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Time between Cataclysm pre-event phases ramping up
Many people have been concerned or complaining about the time between each phase of the Cataclysm pre-events going on right now in Orgrimmar and Stormwind, and Blizzard has responded with some excellent news. Zarhym recently posted that the time between the start of phase 2 and phase 3 was shorter than the previous phases, and players can expect the time between phase 3 and phase 4 to be even shorter. According to my calculations, there is the potential to see phase 4 at the beginning of the week, probably Monday or Tuesday. We live in exciting times. Re: Phase 3 of the Elemental Invasion Quote: I cant wait till the invasion starts, as right now the quests are over so fast that you get bored again in just a few mins : \ The time between the start of stage 2 and stage 3 was shorter. I can tell you the current plan is to make the time between stage 3 and 4 even shorter. ;) source
Arena Tournament Phase 2 begins
I'm actually a little excited. Phase 2 of the 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament has begun! Start your engines and speculations now, folks -- which comps will make it to the top this time? Are we going to see a winner that looks like Frag Dominant? Or will the new Phase 2 winners basically be the same as Phase 1's winners? Vhairi's been tracking the performance of classes in the tournament so far. For the last week or two, this round's competitors have been honing strategies, experimenting with comps, and switching things around a lot. Now that the dust has settled, teams are what they are. As a result, the data should be fairly meaningful again pretty quickly, and hopefully Vhairi will put out another update. I can't wait to see how the class performance distribution will look in Phase 2 -- it might teach us something more about what to expect in WotLK for class balance. I don't think Phase 2 will be much different from Phase 1 however -- a lack of holy Pallies, scarcity of Hunters and Mages, and so on.
Phase 1 Dailies: The Multiphase Survey
Finally, we reach the end of our grand tour of the phase 1 Shattered Sun-related daily quests. "The Multiphase Survey" is assigned by a doubtful Draenei named Harbinger Harnomen who can be found somewhat clockwise of the flight master in Shattrath, and it goes like this: Go to the Spirit Fields in Nagrand, which are near that giant crystal Oshu'gun. Put on the provided Multiphase Spectrographic Goggles. Fly/ride around and look for Multiphase Disturbances (pictured), which are only visible when wearing the goggles. When you find one, get near it and right-click your goggles. The disturbance will disappear. Six of these "readings" and you're done; flutter on back to Shattrath for 4g 10g, 250 Shattered Sun rep, and another Shattered Sun Supplies (c'mon, Badge!). Seven daily quests later, what's our total take? 78 gold, 1550 Shattered Sun Offensive reputation, a Major Rejuvenation Potion, and two Shattered Sun Supplies. Not bad for the work of an hour or so.
Phase 1 Dailies: Sunfury Attack Plans
Here is another Shattered Sun daily that originates in Shattrath, from Lord Torvos who stands just north of the flight master (right by where you picked up "Gaining the Advantage"). The premise of "Sunfury Attack Plans" is that we know that the Sunfury elves up in Netherstorm have some attack plans, and we want them. We want one of them per character, every day. So get yourself to Netherstorm, find some Sunfury elves (any Sunfury elves), and kill them until one of them drops the attack plans. I usually go for the mobs near Manaforge B'naar simply for convenience.Like many single-drop quests, this can be maddeningly inconsistent. Today I got the plans on my first kill, and a guildy of mine claims to have killed over 100 before finally receiving the item. We'll have to wait until a bit of data for the database sites has been collected before we can find out what the drop rate is, although if I had to guess I'd put it around 10%. For your troubles you are rewarded with 4g 10g, 250 Shattered Sun Ofensive rep, and a Shattered Sun Supplies, which contains a random green item and has a chance to contain a Badge of Justice as well.
Phase 1 Dailies: Gaining the Advantage
You've dealt with automata and the Wretched on the Isle of Quel'Danas. You've slain demons and blown up the transporter at the Throne of Kil'Jaeden. Are there more Shattered Sun-related dailies left to do? You bet! There are three quests that are assigned in Shattrath, and here's one of them: Gaining the Advantage. Posts on the other two are coming shortly.Allegedly, some people in Stormwind can make oils that will help in the fight against the Legion, and they need Nether Residue to do it. This quest is assigned by Emisarry Mordin who paths near the flight master.For this quest, all you need to do is be a skinner, herbalist and/or miner, and go out and do some gathering. Any Outlands herb (not Golden Sansam or Dreamfoil), ore node, or (I assume) skinnable mob has a chance to drop Nether Residue, of which you need eight for the quest. The drop rate on herbs felt like around 30%, possibly higher on higher-level herbs. So it's a fairly easy quest to do, and as a bonus, you get some herbs/ore/leather. Go on back to Shattrath to turn it in, and be rewarded with 16g, 250 Shattered Sun rep, and two one Major Rejuvenation Potion.
Phase 1 Dailies: Blast the Gateway
This is the companion quest to "Blood for Blood," and is given by Magistrix Seyla up at the Throne of Kil'Jaeden ("The Missing Magistrix" is a prerequisite). In "Blast the Gateway" you take on a mission to help shut down the Legion Gateway, by means of an interesting quest mechanic. Right-click the supplied Sizzling Embers to release a pet Living Flare, which follows you around. Contrary to what WoWWiki says, I find that it will not despawn if you use your flying mount, as long as you don't get too far away from it (so be careful on your epic mounts). Find and kill the Incandescent Fel Sparks, which are fire elementals that wander the Throne area. They have a fireball, but like most of the mobs involved in the dailies, they're not hard to kill. Every a Fel Spark is killed with your Living Flare nearby, the Flare energizes. Note that you don't actually have to kill the Spark yourself; if you see some other people killing one, go help, and any flares in the vicinity will get energized. Once your Flare accumulates enough energy (it takes about five eight kills), it will become "unstable" and turn green. Take it over to the Legion Gateway, near Magistrix Seyla, and it'll release its fiery power. Done! Talk to the Magistrix for 12g and 250 Shattered Sun rep. I did have my Flare despawn on me once, but I think I flew up very high or something. I've definitely had it follow me on my flying mount just fine. But you should be careful, because if it does despawn you have to start the quest over.
