Insider Trader: Connect-the-dot gathering

Insider Trader is your weekly inside line on making, selling and using player-made items.

The experienced gatherers among us know something we don't know – they know where to find stuff. The real old hands know where the nodes are based on years (yeah, literally) of experience. They've collected so much for so long that they've developed time-tested, favorite routes for every zone. And then there are the tech-savvy gatherers who let technology map things out for them. We all know there are mods out there that show you where the nodes that you've gathered are, and most of us even know that you can download data packs that show where other players have found nodes.

There's yet another tool out there that puts all that information together. This mod maps out the easiest route from node to node, connecting the dots in a single, efficient path. All you do is follow the path! Find out how after the break, as well as how to nab a pattern for Green Winter Clothes or Red Winter Clothes if you didn't receive one in the mail at the start of the Winter's Veil season.

For efficient gathering, my friend, what you need is Cartographer! Cartographer's specialty mods (pick the ones for your professions) dot your map with node locations. Cartographer Routes connects the dots, showing you the shortest and most efficient route between them. You can tweak all sorts of fancy effects on your main map, and it shows the basics on your mini-map as well for easy reference.

Here's what you'll need:

• Cartographer

• Mods for your specific profession(s): Cartographer_Mining, Cartographer_Herbalism, Cartographer_Fishing, Cartographer_ExtractGas

• Cartographer Routes

Two important notes (really -- you should read them, honest):

1. If you've just installed Cartographer, you won't have any data to work with yet. You'll want to stop by wowace.com and get Cartographer Data to get you going.

2. You're not done once you've created your route. You need to optimize the route. Then you can tweak the display settings to get it to show things just the way you like it.

Ho, ho, ho (what you'll look like in this outfit?)

If skimpy outfits are your thing, you'll want to make sure you get your mitts on the Winter's Veil Green Winter Clothes and Red Winter Clothes. With a red version for the Alliance and a green version for the Horde, outfit patterns were supposed to be mailed out to players at the beginning of the holiday season. After a mail system snafu scatter-shotted the patterns, missing many players, the patterns were placed on vendors in Ironforge and Orgrimmar for any and all to buy – even those from the opposite faction.

Although the patterns are BoP (so you can't get one for another character), they are not faction-specific, so anyone with a little gumption (or a little luck, or both) can go into the opposing faction's city to purchase a pattern. You can try to find the ready-made outfits on the neutral Auction Houses, of course – but why ruin a magnificently chaotic holiday run for the border?

[via MMO-Champion; thanks, Starfury!]

Insider Trader's Lisa Poisso is a freelance writer, but she usually wears something a little more substantial to write in than this year's Winter Clothes. Her office is cold.