Stranglethorn Vale Guide : World of Warcraft General Discussions

I dunno about everyone else but over the years i have used STV to level up so much that its almost second nature to me. I know so many people who cringe at the thought of questing in stv, whether it be because of ganking, or just the HUGE zone that it is and all the running they think they need to do. Trying to convince my friends to start questin there at 32-33 is difficult. Once you know the zone by heart, you can easily knock out quests one after the other with virtually NO downtime. Im hoping to put together an in-depth STV guide focusing on a step-by-step instruction on which quests to pick up and exactly what order to do them in, and where they are located. This is just a quick guide off the top of my head so its gonna be very general and very to the point.

I am just gonna throw out some basic stuff for now and im hoping that those here who like to write guides can post their STV tips and tricks so that i can add them to my guide-in-progress...

------
15 minutes later
------

ok so i actually started lookin around and decided that its not worth my trouble at this point since it turns out there are others who have had the same idea as me. I have found some pretty good guides from other sources so ill post some guides and everyone give your own tips/tricks/comments anyway... thanks!

Stranglethorn Guide North
By: Azuarc

No zone needs a guide more than Stranglethorn Vale. The only other zone that comes close to it in size, number of quests, and general time spent (both real time and levels) is The Barrens, and that�s only for one faction. Stranglethorn is the grand-daddy of all zones, and so it�s only fitting that an explanation be given on how to do all the quests in this zone.

This guide is written from an Alliance bias.

The geography of Stranglethorn is slightly difficult to explain in entirety, so just a few key points. There is only one land access to the zone, through the southern edge of Duskwood. Horde members usually reach this zone via the boat in Ratchet, that drops the player off in the neutral goblin town of Booty Bay at the south end of the zone. Between those two points, there is a LONG road that stretches across the entire jungle cape, crossing a river at two points in the north. While there are many points of interest, those will be discussed as they come. The zone is so big, however, the guide needs to be written in two halves. Indeed, the zone itself feels like two zones � the North and the South. (Arguably, the zone might be more accurately split into thirds.)

While normally it is better to do quests alone if your intent is to level, I recommend you find a good partner for Stranglethorn. The zone is overwhelming, and some parts are extremely difficult if you are under-leveled, and for the sake of continuity, there will be times when I suggest you do things you are under-leveled for.

Last couple notes. Do not attempt to start on SV until you are level 30. Even then, the guide doesn�t start in SV itself. You should make your first trip here at 32. When you get there, you had better have an almost completely empty quest log � there won�t be room for 6 Gnomeregan quests, 3 straggling quests from Duskwood, and a couple from Wetlands. Tie up your loose ends, or abandon them. I will try to be accommodating by telling you which quests you actually need at that point, but it is not impossible to have 20 Stranglethorn quests and have others that won�t fit in your log, depending on what level you arrive.


Phase 1 � The Shimmering Flats (level 30)

The place you want to start is in Thousand Needles, a zone in Kalimdor south of the Barrens. You can either go to Stranglethorn and take the boat in Booty Bay to Ratchet and run south, or travel from Menethil to Theramore and go from there. The entrance to Thousand Needles is a huge elevator guarded by a level 30 Tauren. Kill him, ignore him, or just jump and die since the graveyard is at the bottom of the �Great Lift.� The zone is a narrow canyon with tall mesas all over, but the part of the zone you care about is to the far southeast. It�s a salt flats area, and in one of Blizzard�s more clever inclusions to the game, there is a racetrack there. No, really, like F-1. Goblins and gnomes engineer cars and pit them against each other.

You might be asking, why start here? There are five quests you can get at the racetrack, and every quest line, once the first part is completed, leaves the zone. Most of them go to Stranglethorn.

Plus it�s the easiest two levels you�ll get after 15, and let�s you put off those people that want to go do SV at level 30 because, omg, you�re level 30 now. You *could* do one or two of the quests there. (You should never go to a zone because the absolute lowest-end quests are doable. As you shouldn�t do Duskwood before 22, you shouldn�t do Stranglethorn before 32.)

