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Get exalted with the Lorewalkers in an hour or less
This article was originally posted October 5, 2012 by Michael Sacco. With Mists of Pandaria winding down, it's a good time to wrap up some of your lingering goals this expansion. If you've yet to hit exalted with the Lorewalkers, we're here to help. When I first walked into Lorewalker Cho's sanctum at 90, I peered around for Lorewalkers daily quests and saw that they all seemed to involve archaeology in some way. My DK did not have archaeology up to any meaningful skill level. I sighed deeply at the cheap, neat-looking Disc of the Red Flying Cloud and walked away, until I heard from a little bird that getting Lorewalker rep was a lot easier than I thought. All you really need to do to get exalted with the Lorewalkers is read each of the lore objects located throughout Pandaria; you can see a list of them (like The Seven Burdens of Shaohao) in your Exploration Achievements tab, under Pandaria. When you read all of the objects for each "story," you get an item to bring to Lorewalker Cho, who presents you with a sort of play about the story you collected, and you get a ton of reputation (thousands). The best part? You can collect them all in an hour or less with 310 flying and a map to help you out.
Faction short story The Blank Scroll now available
A new short story, The Blank Scroll, is now available on the official site. The next in the series of faction short stories, The Blank Scroll, by Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie, takes a look at the Lorewalkers against a most unlikely backdrop. A goblin team has been delving into the secrets of what Pandaria has to offer, but their efforts are stymied by the mysterious appearance of a terrible monster, and a pandaren Lorewalker who seems to know far more than she's telling. Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie was also the author of Gallywix: Trade Secrets of a Trade Prince, so he's already got the knack of writing goblin characters down pat. But what's surprising here is that the focus of the story is the story itself, in a weird chain reaction of events that eventually play out to a mostly happy ending. I like clever tales. The Blank Scroll is exceedingly clever. Not only do we get a closer look at a Lorewalker in action, we get a better look at goblins, their relationship with the Horde, and even Gallywix himself, oddly enough. I have to say, while I've been enjoying these short stories immensely, I do wish they were released with more frequency. I'd like to see what the other factions of Pandaria have to offer. However, The Blank Scoll is an excellent, somewhat cheeky addition to Mists of Pandaria's collection of faction short stories, a breath of fresh air after the somewhat darker nature of Trial of the Red Blossoms and Bleeding Sun. You can read the full story for free on the official site.
Patch 5.3 PTR: New scenarios and Lorewalker Cho
Patch 5.3 has some changes coming for scenario content. In addition to the new heroic versions of all existing scenarios, several new scenarios have been added. Unlike patch 5.1's Dagger in the Dark and A Little Patience, all scenarios will apparently be available to both sides upon patch 5.3's release. Much like what we're seeing with these faction-specific scenarios in patch 5.2, players of either faction will be given a disguise so that they may play through the other faction's content without fear of being murdered. But there are a few other developments with scenarios as well. Upon logging into the PTR, both Alliance and Horde players will receive a letter from Lorewalker Cho, asking them to come to the Lorewalkers area in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Once there, Lorewalker Cho offers a quest that triggers a story scene briefly explaining the story behind the Blood in the Snow scenario, complete with visions of Varian Wrynn and Moira Bronzebeard, and asking players to complete the scenario so he can know the rest of the story.
Lorewalkers guide for the Isle of Thunder
What, you thought we were done with the Lorewalkers? Not a chance. Patch 5.2 introduces more lore objects to find, scattered around the Isle of Thunder. Collecting all of the objects results in achievements as well as new scenes to watch, courtesy of Lorewalker Cho. The objects themselves are softly lit with a blue glow as shown above, making them relatively easy to spot once you're in the area. I spent some time on the Isle of Thunder and managed to hunt down all of the lore objects while doing quests for the new zone. But if you don't have the time or inclination to explore, we've put together a map and guide of all the new lore objects. Please note -- there are plenty of these lore objects locked behind island progression. You won't be able to nab all of the lore objects until the Isle of Thunder is fully unlocked on your server.
Patch 5.2 and beyond with Dave Kosak
Hot on the heels of the official patch 5.2 trailer, we had the opportunity to sit down and speak with one of the developers behind it all. While chatting with Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak about patch 5.2 and its development, one thing became incredibly clear -- 5.2 is definitely not just a raid and a few dailies. There is far, far more to be seen and experienced in the new patch. Read on for some of the details behind the trailer released earlier today, the story in the new patch, daily quest development, scenarios, and even a few hints at what's in store for patch 5.3. Please note: There are a couple of minor spoilers for 5.2 content in the interview. Nothing huge, we promise!
