...at least, that's what I started calling it when the everpresent topic of "how do I get to Stormwind from Darnassus?" popped up in Gen Chat.
You see, the ship from Darnassus' harbor to Stormwind didn't make an appearance until Wrath of the Lich King, so that meant if you wanted to get to Stormwind you had to go the long way: Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands, then a long run around the Wetlands to Loch Modan and then Dun Morogh to Ironforge. Once at Ironforge, you take the Tram to Stormwind.
Given that I cut my teeth on WoW in Eversong Forest and learned the hard way to never go through the Eastern Plaguelands as a lowbie, this doesn't seem too bad, until you realize that the crocs in the Wetlands frequently run across the road in spots.
I waited until I was L18 to make my run, and I even had the advantage of having Stealth, but I had to wait for several intense moments until a croc or two about 4-5 levels above me left the vicinity of the road before I continued on.
And then I remembered that I saw, on the day Classic dropped, a L3 Gnome and a L5 Dwarf running around Teldrassil.
A corpse run indeed.
But based on the jokes in Teldrassil and Darkshore, Blizz should create a t-shirt that says "I Survived the Wetlands Fun Run" in the same vein that 1e D&D players have a "I Survived the Tomb of Horrors".
Well, my own personal Waterloo came after I was emboldened by the success of reaching Stormwind (because there was a Rogue quest there), and I decided to brave Ashenvale.
Now let's get something clear: Ashenvale doesn't have the same reaction to me that, say, the Hillsbrad Foothills and Tarren Mill does. When I first set foot in Ashenvale waaaay back in the day, Souldat's wife and I were being escorted to Blackfathom Deeps by Souldat himself, who at the time was on his Death Knight. I was reasonably certain that we were going to be okay throughout the entire experience, because a DK in Ashenvale is really overpowered for the zone itself. And while we were on a PvP server, I still hadn't completely understood what that meant, because I'd largely kept myself confined to the Horde zones at that time.
So, I figured it wouldn't be that hard to Stealth my way into Ashenvale as an L18 Rogue and then reach Astranaar and the other locations where I had quests ending.
Such as the Shrine of Aessina.
I made a point of not trying to cheat by looking online or by using Questie, which is the current hot app for levelers in Classic*, but or the life of me I couldn't remember where the Shrine was. I remembered Maestra's Post, and that was easily found, but all I knew was the wooden post in-game at Maestra's Post said "Shrine of Aessina" following the road south.
"Oh, I know," I said to myself. "It's the place just west of the Horde outpost in the zone."
As I snuck on over to the road that led to Felwood, the levels of the spiders and other woodland nasties kept rising. I managed to put down an L22 spider that aggroed on me while stealthed, but I got really lucky with my hits. And I reached the outpost to discover it wasn't the Shrine of Aessina at all, but Raynewood's Retreat.
Crap.
Trying to remember what things were like pre-Cata, I decided that maybe the Shrine of Aessina is at the Alliance entrance to Warsong Gulch. I wasn't completely sure, however, and if that didn't bear fruit I was going to try in the southwest portion of Ashenvale.
I crept along down the road to the Alliance entry into Warsong Gulch, and took a lot more time going farther around the mobs as they rose into L23 and L24 territory. And then, I reached a point where I could go no farther; the road had too many mobs nearby that were L24-ish**.
Turning around, I discovered that my path was blocked as well, except for a narrow area up a slope and around the top of a small hill or two.
Guess who slid down the hill and right into a mob of spiders and wolves?
This guy.
I died.
I ran back, then respawned in the farthest corner away from that mob, not realizing another mob was right behind me.
I died again.
And ran back again, and tried to sprint away from the mobs, who dazed me and feasted on my carcass.
Multiple times.
I finally threw up my hands and took the Resurrection Sickness option and revived at the Shrine.
And then, once I stepped on the road to go into Astranaar, I was ambushed by another spider, and died once more.
At that point, I admitted defeat, Hearthed back to Auberdine, repaired my gear, and retired to the inn to drown my sorrows in whatever alcohol I could find.
Being a Night Elf inn, there wasn't much in the way of booze, so I just opened a beer from my fridge, sighed, and logged for the night.
Who knew the Wetlands Fun Run would be the easy part of my day?
*Based on the sheer number of people saying they were using Questie in Gen Chat.
**I say ish, because I think some were L23 and some were L25.
You see, the ship from Darnassus' harbor to Stormwind didn't make an appearance until Wrath of the Lich King, so that meant if you wanted to get to Stormwind you had to go the long way: Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands, then a long run around the Wetlands to Loch Modan and then Dun Morogh to Ironforge. Once at Ironforge, you take the Tram to Stormwind.
Given that I cut my teeth on WoW in Eversong Forest and learned the hard way to never go through the Eastern Plaguelands as a lowbie, this doesn't seem too bad, until you realize that the crocs in the Wetlands frequently run across the road in spots.
I waited until I was L18 to make my run, and I even had the advantage of having Stealth, but I had to wait for several intense moments until a croc or two about 4-5 levels above me left the vicinity of the road before I continued on.
And then I remembered that I saw, on the day Classic dropped, a L3 Gnome and a L5 Dwarf running around Teldrassil.
A corpse run indeed.