The racetrack is in the center of the Flats. Run around until you find all five quests. (There�s actually six, but one is a fed-ex quest to Ratchet.) This area is laid-out in a very simple manner. If you go in any direction from the racetrack, you will be able to find two of the creature types you need with an occasional wanderer of something else. There are also a few �camps� where you can find each of the creatures in quantity � scorpions are west, turtles are northeast, vultures are east, and basilisks are just north and to the far south. It�s just as easy to slowly circulate from the northwest corner, going clock-wise though. You also won�t deal with any level 35 creatures interspersed with the 30-32 creatures you want. (Until you have to do the gazers for the basilisk quest anyway.)

Simply put, do all five of these quests. Take your time and kill whatever gets in your way. When you return to the pit crews, they send you on to other places. One to the Badlands, and the rest to either Ratchet or Booty Bay. At this point, go *south*, to the zone of Tanaris. Right at the beginning of the zone is the goblin city of Gadgetzan. Get the flight point on the outside of the south wall.

Now, go to Ratchet. Fly back to Theramore from �Gaz� if you like, or just hoof it. Set your hearthstone in Ratchet. Take the boat over to Booty Bay and find the quest NPCs you need. (Nothing more, we�ll talk about Booty Bay later.) Make a return trip to the racetrack to complete the quests that go back, and then use your hearthstone so you don�t have to make the trip a third time and go back to Booty Bay after finishing your affairs in Ratchet.

Phase 1 quests:
Hardened Shells
Salt Flat Venom
Rocket Car Parts
A Bump in the Road
Load Lightening
Wharfmaster Dizzywig/Parts for Kravel
Goblin Sponsorship 1-2
The Rumormonger
(minor quests) Delivery to the Gnomes


Phase 2 � Getting Started (level 32)

Welcome to Booty Bay (again)! Booty Bay is the main town for the zone, so re-set your hearthstone when you stumble into the inn. There are a ton of quests in the city, most of them somewhere in the inn, and many of them not acquireable yet at your level. In fact, you might still be 31. That�s ok, but some of the quests might not be open to you yet. If you missed my warning to wrap up all your existing affairs before-hand, go do that NOW. I�m going to try to break up Northern Stranglethorn into bite-size, but significant pieces. They can all be done in one Saturday afternoon if you are determined though. You have to be vigilant in not going back to town every time you finish a quest or gain a level though, because there�s a lot you can do at once.

There are other quests that may be available to you at this time, but here are the ones you must get from Booty Bay now, because you won�t be returning for a while:
Supplies to Private Thorsen (top floor of inn)
Supply and Demand (leather shop on third tier of town)
Investigate the Camp (top floor of inn)
Bloodscalp Ears (top floor of inn)
Singing Blue Shards (first floor of inn)
The Stone of the Tides (follow-up to The Haunted Isle, top floor of inn)

You should also have already from Thousand Needles:
Encrusted Tail Fins (only one you�ll need right now)
Dream Dust in the Swamp
Goblin Sponsorship 3
Martek the Exiled

Now travel north, up the road. ALL the way north. After you cross the river a second time, you will see a fork. Right goes to Duskwood. Go left to the rebel camp, and pick up the quests Krazek�s Cookery, Bad Medicine, and The Second Rebellion. Private Thorsen should be here. If he isn�t, wait for him. He�s probably busy getting jumped by Kurzen fighters. (You�ll understand later.)

Leave the camp and recross the river, but as soon as you cross it, immediately turn right (west) and follow its banks. Feel free to kill any river crocolisk you run into along the way. You will soon reach Nesingwary�s Expedition, aka the �hunter camp.� Talk to the one dwarf, talk to the other, and suddenly a slew of quests will open up. There are four quest lines here, and all are pretty significant.

