Congratulations to Bluecollar, our first-ever Working Man Challenge Champion. Bluecollar is also the grand prize winner of our Winter’s Veil Helpers Working Man leveling contest. Yes, you read that correctly. Eexecute created Bluecollar for this contest and reached max level before the end of the two-week event! In fact, it only took Eexecute 11 days and 22 hours, a /played time of 5 days and 22 hours to achieve. This is also the first time we’ve had a contest entrant reach max level before the end of the contest.

When we asked Eexecute what brought him to try the Working Man Challenge he had this to say: “Working Man initially seemed to be a mishmash of the Iron and Paci challenges (though I’ve only attempted the former challenge). The Winter’s Veil Helpers event lined up very nicely with my IRL schedule, as my exams ended the day before the contest started.”

Eexecute felt the Working Man Challenge was considerably easier and faster than the Iron Man Challenge for a couple of reasons. “First: More gold. With Darkmoon Faire in town, I went straight thereupon leaving the Gnomeregan starting area, and gold came in hand over fist thanks to being able to fish up Darkmoon Daggermaw and Bloated Threshers, which was a huge difference from trying to sell greens on an Iron to make gold early. The remaining gold for the run came from gathering and selling the starting herbs/ore. Gold was not an issue on a working man, in stark contrast to my Irons that did not get 280% flying until around the mid-80s.”

“Second: More avenues of experience. I treated the challenge largely like an Iron, except my route was thrown out of whack due to the additional experience provided from gathering herb/mining nodes. This was no problem; I played the toon as an Iron until level 60, explored until level 65, gathered herbs using a Sky Golem mount (no need to dismount to gather herbs while using it) in the southwest corner of Sholazar Basin all the way to level 80, and did strictly Eastern Kingdoms Archaeology for the remaining 40 levels.”

“Finally: Trivial higher levels. Archaeology itself was both much safer and faster than a mob grinding method. Mathematically, you would gain (unrested) one level for every 22 dig sites until level 111, at which point you would gain one level for every 34 dig sites. With Archaeology capped at 225/225, no hostile mobs spawned while digging.”

When asked if he had any close calls with Bluecollar, Eexecute had this to say: “The big risks associated with dinging via Archaeology involve zone phasing: I phased into the WoD version of Blasted Lands after dinging 90, a stone’s throw from a group of level 90 elite mobs, and almost lost the toon on the spot. Be careful where you gain key levels.”

For those looking for advice, tips, or tricks in the hopes of having a smoother journey to max level, Eexecute brings some interesting thoughts to the table: “I specifically used a Monk for the challenge for a few reasons. Gnome was an available race so I, of course, had to pick it. Brewmaster is a relatively tanky spec if you know how to manage stagger, and DPS was not a real hassle because Brewmaster Monks pick up both Keg Smash and Blackout Strike very early. At higher levels, Zen Pilgrimage allows you to set your hearth at the northern end of Eastern Kingdoms (I used Aerie Peak in Hinterlands) because if you need to return to the southern end (ie: Stormwind) you can simply Zen Pilgrimage and use the portal. Zen Flight was not needed.”

As for what’s next for Eexecute: “The Winter’s Veil Helpers contest was a blast. I’ve still got a small army of cute little Iron Gnomes (Warrior, Mage, Warlock, Priest, Monk) I’m attempting to cap. Once patch 8.3 arrives, they’ll be joined by a pack of Vulpera.”

Once again congratulations to Bluecollar and Eexecute on becoming our first-ever Working Man Challenge Champion as well as our Winter’s Veil Helpers Working Man leveling contest winner!