I meant to finish this sooner, but the Fire Festival has meant that I'm on a deadline to get various things done in-game. (I'll post about the Fire Festival at some point, but probably not in time to be of use to anyone who still wants to do it this year. You never know, though!)
Hopefully this won't take as long as part 2, because on the whole the Eastern Kingdoms flight points aren't as hard to reach as the Kalimdor ones. (I'll write about the Outland ones when I've done them more than once.) So, still bearing in mind that all the following is written from a level 18 perspective, here goes...
ALLIANCE FLIGHT POINT LIST
Eastern Kingdoms, south to north ish:
Booty Bay, Stranglethorn Vale
The difficulty of this depends on where you're approaching from. If you've already got Ratchet, you can just get the boat. Failing that, the nearest others are Darkshire and Sentinel Hill. Running from either of them is very unpleasant at low levels, because although Duskwood and Westfall may result in a few deaths, as soon as you're in Stranglethorn Vale you're going to die very often, and it's a LONG, awkward corpse run (from that northern graveyard over the river from Nesingway's Expedition - at least until you make it halfway down the zone, when the graveyard shifts to the one just outside the Booty Bay entrance, which is an excellent place to make friends with the spirit healer.) The best solution is to get to Sentinel Hill and then run to the coast, and swim round. You don't even need to hug the coast - you can swim right across the sea in a straight line from one end of the zone to the other, and you don't hit deep water. Be careful, when you do go near the coast, not to go too near, because the mobs (mainly the pirates) will come off the beaches to get you. (I remember, the first time I swam to Booty Bay, being baffled by the problem of how to get out of the water. There's only one place you can do so, as far as I know - a plank near the end where the bank and inn are.)
Sentinel Hill, Westfall
Various ways to get here. The most common is to run from Stormwind, and if you do it this way it's fairly safe, as the mobs will be lower level than you in most cases, even if you leave the road. You can also go to Booty Bay and swim up (see above). Running west from Darkshire is possible but a bit silly - if for some reason you do have the Darkshire flight point before going to Westfall, you'll die a lot less frequently if you run back up north to Redridge, then west through Elwynn Forest. It's a much longer route but will be quicker.
Darkshire, Duskwood
You'll approach Darkshire either from the west (Sentinel Hill) or the north (Stormwind or Lakeshire). (It's possible to come from the east, of course, but that's very unlikely the first time.) I've done it both ways, and probably the northern one is SLIGHTLY easier. Make sure you stick to the road in both cases, and you should be able to make it with only a few deaths. (The reason why the northern route is easier is that if approaching from Westfall, a larger proportion of your route is the road through Duskwood, and that's where you'll die.)
Nethergarde Keep, Blasted Lands
The problem here is actually not Blasted Lands, it's Swamp of Sorrows, which on paper is a much lower-level area. You'll run east from Darkshire, then through Deadwind Pass (the thought of which terrified me the first time I tried it, but as long as you go the right way, i.e. avoid the southern bit, there are no mobs at all). As soon as you hit the Swamp, you'll have two problems - the wildlife and the Horde guards. Even if you stick to the road, one or other of these will kill you pretty soon (usually the guards in my case). However, the good news is that you get taken to Stonard graveyard. It appears at first as if it's not worth using the spirit healer there, because on the map it looks just as far from the graveyard to the Blasted Lands road as it is from your corpse. But it doesn't feel anywhere near as far, trust me. Of course, there are even more Horde guards near the graveyard - it is right behind the Horde town, you see - so you'll die a couple more times before you make it to the road. But even if you die the instant you rez (which I usually do), the resurrection radius means you'll make enough progress that you'll reach the Blasted Lands road pretty soon. And once you're properly on that road, you're safe. Run just over the border to be sure, then stop and rest to get back to full health before doing the last bit. Your armour will be totally red, but don't worry - you can repair at Nethergarde Keep! To get there, hug the left wall and keep hugging it as much as you can. It looks from the map as if there isn't a path, but there is - if you're going the right way, you'll run through a camp of (friendly) miners. You may still die once or twice, but mostly the mobs are helpfully distant. If you do die, there's no real advantage to using the spirit healer - you get taken to Dreadmaul Hold, which is probably further away from the keep than your corpse is.
Stormwind, Elwynn Forest
Shouldn't be a problem for anyone. It's the first one humans are likely to get; gnomes and dwarves can get the tram from Ironforge. It's a bit harder for night elves and draenei, but the chances are they'll get Menethil and then Ironforge first, so there's no problem. If, unusually, they go to Booty Bay before Menethil, their easiest way to get to Stormwind is to go via Westfall (see above) and then run north.
Lakeshire, Redridge Mountains
From Stormwind/Goldshire: fairly easy. From Westfall: still easy, just don't be tempted to go via Darkshire. From Darkshire: a fairly short run, and if you stick to the road you shouldn't die more than once or twice (on the Duskwood road). You could approach from Burning Steppes, but it seems very unlikely, and if you're doing that you won't need any further advice from me!
Morgan’s Vigil, Burning Steppes
Only two ways to get here: south from Searing Gorge (through Blackrock Mountain) or north from Lakeshire. At level 18, the only thing that would make me do it the first way would be if I hadn't already been to Lakeshire. (I did do it this way once, but I can't remember why!) From Lakeshire, run north. You will die, unsurprisingly, when you enter Burning Steppes, but not quite as much in some other places, and the hardest bit is right near the entrance. Just be sure to go to the right as soon as you're over the bridges and in the zone proper. Then hug the cliff on your right, and the dragonwhelps etc. may not even notice you. The path up to Morgan's Vigil is not at all obvious if you've never seen it before - I remember it took me ages to find it the first time - but it is helpfully marked with torches. (If you die, you go to the Flame Crest graveyard, which is unhelpful. Don't use the spirit healer there.) Once you're on the path, you should be OK.
Thorium Point, Searing Gorge
This used to be one of the easiest ones, but now it's probably the most annoying one in the Eastern Kingdoms. The reason? Blizzard added an extra Badlands graveyard in one of the patches. Now I know that adding extra graveyards is usually a good thing, but this is the exception. See, the chances are you'll be approaching Searing Gorge from Loch Modan, via Badlands. Here's what USED to happen: run down from Thelsamar to the border - no problem. Enter Badlands near Uldaman - fairly prompt death. Get taken to graveyard on far west side of Badlands (Apocryphan's Rest). Use spirit healer. Run very short distance from this graveyard to Searing Gorge path. Enter Searing Gorge. Die almost immediately. Get taken to graveyard AT THORIUM POINT. Use spirit healer. Pick up flight point - job done. However, they added a new graveyard in the north-east of Badlands! Argh! Very handy for Uldaman, I admit - but not for flight point collectors :-( It means that you can no longer just cross Badlands in one go - you have to spend a really, really long time crossing the first part of the northern edge of the zone, and it's as bad as Tanaris - a death every step. You have to get a fair bit to the west of the Angor Fortress before your next death takes you to the western graveyard. And as if that's not enough, they've added an extra coyote or something that patrols between the graveyard and the exit path, so that you're likely to die one more time while making your escape. Argh.
