"The Protectors of Hyjal"

Merinna, a bunch of druids, and Gurgthock: The Protectors of Hyjal

My new favorite daily quest is such an unlikely one...

"The Protectors of Hyjal" takes you to Sethria's Roost to kill of a total of 6 large elite elemental baddies.  You are given a team of druids to help you out with this task and it's one of those that, no matter who tagged the elite, if you put some damage on him, you get credit for the kill as well. If you don't have a rotating companion quest to collect items from your kills in this area, it's a quest you can usually finish in about two minutes due to the large number of people questing these zones these days.

What makes this quest special though was the realization I made about three days into the set, when I was flying along with my posse of druids and I realized that somebody was flying a roflcopter along with us. I hovered my mouse over this unexpected guest and realized it was none other than the esteemed Fargo Flintlocke who dove into battle with my group, shouting "Hittim in th' jimmies!"

In fact, each time that you run this quest, you get partnered with one of a fairly lengthy list of guest NPCs. Nevermind killing elementals, I just look forward to my daily guest now, many of whom are guaranteed to make me laugh.

Many of these names are fun pieces of WoW history for long-time players. Some of them are newish, post-4.0 additions to the game that many players might not have met before. All of them are kind of fun:

King Mrrgl-Mrrgl

King Mrrgl-Mrrgl - A druid who seems to be stuck wearing a murloc costume, last seen in the Borean Tundra trying to lead the local frog people through their time of distress. Technically a member of the Cenarion Circle, but also affiliated with the somewhat retarded D.E.H.T.A.

Choluna -  a Tauren Druid who was most responsible for helping players guide the demi-god Aviana back into the real world. She usually resides further up the slopes of Mt. Hyjal at the Shrine of Aviana.

Tarindrella - a dryad from Teldrassil. Her role has changed in 4.0 as her quests were redesigned, but she is one of the first NPCs new Night Elf players meet, and according to Wowpedia, is one of the oldest NPCs in the entire game having been intruduced in WoW alpha.

Zen'Kiki - a Troll Druid who players meet in the Western Plaguelands. Zen'Kiki is new and hasn't quite got the hang of this druid stuff. While assisting you in the Plaguelands, he is likely to shoot himself with moonfire, heal your enemies by mistake, and get stuck shifting into acquatic form on dry land.

"The Protectors of Hyjal" (Part 2)

Eridar, a bunch of druids and Argent Confessor Paletress: The Protectors of Hyjal (Part 2)

It is a departure from how I normally present posts, but the list of NPC all-stars now appearing on the slopes of Mt. Hyjal was becoming significantly too long, so I have taken the unusual step of cutting this post in half.  

This is the second of two posts about the Protectors of Hyjal. if you need to go back to the first part, you can just click here.

The list continues!

High Warlord Cromush - is Garrosh Hellscream's right-hand man in the Eastern Kingdoms. Horde players meet him in several places through Silverpine Forest and the Hillsbradt Foothills, keeping an eye on Sylvanas, who the orcs don't trust, and then later howling in anger when the Frostwolf clan refuses to join his forces in fighting the Stormpike Guard in Hillsbradt Foothills.  He later appears inside Heroic Shadowfang Keep to Horde Players as an NPC helping in the fight against Lord Godfrey.

Mankrik on the rampage.

Mankrik - Mankrik isn't nearly as famous as his dead wife, who had been the object of hatred among many patrons of Barrens Chat for years.  Originally Mankrik asked Horde players to try and find his dearly beloved wife who is eventually (and at great length) found dead at the hands of quillboars. In 4.0, Mankrik shakes off the funk and goes on a killing rampage in the Southern Barrens, slaughtering each quillboar that wanders too close to his axe.

Hobart Grapplehammer - is a goblin quest giver Horde players can visit at the Southern Rocketway Terminus in Azshara but who was also on Kezan, the goblin starting zone experimenting with new products. Most of the spectacular goblin engineering items seen in these starting zones, including Town-in-a-Box and gilgoblins are attributed to him. Though, he's been advised by counsel not to claim the gilgoblins because of a negligence case brought up over them.

Guest Post: Further Reflection on Game Changes

An Adventuring Tunnel: Relish your time in the Maelstrom because you can only come here as a part of a quest, and presently, there is absolutely no way to come back once that quest is done.

[Merinna's Note:  Somaric has been further evolving his comments from last week, regarding the style of questing gameplay that seems to dominate this new expansion.]

I realized that my previous posting was a little incomplete.  The message that I was trying to get across was that the original World of Warcraft was, more of a sandbox environment, in which one could openly explore and find different quests to do from different places. Now, it seems that the Cataclysm addition has taken WoW into an adventuring tunnel. There is only one place to start, and basically one place to finish. And if you lose something along the way, it holds up any progress that you might make. 

What has prompted this examination of the old WoW versus the new WoW is the fact that poor Somaric got disconnected in Vashj’ir.  He lost the quest giver and couldn’t continue with any quests.  A search of almost the entire Vashj’ir area revealed not one unscripted quest.  Nothing.  What is this Night Elf hero to do? 

The Taurajo Affair

If you ask me, Tauarajo doesn't look that different from what it did before it was sacked.

WARNING: Mild spoilers and serious Horde-bashing within

The Southern Barrens has turned into one of the most war-torn places in Azeroth. Unlike in Ashenvale, where the Horde is running rampant over Night Elf forces for the most part, The Alliance in the Barrens is fighting back.

(Ostensibly, this zone is an Alliance offensive. So I guess you could say the Horde is fighting back. But you get the point)

There is one key event in the Southern Barrens that supposedly shows the moral murkiness of war, that the Alliance is not purely "good" nor that the Horde is all "bad." The story is different, depending on which side of the conflict you are listening to, since we don't get to view the event itself.

But now I have played through both sides of this conflict, and I find the moral positions of the Alliance and the Horde much more solid than I was originally led to believe.

The event of course, is the sacking of the Taurajo.