Shattered Sun Offensive phase 4: Monument to the Fallen
It's been awhile since I've had the time to hop on the patch 2.4PTR and a lot has changed with the Shattered Sun Offensive. Sun's Reach Harbor has been captured, bringing with it several new quests and conveniences to the Isle of Quel'danas. For one thing, the harbor building now acts as an inn, with a water/food vendor, a place to set your hearthstone, a mailbox, a poison vendor for rogues and, of course, the granting of rest experience. Of course, the main attraction of the new phase is undoubtedly going to be the four new quests, three of which are repeatable dailies.
Two of the new quests directly relate to the last new structure to be built on the isle, the Monument to the Fallen. One of them, "A Magnanimous Benefactor", is a non-repeatable quest, available at exalted reputation, that allows you to purchase the title "of the Shattered Sun" for 1,000 gold. The other quest, "A Charitable Donation", can be repeated every day and is probably the most simple and straightforward quest found in the game so far. In order to earn some quick reputation, you simply have to give 10 gold to the quest giver. I suppose Blizzard decided they need new gold sinks with the limit on daily quests being raised to 25 from 10. Regardless, this second quest is tied to the construction of a statue near the other buildings you've helped capture. The Monument to the Fallen, pictured above, has a statue of a Draenei on one side and a Blood Elf on the other to commemorate the unity of the Aldor and Scryers against Kael'thas.
One of the other new quests has already been the source of much speculation on this site. It will apparently unlock some new trade skills, quests, and/or items. In addition to the ideas posted by my fellow writers, it is rumored to also unlock a new elixir recipe and the ability to make flasks in the Harbor building. In any case, "Discovering Your Roots" sends you to an obscure area near Shattrath. A quick flight to the hills on the border of Hellfire Peninsula and Terokkar Forest brings you to Razorthorn Rise. While this area has been in the game for a long while now, on the PTR, flayers and ravagers now stalk the once vacant hills. You'll kill flayers to get a Razorthorn Flayer Gland, which you then use to tame a ravager (Half-life 2 anyone?). The ravager acts like a hunter's pet, with several abilities, including a taunt. You need to bring the ravager near the small mounds on the ground and use one of it's abilities to uncover a Razorthorn Root, which you can then loot. Do this 5 times and you're finished with the quest. The ravager remains under your control until you choose to dismiss it by right-clicking on its portrait or by flying too far away from it.
The final new quest, "Disrupt the Greengill Coast", is once again quick, easy and fun. You'll simply need to kill a few female naga on the eastern coast of the Isle, loot some Orbs of Murloc Control, and then use those items to free the nearby murloc slaves. When used, the orbs bring up a targeting reticule, like a mage's blizzard or a rogue's distract abilities. You need to position it correctly in order to hit as many Greengill Slaves as possible. You need to free a total of 10 murlocs and I was able to do so with three of the quest items, getting as many as 4 murlocs at once. This quest doesn't seem to unlock anything new on the Isle, although some of the NPC gossip text seems to indicate that there might have been plans to create boat transport from the Isle at one point.
While certainly not complete, I hope you've enjoyed these glimpses of the new event that will hit live servers with patch 2.4. I've enjoyed my time on the test realm and will be looking forward to participating in the Offensive on my home server in a few weeks. What do you think about these new quests? Do you think Blizzard has done a good job on this progressive world event?