Three of the quest lines are mastery, either tiger, panther or raptor. Each of these three will start you off killing �baby� somethings. Then you kill �normal� somethings, followed by �elder� somethings, and finally a boss something. (These are my terms, not the game�s.) Completing all three sets of these opens another quest, but you�re a long way from caring. You should care about the other quest, The Green Hills of Stranglethorn. Any time you kill a *humanoid* creature in SV, it might drop a page. There are 15 pages in all, in four sets of four (last one is three.) If you bring Barnil all four of the pages in one of these �chapters�, he gives you the finished chapter. When you can finally hand him all four chapters, you�ve completed the overall quest. DO NOT BOTHER GETTING THESE QUESTS. THEY JUST TAKE UP SPACE IN YOUR LOG.

You can get pages without having the quest, so don�t worry about them. Just be aware that you need the following pages:
Chapter 1 � pages 1, 4, 6, and 8
Chapter 2 � pages 10, 11, 14, and 16
Chapter 3 � pages 18, 20, 21, and 24
Chapter 4 � pages 25, 26, and 27
I want to emphasize one other point about these pages. There is no rush to complete these quests. You�re going to see a lot of pages as you go, so for now, don�t worry about completing them. It will happen when it happens. When you get down to needing a couple of select pages, then start trading for them. There�s always someone who will trade that extra 6 you have for a 20 you need. Don�t waste your money buying them from people now unless you REALLY want the Olman Sewar right away.

Well, um, that�s about it. Just so we feel like we did something with this phase, go run up and down the river killing crocolisks. They spawn all along the bank you�re on, two on the north bank, and a few further east toward Lake Nazerfiti. (If you reach the lake, you�ve gone too far; those are the wrong crocolisks.) Kill the baby tigers in the area too, and talk to Ajeck about finishing it.

Get a bag of cheetos and a two-liter of Pepsi, cause Scooby Scooby Doo, we�ve got work to do. (If you�re planning on making a big push tomorrow, now is the point you wanted to work up to before you log.)

Phase 2 quests:
Tiger Mastery 1
Supplies to Private Thorsen
Investigate the Camp (complete)
Supply and Demand (complete)


Phase 3 � Kurzen (level 32)

Got a friend? You might need one.

Leave the hunter camp and cross the river north. Before you reach the fork with the rebel camp, there is a bend to the left with a clearing to the right. Go through that clearing to the east. As you waltz on through the jungle, you should see some baby panthers. Collect your 10 kills and press further east. You should see Kurzen�s Compound to the north and the Venture Co. encampment to the south. Ignore them. There are normal tigers in this area, arguably the best place for them. And then, go east to the wall, and north from there. You should go up a rise that eventually leads to some basilisks. If somebody�s already hunting them, come back later. If not, get your singing blue shards.

Go into the Kurzen compound now. But don�t just wade in. This place is a deathtrap. There are Jungle Fighters and Medicine Men everywhere. You need to kill 15 Jungle Fighters, but ultimately you�ll probably kill more Medicine Men for the jungle remedies they drop. I want to make it very clear to you though, if you end up in a battle with two medicine men, RUN. You will NOT beat them, unless you can sheep one. Despite being casters, medicine men are just as dangerous for melee as the fighters, and they heal themselves. Be prepared to be very frustrated.

The fern extract comes from one of several crates around the compound. Stay away from the ruined tower and the cave in the back. Those are for later quests.

Got your remedies, for the experience? It�s a dangerous excursion. The tragedy is you�re gonna spend the rest of�right, anyway. Check on the basilisks again, and then head back to the rebel camp to wrap up the two quests, and return to the hunter camp. There�s a vendor at both camps. Make sure you don�t sell your pages. Go take a cool shower to calm yourself down from those medicine men.

