In Tanaris, there was a little-known hidden spot that only players who had accepted Cuergo's Treasure Map could find by following the quest clues.
It was located in southern Tanaris, but there was no direct road there. You had to reach the coast below the Caverns of Time and swim along the shoreline.
The place had a beautiful name.
Land's End Beach.
"I got ten Golden Pearls. Are these worth anything?"
While Gabryell was solo farming Maraudon's purple entrance plus waterfall route, ServerHeals sent him a whisper.
Ten Golden Pearls? Had this guy wiped out every clam on the coast?
"Where did you farm ten Golden Pearls?"
"Land's End Beach, south of Tanaris."
Gabryell knew that place all too well. In the later Classic era, he had killed at least a thousand sea turtles there, grinding from level 46 all the way to 50.
"How many turtles did you kill?"
"About a thousand."
ServerHeals added, "I've been killing them from level 46 to 49. I'm almost 50 now."
Gabryell checked his information. Sure enough, ServerHeals had reached level 49.
His leveling speed was impressive.
Not bad.
After his rebirth, someone had finally inherited his old title: the turtle butcher of Land's End Beach.
Land's End Beach only had one treasure map quest. Most players found the place, finished the quest, and left. Very few people were as stubborn as ServerHeals, who had spent an entire day killing turtles and was one step away from wiping out the entire local population.
"Are Golden Pearls useful?" ServerHeals asked.
"They are," Gabryell said. "They're level 60 Enchanting materials. Keep them for later. Turtle Meat and Clam Meat can go on the Auction House too. They're not worth a fortune, but they'll sell."
"I'll keep the Golden Pearls, then. I'll vendor the rest."
Must be nice being rich.
If even the whale was grinding this hard, how could Gabryell afford to slack off?
He continued farming Maraudon's purple entrance plus waterfall route. He was already level 54. Two more runs would take him to 55, and then he could finally leave Maraudon for an even better leveling spot.
"Ogabs, I'm level 52 now. Where should I go?"
Just as Gabryell smoothly reached level 55, Coldhands sent him a whisper. He had toughed it out in the Zul'Farrak graveyard all the way to 52.
"I'm still in the graveyard, but the XP is basically dead now. Where can I level faster?"
Coldhands was clearly reluctant to leave ZF.
At this point, he had developed feelings for the place.
Reluctant or not, he had to move on unless he wanted to stop leveling.
"Go to Chillwind Camp in Western Plaguelands," Gabryell replied. "Farm the zombies to the right of the camp. Cone of Cold or Blizzard both work."
He handed the Western Plaguelands farms over to him.
"Once your level gets higher, keep AoE farming zombies around the farms in Western Plaguelands. That should carry you to 56 or 57."
Coldhands sounded as if he had just received a forbidden leveling manual.
"Thanks, you're my guiding light."
The leading pack of players was around level 50 right now. If Coldhands went to Western Plaguelands to AoE farm zombies, no one would be there to compete with him. Gabryell had pointed him toward a clear path for fast leveling.
"Want me to save you a spot?" Coldhands asked. "Feels wrong to hog a spot this good by myself."
"I'm already 55. Western Plaguelands isn't worth it for me anymore."
"Then where are you leveling?"
Gabryell did not want to expose that hidden spot yet, so he answered half-truthfully.
"A secret paradise no one knows about."
Coldhands thought he was joking and did not take it seriously.
"Then I'm heading to Western Plaguelands. I'm hitting 60 as soon as possible."
"Go on. The zombies are waiting for you."
Zul'Farrak had zombies.
Western Plaguelands had zombies.
At this rate, Coldhands might as well rename himself Zombiehands.
At level 55, Gabryell could finally graduate from Maraudon. He teleported back to Ironforge to clear his bags, then took a gryphon to Menethil Harbor and boarded the ship to Darkshore.
After arriving in Darkshore, he headed straight for Ashenvale without stopping. Once he unlocked the flight path at Astranaar, he continued north toward Felwood.
Felwood was a level 50-plus zone that had not yet been swallowed by the leveling army.
He followed the main road north until he reached Talonbranch Glade, the small Alliance camp near Irontree Woods, and unlocked the flight path there.
"To get to Winterspring, I have to pass through Timbermaw Hold."
Timbermaw Hold sat at the junction between Moonglade, Winterspring, and Felwood. It was home to the Timbermaw furbolgs, with more of their camps scattered throughout Azshara.
And Timbermaw Hold was a trap.
A nasty one.
Countless players heading to Winterspring or Azshara for the first time had been burned by it.
"My Timbermaw Hold reputation is still Hostile. There's no way I can walk through safely. Either I grind it to Neutral, or I corpse-run my way through."
Players could build reputation with Timbermaw Hold. It started at Hostile, and while you were Hostile, the Timbermaw furbolgs would attack on sight. Only after raising it to Neutral would they stop attacking. Once reputation reached Friendly, players could start receiving rewards from them. The higher the reputation, the better the rewards.
Among the Timbermaw reputation rewards, one of the most valuable was:
Formula: Enchant Weapon - Agility (Uncommon)
Binds when picked up
Enchanting Formula
Requires Enchanting (290)
Requires Timbermaw Hold - Revered
Use: Teaches you how to permanently enchant a melee weapon to increase Agility by 15.
This was a must-have enchant for physical DPS. Rogues wanted it, Warriors could use it, and Hunters cared a lot about Agility enchants for their melee weapons as well.
The real trap was the reputation.
Many new players had no idea Timbermaw Hold reputation could be raised. When they first ran into Timbermaw furbolgs and got attacked, they assumed the furbolgs were just ordinary hostile mobs and slaughtered them without a second thought.
This was especially common for players going to Winterspring for the first time. When passing through Timbermaw Hold, plenty of people had not accepted the reputation quests yet, so they simply formed a party and cleared every furbolg blocking the road.
Once they did that, the damage was done.
Their Timbermaw Hold reputation sank deeper into Hostile, and grinding it back up became a miserable chore.
"Back when I was clueless in Azshara, I wiped out an entire Timbermaw camp. After that, I had to grind Deadwood furbolgs with tears in my eyes just to fix my reputation."
The Timbermaw furbolgs in Azshara were just as deceptive. When players could not find mobs to kill and suddenly noticed a whole furbolg camp sitting there untouched, they happily went over and farmed them for levels.
Once they leveled up, it was their turn to cry.
"Forget corpse-running through. That's not my style. I'll just grind Timbermaw Hold to Neutral."
Gabryell arrived outside Timbermaw Hold and accepted the initial Timbermaw reputation quest.
As long as he finished the early reputation quests and killed some Deadwood furbolgs around Felpaw Village, he could quickly raise his Timbermaw Hold reputation to Neutral.
Once that happened, he would be able to pass safely through the hold and head to that hidden paradise to level.