Soloing Scholomance
Any level 60 dungeon from vanilla World of Warcraft should be frustratingly easy to any level 80. That is why they make perfect targets for making gold.
Number one, it's an instance, which means there is no competition for loot or mobs. Two, you can repeat it over and over if you wish (for the most part). And three, it's fast. Clearing an entire level 60 dungeon solo as a ret paladin (or any class for that matter) should take no longer than 45 minutes. An average of about 30 minutes is good for me.
That said, let's get down to Scholomance. This is a great dungeon for Argent Dawn reputation, as there are many bosses concentrated in a small area. And with many bosses, comes good loot...to disenchant.
Paladin Requirements
I took my level 80 Paladin alt, Brittany, who has yet to really touch anything other than herbs in Storm Peaks. The key to farming old dungeons is to do it with a character that can disenchant, and she is an enchanter. This can be done if you are not an enchanter, but it is better gold income if you are.
Bags must also be clear, as there is a ton of loot that is going to drop. I am not picky, I loot everything. You should too, even the stacks of random food items add up over time. Of course, if you run out of space, dump the food and other trash first.
Scholomance Items I Am Looking For
Going in, I know there are certain items I will be looking for as good gold makers:
- Large Brilliant Shard
- Illusion Dust
- Greater Eternal Essence
- Runecloth
- BoE Blue (Rare) Items
- BoE Purple (Epic) Items
- Pristine Black Diamond
- Crypt Fiend Parts
- Formula: Enchant Weapon - Lifestealing
The Scholo Run
My run started at 1320pm and ended at 1358pm. 38 minutes. Not too bad, given that this is my level 80 Paladin with very beginning 80 gear. Also, I was taking time for screenshots and the like, so a better estimate would be anywhere from 25 to 35 minutes, depending on your killing methods.
My loot was as follows:
- 36g trash coinage
- 14g vendor trash
- 214x Runecloth - 33g
- 1x Pristine Black Diamond - 150g
- 1x Orb of Deception - 1000g
- 17x Crypt Fiend Parts - 7.5g
- 5x Dark Rune - 15g
- 69x Bone Fragements - 6.9g
- 8x Large Brilliant Shard - 30g
- 16x Illusion Dust - 21.6g
- 2x Greater Eternal Essence - 14.5g
Now, let's subtract the Orb of Deception (which was lucky as hell) and the Pristine Black Diamond. So, 1329g - 1150g = 179g
Now, we are looking for a gold per hour here, so let's bust out some simple math:
179/38 = x/60
That comes out to 283g per hour! These results may vary, but if you're looking for a break from WotLK content, give this a spin and see how you do!
If you get lucky, and get a nice drop (such as the Orb of Deception), you may make much, much more!
283g per hour isn't outstanding, but it's not lacking either. Personally, I loved burying my Titansteel Destroyer into Doctor Theolen Krastinov. I think he wiped us more often than Gandling did in vanilla WoW!
Oh, and by the way, the Lightforge Helm dropped off Gandling, so I kept that for a vintage gear set!