Caverns of Time: Old Hillsbrad Foothills

Before you can enter the instance you must have completed the Keepers of Time entrance quest. (Boring 10 minute escort where someone shows you around the Caverns of Time) It is done right outside the instance from the quest give Andormu so don’t worry if you have not done it yet.

So to begin this instance you should grab a set of bombs from the Keeper of Time quest-giver right where enter the instance. Then go ahead and hop on the Dragons back and take a trip down to Durnholde Keep way before you knew it in Hillsbrad today.

A little info on the area, the map layout is the same as Hillsbrad Foothills as you know it. The entrance from the Caverns of Time is where the Yeti Cave is in current Hillsbrad Foothills. Tarren Mill and Southshore are both still there. I suggest not wandering into Tarren Mill yet, but if you are curious and want to look around Southshore is completely neutral and you can head on over there. Keep your eyes open for a pair of Dalaran wizards traveling the road, if you are an enchanter you’ll want to pick up the enchanting formula for Intellect to shield. There are a couple of vendors in south shore as well, a repair guy, a food/water vendor, even a vendor that sells treats for hunter pets to buff them up. You also might notice all of the bosses from Scarlet Monastery are here, and quite a bit younger. (Herod the bully etc.)

Once you are ready to begin, head over to Durnholde Keep. There are quite a few easy pulls to start the instance. Just watch out for the pats and you shouldn’t have any wipes. Instead of heading right up to the keep you should stay to your right and head down to the internment camp. If your healer is a priest they can MC the wardens, they have a flash heal spell that heals for about 7k health. Fight your way through the trash and pats and plant the bombs in each of the barracks. This spawns the first boss.

Lieutenant Drake:

Pretty much a tank and spank here, just watch his aoe fear and you’ll do fine. Now head up to the keep to save Thrall. It is important to know that Thrall can die twice and he will reset back to the most recent time you spoke with him. However after the third death you will have to start the entire instance over again, so it is important to keep him alive (you can heal him if need be). There are once again a few trash mob pulls leading up to Thrall who is in the dungeon (downstairs). Anyone who is on the quest to save Thrall must turn in the quest they have and accept the new one before freeing him or everyone will not get credit. Once freed thrall will run up and kill the armor-smith with his bare fists and take a bunch of gear for himself. This is where the instance starts to get interesting. Thrall is rushing out of the keep and there are many sets of 4 guards waiting to stop him (4 sets of 4 in total for this phase of the event). If you can crowd control two it will make this fight very easy, but it can be completed with no crowd control at all. After the four sets of four mobs, everyone should eat and drink as quickly as possible because a boss fight is about to start.

Captain Skarloc:

A paladin with two adds. If you can crowd control one or two than do that and down the boss and worry about the adds after, however with no crowd control take down the adds first. The DPS took down the trash mob first then started in on the boss. He is again more or less a tank and spank except that he likes to spam hammer of justice on the tank (or whoever has the most threat), and casts heals on himself and his trash mobs. Its easy enough to just shield bash, kick, earth-shock, pummel, or whatever other interrupts you have your way through the heals. Just be careful that your healer doesn’t pick up aggro and die while the tank is stunned.

Overall this area is pretty easy if you have a crowd control or two, if you don’t, well, Thrall is a crowd control on his own. Everyone should sit and drink before talking to thrall and proceeding on to Tarren Mill.

Thrall will hop on the dead Captain’s horse and ride for Tarren Mill. There are two patrols of 3-4 mobs that you will have to stop and kill on the way there. It is the same deal as before just let Thrall tank one and down the other three. Once arriving at Tarren Mill you will get another chance to catch your breath before proceeding in. When everyone is ready tell Thrall to go on and he will rush into town. Thrall will run into the barn and startle a horse that will start a guard encounter, 4 mobs, do the same as all the other pulls with Thrall. Afterwards Thrall goes into the church where 4 guards try to “corner” him. After that battle is fought he runs in the inn and goes upstairs, once upstairs 4 guards spawn again so make sure everyone follows him in and up the stairs. It is time for the last boss encounter. Make sure everyone is ready and then talk to Taretha to spawn the boss. Everyone should head outside.

EPOCH HUNTER:

You should notice the dragon “Epoch Hunter” hovering to the south of the exit of the inn. Before you get a shot at him you will fight 3 waves of his cronies. The first wave spawns under Epoch Hunter, a group of three dragonkin. The second wave spawns at the east entrance to the town, another group of three. The last group, spawns under epoch hunter again and is a group of four. These can be one of the hardest parts of the entire instance. The easiest way to handle them is to on each spawn try to crowd control at least one of them, however two would make it simple. Fear, sleep, and freeze trap all work on dragonkin. This is an endurance battle and mana reservation if you have a low level healer can make or break the fight so if your DPS classes take some damage have them back off and bandage if you don’t have an off healer. If you can only crowd control one, let Thrall tank one again. As soon as the third wave of dragonkin is dead, drink as soon as possible. Epoch Hunter will engage Thrall first which will give you a few moments to regain mana and health before engaging him. Now for the fight, Epoch Hunter has a knock-back ability so the best way to tank him is with your back to a wall. He also likes to spam mass dispels so any buffs you have now you won’t have at the end of the fight. Also, this removes heal over time spells (druids beware) so you should take that into account when healing for this boss. Other than the mentioned abilities, just tank and spank him. Once Epoch Hunter is dead grab your loot and talk to the Elf that spawns near Thrall to turn in your quest.

If you haven’t explored this area before than I suggest you take a look around, it’s a well-put together instance and you can see some pretty interesting things which had a lot of thought put into them. Overall Old Hillsbrad isn’t an overly difficult instance especially if you have the correct class makeup. I hope that this guide gave you a great overview to the instance and that you fly through it without any problems. Good luck.