I’m just a few hours away from level 62. I could have been thereby now, but I got caught up playing my Shaman, which I’ll go into in greater detail as a separate post. I tell you that I’ve never done this many quests playing at a high level. On my first character I abandoned doing the quests regularly around level 40 or so. They weren’t fun and seemed more time consuming than just killing mobs in my favorite areas, which I rotated so things didn’t get stale.
On subsequent characters, I abandoned quests earlier and earlier. It was more efficient and fun for me to just find an area where the mobs where 2-4 levels above me and kill them with rested XP bonus. I checked the available quest starters and if they were slay quests I would take them. If not, I rejected them and I leveled at a rate that seemed acceptable.
But in Outlands thus far, the quest givers and the target areas are in such close proximity that it’s just easier to go with the flow and quest. Additionally, they’ve added some exciting twists to the normal Kill Ten Rats (TKR). There are also more in zone object collection quests, which I think are more fun than the slay collection quests. I like interacting with the environment even if it’s just clicking things. It makes me feel like I’m an integral part of the world. I think that developers sometimes overlook or dismiss the importance of these little things. AC2 had the by them truckload and I loved that about the game. Especially that I could actually find books on lore hidden throughout the world that I could actually open and read. WOW now employs this mechanism liberally, and for the better in my opinion.
Hellfire Peninsula is all that I could have asked for as a new starting zone. Breathtaking beauty, originality, inclusion of the related lore, lots of quests, updated mob models and new instances with nice loot.
TIPS:
Do as many quests as you can stomach. The XP and rewards are better than in the “old” world. If you find that a quest is taking too long – can’t find mob, item or specific location and no help is available, just move on. I want to see as much as possible but I’m still not of a mind to waste time with quest confusion and you’ll run across a couple of really vague quests. For me, the time wasn’t worth the effort.
- If you do want to put in some time just grinding mobs, I liked Expedition Armory and Zeth’Gor. They can be challenging to solo because of the high amount of social aggro, and Expedition in particular, has roving patrols in the form of mounted knights. These knights have a charge and knockdown so be careful that you don't aggro one, while you're already engaged in combat. It can get tricky but these two areas had nice drops that you can use or vendor for a decent amount of gold. You will also get a nice chunk of Runecloth and Netherweave that you can sell or use for First Aid and Tailoring. I like to choose mobs that will further my professions if possible when I’m of a mind to just grind.
- When you encounter mob contention try to start a group so everyone can get what they need. I’m finding that people are more open to forming quick, single purpose groups because there are so many of us running through the same zones. The expectation is that it’s just to kill this set of mobs and everyone quickly bails right after.
Be sure to visit the Temple of Telhamat. This is the Draenei area and they have some interesting quests for you. Don’t miss that there is an FP tucked into the east corner of the temple. The Master First Aid book is also obtained from a Draenei Medic on the west side of the temple. If you pick up the quest where you need to find someone's brother - sorry don't remember quest name, just run passed the FP and jump over the wall. When you land, the brother is nearby and is illuminated by a light beam.
My favorite quest for this region came from Telhamat. They probably expected you to do it with a group but someone figured out that you could just kite these huge mobs (Raging Colossus) into the city and get some help from the guards if you were questing solo. Other players milling about usually pitch in as well with DPS and heals if necessary. Lots of fun and not to be missed for a good laugh!
With five quests waiting to be turned in there’s a good chance I’ll ding the next time I log on to my priest. If so I will be saying goodbye for a time to Hellfire Peninsula, and hello to Zangarmarsh. I didn’t do Ramparts as much as I wanted so I’ll have to swing back by and revisit the instance.
