the very best place to farm Silk Cloth is:
- The Scarlet Monastery. The Scarlet Monastery Instance, in Northern Tirisfal Glades, is absolutely awash with Silk Cloth, in traditional ecclesiastical opulence. Going by yourself to Scarlet Monastery will yield more Silk Cloth than you can carry, and I’m only exaggerating a little bit. Definitely make room in your bags before you go.
Mageweave
Mageweave is very useful for tailors/enchanters who can create relatively valuable items to disenchant. For this reason, the competition for the best farming spot is usually pretty fierce. Be sure to implement Useful Farming Tip #1 (farm with your highest level character) if you want to actually farm anything.
- Deadwood Furbolgs in southern Felwood are level 47-50 mobs and have a combined drop rate for Mageweave of over 100%, meaning that if you kill 100 of them, in the end you will have more than 100 Mageweave. This is pretty hard to beat, and is also well known.
Runecloth
Runecloth drops from Humanoid mobs level 50 and up, all the way to 61-62 in Outlands. There are several excellent farming spots in Azeroth and Outlands for Runecloth, and they are:
- Silithus. The Twilight Cultists, Avengers, etc, seem to be made of the stuff. You can expect an aggregated drop rate of over 35% from these mobs.
- Western and Eastern Plaguelands. All the Undead in both these areas have excellent drop rates for Runecloth, and make an excellent farming spot, since you’re unlikely to run out of undead to kill.
- Hellfire Peninsula. If you have the Burning Crusade Expansion Pack, you can farm Runecloth from Bleeding Hollow Peons (around coordinates 56,70). They reportedly have a 32% drop rate for Runecloth. The Unyielding Footmen, Knights and Sorcerers in the Expedition Armory (just south of Honor Hold) also have exceptionaly good Runecloth drop rates.
Netherweave
Pretty much all humanoids in the Outlands drop Netherweave, as it is — for now — the top of the list as far as cloth goes. The best drop rates are for level 70 and up mobs in Netherstorm, however there is one exception:
- Voidspawns. The Voidspawns resemble the Warlock’s Voidwalker. They are not too tough to kill and can be found all round the huge diamond that dominates South Western Nagrand. The Voidspawns are in the 64-66 level range, and drop Netherweave at a combined rate of roughly 79%
Useful Farming Tip #2
When farming, whatever it is for, make sure your bags are empty. This goes especially around level 50 and up. The ‘grey’ vendor trash items you pick up will more than pay for your repairs and if you are lucky, will leave you a tidy profit on top of that.