Golden balls......

You'll all be glad to know that this post has very little to do with David Beckham or Jasper Carrot, but rather a neat trick if you are levelling an alt at around level 40 - 42 BEFORE Cataclysm comes and want to earn yourself a few gold too by farming  Big Mouth Clams for Golden Pearls in a cave on the Isle of Dread, the best place (according to Wowhead).

This will only be relevant until patch 4.0.3 comes as the island that we are going to is disappearing.


The Big Mouth Clams are wonderful items as when opened they can provide:
Zesty Clam Meat (100%)
Black Pearls (4%)
Iridesent Pearl (3%)
Golden Pearls (2%)
Small Lustrous Pearls (1%)

Simply everything sells well as the meat is used for levelling cooking and each of the pearls for other professions, but the main prize is the Golden Pearls as these are used in the +30 spell power weapon enchant that is very popular on BoA weapons and by enchanters for their Runed Arcanite Rod, which they need to get through the last few points of pre-TBC enchanting.Generally prices are around 100g per for these so a few hours killing these naga could net you around a 1000g and a whole sack full of XP too (if you're in the level range).

For Alliance players that do not have the flight path to Feathermoon Stronghold and our Horde friends that don't have the flight path to Camp Mojache this place is a pain to get to and I'll briefly describe 2 routes 1 from Darnassus and the other from Ironforge.

From Darnassu:
a) take the flight or the boat to Auberdine, run south through Darkshore and onto Ashenvale run through Ashenvale (picking up the Astranaar flight point if needed) into the Barrens;
b) keep heading towards the Crossroads (careful this is Horde territory), keep running south and eventually you come to The Great Lift,
c) take your time to watch the lifts and run for one as the Horde guards will attack and ride the lift down into Thousand Needles and take a right and head west run into Feralas and pick up the flight point on the border with Thousand Needles;
d) keep heading west and run north around Camp Mojache keep heading west until you get to a small path leading down to the sea;
e) you'll know you're in the right spot as here the path starts heading north.
f) take the boat to Feathermoon Stronghold and pick up the flight point (no need to walk next time);
g) Pick up the quest Ruins of Solarsal from Shandris Feathermoon, its XP for doing what you're gonna do anyway so just follow the questline upto Against Lord Shalzaru;

From Ironforge:
a) head east through Dun Morogh and at Helm's Bed Lake, take the path to the north which will take you into Loch Modan near the tunnel into the Wetlands;
b) Head into the Wetlands and follow the path to Menethil Harbour;
c) At the harbour pick up the flight point if needed and then take the boat on the left to Theramore;
d) Leave Theramore (flight point acquired again?) and run through Dustwallow Marsh until the path forks towards the Barrens;
e) Enter the Barrens and head south towards The Great Lift;
f) follow Darnassu instructions from c);

Horde, I'll assume you guys know the way to the Crossroads:
a) simply follow the Darnassu instruction from b) until f), you really don't want to be on that boat;
b) Swim across to Sardor Isle (the northerly one) avoiding the Feathermoon Stronghold;

Detailed instructions from Sardor Isle:
a) all head to the south western tip of the island, as shown below (co-ords 26.9, 57.0), along the way the ruins are populated by re are Hatecrest naga level 41.43), that also drop the clams that contain our Golden Pearls so feel free to kill those also;

Point to swim to the Isle of Dread (coords 26.9, 57.0)

b) from here swim south to the Isle of Dread to more old ruins and run into the cave

Cave entrance on Isle of Dread (coords 25.9, 66.9)

Shalzaru's Lair is your farm point go crazy it has higher level Hatecrest naga (42-45) mobs. A full circuit, including the hidden area accessed by swimming down on the right hand side of the pool at the end, will see the mobs respawning before you're back at the start, even for a level 80 able to one shot each mob, as shown in the video below. I didn't rush around as that would have only meant waiting for respawns anyway and a lower level would have zero downtime.

Just for those that may be wondering my circuit produced 23 Big Mouth Clams, 2 green items 1 Iridesent Pearl and no Golden Pearls....

A personal tip would be to NOT sell your pearls until after 4.0.3 but before the expansion hits.

Enjoy.