FARMING AND EASY KILLS

Murloc Pearls in the Wetlands

Wetlands, the coast north of Menethil / level 20 to 26 / pearls from clams / alone, or a frost mage

I'm sitting on a crate on the quay at Menethil Harbor, opening clams with my knife. There are thirty, from an afternoon among the murlocs up the coast. Twenty-nine hold a lump of grey meat. The last one holds a pearl that changes colour when I turn it under the lamp, and the fisherman beside me asks what I want for it.

Why it pays

The Bluegill Murloc and the other Bluegills on this coast drop a Thick-shelled Clam in about one kill out of three. Every clam holds Tangy Clam Meat. The old loot lists put a Iridescent Pearl in one clam out of 33 and a Small Lustrous Pearl in one out of 20, so a hundred murlocs bring about one Iridescent Pearl and one or two small ones. The Iridescent Pearl sells for price unknown and the small one for price unknown. Forever's new Mender's patterns for leatherworkers take one to four Iridescent Pearls each below skill 225, and the new Pearly patterns for tailors take one to eight small ones, so the buyers keep coming. The live box can't see inside a clam, so the pearls come on top.

What you need

Level 20 for the camps near the harbour, 24 or more for the northern ones. A frost mage can pull a whole camp at once, as the travellers do. Anyone else takes one or two.

Where

The camps run along the west coast north of Menethil Harbor. Near the harbour they're 20 to 22. Farther north the Bluegill Muckdweller and Bluegill Warrior are 23 to 25. The Alliance flies to Menethil Harbor and walks up the shore. The Horde's nearest flight point is Tarren Mill, a long way north. Between the northern camps lies a wrecked ship with a cursed crew of level 26 to 28, and an elite Hammerhead Shark of level 31 swims in the water off it. I stay on the sand, as I always do near water.

How

1. Walk north from Menethil Harbor to the first camp on the shore.
2. Clear the southern camps first, one or two at a time, or a whole camp if you're a frost mage.
3. Open every clam as soon as it drops. Each clam takes a bag slot of its own, while the meat stacks.
4. Work north camp by camp, keep clear of the wreck and come back south. The first camps are standing again by then.
5. Sell the pearls and the clam meat on the auction house, the scales and fins to any vendor. Cooks buy the meat for Goblin Deviled Clams.

What can go wrong

The pearl is luck. One evening I opened forty clams and found meat in every one. On a PvP realm the Horde players who pass through find a lone murloc hunter easy to catch. Pull too many at once and the first ones walk home before the last are dead.

BASTIAN'S VERDICT Good money if you're levelling in the Wetlands anyway, as long as you open the clams. I've got two pearls in the bank and a cold in my chest.