Thelsamar, Loch Modan
Loch Modan is easy enough to reach from Ironforge, so gnomes, dwarves and humans can get this one easily. But night elves and draenei - well, the first time I found how hard it is to get here from Menethil was when I first did the druid aquatic form quest, which requires you to get to Westfall at a level far lower than is usually wise. And this is the hardest bit. It's an awfully long way from Menethil, and there are many things that will kill you on the way, even if you stick to the road. For most of the Menethil bit, you'll get taken to the graveyard that's near the southern end of the Dun Modr road - using the spirit healer there won't help your progress unless you're nowhere near that point yet. Annoyingly you still get taken there if you die in Dun Algaz, and it's a long way. But once you're actually in Loch Modan you should be OK. (If you do manage to get killed again, you get taken to the Thelsamar graveyard, where you can use the spirit healer if you like, but you may as well just run back - it's not that far.)
Ironforge, Dun Morogh
Probably the first flight point that gnomes and dwarves will get, and easy for humans, who can of course pop up from Stormwind on the tram. Seems initially hard for night elves and draenei, but (as I explained above) the hard bit there is getting to Loch Modan, and from there to Ironforge is easy. And of course they may have come over via Ratchet and Booty Bay, in which case they'll be approaching here from Stormwind too.
Menethil Harbour, Wetlands
Easy for night elves and draenei, who can get the boat from Auberdine (or Theramore, I suppose, but that's much less likely). The other three races are most likely to approach from Loch Modan. See notes above under Thelsamar - the same problems apply, but I should note in addition that if you die in the western part of the zone you go to the Baradin Bay graveyard, which may well save you some time if you're still a fair way away and you're dying a lot.
Refuge Pointe, Arathi Highlands
You'll approach this one from Loch Modan or Menethil, and there's not much difference between them. in either case the worst bit is likely to be the run through Wetlands rather than the last stretch. Be sure to stick to the road - it's tempting to run diagonally cross-country to get to Dun Modr, but you'll die a lot more if you do that. And actually the road up to Dun Modr is nowhere near as dangerous as the east-west road across the zone. Once you reach Dun Modr, you're safe for a while, and there are no mobs on the bridge at all (well, there are inside, but they don't come out). And when you cross into Arathi, the mobs are surprisingly sparse. You might make it all the way to Refuge Pointe without dying, but the good news is that if you DO die, the graveyard is at... Refuge Pointe :-)
Southshore, Hillsbrad Foothills
Not too bad. You'll probably approach from Wetlands via Arathi Highlands (if you haven't been to Refuge Pointe, it's well worth taking the slight detour there first). Stick to the road and keep your fingers crossed - you MIGHT get there without dying. If you do die, you go back to Refuge Pointe if you're still in Arathi Highlands, which is not helpful, but if you've crossed over into Hillsbrad, I'm fairly sure you get taken to Southshore, which is rather handy. I was about to say "if you see the Forsaken Courier, RUN" - but there's no point... if he's close enough for you to see him, you're probably about to die whichever way you run!
Aerie Peak, The Hinterlands
You can get to Aerie Peak via a non-obvious path just north of Durnholde Keep in the Hillsbrad Foothills. Getting to this path is much harder than going along it, because you have to leave the road. It's probably easiest to approach it by swimming up the river that's just to the west of the Keep. Leave the water at the last possible moment, and hug the southern edge of the mountains. You'll still die a few times going that way (and get taken back to Southshore each time) but not as much as if you go across the land from the road. Once you're on the path, you're probably safe, and when you emerge into the Hinterlands there aren't usually any mobs nearby, so you should be able to make it to Aerie Peak (which is very near the exit from the path) without even being attacked.
Chillwind Point, Western Plaguelands
This is quite hard to find, even if you already know roughly where it is. There are three methods of approach - either swim up the river from Hillsbrad (same river mentioned above), go north up the road from the snowy bit of the Alterac Mountains, or go north from the Hinterlands along a path near Aerie Peak. I have to admit that although I've tried all three, I got hopelessly lost when I tried to get there from Hillsbrad or Alterac, so I always go from the Hinterlands, even though I suspect it means more death than the other routes. Mind you, if I'm going round collecting flight points, I'm likely to be at Aerie Peak anyway, so it seems quicker, and it's not THAT bad a route. If you don't know the path, it's quite hard to find (and doesn't appear on your map until you're already on it), but basically you need to head directly east from Aerie Peak and search the woods. If you know where Shindigger's Camp is (where there's a drunk dwarf who has a Sunken Temple pre-quest), the start of the path is very near there. There are no mobs on the path (unlike the bit just before it!) and once you arrive in the Western Plaguelands, Chillwind Camp is just a bit to the west. Don't try to run directly to it, though, as that will take you through Sorrow Hill with its level 50+ skeletons etc. Swim round instead, and you'll be perfectly safe. And if you do die, the graveyard is at Chillwind Camp anyway.
Light’s Hope Chapel, Eastern Plaguelands
You'd think this would be by far the hardest flight point on this continent, wouldn't you? But no. Here's why. First, from Chillwind Camp you get back in the water and swim to Darrowmere Lake. Number of deaths: 0. You swim into the river leading north out of Darrowmere Lake (it looks on the map as if you can't, but you can). Number of deaths: 0. You swim north up the Thondroril River, as far as the bridge. When you reach the bridge, you climb out of the water on the eastern bank. Now you're in the Eastern Plaguelands, and you haven't even been attacked! Unfortunately this state of affairs does not continue, but it's not too bad. Run eastwards along the road. You'll die pretty soon, but you'll get taken to the Darrowshire graveyard, which is a lot further to the east. Use the spirit healer, and wait out your rez sickness - that's a surprisingly safe graveyard. When you set off again, you'll get a surprisingly long way before you die again - you'll certainly make it to the main road, and probably a little way further to the east. (Don't be tempted to cut across the countryside, obviously.) Now, you'll die a lot along this bit of road. At first you'll still go back to Darrowshire, and then after a short time you'll get taken to Blackwood Lake graveyard (which is to the north of the road, near the Plaguewood). Neither of these spirit healers is any use, so you have to keep running back. But as soon as you pass the exact centre of the crossroads at Corin's Crossing (and you may as well follow the road - you die just as much if you try to go round), your next death takes you to... Light's Hope Chapel. Win!
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Right, I need to get back to Madmargaret's bonfire tour. Future things I want to write about, though (apart from the aforementioned Outland flight points):
• The fire festival, and obsessive behaviour it promotes
• The lack of places in WoW starting with the letter P
• Killing a fel reaver on your own, and similar deeds
• Pronunciation niggles (this is a recent bugbear, that was caused by my starting to listen to WoW podcasts)
• Going back to Silithus when you really don't have to
• Advanced flight point obsessions (a.k.a. flight timer mods)
• Obsessive levelling of professions
• Which grey quests have to be kept, and why
• The non-obvious problems with raising gold from scratch
• Fireflies!
(If any of my guild ever read this - and I assume they will eventually, although I haven't mentioned it to anyone yet - most of the above won't surprise them too much, although they'll still shake their heads in disbelief!)
Saturday, 30 June 2007
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Concerning flight points, part 2
I promised to explain why Tanaris and Felwood are the hardest zones for low level characters to cross, and mention strategies for crossing some of the others. In order to do this, I need to comment on every flight point. (If you don't understand why I need to do this, you've missed the point of the title on this blog!)
