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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: The easy/hard grind
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 14th 2008 at 8:00AM
I'm currently working through Zangarmarsh on my Hunter, and this weekend I spent a lot of time grinding two completely different kinds of mobs. The Withered Bog Lords in northern Zangarmarsh were cake for my Hunter -- they weren't exactly gentle with my pet, but he was able to eat the damage, and I could have grinded right away on them all day. At the exact opposite end of the grinding scale, however, were those stupid Umbrafen Eels -- not only were they under water (always annoying), but they've got this on-hit electrical damage thing that just drove me nuts. I stayed to play with the Bog Lords for a long time, racking up the XP, but as soon as I was done with the Eels, I got out of the water and stayed out.Fighting these two back to back got me thinking: what's the easiest/hardest mob to grind on? Some mobs (like the tigers in Stranglethorn or the bears/spiders in Ashenvale) are super easy to grind -- they have no special abilities, they're spaced out, and they go down fast. But others -- most gnolls, in my experience, and lots of casters -- are just annoying as all get out; they run around, pull others, heal up when they're almost dead, and give you lots of headaches while taking them down. Those are the mobs you don't sit around and grind on -- they're the ones you avoid completely after you've done whatever quest requires you to kill them.
What are your favorite or least favorite mobs to just grind on in the game?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Quickshiv Apr 14th 2008 10:34AM
I can't believe no one has mention Talbuks. You never fun out and for their level very easy to kill. Plus good skin and meat that sells well.
For a rogue anything that is poison/stun immune is annoying
Cohn Apr 14th 2008 10:43AM
The blood elves in Terokkar, the furthest northern part. They're grouped incredibly together, they have a silence, a 100% heal, and they're casters. They also respwan incredibly fast, my least favorite grind.
sniped43 Apr 14th 2008 11:00AM
I noticed that in feralas, the gryphons or whatever they are (Hyppogriphs or w/e) and anything else in that area was super easy to grind. When my hunter was whatever level that area was I levelled almost 5 levels just grinding these in one day. Phenomenal.
Dillon Apr 14th 2008 3:10PM
really depends on your class
I like grinding casters on my pally because they have less health and I can heal through the dmg without an issue. Also - Demons + Undead due to Exorcism, Turn Undead, and Holy Wrath. On the other hand melee are easy because they barely touch me. Just takes longer to kill them ... The annoying mobs are the ones that always want to fight you from range.
I like grinding melee on my mage because I can just frost nova/kite then AOE all day long
Vyv Apr 14th 2008 11:54AM
I loved the Feral Scar and Rage Scar Yeti in Feralas. My prot paladin would start a fight with two and back up through the cave taking on all comers. Get to the end and finish them off, back to the start and rinse and repeat. I had the added bonus of Kang the Decapitator dropping off of Rage Scar Yeti for me :)
I have a particular fondness of the bugs in Tanaris and Un'goro Crater. Sane tactic to grind them as the yeti, and they don't do anything special. A few mining nodes to keep things interesting, but otherwise they bugs only ever drop a bit of junk, so your bags stay pretty clear so you only have to leave to repair or do something else as you'll likely find yourself a little bored. PLUS! Nothing like chittering bug sounds to make you feel a little itchy. (Sounds like I hated them, but it was an easy if unrewarding grind.)
Ace Apr 14th 2008 11:58AM
I HATE birds and bird men(forgot what they are called) I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to help pulling at least 2-3, which would be ok except the other one's seem to have a natrual pull towards me which usally ends with me fighting at least 5 or 6.
Easiest undead as a pally I never have had a problem killing undead.
Kasika Apr 14th 2008 11:58AM
the best mobs ive seen around are the undead mobs inside the wildhammer stronghold for that first part of the quest for the Gorefiend questline.
Slap on your spectercles and go to work. Why?
#2- The mobs are neutral. so its always a single pull.
#2- They are not casters no do any special ability. ANY class can deal with em with ease
#3- They are INSIDE the borders of the stronghold. I assume the horde have a similar quest for their town inside SMV so even on a PVP server, you cannot get griefed by players of the opposite faction and grind them ALL day long without problem.
#4- You can get healed by a friend and if he doesnt have the spectercles, he cant get hurt. Dual boxing ftw!
