Hogger.
Level 11 Elite.
Health: 731.
"Damn… 731 HP."
Igor clicked on the wandering Hogger and was instantly startled by the massive health pool. It was the highest HP mob they had seen so far.
"This is an elite mob—stronger than the normal ones. In World of Warcraft there are three tiers: normal, elite, and boss."
Gabryell reminded them, "Hogger has three abilities. Igor, don't run in swinging—just keep Holy Light on Carlos's Warrior."
It was their first time fighting an elite mob, and Igor didn't dare show off. He obediently settled into the role of healer.
"Should I go in?"
Carlos tightened his grip on the mouse. Hogger's 731 HP made him a little nervous.
"Go."
Gabryell started casting Frostbolt.
Carlos's Warrior charged forward.
As a level 11 mob, Hogger had a wide aggro range. Before the Warrior even finished his Charge, the gnoll had already spotted him.
It charged too, lunging forward at incredible speed and slamming into the Warrior.
"Keep the heals coming!"
As soon as they engaged, the elite hit hard, instantly knocking off a quarter of the Warrior's health.
Carlos was stunned. He was wearing several pieces of level 8 mail armor with decent defense, yet the monster still knocked off a quarter of his HP in a single strike.
"Holy Light."
Igor was ready. Grada cast Holy Light, bringing Egides back to full health.
With its target's health suddenly restored, the gnoll let out a furious roar and struck again, applying a Piercing Armor debuff.
"My armor dropped by 50%!"
Carlos shouted in alarm. A debuff appeared on him—armor reduced by 50% for 20 seconds.
With his armor halved, a single blow now took nearly half his health. Without Grada's heals, he'd already be dead.
"He's got just over 200 HP left. Keep it up!"
Watching from the side, Hugo felt even more nervous than if he were fighting himself.
The monster's health dropped into the final stretch. With an enraged roar, it used its third ability—Headbutt.
"Watch out!"
Carlos suddenly realized his Warrior couldn't move.
Stunned for two seconds.
The gnoll immediately abandoned the stunned Warrior and turned to attack Grada instead, venting its rage on the one keeping its original target alive.
"Igor, your threat's too high—kite him back!"
Gabryell shouted while casting Frostbolt. Unfortunately, there were no addons yet, so they couldn't see threat meters.
Igor quickly canceled the Holy Light he was casting and hurriedly backed his Paladin away.
Charge!
The gnoll used Charge again, instantly catching up to him, its weapon swinging as if to say:
Not so fast, bitch!
"Ah—!"
Caught by it, Igor panicked and started fumbling with the controls.
"Igor, stop healing—just tank it! He's got about 100 HP left. Burn him!"
Gabryell remained completely calm. It was just Hogger. Compared to bosses like Ragnaros, Nefarian, and Kel'Thuzad later on, this fight was nothing.
The stun wore off. Egides immediately rushed back into melee range, attacking alongside Ogabs.
"Hurry! Hurry!"
Hugo was so nervous that sweat broke out on his forehead.
The three of them attacked together.
Finally, the last 100 HP vanished.
"Hahaha! We did it!"
Igor's Paladin was left with only a sliver of health. If the gnoll had lasted two seconds longer, he would've been running back as a ghost again.
"That felt amazing."
Carlos let out a satisfied breath. It reminded him of fighting MVPs in Ragnarok one year ago.
Gabryell crouched down to loot and laughed.
"This is just the beginning. Later on there'll be raid bosses, dragons, Old Gods, even the Scourge."
"Gabryell, how do you know all this?" Carlos asked. Even the beta forums hadn't mentioned anything like that.
He didn't miss a beat. "Before World of Warcraft, Blizzard made Warcraft. WoW is built on that same story."
Carlos nodded, satisfied with the explanation, and didn't press the question any further.
"When we hit level 18, let's run the Deadmines together."
Gabryell went on, "The Deadmines is the Alliance's first 5-man dungeon in Westfall. The mobs inside are level 18 to 23. If we go in at 18 and play it safe, we should be able to clear it."
You could technically enter the Deadmines at level 10, but the mobs would show up as skull-level enemies. You needed to be at least level 17 before you had any real chance of clearing it.
"A dungeon? Does it have a lot of bosses? Do they drop good gear?" Igor asked excitedly. Back when he played Ragnarok, hunting rare gear like cards had been his favorite part of the game.