I did consider what order to list them in, and at first it seemed sensible to go in the order that I have usually picked them up. But that doesn't really work, because in reality you're not going to pick up ALL the flight points in one long run. It's likely that there'll be a few that you'll get at lower levels, and they'll be different according to which race you are - e.g. Gianetta got The Exodar first, and Blood Watch not long after, and then Auberdine... whereas Hebe's first one was Ironforge and Katisha's was Stormwind. So I'll just list them in a rough order of location. Also, I'm only going to comment on Alliance flight points, because I've only done the Horde ones once, although of course the higher level ones are the same anyway. (Full list of both sets of flight points, including Outland, are here.) So, without further ado - and bearing in mind I'm writing the following comments assuming you're about level 18 or so....
ALLIANCE FLIGHT POINT LIST
Kalimdor, north to south ish:
Rut’theran Village, Teldrassil
Easy - first one the night elves get, of course, and for others it's a short boat ride from Auberdine. No mobs involved.
Auberdine, Darkshore
Similarly, easy for night elves (boat from Teldrassil, if you like, although I'm pretty sure the flightmaster sends you across to Auberdine even if you've never been there - odd, because this doesn't happen anywhere else!) Not much harder for other races - draenei can get there by boat from Azuremist, and others by boat from Menethil.
The Exodar
The most annoying thing about this one and Blood Watch is that they're not connected to anywhere else, so that even when you've got all the flight points, you still have to faff around with boats from/to Auberdine. Argh! Other than the hassle, though, it's easy. First one the draenei get, and it's close to the dock for anyone else getting there by boat.
Blood Watch, Bloodmyst Isle
This is a bit more hassle for everyone except draenei (who'll find it at an early stage). It's a short distance to the north of the Exodar (on the other island), but the mobs in between are very low level.
Astranaar, Ashenvale
Starting to get a bit harder now. Most people will run down here from Auberdine. It's usually fine if you stick to the road, but you might be very unlucky and aggro something (I usually do, because my exploration bug means I tend to go slightly off the road in order to open up bits of the map as I pass them!)
Moonglade (south of lake)
How hard this is depends entirely on the time of year you're doing your run, and what class you are. If it's during the Lunar Festival, even a level 1 character can get there (at least I think so - both Gianetta and Hebe got there this year, anyway, and they hadn't been created long at the time). Otherwise, it's a major pain, unless of course you're a druid. (I haven't included the Moonglade druid-only flight point in this list, because it's easy if you're a druid and you can't get it anyway if you're not!) The only way to get there is to run through the tunnel from either Winterspring or (more likely) Felwood. I'll explain later about the problems of getting to the start of the tunnel, but getting THROUGH it is a pain. The furbolg kill you every few steps, especially in the middle, and the main problem with this is that you get sent to the Felwood graveyard every time, even if you're only a step away from Moonglade or Winterspring. And it's a HORRIBLE corpse run. Oh, and what doesn't help is that the bridge at the junction in the middle of the tunnel means that the arrangement of passages is not at all how it looks on the minimap, so you're trying to work out which way to go in addition to being killed by 25 furbolgs. (Even though I've been this way many, many times, I always get muddled in the panic of the moment.) Once you're out of the tunnel, though, it's easy - there are no mobs in Moonglade most of the time.
Everlook, Winterspring
This is a pain for the same reasons as above - whether you're coming from Moonglade or Felwood, you still have to go through the tunnel, and it's just as much of a hassle. However, once you're even one step out of the tunnel, you won't believe how easy it is. If you stick to the road, it's entirely likely that you'll get all the way to Everlook without being attacked. The only mobs you're likely to see are the Winterfall runners, and they've just ignored me when I've met them at low level. (I can't remember whether or not this is the case at higher levels, it's a while since I've played there.) You might be unlikely and aggro a chimera or a bear, but I've found that if I just keep running they don't hit me very much, and eventually they give up and go away. The only time I died here was when I lost concentration and left the road - and you get taken to Everlook graveyard anyway!
Talonbranch Glade, Felwood
ARGH. I think this is probably the worst one of all. There are only two ways to get to it - through the tunnel from Moonglade (see above for hassle with that) or up the road from the south of the zone. It's hard to say which is worse. The tunnel is short but packed with lots of mobs. The road is REALLY long but the mobs are slightly further apart. Unfortunately this is NOT one of the roads (like the Winterspring one) where you're safe if you stick to it. Expect to die a LOT. However, once you're about halfway up the road, your next death will bring you to the Irontree Woods graveyard, and this is an example of a time when using the spirit healer may well be a good idea. It saves you a long section of death-filled run. The only problem is that it's unfortunately not a graveyard where you can stand there and recover in peace. It's quite likely that you'll be attacked if you wait there for a while (although not immediately), and since your armour will be probably red by this point, you'll die REALLY fast. And this is when the resurrection timer will start to kick in, because you'll die so frequently that they'll start delaying you before you can rez again. Oh, and the corpse runs are not helped by the terrain - there are rocks you have to go round, rivers to cross, and trees to get stuck in. Fun fun fun.
Emerald Sanctuary, Felwood
This one was only added in the last patch (very belatedly!) so it's quite likely that most non-obsessive high level types won't have it. It's not too bad to get, as it's quite close to Ashenvale. The mobs at the northern end of Ashenvale are slightly higher level than those in some other parts of the zone, but not so high that they're likely to kill you. However, once you cross the border into Felwood, you won't get far before you die. You'll be taken to the graveyard at Morlos'Aran, which isn't too far from the Emerald Sanctuary, but it's a tossup whether to use the spirit healer or not. It saves a bit of distance, but the rez sickness will cause you to die quicker between the graveyard and the flight point. On balance, having tried it both ways, I think I'd be tempted to not use the spirit healer in this case, but it's a close call.
Forest Song, Ashenvale
Another new one from the last patch, and another one that should have been in the game from the start. Ashenvale is a long place to run through for low levels! Anyway, this one isn't too bad to get. You might die, but you might be lucky. What usually kills me is the Horde guards at Splintertree Post, so stay to the right of the road there. Other than the Horde guards, there are some spiders and bears etc. that might get you when you leave the road, but I can usually just run past those (except the spider that's right by the flight point, which is just MEAN). The flight point is actually quite hard to find, even when you already know where it is - it's up a little hill above (and to the north of, I think) Kayneth Stillwind.
Talrendis Point, Azshara
This is much easier than it has any right to be - it's only just inside the zone, so you can easily just run in from the Ashenvale bridge and grab it without even being attacked. It's also in a nice safe place where you can repair etc. without dying. Note that this does NOT go for the rest of the zone - in particular, the bonfire in Azshara that you touch for the Fire Festival is one of the hardest to get. Many, many deaths, plus annoying cliffs that mean you have to go an incredibly long way round every time you die.
Ratchet, The Barrens
Pretty easy if you know what you're doing. If you've already got to Booty Bay, it's trivial, because you can just pop across on the boat. Otherwise you're likely to be approaching from Ashenvale. (I suppose it's possible that you might have gone on the boat to Theramore first and be running from there, but I've never done that.) The path down to the rampart at the south of Ashenvale is fairly safe - if you get attacked, just keep running and you'll probably be OK. Where you WON'T be OK is at the actual gate, where the Horde guards will kill you pretty quickly if you approach the gate normally. However, there's a gap in the fence to the left of the gate (with smoke blowing through it, which makes it a bit easier to spot) and if you cross there you'll be fine. (If you've never seen it before, just go to the left of the road as soon as the zone changes, and keep over there till you see it.) After you're past the gate, the mobs are very low level, and you should be able to easily get to Ratchet without being hurt.