Phase 3 quests:
Tiger Mastery 2
Panther Mastery 1
Singing Blue Shards (complete)
The Second Rebellion
Bad Medicine


Phase 4 � Bloodscalps (level 32)

You do get quests to continue on in the Kurzen compound, but the quests are tougher and I recommend holding off for now. Instead, you�re going to go west from the hunters. When you reach the end of the river, head up the slope, and move your way amongst the normal panthers and whatever else happens to get in your path. Go *past* the troll city, but stay on that plateau. At the far southwest end of it should be the baby (stranglethorn) raptors. The confusing part about calling these the baby raptors is some of them actually have babies. There is a whole nest of them at the west end by the water.

Here�s where it gets tricky. Hope you didn�t ditch your friend. From the raptor nest, go due north, over the rocks.You�ll see the troll city you ignored before. Without getting the attention of any of the trolls, position yourself in front of the very last room. See the tablet inside, in the back left corner? You need to get to that. Clearing your way in is no small task though. Take your time, approach carefully, maybe you�ll get lucky and other people will be there at the same time. But make no mistake, you want that tablet.

Don�t run away once you finally persevere. Leave the room out the far side, and walk along the wall to the right. When you reach the end of the wall � be careful about aggro with all the patrols � do a 180 around it, and head down the slope. Now follow the new wall to the north, and follow that one back around to the east when it ends. (In other words, you�re making an S.) Carefully work your way up the ramp, and you should see another tablet in front of you after you face north again. Do not climb up on the walls or you may aggro trolls below you. Carefully (did I mention the word carefully enough for you?) clear your way past the trolls guarding the tablet, get the fourth troll legend to go with the third you already have, and leave. You could potentially move on from here into the next phase (do it in reverse) by running to the ocean by jumping the west wall. I recommend simply returning to the hunter�s camp to regroup though.

At this point you have probably not finished Bloodscalp Ears. That�s fine.

Phase 4 quests:
Raptor Mastery 1
Panther Mastery 2
Kurzen�s Mystery (partial)
Bloodscalp Ears (partial)


Phase 5 � The Sea (level 33)

Take off from the hunter camp south-southwest. You should pass by a troll encampment, which you can pause at if you want to far some more ears, but you�ll be heading for another set of troll ruins, so no hurry on that. On the other side of the ruins, you should find elder tigers. If you see a hill with a flat top nearby, take note of it � that is the home of Sin�Dali, the boss tiger. From here, go south in the direction of a small body of water. There are murlocs all around here, and they drop encrusted tail fins. (The murlocs the quest refers to are underwater and elite, and while they drop fins also, these are MUCH easier.)

Go west toward the shoreline and look for normal (lashtail) raptors. They, too, have a nest and should be no trouble to find in quantity. Just north of the raptor area should be some troll ruins. The first troll legend can be found on a tablet in the northwest corner of the ruins. Finish your bloodscalp ears now. This is the last time you will be killing bloodscalp trolls for any other reason.

Look at your map, and take note of the large island to the northwest. Swim there. If you follow the coastline, be wary of Grom�gol. There are water elementals on this island, but you simply need to run around it for now until you get an objective complete message. Leave the island south into the vile reef. As soon as the game tells you you are in the vile reef, dive. There is one last set of troll ruins underwater. There are no trolls here though, only very tough murlocs. However, the last (second) troll legend is not *inside* the ruins. It�s along the northern edge, outside the walls. If you�re cunning, you can get to the tablet without ever fighting a murloc.

You might consider exploring the reef for clams. They all contain blue pearls, which are used for a quest in the Badlands; you�ll need nine. I wouldn�t advise this without a water breathing potion though, and that goes outside the scope of this guide. Use your hearthstone and go back to Booty Bay. You can finally take a breather, go train, visit the AH, and take a nap.

Phase 5 quests:
Tiger Mastery 3
Encrusted Tail Fins (complete)
Raptor Mastery 2
Bloodscalp Ears
Kurzen�s Mystery (complete)


Phase 6 � Venture Co. (level 34)
Return north to the rebel camp and hand in Kurzen�s Mystery. Watch Private Thorsen though. He eventually goes out on a patrol. Follow him. Right where he reaches the clearing to head toward the Kurzen camp, he gets jumped. Rescue him, and he�ll give you a quest. Run back to the rebel camp for the next part of it, and then head for the compound. There is a two-story building in Kurzen�s camp, and you will find the book you need for the new quest in the bedroom of that house.

