Badlands, Dustwallow and Swamp of Sorrows
Started at level 41
Finished at level 43
With the remainder of my Stranglethorn Vale quests being in the mid 40's, I decided to jump around a few other zones to start with. Badlands was my first choice, and if you haven't been here yet, prepare for a run. For Horde, we have to make our way to Taren Mill, run through to Arathi Highlands and then into Wetlands. From there, you head towards the underpass that leads through to Loch Modan, and from there to the Badlands, being sure to bypass Thelsemar of course.
When you enter Badlands for the first time, you might as well make the run to the west side of the zone and get the Kargath flight path. There are three spots you can obtain quests here; Kargath obviously, Lotwil Veriatus who is out in the open along the north wall, and Valley of Fangs, which is in the middle of the zone between two cliffs.
To make life easier, these are items you might want to get your hands on before heading to Badlands. Check the auction house, ask in trade channel, bug a friend...
- 1 x Frost Oil
1 x Gyrochronatom
1 x Patterned Bronze Bracers
1 x Healing Potion (Not greater, superior ect.. just straight 'Healing Potion')
1 x Lesser Invisibility Potion
4 x Buzzard Wings (You can collect these in Badlands, however I had left overs from my time in Descolace)
To start with, I made my way around collecting quests, and as I had the above on me, could hand in three straight away!
[40] Barbecued Buzzard Wings
Objectives : Collect 4 Buzzard Wings
Rewards : Recipe: Barbecued Buzzard Wing
[37] Liquid Stone
Objectives : Bring a Healing Potion and a Lesser Invisibility Potion to Lucien Tosselwrench
Rewards : Recipe: Lesser Stoneshield Potion
[42] Stone is better than cloth
Objectives : Bring some Patterned Bronze Bracers to Lucien Tosselwrench
Rewards : +4 Stamina, +8 Intellect Cloth Bracers
The above are straight hand in quests, if you managed to collect the items before heading to Badlands, just hand in :-)
[37] Coolant Heads Prevail
Objectives : Bring a Frost Oil to Lotwil Veriatus
Rewards : XP!
[37] Gyro...what?
Objectives : Bring a Gyrochronatom to Lotwil Veriatus
Rewards : XP!
[45] This is going to be hard
Objectives : Defeat the Fam'retor Guardian
Rewards : Nifty Stopwatch - Use: Increases run speed by 40% for 10 seconds.
The above three are one after the other, hand in the Frost Oil to get Gyro... what? Then hand in the Gyrochronatom to get the following steps, 'This is going to be hard'. You bounce back and forth between Lotwil and Lucian (just behind him) and eventually Lotwil will summon a Fam'retor Guard. The guard is level 45, but I had no problems at all taking him at 41.
After you defeat the guard, loot the item and hand in for the stop watch. Once I handed in those and ensuring I had collected all the other quests, I decided to knock off some Rock Elementals first...
[37] Study of the Elements : Rock
Objectives : Find 10 Small Stone Shards
Rewards : XP!
The Elementals for these are right near Lotwil, you are looking for the Lesser Elementals at this stage. I got my 10 Small Stone Shards fairly quickly and even 4 of the Rock Elemental Shards for another quest.
[39] Study of the Elements : Rock
Objectives : Collect 3 Large Stone Slabs
Rewards : XP!
The second stage to this requires you to kill the Rock Elementals which are a level or two higher and found further down. If you look on your map, you should be able to see an alcove not far from Kargath, that is where you will find them.
[42] Study of the Elements : Rock
Objectives : Collect 5 Bracers of Rock Binding
Rewards : XP!
Since I was in the rock killing mood, I decided to knock off the last step which is in the South West corner of the zone. Once you find the Ogre's, look for the Ogre cave. If you are facing the cave, to the left will be an alcove and you will find the Greater Rock Elementals there. They will drop the Bracers, and although previously I have had a really hard time getting these, I got 5 out of 6 mobs this time around!
[39] Badlands Reagent Run
Objectives : Collect 5 Buzzard Gizzards, 10 Crag Coyote Fangs, and 5 Rock Elemental Shards
Rewards : XP!
[39] Coyote Thieves
Objectives : Collect 30 Coyote Jawbones
Rewards : XP!
Both of these are usually done while running around the zone, specially if you are on foot. Cheetah's, Vultures and Coyote's are all over the place, and the rock shards I got doing the Elementals quests. Very easy.
[39] Indurium Flakes
Objectives : Collect 10 Indurium Flakes
Rewards : XP!
