Not a single member of the raid had survived, and no one had a Soulstone up, so they had no choice but to make the corpse run.
While they were running back, a yellow server message appeared.
The game would receive an update on Thursday. Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley would finally open, and the temporary PvP rank cap would rise from Rank 6 to Rank 10—Lieutenant Commander for the Alliance and Champion for the Horde. The corresponding rank gear would become available as well.
Dire Maul, a brand-new five-player dungeon, would also open.
Along with it would come the Level 60 class mount quests for Warlocks and Paladins, the Dire Maul class quests, the Arcanum quests, and more.
Anyone who wanted the full patch details could check the official website.
"The battlegrounds and Dire Maul are finally opening."
Gabryell was delighted.
At least he wouldn't be bored during the day anymore. He could mess around in the battlegrounds or make money in Dire Maul.
PvP was still thriving in this era. Gold-farming operations hadn't yet flooded the battleground scene, and once the battlegrounds opened, huge numbers of PvP players would pour in. Gear that was especially good for PvP would only become more valuable.
That was the kind of environment that would later give Ashkandi its reputation as a guild-breaker. Back then, one coveted PvP weapon could turn guildmates against each other. In the later Classic era, when PvP mattered far less, the same kind of drop wouldn't carry nearly as much weight.
Battlegrounds were for fun.
Dire Maul was for making money.
Once it opened, Gabryell wouldn't need to solo farm Maraudon for gold anymore. He could use his Mage to solo Dire Maul East and mine along the way, or level a Hunter and run Dire Maul North tribute runs by himself.
Even Priests could farm lashers in Dire Maul East and check Dusty Tome spawns for extra money.
Of course, high-end solo farming would always belong to a small number of players. This era would never reach the point where everyone and their mother was farming Dire Maul.
Hunters capable of soloing perfect tribute runs were already top-tier players, and there were even fewer Mages who could reliably solo Dire Maul East while mining.
"Foror's Compendium of Dragon Slaying."
Gabryell immediately thought of the book.
Early on, plenty of players wouldn't understand how valuable it was. If one dropped during a normal Dire Maul run and ended up on the Auction House, there was a good chance the seller wouldn't ask for much.
Its value was also tied directly to Onyxia.
If players couldn't even kill Onyxia, Foror's Compendium was practically useless.
As a Mage, however, what Gabryell cared about most was the class quest available in the Dire Maul Library.
"Finally, I'll have decent water."
Without Dire Maul, there was no Rank 7 Conjure Water and no Level 55 Conjured Crystal Water.
It was hard to go back once you had gotten used to something better.
Gabryell remembered Crystal Water restoring 140 mana per second. Compared to that, the roughly 97 mana per second from Level 45 Conjured Sparkling Water felt painfully slow.
Once Rank 7 Conjure Water became available, drinking between pulls would be much faster and raid progression would waste a lot less time.
"What exactly are battlegrounds and Dire Maul?" someone asked.
The announcement had completely shifted everyone's attention away from the corpse run.
Gabryell said, "I'm not entirely sure either. When we're done here, check the official website. They should have all the details."
He paused.
"My guess is battlegrounds put a bunch of players into a separate map and let them fight it out. Dire Maul is probably just another level-60 five-man."
A new five-player dungeon wasn't nearly as exciting to most of them as the idea of battlegrounds.
"So if we want to PvP later, we can just go fight in the battlegrounds?" David asked excitedly.
"Probably."
David laughed. "I just wonder if it'll be a free-for-all or if we'll be fighting the Horde."
Susie snorted.
"You seriously want to kill our own faction?"
"I've hated Freedom for ages," David said. "If the battlegrounds let us kill Alliance players, I'm wiping those bastards out."
Gabryell laughed.
"If you want to know what they're like, just wait until they open and try them yourselves. I'll organize a group and we can all go together."
Everyone immediately liked that idea.
The rest of the corpse run turned into one long discussion about battlegrounds.
Since none of them had actually seen one yet, all they could do was imagine.
OldSeven was already fantasizing about taking on a hundred enemies by himself, slaughtering everyone in sight, and becoming some legendary PvP Mage.
"Hillsbrad is about to become a bloodbath again."
Gabryell knew what was coming.
When Alterac Valley first opened, players couldn't simply queue from a capital city. They had to travel out to the battlefield entrance themselves.
Once Alliance and Horde PvP players started converging around Hillsbrad Foothills, a much larger open-world war was practically guaranteed.
After making it back inside Molten Core, Gabryell immediately told everyone to recover.
"Once you're topped off, rebuff. Don't run ahead to loot the boss. There's still trash on the way, so we move together."
Magmadar was dead, which meant the patrolling Core Hounds would stop respawning after they were killed.
The problem was that some of the hounds they had cleared earlier had already respawned before Magmadar died.
There were also Flame Imps along the route.
Anyone trying to run back alone would just be donating another corpse.
Gabryell waited until everyone had recovered and finished rebuffing before giving the order to move.
They killed two Core Hounds and cleared two packs of Flame Imps on the way before finally making it back to Magmadar's corpse.
"I have a request."
OldSeven had apparently gotten addicted to looting bosses.
"Let me loot again."
He had already convinced himself that he was the raid's lucky hand.
Gabryell immediately rejected him.
"Not this time. Coldhands gets it. Consider it a reward for taking the boss down with him at the end."
Without Coldhands's final Frostbolt, they would have wiped with Magmadar at a fraction of a percent.
No one objected.
"Me? I couldn't possibly."
Coldhands sounded reluctant.
His body clearly disagreed.
He was already moving toward the corpse.
"Well, if everyone insists, I guess I'll do it. Just don't blame me if the loot sucks."
Then he Blinked straight over to Magmadar before anyone could change their mind.
"What dropped?" Gabryell asked.
Coldhands laughed.
"A weapon and two pairs of pants. Haha! A weapon! Looks like I beat Seven this time."
A weapon?
Gabryell immediately walked over.
Could it be Striker's Mark?
Then he checked the loot.
His expression froze.
It was a weapon, all right.
Unfortunately, it wasn't Striker's Mark.
It was a two-handed sword.
Obsidian Edged Blade
Binds when picked up
Two-Hand Sword
176 - 264 Damage
Speed 3.40
(64.7 damage per second)
+42 Strength
Durability 120 / 120
Requires Level 60
Equip: Increased Two-handed Swords +8.
Gabryell grimaced.
"Nice going. You actually pulled the damn butcher's knife. Why not go all the way and give us an Earthshaker too?"
Of the weapons Magmadar could drop, the one Gabryell actually cared about was Striker's Mark.
He checked the other two items.
Both were T1 legs.
"My mistake. I never should've let Coldhands loot."
Cenarion Leggings.
Lawbringer Legplates.
Gabryell stared at them for a moment.
"Whatever. Two healer T1 pieces. I'll count that as lucky."
They hadn't even cleared Molten Core yet. At this stage, healer gear certainly wasn't a bad drop.
Actually, almost nothing was.
Whatever dropped, someone in the raid probably needed it.
Gabryell only thought the loot looked bad because he was judging it with the mindset of someone who already knew what would matter later.
"See that?"
Coldhands linked Obsidian Edged Blade in raid chat.
"Two-hander. High DPS. Huge stats. That's a real Warrior weapon."
As far as Coldhands was concerned, pulling an epic weapon settled the argument.
His luck had beaten Seven's.