Now it�s time to take your chances in that spooky cave. Move slowly, as the commandoes are stealthed and you will not see them at your level unless you are on top of them. Hunt some commandoes and medicine men until you�ve finished Special Forces, but press on. You will eventually reach a cavern in the Stockpile that is littered with crates and chests along the right side. In that heap, you will find a chest that the key from the book opens. After nabbing the contents, fight your way back out, and go south. (Actually, go up to the basilisks first if you still haven�t done this.)

The goblin Venture Co. will be in front of you, and you have three goals here. The first is to kill geologists to get tumbled crystals. The second is to fight your way up the platform on the lake to the foreman for a key that opens a chest in the small house next to the mill. The third is to circle the lake for Snapjaw Crocolisks. Try to do the last one first, as the crocolisks are often over-camped, but if they�re tied up, come back to it as able.

When you complete all three of these tasks, go south of the goblins, still east of the road, but not so far south you end up where the ogres are. Walk around slowly until you get jumped by Shadowmaw Panthers. (There are elder panthers in many other places, but this one happens to be nearby. Another nearby spot is the ridge above you to the east, where the panther boss is.) When you have all five kills in hand, head back to the rebel camp, and then the hunter camp.

Remember what I said before about the pages, and how you should just wait until the quest finishes itself? If the pages in your pack are getting on your nerves, now is a good time to relieve some of that stress.You really should have at least one chapter done by now naturally. At this point, I am not opposed to you going to extra efforts to obtain pages, although you will be fighting plenty more humanoids later, so if you can be patient, stick to trading rather than buying.

Phase 6 quests:
Jungle Secrets
The Hidden Key
Special Forces
The Spy Revealed!
Some Assembly Required (completed)
Goblin Sponsorship 3 (completed)
Hostile Takeover (completed)
Panther Mastery 3
Chapter 1, 2, and 3 (perhaps)
(minor quests) Bookie Herod, Patrol Schedules, Report to Doren


Phase 7 � Return to the Sea (level 35)

Leave the hunter camp south, and head for where you fought the elder tigers. There is a steep, circular hill in this area that you need to find, for on the top of that hill lies the boss tiger, Sin�dali. Loot Sin�s paw and head for the coast. Look for crocolisks. In particular, look for just one elder saltwater crocolisk. The skin always drops, but it�s a rare spawn, so you may need to clear the other crocs first. Swim back out to the haunted isle and slay water elementals until you get the bracers you need.

Swim south. Way south. Past Grom�gol, the coastline cuts in to the east, and then turns around and comes back west. On that shore where it comes back west you will find the elder raptors. (jungle stalkers)

Kill five of them, and you�re done. In fact, you�re done with Stranglethorn for a little while. You�ve got some quests to do outside the zone, and you could probably use a change of scenery for a little bit.

Phase 7 quests:
Tiger Mastery 4
Water Elementals
Excelsior
Raptor Mastery 3


Phase 8 � Travel Abroad (level 35)

You�ve got plenty more quests to do in Stranglethorn, but you need to go elsewhere for a while. You also might need to gain a few more levels. As the last raptor quest should have indicated to you, 35 isn�t going to cut it for the rest of the zone. In fact, many of the remaining quests aren�t even available yet. It�s time to take care of business elsewhere.

Go wherever you like, do whatever you feel up to, but here are some of the key points in your travels:

Swamp of Sorrows. This is east of Duskwood, through Deadwind Pass. Near the zone entrance is a lot of dragon whelplings. Kill them from Dream Dust in the Swamp. There�s not a whole lot else to do here, but you can look if you feel daring. Best zone in the game for herbalism.

