In Duskwood, along the Darkened Bank, Lupos leisurely patrolled his territory. Some said he was already old, a wolf king past his prime. Others claimed he was still in his prime, fierce and unstoppable, able to dominate the pack even with a lame leg.
"Lupos once challenged the Green Dragon Taerar of Duskwood, and escaped from its jaws at the cost of one leg."
Back in 2004, when information was scarce, plenty of players believed rumors like that. Lupos challenging Taerar? He probably wouldn't even be enough to get stuck between the dragon's teeth.
Now that many players had reached level 20, Duskwood would start filling up from tomorrow onward. Today was the best time to tame Lupos. After today, he'd likely be killed by players chasing rare elite drops.
Gabryell led Hugo along the Darkened Bank, searching from east to west for any sign of Lupos.
"Quit limping around like that."
After searching the eastern side without spotting Lupos's white silhouette, Gabryell immediately brought Hugo to the riverbank above Raven Hill.
Persistence paid off. They finally found Lupos in the farthest corner of the riverbank.
"Why is he limping?" Hugo watched Lupos hobble along, a little disappointed. This Wolf King was nothing like what he'd imagined. Not nearly as imposing.
"Who cares if he limps?" Gabryell said. "As long as he's strong. With him, you can easily beat Carlos."
A Hunter's kiting combined with Lupos's armor-ignoring damage made beating a Warrior easy.
Thinking back to how he'd lost to Carlos in their last duel, Hugo stopped caring about the limp. "I'll tame him."
To give him a clean setup, Gabryell cleared all the nearby mobs.
With his experience taming Goretusks, Hugo placed a Freezing Trap in front of himself, switched to Aspect of the Monkey, and began casting Tame Beast on Lupos.
Lupos, who had been patrolling his territory, suddenly felt the taming magic take hold. His pride as the Wolf King was challenged. He bared his fangs and lunged at Hugo in fury.
Tame Beast had a 30-yard range, so it took Lupos some time to reach Hugo. That delay helped make up for the Freezing Trap's short 10-second duration.
As soon as Lupos reached him, he was frozen in place for 10 seconds.
Hugo's Tame Beast channel lined up perfectly with those 10 seconds.
Gabryell stood ready nearby. If the tame failed, he would immediately cast Frost Nova to freeze Lupos, then pull Hugo away to reset and try again.
Hugo was nervous, his palms sweating. After all, this was only his second time taming a beast, and this time it was a rare elite Wolf King.
The moment the 10-second freeze ended, the 20-second taming channel finished as well.
"Damn it."
Hugo stared at Lupos, whose name was still red. The tame had failed.
Gabryell immediately cast Frost Nova, freezing Lupos in place. "Let's go. Drop combat and come back."
Hunters didn't get Feign Death until level 30, otherwise they wouldn't have to run so far just to reset.
With no Feign Death, they had no choice but to run out of Lupos's aggro range. Once they dropped combat, they returned to try again.
"Don't worry about failing. Tame Beast always has a chance to fail. Keep trying, you'll get it eventually," Gabryell reassured him. With no one else around, they had all the time they needed.
Hugo nodded. "This time it'll work."
He placed another Freezing Trap at his feet, then cast Tame Beast again from maximum range.
Once again struck by the taming spell, Lupos felt his dignity as the Wolf King challenged. He snarled and charged at Hugo, determined to tear this reckless Hunter apart.
And once again, he walked straight into the trap and froze.
Ten seconds of freeze. Ten seconds left on the tame. Perfect sync.
"Good boy… just come with me and I'll feed you meat every day," Hugo muttered while channeling, as if trying to tempt Lupos into submission.
And somehow, it worked.
When the ten seconds ended, Lupos's name turned green.
"Hahaha, got him!"
Hugo was ecstatic. He'd captured the Wolf King. From now on, he was a man with a wolf.
"Never underestimate WoW superstition."
"Superstition has always been part of WoW."
Gabryell watched from the side, reminded of future Molten Core GDKP runs where people would rely on all kinds of rituals. Locking instance IDs, stacking fire elementals at the entrance, waiting for a boss's corpse to "cool down" before looting.
Some took it even further. They'd light a campfire at the entrance, have two Human characters strip naked, run in circles around the fire while chanting, like some kind of ritual sacrifice.
