Three objects, three players: how a Basic Campfire fills up

A Basic Campfire looks like a solo object. Blizzard’s camping guide of 21 October describes it as a small group project.

The capacity rule

A Basic Campfire, the first thing Cooking makes, supports up to three additional camp features, and each player can add one. A full basic camp therefore needs three contributors. One player cannot fill it alone.

Every camp feature needs a campfire nearby, and all of them share a cooldown of one hour.

What committing a placement costs

That shared cooldown is the hidden price. If you place your Fishing Bowl, you cannot place your First Aid Kit, your Sharpening Wheel or anything else for an hour. A player with two or three professions that make camp features has to pick one, and at the baseline cooldown the next has to wait an hour.

The Legacy perk Field Guide reduces that one-hour cooldown. It is the only way the published sources describe to shorten it.

Note that the cooldown governs placing features. It is not a statement about how long a fire or a feature lasts, and those durations are still unmeasured. Our campfire timing article covers what is and isn’t known.

Coordinating a camp

Before three people start dropping objects, a quick check saves cooldowns:

• What does the group already have? The guide sets no rule on which kinds of feature can share a fire, so this is a judgment call. Most features are exclusive with a class buff. A First Aid Kit is wasted next to a Priest’s Fortitude. Our buff table has the pairs.
• Who is moving on soon? The benefits come from sitting or crafting at the camp for at least a minute. There is no point placing a feature for someone about to leave.
• Who has the cooldown free? Someone who placed a feature at the last stop may have to sit this one out.

Bigger camps later

The first camp items come at profession skill 20, from starter zone quests or trainers. Items needing skill 140 or more drop in dungeons and raids. Cooks can eventually learn upgraded campfires that allow five, or even ten, objects.

On a PvP ruleset, a busy camp is also a target. The guide notes the added risk when enemy players come upon your camp.