Alterac Mountains. North of Southshore, you want to head here for Dalaran, which is the giant pink bubble by the lake. The Archmage Ansirem is at the south end of the ruins outside the dome. There are a few other quests you could get from Southshore to do in this area while you�re at it, although many of them are green. Consider the ones relating to the syndicate and the ogres. The rest are probably a waste of time.

Arathi Highlands. Favor for Krazek requires you to mine bloodstone ores from Drywhisker Gorge. This requires that you be able to mine, so if you can�t, you either need to bring a friend who does, or simply buy the ores. However, if you do come here, there is another major quest series that starts in this cavern. The questgiver is a giant crystal along the north edge of the zone near the east, by the water elemental circle. Drywhisker Gorge itself is in the east wall of the zone � literally in the wall. It can be hard to find.

Badlands. (optional) This zone is not feasible at all before level 35, but if you�ve got your blue pearls in hand, and you can�t stand that last Thousand Needles quest in your log, there�s plenty to do here. This is the best alternative for leveling in the late 30s if you grow sick of SV. Be careful of the giant aggro radii though.

Thousand Needles. Oh yeah, you�ve finished some of those quests. Why not go turn them in? (Do this last.)

Phase 8 quests:
Dream Dust in the Swamp
Magical Analysis
Ansirem�s Key
Favor for Krazek
Return to Corporal Kaleb (minor)
Martek the Exiled (optional)
Blue Pearl Diving (optional)
Goblin Sponsorship 4
Rumors for Kravel
probably others I�m forgetting to include


Make a day of it outside of Stranglethorn. Come back when you�re 37. Consider this the end of the first half of Stranglethorn.

Stranglethorn Guide South
By: Azuarc

Let’s review what you’ve got on your plate right now.

Unfinished business:
Colonel Kurzen
Panther Mastery 4
Raptor Mastery 4
The Green Hills of Stranglethorn
“Pretty Boy” Duncan (following Ansirem’s Key)

New quests (either newly available, shortly available, or simply never touched before):
Akiris by the Bundle
Skullsplitter Tusks
Scaring Shaky
Venture Co. Mining
Stranglethorn Fever
The Bloodsail Buccaneers
The Captain’s Chest
Troll Witchery
Zanzil’s Secret
-note, all of these come from Booty Bay except Troll Witchery, which you should have already

You’re going to find this half of the guide much more succinct. Less doing 8 quests at once. You will, however, find that very little of what remains can be soloed or partnered.


Phase 1 – The Colonel (level 37)

Get a group. A full group. Go to Kurzen’s Compound. Head into the stockpile. Fight all the way to the back. Kill the Colonel. He’s an elite, making him the toughest single fight you’ve had in this zone so far. If you have the luxury, bring a hunter – their flare ability is extremely helpful here so he doesn’t constantly stealth in the middle of the battle.

That’s it. Don’t stress yourself if you can’t do this quest right now. It’ll keep.

Phase 1 quests:
Colonel Kurzen


Phase 2 – More Trolls (level 37)

As you leave Kurzen’s Compound, excuse yourself from the group and head south, skirting east of the goblins. You’ll pass some kind of instance area (that isn’t open as of this writing) that looks like some kind of ornate snake temple, and then a region with a number of wildlife wandering about. Their top dog, er, cat, lives in this area and is named Bhag’thera. Bhag is level 40, but otherwise not terribly difficult as long as you get him solo. The stealth panthers in the area makes this difficult.

Further south of you is the ogres. Go around them. The Skullsplitter tribe is all over this region, and you’re going to need to kill a lot of them to get all the tusks you need. There’s actually little need to go into the city itself, with all the wanderers, patrols and ample spawns at the two ruins closer to the road. You’re also on the lookout for fetishes from the shamans.

Finally, just south of the trolls, on the ridges above the road, is the Venture Co. mining operation. Not much of a mine really, considering everyone’s outside. Must be a strip mine. Either way, you need to kill these goblins, many of which are engineers, and few of which like to fight alone. (Careful pulling can get singles though.)

