This is a bit embarrassing, especially since I swore myself black in the face I would never … but … uh … it seems that I’ve started working on *looks right and left sheepishly* Loremaster.
Don’t me wrong, I’m not dissing the achievement per se and I’ve certainly got nothing against people who have it, or are working towards (like Tamarind, Hypocrite of the Frozen Wastes), it’s just I hate the title itself. Loremaster. Urgh. I mean, The Seeker, now that’s an awesome title. That suggests exploration, discovery … they call me The Seeker, dontcha know. On the other hand, I’m not INSANE so I won’t be going for that, despite it’s profound coolitude. Loremaster, on the other hand. I just think, as I’m sure I’ve said before elsewhere, it has a dodgy undertone – like Blizzard is giving you extra kudos for your passionate love of WoWlore. And actually I think most people have a, hmmm, how can I put this, an on-again / off-again relationship with WoWlore. I mean, yeah, you’ll have a fling with her and you’ll keep going back, but you don’t want to date her. By which I mean, Azeroth is vast and the stories are endless: some of them are interesting, some of them are dull. Sometimes you’ll find a little yellow question mark that just hooks into your heart. And sometimes some irritating goblin asks you to bring him ten coyote noses.
The thing is, having done a certain number of quests – especially since you’ve likely barged through most of them at 80 and using quest helper – doesn’t make you any sort of Loremaster at all. It just makes you a person who was bored enough, or curious enough, or had time enough, to do a lot of quests. It might as well be Blizzard’s Bitch. Or, y’know, Wankmaster.
So, anyway, I’ve been out and about mastering the lore. Also Tam levelled mainly through instancing – back when we had our 5-man dream team – so he’s remarkably sheltered for a level 80. I started off having done 79 (yes 79) quests in Kalimdor and 115 in the Eastern Kingdoms. Ho hum. I’ve managed, in fits and starts, to get it up 383 in the Eastern Kingdoms and *creeping sense of dread and trepidation* 272 in Kalimdor. As you can see, I’ve been profoundly disorganised about the whole business. I’m doing it partially as a weird holiday (Tam didn’t really want to go to Ibiza) and a change of pace from raiding, partially out of curiosity and partially out of nostalgia. I want to spend some time in the old world before it’s changed forever.
In some ways, as I think I said the last time I burst out of endgame in a desperate quest to make belves like me, you get rather a clearer picture of things. Because you’re not fighting to survive, desperate to level up, hungry for loot and novelty, you can take time to smell the kingsblood and read the quest text. You also get more of a sense of the way things have been designed and put together – for good or for ill. Running back into the same fucking cave to kill a subtly different kind of gnoll is particularly soul-sapping. It’s irritating when you’re levelling but you can always console yourself with the thought that you’re getting something out of it – it’s all cash and xp, after all, and you’re starting to know the layout of that gnoll cave pretty damn well. But the aspiring wankmaster gets nothing but a hefty dose of tedium.
And take Stranglethorn Vale, I had a blast there, but that place is unbelievably unforgiving. I remember doing a bit of it on my very first cow and it being practically tantamount to some kind of torture – one graveyard, and an immense zone absolutely stuffed with densely packed enemies who all want to kill you hard and deep. Also thank God for my 18 and 20 slot bags, which were positively bulging with animal gonads and about a thousand and one copies of the Green Hills of Stranglethorn (excepting page 26 which eluded me until I surrendered and bought it for a gold off the neutral AH in Booty Bay).
Also because you’re running through quests more rapidly, I find that particularly interesting, or well written, quest text really jumps out at you, and it’s easy to follow the bigger, more world straddling chains. I quite enjoyed the dark iron dwarf vengeance quests given to you by the mysteriously friendly human, Kalaran Windblade. Of course, once you’ve run about eagerly doing his bidding, and generally making yourself his catspaw, he reveals his true form, Kalaran the Deceiver, takes the piss out of you a bit, and then flies off to join Nefarian. Ah, the cruel sting of betrayal. And, ooh, thank you for the loot. Maybe betrayal does not sting so badly after all.
