We all know patch 2.4 is going to center around a new zone in Azeroth, the Isle of Quel'Danas. But did you know there was a new Outlands area as well? I didn't either, until we got a tip from loyal reader Austin. This new area is called Razorthorn Rise, and apparently sits between Hellfire Peninsula and Terokkar Forest, just above Razorthorn Shelf. The tip says it's full of level 70 ravagers and flayers, and speculates that the ravagers would make good Hunter pets.
I wasn't able to turn up any more information about this area, aside from one new daily quest that mentions it, where a Shattered Sun Offensive NPC sends you to the area to collect five "Razorthorn Roots." Sounds like a ground pick-up. The quest is filed under Terokkar Forest, so I'd guess that's where Razorthorn Rise officially resides. Does anyone know anything else about this zone?
Update: Maybe not a new area after all. Still, this is the first I've heard of it.
Reader Pelouze of Durotan likes to explore the far reaches of Nagrand. Often found on his Spectral Tiger, he couldn't help but take this snapshot of his trusty mount howling at one of the many moons to be found in the kaleidescope skies of the Outland.
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I suppose it would depend on the instance. Druids can stealth past a great deal of Black Rock Depths trash to get to the bosses that drop the good loot. But a Paladin would do better in Stratholme. And Hunters can go just about anywhere.
Parvati doesn't give his motives behind the question, but cash farming sounds like the obvious motive. But why restrict yourself to old world zones if that's the case? Cash is far more free flowing in the Outlands.
Whatever his motive, I would like to hear what you think. Not just what class, but why.
In a word, no. Blizzard blue Nethaera posted in response to the umpteenth request for an Auction House in Shattrath. At least this time we got an explanation behind the decision.
Blizzard feels an AH in Shattrath will eliminate the only reason for players to interact with others in older cities. They reason players can use the Shatt portals to get to the AH in the older cities and then activate their hearthstone to get back to the Outlands.
This plan also spreads out the population. Anyone remember when their was only one AH for each faction? Ironforge was known as Lagforge. Think what would happen to your framerate should they put an Auction House in the Outlands capital. Yeah, not pretty.
Of course "not currently planned" doesn't mean "never." When the WotLK expansion launches and Dalaran becomes the player hub, they may reconsider. Until then, don't be getting friendly with any Innkeeper other than the ones in Shattrath, because your hearthstone setting isn't going to be changing for a long time. Unless you're a mage.
So you leveled your main into the late 50s and are ready to jump into the time-sucking goodness that is the Outlands. But before you head in, you want to experience any good pre-BC quest chains you may have missed. One player on the official forums is in this exact situation and wants to know: what quest chain should she do that has good XP and an interesting storyline before heading into the Burning Crusade content?
Many players have chimed in so far with their fondly remembered misadventures. Tirion Fordring's Redemption chain out of the Eastern Plaguelands gets many recommendations. As does the Marauders of Darrowshire chain in which you have to find a little girl ghost's missing dolly and along the way relive a critical moment in the history of the lands.
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.
Today's forum watch has started a new humor thread about the origins of the reopening of the Dark Portal. Many debated if it was Kazzak or some other power, or if it had always been open. Quite a few people had their own opinions about how it opened:
My main is sitting comfortably at 70, running instances, edging up her tailoring skill, and slowly accruing cash for the epic flyer. By this point, in fact, I've brought my second character to 60, my Rogue, and started her in Outland. It's just as much of a blast as I remember it being the first time, months ago, although of course it's a little less fresh. I remember everything being so big and bewildering back then; now, knowing where everything is and what all the quests are, it's very much more manageable. It's still challenging, though, since the mobs behave a bit differently than I'm used to from the old world. If you've gotten a second (or third, or...) character to Outland level, how have you found it the second time through?
Also, what have you found to be a good level to run through that Dark Portal and start questing? I originally went at 58, but after doing a few quests decided I'd better go back to the Plaguelands and get to 60 first, for more effective questing. Still, I'm glad I did the first few quests, since they got me huge upgrades in main- and off-hand weapons, and a piece or two of armor. If I become crazy enough to get a third character out of Azeroth, I'll probably do it the same way -- go in for a few easy pieces of vital gear, and come back out to get to 60. What would you do?