#5- They drop a very decent amount of cash, tons of netherweave and the occasional green/blue.
Best mobs ever.
The worse? The tablets of ba'ari quest in SMV. So tightly packed together mobs x.x
Jim Apr 14th 2008 1:53PM
I leveled my alt (then) Shadow Priest from 67-70 doing this in the Horde camp. I had a bad run of getting ganked every time I started a quest and also wanted to see how high I could get my (rested) xp/hour up to. I was averaging over 120k xp an hour, which I would dare say I have never even sniffed for an extended amount of time doing quests. That is probably double what I would have otherwise.
I basically had him raid buffed (wizard oil, shadow pot, mageblood) and I was able to go on endlessly without drinking or potting. I also got almost enough cloth to go from 300-375 Tailoring. But the other drops were pretty bad, almost entirely green resist gear. I had stacks and stacks of Imbued Netherweave Cloth after this. I would do it again if my next toon wasn't a druid. I can't resist flying to quests from 68-70.
Otherwise, any humanoid that doesn't run. Unless I'm skinning, and then it's basilisks. Fel scales, leather, food, and those wonderful 2g stacks.
Dreadbeard Apr 14th 2008 1:13PM
Crustbursters...I'm surprised no one has mentioned those damn things. Clearly the devs have read too much "Dune"...but my name IS a killing word to the Fremen, so there is that...
dakwa Apr 14th 2008 3:01PM
On the new island, it is just so buggy that doing anything is harder there than it needs to be.
biglou Apr 14th 2008 3:27PM
Im gonna go with the bog lords for herbalists for the long grind. I made the 5k I needed for my epic flight training in about 10 days grinding bog lords and then using herbalism on them. The herbs drop quickly, as do some low 60's greens, and I think I got a blue or 2 (got lots of arcane dust out of this place). Also, if your a miner, some nodes drop in the 2 bog lord areas also, but if you're not an herbalist, you might fare better somewhere else. The other bonus of the bog lords...lots of non herbalists are always grinding them leaving their corpses littering the field for you to pick (easy cach). Lastly, even the crap that is dropped (creeping moss sells for 1g74s a stack...small mushrooms sell for 2g a stack) is worth carrying to Telredor or Cenarion Refuge.
Wolfstalker Apr 14th 2008 3:50PM
Any caster mob is cake for a rogue. Swing, swing, kick, swing dead. Repeat all day if necessary.
Marco Polaris Apr 14th 2008 4:17PM
The warlocks in the Tower of Anthalaxx are one of the most annoying mobs in the game, simply because of their pets. The voidwalkers hit like mobs in their own right, and have a crapton of hit points. This is all compounded by the fact that these mobs are one of the few caster mobs in the game that will run away from you if you close into melee, ensuring that the uncautious fighter will pull 2-3 (READ: 4-6 with pets) at once instead of just one, even using LoS pulling.
Zali Apr 14th 2008 5:11PM
Rock Elementals are THE WORST!!! Hate em, hate em, hate em. Lets see, they are immune to Roots, Fairy Fire, Wrath, and Cyclone. I can Moonfire them, which is a mana drain, and I can Starfire them, which is a three second cast... or 9 second cast when you factor in all the interupts because they are pounding the crap out of you.
Zedius Apr 14th 2008 6:39PM
Zeth'Gor
Hellfire Peninsula
Those damn grunts annoyed me to death. Like 0,0001% drop rate on cursed Talismans and the Grunts have alot of hp and hit like trucks (This is at a pre-Bc geared 59-60 Rogue)
If I ever make an alt I will personally pay my guildies to kill those damn things for me -.-
Now I can solo elite quests. You gotta love raiding :D
Beaverius Apr 15th 2008 2:07AM
I feel you, Zeth'Gor suuuucks. Buggy mobs, no room to fight without pulling too many adds and fast respawns are just a few of the sucky things about zeth'gor.
Harlequinné Apr 15th 2008 10:41AM
Well, depends on what I'm playing:
Rogue: + Everything goes down so smoothly... :)
Paladin: + Melee classes slightly lower than me
- Every friggin' caster mob
Priest: Let's not...