Stonetalon Peak, Stonetalon Mountains
Bit of a pain but not as bad as some. You have to leave the road to get to the Talondeep Path from Ashenvale, and I usually die at least once before getting to the tunnel (those damn bears!) Once you're in the tunnel it's fine, there are no mobs - but as soon as you're out the other end, the mobs are slightly higher level (on average) than in Ashenvale, and although in theory you should be fine, I always seem to get killed! If you do die, you'll be taken to the graveyard at the Webwinder path, and I definitely recommend using the spirit healer here - it means you've moved a long way closer to your destination, plus you're on the road, and if you stick to it you can probably get all the way to Stonetalon Peak without dying again. Even if you're unlucky, you won't get attacked that much.
Nijel’s Point, Desolace
Every time I've tried this flight point collection thing, I've done Desolace after Stonetalon after Ashenvale, and left Felwood and Winterspring till later. Because of this, Nijel's Point has been the first really hard one I've gone after. The Stonetalon part of the run is actually the worst part - you have to go through the Charred Vale, which results in much death. You get sent to the Webwinder Path graveyard every time, and it's handy to know that you don't have to go all the way round to get back to your corpse - as a ghost you can go through Sun Rock Retreat and go up a path to the side, then jump down. Much quicker. Also, if you stick to the EDGE of the Charred Vale, you'll die slightly less. As soon as you're on the path at the southern end, you're probably safe. Once in Desolace, be sure to stick to the road. You'll still probably get killed by dread swoops, but not as much as if you leave the road. The most annoying part is that you get sent to Kodo Graveyard, and it's a LONG corpse run. Definitely not a case where you want to be using the spirit healer, though.
Feathermoon Stronghold, Feralas
Once you've got Nijel's Point, and rested and repaired, this one is next. You COULD run west to the coast and then swim down, but I don't recommend it (apart from anything else, you'd have to swim past the Horde guards at Shadowprey Village). No, this is definitely a time to make friends with your spirit healer. As mentioned above, if you die anywhere in Desolace you go to Kodo Graveyard, and when running from Nijel's Point to the south-west of the zone, this saves a huge amount of time. You might even be able to wait there till your sickness has passed, but don't bank on it - I've been attacked there at times. However, once you leave the graveyard, it's fairly easy. Try to get to the road as soon as possible - it's the scorpids etc. that will kill you until you do. Oddly enough the demons at the Mannoroc Coven tend to leave me alone, but the centaurs are less friendly, so I'd veer towards the Coven to be on the safe side. Once you're on the road, stick to it - don't be tempted to cut across rather than going to the T junction. Surprisingly, it's entirely likely that you'll be able to run right to Feathermoon without being attacked. Be VERY careful to stay on the road in Feralas, though - you will die fast if you don't. Also, when you have to cross the sea to get to the island, get the boat, don't be tempted to swim (even though it's not far). You're safe on the pier or the boat, but there are elite giants etc. in the water nearby.
Thalanaar, Feralas
This is another nasty one, whichever way you approach from. First choice is: from the east or from the west? From the east means running down through the Barrens then across Thousand Needles (I suppose you could come up from Tanaris but it's very unlikely). From the west means running across Feralas. Both ways have their problems, and having tried both, I don't think there's much in it. Unless you're Horde, in which case you'd definitely go through Feralas - the hardest bit there is getting past Camp Mojache, and Horde are obviously fine there - if it wasn't for the fact that you couldn't get the Thalanaar flight point anyway! If you're Alliance approaching from the west, the road across the zone from Feathermoon eastwards is much harder than the one northwards from Feathermoon to Desolace, but you'll die less if you stick to it than if you don't. When you die on the first part of the road, you get taken to Dire Maul graveyard. Whether or not you use the spirit healer depends on how far you got, I guess - it's probably better NOT to use her, because you'll probably get attacked while in the graveyard, so you won't have a chance to recover. Plus, the graveyard is off the road, so you'll die several times before you even get back to the road. Once you get closer to Camp Mojache, you get taken to the graveyard there. DEFINITELY don't use the spirit healer here - I tried this once and found it was almost impossible to get away from the place. Camp Mojache is a hard place to get past, though - on no account should you try to run straight through it, as the guards will kill you very fast and then kill you again as soon as you rez, and the rez timer will kick in. But of course whichever side you choose to run round, you have to leave the road, and that brings different types of death! On the whole I think I'd try to pass it to the south, because there's a lake you can be fairly safe in (not always easy to find a place to climb out of it though) and Thalanaar is to the south anyway. Once you're past Camp Mojache, you will still get attacked by bears and wolves etc., but if you keep running in a straight line towards Thalanaar you may well get there without dying.
If you decide to approach from the east, it's not much easier. Running through the Barrens is easy enough until you get to the Great Lift, where I invariably get killed by the guards. The graveyard is at the bottom and a bit to the west, so you could use the spirit healer, but if possible it's better to rez in the lift itself, if you got close enough to it before dying. Timing is crucial here, obviously, if you want to avoid being killed by the same guard. Whichever option you go for, expect to die a lot more times when running across Thousand Needles. Again, stick to the road as much as possible, it avoids a lot of death.
Theramore, Dustwallow Marsh
Phew! An easy one. You could run from Ratchet, but you're insane if you do - the mobs in Dustwallow Marsh will kill you a lot. Those crocolisks do NOT want to stay in the water! The proper solution is to get the boat from Menethil, obviously (if you haven't been there yet, you can sail from Auberdine).
Gadgetzan, Tanaris
When I said Tanaris was the worst zone to run across, no doubt you thought "but Gadgetzan is easy to get to!" Well, it is - it's running across the REST of Tanaris to get to Un'Goro that's the nightmare :-) There are two ways to get to Gadgetzan (well, three, but it's unlikely you'll go to Un'Goro BEFORE Gadgetzan). You can run from either Thalanaar or the Barrens, via Thousand Needles - or you can swim from Theramore. Guess which is easier! That's right, swimming! If you do it the first way, you have to deal with all the aforementioned troubles in Thousand Needles. (Once you're over the border into Tanaris, though, it's surprisingly easy and you can probably run straight to Gadgetzan without being attacked.) If you choose the sea route, you might get killed by a threshadon or something in the sea just outside Theramore, but you only have to get a bit further south before the sea is clear (there are sharks, but if you hug the shore you should avoid them), and you can swim all the way down to Steamwheedle Port in safety. There are big turtles on the beach there, but they're yellow and won't aggro. Just be careful to stick close to land in order to avoid dying from fatigue. Once on land again, just follow the road and you should be fine - and if you do die, you get taken to Gadgetzan anyway, so say hello to the spirit healer and then go in and repair!