And I recently stumbled across a heartbreaking little quest in the Burning Steppes. I don’t know if I’m just a sentimental fool but a dude called Thal’trak sends you off to look for his wife, Sha’ni. You find her horribly violated corpse chained to an alter at the top of Dreadmaul Rock. She appears briefly as a ghost to tell you of her fate, give you her nose wedding ring to return to her husband (a nose wedding ring! Trolls are so cute!!) and asks you to take vengeance on the ogre who did this to her. Oh Sha’ni , I killed that bastard good for you. And everybody around him in range of a couple of mind sears. Her husband was still totally broken by her loss though. It was her last patrol. They were going to retire to the Hinterlands! Waaaaaah! I found it strangely moving that he took it so badly, actually. Most NPCs are remarkably decent about the deaths of their friends and loved ones. But not Thal’trak: “I don’t want it, Tamarind. Keep it, throw it away, I don’t care! The ring means nothing to me now. Not without her… “
Well, I’ll keep the nose ring. Cluttering up my bank with souvenirs of my life of adventure. Actually, Tam’s got rather a nose ring collection. He has Princess Poobah’s too (another one of my favourite Wow Quests). I think maybe he’s writing an academic paper. God Only Knows: A Disquisition on The Nose Rings of Azeroth.
Weirdly, my opinions of the zones haven’t changed much, even after all this time. I still don’t like the Badlands, the Burning Steppes or Searing Gorge, despite my new found career as the Mithril Baron of Argent Dawn, mainly because they’re not pretty. And I still like Stanglethorn, cruel and fickle though it is. And I still like all the Forsaken quests. Oooh, newsflash: EACH HILLSBRAD PEASANT NOW EQUIPPED WITH SKULL! GET ‘EM WHILE THEY’RE HOT..ERR…DEAD. I discovered this when I was doing the “bring me an insane quantity of human skulls, adventurer” quest, as part and parcel of the Battle of Hillsbrad. I just thought people might like to know, given how much pain and angst that has caused in the past. I’m headed to the Hinterlands next, partially in homage of the tragedy of Thal’trak and Sha’ni and partially because the trolls are the only Horde race with whom I’m not exalted.
I think Tam is enjoying his holiday. Helping the helpless and all that, very priestly. Also I’m combining Wankmaster with acts of general philanthropy, since I feel a degree of social responsibility in being a level 80 in the old world. I do an awful lot of buffing and quietly keeping out of the way while people at the appropriate level do their quests, since there’s nothing worse than trying to level when some random 80 has farmed the place to hell and back. But I also help people out when they need it / ask for it. While I was in Stranglethorn, I helped about nine people kill King Bangalash – which involved standing behind him in my sissy robe, keeping them alive, so they still had the pleasure of the kill. Ah, yes, solo-ing with healer is still going strong, I see, even when you’re level 40 and the healer is level 80.
I’m greatly enjoying the sense of discovery. In particular, I have discovered a dangerous and seductive new addiction.
It is …
… fish finding!!!
The other day, an entirely casual casting of the rod furnished me with a weather beaten journal which detailed the dark and mysterious art of fish finding. And now I can’t stop. I can’t be near a body of water without turning on my Fish Detection Array and scouring the area for happy golden circles. I don’t even need all this stonescale eel, firefin snapper and what have you … I just can’t resist getting it, now I know I can.
I think I need help. Is there some sort of twelve step programme?
(PS – I know I’ve been whinging about spammers a lot recently but, seriously, Best Spam Ever: “How many of us wish we had our very own Obi-Wan Kenobi?” MEEEEE!!!)
I was of a rather different sort whilest levelling: I got the “Finished 1,500 quests” achie, a day or two prior to hitting 80. And I had been in 4, maybe 5 instances suring that same 6 month period.
The good news is that I’m that much closer, should I ever try, to get the Loremaster. The bad news, is that all those quests are now gone to history. Also, they were shown to me, a few pages at a time, over those same 6 months. Even if I had read them thoroughly, I wouldn’t remember much of it.
So, unless I figure our which books to read, I will never really “see” the lore. (or unless I take the time to thoroughly level an alt or three)
The good news is that some of the stories I’ve seen are like the ones you mentioned; they pull your heartstrings or some other memorable events.
Cheers and enjoy!
I did a lot more questing on my very first cow, when I was very wide-eyed about Azeroth in general, but poor Tam is completely sheltered and saw nothing except the inside of dungeons and M’Pocket Tank’s badly armoured arse. (although I suppose better that way round than the other). It probably explains why he looks so grumpy and uptight a lot of the time – so I thought it was important he got around and about and saw the world a bit.
But, yeah, it does mean that Loremaster is a long, long road. Even at 80 a lot of WoW quests just kind of glaze past you in an interchangeable blur of monkey bits. I don’t think it matters how “carefully” you level, the occasional quest will catch your attention and make you think or smile or heave a melancholy sigh but a lot of them are pretty meaningless.
