Congratulations to Ferrelin on becoming our 8th Shadowlands Working Man Challenge champion! Ferrelin’s Working Man journey took 28 days, 19 hours, and 4 minutes with a /played time of 2 days, 10 hours, and 4 minutes to complete.

Ferrelin is Ferre’s 4th Working Man champion and her 16th champion overall this expansion. Her others include 8 Pacifists and 4 Iron Man champions.

Ferre chose the Working Man Challenge for Ferrelin because she really loves this challenge. “I started this Rogue after an early death for a pacifist and wanted to have a character in a position to look at changes that would be introduced with the Dragonflight pre-patch. A Working Man would be faster to level than a paci, so I went in that direction.”

Ferrelin was created as a Night Elf Subtlety Rogue. “It’s a class and spec I know well, so I could pay attention to the changes being introduced with DF. I always play Subtlety rather than Outlaw – it’s just a spec I’m more comfortable with.”

Ferre chose the following leveling path for Ferrelin: “She started just after a DMF had completed, so she needed to put some focus on making some gold. Hallow’s Eve was a major source of experience, specifically candy buckets everywhere along with the SW holiday dailies.”

“Aside from that, she quested in Teldrassil, Azuremyst/Bloodmyst areas, some in Darkshore, Elywnn Forest, and a bit in Loch Modan and Redridge. Between 25-35 or so, she quested in Northrend, and approx 36-50 she was in Pandaria, questing and gathering. I always wait till I can fly before doing Pandaria.”

“She always did the cooking/fishing dailies in Darnassus (until level 49) and in Dalaran. She also did gathering runs in Feralas. My favorite gathering spot is at Dreamer’s Rest in Feralas, great for both herbs and mining, especially with a rogue’s crowd control options.”

“At 50, she did the Maw skip and took Threads of Fate, joining the Night Fae. From 50-60, she did a combination of World Quests, Profession World Quests, Cook/Fish dailies back in SW, holidays, and DMF activities as well as limited herbing in Bastion and Ardenweald. She dropped mining prior to going to SL zones, picking up Alchemy to take advantage of the SL profession WQs. I don’t particularly like mining in SL zones, so it was an easy choice and it really helps to have cooking/fishing/alchemy WQs to supplement the other non-violent WQs.”

“One unexpected twist – she did a LOT of archeology between 50-60, probably about half a level per day of it. She was doing that when I discovered that there is a rogue talent – Subterfuge – in the class talent tree that makes it possible to do the surveying part of arche while remaining in stealth! It took a bit of sleuthing to figure out that this was what was causing this change in surveying. Apparently, as early as 2014, people were reporting that this was a side effect of this talent. It was never clear whether it was intended or an unexpected side benefit. But, I checked using a scout both with and without this talent, and yes, it is the source of the ability. So, I ran with it, thumbing her nose at all those trolls in the STV digsites as she waded right into the middle of the camps and started surveying! You do break stealth when you loot the artifact fragments, but one could either sap any mobs sitting on top of it or just kill them (I tried the sapping options since I wanted to know how it would feel on a Pacifist rather than a Working Man).”

“So after doing the Anniversary Trivia daily, the SW cook/fish, and any available WQs, she just finished the level with archeology (avoiding areas frequented by the World Dragons that spawn for the Anniversary event)”

Ferre said that Ferrelin had no close calls while leveling.

Ferre has the following advice for others trying out the Working Man Challenge: “Play a class and spec that you enjoy! Look carefully at your talent choices to avoid choosing those that offer AOE spells or ‘extra hits on nearby mobs’. And utilize all of the questing options offered by your professions, changing those up when it seems appropriate to do so.”

What’s next for Ferre? Will she be taking a break or will she be working on another challenger? “Ongoing Iron Hunter, Green Man Hunter and 2 Mages (one is my first Tauren Mage), and a Working Man Tauren Rogue!”

Good luck with your other challengers and congratulations once again on Ferrelin becoming our 8th Shadowlands Working Man champion!