netherdrake
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Ask a Beta Tester: Leveling, the Taunka, and mounts
All of us here at WoW Insider are staggering around somewhat zombie-like in the wake of BlizzCon with the patch (probably) coming tomorrow and the amount of information we're hoping to get out in the next 24 hours. So in all truth I don't know whether the answers to today's questions are completely factual or just stuff that started swimming in front of my eyes at 1:00 this morning. Arthas is actually a girl underneath all that armor, just like Samus Aran. The zone music to Icecrown is "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. The Hateful Gladiator cloth belt is a pink tutu. Flying bunnies will be available in the next expan-(Sound of a short scuffle in the background, followed by a whip crack)Thank you, Dan, a little perspective is always useful in these difficult times.Jason asks...Will Northrend be accessible at 68 like Outland was accessible at 58? Or do I need to be a solid 70 to quest and instance in Northrend?Technically, Northrend will be accessible to anyone with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion installed; you can hop a boat or zeppelin on any character of any level. There's no "You must be THIS HIGH to cross through the portal to Outland" restriction, but you won't be able to pick up any of the quests available in Northrend until level 68. Could you grind your way to 68 in Northrend from the mid-60's? Maybe, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Dalaran continues to grow and change
Dalaran, the magical "Shattrath of Wrath," just keeps growing and changing. Mumper spelled out some of the coming changes for Dalaran. Don't worry -- it's all good news for those of us looking forward to slumming it up with Rhonin in the floating citadel. One of the more nagging issues about Dalaran is that no matter how high above the city you fly, you get a debuff that warns your flying mount is about to disappear. You must land before you plummet to your doom. It's set up this way to help enhance the feel of the living, bustling city -- you experience it from the ground, without racing Netherdrakes swooping by you at every turn. Mumper promises they're keeping an eye on the debuff and any other issue where flying mounts might disappear. There are many more NPCs coming for Dalaran. Vendors will have both dungeon token gear, like the new Heirloom items, and also high end Honor gear. Mumper describes a pretty awesome new NPC. Around 6pm each night, a new character will walk around the city, and light each of the lamps with a spell. It's just fluff, but it's awesome. Details like this make WoW such a rich, interesting game. There are other bits and pieces. Characters jumping into the magic well will get teleported to one of five sewer locations. Guards will be spawn at the exit of Dalaran, to deal with any griefers trying to keep PvP flagged characters from leaving the city in safety. And the target dummies are definitely staying.
Azerothian Spore creatures continue to crawl in
That Murloc was just the beginning -- since the Spore creature creator demo dropped officially yesterday, and along with this cute little C'thun (thanks, Andrew!), there are a whole crowd of Warcraft-related creatures showing up on the Sporepedia. We've collected our favorites so far in a gallery below -- while you'll need to actually put the creatures in game to see them shuffle, saunter, and dance around in Spore, you can get a pretty good idea of just how versatile Will Wright's little creator is. I've said it before and I'll say it again: while everyone is expecting Warhammer to give WoW a run for its money, the PC game that Blizzard should really be worried about this year is Spore.If you see any other great Warcraft-related creature creations in Spore, feel free to send them along and you just might see them here. And in the meantime, our sister site BigDownload (who are also hosting the demo) is holding a creature creator contest -- send them your best creature and you could win a EVGA NVIDIA e-GeForce 8800GT, EVGA NVIDIA e-GeForce 9600GT or a free upgrade to the full version of the creature creator game. It's Sporelicious!Seriously, look at the C'thun. We haven't seen a tentacled, ancient monster this cute since, well, Hello Cthulu.%Gallery-25480%
About the Bloggers: David Bowers
Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.What do you do for WoW Insider?I blog about whatever seems interesting at the time, and I also write the roleplaying column, All the World's a Stage. I'm especially interested in writing about roleplaying and PvP, too, because they're the things I participate in most often. Everything and everyone in the game is interconnected, though, so even if I'm not a big raider, for instance, I still care a great deal about the things raiders are going through.What's your main right now?My current main is a draenei hunter, pictured above, but I'm spending just as much time with other alts right now, trying to decide which one will be my main Horde character. My most-played Hordie is currently a warlock. Previous mains I don't play as much anymore include a druid and a rogue, both Alliance.For the Horde or Glory to the Alliance?Heh. For both! I used to be all for the Alliance because I couldn't relate to the whole deformed and inherently violent look that many Horde characters have, but I'm one of those people for whom blood elves really opened up access to the Horde and see them in a new light. I like to appreciate the stories of the monstrous Horde races without actually having to play a monstrous character myself.
More drakes! OK, stop drakes.