The newly tamed Lupos had low loyalty. In vanilla, pets with low loyalty could run away. Not wanting Hugo's new Wolf King to bail immediately, Gabryell reminded him:
"Feed it meat. Fill its happiness and loyalty to max."
Hugo opened his bag and fed all the meat—originally meant for the Goretusk—to Lupos.
"You can rename him however you like," Gabryell said.
After being tamed, Lupos's name had defaulted to "Wolf," which didn't suit the majesty of a Wolf King at all.
Hugo filled Lupos's loyalty to the max, then started thinking about a new name. "What should I call him?"
"Whatever you like," Gabryell replied.
Hugo thought it over for a long time, and in the end, changed "Wolf" to "Husky," his favorite kind of dog.
Gabryell broke out in a cold sweat. That name was somehow even worse than just calling him "Wolf." The poor Wolf King had ended up with a clueless owner who gave him such a dumb name. Just like that, a Wolf King turned into a goofy dog.
Gabryell glanced at the name "Husky" over Lupos's head and winced. "Go meet up with Carlos and the others in Duskwood and do some quests. I'm heading to Raven Hill Crypt to AoE grind."
Since he was already here, and Raven Hill Crypt was right nearby, it would be a waste not to run a few pulls and grind out a level before lights-out at 11:30.
Hugo, completely satisfied, headed back to Darkshire with his "Husky" Wolf King to regroup with Carlos and the others.
Gabryell went into Raven Hill Crypt alone, pulling packs between two crypt rooms and mowing them down. His XP bar climbed rapidly.
"Redridge is packed. We can't even tag mobs. It's killing our leveling speed. Any better spots?"
David sent a whisper, complaining about how overcrowded the server was.
After finishing his current pull, Gabryell replied, "Head to the Wetlands."
"Where's that?" David asked.
"Go from Dun Morogh to Loch Modan. Follow the main road past the town of Selema all the way north. You'll see a passage. Go through it and keep heading forward, and you'll reach the Wetlands."
"Got it, thanks man. We'll head there now."
Gabryell thought for a moment, then added, "If the Wetlands start getting crowded, go to Dun Modr at the top-center of the map, cross the bridge into Arathi Highlands. Grab the flight path in the middle, then take the left road to Hillsbrad Foothills."
As more players hit level 20, the Wetlands would be just as crowded as Redridge. Night Elves sailing in from Darkshore, along with Dwarves and Gnomes, would quickly fill the zone.
At that point, there'd only be one quieter place left.
"In Hillsbrad, follow the main road, cross the river, and head south until you find Southshore."
Alliance and Horde quest targets in Hillsbrad didn't overlap much, so there was less competition for mobs.
By the time David and the others left the Wetlands, their levels should be high enough to handle Southshore quests or grind along the coast. With less competition, it would be faster than going back to Duskwood.
Gabryell added a warning, "Don't go north. That's the Horde town, Tarren Mill. You go there, you're just asking to die."
Hillsbrad Foothills was the border between Alliance and Horde in the Eastern Kingdoms. Southshore and Tarren Mill were so close that fights could break out at any time.
In fact, back in vanilla WoW, the first large-scale faction war didn't happen in Stranglethorn Vale. It happened right here, in Hillsbrad, between Southshore and Tarren Mill.
"There are Horde players there?" David sounded excited. He'd never seen one before.
"Hillsbrad connects to Silverpine Forest to the west," Gabryell explained. "Horde players from Undercity come here in their 20s to quest and level."
The Western Plaguelands were too dangerous. No one was going to corpse-run through there and across the mountains just to reach Hillsbrad. They all came through Silverpine.
"So we can kill Horde?"
Not being able to attack players of the same faction had been driving David crazy.
"You can, but there's no need right now. Best to avoid them. There are probably more Horde than Alliance there at the moment. Focus on leveling first."
Because of travel routes, Horde players would outnumber Alliance in Hillsbrad early on. Only after more Alliance players moved through the Wetlands and Arathi Highlands would things even out.
"What if they attack us first?"
"Then fight back," Gabryell said coldly. "If you can't handle it, call for help in guild chat. I'll bring people over."
Gabryell couldn't help but recall the massive battles in Hillsbrad when the Honor system first opened in WoW Classic. On his server, over twenty raids from both factions clashed there, fighting nonstop for an entire day, until the ground was covered in gravestones.
Southshore and Tarren Mill changed hands again and again. Every NPC on both sides was slaughtered. The battle was so brutal it could've gone down in Classic WoW history.