Advertisement

Encrypted Text: The Lazy Alt's ten must-do Outland quests

Elizabeth Wachowski
Updated ·10 min read

Sometimes, in all the drama of raiding and arenas and new patch days, we forget that not all rogues are 70 and geared out the watoozle. A lot of rogues -- whether they be alts, new players, or just seriously behind the times -- are still struggling through the levels. And with the myriad number of quests out there for levelers, it can be hard sometimes to figure out which ones to focus on. Will skipping this quest leave me out of a fantastic chain quest reward, or just save me hours of searching through fel droppings?

So in the spirit of helping our newbie brothers and sisters, Encrypted Text presents the top ten must-do Outland quests for rogues, with their corresponding rewards and tips to help you through them. Note: This only includes non-dungeon quests. Sorry, you'll have to get that Hauberk of Karabor by yourself ...

10. The Trampoline Quests

  • Starts with: I Must Have Them! from Wazat in Nagrand (61,67)

  • Requires: Two players

  • Steps in the chain: Two

  • Rogue rewards: Delicate Green Poncho or Nomad's Cloak

  • Details: This is either one of the most fun or the most frustrating quests in Outland, depending on your sense of depth perception. Basically, you need to collect gas from air elementals to power the "Jump-a-tron", which is a trampoline for some reason. After that, you need to use the trampoline to get on top of a tree, steal an egg, and defeat the angry mother bird who comes to attack you (a 66 elite.) This means that you have to click off the trampoline's "float" buff at the exact point when it'll get you onto the tree. And if you try it with anything less than full health, you'll probably die. Note: This is one of the few points on my heavily contested PVP server where I have ALWAYS seen Alliance and Horde working together. It's such a pain to get up on top of the tree that dying to the mother bird is a devastating blow.

9. Through the Dark Portal

  • Starts with: "Through the Dark Portal" from the Alliance and Horde commanders just outside of the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands

  • Requires: Just you, and the Burning Crusade expansion.

  • Steps in the chain: 14.

  • Rogue rewards: Foe Reaver, Screaming Dagger, Flayer-Hide Leggings, Veteran's Skullcap

  • Details: These are the quests designed to bring everyone up to speed for Outland. If you don't do this (fantastically easy) chain and just keep going on with your agi/stam greens, you're going to spend a lot of time dying in Hellfire Peninsula. Basically, you walk through the portal, report to your commander, kill some Burning Legion goons, destroy a couple of portals, bomb some stuff from a gryphon or wyvern, destroy some very tightly-packed cannons, and close another portal. Also, doing all these unlocks the next quest we'll talk about.

8. Cruel's Intentions/Overlord

  • Starts with: Alliance need "The Dark Missive", which begins with a letter dropped from Arix'Amal, whom you should have killed during the Through the Dark Portal questline. I'm not quite sure what the prerequisites are for Horde; I think it may just open up after you do Through the Dark Portal.

  • Requires: Three people.

  • Steps in the chain: One.

  • Rogue rewards: Bladefist's Breadth.

  • Details: It's fairly easy to find a group for this quest, since everyone wants to do it and get their class's trinket. All you need to do is kill Arazzius the Cruel, a 63 elite Eredar lord (43,30). Watch out, though -- his companions respawn fast! This trinket will last you through leveling to 70, and probably longer if you're a crit-dependent spec. Plus, it's a good introduction to the myriad of "get AP/hit rating/crit rating for X seconds on use" trinkets in BC, which are great for when the boss is at 2% and the tank just bit it.

7. The Felsworn Gas Mask Chain

  • Starts with: A Damaged Mask dropped by Fel Corrupters in Blade's Edge Mountains.

  • Requires: Just you.

  • Steps in the chain: 9.

  • Rogue rewards: Expedition Pendant, Natasha's Choker.

  • Details: This fun quest ends with a great necklace for you, and it's all soloable. Once you find the mask, you need to take it back to Evergrove and get it fixed. Then, wearing the mask, you infiltrate a Burning Legion camp, slaughter the inhabitants, and report to the Legion that ... uh, that the inhabitants let some adventurers slaughter them. After that, you go to Death's Door, blow up some more portals, and kill a Legion lord (with the help of some summoned treants.) For your reward, you get to choose one of Natasha's six necklaces. Since Natasha is an annoying little kid who runs around Evergrove, one has to wonder if the Cenarion Expedition is just forcibly taking her necklaces to reward adventurers.

6. Wanted: Durn the Hungerer

  • Starts with: A bulletin board in Garadar (56,38) or Telaar (55, 71).

  • Requires: Five people.

  • Steps in the chain: 3.

  • Rogue rewards: Hungering Bone Cudgel, Crystalline Kopesh which is really more a tank sword but I see a lot of rogues trying to use it anyway.

  • Details: First off, you need to do the bulletin board's quests to kill Giselda the Crone and Zorbo the Advisor. When you turn these in, you'll unlock Durn the Hungerer. Get four other people together and head down near Oshu'gun. He'll be wandering around in a wide circle. Aside from a knockback, he's mostly a tank and spank fight. Finish him off and grab your offhand mace or, uh, your pally tanking sword.

5. The Teron Gorefiend Quests

  • Starts with: "A Haunted History" from Chief Apothecary Hildegard in Shadowmoon Village for Horde, and "A Ghost in the Machine" from Zorus the Judicator at Wildhammer Stronghold.