Marshal’s Refuge, Un’Goro Crater
*shudder* After Felwood, this is the worst one to get, and it's not the Un'Goro bit that's a nightmare, it's the run across Tanaris. The ONLY positive aspect is that at least it's more or less a straight route - there are hardly any terrain features in your way. But you will die every step - the mobs there seem to have developed a very acute sense of smell, because they all run over to you from miles away. Someone should make a road there! (Not that I can understand why a road makes you less likely to die, but that's the way the game works.) It won't be long before the rez delay kicks in, and your armour will be red (and that's without even using the spirit healer, who - as previously mentioned - is in Gadgetzan, so is no help), and you'll get REALLY fed up. Particularly when you're ONE STEP from the path to Un'Goro and you get killed by ANOTHER hyena and have to do the corpse run AGAIN. Once you're on that path, though, you're fine - there are no mobs on it. And the Crater itself is surprisingly easy. It would be even easier if your armour was anything other than totally red, but unfortunately you're stuck with that till you get to Marshal's Refuge. The trick is to go round the edge of the crater - don't try to run straight towards the refuge. If you stick to the edge, you'll probably get halfway up the eastern edge before you get killed. The graveyard is in more or less exactly that position, so the spirit healer is no help. But you'll get to Marshal's Refuge with only a few more deaths, if you stick to the edge (come away from it slightly in the Fungal Rock area though, to avoid the gorillas). Just be sure to repair when you get there!
Cenarion Hold, Silithus
Very recently I read somewhere that you can get here by swimming south from Feralas and then drowning yourself, because you get taken to the Cenarion Hold graveyard. I have to admit that it's never occurred to me to try that, and I guess it's one way to avoid the Tanaris death run to get to Un'goro... but maybe the reason it's never occurred to me to get to Silithus any other way is that the obvious way is actually surprisingly easy. When leaving Marshal's Refuge, you still need to stick to the edge of the crater, but for some reason that north-west edge area is fairly mob-free, and you may even get to the Silithus entrance without dying at all. (If you do die, it's a long corpse run back from the eastern edge, sadly.) And once you're in Silithus, the road very helpfully goes straight to Cenarion Hold, and if you stick to it you'll be fairly safe. There's just one spot in the middle of it where I always seem to get killed by a scorpid or something. But the graveyard (at Valor's Rest) isn't too far, and after you get back to your corpse you'll probably make it to Cenarion Hold without being attacked again.
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So, there you have it. Notes on all the Kalimdor flight points. That turned out to be a lot longer than I thought, so I think I'll do the Eastern Kingdoms ones later!
I did consider what order to list them in, and at first it seemed sensible to go in the order that I have usually picked them up. But that doesn't really work, because in reality you're not going to pick up ALL the flight points in one long run. It's likely that there'll be a few that you'll get at lower levels, and they'll be different according to which race you are - e.g. Gianetta got The Exodar first, and Blood Watch not long after, and then Auberdine... whereas Hebe's first one was Ironforge and Katisha's was Stormwind. So I'll just list them in a rough order of location. Also, I'm only going to comment on Alliance flight points, because I've only done the Horde ones once, although of course the higher level ones are the same anyway. (Full list of both sets of flight points, including Outland, are here.) So, without further ado - and bearing in mind I'm writing the following comments assuming you're about level 18 or so....
ALLIANCE FLIGHT POINT LIST
Kalimdor, north to south ish:
Rut’theran Village, Teldrassil
Easy - first one the night elves get, of course, and for others it's a short boat ride from Auberdine. No mobs involved.
Auberdine, Darkshore
Similarly, easy for night elves (boat from Teldrassil, if you like, although I'm pretty sure the flightmaster sends you across to Auberdine even if you've never been there - odd, because this doesn't happen anywhere else!) Not much harder for other races - draenei can get there by boat from Azuremist, and others by boat from Menethil.
The Exodar
The most annoying thing about this one and Blood Watch is that they're not connected to anywhere else, so that even when you've got all the flight points, you still have to faff around with boats from/to Auberdine. Argh! Other than the hassle, though, it's easy. First one the draenei get, and it's close to the dock for anyone else getting there by boat.
Blood Watch, Bloodmyst Isle
This is a bit more hassle for everyone except draenei (who'll find it at an early stage). It's a short distance to the north of the Exodar (on the other island), but the mobs in between are very low level.
Astranaar, Ashenvale
Starting to get a bit harder now. Most people will run down here from Auberdine. It's usually fine if you stick to the road, but you might be very unlucky and aggro something (I usually do, because my exploration bug means I tend to go slightly off the road in order to open up bits of the map as I pass them!)
Moonglade (south of lake)
How hard this is depends entirely on the time of year you're doing your run, and what class you are. If it's during the Lunar Festival, even a level 1 character can get there (at least I think so - both Gianetta and Hebe got there this year, anyway, and they hadn't been created long at the time). Otherwise, it's a major pain, unless of course you're a druid. (I haven't included the Moonglade druid-only flight point in this list, because it's easy if you're a druid and you can't get it anyway if you're not!) The only way to get there is to run through the tunnel from either Winterspring or (more likely) Felwood. I'll explain later about the problems of getting to the start of the tunnel, but getting THROUGH it is a pain. The furbolg kill you every few steps, especially in the middle, and the main problem with this is that you get sent to the Felwood graveyard every time, even if you're only a step away from Moonglade or Winterspring. And it's a HORRIBLE corpse run. Oh, and what doesn't help is that the bridge at the junction in the middle of the tunnel means that the arrangement of passages is not at all how it looks on the minimap, so you're trying to work out which way to go in addition to being killed by 25 furbolgs. (Even though I've been this way many, many times, I always get muddled in the panic of the moment.) Once you're out of the tunnel, though, it's easy - there are no mobs in Moonglade most of the time.
Everlook, Winterspring
This is a pain for the same reasons as above - whether you're coming from Moonglade or Felwood, you still have to go through the tunnel, and it's just as much of a hassle. However, once you're even one step out of the tunnel, you won't believe how easy it is. If you stick to the road, it's entirely likely that you'll get all the way to Everlook without being attacked. The only mobs you're likely to see are the Winterfall runners, and they've just ignored me when I've met them at low level. (I can't remember whether or not this is the case at higher levels, it's a while since I've played there.) You might be unlikely and aggro a chimera or a bear, but I've found that if I just keep running they don't hit me very much, and eventually they give up and go away. The only time I died here was when I lost concentration and left the road - and you get taken to Everlook graveyard anyway!
Talonbranch Glade, Felwood
ARGH. I think this is probably the worst one of all. There are only two ways to get to it - through the tunnel from Moonglade (see above for hassle with that) or up the road from the south of the zone. It's hard to say which is worse. The tunnel is short but packed with lots of mobs. The road is REALLY long but the mobs are slightly further apart. Unfortunately this is NOT one of the roads (like the Winterspring one) where you're safe if you stick to it. Expect to die a LOT. However, once you're about halfway up the road, your next death will bring you to the Irontree Woods graveyard, and this is an example of a time when using the spirit healer may well be a good idea. It saves you a long section of death-filled run. The only problem is that it's unfortunately not a graveyard where you can stand there and recover in peace. It's quite likely that you'll be attacked if you wait there for a while (although not immediately), and since your armour will be probably red by this point, you'll die REALLY fast. And this is when the resurrection timer will start to kick in, because you'll die so frequently that they'll start delaying you before you can rez again. Oh, and the corpse runs are not helped by the terrain - there are rocks you have to go round, rivers to cross, and trees to get stuck in. Fun fun fun.
