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Arcane Brilliance: Mage leveling guide, 59-68
It's time once again for Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that would like to thank its readers profusely for the deluge of screenshots it received last week. Arcane Brilliance sent out the call, and you guys responded in droves. There were so many, in fact, that it was an impossible task to select just one for the column. Arcane Brilliance finally went with this one, apparently of an undead pimp of some type, simply because it made Arcane Brilliance chuckle. Also, the column this week is about leveling through Outland, and this is a pretty good representation of how your mage will look throughout that leg of the journey: like the mutant love-child of the entire cast of Saved by the Bell. Seriously... you guys are awesome. Sooooooo many good pictures to use. I may have to start writing like 12 of these a week, just to have an excuse to use all of them. Thanks again, and keep them coming. Even if I don't get to use them, I just enjoy browsing through them. So many mages, so little time. Last week, our mage leveling guide hit level 58 and fled vanilla WoW for the alien landscapes of Outland. This week, we'll tackle the 10 levels your mage will be spending there, amongst the hellboars, sporebats, and ravagers.
Phase 4 Dailies: Discovering Your Roots
The first daily quest of Phase 4 of the reclaiming of Quel'Danas is Discovering Your Roots. This quest begins at the newly unlocked Alchemy Vendor, Mar'nah. Of course, she has been unlocked, but not her stock. She claims to need a special reagents for that: Razorthorn Root. She says it's fairly difficult to harvest, but this quest shouldn't give anybody too much trouble.After accepting this quest, fly out to Razorthorn Rise. This region is directly on the border between Terokkar Forest and Hellfire Peninsula, up in the mountains. If you cant find it, just look at the picture above.This is similar to the quest I Was A Lot Of Things... from Shadowmoon Valley, in that you need to use some local beasts to dig up your plants for you. Luckily, you don't need to rely on the intelligence of some dumb pig that gets massacred by all of the nearby monsters and turns on you if you accidentally hit an AOE. You get to control the Ravager you'll use to dig up your five required Razorthorn Roots.
Wishing for weather in Outland
Prancing around Quel'Danas for my daily quests day in and day out has reminded me of something I've very dearly missed. Weather! It rains very frequently in Quel'Danas, and combined with all of the action going on around the island, it has a very strong feel of being alive.Zangarmarsh has rain as well, but I can't think of any other zone in Outland that has weather effects that come and go. Sure, some zones have Infernal rains and such inside and outside of them, but that isn't really the same. It's a constant, it's static. When you go to that zone, it will be there 100% of the time. Azeroth's weather wasn't like that. After it was added, of course. It might be raining in Stranglethorn, it might be sunshine from horizon to horizon. When it was raining, the zone had an entirely different feel. You were doing the same things, but it just felt different.I brought this up with some friends of mine a few times before, and we tried to think it through with logic at first. You know, the atmosphere is different, so maybe other zones in Outland can't rain. It's an alien world, so who knows? Even if you play the 'alien world = no rain' card, I think there are some awesome weather-related things you can do. Read on for my thoughts on the matter!
PvP all day, everyday: Spirits of Auchindoun
One of the two World PvP daily quests that was added in Patch 2.4 was The Spirits of Auchindoun, which is arguably the easiest of all daily PvP quests because it actually doesn't necessitate combat. The quest becomes available at Level 63, giving players leveling in Terokkar Forest a chance to help their faction take control of the Bone Wastes. Alliance players can obtain the quest from Exorcist Sullivan in Allerian Stronghold while Horde players can talk to Exorcist Vaisha in Stonebreaker Hold. At Level 63, the quest awards 186 Honor points, 3 Gold 70 Silver, and 11,650 experience. At Level 70, players are awarded 209 Honor points and 11 Gold 99 Silver.Interestingly enough, just like the Halaa quest, The Spirits of Auchindoun do not require the factions to take control of the Bone Wastes, merely for players to assist in the capture of one tower. For most Level 70s, this is extremely easy, particularly with a flying mount. It takes about 1-2 minutes to capture one tower, so it's possible to complete the quest immediately and turn it in at the nearby camp. It's arguably the easiest 12 Gold to earn in the game, the only caveat being the timing of the quest, which can only be completed every 6 hours. The quest can be completed in a raid and can be shared, making it easy to PUG the quest with nearby allies in the zone. Note that in order for the objective to count, you must see the tower's slider move from uncontrolled to your faction. If you are on a flying mount, make sure that you've landed. As detailed in one of my earlier articles, control of the Bone Wastes grants a zone-wide buff, the Blessing of Auchindoun, which grants +5% to all damage dealt and +5% experience gain. The buff also allows the capture of Spirit Shards within the Auchindoun instances of Mana-Tombs, Auchenai Crypts, Sethekk Halls, and Shadow Labyrinth. Once captured, the Bone Wastes remain under the winning faction's control for six hours and cannot be captured again, making The Spirits of Auchindoun one of the few time-sensitive quests in the World of Warcraft.
