Unbearably HoT

While the previous guides I wrote can be utilized by anyone, I rolled through the quests with relative ease. Then again, all I had to do was tag a group of mobs and swipe them all down. Using the exact same strategy on my paladin was tedious, and not just because I have a slow mount. Many of these mobs, especially those on the Isle of Quel’danas, aren’t so friendly to mana users (as is fitting for creatures feeding off magical powers). If you’re trying to farm all of these quests while Restoration specced, it’s not impossible—it’s just annoying. Phaelia already mentioned that the Unbound Ethereals in Blade’s Edge Mountains are immune to arcane damage (denying Boomkins and Restos the Moonfire and Starfire staples), but here are a couple things to look out for:

The Wretched 

Wretched Devourers have two “abilities” besides their unimpressive melee attacks: Mana Tap and Nether Shock. If you’ve ever played a Blood Elf you probably know what Mana Tap does, but for those who haven’t, it does exactly what it says: taps your mana and charges the caster with arcane power. Nether Shock instantly inflicts Shadow based damage, but does little else.

Wretched Fiends have two different abilities: Bitter Withdrawal and Sunder Armor. Bitter Withdrawal is a cleansable, channeled spell that drains health and mana from the target and transfers it to the caster. Obviously if you can interrupt this in some fashion or kill your Fiend before he casts it, all the better. Sunder Armor explains itself, and if you’re standing close enough to get more than one application as a caster, you’re doing it wrong.

Erratic Sentries 

The Erratic Sentries have four separate “specials” at their cybernetic fingertips: Crystal Strike, Electrical Overload, Stun and Suppression. Crystal Strike is an arcane based melee attack, and Electrical Overload, similarly, deals AOE damage in a confined radius around itself. I haven’t ever been stunned by one of these, but Suppression’s a pain in the ass on my holy paladin. Suppression is a three second silence effect that can be interrupted.

Because of all the aforementioned abilities, I gave up on farming in my holy gear and switched over to the ret set I’ve been collecting.  Despite the fact that I had even less mana, I picked up some STA and a weapon that could hit for more than 40 damage a swing. I haven’t tried to do any of these with a Resto build, but for the trees who might be a little undergeared, you might do better putting on some trash feral gear and wearing your mobs down.

Now that Doomhammer has an established portal from Shattrath to the Isle of Quel’danas, getting from Outland to the hub of Shattered Sun activity no longer requires any annoying ports to Ironforge and occasionally buggy flights up North.

Step 1: Pack for your Island Adventure

Unless you’ve already unlocked the Armory, chances are good that you won’t have any place to repair on the Isle of Quel’Danas. Additionally, if you’re not Honored with the Shattered Sun Offensive, you won’t be able to buy food, water, or reagents on the Isle either. So before you get going, make sure you stop, repair, and hit up an AV to ninja a few stacks of manna biscuits from an unsuspecting mage. Once that’s all taken care of, either take the portal to the Isle (if your realm has it up) or take the long way, from Ironforge.


Once there, head to the location marked with the “1″ below. Regardless of the progress your realm is making, these quests will always be there. Note that I’m skipping the quest that takes you through Magister’s Terrace since it’s not repeatable. Pick up the quests Further Conversions and Arm the Wards!, and head to the quest hub marked with a “2″. There, again depending on your realm’s progression, you’ll pick up: Distraction at the Dead Scar, The Battle for the Sun’s Reach Armory and Know your Ley Lines. From now on, please refer to the map I’ve created below for all quest locations.

 

Step 2: Robots and Freaks

Head Northwest to the coastline above Dawnstar Village and look for Wretched Fiends, Devourers and the like—basically any sort of emaciated blood elf who lurches into life when you proximity aggro the eight million respawns. These mobs will occasionally drop [Mana Remnants], which are necessary reagents for “Arm the Wards!” If the area just north of Dawnstar Village is totally camped out, try and head down the West Coast a little bit where the mobs are generally more plentiful—just check out the blue dots on the map.

Interspersed between the napping wretches, omnipresent rain and hordes (no pun intended) of players farming mobs, you’ll also find Erratic Sentries for “Further Conversions”. If you’re like me and have a metaphorical hard-on for Optimus Prime, you too might have read it as “erotic” the first time around. Regardless, these sentries remain neutral (think critters) until you attack them. All you need to do is kill five, loot the corpses, and use your [Attuned Crystal Cores] on their metallic remains. Here’s a pro-tip: if you manage to group with anyone to do these already simple quests, activating your [Attuned Crystal Cores] simultaneously will dual-shock the robots and give you credit for two rather than one.