Emerald Sanctuary, Felwood
This one was only added in the last patch (very belatedly!) so it's quite likely that most non-obsessive high level types won't have it. It's not too bad to get, as it's quite close to Ashenvale. The mobs at the northern end of Ashenvale are slightly higher level than those in some other parts of the zone, but not so high that they're likely to kill you. However, once you cross the border into Felwood, you won't get far before you die. You'll be taken to the graveyard at Morlos'Aran, which isn't too far from the Emerald Sanctuary, but it's a tossup whether to use the spirit healer or not. It saves a bit of distance, but the rez sickness will cause you to die quicker between the graveyard and the flight point. On balance, having tried it both ways, I think I'd be tempted to not use the spirit healer in this case, but it's a close call.
Forest Song, Ashenvale
Another new one from the last patch, and another one that should have been in the game from the start. Ashenvale is a long place to run through for low levels! Anyway, this one isn't too bad to get. You might die, but you might be lucky. What usually kills me is the Horde guards at Splintertree Post, so stay to the right of the road there. Other than the Horde guards, there are some spiders and bears etc. that might get you when you leave the road, but I can usually just run past those (except the spider that's right by the flight point, which is just MEAN). The flight point is actually quite hard to find, even when you already know where it is - it's up a little hill above (and to the north of, I think) Kayneth Stillwind.
Talrendis Point, Azshara
This is much easier than it has any right to be - it's only just inside the zone, so you can easily just run in from the Ashenvale bridge and grab it without even being attacked. It's also in a nice safe place where you can repair etc. without dying. Note that this does NOT go for the rest of the zone - in particular, the bonfire in Azshara that you touch for the Fire Festival is one of the hardest to get. Many, many deaths, plus annoying cliffs that mean you have to go an incredibly long way round every time you die.
Ratchet, The Barrens
Pretty easy if you know what you're doing. If you've already got to Booty Bay, it's trivial, because you can just pop across on the boat. Otherwise you're likely to be approaching from Ashenvale. (I suppose it's possible that you might have gone on the boat to Theramore first and be running from there, but I've never done that.) The path down to the rampart at the south of Ashenvale is fairly safe - if you get attacked, just keep running and you'll probably be OK. Where you WON'T be OK is at the actual gate, where the Horde guards will kill you pretty quickly if you approach the gate normally. However, there's a gap in the fence to the left of the gate (with smoke blowing through it, which makes it a bit easier to spot) and if you cross there you'll be fine. (If you've never seen it before, just go to the left of the road as soon as the zone changes, and keep over there till you see it.) After you're past the gate, the mobs are very low level, and you should be able to easily get to Ratchet without being hurt.
Stonetalon Peak, Stonetalon Mountains
Bit of a pain but not as bad as some. You have to leave the road to get to the Talondeep Path from Ashenvale, and I usually die at least once before getting to the tunnel (those damn bears!) Once you're in the tunnel it's fine, there are no mobs - but as soon as you're out the other end, the mobs are slightly higher level (on average) than in Ashenvale, and although in theory you should be fine, I always seem to get killed! If you do die, you'll be taken to the graveyard at the Webwinder path, and I definitely recommend using the spirit healer here - it means you've moved a long way closer to your destination, plus you're on the road, and if you stick to it you can probably get all the way to Stonetalon Peak without dying again. Even if you're unlucky, you won't get attacked that much.
Nijel’s Point, Desolace
Every time I've tried this flight point collection thing, I've done Desolace after Stonetalon after Ashenvale, and left Felwood and Winterspring till later. Because of this, Nijel's Point has been the first really hard one I've gone after. The Stonetalon part of the run is actually the worst part - you have to go through the Charred Vale, which results in much death. You get sent to the Webwinder Path graveyard every time, and it's handy to know that you don't have to go all the way round to get back to your corpse - as a ghost you can go through Sun Rock Retreat and go up a path to the side, then jump down. Much quicker. Also, if you stick to the EDGE of the Charred Vale, you'll die slightly less. As soon as you're on the path at the southern end, you're probably safe. Once in Desolace, be sure to stick to the road. You'll still probably get killed by dread swoops, but not as much as if you leave the road. The most annoying part is that you get sent to Kodo Graveyard, and it's a LONG corpse run. Definitely not a case where you want to be using the spirit healer, though.
Feathermoon Stronghold, Feralas
Once you've got Nijel's Point, and rested and repaired, this one is next. You COULD run west to the coast and then swim down, but I don't recommend it (apart from anything else, you'd have to swim past the Horde guards at Shadowprey Village). No, this is definitely a time to make friends with your spirit healer. As mentioned above, if you die anywhere in Desolace you go to Kodo Graveyard, and when running from Nijel's Point to the south-west of the zone, this saves a huge amount of time. You might even be able to wait there till your sickness has passed, but don't bank on it - I've been attacked there at times. However, once you leave the graveyard, it's fairly easy. Try to get to the road as soon as possible - it's the scorpids etc. that will kill you until you do. Oddly enough the demons at the Mannoroc Coven tend to leave me alone, but the centaurs are less friendly, so I'd veer towards the Coven to be on the safe side. Once you're on the road, stick to it - don't be tempted to cut across rather than going to the T junction. Surprisingly, it's entirely likely that you'll be able to run right to Feathermoon without being attacked. Be VERY careful to stay on the road in Feralas, though - you will die fast if you don't. Also, when you have to cross the sea to get to the island, get the boat, don't be tempted to swim (even though it's not far). You're safe on the pier or the boat, but there are elite giants etc. in the water nearby.
Thalanaar, Feralas
This is another nasty one, whichever way you approach from. First choice is: from the east or from the west? From the east means running down through the Barrens then across Thousand Needles (I suppose you could come up from Tanaris but it's very unlikely). From the west means running across Feralas. Both ways have their problems, and having tried both, I don't think there's much in it. Unless you're Horde, in which case you'd definitely go through Feralas - the hardest bit there is getting past Camp Mojache, and Horde are obviously fine there - if it wasn't for the fact that you couldn't get the Thalanaar flight point anyway! If you're Alliance approaching from the west, the road across the zone from Feathermoon eastwards is much harder than the one northwards from Feathermoon to Desolace, but you'll die less if you stick to it than if you don't. When you die on the first part of the road, you get taken to Dire Maul graveyard. Whether or not you use the spirit healer depends on how far you got, I guess - it's probably better NOT to use her, because you'll probably get attacked while in the graveyard, so you won't have a chance to recover. Plus, the graveyard is off the road, so you'll die several times before you even get back to the road. Once you get closer to Camp Mojache, you get taken to the graveyard there. DEFINITELY don't use the spirit healer here - I tried this once and found it was almost impossible to get away from the place. Camp Mojache is a hard place to get past, though - on no account should you try to run straight through it, as the guards will kill you very fast and then kill you again as soon as you rez, and the rez timer will kick in. But of course whichever side you choose to run round, you have to leave the road, and that brings different types of death! On the whole I think I'd try to pass it to the south, because there's a lake you can be fairly safe in (not always easy to find a place to climb out of it though) and Thalanaar is to the south anyway. Once you're past Camp Mojache, you will still get attacked by bears and wolves etc., but if you keep running in a straight line towards Thalanaar you may well get there without dying.
