Gabryell grimaced. He'd completely forgotten—without Improved Blizzard, the spell didn't apply any slow. It was just raw damage.
Still, the test wasn't a waste. At least now he knew that, during the open beta, Blizzard's damage ticked instantly—unlike later versions of WoW Classic, where there was a noticeable delay.
"If the damage applies instantly… the slow probably does too."
That alone was enough. He was almost certain of it now—once he picked up Improved Blizzard, targets would be slowed the moment it landed.
"With no delay, AoE grinding—and even solo dungeon runs—are going to be way easier."
The thought alone made him want to rush straight to level 23 and start pulling half of Azeroth at once.
It was getting late. Lights-out in the dorm was coming up.
He glanced toward his three roommates. They were still outside Stormwind, deep in PvP, going back and forth without a clear winner.
He left them to it.
Instead of heading back to Ironforge, he took the road toward Loch Modan. He'd need to go there sooner or later anyway—might as well grab the flight path before logging off.
It was already past 11 PM. There were still players around, but far fewer than earlier. Most of the player base—students and office workers—had already logged off. Compared to peak hours before 10, the population had easily dropped by more than half.
Gabryell made his way to Ironband's Excavation Site at a steady run. An elite quest came to mind—Protect the Herd—just below the mountain near the entrance. Close enough to knock out in a few minutes.
At the goat farm, he picked it up from Rudra Amberstill. For a level 20, it was nothing special. All he had to do was kill Vagash, a level 11 elite.
The beast lurked in a cave up and to the left of the farm. In Dun Morogh, he was the only elite tied to a quest—basically the local version of Hogger. Just… a lot less terrifying. Fewer abilities, fewer deaths. Not exactly legendary.
He reached the cave without trouble. The nearby level 8–9 mobs weren't a threat—as long as he didn't get careless.
Inside, Vagash roamed near his spawn point, a hulking snow-beast. Bones lay scattered across the ground—remains of players who hadn't been so lucky.
Not as infamous as Hogger, sure. But still a level 11 elite. Enough to crush most players at this stage.
He rested a finger on his Frostbolt key.
Just as he was about to cast—
A skeleton nearby stirred… then reformed.
A Dwarf Priest materialized beside him.
He paused, attention shifting immediately.
Snowlily.
A delicate name.
On a short, rather rough-looking Dwarf Priest… it felt oddly out of place.
If it had been a Human or Night Elf Priest with that name, it would've painted a very different picture.
"Level 10… Dwarf Priest."
The name didn't matter. The race and class did.
In his eyes, a Dwarf Priest was worth far more than a Human or Night Elf.
Back in Vanilla, the Alliance's edge in raids mostly came down to two things—Paladins… and Dwarf Priests.
Paladins were strong across the board. But Dwarf Priests? They were on another level.
There was even a saying:
Alliance Priests came in two types—Priests, and Dwarf Priests.
The reason was simple. Racials.
Stoneform alone made them a nightmare in PvP—one of the few tools that let a Priest stand a chance against an Undead Rogue.
And then there was their signature spell.
Fear Ward.
A ten-minute buff that negated a fear effect. Simple. Broken.
And in raids, that meant everything.
Bosses like Magmadar in Molten Core—or Onyxia and Nefarian—relied heavily on fear mechanics. Without control, a feared tank could lose aggro instantly… and the raid would collapse.
With Fear Ward, that risk was gone.
A stable tank. A stable fight.
That alone made Dwarf Priests invaluable.
"Yeah… that's a jackpot."
Gabryell's eyes lit up.
Dwarf Priests were rare in Vanilla—for one simple reason: they were ugly. Not many people picked them. Because of that, they ended up like Shamans in The Burning Crusade—always in demand, a treasured asset in any raid.
Years later, in WoW Classic, some raid groups would even offer extra compensation just to recruit one. And even then, they were hard to find. Only after alt characters became more common did their numbers gradually increase.
The first Onyxia kill in WoW Classic was also by the Alliance. The APES guild brought six Priests—every single one of them a Dwarf.
"When you're young, you don't understand how strong Dwarf Priests are. When you're older, you can only stare at Fear Ward and regret it."
Without hesitation, he sent Snowlily a guild invite. The Fearless Guild only had two Dwarf Priests at the moment, and whether they'd even make it to level 60 was uncertain.
Snowlily, sitting on the ground eating and drinking, paused for a few seconds… then declined.
Rejected?
He chuckled to himself. If a stranger randomly threw him a guild invite, he'd reject it too.
"Are you doing Protect the Herd?" he asked, deciding to start by building some rapport.
"Yeah."
Short—but at least she replied.
"No party?"
"I don't have one." She paused, then added, "I'm playing with a friend. She's a Night Elf Hunter, still in Darnassus."
More words. Good sign.
"Want me to help you kill Vagash?"
A party invite followed.
This time, she accepted. With a level 20 player helping, there was no reason to refuse.
"Stay back and heal me. I'll handle it."
Now fully recovered on health and mana, Snowlily stood up.
"Okay."
A level 20 Mage carrying a level 10 Priest against Vagash was effortless. Before long, the elite collapsed under a stream of Frostbolts.
Snowlily stepped forward and looted the quest item—Vagash's tooth. He also dropped a green cloth chest. Since loot was set to free-for-all, it went straight into her bag.
She didn't keep it. Opening a trade, she said, "There's a green cloth chest. Here, take it."
The trade was canceled.
"I don't need it. You use it."
He already had a green chest from Deadmines trash and didn't care about Vagash's drop.
She hesitated for a moment, then accepted and equipped it.
"Let's go turn it in."
Getting her into the guild was the priority. As long as she hadn't joined one yet, he wasn't letting her slip away.
With a level 20 Mage escorting her, the trip back to the goat farm was quick.
After turning in the quest, Snowlily spoke up in party chat. "Thanks. I picked this up at level 8. Tried a few times and failed. I thought I could do it at level 10, but I still died."
A faint smile appeared.
"Add me. We can play together."
She didn't refuse. They became friends.
Keeping the momentum, he pressed on. "Want to join a guild? It's way more fun playing together. If you get stuck on quests later, you can ask for help. Everyone in the guild's pretty helpful—if they're free, they'll lend a hand."
"And dungeons—you can't really clear them without a group. Look at my gear. All dungeon drops."
He linked his blue items.
"There's purple gear later too. In WoW, most of your progression comes from dungeons. Raids need forty people. Without a guild, you're not putting that together."
Persistence paid off. Snowlily was finally convinced.
"I'll join."
Another guild invite was sent. This time, she accepted.
A small breath of relief escaped.
"Welcome to Fearless."
"Thank you."
"I'm logging off now. I'll be back tomorrow," she said.
A quick glance at the time—only a few minutes left before lights out. No chance of reaching the Loch Modan flight path now.
"I'm logging too. If you've got questions tomorrow, just message me."
"Okay. Thanks."
"And don't forget—hearth to an inn before logging out. You'll get rested XP. Double experience."
She thanked him again. The way she kept doing it made it clear—she had good manners.
After hearthstoning back to the inn, he used Teleport to return to Stormwind.
Tomorrow, it was Redridge Mountains. The goal was simple—hit level 25 as soon as possible and start farming the Stockade.