Once you’ve bent a few robots to your whims and rounded up four [Mana Remnants], mount up and head Southeast. First, make a stop at the orange dot just south of Dawnstar Village. Whip out your Astromancer’s Crystal and take a reading of the Blood Crystal there for “Know Your Ley Lines”. After that, you’ll be looking for the place corresponding to the red dot on my above map, and it’ll look like a big red crystal near Quest Hub 2. Use the four [Mana Remnants] in your bag on the Crystal Ward, complete “Arm the Wards!” and get ready to finish the last few quests.

Step 3: Sticking it to The Man

Or rather, The Emissary of Hate. If you continue to head Southeast from the Crystal Ward you just armed, you’ll immediately (and I mean right-the-fuck-away) happen upon a cornucopia of demons having a picnic in the park. The Battle for the Sun’s Reach Armory will have you kill any six you’d like and then slam your pole into the Emissary of Hate’s dead body. Don’t worry about killing him; I can count the times I’ve actually seen that guy alive and/or not instantly tagged by another player on one hand. So long as you can target his corpse, you can plant the banner and receive quest credit.

Before you head out of the omg-always-in-combat zone, take out your trusty Astromancer’s Crystal again and take a reading of the portal that the demons are flying out of. This is also where the second orange dot is on the quest map and gets your your second reading for “Know your Ley Lines”.

Step 4: Naga, please!

Mount up and prepare for a little excursion. To find the final site for your ley line measurement, you need to steer your toon to the East Coast of the Isle through swarming camps of naga (as shown by the third orange dot on the map). The best way to go is to take the road to Magister’s Terrace and then veer off to the right when there’s an opening pointing toward the Forbidding Sea. If you don’t feel like fighting through the naga, I recommend hugging the right wall. There isn’t always a path up there, but you can scoot your mount up with a little perseverance and follow it down the entire length of the coast without being dismounted.

The Naga Shrine is extremely hard to miss and brings to mind fond memories of similar altars visited during questing. If you’re especially lucky, some other dude has been through right before you and killed all of the Myrmidions patrolling the shrine. If not, they’re a fairly quick kill. Just use your crystal, mount back up, and head back to the questing hubs.

Step 5: Bombs over Bad Guys

I left the bombing run for last because there isn’t really a logical place for it to fit in with normal questing. After everything else is finished, make your way up to the docks, where the green dot is located. Most of you will remember this as the same place you arrived if you took a bird in. Instead of talking to the Flightmaster, however, check in with Aryen on the right. Make sure that you have the [Arcane Charges] you received earlier (check your bags; druids will recognize it as the tooltip for Starfire) hot-keyed. Yes, that’s right. If it means unbinding your auto-attack button at 1, do it. Successfully soloing this quest without taking a thousand infuriating attempts require that you click and spam your hot-keyed [Arcane Charges] on anything that moves in the Dead Scar.

First thing’s first: if you can get into a group for bombing (without being That Guy who spams general chat), it’ll make the quest go a lot quicker. If you’re flying without a wingman, exercise some common sense. Don’t mount up and fly off if you just saw an entire group go. They’ll kill the mobs before you have a chance to blink and you’ll be left with scraps—and an unfulfilled quest log. But when you’re relatively on your own, mount up and enjoy the view; the dragonhawk will take you on a Disney World-esque adventure flight around the island until you finally reach The Dead Scar, a barren strip of land ridden with demons and flame. The trick here is to essentially spam the living daylights out of your hotkey and target anything that moves. Most of the larger mobs, Pit Lords and Sorcerers, take three hits to kill. Wrath Enforcers are a lot easier and a lot more plentiful. Be prepared to take two and half swings through The Dead Scar before your dragonhawk gets sick of it and takes you back to Aryen. If you still have mobs left, mount back up and keep trying. I haven’t successfully gotten all the mobs (damn you, Eredar Sorcerer!) in one run, but I’ve definitely done it in two.

Toward the end of the run, you’ll even see the second boss in Sunwell, Brutallus (as pictured below).

