Nifty Stopwatch (Uncommon)
Binds when picked up
Trinket
Use: Increases your movement speed by 40% for 10 sec. (30 Min Cooldown)
The Nifty Stopwatch's only real drawback was its long cooldown. Still, as the only on-use movement-speed trinket in vanilla WoW, it was worth getting for every class.
Swiftness Potions cost money, so plenty of players hated using them. Skull of Impending Doom cost health. One careless mistake and you could kill yourself with it. Compared to those, a 30-minute cooldown was perfectly acceptable.
"Hugo, how many Elemental Earths have you gotten?"
After equipping the Nifty Stopwatch, Gabryell checked on Hugo, who was farming earth elementals nearby. Having an entire farming area uncontested felt incredible.
Hugo sounded dissatisfied. "Only six."
Six in such a short amount of time, and he still was not happy. This guy clearly had no idea how low the drop rate for Elemental Earth actually was. He probably thought it was some white-quality trash item that should drop every kill.
"I also got an Essence of Earth. It's green quality. Is that worth more than Elemental Earth?" Hugo asked while linking the item.
Of the four elemental essences, the least valuable was Essence of Fire. Molten Core dropped mountains of the stuff. Next came Essence of Earth, which was also plentiful in Molten Core.
After that was Essence of Water. Back in 2004, before Dire Maul East solo farming became widespread, it sold for quite a bit, especially outside the Azshara fishing spots. The most expensive of them all was naturally Essence of Air. Farming it in Silithus meant constant fights over mobs. The ground was always covered in skeletons.
Gabryell shook his head. "Don't judge items by color. Look at what people use them to craft. Elemental Earth is worth more. Save it for now and sell it later. Early on, each one can go for several gold."
Hugo was shocked. "That expensive? Then I might as well stay here a little longer and stockpile some."
Gabryell invited Carlos, Igor, and the newly logged-in Lunatori to the group. "Everyone's here. Let's run Uldaman first. You can come back and farm later when you're level 45 and out of things to do."
Carlos, Igor, and Hugo were still level 39. Lunatori had continued farming Scarlet Monastery with DesertWanderer's group last night and had already reached level 40.
Including Lunatori, Fearless already had eight level 40 players besides Gabryell.
David, Susie, DontPanicHealz, SevenDays, Mushroom-Picking Girl, DesertWanderer, Nightlord, and TwinBleeds.
There were also around twenty more players sitting at level 38 or 39.
Gabryell messaged the level 40 players one by one, telling them the guild's 100-gold reward would be distributed in two days and asking them to push toward level 45 first.
David and the others tried to decline at first, but Gabryell insisted that rules were rules. Once established, they had to be followed. Only then did they accept the reward.
"Carlos, go pick up the Uldaman quests. Grab as many as you can."
Gabryell could not remember exactly how many quests Uldaman had, only that there were a lot. He told the others the ones he remembered and had them gather everything available.
After the three of them finished collecting quests, the group assembled outside Uldaman.
Every dungeon entrance in World of Warcraft was packed with elite mobs. Uldaman sat inside a mine, and the path leading in was filled with level 35–37 elite dwarves. Trying to enter alone was basically suicide.
"Clear a path in first. We'll finish the outdoor quests while we're at it."
There were several quests outside the dungeon itself. Gabryell no longer needed the experience, but the others certainly did.
Right now, Uldaman felt like an untouched ancient ruin waiting for someone to uncover it. Gabryell's group might not have been the first players to discover it, but they were definitely among the first to seriously run the dungeon.
It took them more than half an hour to clear the outdoor quests. By the time they reached the deepest section of the mine, Uldaman's massive gate finally came into view.
"When the Titans created Azeroth, the Earthen they made built a kingdom called Uldaman. After the world shattered, the Earthen entered an 8,000-year slumber."
Gabryell explained the dungeon's background as they walked, adding a bit of immersion to the run.
"When they finally woke up, they had changed. They started calling themselves dwarves, left Uldaman behind, and traveled to the tallest mountain on the continent. There, they built a massive forge, and above it, the city of Ironforge."
"Holy crap. So Uldaman is basically an ancient dwarven ruin?" Igor asked.
Gabryell nodded. "More or less."