There are two people in my guild who got the Loremaster title very shortly after it came out, because they really cared about quests to begin with and had already done a lot. However, since then I’ve seen a lot of people get it who are just zooming through it all as fast as possible to get achievment points, all the time complaining about “stupid quests”. Always makes me a little sad. Wankmaster indeed.
I’ve been thinking about going for the title myself, but something about it just feels silly. As you said, a lot of old world quests are just pure tedium at 80, and I’ve always liked to follow different quest paths on my alts. So for example if I wanted to know what the Forsaken quests were like, I’d roll a Forsaken, not go there on my main and wipe everything out just so I can say I’ve done it.
Yes, I don’t know why anybody would put themselves through it if they weren’t interested in the quests, or the world, or anything really. Although I may occasionally grit my teeth about yet another monkey testicle quest or groan as I find myself flying the length of Azeroth to return a boot to a troll, I’m doing it because I want to, and I’m curious, not to rack up points or get a title.
It is, as you say, a little bit silly but it is a genuinely nice change of pace for endgame. And it’s something I do a little bit at a time, not for hours at a time. It’s one of the few truly pick-up and put-down things about WoW at this stage of the game – if you have half an hour to spare, you can jog around a zone for a bit. I am genuinely having fun but it’s not something I’d recommend doing unless you were determined to have fun doing it, if that makes any sense at all?
I actually think they ought to swap the titles around.
I’ve earnt both The Seeker (3000 quests) and Loremaster (700 in Kalimdor, Easter Kingdoms and then Outlands and Northrend) and honestly you’ll get all the “big stories” by doing 3000 quests.
It’s getting those last little fed-ex quests from the 40-50 zones that you dropped first time around (and these aren’t really major plot points) that will give you Loremaster.
I don’t run around with my Loremaster title on because I don’t really think I understand much WoW lore. I like questing anyway though so I didn’t need to complete much (150 quests in Eastern, about 200 in Kalimdor and like 10 in Outlands) to finish the achievement. I just wanted to do it before Cataclysm. Just on the off chance that they take away a quest that I never got to do!
Good luck Tam, get ready to retrace your steps, over and over and over again.
Rather excitingly, there are huge swathes of Outland I’ve never set foot inside. Think of all those terrible trousers and bad hats I could win! But the idea of actually seeing whole new zones does has kept me relatively motivated, even though half the time I just get my prejudices confirmed i.e. Burning Steppes looks really grim, I bet it’s really boring …oh look, it is.
I guess getting Loremaster will become infinitely easier with 3.3 – I understand they’re changing the way quests can be tracked. Maybe I should just run around like a crazy and try to get The Seeker – since it is infinitely cooler than Loremaster (I don’t feel like I’m much a master of the lore either).
But, yes, I’m prepared to be everybody’s fed-ex belf for the next million years….
Loremaster in Northrend (and to a lesser extent Outlands) is great for making cash. I think I made over 100 g just running around Dragonblight for a bit.
And there isn’t a twelve-step program, but there is a program and it does have steps!
7 Steps to Break a Gathering Addiction
Step 1: Roll a hunter
Step 2: Level hunter enough to get track beasts.
Step 3: Go to stranglethorn or another higher level area with tons of beast.
Step 4: Turn track beasts on.
Step 5: Run around. Die a lot from the evil evil dots
Step 6: Repeat until the sight of a yellow dot on your minimap is enough to induce a panic attack.
Step 7: Congrats, you’re cured!
Warning: 7 Steps to Break a Gathering Addiction is not responsible for loss of gold from being unable to gather. 7 Steps should not be taken internally. On rare occasions, 7 Steps may cause baldness, impotency, and death. See your doctor if you develop any of these symptoms.
Awesome post. I remember the quest with Sha’ni too, and feeling the same sort of righteous indignation and rage when I slaughtered the ogres responsible.
Word of advice: unless it’s changed in the last couple months, the troll village in Hinterlands does not give Darkspear rep. They are a different faction – the Revantusk. I found this out the hard way, unfortunately. If you haven’t done Desolace, then head to the Troll village there. There’s also a small quest hub in Stonetalon Mountains that gives Darkspear rep. And of course, doing quests that give rep for Horde factions you are alerady Exalted with gives you a small percent of rep with the ones you are not.
If you want to make Loremaster really interesting try doing it while your goblin rep is at hated
.
I had just got my Bloodsail rep done when I decided to finish off Loremaster and found that without access to the quests in Ratchet, Booty Bay, Gidgetzan and Everlook, it was impossible.