We're now in Arena season 2, and in theory, those in the top 0.5% of their battlegroups should have received the 310% speed armored nether drakes as a reward for their prowess. However, there seem to have been some...issues with their distribution. According to this thread and the above picture (thanks for the tip, Robodex), the drakes have been making their way to well over the mandated 0.5% on the European realms. Whereas according to several threads in the US forums (still down), people that know they should have received their drakes are not getting them. Blizzard's looking into it:We're currently in the process of investigating instances where the end-of-season rewards may not have been provided to teams that should have received them. As we're still in the process of collecting information and investigating we're unable to comment at this time on what exactly occurred, or if there was indeed an error in how the rewards were provided based on the stated criteria. We'll provide more information as soon as we have a clear and final idea of what the issue is and how it will be addressed if necessary.Do you have an armored nether drake? Are you supposed to?
Selling arena titles for fun and profit
Death and Taxes has made WoW headlines for many things, mostly due to their raiding achievements. But today on the forums another aspect of the guild's performance made heads turn: their PvP arena teams. In the PvP arena 3v3 bracket Death and Taxes guild members have been using the current rule system to their benefit. What exactly does this entail? Well, to be specific, members of the top ranked teams are sharing their skill with lower ranked PvP players in order to raise their standings and get them the coveted Armored Netherdrake and an easy title. Seeing the success of one D&T arena team after another is frustrating their opponents, and therefore the vocal forum protest. Members of D&T have naturally spoken up in their own defense, and fairly eloquently I might add. One of the accusations leveled at the guild was that they are using top crafted items to gain an edge in PvP, essentially using their power as a PvE guild to dominate the PvP domain.
Arena season 2 and you
The word has come down from on high (read Drysc) that round two of the arena battles will begin June 12th. The season opener will coincide with a small patch, so if the patch gets delayed, so will the arena season. Intrigued? Yeah, me too. Still no official word on the spectator sport concept, but perhaps this patch is just the thing we've been asking for. Some changes have been made to the arena system now that they have one season under their belt to examine. All arena players will have their ratings reset to the default 1500 at the beginning of the season, although you'll be able to keep your points. For this new season expect new items and rewards for all your hard work, arena awards and as well as honor rewards. It looks like they have put a good deal of thought into the next season. Let's hope it's as exhilarating as the last one. Speaking of the last one, those who landed in the top 20% will be getting their end-of-season rewards and the top .5%, the best of the best, will be receiving that most coveted of prizes, the armored Netherdrake *drool*. Are there any uber arena combatants out there? What would you like to see in the season to come? [via WoW Forums]
Where to start with 2.1 content
The 2.1 patch this week introduced enough new quest lines, top-end raid content, flying mounts, and L70 solo & small group content to qualify as its own game. With a three day weekend looming I didn't even know where to begin. So I scoured the web and found the where to go and what to do to get me started. THE BLACK TEMPLE: Already planning to strut around Shattrath in your T6 Raid gear? Don't bank that T5 set too quick. The Black Temple attunement quest is ... epic. And it hasn't even been fully discovered so far. What is known is that you will have to slog through a great deal of the Burning Crusade raid content that comes before it: Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshire Cavern, The Eye and The Battle of Mount Hyjal. And many of those raids require extensive attunement quests of their own. If you are still itching to begin, you can dig in with the Tablets of Baa'ri chain out of Shadowmoon Valley to start grinding that Ashtongue Deathsworn rep. NETHERDRAKE EPIC FLYING MOUNT: First, don't confuse this with the Swift Nether Drake top Arena teams are awarded with at the end of every season. That one has a speed increase of 310% and has an armored appearance. This is the normal epic nether drake with a speed increase on par with other epic flying mounts: 280%. What's special about this epic flying mount is that it can be obtained through solo and small group quests. No raid required. What is required is a great deal of dedication.The first steps on your journey is to dig yourself out of Hated reputation with the Netherwing clan and get all the way to Exalted. This is accomplished through solo, 5 man and 3 man daily quests. Head to the south east corner of Shadowmoon Valley and speak to Mordenai in the Netherwing Fields. A complete write up can be found here.
PTR notes: Exalted with Netherwing
Wondering what exactly happens when you get exalted with the Netherwing faction to get that neat flying drake? Joni of Malygos has done the grind on the test realm and has some information for all would-be dragonriders. After pretending to work for (and sabotaging) the Fel Orcs, she had to race six netherdrakes at honored reputation. On the way to exalted, she could complete 9 daily quests for reputation with the Netherwing. Finally, she hit exalted and got her "reward" from the Fel Orcs ... a personal audience with Illidan. Oops. Looks like those magical eyes can see through your disguise, and you'd be pretty much boned if the Netherwings didn't come down and save you. Joni ended up being flown to Shattrath and getting to pick a free netherdrake from a number of available colors. The questline also gave her a nice trinket that summons a netherwhelp as a combat pet! She says the grind will take a non-human about two weeks if you do all the daily quests each day, and she plans on writing up a Netherwing guide to help those of us who are a little less motivated to do the whole thing on the PTR. Congratulations, Joni, and may you fly your dragon proudly through the skies of the test realm.
