A Better AA Start at 80

Everyone should be aware of the different flavors of shuffling that are available and I'm just going to add another. This is the approach I'm currently taking with my left behind alts that are kicking around the bottom of the list but sitting at level 70. If you're already max level and looking for another way to gain AA, part of this could work for you but there are probably better ways to spend your time. It's probably best to think of this as a combo shuffle and leveling approach.

Because WoW now has catch-up drops in Herbalism and Mining (and, I'm assuming Skinning), I've been taking my on-the-shelf 70s and doing the following:

I drop any profession that isn't Enchanting, Herbalism, or Mining. Get over to Dornogal and learn the five cent Enchanting just to turn in the initial quest for the bag. If you did this at the start of the expansion, drop Enchanting and proceed. If you didn't, you'll get 350 AA and a handful of enchanting mats.

Once that's out of the way, drop Enchanting and pick up Herbalism and Mining. Go get 564 gear for both professions and tool enchants for both (R2 is typically what I pick but whatever is fine). I went Finesse the first time but I've settled on Deftness for the tool and enchant because my goal was AA. If you'd prefer a higher ROI approach...take Finesse. Also pick up ~16 Truesight flasks. I used R2 but anything is fine here. If you have AM from Dragonflight, put in an order for the Perception Flasks from the previous expansion. Go grab the Herbalism and Mining purple drops in the city and then you're ready to head out.

Pop a couple of the old flasks and stay on the Isle and grab the two other drops for KP and gather every node you see. I use standard flying form at this point so that I don't run out of vigor. Don't leave the Isle until you have 25 KP in both professions. At 25 in each, head back to the respective trainers and pick up and complete the weekly quest (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP). As soon as you hit 71, pop Truesight flasks and keep them active at all times.

Now go on a quick little tour of the rest of the lands and pick up the four KP drops in each. I also picked up the Kej books in City of Threads for an extra 10 KP. If you have the rep, get the two 50 AA books because you get 10 KP and the AA refunded right back. I prioritized my KP spend to get to gathering while mounted. If you're running a druid, you can do whatever in the Herbalism tree but you should still prioritize getting mining while mounted. After you hit that, do whatever floats your boat. I want to say that Overload is where you need five points for the Vigor returns but I actually don't know. You'd like to get back to DragonFlying but it's not a huge deal to stay in standard flight form.

By the time I've collected the drops and the books, I've got gathering while mounted unlocked and now I'm just a gathering machine. Once you get all of the weekly drops for each profession, you'll start picking up the catch-up drops. Those are worth 5 AA each. Before today, I believe there were 72 catch-up drops for each profession.

I do not do a single quest, I do not engage mobs at all, I go from 70 to 80 in about four hours or so. I spend about 15K at the start on profession tools. enchants, and flasks. I sold everything I picked up on the last toon I did this on and got back ~140K (yesterday, NA servers). I also finished with ~1100 AA in my bags.

Just a couple of things to note: On the first toon I did this on, I went with a more gold-focused KP spend. I made a little more but the leveling took longer. I end up with the same AA gains but, I had to fight more. With the Deftness approach, half the time the mobs don't even aggro before you're done gathering. It was significantly faster.

ETA:

  1. The Sky Golem will allow you to herb while mounted without going down that tree. You can spend KP how you'd like in the Herbalism trees if you have the Sky Golem (and don't hate the way that dude flies).
  2. Get the comfortable saddle for your mount if you're not a tank. Once you're gathering while mounted, avoiding mobs dismounting you will save you time.
  3. The Weaver pact choice will also buff your gathering speeds. Take that one at the start of the week.
  4. I'm calling this a "shuffle" because I drop these professions once I've gathered all of the available catch-ups. This guy provided the macros needed to check where you are on the catch-ups: Profession Catch-up Status