Not bad at all.
Zul'Farrak really was full of surprises. After two hours of farming the graveyard, Gabryell finally got his second BoE epic.
Underworld Band.
"Now that's a good drop."
Right now, among BoE epics below level 40, Underworld Band and Staff of Jordan held their value best. Underworld Band was a little cheaper, mostly because players had always valued weapons more than any other slot. Naturally, Staff of Jordan sold for more.
"I'll mail this to Danielly."
Gabryell was not short on gold anymore. Selling an Underworld Band for two or three hundred gold would not make much difference to him, so he might as well give it to Danielly and make her leveling smoother.
Danielly and Smooch were classmates and real-life friends of the 301 crew. In the future, they would definitely become core members of the guild. In MMO terms, they were basically friends-and-family to Gabryell and his roommates.
"Ogabs, I've been offline for two hours and you're already 46?"
Around 1:00 p.m., Dreamshade finally logged in. When he saw Gabryell's level, he was shocked.
Gabryell had reached level 46 in just over an hour because his rested XP bar had been full.
In fact, as long as a player had not only just hit level 45, they would have at least some rested XP saved. The earlier someone had capped, the more they had built up. Gabryell had banked nearly an entire level's worth, which was why he leveled so quickly.
"Only 46," Gabryell said. "Honestly, that's slow. If you'd logged in a little later, I might've been 47 already."
Dreamshade's confidence took a hit.
"I don't know what kind of nonsense route you're using, but I'm not falling behind. I'll grind twenty-four hours straight if I have to."
Knowing him, he would probably pull another all-nighter, or hire help again and keep questing nonstop.
Even that would not be enough.
Gabryell could push past level 52 today and be close to 60 tomorrow. Going from 45 to 60 in two days was not empty talk.
At level 46, he was still farming the Zul'Farrak graveyard. At four runs per hour, he could gain a level roughly every two hours.
Starting at level 48, if he stayed there, he would need to push his efficiency to five runs an hour. Only then could he still level in a little over two hours.
After that, the higher he got, the slower the farm would become. Once he reached level 52, there would be no point staying in ZF. At that level, questing would already be more efficient.
Gabryell was a reborn veteran Mage with more than ten years of experience. There was no need to stubbornly farm one place forever. Once he hit level 48, he could leave and try solo farming Maraudon's purple entrance.
At level 48, assuming he did not wipe, farming the purple entrance would be about as efficient as farming the ZF graveyard at level 45. He could still gain one level every two hours.
The problem was that Maraudon's purple entrance only had so many mobs. Once he reached level 52, keeping that pace meant adding Poison Falls to the pull and running the much harder purple entrance plus waterfall one-pull route.
Gabryell had no classes today, so he could spend the entire day leveling. As long as nothing came up, he would keep moving between the ZF graveyard, Ironforge, and Gadgetzan, farming until level 48 before changing routes.
"Anyone questing in Tanaris?"
"Invite for the water pouch quest. Too many Horde out here to solo."
"Tanaris is packed with Horde. Come to Feralas—we're grouping at Feathermoon."
As more players came online, Fearless guild chat grew livelier. Right now, the first thing everyone did after logging in was level. Nothing mattered more.
In truth, no matter which zone they picked, both Alliance and Horde players were everywhere. The two factions fought whenever they met. Only after everyone realized that constant fighting slowed leveling down would they temporarily calm down.
"Tichondrius really is living up to its reputation as a balanced high-pop server. The Horde is still holding strong even after losing a few big fights."
That was from a post on the Azeroth National Geographic Forum.
The night before Honor opened, the Horde had organized several hundred players to provoke Ironforge, only to get beaten back by the Alliance.
Even so, Horde numbers had not dropped in any obvious way. If anything, they seemed to grow more stubborn after every loss. Tichondrius was quickly becoming one of the busiest and most balanced servers, with the faction ratio hovering around 1.1 Alliance for every 1 Horde.
With both sides this populated, fighting over quest mobs was unavoidable. Tanaris had already become the worst conflict zone. Leveling there was actually slower than leveling in Feralas.
"Carlos, if Tanaris is too packed, you guys can move to Feralas."
Gabryell looked at guild chat and could already tell Tanaris was turning into a warzone. He was worried Carlos and the others would get dragged down.
"We're fine," Carlos said. "David's group is here too. We're clearing mobs and killing Horde as we go."
Seeing that, Gabryell stopped trying to persuade them. He could not exactly tell Carlos and the others to abandon their guildmates and go level in Feralas by themselves.
"When you hit level 50, go clear the Sunken Temple quests."
There were not many five-player dungeons left before level 60. Sunken Temple counted as the last true low-level five-man before the endgame range.
Blackrock Depths?
Blackrock Depths did not count as low-level. Its level range was too wide, and it could practically be considered a level-60 dungeon. To fully clear it, being level 58 was ideal.
"Where's Sunken Temple?" Carlos asked.
"Swamp of Sorrows," Gabryell said. "You go through Deadwind Pass. I'll show you when it's time."
To reach the Swamp of Sorrows, they had to pass through Deadwind Pass. In Vanilla, Karazhan was not finished yet. Only after The Burning Crusade would that area truly enter most players' view.
"Are you coming with us?" Carlos asked.
Gabryell was not very interested in Sunken Temple. Only dungeons at Blackrock Depths level and above could really catch his attention.
"No. You guys can go when the time comes. I'll keep leveling."
Drakestone from Sunken Temple was a decent off-hand, but the random enchant was a pain. There was no way he would deliberately farm the place just for one off-hand.
After ending the conversation with Carlos, he went back to the ZF graveyard, determined to farm it dry before moving on.
Level 48.
A little after 4:00 p.m., Gabryell reached level 48 and could finally leave Zul'Farrak.
"Ogabs, you're already 48?"
Coldhands had started farming at around the same time, but he was only level 47.
"I'm doing one-pulls," Gabryell said. "Don't copy me. If you wipe, your efficiency tanks."
"Yeah, figures," Coldhands said. "You're doing one-pulls while the rest of us are trying not to die."
Right now, Coldhands could manage two pulls at most, and even then he still wiped from time to time. To stay safe, he usually had to split the graveyard into three.
"Not farming anymore?" he asked when he saw Gabryell return to Gadgetzan.
Based on the timing of his previous runs, it was not time for him to clear his bags yet.
There was no need to hide too much from Coldhands. He would be able to see from the friends list that Gabryell was in Maraudon anyway.
"I'm done with ZF," Gabryell said casually. "Going to solo some Maraudon trash for fun."
He said it like it was nothing.
To Coldhands, it might as well have been a declaration that he was going to solo Ragnaros.
"Holy crap. Solo Maraudon?" Coldhands had never even imagined using a Mage to solo that place. "Can you Blizzard-kite those mobs too?"
"Mage life," Gabryell said. "Anything's possible."
He did not explain the method. The profits from Maraudon were simply too good to expose.
Coldhands went straight into worship mode.
"You're insane. At this point, you're not even a Mage anymore. You're Azeroth's next Medivh."
This guy actually knew who Medivh was.
Not bad.
Gabryell did not offer to teach him, and Coldhands was sensible enough not to ask. Being able to solo farm the ZF graveyard for gold and levels already satisfied him.
A person had to know when to be content.
And Coldhands, that happy-go-lucky idiot, understood that better than most.