Patch 5.2 PTR: Finding mantid dig sites will be a breeze in 5.2
Archaeology has always been one of those professions that you either love or hate, with little room in between. While the profession as a whole was fairly klonky in Cataclysm, improvements introduced in Mists of Pandaria helped to streamline the process a little for players. The biggest improvement by far was the ability to turn in crated relics from Pandaria in exchange for fragments from any dig site type on Azeroth -- which meant that players no longer had to dig endlessly on Kalimdor, hoping for a Tol'vir dig site to pop up. However, the new treatment of the Archaeology profession apparently doesn't stop there. Patch 5.2 noted that a new section of Archaeology would be added for the mantid, giving players with a penchant for procuring priceless pieces something new to dig for. But as far as we knew, this meant a return to the days of endlessly digging a continent, hoping for one particular variety of dig site to pop up -- which really wasn't an ideal situation at all. It looks like the Lorewalkers have thought ahead with a solution for this already. Wowhead dug up a new item in the 5.2 files called the Mantid Artifact Sonic Locator. This item will let you convert any Pandaria dig site into a mantid site, allowing those that have completed the other sections of Pandaria archaeology to simply get straight to the mantid stuff. The item requires exalted reputation with the Lorewalkers, and stacks to 20, which leads one to believe it disappears upon use. While we don't know the cost of the item, it's likely you're either going to have to pay gold, or more crated artifacts from Pandaria to purchase. Regardless, it's nice to see that the devs are still thinking about both Archaeology and the Lorewalkers as the expansion moves on. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Know Your Lore: Top 10 lore developments of 2012, part 1
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. 2012 was a bit of an odd year for World of Warcraft. While yes, we did see the successful launch of Mists of Pandaria, that didn't happen until September. Prior to that? There was a whole lot of nothing in game. Patch 4.3 came out in November of 2011, which meant that players had nothing new or exciting to look at for nine months -- an astonishingly long period of time. So why bother doing a top 10 lore developments for 2012, you may ask? Because the moment Mists of Pandaria hit live servers, we were inundated with so many different lore developments, changes and tweaks that there is more than enough material for this list. Oddly enough, although we definitely spent far more time this year entrenched in Cataclysm, it already feels like there's been more time spent in Pandaria overall. And the changes made to lore development between Cataclysm and Mists are something we should pay attention to, because they spell the beginnings of a very bright future for further Warcraft lore.
Patch 5.1 PTR: Grand Commendations Boost Alt Reputation
WoW Insider posted in early October, detailing Blizzard's announcement of the upcoming changes to reputation gain. Blizzard had recognized that the heavy demands placed on players to grind out seemingly endless daily quests to gain reputation with a faction were altogether too onerous, particularly for those with a substantial stable of alts. Therefore, a system was announced whereby, once one character had attained revered reputation with a faction, every other character on that account would receive doubled reputation gains. Now, wowhead's dataminers have uncovered the method used by Blizzard to implement their new system: Grand Commendations. These bind on pickup items, such as the Grand Commendation of the Golden Lotus "Unlock 100% bonus reputation gain with the Golden Lotus for all characters on this account". They are available for all the existing Pandaria factions, as well as the new factions appearing in 5.1: Operation: Shieldwall and the Dominance Offensive. There is no pricing data yet, but it seems likely that these will be purchaseable from the faction quartermasters. If you're struggling to locate the faction quartermasters, Matt Rossi wrote a guide detailing their locations. It will be interesting to see if any such steps are taken retroactively, or whether it is considered unnecessary. Are there any pre-Mists factions for which such a system would be applicable, or even useful? Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Getting started with reputation at level 90
Originally in the Mists of Pandaria beta, all reputation grinds were unlocked at level 90. This left players with a staggering amount of stuff to do, so much that it was immediately overwhelming. There was no clear path of reputation to follow, there wasn't a moment that explained where a player should go first, and why. On live, the Shado-Pan and August Celestials are now locked behind revered reputation with the Golden Lotus. This gives players a slightly clearer path to follow when doing dailies. But even with that change, it's still confusing to players, direction-wise. If you played in the beta, you have some understanding of reputations at level 90, how to increase them, and how they work. But if you're just now experiencing Pandaria and all it has to offer, you may be wondering where to go, what to do, and most importantly, what's in it for you? If you're dreading the thought of endless daily quests, don't worry -- it's nowhere near as complex as you'd think.