If you decide to approach from the east, it's not much easier. Running through the Barrens is easy enough until you get to the Great Lift, where I invariably get killed by the guards. The graveyard is at the bottom and a bit to the west, so you could use the spirit healer, but if possible it's better to rez in the lift itself, if you got close enough to it before dying. Timing is crucial here, obviously, if you want to avoid being killed by the same guard. Whichever option you go for, expect to die a lot more times when running across Thousand Needles. Again, stick to the road as much as possible, it avoids a lot of death.
Theramore, Dustwallow Marsh
Phew! An easy one. You could run from Ratchet, but you're insane if you do - the mobs in Dustwallow Marsh will kill you a lot. Those crocolisks do NOT want to stay in the water! The proper solution is to get the boat from Menethil, obviously (if you haven't been there yet, you can sail from Auberdine).
Gadgetzan, Tanaris
When I said Tanaris was the worst zone to run across, no doubt you thought "but Gadgetzan is easy to get to!" Well, it is - it's running across the REST of Tanaris to get to Un'Goro that's the nightmare :-) There are two ways to get to Gadgetzan (well, three, but it's unlikely you'll go to Un'Goro BEFORE Gadgetzan). You can run from either Thalanaar or the Barrens, via Thousand Needles - or you can swim from Theramore. Guess which is easier! That's right, swimming! If you do it the first way, you have to deal with all the aforementioned troubles in Thousand Needles. (Once you're over the border into Tanaris, though, it's surprisingly easy and you can probably run straight to Gadgetzan without being attacked.) If you choose the sea route, you might get killed by a threshadon or something in the sea just outside Theramore, but you only have to get a bit further south before the sea is clear (there are sharks, but if you hug the shore you should avoid them), and you can swim all the way down to Steamwheedle Port in safety. There are big turtles on the beach there, but they're yellow and won't aggro. Just be careful to stick close to land in order to avoid dying from fatigue. Once on land again, just follow the road and you should be fine - and if you do die, you get taken to Gadgetzan anyway, so say hello to the spirit healer and then go in and repair!
Marshal’s Refuge, Un’Goro Crater
*shudder* After Felwood, this is the worst one to get, and it's not the Un'Goro bit that's a nightmare, it's the run across Tanaris. The ONLY positive aspect is that at least it's more or less a straight route - there are hardly any terrain features in your way. But you will die every step - the mobs there seem to have developed a very acute sense of smell, because they all run over to you from miles away. Someone should make a road there! (Not that I can understand why a road makes you less likely to die, but that's the way the game works.) It won't be long before the rez delay kicks in, and your armour will be red (and that's without even using the spirit healer, who - as previously mentioned - is in Gadgetzan, so is no help), and you'll get REALLY fed up. Particularly when you're ONE STEP from the path to Un'Goro and you get killed by ANOTHER hyena and have to do the corpse run AGAIN. Once you're on that path, though, you're fine - there are no mobs on it. And the Crater itself is surprisingly easy. It would be even easier if your armour was anything other than totally red, but unfortunately you're stuck with that till you get to Marshal's Refuge. The trick is to go round the edge of the crater - don't try to run straight towards the refuge. If you stick to the edge, you'll probably get halfway up the eastern edge before you get killed. The graveyard is in more or less exactly that position, so the spirit healer is no help. But you'll get to Marshal's Refuge with only a few more deaths, if you stick to the edge (come away from it slightly in the Fungal Rock area though, to avoid the gorillas). Just be sure to repair when you get there!
Cenarion Hold, Silithus
Very recently I read somewhere that you can get here by swimming south from Feralas and then drowning yourself, because you get taken to the Cenarion Hold graveyard. I have to admit that it's never occurred to me to try that, and I guess it's one way to avoid the Tanaris death run to get to Un'goro... but maybe the reason it's never occurred to me to get to Silithus any other way is that the obvious way is actually surprisingly easy. When leaving Marshal's Refuge, you still need to stick to the edge of the crater, but for some reason that north-west edge area is fairly mob-free, and you may even get to the Silithus entrance without dying at all. (If you do die, it's a long corpse run back from the eastern edge, sadly.) And once you're in Silithus, the road very helpfully goes straight to Cenarion Hold, and if you stick to it you'll be fairly safe. There's just one spot in the middle of it where I always seem to get killed by a scorpid or something. But the graveyard (at Valor's Rest) isn't too far, and after you get back to your corpse you'll probably make it to Cenarion Hold without being attacked again.
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So, there you have it. Notes on all the Kalimdor flight points. That turned out to be a lot longer than I thought, so I think I'll do the Eastern Kingdoms ones later!
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Concerning flight points
There are an awful lot of WoW-related sites, aren't there? I find new ones all the time, and I'm pretty sure I've only seen a tiny fraction of the total. But it occurred to me a couple of nights ago that I've never seen one that writes about WoW the way I play it - so I thought I'd start one!
I'm in a guild, but it's not a raiding guild, and I don't think any of us wants it to be. It's lovely - made up of real-life friends, probably about 15 in total, not counting the ones who are still in the guild but haven't been online in months. (Needless to say there are a lot more than 15 characters.) So we may eventually make it to Karazhan, but other raids are unlikely. However, for various reasons I do still spend most of my time soloing, and it seems that a lot of this time ends up being spent doing things that most people might find a little odd. Hence the OCD part of the title. (I've never actually been diagnosed with OCD, but one of my best friends regularly accuses me of having it, and he may well be right....)
Anyway, while spending 12 straight hours on Saturday night doing my latest slightly insane thing, it occurred to me that there might be someone, somewhere, who might just find it useful to know what I know. Hence this blog. It's not intended to be authoritative in any way - I'm not a good enough player for that. I just want to share some experiences, and I plan to concentrate on the more unusual ones :-)
So - flight points. I've had a thing about these for ages. I'm a bit of a completist in general, as I'm sure I'll explain another time. With my first character (Santuzza) I collected the early flight points in the usual way, i.e. as I came upon them naturally. But I got unbelievably excited every time I found a new one - it was literally my biggest thrill in the whole game. (I should point out that my very favourite aspect of the game has always been exploring new areas, and finding a flight point was always the highlight of any exploration.) So I went in search of all the later ones at a much earlier level than was wise (I think I was almost level 40 at the time - I'm pretty sure I didn't have a mount). I was determined to be the first person in the guild to get all of them, but I said this to someone else (who's not in the guild any more - he quit the game not long afterwards), and he decided to try to beat me to it. Which, not surprisingly, he did, since he was level 50something at the time, which meant he was mounted and also had far fewer deaths! (I should point out that this was in 2005, so Outland flight points weren't on the list.)
Of course there's no reason why he shouldn't have done what he did, but I was absolutely devastated at the time. Silly, eh? But on all my characters since, I've been obsessed with collecting all the flight points at the earliest possible moment. But when is the earliest possible moment? Well, I'm glad you asked :p Clearly it is of course possible to start going after them at level 1, but even I'm not that insane. (In any case, the exploration would take you up several levels.) And going after them all at level 70, if for some bizarre reason you hadn't picked any up till then, would be extremely easy. I think the earliest possible moment to start is probably about level 15. I haven't tried it myself at that level, but I've tried starting at level 18, and that's what took me 12 hours the other night, with Gianetta. (I levelled to 20 in the process, but not all of that was exploration XP - I was doing the fire festival quests at the same time, and I got lots of XP for handing all those in.) (Iolanthe, Mabel and Katisha all did it at round about level 19-20, but the fire festival inspired me to try it slightly sooner wth Gianetta.) (Iolanthe is of course the only one of these to have all the Outland flight paths too, but she did get them all at level 60 rather than waiting! Madmargaret got all the Horde ones at about level 20 - that was exciting because they were all new to me!)
