FARMING AND EASY KILLS

The Dust Devils of Westfall

Westfall, round Sentinel Hill / level 17 to 22 / Magic Dust / alone

Westfall is flat, dry and a long walk from anywhere that sells beer. I'm spending the week here chasing small whirlwinds across other people's fields. A dust devil is a column of sand as tall as a man, and it wanders. I see one by the road, walk over, and find it two fields further on.

Why it pays

The Dust Devil drops Magic Dust in one kill out of five. The travellers say the dust puts a player to sleep until something hits him, and it needs level 10. On a PvP realm people buy it to leave fights they are losing. A vendor pays 2s 13c and sells none, and the auction house pays price unknown today. Three rares in the starting zones carry it too, one creature each and at a lower rate, so the twelve devils of Westfall are the only farm there is. They add Elemental Air in about one kill out of 27, worth price unknown, and now and then a green Dust Bowl. They carry no cloth.

What you need

Level 17 at least, since the devils are 18 and 19. At 22 they fall over quickly. No profession and no group, a few free bag slots, and comfortable boots, because a round of the zone is mostly walking.

Where

The devils wander the fields around Sentinel Hill, most of them on the western side between the road and the coast hills, a few to the east. The Alliance flies to Sentinel Hill, the middle of the round. The Horde's nearest flight point is Grom'gol in Stranglethorn, a very long walk south. The red dots are Vultros, a level 26 vulture who circles over the same fields.

How

1. Start at Sentinel Hill, go north, swing west and south in a wide circle and come back up the east side.
2. Kill every dust devil you see. Leave the gnolls, golems and Defias alone unless they stand in the way.
3. Look across the fields for them. A devil wanders a long way from where it spawned.
4. The old spawn tables bring a devil back five minutes after it dies, and a round takes longer than that. Expect about two dust a round.
5. Sell the dust a few at a time. On a PvP realm keep two or three for yourself.

What can go wrong

The price moves a great deal. In the beta weeks Magic Dust sold for little more than the vendor pays on some realms and for many times that on others, so look at price unknown before you set out. Our loot table says one in five, and a traveller who read a database says one in nine. If he's right, a round brings one dust. Vultros found me on my second round. I left the western fields to him for the rest of the day and worked the eastern ones, where the devils are fewer.

BASTIAN'S VERDICT A long walk for a small, steady profit, best on a PvP realm where people want to put each other to sleep. It paid my bill at the inn on the hill and left a little over.