At this point, finish those stupid pages quests. Aren’t they getting on your nerves yet?

Return to the hunter/rebel camps, and hearth back to Booty Bay.

Phase 2 quests:
Panther Mastery 4
Skullsplitter Tusks
Troll Witchery
Venture Co. Mining
Chapter 4
The Green Hills of Stranglethorn


Phase 3 – Close to Home (level 38)

Sick of the long travel times in this zone? You’re finally getting one that doesn’t send you leagues away.

Leave Booty Bay, and as soon as you pass through the tunnel, stop and look to your left. See the passage through the hills that’s guarded by level 39 and 40 Bloodsail mages? It’s finally time to overcome your fear of being blasted and head in there.

Through the pass is a small encampment in which Pretty Boy Duncan dwells. Kill him for Catelyn’s Blade, and then search the camp. There should be a paper nearby you can read. Snag it and return to the road.

Go just a short way up the road and find the Elder Mistvale Gorillas that lie off the right side. Hunt them for their giblets, but also keep any gorilla fangs you find. You’ll thank me later.

Wasn’t that nice, not going afk on autorun and coming back dead?

Phase 3 quests:
The Bloodsail Buccaneers 1
“Pretty Boy” Duncan
Scaring Shaky
(minor quest) Return to MacKinley, The Bloodsail Buccaneers 2


Phase 4 – Charts and Orders (level 38)

When you completed the first Buccaneers quest, two new quests opened also – Up to Snuff and Keep an Eye Out. Make sure you have these. Leave town and turn east right by the graveyard. Kill every Bloodsail you encounter as you go, and follow the coast south when you reach it. In the two camps on the beach, typically the larger one in the back, you will find the charts and the orders as ground spawns, usually on crates. As soon as you loot one, it spawns somewhere else, so this is not hard to do in a group.

Go back to town when you have your snuff and your eye. There’s actually no real hurry to these, with another Bloodsail quest coming up, but the last part is a group quest, and there’s a very good chance none of your group members will have even started on these quests. (After all, they didn’t know to look for the quests right away.)

Phase 4 quests:
The Bloodsail Buccaneers 3
Up To Snuff
Keep an Eye Out


Phase 5 – One Last Time… (level 39)

If you’ve got people that want to do the next Bloodsail quest, skip ahead to phase 6. Otherwise, get a water breathing potion.

Fight past Pretty Boy again. Your goal is further up the shore, though. There are nagas past the large camp of Bloodsails. You might even ignore the bucs here, they aren’t really worth the effort. (There are other ways to the nagas, but this is easiest to explain.)

Akiris Reeds are not common drops by any means, but they do drop from the level 40-41 nagas out here. If they’re too tough, or you get frustrated, come back later.

Continue north toward where you fought the elder raptors. (The northern coast of the southern half of the zone.) As you travel, keep an ear out in general for people doing curse of the tides. You might even want to start actively recruiting yourself. You don’t need a full group for it, but you want help. First, though, fight past the raptors to where the boss, Tethis, is. You need his claw.

Finally head out to the Vile Reef for The Curse of the Tides. Use the potion when you’re ready, so you don’t drown. I’d give you advice on this quest, but curiously, in four passes through the zone, I’ve never actually done the last quest.

Phase 5 quests:
Akiris By the Bundle
Raptor Mastery 4
The Curse of the Tides


Phase 6 – The Captains (level 39)

Get a group together of people that are ready to do the Bloodsail captains. It’s not hard to catch people up from the beginning if you get someone who hasn’t started, though. Maybe even take your group from Curse of the Tides. There are three ships out in the water. Get the highest level person to pull, and make sure you have at least one mage for crowd control. Those ships can get ugly quickly. There is one captain per ship. Explore the rest of the boat besides just killing the captain, looking for a piece of paper called Cortello’s Riddle. It spawns randomly across the ships, and immediately respawns elsewhere when someone loots it.