PTR notes: There's no such thing as a free Netherdrake
The announcement of a Netherdrake flying mount in the next patch was a beacon of hope to broke people like myself, who hoped we could quest for the mount while continuing to blow our hard-earned cash on epic gear and new recipes. Unfortunately, our hopes were in vain. The Netherdrake quest line apparently requires 300 riding skill to begin. Andrevv of World of Raids provides a nice guide plus screenshots of the quest line, which I'll summarize here. First, you have to swear yourself to the Netherdrake faction (which requires doing the Kindness questline for neutrality.) Then you get asked to disguise yourself as a Fel Orc and join the Illidari! Awesome! I always wanted to be Illidari. You then head out to Netherwing Ledge and get a couple of quests as an Orc. You can either gather 40 of some special ore/herb/etc. if you have a gathering profession, or pick up 40 crystals if you're not. Then you can head over to a goblin mercenary, who will give you some quests to help the Netherwing faction by sabotaging the Orcs. You can gather fel glands to poison orc peons or collect Netherwing relics from a skyway. There's no information on where the questline goes after that, but the ore/crystal/poison questlines are marked as "Daily," and Andrevv got 250 Netherwing reputation for turning in his first 40 ore. The Daily quests seem to be meant to limit the amount of grinding you can do in one day -- but since there are screenshots of PTR characters with drakes already, this may not be working as intended.
5000g is just too much for an epic flying mount
I've hit 70. I bought my flying mount (and spend way too much time exploring the air around Outland). I'm even attuned for Karazhan, and my guild is working through it. And yet I feel no pressure at all to raise that 5000g for an epic mount.Like Moonfalin, I'm pretty "meh" about the whole thing. Yes, flying around at high speed would be cool, but is it really necessary? I'm the highest level, and I'm keyed-- where do I need to go so fast? I know that some of my guildies farmed for cash and have already picked theirs up, but I'm not bothering with it-- I've already earned about 1000g just from my normal questing and instance running, so I assume I'll hit 5000g at some point, and I'll just get there when I get there.The exception to this, of course, is the nether drake mounts that are coming. Those I really want, either from PvP (although the PvP one is hard-- as a resto shaman, I'm really terrible in the arenas) or PvE, and I'll be willing to farm whatever I need to to get one of those. So what about you-- did you farm your way up to 5000g quick (it wasn't that hard when BC first came out), or are you taking your time for a reward that just doesn't seem that great?
Blizz: Regular nether drakes may be available next patch
Level 70s who've spent a lot of time in Shadowmoon Valley may have noticed that they're able to get neutral with the Netherwing Faction. Several of my guildmates who did the quest chain, which ends with you killing Zuluhed, were disappointed that they weren't able to grind up to exalted and get a nether drake mount. It's already been stated that armored nether drakes will be the prize for the top arena PVP team each season, but what about the regular drakes? Drysc said Monday that in the next content patch, players can probably expect a questline for a 310 percent speed nether drake mount. He refused to give any more details about the quest, though. Most speculators are guessing that it will be a continuation of the Shadowmoon Valley chain, probably involving a horrifically long Wintersaberesque reputation grind. Some more cynical players said they expected it to not only be a rep grind, but involve drops you can only get from high-level raids, to keep the mounts rare. Would you grind for a nether drake mount, or will you be content on your 280 percent speed swift windrider or griffon?
The Long Road to a Flying Mount
Abro from the Crushridge server has a great question: What's it going to take to get one o' them fancy flyin' mounts? Blue posts in the thread, but all they do is point us to the already-up preview site for the Nether Drakes. (In which, incidentally, I learned that we won't even be able to touch a flying mount until level 70!) But everyone, of course, has lots of guesses about what we'll have to do to take to the air.First of all, you know it's going to cost money, and lots of it. A normal mount runs about 90g or so, and an epic mount runs 1,000g, so most people are guessing at 10,000g at least. But then again, it could be higher-- Blizzard is saying there's going to be a lot of content between 60 and 70, and they clearly want a flying mount to be the ultimate prestige item. So it's not unlikely that they'll probably require some sort of quest item as well-- although even Blizzard wouldn't be so heartless as to put the necessary item in a 40-man raid instance... would they?There's more they can do to you. Lots of people are suggesting faction grinding, which seems really mean, but the video trailer does say it'll cost us "Quests, Reputation, Shopkeepers, or a combination of these three." At any rate, it sounds like it's going to be a long time before any of us lift off on a Nether Drake.
Burning Crusade Update: Nether Drakes
The Burning Crusade site has been updated with further information on the flying mounts that may be found in the Outlands. Lore-wise these creatures are the offspring of the black dragon Deathwing, who traveled through the Dark Portal to Draenor, believing it to be a safe haven for some of his eggs. When Ner'zhul opened multiple portals on Draenor with the intent of invading foreign lands, the magical energies released tore the planet apart - and altered the eggs, causing the resulting creatures to have the ability to shift between the physical and astral planes. In use, a Nether Drake will have the speed of an epic mount and be able to run on the ground as well as fly through the air. How they may be obtained or what they might cost, however, remains a mystery!