 

That’s it. Turn everything in, reap your rewards (approximately 53 g 49 s) and teleport back to Shattrath using the scroll obtained from the “Know your Ley Lines” quest.

It’s admittedly hard to stay focused on writing when new content emerges and I’m falling all over myself to try everything out. Naturally, I have a never ending list of things I’d like to write about, and before the Sticky-Notes take over my desk, I thought I should get down to it.

 

Initially I wasn’t thrilled about 2.4, and even now my furor has dwindled after completing every daily quest on three seventies and chain-running Magister’s Terrace for Shattered Sun Offensive reputation. What keeps me doing all this repetitive bullshit is the notion, however obscure, that I am contributing to an effort. As most folks reading this probably know, completing quests for the Shattered Sun Offensive gradually takes over the Isle and unlocks (surprise) more dailies, portals from Shattrath to the island and, eventually, the Armory, which will allow for repairs and the many-fabled Badge Vendor. If you’d like to keep track of how your particular realm is doing as compared to others, check out the Sunwell Event Progression page. I’m proud to announce that Doomhammer’s been the source of much frenzied activity and is likely getting things done because of A) our high population B) everyone really wants the tabard available at Exalted and C) the fact that we’re not a PvP realm. We’re currently attempting Phase 2 (which unlocks the second set of dailies) and, as I write, 35% done opening the portal in Shattrath.

 

That being said, the new daily quests are an excuse for Blizzard to laugh at us while we frantically scramble around the entire world lamenting the fact that we haven’t yet bought epic mounts for all our toons. I’ve attempted to compile a strategy for getting them done in the most efficient way possible, and while you may have found a way that works better for you, this is what’s worked for me.

 

Note that I assume:

1. You have an epic mount. This same strategy can be followed without one, but it will take you a lot longer.
2. Your realm is on Phase 2 of the Sunwell Event.
3. You’re either an herbalist or a miner (as that’s what I have on my toons).
4. You’ve already talked to the folks on the Isle of Quel’danas, activating the quests at the Throne of Kil’jaedan.
5. You’re damage specced. I’ve done this all on my holy paladin wearing Retribution gear, but WOW does it take a long time.

Step 1: Start in Shattrath City and Pick up Quests

Make sure you pick up 1) Intercepting the Mana Cells 2) The Multiphase Survey 3) Gaining the Advantage and 4) Sunfury Attack Plans.

The best part is that we’re not even doing these quests first. You just need to have them (or else). Note that Gaining the Advantage will be gradually completed as you fly from zone to zone; by utilizing your specific tradeskill (aka enforced farming), you’ll end up picking flowers or mining ore that contains Nether Residue. Gather 8 and you’re good to go! Unfortunately, I’ve definitely gone through my entire route without picking up all eight and it seems to just be luck. That quest may require a little additional farming. The bonus? You’re getting a stack of herbs or ore or leather that you didn’t have and might not have farmed before. Cash, M I RITE?

 

Step 2: Aggroing Doomlord Kazzak

So as you’re intermittently farming like a good little toon, steer your bird (or dragon or toothed flying carpet or whatever) to Hellfire Peninsula. You’ll be heading to the Throne of Kil’jaedan to complete two quests from Magistrix Seyla: 1) Blood for Blood and 2) Blast the Gateway.

 

 

Both of these quests can be completed simultaneously; use your Sizzling Embers to summon a little flame to your side. TIP: Whenever anyone kills an Incandescent Fel Spark and you’re in range, you’ll get credit for it. Most people just stand around and help kill them, regardless of whether or not you get credit, and it goes pretty quickly. The benefits of tapping one yourself is that you’ll get some useless greys to vendor and the occasional Mote of Fire. When your Sizzling Ember metamorphoses into a giant, unstable ball of green flames, you’re ready to rock out. Before you drag the Unstable Sizzling Embers through the Fel Gateway in front of Seyla, start killing Wrath Heralds. Wrath Heralds drop Demon Blood, a reagent for Blood for Blood, and go down very quickly considering you only need four of them. The Demon Blood is used in conjunction with the Fel Siphon obtained from Seyla; target one of the Felblood Initiates (OMG ELITE! RUN AWAY IF YOU DON’T HAVE DEMON BLOOD!) and use the Fel Siphon. The Siphon “drains their fel energy” and renders them weak and useless.