As the group leaves the ships, ask if they could do The Captain’s Chest while they’re at it, since it isn’t far away. Gor’lash is an elite giant just north of the coastline where you did the second (real) Buccaneers quest. Any group that can kill the captains can kill the giant.

You might also try mentioning Stranglethorn Fever to the group. This won’t help you at all if you aren’t level 40 though, because that is the minimum required for the quest. (It comes from the goblin laying down in the tent outside the inn.) Someone in the group also needs 9 gorilla fangs to start the encounter. If your group seems amiable, and you have the means to do it, fight past the gorillas (and maybe get the last couple fangs you need,) and talk to the witch doctor near a cave on a path up into the mountains. Giving him the fangs will give you the opportunity to kill the white gorilla Mokk, as well as a gazillion other gorillas. Mokk should be your target though.

Thank your group for their help, and consider continuing to use their help. You won’t need it for the next phase, but you will for the one after that.

Phase 6 quests:
The Bloodsail Buccaneers 4
The Captain’s Chest
Stranglethorn Fever


Phase 7 – Zanzil (level 40)

There are two ruins where you will find Zanzil zombies. You will need to visit both of them for Voodoo Dues. One is right across from the arena. You’ve no doubt run past it 18 times already. Carefully find your way inside and kill the mobs there for Zanzil Mixtures, and to get to Maury and Jon-Jon. The mobs here are level 44, so anyone below 40 is effectively useless unless they are a healer.

The other ruins can be reached by returning to the road, going south, and taking the first turn-off to the east. After the first clearing, you will see the other ruins by the water. Chucky is on the left side, near the back. You can reach him with a minimal number of kills, but chances are you don’t have your mixtures yet either. Head back when you’ve finished both. Wait until MacKinley is done his post-quest animation, and he’ll give you another quest.

Phase 7 quests:
Zanzil’s Secret
Voodoo Dues


Phase 8 – Mai’Zoth and Bangalash (level 40)

This is another group phase. You need to recruit people for Mai’Zoth or Big Game Hunter, and then rope them into the other as well. You also have Cracking Maury’s Foot to do.

Head to where you fought the Skullsplitters before, only go to the left side of the road. There is a hill here with a white tiger on it, as well as a few stealthed panthers. That white tiger is Bangalash, the target of Big Game Hunter.

The other objective is across the road and a little north. The ogres in general take up a wide area, but the particular spot you want is behind the goblins, in a narrow pass that leads to a cave. The back of the cave houses Mai’Zoth, who will be your most difficult mark for the zone, assuming you never do the Message in a Bottle quest and go after King Mukla. Unlike Bangalash, it isn’t possible to get Mai’Zoth single, and he’s also harder to reach.

You can do either of these first. It makes no difference. However, any of the ogres can randomly drop Maury’s key as a group drop. If you haven’t gotten it by the time you kill Mai’Zoth, make sure your group sticks around long enough for that.

Phase 8 quests:
Big Game Hunter
Mai’Zoth
Cracking Maury’s Foot


Congratulations. You’re done! The only quests that should remain are Whiskey Slim’s Lost Grog (Hinterlands), Tran’rek (Tanaris), and Message in a Bottle (the big island in the southeast with the *really* hard mobs on it.)

Go to Badlands and Uldaman, go to Tanaris and eventually Zul’Farrak, go to Feralas, Arathi, Alterac, Swamp of Sorrows, or the Hinterlands. But go somewhere else already!

so your saying this isnt yours right ? ok good because this missing a Table of Contents, and some organization plz theres just stuff packed into this wonderful guide, unorganized stuff.

BTW you should spend majority of 32-36 in Shimmering Flats and 37-38 Grinding then go to Tanaris.

i disagree with the above poster saying that you should be in shimmering flats...maybe if you are horde, but i spent most of my time in STV and loved it and then i went to Tanaris

by the way OP, i love your sig

Shadow Priest FTW!!!!!!!!111!