Wednesday (8 Sep) - Pre-Launch Fever

Wednesday (8 Sep) - Pre-Launch Fever

Wild did not join the G2 ICC10 raid Wednesday night. We have a real life commitment on Thursday that will keep Wild out of the game on that night, so Wild offered up his Wednesday night spot as well so that the raid group would have the same ten folks on both nights. It was unfortunate, too, because Bd is now back from a couple of weeks away and was able to raid last night. Wild would have loved to raid with Bd again. Not sure how they did, but it was a good group and they should have done well.

The horde Cata pre-launch event, "Zalazane's Fall" has been a great opening salvo in building further excitement for the expansion. I learned that you have to be at least level 75 to complete all of the quests. However, you only have to be level 10 or higher to be able to do all the quests excluding the battle with Zalazane. So, those under level 75 can't get the "Feat of Strength" achievement for completing the quest chain, but they CAN get the Darkspear Warrior disguise.

So, Wild turned his entire family loose on Wednesday so they could all get the quests done. In addition to JB, who was the first to complete the event, Naithipe, Mery, EZ, Jocelyne, Dethsdoor, and Happy have all now completed the quest chain.

On Thursday it was time for the Alliance cousins to take a turn at doing the alliance version of the quest chain, called "Operation Gnomeregan." As the senior member, Java got the honor of being the first. I must point out a couple of things, though. Even though Java is the highest level alliance toon in the Wild family, he is still only level 20 and has not seen much of the world of the Alliance. Java lives at the Exodar, a city close to where he was born. The pre-launch event for the alliance starts in the city of Ironforge. Java had no idea where Ironforge is or how to get there. Frankly, the only family members that had ever been close to Ironforge were horde - JB and Wild (or was it Philly and Wild? I forget). And they weren't exactly in the Alliance city to sightsee. They were there to kill and sack the city for the "For The Horde!" achievement.

Java was pretty much on his own. He tried the Exodar flight path first. Unfortunately, the only place linked to the flight path didn't help. Ok, Java knew there was a boat. Java took the boat to Auberdine. He picked up the flight path there, but there were still too many undiscovered links and the flight path went nowhere. At Auberdine there are boat docks for both Tedrassil and Stormwind City. Java tried Stormwind City.

Java had to ask a Stormwind guard where the flight master for the city was. Stormwind City is a huge place, with canals and bridges and buildings stacked upon buildings. No horde metropolis can match it. Java found the flight master, but was again stymied with no connecting flights. What else was there? Java returned to Auberdine and eventually wound up in Darnassus and another dead end. Java was running out of cities, but Ironforge remained out of reach. Java was ready to consider taking the long road from the Wetlands to Ironforge on a ground mount. That was fraught with danger for a level 20, and it would be even worse if Java's lower level alliance pals had to go that route as well. There would definitely be some dying on the way.

Java returned to Stormwind City and sought out the city guards once more. Is there another pier where a boat might get Java closer to his goal? Nope, he was told, the only other boat coming to the city was from Northrend. Of course, there is always the tram, the guard suggested. The tram? The Deeprun Tram!!! Of course! I'd heard of the Deeprun Tram. However, no one in the Wild family, neither horde or alliance, had ever seen it. Where do I find it? Java asked the guard, who gave Java directions to the Dwarf Quarter of the city.

Java wound his way through the city until he finally located the tram entrance. He had to admit that it was pretty impressive.



Java stepped through a portal and found a completely deserted tram station. Small cars attached to a track came and went. What looked like a long passageway was actually the tunnel carved out to allow passage of the cars. Java walked along the tunnel for a bit, watching cars go by overhead. How long was this tunnel? Java didn't know. He returned to the tram station. There didn't seem to be any other choice. Java nervously got into one of the cars. After all, this thing was made by gnomes - and gnomish stuff has a way of, well, exploding, falling apart, killing it's user, that sort of thing. After a short wait the car rolled into motion. The voyage was a lot longer than java expected. The car eventually stopped at another station that looked exactly like the one he'd just left. There were no signs that he could see. Supposedly the tram did stop at Ironforge. Is this it? Java had never seen Ironforge so he didn't know. Java left the car, wandered around, and finally stumbled over another tram portal. Stepping through the portal, Java was welcomed to Ironforge.

Is This Thing Safe? - Tram car

Entry to Ironforge

If just finding Ironforge was this hard, how hard would it to find the quest giver for "Operation Gnomeregan?" The point of contact was High Tinker Mekkatorque, but where was he? Java did some research and came up with some contradicting information. Java should have just looked around the area he was standing at. When he finally did look around, Mekkatorque was standing just a few feet away.

Greatly relieved, Java picked up the first quest, "A Few Good Gnomes." Like the horde version Volunteers quest, this first quest required finding five volunteers. Java managed that quickly enough, but then ran into trouble. Java needed to deliver those volunteers to Captain Tread Sparknozzle at Steelgrill's Depot, said to be "just south of Ironforge." Oh, great, thought Java. Java had no idea even how to get out of the tram station, much less find his way out of the city and then to some place he'd never heard of. This was going to be a lot tougher than Java thought, mostly because this was all foreign ground for him.

Unfortunately, things got a lot busy on the real life side of things and Java had to wait, cooling his heels until more time could be found.