Level cooking from one to Zen with Sungshin Ironpaw
At first, I thought it was just a beta feature -- a way to get everyone's cooking up to the level where the new Ways could be tested. But as time went on and news appeared of updates to the leveling processes for inscription and cooking, I grew happy at the prospect of not having to wait until November to level every alt's cooking skill.
Sungshin Ironpaw stands at Halfhill Market, right across from the Halfhill flightpoint, in the Valley of the Four Winds on Pandaria's continent. A toon must be 85 or higher to start the quest for Zen Master cooking skill (525-600 skill).
Sungshin has a full set from 1 to 525 skill of pandaren dishes, most of which use ingredients sold by her. You will have to bring some fish and couple pieces of meat yourself, but by and large you can buy and cook your way to 525 without moving, since Sungshin is standing next to a cooking pot!
Here's what you'll need to bring with you to Halfhill Market:
Approximately 350 gold as recommended by El's Anglin. Your gold experience may vary. I did the 1-525 run on live realms with my 85 paladin, who is in my main's raiding guild with the Bartering guild perk, and she spent about 280 gold on training and ingredients.
42 Golden Carp. Golden Carp are the new "vendorfish" for Pandaria, except the Carp is actually still useful for other things. Golden Carp are fishable from any open water, inland or coastal, in Pandaria.
2 Wildfowl Breast, which you can gather from killing just about any bird on Pandaria. There are some cranes in the marshes just north of Halfhill if you are level 86 or higher.
Once you meet up with Sungshin, take a look at what she sells. What you'll need to buy:
6 Instant Noodles
18 Needle Mushrooms
27 Pandaren Peaches
6 Silkworm Pupa
16 Yak Milk
17 Rice
6 Red Beans
6 Farm Chickens
6 Barley
2 Ginseng
Every dish gives you 5 skill points for each batch you make. From 1 to 480, you can learn a new recipe every 30 skill points or 6 dishes. After 480, the next dish is at 495 (make 3 dishes), then at 510 (make 3 more), then at 520 (make 2 dishes). You can level the last 5 points to 525 with just 1 Rice Pudding, but I included 4 more in my shopping list to complete the quest for the Zen Master level of cooking.
Remember to train your cooking levels -- Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, Master, Grand Master, and Illustrious Master -- when you reach the highest skill point (if not earlier), so you don't overcook an item without gaining skill points!
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
