The 5 Volatile materials in Cataclysm Classic are required for a large number of crafting recipes and, as many of you are likely already starting to see while leveling your own professions, they are used frequently and often in fairly large amounts.
Volatile Farming Hub
We've put together a list of some of the most efficient routes for farming the 4 main volatile elements, with options for players depending on whether they have professions available to them or not. Depending on the element being targeted, there are certain professions that can help with gathering the Volatile materials.
A good example of this would be the Electrostatic Condenser for Engineers, who can then find additional Volatile Air when mining, or fishing in lava pools for Volatile Fire.
Herbalists have access to a 5th Volatile element, Volatile Life, which can be used by Alchemists to transmute Volatiles into one of the 4 main elements, either at random or determined by the zone that the player is in when transmuting. Our Volatile Farming Hub goes over some of the finer points around obtaining Volatile Life, including how non-Herbalists can obtain them.
Volatile Earth Farming Guide Volatile Air Farming Guide Volatile Water Farming Guide Volatile Fire Farming Guide