Kill four and you can turn in both quests for makeouts, gold, Shattered Sun Supplies (containing useless greens and occasionally a Badge of Justice) and Sunfury Signets or Marks of Sargeras (take your pick!).

Cons: These quests are especially awesome when Doomlord Kazzak is up and folks aggro him repeatedly by trying to pick an herb node that’s a little too close. If and when that happens, run like hell and hope you’ll only get shadowbolted a few times—generally speaking, making your fast ass back to Seyla will take you out of combat as he resets.

Pros: If nothing else you get to enjoy such gems as “THE UNIVERSE WILL BE REMADE!” and “THE LEGION WILL CONQUER ALL!”

Step 3: The Twisting Nether (ohmy)

After completing the quests in Hellfire, mount up and fly due North through the Twisting Nether. If you don’t hit Auto Run and go afk, you should end up at Manaforge Coruu relatively quickly. Here, you’ll be killing any random Sunfury Blood Elf you see in hopes that he’ll drop the Sunfury Attack Plans. To be a jerk and to get things done quickly, I rounded up as many as I could in Dire Bear form and Swiped them all to death with minimal damage taken.

Pros: Sometimes you get these on your first drop. Additionally, you have the possibility of getting Arcane Tomes, Sunfury Signets, greens, silver and cloth.

Cons: Sometimes it takes 20+ kills to obtain the plans, and sometimes the zone is farmed out. Additionally, restoration specced druids may have a harder time rounding up large group of blood elves to speed things up.

Step 4: Stealing from Spell Thieves

Hop back on your mount and fly Northwest to Bash’ir Landing. For anyone who’s done Ogri’la dailies or farmed the flasks for Gruul’s Lair, you’ll remember this particular part of Blade’s Edge Mountains. Intercepting the Mana Cells is, arguably, the most frustrating of all the daily quests. While I hopelessly tried to kill all eight million mana wyrms that an undead rogue trained into my holy paladin’s consecrate, I sneered and swore and banged the desk as he proceeded to ninja my energon cubes. Meanwhile, I ran out of mana, died and ran back only to discover that I’d have to kill ethereals all over again to procure a phasing device.

Here, I’d like to direct you to Phaelia’s take on the quest: Daily Quest: Intercepting the Mana Cells.

Destroying mana wyrms was far easier on my druid and I didn’t have many problems with lameass rogues. In fact, Intercepting the Mana Cells is one of the more inventive daily quests. Our toons get to “phase out” of the real world and lope through a Gaussian blur landscape of shadows in search of sparkling cubes hidden from ordinary view. For anyone who’s attempted Kalecgos, the view is almost identical to the Demon World in which the half-human/half-night elf Kalecgos fights the demon who’s possessing him.

Pros: Refreshing twist on an old collect-a-quest theme. Mana Wyrms also have a high Mote of Mana drop rate.

Cons: Endlessly frustrating if there are a lot of people questing in the same area. Be ruthless if people start ninjaing your cubes.

Step 5: Drop it Like it’s Halaa

The final stop in Outlands before you head back to the Old World is in Nagrand for The Multiphase Survey. Zip down from Blade’s Edge and head to Oshu’gun, the place where all the ethereals and voidwalkers chill out. Once you get there, strap on your Multiphase Spectrographic Goggles, wait for the on-use cooldown, and scan the area for massive whirls of flame.

Druid’s instant-cast Swift Flight Form rocks particularly hard, here. There are generally enough roving flames that you don’t have to fight with others to get them. Hover over the flame you want, drop down, use your goggles, and then take off for the next one. I recommend scouting around the Southern portion of Oshu’gun since there are usually fewer people around there. If you’re picky, you probably won’t even have to fight any mobs.

Pros: You only need to take “readings” from six of the flaming distortions, and that’s it. Additionally, if you do need to kill any mobs, the ethereals drop cloth, silver, Oshu’gun Crystal Fragments and Oshu’gun Crystal Powder. The roving Voidwalkers also drop Motes of Shadow.

Cons: If you don’t have an epic mount, there will probably be other questers who will beat you do the anomalies. Additionally, don’t put on the goggles UNTIL you get to Nagrand; if you put them on beforehand, you won’t be able to see any of the distortions. Oh, and don’t run into Durn.

Fly back to Shattrath, turn in all of your quests, empty your bags out at the bank, repair if necessary, and get ready to take the portal to Ironforge.

Check back in for Part 2!