[43] Broken Alliance
Objectives : Kill Boss Tho'grun
Rewards : XP!
After handing in the Elemental quests, I made my way South till I hit Agmond's End and the Troggs that will drop the Indurium Flakes. The drop rate varies on these and I would sometimes get one each mob, then nothing for 10. While I was fighting there, Tho'grun and his pack walked past so I decided to give it a go. If you pull Tho'Grun carefully, he comes with only the little ogre at the back, and as I had my Succubus out, he was mezzed. Tho'grun posed no issues for me at all, and afterwards I took down his buddy. Very easy.
After collecting all the Indurium flakes, I killed a few more Coyote's for the Jaws and was done... apart from Uldaman quests, that's Badlands for you! (Later on you will get more quests from here for BRD etc...)
Since I still had a couple of quests for Dustwallow, I decided to head back and complete them.
[40] Marg Speaks
Objectives : Retrieve the Jeweled Pendant
Rewards : XP!
This is the one that followed speaking to the Cauldron in Stranglethorn Vale. Very easy to get to the mobs, from Brackenwall I ran straight East and into the bay area there. There's almost a path that even leads through the cliff edge which made it easy. The drop rate for this can vary, I got it in about half an hour of the Muchshells there, the ones that look like large Lobsters.
(( After you hand in the Pendant you are sent to Orgrimmar, to see Zor Lonetree, she is located just inside Thrall's Fortress. You also get to choose between two rings as a final reward! ))
[45] Deadmire
Objectives : Retrieve Deadmire's Tooth
Rewards : XP!
I had this one sitting in my log for a while now from Thunder Bluff. When I found my pendant, I got out of the bay on the South West side as close to Tabetha's hut as possible. Deadmire wanders the waters not far from Tabetha so I just killed around for a bit waiting for him to wander past. Level 45, non elite very large croc... easy.
[43] Identifying the Brood
Objectives : Collect 15 Searing Tongues and 15 Searing Hearts
Rewards : +2 Stamina, +9 Spirit Cloak or Leather Gloves
This quest can be a little tricky, you need to head over to the south side of the zone, where all the dragons play. If you hug the zone wall around, you will pass Bloodfen Burrow and the raptors around it. Keep killing around and eventually you will start to see some whelplings.
The whelps themselves are easy, some cast but they are non elite and go down fairly fast. The tricky part though, is you don't want to get too close to the waters around there as they are populated by Elite Crocodiles. To make it even more fun, there is multiple sets of Elite Patrols that wander in and around where you are killing.
The Patrols are sets of two Dragonking that do large laps of the area. They walk, so easy to move out of the way from, and you keep your camera moving around (even when fighting) you should be able to spot them coming. The whelps seem to have a fairly slow respawn rate, and that's probably the main reason it took so long. Drop rate was pretty average.
Before I went to finish of Stranglethorn Vale, I decided to stop past Swamp of Sorrows as they have a couple of quests.
[40] Lack of Surplus
Objectives : Collect 8 Unprepared Sawtooth Flanks
Rewards : XP!
The Crocs you need for the flanks are not far out from Stonard, are in fact pretty much all around the zone. Drop rate was pretty good and I killed my way East towards the water. To hand this quest in and get the next stage, you need to see the little camp along the beach cliffs, not far from the south end.
[42] Lack of Surplus
Objectives : Collect 6 Sawtooth Snapper Claws
Rewards : XP!
[44] Fresh Meat
Objectives : Collect 10 Monstrous Crawler Legs
Rewards : Sellable loot and food
The second stage of the surplus quest requires claws from the crocs in the water (ocean). There you will also find the crabs you need.
[43] Threat from the Sea
Objectives : Kill 10 Marsh Murlocs, 10 Inkspewer's, and 10 Flesheater's
Rewards : XP!
After you have handed in the Croc claws, you get this step which requires you to kill Murlocs, yay! The Murlocs are right near you, on the beach. If you have trouble finding the Flesheaters, kill a little further up towards the North end.
[45] Continued Threat
Objectives : Kill 10 Marsh Inkspewers, 10 Flesheaters, and 10 Oracles
Rewards : XP!
For this step I decided to head to the cave that is along the south wall, not far in from the beach. That's the most common place you will find the Oracle's, and inside is also filled with the other two mobs you need.
Once I had done those, that was pretty much it. There are a couple of quests over the other side of the zone if you wanted to take a look, but they are a little lower so I didn't bother. Onto STV!
==> Continue onto Part 13!
==> Continue onto Part 13!
