Solo AoE grinding mobs with constant respawns and no competition could earn you a level in about an hour and a half. Killing mobs one by one, on the other hand, would take three to four hours, making it two or three times slower.
Gabryell left Scarlet Monastery and headed from Southshore to Go'Shek Farm in Arathi Highlands to AoE grind. He was currently level 34 at 78%, so reaching level 38 before dinner tonight would not be a problem.
"Look at that Mage. He's insane. He can actually take on six mobs by himself."
A party of Alliance players had somehow wandered west of Witherbark Village to Go'Shek Farm. When they saw Gabryell AoE farming level 33 and 34 Hammerfall Peons and Hammerfall Grunts, they were blown away.
"Ogabs? Holy crap, isn't that Fearless's guild leader? The top Mage on our server."
Someone recognized Gabryell. After last night's massive thousand-player battle, Fearless had become the undisputed number one Alliance guild on Tichondrius. As the commander of last night's battle and the guild leader of Fearless, Ogabs was the most discussed figure on the WoW community forums. Add in his level 34, and he was unquestionably the top Mage on Tichondrius.
"So Mages can be played like this," said FrostyMage, a level 27 Mage, in awe.
"We're all Mages. Why don't you try pulling six mobs at once too?" said a Warrior in the party. He really did not want to work hard. He just wanted to latch onto someone else and get carried.
"Should I try?"
FrostyMage thought about it. They were both Mages, so the gap between them shouldn't be that big. Watching Gabryell AoE grind, wasn't it just casting Blizzard? It probably wasn't that hard. He should be able to do it too.
"You have to try."
His teammates were all eagerly hoping to leech off him and level effortlessly.
Encouraged by his teammates, FrostyMage copied Gabryell's pulling and AoE method. In his head, he was already imagining himself taking on six mobs at once, earning everyone's admiration, and becoming a god-tier Mage like Gabryell.
However.
He tried it and died.
FrostyMage had only pulled three mobs, and before he even had time to start AoEing, they beat him to death.
He was only level 27, while the mobs at Go'Shek Farm were level 33 and 34. The level gap was far too large. His Frost Nova was resisted by two Hammerfall Peons, scaring him so badly that he panicked and Blinked—only to land right in front of a Hammerfall Grunt.
With three mobs attacking him at once and no Ice Block, he went straight to the black-and-white screen.
Gabryell could not help smiling when he saw FrostyMage die. Without enough AoE grinding experience, anyone who wanted to level that way would have to die dozens, even hundreds of times, as tuition.
"Failure is the mother of success. You'll definitely get it next time," his teammates continued encouraging him.
FrostyMage resurrected, refused to accept defeat, and tried again.
His Blizzard was resisted.
He died again.
"I'm done AoEing," FrostyMage said, utterly dejected.
His teammates could only sigh. "A top Mage really is a top Mage. Mortals can't compare. If only we could latch onto someone like that. How about we quit our guild and join Fearless?"
FrostyMage said, "No. My level just isn't high enough right now. Once I hit 35, I'll come back here and AoE. I refuse to believe that at level 35, I still won't be able to AoE six mobs at once like him."
His teammates were all real-life friends and knew how stubborn he was, so they stopped bringing up joining Fearless.
Gabryell watched the group leave and muttered to himself, "Hallelujah."
He had some impression of the Hallelujah guild. It was one of the higher-ranked Alliance guilds on Tichondrius and one of the few guilds on the server that had killed C'Thun. Unfortunately, limited by their strength, they got stuck on the Four Horsemen while progressing through Naxxramas, then disbanded in The Burning Crusade due to internal conflicts.
Thinking of Naxxramas, Gabryell knew his true opponents were not Madhouse, but Stars, the Horde guild from Lothar, and Seventh Heaven, the Alliance guild from Flame Crest.
The former was the first guild to fully clear Naxxramas, while the latter ranked second. Both guilds were extremely strong and stood at the very top of vanilla raiding.
Having been reborn, Gabryell had founded a guild, so he was going to crush Stars and Seventh Heaven beneath his feet. The server needed only one legendary guild: Fearless. The world needed only one number one guild: Fearless.
To surpass Stars and Seventh Heaven, Gabryell had to work even harder. So he threw himself into a frenzy of AoE grinding, going from six mobs per pull to seven or eight. His XP shot up rapidly, and his level soared.
Before dinner, Gabryell finally reached level 38, the level needed to leave Arathi Highlands and head to Dustwallow Marsh to AoE grind Murlocs.
"Gabryell, you're level 38!"
Carlos was already used to Gabryell leveling like he was on a rocket, but he was still shocked. They had been grinding Scarlet Monastery and were only level 32.
"Weren't you going to Dustwallow Marsh? Why are you back in Southshore?"
Carlos was puzzled when he saw Gabryell finish collecting his mail outside the Ironforge Bank, then hearth back to Southshore. He had once taken the boat from Menethil to Theramore Isle, so he knew Theramore was in Dustwallow Marsh.
Gabryell had returned to Ironforge to train his skills and buy a few Elixirs of Water Breathing from the Auction House. He honestly had not expected the Auction House to have any, but the players were more resourceful than he had imagined. There were actually five Elixirs of Water Breathing listed.
The five Elixirs of Water Breathing were incredibly cheap at only 10 silver each, practically free.