For those who've never tried this, I should probably explain why it takes so long. For a start, no mount, obviously, so you have to run a LOOOOOONG way. And, depending on where you're running, you're quite likely to get killed a lot, which means either corpse runs or judicious use of spirit healers (these are more use in some places than others, as I'll get to shortly). In some places you can run the whole way without being killed once, if you're lucky, whereas in other zones you literally get killed again as soon as you resurrect, so that it's only the resurrection radius that allows you to make any progress at all. Also, if you're a really good player who seldom dies (not like me!) you may not be aware that if you die repeatedly in a short time, after the first few times the game imposes a time delay (which increases each time - I think my highest ever is about 10 minutes) before you can rez again. I believe that the reason for this is to discourage people from doing exactly what I do :p Also, your armour becomes red REALLY quickly, particularly if you do use a spirit healer, and of course that means you die sooner, so it costs a lot in repair bills because you have to repair it every chance you get. Admittedly we're not talking much money at such low levels, but most of my characters have usually been broke (until, of course, I started making loads of gold in Outland and sending it back to them).
All of the above may seem fairly obvious, but what's probably LESS obvious is that there are some high-level zones that you can actually run straight through without dying at all, and some unexpectedly tricky lower-level ones. And there are some zones that are quite easy once you realise which is the best way for a low-level character to go, but almost impossible if you just try to run in a straight line. (Needless to say I do know exactly where all the flight points are, so it's not a case of searching for them.) For example, I imagine that most people would assume that the most difficult zones for a level 18 character to run through would be Silithus, Winterspring, EPL, WPL and Burning Steppes? Wrong. The hardest - by a LONG way - are Tanaris and Felwood. And this has been the case on all 5 characters I've tried this madness with, so it's not just because of the particular class involved.
I want to write about the strategies involved - plus WHY Tanaris and Felwood are the hardest - but this intro has ended up much longer than I expected, and I need to go out shortly. But I'll post again later, and explain further :-)
I'm in a guild, but it's not a raiding guild, and I don't think any of us wants it to be. It's lovely - made up of real-life friends, probably about 15 in total, not counting the ones who are still in the guild but haven't been online in months. (Needless to say there are a lot more than 15 characters.) So we may eventually make it to Karazhan, but other raids are unlikely. However, for various reasons I do still spend most of my time soloing, and it seems that a lot of this time ends up being spent doing things that most people might find a little odd. Hence the OCD part of the title. (I've never actually been diagnosed with OCD, but one of my best friends regularly accuses me of having it, and he may well be right....)
Anyway, while spending 12 straight hours on Saturday night doing my latest slightly insane thing, it occurred to me that there might be someone, somewhere, who might just find it useful to know what I know. Hence this blog. It's not intended to be authoritative in any way - I'm not a good enough player for that. I just want to share some experiences, and I plan to concentrate on the more unusual ones :-)
So - flight points. I've had a thing about these for ages. I'm a bit of a completist in general, as I'm sure I'll explain another time. With my first character (Santuzza) I collected the early flight points in the usual way, i.e. as I came upon them naturally. But I got unbelievably excited every time I found a new one - it was literally my biggest thrill in the whole game. (I should point out that my very favourite aspect of the game has always been exploring new areas, and finding a flight point was always the highlight of any exploration.) So I went in search of all the later ones at a much earlier level than was wise (I think I was almost level 40 at the time - I'm pretty sure I didn't have a mount). I was determined to be the first person in the guild to get all of them, but I said this to someone else (who's not in the guild any more - he quit the game not long afterwards), and he decided to try to beat me to it. Which, not surprisingly, he did, since he was level 50something at the time, which meant he was mounted and also had far fewer deaths! (I should point out that this was in 2005, so Outland flight points weren't on the list.)
Of course there's no reason why he shouldn't have done what he did, but I was absolutely devastated at the time. Silly, eh? But on all my characters since, I've been obsessed with collecting all the flight points at the earliest possible moment. But when is the earliest possible moment? Well, I'm glad you asked :p Clearly it is of course possible to start going after them at level 1, but even I'm not that insane. (In any case, the exploration would take you up several levels.) And going after them all at level 70, if for some bizarre reason you hadn't picked any up till then, would be extremely easy. I think the earliest possible moment to start is probably about level 15. I haven't tried it myself at that level, but I've tried starting at level 18, and that's what took me 12 hours the other night, with Gianetta. (I levelled to 20 in the process, but not all of that was exploration XP - I was doing the fire festival quests at the same time, and I got lots of XP for handing all those in.) (Iolanthe, Mabel and Katisha all did it at round about level 19-20, but the fire festival inspired me to try it slightly sooner wth Gianetta.) (Iolanthe is of course the only one of these to have all the Outland flight paths too, but she did get them all at level 60 rather than waiting! Madmargaret got all the Horde ones at about level 20 - that was exciting because they were all new to me!)
For those who've never tried this, I should probably explain why it takes so long. For a start, no mount, obviously, so you have to run a LOOOOOONG way. And, depending on where you're running, you're quite likely to get killed a lot, which means either corpse runs or judicious use of spirit healers (these are more use in some places than others, as I'll get to shortly). In some places you can run the whole way without being killed once, if you're lucky, whereas in other zones you literally get killed again as soon as you resurrect, so that it's only the resurrection radius that allows you to make any progress at all. Also, if you're a really good player who seldom dies (not like me!) you may not be aware that if you die repeatedly in a short time, after the first few times the game imposes a time delay (which increases each time - I think my highest ever is about 10 minutes) before you can rez again. I believe that the reason for this is to discourage people from doing exactly what I do :p Also, your armour becomes red REALLY quickly, particularly if you do use a spirit healer, and of course that means you die sooner, so it costs a lot in repair bills because you have to repair it every chance you get. Admittedly we're not talking much money at such low levels, but most of my characters have usually been broke (until, of course, I started making loads of gold in Outland and sending it back to them).
All of the above may seem fairly obvious, but what's probably LESS obvious is that there are some high-level zones that you can actually run straight through without dying at all, and some unexpectedly tricky lower-level ones. And there are some zones that are quite easy once you realise which is the best way for a low-level character to go, but almost impossible if you just try to run in a straight line. (Needless to say I do know exactly where all the flight points are, so it's not a case of searching for them.) For example, I imagine that most people would assume that the most difficult zones for a level 18 character to run through would be Silithus, Winterspring, EPL, WPL and Burning Steppes? Wrong. The hardest - by a LONG way - are Tanaris and Felwood. And this has been the case on all 5 characters I've tried this madness with, so it's not just because of the particular class involved.
I want to write about the strategies involved - plus WHY Tanaris and Felwood are the hardest - but this intro has ended up much longer than I expected, and I need to go out shortly. But I'll post again later, and explain further :-)
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