Igor's eyes lit up. "If it's an ancient ruin, doesn't that mean there's treasure everywhere?"
Gabryell originally wanted to say this was only a level-40 dungeon, but then he remembered Uldaman actually did have one extremely valuable item and another fairly valuable one.
"There is treasure. Depends on whether we get lucky."
Hugo grinned. "With Luna here, we definitely will."
"Gabryell, you're going the wrong way," Igor quickly warned after noticing him walking away from the dungeon entrance.
"Just follow me."
He was not lost. Igor's comment had reminded him that near the Hall of the Keepers outside Uldaman, there was a rare elite that dropped some surprisingly valuable loot.
Facing away from the dungeon entrance, a small path on the right led into the Hall of the Keepers.
"Not here?"
After failing to find the rare elite, Gabryell turned and headed toward the North Conference Hall instead.
Carlos and the others followed behind in confusion, but nobody questioned him. They were already used to this kind of thing.
"Clear the mobs here."
The North Conference Hall was packed with level 36 and 37 elite Cave Creepers and Cave Hunters. There was no way through without clearing them first.
"Hopefully it spawned inside."
The rare elite had four possible spawn locations, but most of the time it appeared in the North Conference Hall, South Conference Hall, or Hall of the Keepers. Its spawn rate was painfully low. If you were unlucky, you could camp all day without ever seeing it.
After fighting their way deeper inside, they finally spotted a tiny goblin hiding in a corner with a small shovel in hand.
Digmaster Shovelphlange.
The little guy was secretly digging for treasure inside Uldaman.
"A rare elite!"
Carlos and the others' eyes lit up instantly. Now they finally understood what Gabryell had been looking for.
In World of Warcraft, "rare" usually meant one thing:
Good loot.
"Burn it down."
Gabryell immediately started casting Frostbolt. A level 38 melee mob posed no threat to him whatsoever.
With loot on the line, nobody showed mercy to the goblin. The group swarmed him and quickly killed Digmaster Shovelphlange.
"Luna, you loot it."
Gabryell had no idea when it would respawn next, and he definitely did not want to camp it again. Hopefully the item would drop immediately.
Digmaster Shovelphlange had two blue items on its loot table: a leather helm and a one-handed axe. Neither was guaranteed. Goblins were notoriously stingy, so it could just as easily drop absolutely nothing.
Lunatori walked up and looted the corpse.
Expert Goldminer's Helmet (Rare)
Binds when equipped
Leather Head
95 Armor
+6 Stamina
+5 Agility
Durability 60 / 60
Requires Level 33
Equip: Increases your skill with Axes by 7.
"Hahaha, Luna's insane. It actually dropped."
Gabryell was in an excellent mood. Lunatori had delivered and looted the leather helm that could sell for a very respectable amount.
"Why's a leather helmet so valuable?" Igor still did not get it.
Gabryell explained, "Because it gives +7 Axe skill. Fury Warriors can use axes without losing too much weapon skill and missing white hits all the time."
The main reason Expert Goldminer's Helmet was not absurdly expensive was because of its slot. For helmets, Fury Warriors eventually preferred Lionheart Helm. Compared to Lionheart's 18 Strength, 2% crit, and 2% hit, seven points of Axe skill simply was not enough.
Alliance Fury Warriors who wanted Axe skill generally preferred Edgemaster's Handguards instead.
Still, that did not mean the helmet was worthless. In level 39 battlegrounds, paired with another extremely valuable weapon from Uldaman, it could absolutely destroy people.
"One swing, one kill."
"Everyone roll for it. Whoever wins, don't sell it yet. Throw it in the bank for now. I'll let you know when the market's right."
Gabryell clicked Need.
For sellable items, the group had always rolled together and split profits later. Everyone was already used to it.
98!
Carlos finally rolled high for once and won the helmet.
"Remember to bank it and wait before selling," Gabryell reminded him.
Carlos nodded. "Got it."
Their luck had been excellent. They had already gotten Expert Goldminer's Helmet before even entering the dungeon itself.
Now Gabryell could start hoping for that mythical two-handed axe inside Uldaman. When the time came, he could package it together with Expert Goldminer's Helmet and sell them as a dream combo for level 39 battleground players.