People live in Pandaria; or, our house in the middle of the sea
"And that night, her mom said that the two of them and the now-dead guy were the only 3 people who ever lived in Las Vegas. Everybody else just arrived, ate their complimentary shrimp cocktails, and left." Blizzard's focus is, as they've repeatedly professed, "to create the most epic gaming experiences ever." But for all the world-ending threats we've encountered in the last few WoW expansions, Azeroth just isn't that big. The entire Eastern Kingdoms are about the size of the island of Manhattan. We're made to believe that hundreds of thousands to millions of people of various races inhabit the planet, but examining the amount of residential space in each zone shows us room for far, far fewer. Now, yes, the Azeroth we see could simply be an abstraction of some other, larger, "real" Azeroth that doesn't tangibly exist. But this one is the one we get, and it seems sillier and sillier each time when you ponder things like where exactly King Wrynn managed to find a hundred thousand troops to send to Northrend, or where night elves have lived for the past ten thousand years. The same goes for Azeroth's endless supply of doomsday villains and the cultists they inevitably find to do their bidding. They had to come from somewhere. And they definitely don't live in Stormwind. But the problem isn't even really where they live. It's how they live. It's where they come from. Outland presented a unique opportunity to show us the how and why of the many strange alien races on an entirely new planet, but we learned more about how they died than how they lived -- the fate of most non-player races in World of Warcraft. Their homelands were a theme park, a casino, and we run through pulling levers, grabbing drinks, buying t-shirts. Nobody lived there. Pandaria, though? People live there. The continent feels more like a brand new planet than even Outland ever did.
A quick guide to archaeology on the Pandarian continent
Archaeology on Pandaria starts out much like you'd expect. At around 525 archaeology, you'll start seeing dig sites appear on Pandaria, 4 of them spread out over the continent. You'll head to each one, start surveying, and get some archaeology fragments. Sometimes, you will get a Pandaren Pottery Shard or Mogu Statue Piece, which serve as the keystone for those race's projects and can be used to solve a piece faster. Things change a little bit when your digging digs up an Ancient Haunt. This is a Sha mob that sometimes spawns when you successfully dig up some fragments. If you kill it, you'll be able to loot more fragments.
Remember to watch for Lorewalker items while leveling!
Are you in the midst of a leveling frenzy? Mists of Pandaria has arrived, and while you may be rushing the way to level 90, don't forget to slow down and take in the sights. In some cases, those sights can be lucrative indeed. One thing to watch for while taking in all that Pandaria has to offer are lore scrolls like the one pictured above. These items are part of the achievements for the Lorewalkers faction. If you have not read the scroll, it will be glowing a soft blue, just to make sure you notice that it's there. Completing the various achievement stories about Pandaria's varied factions and history will net you achievements, but that's not all. You'll receive a quest item in the mail from Lorewalker Cho, asking you to come pay him a visit. This is not possible until you've hit level 90 and can fly, as the Lorewalker's area is perched high above the entrance to Mogu'shan Palace in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. However, once you arrive and drop off the quest item, you'll receive a substantial chunk of reputation with the Lorewalkers. Exalted reputation with the Lorewalkers will net you the option of purchasing the Disc of the Red Flying Cloud, among other goodies. And who doesn't want another flying mount to add to the collection? Keep your eyes peeled for these unique pieces of pandaren history! It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
WoW Insider interviews Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak
Mists of Pandaria is a gigantic undertaking of an expansion that has subtly reworked everything that was painful about Cataclysm and turned it into a fun and interactive work of art. Responsible for much of that is Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak, who graciously sat down to chat with us about the changes, and what went on behind Mists' development to make it the expansion we've all been waiting for. What makes Mists so fun? The substantial revamp to endgame, and the crazy number of quests and content to complete. The key to Mists is the sheer amount of quests and content to play through, presented in an interactive and entertaining environment designed and executed by Kosak and crew. Read on if you're wondering where that that world event we were expecting went to, what exactly happened to the Jade Forest, or how dailies are going to be less grind and more fun.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Vale of Eternal Blossoms
