Treasure Chests & Why you should be looking for them

Reason #1: This screenshot below~

Ironstevo finding a treasure chest in Howling Fjord

Getting experience from treasure chests is one thing, but this is just insane! Granted this chest was found while Ironstevo was rested (which gives double xp), but even not at rested this chest would have given 21k xp! There are chests all over the world (not just in Northrend) that give experience for those who find them. Even after hitting level 80 Ironstevo has still been getting full experience from these.

Reason #2: Treasure!! These chests can contain some great loot. My ironman toons are nearly drowning in all of the blues they've gotten from these. I've also gotten multiple Books of Glyph Mastery, blue quality jewelcrafting designs, potions, elixirs and gems out of them! Even Ironsteve (my level 46 druid) is nabbing experience and low-level blues from chests; so whatever level you are, and wherever you are you should be looking for these!

Reason #3: They really aren't difficult to find when you know where to look.

If you want to start finding these things, the first thing I would recommend doing is download the addon GatherMate2 along with GatherMate2_Data. GatherMate2 (the newest version of GatherMate) shows the locations of not only these treasure chests, but also herbs, mining nodes, fish pools and other sought after items once you've found them. It is also important to download GatherMate2_Data along with it, because this will import the data required to show locations of treasure that you haven't found yet.

Once you have GatherMate2 and the supporting data downloaded into your WoW Addons folder, when you next log in you'll notice GatherMate 2 under your AddOns tab. To import the database so that you can begin finding treasure go to the "import" option, check off Treasure and then click the red button that says "Import GatherMate2Data". (See screenshot below) You will get a confirmation that the data has been imported in your chat window.

GatherMate2Data Import (Click to Enlarge)

You may need to play around with some of the settings to get it the way you like depending on where you are and what you would like to find, but once you've got it all set up you should be able to see the nodes on your zone map and your mini-map. The map below is an example of a map with the locations of several different types of treasure chests. When you scroll over a node a text box will appear indicating what type of treasure chest you can find there. Some nodes can have more than one type of chest spawn in that location. In the screenshot below I have scrolled over a node that could potentially spawn a Sturdy Treasure Chest or a Solid Chest.

Sholazar Basin Treasure Chest Locations (Click to Enlarge)

In my searches for these chests I have found a lot. When I say a lot, I really do mean a LOT. My video below is only an example of a  fraction of the chests I've found but it should demonstrate the fact that they are indeed not difficult to find. ~

I would also like to point out that (in Northrend) there can be at least two up in any zone at a time (perhaps more, but I haven't seen this yet myself). I'm still trying to figure out how their spawn timers work, but from what I have gathered so far they seem similar to other rare spawns (the ones that fight back) around Northrend. Like most rares these chest are also much easier to find at odd hours such as early in the morning. The past couple of mornings I've been able to find roughly 7-8 while having my coffee. When I look in the evening I'm lucky if I can find 2 or 3.

UPDATE (5/24/2012):
Ok, so I've been flying around Northrend looking for these chests like crazy for the past couple of weeks and I'd like to note a couple of things. There CAN certainly be more than two up at a time in a particular zone. I rarely find three up in one zone, but I do occasionally -- and just this afternoon I found FOUR up at once in Sholazar Basin. Spawn points also seem completely random. More info to follow as I find things out...