Currently, the lowest level at which you can pass through the Dark Portal and go to Outlands is 58 (although it is possible to be summoned or portaled to Outlands at any level). However, is it better to go straight for the portal when you hit 58, or are the quests going to be too hard, and would it then behoove one to wait until 60? Personally, I'll be taking all my alts in when/if they get high enough, because the quest rewards are just overwhelmingly good. Aeus agrees with me:
Outland would be your ticket there... did it with one of my alts; best thing I ever did..
On the other hand, some members of my guild (mostly Warriors) firmly maintain that Outlands is just too hard until 60. What do you think? Does it depend on class, and if so, which classes would you recommend leaving behind in Azeroth a little longer?
Earlier today, I hit 68 on my Priest, which was awesome because I got Prayer of Mending. However, if I was a Druid, I would have gotten something infinitely more awesome: Flight Form. If anyone's unfamiliar with flight form, it's a Druid shapeshift that's only usable in Outlands and turns you into a Stormcrow, allowing you to fly. This means a free, instant-cast flying mount, basically, as well as free flying mount training (which is much more expensive). People have a lot of questions about Flight Form; fortunately for us, Locust has compiled an excellent FAQ in the forums. I'll put the more interesting bits here, and the whole FAQ (which is rather long) after the cut for those who can't access the WoW forums.
Do I need Journeyman Riding skill (which is needed for ground epic mounts) in order to gain this ability? Will it cost me? Yes, and it will cost you 540g.
Will I still need to buy Expert Riding skill in order to buy Artisan Riding skill to ride a flying epic mount? No. Once you train for Flight Form, you automatically gain Expert Riding skill. You save yourself 800g.
If I activate Flight Form while falling, can it save me from a fall that would normally cause me to die? You bet.
Can I attack in Flight Form? No. No attacks. No abilities.
What happens if I die while very high in the air? Your body will be found exactly where you died. If you are unable to retreieve your corpse because it is too high, you will have to spirit res.
Normal running speed: 100% Walking speed: 40% Aspect of the Cheetah: 130% Cheetah form: 140% Ground normal mount: 160% Ground epic mount: 200% Druid Flight Form: 160% Normal flying mount running: 160% Normal Flying mount flying: 160% Epic flying mount running: 200% Epic flying mount flying: 380% Epic swift nether drake: 410% Wind Rider (Flight Master): 500%
Two bits of news for you this brunchtime. First, there's some new transfers for European realms. From Thundy:
The below migrations are currently active. They're scheduled to close on Monday January 22nd, at 12:00 (noon) CET. However, again, please note that this may change at any time.
Bloodhoof to Bronze Dragonflight Emerald Dream to Bronze Dragonflight Thunderhorn to Bronze Dragonflight
Azjol-Nerub to Anachronos Doomhammer to Anachronos Turalyon to Anachronos
Ravencrest to Agamaggan Ravencrest to Vek'nilash Neptulon to Vek'nilash Neptulon to Jaedenar Outland to Jaedenar Outland to Spinebreaker
And second, Ghaz'an, a boss in The Underbog (one of the Coilfang Reservoir instances in Zangarmarsh), has been hotfixed. Apparently he was spitting poison as if he was at heroic setting; he will no longer be doing so. I've not gotten to any of the Coilfang dungeons myself, being mostly content with Ramparts and Blood Furnace, but I'm glad I won't get spit on quite so much when I do make it there. From Tseric:
A hotfix has recently been applied that adjusted Ghaz'an's attack rate. The acid spit rate was occurring at Heroic mode rates, not normal mode rates. The spit should be going off at a more reasonable frequency.
