Blizzard, worried that the Horde might be less popular because of their looks, gave them quite a few advantages in Vanilla. For example, their travel was more convenient than the Alliance's, they had more dungeons along the leveling path, and their quest rewards were generally better.
The Deadmines was the first dungeon most Alliance players encountered. Its Horde counterpart was Wailing Caverns in the Barrens. Even before that, the Horde had Ragefire Chasm in Orgrimmar.
"The mobs in Deadmines aren't that tough. They're about the same as the elites outside."
Inside, the mobs were packed pretty tight. The group moved carefully, clearing them one pull at a time. The level 17 elites weren't much of a threat, and the regular miners were barely worth mentioning.
"I thought it'd be harder. Aren't you being a bit too careful?"
Igor felt the mobs here were even easier than the undead packs outside.
Gabryell just smiled and didn't answer. Blizzard liked designing dungeons this way—easy mobs at the start, then a sudden jump later where everything hits harder.
"Gabryell, you're just pretending not to hear me."
Igor was getting annoyed.
"Mining. Busy."
Gabryell replied casually.
His pickaxe struck the vein, yielding a piece of tin ore and a couple of rough stones.
Watching his Mining skill tick up again, Gabryell felt pretty satisfied. Deadmines was packed with ore veins from start to finish, and with no one competing, it was basically heaven for him.
"There's a door ahead. Let's go."
Carlos stepped in to move things along and led the group through the first door.
The doors in Deadmines were something every Alliance newbie hated. Because of them, you couldn't just rush the dungeon in one go, which meant almost no Mages were willing to boost runs here for gold.
Alliance players had it rough. After finally hitting level 10, they had to beg Mage friends or guildmates for Deadmines runs just to grind to 15 before moving on to the Stockade. Meanwhile, Horde players could get boosted through Ragefire Chasm at level 8, then head to Shadowfang Keep at 10 and ride that all the way to 25 before switching to Scarlet Monastery.
"Just three mobs?"
Carlos hovered over the big guy in the middle. One look and he jumped. "Holy crap—4,490 HP? That's insane."
Hearing that, everyone switched target to Rhahk'Zor, the first boss in Deadmines.
Igor nearly choked. "What is this guy made of? Why is his HP so high?"
Lunatori: "He's huge. Of course he's tanky."
Hugo: "Seriously? 4,490 HP and two adds?"
Rhahk'Zor only had one ability—Rhahk'Zor's Smash. It hit for 64–87 damage in melee range and stunned for 3 seconds. As long as threat stayed stable and heals landed during the stun, they could grind him down.
The tricky part was the two Level 16 Defias Watchmen beside him, each with 1,068 HP, making the fight a lot harder.
"Egides, pull Rhahk'Zor with both Watchmen. Their damage isn't that high—you should be fine tanking all three."
Gabryell added, "Grada, DPS and help with heals—I'm worried Lunatori might run low on mana. Focus the adds first. Don't hold back. The faster they drop, the less pressure on the tank. Then switch to Rhahk'Zor and burn him down."
Facing a boss with over 4,000 HP for the first time, no one dared slack off. Even Igor got serious.
"I'm going in. Keep me topped."
After recovering, Egides charged in, switching to Defensive Stance mid-charge.
Once engaged, he used Demoralizing Shout to reduce the attack power of Rhahk'Zor and the two Watchmen.
The Watchmen used bows, so they had to be body-pulled in to group them up.
"Egides, stack Sunder on him. Dump Rage into Heroic Strike to hold threat."
Gabryell added that once the adds were down, Carlos's threat would be stable, letting everyone go all out without pulling aggro.
"Grada, start with DPS and watch your mana. If Lunatori gets low, switch to healing."
He was worried Igor would burn everything on the adds.
"Relax, Egides. A Paladin's Holy Light will f*ck you up."
That wasn't a typo—Igor typed it on purpose.
Carlos shot back while tanking, "Shut up."