"I'm going to Stromgarde Keep to buy Expert First Aid - Under Wraps, along with Manual: Heavy Silk Bandage and Manual: Mageweave Bandage."
Gabryell said, "Once First Aid reaches 150, you need Expert First Aid - Under Wraps to raise the cap to 225. Alliance players can buy it from Deneb Walker in the Alliance outpost inside Stromgarde Keep. After 225, if you want to train Artisan First Aid, you have to go to Theramore Isle and do the Triage quest for the medic."
In Classic, Expert First Aid - Under Wraps teaches expert First Aid and raises the cap to 225, while Deneb Walker also sells the Heavy Silk Bandage and Mageweave Bandage manuals in Stromgarde. Artisan First Aid for Alliance is obtained through the Theramore Triage quest.
Gabryell arrived at Stromgarde Keep, avoided the elite mobs inside, and went to the Alliance outpost on the right after entering.
There were not many closed beta players in the guild. After thinking for a moment, Gabryell said in guild chat, "Once your First Aid reaches 150, you can go to the Alliance outpost in Stromgarde Keep, Arathi Highlands, to buy Expert First Aid - Under Wraps and raise your cap to 225. Stromgarde Keep's coordinates are 26, 65. Enter Stromgarde Keep and head right to find the Alliance outpost."
Under normal game progression, players would only discover this Alliance outpost while doing the elite quests in Stromgarde Keep. Gabryell had simply moved that discovery forward a bit, since not every player would choose to quest in Arathi Highlands in their early thirties.
"Thanks, guild leader."
"As expected of a closed beta expert, Leader. All we can do is look up to you."
"My First Aid is almost 150. I'll go as soon as I hit it."
Being flattered by guild members was normal, and Gabryell was already used to it. In the eyes of the guild members, he was an incredibly impressive closed beta expert, far better than other closed beta players, a true master who had studied the closed beta more thoroughly than anyone else.
After buying Expert First Aid - Under Wraps and the two bandage manuals, Gabryell left Stromgarde Keep. Instead of flying to Menethil from Refuge Pointe, he went to the coast behind Stromgarde Keep and jumped into the sea without hesitation.
Igor saw the guild chat, glanced back at Gabryell's screen, and cried out, "Gabryell, what are you doing? Why are you jumping into the ocean to kill yourself?"
Hearing Igor shout, Carlos and Hugo turned to look at Gabryell's screen and saw that his Mage was indeed swimming in the ocean.
Carlos asked in surprise, "Gabryell, are you trying to swim back to the Wetlands?"
He was not dumb enough to think Gabryell was planning to swim all the way to Theramore Isle.
Gabryell laughed. "I'm going underwater to kill a rare mob. Once you guys are done with Scarlet Monastery, you should come kill it too. It drops a PvP must-have: Tidal Charm. If you don't have that trinket, you can barely call yourself serious about PvP."
Gabryell had bought the Elixirs of Water Breathing specifically to head down to the shipwreck, kill Prince Nazjak, and loot Tidal Charm from him.
"A must-have PvP item? How good is it?" Carlos was a PvP fanatic, so PvP gear interested him more than anything.
Gabryell said, "It stuns the target for 3 seconds, with a 15-minute cooldown. It's a top-tier item for 1v1 duels."
Do not underestimate a 3-second stun. In a duel, it could create a miraculous opening and decide the outcome.
Tidal Charm is a Classic trinket dropped by Prince Nazjak, a rare level 41 Naga in Arathi Highlands. Its use effect is a 3-second stun on a 15-minute cooldown.
In later WoW Classic, after the Honor System went live, Tidal Charm was locked down by gold-farming crews. Anyone who wanted one could only buy it from them. Those who did not want to pay had to sink endless time into layer-hopping and fighting farming crews for Prince Nazjak. It was only after PvP in WoW Classic died down that Tidal Charm became worthless.
Gabryell said, "When you have time, go farm one too. Once everyone realizes how strong Tidal Charm is, a ton of people will start camping it."
Carlos, who loved PvP, understood the importance of a 3-second stun. Details decided victory or defeat, and a 3-second stun was exactly that kind of decisive detail.
"Once I hit level 40, I'll go farm it right away."
Igor and Hugo were not about to fall behind. "We'll farm one too."
Gabryell swam toward the shipwreck. The level 38 to 40 trash mobs there posed no threat to him. Since no one had discovered the place yet, he could take his time and clear carefully.
Do not assume Prince Nazjak is powerful just because he is a level 41 rare mob. In reality, he only had a little over 1,700 HP and belonged to a neutral faction. If you did not attack him, he would not fight back. Killing him was even easier than killing the trash mobs nearby.
Prince Nazjak had three possible spawn areas: the two shipwrecks and the underwater ruins. He would randomly spawn in one of them. Without an Elixir of Water Breathing, you would hit the black-and-white screen from suffocation before you even reached the place.
Of course, without an Elixir of Water Breathing, you could also use an Engineer's Deepdive Helmet, a Warlock's Unending Breath, or Hydrocane from Gnomeregan.
Gabryell swam to the first shipwreck, drank an Elixir of Water Breathing, and began diving down. He hoped his luck would be good and that Prince Nazjak had spawned at the first shipwreck, so he could kill him once and get Tidal Charm.