But based on the jokes in Teldrassil and Darkshore, Blizz should create a t-shirt that says "I Survived the Wetlands Fun Run" in the same vein that 1e D&D players have a "I Survived the Tomb of Horrors".
 | |
| Yeah, kind of like this. From d20 Collective, I think, because I got a dozen links almost immediately after starting a search. |
***
Well, my own personal Waterloo came after I was emboldened by the success of reaching Stormwind (because there was a Rogue quest there), and I decided to brave Ashenvale.
Now let's get something clear: Ashenvale doesn't have the same reaction to me that, say, the Hillsbrad Foothills and Tarren Mill does. When I first set foot in Ashenvale waaaay back in the day, Souldat's wife and I were being escorted to Blackfathom Deeps by Souldat himself, who at the time was on his Death Knight. I was reasonably certain that we were going to be okay throughout the entire experience, because a DK in Ashenvale is really overpowered for the zone itself. And while we were on a PvP server, I still hadn't completely understood what that meant, because I'd largely kept myself confined to the Horde zones at that time.
So, I figured it wouldn't be that hard to Stealth my way into Ashenvale as an L18 Rogue and then reach Astranaar and the other locations where I had quests ending.
Such as the Shrine of Aessina.
I made a point of not trying to cheat by looking online or by using Questie, which is the current hot app for levelers in Classic*, but or the life of me I couldn't remember where the Shrine was. I remembered Maestra's Post, and that was easily found, but all I knew was the wooden post in-game at Maestra's Post said "Shrine of Aessina" following the road south.
"Oh, I know," I said to myself. "It's the place just west of the Horde outpost in the zone."
As I snuck on over to the road that led to Felwood, the levels of the spiders and other woodland nasties kept rising. I managed to put down an L22 spider that aggroed on me while stealthed, but I got really lucky with my hits. And I reached the outpost to discover it wasn't the Shrine of Aessina at all, but Raynewood's Retreat.
Crap.
Trying to remember what things were like pre-Cata, I decided that maybe the Shrine of Aessina is at the Alliance entrance to Warsong Gulch. I wasn't completely sure, however, and if that didn't bear fruit I was going to try in the southwest portion of Ashenvale.
I crept along down the road to the Alliance entry into Warsong Gulch, and took a lot more time going farther around the mobs as they rose into L23 and L24 territory. And then, I reached a point where I could go no farther; the road had too many mobs nearby that were L24-ish**.
Turning around, I discovered that my path was blocked as well, except for a narrow area up a slope and around the top of a small hill or two.
Guess who slid down the hill and right into a mob of spiders and wolves?
This guy.
I died.
I ran back, then respawned in the farthest corner away from that mob, not realizing another mob was right behind me.
I died again.
And ran back again, and tried to sprint away from the mobs, who dazed me and feasted on my carcass.
Multiple times.
I finally threw up my hands and took the Resurrection Sickness option and revived at the Shrine.
And then, once I stepped on the road to go into Astranaar, I was ambushed by another spider, and died once more.
At that point, I admitted defeat, Hearthed back to Auberdine, repaired my gear, and retired to the inn to drown my sorrows in whatever alcohol I could find.
Being a Night Elf inn, there wasn't much in the way of booze, so I just opened a beer from my fridge, sighed, and logged for the night.
Who knew the Wetlands Fun Run would be the easy part of my day?
*Based on the sheer number of people saying they were using Questie in Gen Chat.
**I say ish, because I think some were L23 and some were L25.
There's a way to skip the Wetlands run by going west from Menethil Harbor. It's mostly tedious after you bypass the murlocs around Menethil. The idea is to skirt the coast until you find a specific inlet where you are in Dun Morogh. Then you just drown yourself and resurrect at the Spirit Healer at Kharanos.
ReplyDeleteIf you want speed and the fewest deaths this is the way to go. That said, I think I'd rather still go via the Wetlands because this way I can pick up the Flight Point in Loch Modan on the way to Ironforge.
A short fun fact is that is how I got to Dun Morogh (and Loch Modan) during my attempt at getting explorer on my original main, my Blood Elf Paladin Quintalan. (Well, without the dying part, that came when everybody under the sun aggroed on me when I tried a similar move for Stormwind.)
DeleteBut yeah, I prefer picking up the flight point, as I know what it's like to have a missing flight point when you're trying to get somewhere a long way away.
I'd say you had a great run! I agree that in the elf area you really have to try to remember what it was like pre-Cataclysm. I think that's what was throwing me off there.
ReplyDeleteThat swimming path Pallais mentions to bypass the Wetlands, it seems to me there was something like that for getting from Ratchet or Theramore to Gadgetzan at one time. One that my sister and I used anyway.
I'm getting used to dying a lot.
DeleteMy main issue is that I keep trying to time the stealth attacks (I went Assassination) but it seems that the enemy I've targeted turns around at the freaking worst time. Without the bonuses from sneak attacks, it's kind of a slog killing off the baddies, and the risk of another mob aggroing goes up the longer I stay visible.
Oh lordy - this reminds me of when I was leveling my Tauren druid - I wasn't even level 10 yet - and upon dying, found myself at a spirit healer MILES away from where I had been questing - at least I could res for no penalty at the spirit healer right? Big mistake. To get back to where I was questing, there were mobs criss-crossing Mulgore that were 2-4 levels higher than me. Needless to say it took several attempts! Lol - just classic things eh? Still fun though.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I know exactly what you're talking about. I started a Hunter in late Wrath just to mess around, and that corpse run was brutal. I'd forgotten completely about that!
Delete