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Fishing in 2.4: Daily quests and more
One of the first things I checked out on the PTR was the new fishing daily quests. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I actually enjoy fishing in WoW and have been increasingly interested in this quest ever since it came to my attention via the official forums. Now that the 2.4 test realm has been up for a few days, I've been able to do three of the new, randomly rotating quests which start from Old Man Barlo just outside of Shattrath City.The first quest I discovered, and the one that I've seen the most so far, is called "Shrimpin' Ain't Easy". It requires you to fly to Zangarmarsh and fish up a few Bloated Barbed Gill Trout. You can catch these by fishing in any of the lakes in the zone. Once you reel one in, you can open it like any other package in the game to collect a few shrimp and gray items. One fish can hold multiple shrimp and this quest can be completed pretty quickly, assuming that you don't encounter any bugs. Currently, I often encounter a bug where I'm unable to catch any fish (aside from the special fishing pools, which don't yield the quest fish) in Zangarmarsh while on this quest. Abandoning and retaking it has fixed the problem every time so far.
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New World PvP quests: Your daily dose of war!
I was one of the lucky few that was able to copy my character and log onto the public test realm over the weekend. Playing more than I probably should have, I was able to check out all the new daily quests and snap screenshots of much of the new content. In the midst of my frenzied trek around Outland and the Isle of Quel'danas (the new zone that hosts the upcoming dungeons), I made certain to check out the two new PvP daily quests mentioned in the patch notes. These are not the new Battlegrounds Daily PvP quests that are being introduced with the same patch, but all new quest options for World PvP objectives.First off, I headed to Allerian Stronghold in Terokkar Forest. Near the Spirit Shard vendor, I found a new NPC, Exorcist Sullivan, offering that zone's daily quest. The objective is simple enough, merely help in the capture of one of the Spirit Towers in the Bone Wastes. In return you'll be awarded some cash and honor: 11 gold, 99 silver and 209 honor, to be exact. While I haven't been able to check out the Horde version of the quest yet, I'd imagine the NPC should be easy to spot in Stonebreaker Hold, near Spirit Sage Gartok, the Horde Spirit Shard vendor.
The Art of War(craft): Outdoor PvP, part II - an Outlandish war
Last time, we went over Blizzard's initial attempts at implementing outdoor PvP and found that while the implementation of World PvP objectives in the Eastern Plaguelands and Silithus were teh suck far from stellar, they provided key learnings upon which future zones were built. The battle rages on in The Burning Crusade where four out of the seven zones in Outlands have World PvP objectives. Some work better than others, having quests that lead players to the objectives, while some are just plain confusing.Similar to the World PvP objectives in Azeroth, all four provide zone-wide buffs for your faction when completed. The buffs in all the zones provide an unimaginative 5% increase to damage, with the exception of the Blessing of Auchindoun, which also adds a 5% increase to experience gain and allows Spirit Shards to drop from Auchindoun instance bosses. The World PvP in Outlands are situated in the hearts of the zones, almost central to the maps, making each objective harder to ignore. As the world beckons for war, let's examine what each specific zone has to offer and how best to achieve each objective.
Around Azeroth: The edge of Terokkar
Reader Michaud of Army of Mulgore on Kul'Tiras sends in this larger than life vertical panorama taken out on the very edge of Terokkar Forest, out on the floating islands off of the bone wastes. And other than a description of its location, I think this oversized shot really speaks for itself. Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: Would you boycott this inn?
Dcruize of Trollbane (EU) sends in this rather dull shot of an inn in Allerian Stronghold (in Terrokar Forest) with a warning: we should boycott this inn! Why, you ask? Dcruize explains it best:This 1-star 'inn' at the Allerian Stronghold is nothing more than an empty circular room. There are no tables, no beds and the innkeeper doesn't even let you sit on her two chairs.Sounds like a poor facility at best -- but so long as it offers rested experience, I think I'd be happy!Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
A guide to BC pre-raid goals and how to achieve them
I'm a little compulsive about finishing every quest in a zone. Ok, ok, I'm certifiably compulsive about it. I love exploring all the various corners of a zone and learning their dangers and rewards. Because of this, I barely got through half of the Outlands solo content before I hit L70. After thoroughly enjoying Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest and having just a taste of Nagrand and Blade's Edge, I hit the level cap. Why should I continue?Starryknight of the Executus server has an excellent answer: completing every Outland quest and running through every dungeon will net you the 5,000 gold for your epic mount, gain the necessary reputation to access later parts of the game and get you keyed for both the Heroic dungeons and Karahzhan. Essentially, you will be ready to jump into the raiding game, if you so desire.To achieve this, he wrote up a general guide on what to do in every Outland zone with links to more specific information about the quest chains for each area. For me, this is what I needed to push on and continue exploring the wonders that Warcraft still has to offer for people already at the level cap. Even if you don't intend to raid, the goal of buying an epic mount is reward enough. Check it out, it may be what you are looking for to refocus your goals in the game if you find your motivation has flagged.
Around Azeroth: Moonrise over Auchindoun
Here we see the moon rising through the fog to light the remains of the Draenei holy burial ground in the middle of the Bone Wastes in Terokkar Forest. It's a haunting scene, but none the less lovely for it. Reader Astiael of <Three Day Ban> on Ysondre, who sent it to us, says it's his desktop wallpaper, though I think I'd want something a little less dismal to stare at, as often as I stare at my desktop.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: Fly me to the moon
Reader Daveyp sends in an interesting Outland shot taken on the border of Terokkar Forest and Zangarmarsh. Sure, sure, it's a perfectly ordinary Zangarmarsh mushroom shot (and if history tells you anything, it's that I love Zangarmarsh mushroom shots) until you look across the sky, and see the only-in-Outland image of the flying mount in the moon. It's probably not that unique of a shot, but it is, amazingly, the first such image to arrive in my mailbox.Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