  • Requires: Five people at one point, but only you at the end.

  • Steps in the chain: 7.

  • Rogue rewards: Stealther's Helmet of Second Sight.

  • Details: We've covered this questline extensively elsewhere, but here's a brief rundown. Your local questgiver will make you collect some ash, put on a pair of ghost-seeing Spectrecles, and start eliminating some local ghosts. The ghosts will mention Teron Gorefiend as they die. Your questgiver will freak out and send you to an Ancient Shadowmoon Spirit (58, 70). The Spirit will ask you to collect Gorefiend's cloak (one player), truncheon (two players) and armor (five players) in order to divine his location. Note that you will either need a flying mount or a friendly warlock to get the armor. Once you bring these back, the Spirit reveals that he's the imprisoned Gorefiend, takes control of your body, and makes you kill his Draenei captor. Thus restored, Gorefiend lets you live and rides off. Return to your questgiver for a lecture and a totally awesome helmet.

4. The Ring of Blood

  • Starts with: The Ring of Blood: Brokentoe from Gurgthock in northern Nagrand (43,21)

  • Requires: Five people.

  • Steps in the chain: Six.

  • Rogue rewards: Mag'hari Fury Brand, Ceremonial Warmaul Blood-Blade.

  • Details: This quest is a pain on a PvP server, but is worth the effort. Essentially, you and four friends fight mobs in an arena until one of you accidentally starts the quest before all the members have turned it in, and then you fight with each other on Vent while the opposite faction kills you and does the quest themselves. The last two bosses hit hard, and the final one rezzes himself. Give yourself plenty of time and do it late at night.

3. Deathblow to the Legion (Aldor)/Turning Point (Scryer)

  • Starts with: Distraction at Manaforge B'naar from Exarch Orelis in Area 52 if you're Aldor, Manaforge B'naar from Spymaster Thalodien at Area 52 if you're Scryer.

  • Requires: Three to five people.

  • Steps in the chain: 12 for Aldor, 17 for Scryer.

  • Rogue rewards: Energized Helm, Overseer's Signet and Kaylaan's Signet for Aldor; Brightdawn Bracers and Socrethar's Girdle for Scryer.

  • Details: These quests begin and end the same, but diverge in the middle. Both Aldor and Scryer players will shut down Kael'thas's manaforges through a combination of subterfuge and brute force, but the Scryers get to figure out that Kael'thas is working for the Burning Legion and have a minor freak-out about that. Both quests have a three-person "wave attack" quest at Manaforge Ara, and both quests finish on an island north of Netherstorm, where you kill the demon Socrethar with the help of overly dramatic NPCs (if you're Aldor) or the presence of Voren'thal (if you're Scryer.) If you're still picking between Aldor and Scryer, the Scryer belt here is much tougher to replace than the Aldor ring.

2. Showdown

  • Starts with: The Thunderlord Clan Artifact, which drops from Bladespire ogres and raptors at a low rate in Blade's Edge Mountains, will get you the Horde quest. Alliance will need Gorgrok's Favor, which drops from the ogre Dordok (55, 34) during the quest "A Date with Dordok."

  • Requires: Three people.

  • Steps in the chain: 15 for Horde, 9 for Alliance

  • Rogue rewards: Slow Death Dirk (Horde only), Whistling Sword, Clefthoof Hide Leggings, Oilcloth Breeches

  • Details: This quest will have you assisting the black dragon Baron Sablemane in killing off some of the local ogres and gronn. Horde take a short detour at the beginning to help Rexxar, the Hero of the Horde, reconnect with his people in their village to the east, and they report to Rexxar for most of the quest. Along the way, you'll possess a marmot to poison some beer, distract a gronn with a boar, and finally kill the gronn Goc with the help of Sablemane (for Alliance) or Rexxar (for Horde). You get to choose between six rewards, including two leggings that are both great for rogues (?!) I took the Oilcloth, but some people on Wowhead swear by the Clefthoof Hide Leggings.

1. The Cipher of Damnation

  • Starts with: "The Hand of Gul'dan", received from Earthmender Sophorus in Wildhammer Stronghold or Earthmender Splinterhoof in Shadowmoon Village.

  • Requires: Five people.

  • Steps in the chain: 26.

  • Rogue rewards: Oronok's Tuber of Agility, Grom'tor's Pendant of Conquest, Eva's Strap, Felboar Hide Shoes, Amulet of the Torn-heart, Lohn'goron Bow of the Torn-heart, Borak's Reminder.

  • Details: Hoo boy. This is one of the longest chains in the game, but it's got a ton of great rewards, and is pretty interesting to boot. The Wowhead page I linked has a guide to the whole shebang. You start off by collecting the souls of different elementals to "heal Shadowmoon Valley." The souls warn you about a spell called the Cipher of Damnation. To get more info, you have to go visit a farmer who makes you do a ton of stupid tasks for his helboar farm before he finally tells you that the Cipher has been split up into fragments and given to his three sons. Find the sons and look for the fragments. One of the fragments is hidden in a naga chest in Coilskar Point, another is on a demon at Illidari Point, and the third requires you to disguise yourself as a blood elf and kill a dragon with some friends. Then, with all parts of the Cipher recovered, you need to summon and kill a green giant with a full group. Note that you can have either the bow or the dagger, not both.

What quests do you think are good for rogues?