The Vale of Eternal Blossoms, nestled at the center of Pandaria, is the last zone players will encounter while leveling. Unlike prior expansions, the Vale is a level 90 zone -- you won't really see any quest hubs open until you have hit level 90. Once you've reached max level, you'll find scores of daily quests to do for the various factions of the Mists expansion. The Vale is also home to this expansion's two capital cities for the Alliance and Horde, perched on opposite sides of the valley. And those capital cities are complete with bankers, auctioneers, vendors, inns, trainers, reforgers -- just about everything you need for day-to-day errands and quests. This way, there's no real need to head back to the rest of Azeroth -- unless you're looking to farm some older content, that is. Because of the proximity to each other, the two cities guarantee you'll see members of both factions here and there, although it's definitely not a peaceful situation. The Vale is home to the Golden Lotus, who offer the majority of the daily quests available in the zone. Also based in the Vale are the Lorewalkers, who offer additional daily quests. The Vale itself is a picturesque valley, but it's being besieged by mogu, and you assist the Golden Lotus in thwarting the mogu's efforts as part of your daily duties. But it's the architecture of the zone that really stands out above anything else. The cities are some of the most amazing eye candy I've ever seen in World of Warcraft -- and frankly, I'm not sure I'm going to want to leave them when the expansion is over. For a look at the Vale and a closer look at the cities, take a peek at the full gallery. %Gallery-159941% It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Mists of Pandaria Beta: The best Brann Bronzebeard appearance ever
Ordinarily, an appearance by Brann Bronzebeard is a recipe for disaster. The dwarf with a penchant for pursuing the past has a habit of meddling with artifacts and devices that simply shouldn't be touched. And although Brann always seems to set matters straight in the nick of time, it's usually a hassle to get him to that point. Well, Brann's back in Mists of Pandaria, but this time he's not meddling with Titan computers or even out roaming Pandaria. Instead, he's waiting for you in the Lorewalkers area above Mogu'shan Palace, and he's out to make archaeology far less annoying. In Mists of Pandaria, players can collect either pandaren or mogu fragments. More fragments are available per site, and occasionally you'll spawn an Ancient Haunt that will give you even more fragments as well. You can solve the fragments to create various items, including plenty of gray-quality vendor trash -- but you don't want to vendor these items. They also include an on-use effect. When you click the item, you can crate the restored artifact. Each archaeology puzzle you solve will give you a new artifact that you can either vendor or crate. But what's the point of all these crates? Well, that's where Brann steps in. Brann is selling crates of archaeology fragments from every other section of archaeology. You can purchase them for one crated artifact apiece, provided your archaeology level is 600. Want more Tol'vir fragments? Solve puzzles in Pandaria and buy them from Brann. In other words, you can solve puzzles from Azeroth, Northrend, and Outland simply by solving puzzles in Pandaria and purchasing fragments from Brann. Sound good? Well, it gets even better. If you aren't happy with where your dig sites are located in Pandaria, Brann sells an item called the Lorewalker's Map. This will randomize your digsites to new locations. And if you're tired of flying around looking for digsites, you can pick up the Lorewalker's Lodestone, which will teleport you to a random active digsite in Pandaria. Both of these items cost five crated artifacts each, and you can carry up to 20 at a time. Between the speed boosts, the fragment boosts, and now the additional methods of gathering fragments, archaeology in Pandaria is going to be a painless process -- with the added bonus of helping you nab all those rares you're missing from other archaeology areas, too! Check out the gallery for a look at Brann's list of wares. %Gallery-159577% It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Mists of Pandaria: Wowhead previews Vale of Eternal Blossoms
The Vale of Eternal Blossoms is the zone for max-level players to hang out and get their endgame faction work done. The Alliance and Horde each have their own settlements, which have every thing you would look for in a major city while also including many level 90 faction hubs. The catch is that the only way to get into the vale is to complete a quest chain for the August Celestials, A Celestial Experience. At the Kun-Lai Summit, you must complete the trials of Xuen the White Tiger in order to gain access. Other points of interest: Mogu'shan Palace, a 5-man dungeon and home to the Lorewalkers Golden Lotus, the faction that continues the quest chain begun with A Celestial experience, while helping to protect the pandaren from the mogu Gate of the Setting Sun (located at The Great Wall), another 5-man dungeon Wowhead News has screenshots and more details in their preview. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Build your lore library with the Lorewalkers
Have you seen shrines and statues with chunks of story throughout the beta lands? They pop with an achievement step completed when you look closer. When you put the whole achievement together, you get the entire short story. Between archaeology items and these shrines throughout Pandaria, there are plenty of lore tidbits to be found. Anne Stickney wished in Know Your Lore for a way in-game to hold on to these stories for later viewing. There is a way, but you have to hit level 90 first to unlock it.
Improved digsites in Mists of Pandaria archaeology
When I hit the new skill cap in archaeology on beta and achieved Zen Master, someone in my beta guild remarked that 600 skill points in archaeology sounded painful. But it's not -- it's actually better! Archaeology got some buffs in Mists of Pandaria. There are only two new races to worry about, the pandaren and the mogu, and you get nothing but these two on the continent of Pandaria. As usual, players get four random digsites across the entire continent, though it's currently bugging out to three or even two sites only. But Pandaria is so huge, you say. We're restricted to no flying until 90. How can it not be painful?