True confessions: I was up til about 7 this morning leveling my blood elf warlock (caster noob alert!), after tooling around in the Outlands with my 60 rogue for a while. But, you know, it was totally "work-related"! So fess up -- how late did you stay up? Are you a proud member of the bleary-eyed workforce today? Or did you catch that <cough> nasty bug </cough> that was flying around -- I think it must have spread like wildfire from all the social contact of midnight launches. Please to be inputting your answer to our lunchtime launch night poll:
...and after my dozenth death, I'm not so sure that I feel fine. Sure, it started out all fun and games with Tyren's announcement on the forums that there might be some "cool events" on the beta realms this evening. But cool, I wonder, for whom? Certainly not for the poor denizens of the now ravaged Shattrath City -- the Outland's only major city. On the beta realm Hellfire, CMs Ordinn and Tseric orchestrated the destruction of this fine city, throwing wave after wave of bosses at the city's populace.
Want to see what happens when the game's most dangerous monsters converge on a single city center? Well, read on to find out.
I'm sure we're all familiar with the elite quests scattered throughout Azeroth. Or if not familiar with the particulars of each and every one of them, at least aware that there exists such a thing as quests that are flagged "elite" that involve killing more powerful "elite" monsters. Well, in the Burning Crusade you won't be seeing any of those. And, no it's not because Blizzard has decided to remove elites from the game. Instead, Blizzard has dropped the "elite" flag from quests and replaced it with a "group" flag, which I first noticed when questing on my new level 12 Blood Elf. Curious about the above Anok'suten quest, I located a partner and headed out to complete it immediately -- in the end it involved killing a single level 11 elite, surrounded by non-elites of around the same level. I might have been able to solo it -- but the suggested players hint is appreciated.
And this trend continues into Outland -- only the elites are a bit bigger.
While we had a lot of excellent entries for the caption contest on day 6 of our countdown to the Burning Crusade, we've narrowed the field down to ten finalists -- and we want you to pick the winner! You have 24 hours to submit your votes, which gives you until 2:30PM EST on Wednesday -- so get voting!
We all know patch 2.4 is going to center around a new zone in Azeroth, the Isle of Quel'Danas. But did you know there was a new Outlands area as well? I didn't either, until we got a tip from loyal reader Austin. This new area is called Razorthorn Rise, and apparently sits between Hellfire Peninsula and Terokkar Forest, just above Razorthorn Shelf. The tip says it's full of level 70 ravagers and flayers, and speculates that the ravagers would make good Hunter pets.
So you leveled your main into the late 50s and are ready to jump into the time-sucking goodness that is the Outlands. But before you head in, you want to experience any good pre-BC quest chains you may have missed. One player on the official forums is in this exact situation and wants to know: 
The 
My main is sitting comfortably at 70, running instances, edging up her tailoring skill, and slowly accruing cash for the epic flyer. By this point, in fact, I've brought my second character to 60, my Rogue, and started her in Outland. It's just as much of a blast as I remember it being the first time, months ago, although of course it's a little less fresh. I remember everything being so big and bewildering back then; now, knowing where everything is and what all the quests are, it's very much more manageable. It's still challenging, though, since the mobs behave a bit differently than I'm used to from the old world. If you've gotten a second (or third, or...) character to Outland level, how have you found it the second time through?
Currently, the lowest level at which you can pass through the Dark Portal and go to Outlands is 58 (although it is possible to be summoned or portaled to Outlands at any level). However, is it better to go straight for the portal when you hit 58, or are the quests going to be too hard, and would it then behoove one to wait until 60? Personally, I'll be taking all my alts in when/if they get high enough, because the quest rewards are just overwhelmingly good. Aeus 
Two bits of news for you this brunchtime. First, there's some new transfers for European realms. 
True confessions: I was up til about 7 this morning leveling my blood elf warlock (caster noob alert!), after tooling around in the Outlands with my 60 rogue for a while. But, you know, it was totally "work-related"! So fess up -- how late did you stay up? Are you a proud member of the bleary-eyed workforce today? Or did you catch that <cough> nasty bug </cough> that was flying around -- I think it must have spread like wildfire from all the social contact of 
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