Phase 1 Dailies: Blood for Blood
Now that you've completed "The Missing Magistrix" and teleported to the Throne of Kil'Jaeden in Hellfire Peninsula (or flown there if you've already done the teleport before, but completion of "The Missing Magistrix" is required for this quest), you're ready to do Blood for Blood and its companion quest, Blast the Gateway (next post). Magistrix Seyla at the Throne assigns both quests. Blood for Blood goes like this: Kill Doom Heralds, those big swordy demon things you see stomping around, and loot their blood. You need four, and it seems to be a 100% drop. The blood powers the Felblood Siphon that you'll use in the next step. Find Felblood Initiates (pictured) casting wavy green things at the structures on the ground and cower at their eliteness. Now use the Felblood Siphon on them, and, just like the giants from Ferelas, they will weaken into non-elite pushover Emaciated Felbloods. Kill. Do this four times, and you're ready to return to the Magistrix for 12g and 250 Shattered Sun rep. This was a fun quest, although last night it was absolutely impossible to find any Felbloods because of all the players competing for them. Much easier today though; they might have upped the spawn rate (edit: they did). The Felbloods stun briefly when you use the Siphon on them, which gives you a chance to get some distance and/or cast a spell. Next up is Blast the Gateway, which is a good quest to do at the same time as this one. I wonder where Kazzak is hanging out, though -- has he always been killed when I've been up there, or did they move him?
Phase 1: The Missing Magistrix
This isn't actually a Sunwell daily quest -- it's a one-time thing -- but it is done on the Isle of Quel'Danas, and it does open up more dailies (keep an eye out for posts on "Blood for Blood" and "Blast the Gateway"). "The Missing Magistrix" is picked up from the Shattered Sun Staging Area, and asks you to go look after an operative gone AWOL by means of a portal and a scroll. You do need a flying mount to get this quest, since if you didn't have one you won't be able to get back from where you're sent without burning your Hearthstone.Finding this portal seems to be very difficult for people, so I'll provide as much information as possible. The coordinates are 48,44 It's south and very slightly east from the Staging Area It's subtly indicated on the map in the screenshot It is a wall of green glow similar to the Dark Portal into the Outlands Once you get to the portal, right-click the Captured Legion Scroll in your inventory to be teleported to the Throne of Kil'Jaeden, where Kazzak usually hangs out. Don't do this if you're not read to go to Outland, since there's no reverse teleport (at least, not yet). The portal is guarded by some non-elite demons, but you can avoid fighting most of them by going around behind. Once you do port through, you'll appear at Magistrix Seyla's feet, ready to turn in the quest and get to demon-slaying. Easiest 9g ever.
Phase 1 Dailies: Erratic Behavior
Continuing our examination of the phase one daily quests in patch 2.4, here is "Erratic Behavior." It is easily done at the same time as the other Isle of Quel'Danas daily, The Sanctum Wards. It's gotten from the Shattered Sun Staging Area, and asks you to convert five Erratic Sentries into friendly ones by means of the magical crystals they give you.The Erratic Sentries are found in the same place as the mobs for The Sanctum Wards: an arc starting at the Staging Area and proceeding broadly southwards along the western shoreline. They're non-agressive (yellow) mechanicals (pictured), and although they're level 70, it's still uncommonly easy to kill them. Sometimes they can be found reduced in health bandaging themselves up, and in general they move a bit oddly -- I guess that explains the "erratic" part.After you kill and loot, target the corpse and right-click the Attuned Crystal Cores in your inventory; the Sentry will turn into a friendly one and stagger around briefly before disappearing. Note that you can't convert corpses that you haven't killed yourself. Convert five corpses, and you're done. Return to the staging grounds for 9g, 150 Shattered Sun rep, and warm fuzzing feelings for helping get to Phase Two. This quest is still available in Phase Two, but renamed to "Further Conversions."
Phase 1 Dailies: The Sanctum Wards
Welcome to the first post of a new series on the daily quests available in Patch 2.4. I'll be going through all the quests that are available in phase 1, one by one. This is one of the two daily quests on the new Isle of Quel'Danas, and it's called "The Sanctum Wards." It goes well with Erratic Behavior, which I'll cover in the next post.The quest itself is pretty simple, and goes in two parts. Hunt down Wretched Devourers and Wretched Fiends, and slaughter them for their Mana Remnants. You'll need four Remanants, and the drop rate felt like it was around 50%. The mobs are only level 68, and don't pose much of a problem; they do a puny drain life/mana and a very short silence. They can be found starting in the Shattered Sun Staging Area and spreading in an arc down near the western shoreline. Once you have your four Mana Remnants, come back up near the Staging Area to a Crystal Ward (pictured, at 49,35) and right-click the stack of Mana Remnants in your inventory. There's some nice pretty zapping effects, and you're done with your quest. 9g and 150 Shattered Sun rep await you. You have now completed one of the two quests that will progress your server towards Phase Two, so thanks for doing your part! This quest is still available in Phase Two, but renamed to "Arm the Wards."