I went after Loremaster, originally because a) I had done a fair few of the quests already, and b) it seemed to be the only title I’d ever get outside of holiday achievements.
Took a long time as there is currently no way of knowing which quests you’ve already done, though this is changing in 3.3.
It did lead me to doing a lot of the quests in Blackrock mountain, BRD and both LBRS and UBRS. I’m glad I did those as I started playing during Burning Crusade and never did Vanilla end game previously.
Of course, once I finally got the achievement and ran around with the title and tabard on, I realised how ultimately pointless it was. C’est la vie.
Im currently pursuing loremaster to the… annoyance, of my leveling partner. She just rolled a bitty mage, and while I am in far off lands doing quests that wont do anything but grow my e-peen just a bit bigger, she is stuck dying over and over again with no help.
But good news is that I am 230 or so in kalimdor, totally done with EK and Northrend, and only have about 200 left in outlands. Im working in azuremyst/bloodmyst right now – and I have to say that this is one of the most BORING starting areas I have ever worked in. Sheesh, good lord. This area is a classic example of “kill ten rats and bring me their livers” only to find out that about 1 in 5 rats actually HAVE a liver.
It took me 3 hours to down 23 quests in bloodmyst last night. I finally gave up because, well, damn.
But, I will be back tonight, trying to shore it up and get my title before cataclysm happens. And boy howdy, ill have the seeker, even BEFORE I get loremaster, that is a little nifty turn of fate
Wankmaster…. I like it.
There’s a certain…. cachet
As a DK of course, the thought of going back to try to do quests in Azeroth is particularly enervating…. On the other hand, I found Northrend loremaster actually fun as a break from everything. Every once in a while I quest in Outlands. About halfway there.
But Azeroth?
It not only mocks me, but I flat-out sucks the marrow from my bones. I don’t know if it will be possible come Cataclysm, but I’m not doing it before then. I swear (but I didn’t say never).
Maybe it’s a pre cataclysm trend? I have found myself doing low level quests to raise rep with the capital cities and even do a bit of daily cooking now that I finally have aquired enough skill to cook something more advanced than a lof of bread. I think it’s sort of relaxing even if some of the lower level quests clearly show that Blizz has improved lately when it comes to variation in quests. Sometimes I just want to shout “please don’t ask me to kill 30 green insects when I have just given you antennas from 30 blue butterflies”.
I do love the idea of Tam having a nose-ring collection and is thinking about writing a thesis on it.
…And i think i am a much worser person for it. Thank you, you just made me an even worse person!
Errrr…thank you, I think =P
Now that’s a title worth getting. It’s very rare indeed
Getting the Loremaster achievement was a long, lonely soul crushing experience. At least towards the end there. I really enjoy the lore of the game, and had lots of fun learning all the little ins and outs everywhere. But towards the end, it was really hard to find quests, and a lot of them were that particularly awful low-drop-rate quest.
Even though I do think of myself as a Loremaster now, I rock the Seeker title because it just sounds cooler. And it also represents the work I had to put into it. I really had to seek out the lost places of Azeroth to get all those quests done.
Hey just a quick note to try to cheer you up. The Loremaster achievement, although it’s not a walk in the park, isn’t too bad. Northrend, Outlands and Eastern Kindoms were pretty easy. The only problem I had was with Kalimdor.
I thought I had done every flipping quest I could when I was still missing 40 or so to go to get the 685 needed on the Horde. It seemed impossible at the time and I almost gave up right there and then. I went on wowhead to see if I was the only one with this problem and, low and behold, most people seemed to hit that same wall. The comments on the Alliance part of the Loremaster of Kalimdor were very helpful with lists of hard to find quests, quest starting items and rare NPC’s dropping them. Those provided a good 25-30 quests.
Most of the last quests, though, were found by scouring the whole continent with the low level quest tracker on and that’s the only painful part really…
By the way, I got the Seeker title on my way to Loremaster and I also think it’s cooler. Although, nobody really cares what title you wear, I feel that to other people who have that achievement, the Loremaster title shows that you’ve shared their pain. It’s also a incentive to people trying to get it and it lets them know that it’s actually possible
Looking forward to today’s posts, Tamarind!
Man, I need a break from my own blog, just to see some sanity elsewhere! Don’t disappoint, my friend.
Oh, and on topic I did get one more zone in Outlands done, so three to go for Outlands Loremaster…….
You come here for sanity? Oh dear, you poor thing. But, yes, you’ve certainly been through the wringer recently.
I am still about a million miles from Loremaster … I might, in fact, never get there.