"There are plenty of bosses," Gabryell said. "And they drop blue gear."
"Blue gear? Hahaha! Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry up and hit level 18!"
He was already imagining himself decked out in blue gear, girls whispering him asking if he'd carry them through Deadmines.
"I need to hit level 10 fast and catch up with you guys."
Not wanting to fall behind, Hugo returned to his seat and kept leveling his Night Elf Hunter. He was already more than halfway to level 8. By the time the guild was set up, he should reach level 10.
As the first elite mob they had killed, Hogger turned out to be quite generous with the loot.
One of the drops was a level 8 green shield: Cadet Shield.
274 Armor, 5 Block, with a random enchantment granting +2 Stamina—perfect for Egides.
"Tigerseye! A gem! We're rich!"
Igor exclaimed when he saw the yellow Tigerseye drop into the Mage's inventory.
"It's not worth much," Gabryell said. "Keep it for Carlos when he starts leveling Blacksmithing."
He wasn't interested in low-level materials like Tigerseye. Selling it on the Auction House would bring about the same as vendoring it for 4 silver.
"Recipe: Swiftness Potion!"
His eyes suddenly locked onto an alchemy recipe scroll in his bag.
Recipe: Swiftness Potion (Uncommon)
Item Level 15
Requires Alchemy (60)
Teaches you how to craft a Swiftness Potion.
Materials:
Swiftthistle (1)
Briarthorn (1)
Empty Vial (1)
"Is that valuable?" Carlos asked.
Gabryell suppressed the excitement rising inside him.
"Very valuable. Swiftness Potions increase movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds. In clutch moments—especially in PvP—they can make a huge difference."
The Swiftness Potion recipe was a world drop that could drop from monsters between level 5 and 20. Its drop rate ranged from 0.01% to 0.58%, and Hogger's chance to drop it was only 0.06%.
It was an insanely lucky drop. Almost like the game rewarding the first players to kill Hogger.
Fifteen years later in WoW retail, the recipe wouldn't be worth nearly as much. But back in 2004, when the game had just launched, its value was extremely high.
The reason was simple: PvP in early World of Warcraft was thriving. Unlike later years, when bots flooded the game and PvP slowly declined.
"Very valuable," he repeated.
Igor's eyes lit up.
"How much could we sell it for? Let's put it on the Auction House."
"No need," Gabryell said. "Have your Paladin learn Alchemy. You can make Swiftness Potions—use them yourself or sell them on the Auction House."
Right now, most players didn't realize how valuable the potion was. The recipe itself wouldn't sell for much. It would be far better to wait until PvP became more popular and sell the finished potions instead.
With the Swiftness Potion recipe as an unexpected bonus, he was in a great mood. He led the group back to Goldshire to turn in the quest to Marshal Dughan.
"Gabryell, which reward should we take?" Carlos asked, staring at the quest rewards.
"You and Igor should pick the Stormwind Guard Leggings."
"What about you?"
"I'll take the staff."
The Balanced Staff from the Wanted: Hogger quest was actually intended for Druids and useless for Mages. He chose it because it vendored for 6 silver and 1 copper.
"From now on, when you're turning in quests, if none of the rewards are useful to you, pick the one with the highest vendor price."
He added, "Weapons usually vendor for more than armor. And two-handers are usually worth more than one-handers."
You learn something new every day.
Carlos, Igor, and Hugo nodded.
After choosing their rewards, three golden flashes erupted around their characters.
Ogabs, Egides, and Grada all hit Level 10.
"Holy crap—look! They're level 10!"
"I'm not seeing things, right? How is someone already level 10?"
"They must be cheating! There's no way anyone could hit level 10 this fast!"
The sight of three level-10 players instantly caused a stir in Goldshire. Most players there were still only level 5 to 6. Level 10 was currently the highest level anyone had reached in the entire game.
Gabryell ignored the surrounding chatter.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
"To Stormwind. We'll train our professions and grab a guild charter."
A spark of excitement flashed in his eyes.
"We're currently the highest-level players in the game—that's a huge advantage. Recruiting people shouldn't be difficult. Getting the first batch of players into the guild will be critical for its future growth."
Those early players would reach level 60 faster. Only by quickly assembling forty strong players could they start raiding Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair—and compete for the server-first kills.
He also reminded Carlos and Igor to spend their first talent points.
After assigning their talents, the three of them left Goldshire and headed toward the human capital—
Stormwind.