375(Bs)375(miner)... i just recently droped my Bs skill to go for Jc since of course only Epic gems from what i know are BoP.. but my question is, what is this prospecting thing and how do i use it, im a newb for proably missing some bit of info i proably skipped, but any help would be awesome!! thnx all

prospecting is quite simple, when you have a stack of 5 or more ore you can prospect it for rare gems, the ore in destroyed in the process in increments of 5, but the gems u get ae usually worth more than the ore anyway

awesome thnx a bunch!

you can get more than one from prospecting 5 ores, but normally just one.

you can get as many as 3 gems per prospect. but yes, usually only 1.

Once your character can prospect Fel Ore and Adamantite prospecting becomes very profitable, as you can get superior quality uncut gems (Dawnstones, etc).  These sell for between 50g-100g on my server uncut - and I can pretty much name my price for the cut ones as the recipes are either expensive or BoP so there are few active high lvl JCers with the recipes.  These are the gems that go into the socketed items.

Prior to that you will likely do better to just buy or mine for your gems. 

You make a good point about buying the gems. I usually prospect copper because I have such an excess of it, but that was because I was honestly too lazy to check the AH. Perhaps I'll try that now.

I can prospect Fel Iron Ore, but nothing above it.  Do I need to be lvl 70?  I am currently a 66lvl hunter.  JC is at 325, mining is Max'd out.

you can prospect adamantite at jc 350

your mining and your jc do not have to coincide. in other words just because you cant mine adamantite yet doesnt mean you cant prospect it. i have found that unless you have a large amount of gold already, it is more cost effective to sell your ore on the ah, than to prospect it. a stack of 20 adamantite on my server goes for 23 to 26g. you can prospect 4 times out of that stack for a chance of no gem at all. let alone the rare drop. you would have to go through several stacks to get anything worthwhile, and at that point you have lost your profit. i have found the odds of prospecting a rare gem like talasite is about the same as getting one while mining a node. in the end, i have made much less money or gems prospecting than i have just mining straight. unless blizzard ups the propecting rate, or makes it so you cant not get a gem, its not worth it imo.

well let me say that i'm no expert but for me i started by just mining my own copper because at a low level it is so easy to come by it's not worth buying at the AH. But once i made some gold and got my JC up it was much easier to buy certian ore from the AH. Tin is generally cheap and prospecting generally yields a better reward than the price you pain for the ore. i would say depending on your character lvl and JC lvl buying certain ore from the AH for prospecting can make gold as well as help raise your JC lvl much more quickly and effectively than mining it yourself.

so how do u actualy prospect it

you get an icon just as you would for anything else. drag it from your general skills tab to an action bar. have your bag open with your stacks of ore. then right click on your prospecting icon. your little hand cursor will glow, now left click on your stack of ore and walla! youve just prospected. keep in mind you prospect 5 ore at a time. so if you only have 1-4 it will not work. what you have left from the prospect is 1-3 gems and the residual dust form the ore. i.e. copper dust, fel-iron dust, you get the picture. the residual dust is worthless vendo trash except for adamantite dust which is combined with primal earths to create mercurial adamantite which is needed by JC'ers to make certain items. i am currently a 375 miner and 375 JCer and have absolutely no regrets. very fun profession. always getting pst from people wanting gems cut. 1g for a greeny, 5g for a blue and 10g for a meta gem. easy money.

I just started JC. But when I learned JC, the prospecting ablility didnt come with it. Is it supposed to?

you learn the prospecting thing later.

k i have another question...what is copper powder for?

it's a gray named thing so vendor trash....the only ore powder that is worth anything is the adamantite that can be made into mercurial adamantite

what skill level do you need to learn prospecting?

thanks

Here is a table from www.wowwiki.com on prospecting. It might be a little out of alignment but it gives you the ore, the gems you can expect to get from that ore and the percentage chance of getting that gem. Here it is and hope this helps!

Ore  Skill    Common Gems  Uncommon Gems 
[Copper Ore]    20  [Tigerseye] (50%)  [Shadowgem] (10%) 
[Malachite]  (50%) 

[Tin Ore]  50  [Shadowgem] (37.5%)  [Citrine] (3.33%) 
[Lesser Moonstone] (37.5%)  [Jade] (3.33%) 
[Moss Agate] (37.5%)  [Aquamarine] (3.33%) 

[Iron Ore]  125  [Citrine] (30%)  [Aquamarine] (5%) 
[Lesser Moonstone] (30%)  [Star Ruby] (5%) 
[Jade] (30%) 

[Mithril Ore]  175  [Citrine] (30%)  [Azerothian Diamond] (2.5%) 
[Star Ruby] (30%)  [Blue Sapphire] (2.5%) 
[Aquamarine] (30%)  [Large Opal] (2.5%) 
[Huge Emerald] (2.5%) 

[Thorium Ore]  250  [Star Ruby] (30%)  [Blood Garnet] (1.66%) 
[Large Opal] (16%)  [Flame Spessarite] (1.66%) 
[Blue Sapphire] (16%)  [Golden Draenite] (1.66%) 
[Huge Emerald] (16%)  [Deep Peridot] (1.66%) 
[Azerothian Diamond] (16%)  [Azure Moonstone] (1.66%) 
[Shadow Draenite] (1.66%) 

[Fel Iron Ore]  275  [Blood Garnet] (17%)  [Living Ruby] (1%) 
[Flame Spessarite] (17%)  [Noble Topaz] (1%) 
[Golden Draenite] (17%)  [Dawnstone] (1%) 
[Deep Peridot] (17%)  [Talasite] (1%) 
[Azure Moonstone] (17%)  [Star of Elune] (1%) 
[Shadow Draenite] (17%)  [Nightseye] (1%) 

[Adamantite Ore]  325  [Blood Garnet] (19%)  [Living Ruby] (3%) 
[Flame Spessarite] (19%)  [Noble Topaz] (3%) 
[Golden Draenite] (19%)  [Dawnstone] (3%) 
[Deep Peridot] (19%)  [Talasite] (3%) 
[Azure Moonstone] (19%)  [Star of Elune] (3%) 
[Shadow Draenite] (19%)  [Nightseye] (3%)