The two Watchmen went down quickly under focus fire. Just then, Rhahk'Zor used Rhahk'Zor's Smash on Egides, stunning him in place.
Three seconds wasn't long. With one and a half healers, it was easy to cover.
As soon as the stun ended, Egides used Disarm to ease the pressure on heals.
"Keep it up—just burn him down."
Watching Rhahk'Zor's HP steadily drop, Gabryell relaxed. The group was stronger than expected—after just one day, their coordination was already solid.
As the gatekeeper boss, Rhahk'Zor was just there to guard the entrance. His 4,490 HP was slowly chipped away by the five of them.
"Nice."
Carlos couldn't help clapping as Rhahk'Zor dropped.
Igor immediately started bragging again. "Pfft, I thought he'd be tough. Just a big HP sponge."
As he spoke, his Paladin crouched down to loot.
Gabryell didn't stop him. Rhahk'Zor didn't drop anything good anyway—just one green and one white, both vendor trash.
Looking at the Rhahk'Zor Hammer in his bag, Igor's face darkened. "Are you kidding me? This is a boss? Why is it dropping trash?"
Everyone saw it in party chat and started roasting him.
"Grada, you've got terrible luck. Stop looting."
"Bro, we said Lunatori was looting. Why'd you grab it again? Zero self-awareness."
Igor shot back, "Back in the starter zone, Ogabs said I had lucky hands."
"Ahem—"
Gabryell cleared his throat. He wasn't about to tell him Rhahk'Zor never dropped blues. "Times change. With Lunatori here, your luck's already been drained."
Lunatori said, "Can I loot the next boss?"
Igor felt frustrated but couldn't argue—the hammer in his bag said it all.
After Rhahk'Zor went down, the door behind him opened.
They moved on, with Egides leading the way.
"Let's go left first."
Gabryell hadn't forgotten—at the end of the left path, there was a chance for a rare to spawn: Miner Johnson.
He could drop a strong level 15 blue shield—Gold-plated Buckler, perfect for Carlos's Warrior.
For Alliance players, the Gold-plated Buckler was basically on the same level as Kresh's Back from Wailing Caverns—one of the best shields at this stage.
The mobs here were level 18, still not much of a threat. The only thing to watch out for was pulling patrols before clearing the nearby Defias Miners. If a patrol got pulled first, the miners would drop their pickaxes and rush whoever was closest.
A swarm of them could hurt—a pack of 400+ HP miners hitting together was worse than a single patrol.
They kept clearing carefully until they reached the fork.
Gabryell's eyes lit up when he saw Miner Johnson at the end.
He'd spawned. Their luck held.
"Clear everything first, then we take the rare."
Because of linked aggro, pulling Miner Johnson would bring all the nearby miners with him.
Miner Johnson was just a named rare—level 19 with only 1,144 HP. Compared to Rhahk'Zor, he was a joke.
"Lunatori loots."
The moment he dropped, Gabryell spoke up, stopping Igor from grabbing the green Miner's Cape.
Igor held back reluctantly. "No way this trash mob drops anything good."
In his mind, a 4,000+ HP boss dropped white gear—there was no way a 1,000 HP mob would drop anything worth taking.
He was wrong.
Lunatori stepped forward and looted. The window popped up:
Gold-plated Buckler (Rare)
Binds when picked up
Off Hand (Shield)
471 Armor
9 Block
+2 Agility
+5 Stamina
Requires Level 15
Lunatori didn't disappoint—she pulled the Gold-plated Buckler instead of the more common Miner's Cape.
"Hahaha—told you, her loot luck's insane."
Carlos was the most excited—he could finally replace his level 10 green shield.
Igor looked miserable. "What the hell, game? How does this trash mob drop a blue? This makes no sense."
Faced with it, he couldn't help wondering if he was just unlucky.
Hugo grinned. "Lunatori's cracked—blue on the first try."
Lunatori: "Hehe."
She looked just as happy.
Gabryell only smiled. He was the only one who knew the truth—he'd set Igor up on purpose to keep him from looting everything.