"Another one-handed sword?" Since it wasn't for him, Igor immediately lost interest.
He might not know what he was looking at, but the others did. Coldhands blurted out, "Holy shit, what is this? You can use it to combine two swords into Sul'thraze!"
No explanation was needed. The tooltip alone made it obvious this sword was special. Otherwise, why would it be used to make something called Sul'thraze?
Jang'thraze the Protector (Rare)
Binds when picked up
Unique
Main Hand Sword
44 - 83 Damage Speed 1.90
(33.4 DPS)
Durability 90 / 90
Requires Level 45
Use: Combines Jang'thraze and Sang'thraze to form the mighty sword, Sul'thraze.
Chance on hit: Shields the wielder from physical damage, absorbing 55 to 86 damage. Lasts 20 sec.
Sul'thraze the Lasher had an understated but intimidating look: a black two-handed sword with a savage silhouette. For its level, its damage was high, it had a proc, and the proc rate was excellent.
Unfortunately, making the sword was a pain. Unless people were farming it for transmog years later, almost no one would camp Zul'Farrak for a level 50 weapon.
Because Sul'thraze was level 50, its fame never really matched its rarity. It was one of those weapons that was far rarer than most players realized.
"Sul'thraze? No way. That's insane."
"Look at the tooltip. If two swords combine into one weapon, it has to be strong."
Gabryell said, "Carlos has Jang'thraze. Let him take this one too and make Sul'thraze."
No one tried to get greedy and roll Need. They all passed one after another.
"Carlos, hurry up and combine them. I want to see how busted this thing is." Igor could barely wait.
"Yeah, combine them already," the others echoed.
Curiosity was human nature. With a weapon like that sitting right in front of them, not seeing it would bother them all night.
Carlos was about to combine the two swords into Sul'thraze the Lasher. He was obviously excited. Who wouldn't be? He was about to make an epic sword.
"Wait."
Gabryell quickly stopped him. "Don't combine them yet."
"Why?" Carlos stopped, confused.
Gabryell explained, "Sul'thraze the Lasher is a level 50 epic two-handed sword. You're not high enough to equip it yet. If you combine them now, Jang'thraze gets consumed, and all you can do is stare at Sul'thraze in your bag."
Carlos immediately felt lucky. Good thing he hadn't clicked too fast, or he would have screwed himself.
Since they couldn't see the finished sword in action yet, everyone was disappointed. Igor couldn't help complaining, "Damn it, Blizzard. Why make it require level 50?"
Gabryell looked at how restless they were and smiled. He typed out Sul'thraze's stats from memory so they could at least get an idea of what it looked like.
Sul'thraze the Lasher (Epic)
Unique
Two-Handed Sword
Damage roughly between 100 and 170, Speed 2.60
Requires Level 50
Chance on hit: Strikes the enemy with Sul'thraze's Wrath, reducing their Strength, dealing Shadow damage, and dealing additional damage over time. I don't remember the exact numbers.
"That's roughly it. The sword is black with a green glow around it. It looks ridiculously cool when equipped." Gabryell wasn't a database, so there was no way he could remember every exact number, but this was close enough.
In Warcraft, anything with "Thraze" in the name sounded awesome.
"Damn, that damage is crazy, and the proc is crazy too," Warquell said.
In truth, Retribution Paladins suited Sul'thraze the Lasher even better than Warriors. Human Retribution Paladins could use two-handed swords and maces, and this weapon fit them perfectly.
Still, Warquell had no complaints. Getting Ardent Custodian had already made him happy. Compared to Retribution, he loved Protection more.
Igor practically drooled over the stats Gabryell posted. He wanted that sword badly. Damn it, they had to keep farming Zul'Farrak. No, they had to farm it until the level 60 cap opened. He wouldn't be satisfied until it dropped.
"Keep moving. Let's kill the last two bosses."
Only two regular bosses remained: Hydromancer Velratha and Gahz'rilla. Strictly speaking, Velratha was more of a quest elite than a true boss, while Gahz'rilla had to be summoned. Yesterday, Gabryell had taken Carlos and the others to The Hinterlands to get the Mallet of Zul'Farrak, so they could summon it.
Hydromancer Velratha patrolled back and forth, circling from Gahz'rilla's pool to the exit of the staircase event area.
Gabryell's group cleared the nearby elite mobs first, then waited for her in the passage.
"She has the same toolkit as the Witch Doctors."
That was all the strategy they needed.
Same abilities, same annoyance. Either she and the Witch Doctors had something going on, or Blizzard had gotten lazy.
With experience, the fight went quickly. Hydromancer Velratha lasted barely a minute before going down.
She had no fixed gear drops and was mainly a quest elite. Two quests involved her. One was Tiara of the Deep from Dustwallow Marsh, which Gabryell's group had all accepted. The other was The Second Mosh'aru Tablet, which no one had, so they ignored it.
"Clear around the pool first."
Gahz'rilla had a knockback. If they didn't clear the nearby mobs first, positioning would get annoying, and they could easily pull adds.
"Where's the boss?" someone asked.
Gabryell said, "It has to be summoned. I'll do it."
He walked up to the large gong and struck it with the Mallet of Zul'Farrak. The gong rang out, and Gahz'rilla woke up and charged from the pool.
"Carlos, pick it up and drag it into this corner. It has a water jet that knocks people flying."
Gabryell arranged the positioning. "Everyone else, hug the wall as much as you can. Try not to get launched across the room. Saves time."
Carlos stepped forward, picked up the boss, and slowly dragged it into the corner.
As long as they handled the knockback, Gahz'rilla was just a target dummy.
"This is the hidden summoned boss? And it drops this garbage?" Igor sneered at the green dagger in the loot window.
Gahz'rilla had dropped a green dagger. With no Rogues in the group, everyone rolled casually.
Gabryell didn't care about Gahz'rilla's gear drops. The real value was the Electrified Scale. With it, they could complete the Gahz'rilla quest from the Shimmering Flats and receive the famous green trinket Carrot on a Stick, which was also the first trinket most players obtained.
Carrot on a Stick increased mounted movement speed by 3%. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
"There's still a rare elite farther ahead. Whether it spawned or not is random. If we want to check, we'll have to clear quite a few mobs along the way." Gabryell asked for everyone's opinion.
"Does it drop anything good?" Igor cared about the only thing that mattered: gear.
"It drops."
Gabryell paused for half a second before adding, "Quest items. Four bottles of Troll Temper."
Blizzard really was stingy. They made a rare elite and gave it no gear drops at all. It was practically a joke. That was why no one bothered with Sandarr Dunereaver. Usually, after killing Gahz'rilla, a Zul'Farrak run was considered finished.
"Then why waste time? Skip it. Zone out, reset, go again." Igor immediately lost interest.
Gabryell had the same idea. "Out of the instance. We'll keep running until dinner, then everyone can eat and rest. Be online at 7 PM for Maraudon. At 8 PM, we go in with Madhouse and race them for the first clear."
He added, "If something comes up, say so early."
Coldhands said, "I've got nothing but time."
Lunatori said, "You guys know me. I have even more time than you do."
Warquell said, "I'm free all day."
StyleOverStats, who had stayed quiet the entire run and kept up her cool image, finally spoke.
"Same."
Since everyone was free, they continued farming.
They would grind Zul'Farrak until night, then head to Maraudon.