Hunting for the Harbinger

What with Alleria Windrunner being so much a part of the origin of the Void Elves, I thought it only right for Kaelyla to be the first go do the Hunt for the Harbinger with her.

I appreciated that there were acknowledgements of my character’s Void Elf identity in multiple places throughout the quest text. Naturally, then I needed to go next with Kaelinda to see how those bits of quest text differed for other races — would it just be Void Elves vs everyone else, or would there be some special reaction from the Ren’dorei for Sin’dorei characters? Well, there wasn’t, so I may or may not get around to doing this with Kamalia and Kerisa before the War Within pre-lauch event. After all, on Thursday, Pandaria Remix will begin…

The emphasis on the Void Elves, their activities at Telogrus Rift, the schism with the Blood Elves, and the sentiments of individual Ren’dorei who do or don’t want to be reunited with the Sin’dorei seems to be laying groundwork for the return to Quel’danas in the Midnight expansion.

So, I understood why we went to Galakrond’s Rest, and I understood why we went to Eredath, but I didn’t quite get why we went to Ulduar in between those two places, except perhaps to give us a hint that there will be big stuff going down at Ulduar sometime later? Writing this, I recall that the introduction of the Worldsoul Saga at Blizzcon did say that the Last Titan will bring us back to Ulduar.

It was interesting that there was the Halls of Valor graphic blocking the Ulduar raid entrance during the Hunt for the Harbinger quest that brought us there; was that just a visual kit update, or is it a hint that we might get to really and truly kick Odyn to the curb during the events of Last Titan? And I get why there was a reference to southern Kalimdor — Anh’Qiraj and Uldum and all that — but what’s up with the references to Zul’Aman? More hint-hinting at events to come in Midnight?

The denoument of the questchain implies that K’aresh (the homeworld of the Ethereals whom we first encountered way back in Burning Crusade) also had a world soul. The fate of K’aresh really lays out the stakes not just for War Within but also for the Worldsoul Saga as a whole.

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I’m… done (with Dragonflight)? And Plunderstorm is plugging the gap?

While walking to campus this morning, I had a surprising thought. Until Patch 10.2.7 comes out — which, from its name on the roadmap, sounds like it will be a bridge patch to War Within* — I am pretty much done with Dragonflight.

Last week, when I finally did the Patch 10.1 Blue Dragonflight storyline, I got all caught up on all of the major story content of Dragonflight thus far.

This week, after doing the Azerothian Archives Big Dig and world quests, I was able to purchase the last of the Mog items I wanted from that activity.

Major Mog collection goals? DONE.** Major story completion? DONE.

This is a kind of a strange feeling.

For the last several years — the years encompassed by Legion, Battle for Azeroth, and Shadowlands in WoW — I’ve had a long lag period in which I was working on content from each expansion well after the next expansion had come out. Being at the current expansion’s level cap definitely helped with getting through that lingering endgame content from the previous expansion. However, playing last expansion endgame catch-up also held me back from getting into the current expansion’s endgame content. Now, those years were also pretty crazy years outside of Azeroth between babies, drama at work, and COVID, so I was okay with being waaay behind the curve in Azeroth. With real life settling down, though, when Dragonflight launched, I made myself a soft goal of getting all the significant Dragonflight story content done before the next expansion came out. Until Patch 10.2.7, I’ve done it!

So, um, now what am I gonna do in Azeroth? I could level alts…? Play Classic Era Classic?

Or, you know, I could go do the brand new shiny thing that was just released, which will only be available for a limited time — conveniently, almost but not quite the amount of time until Patch 10.2.7*** if Blizzard sticks to the 8 weeks between updates schedule that they’ve said they want to continue for the rest of Dragonflight — and grind up all the Mog stuff I want from it.

Looked at that way, it seems very much like the Plunderstorm was deliberately designed and timed to address the longstanding end-of-expansion doldrums problem. And with the way the patch cadence and difficulty of getting things even for a relatively casual player like myself has been in this expansion, even I am finding myself with plenty of time and attention for the Plunderstorm+. Well played, Blizzard, well played.

~*~*~
* Kinda-sorta like the last patch of an FFXIV expansion?
** Kerisa is still trying to get the Crystalline Tender’s Chestpiece from the Emerald Dream weeklies, but that takes, like, an hour to do each reset day
*** Or maybe just Season 4, with Patch 10.2.7 another eight weeks after that?
+ Well, at least until Noblegarden, when I’ve got a handful of alts who will want to collect eggs for XP, and there will be a new holiday boss to farm for a pretty pastel recolor of the Leywoven Flying Carpet…

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Tarecgosa’s Rest

Having read on Wowhead that there was a special treat for wielders of Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest at the end of the Patch 10.1 Blue Dragonflight questline, I decided that it was time for Kaelinda to get Dragonwrath. I’d joked about getting it during Legion — because Aluneth talks to you, and Dragonwrath talks to you, I should get Dragonwrath so that Tarecgosa and Aluneth could talk to each other in Kaelinda’s stave rack — but I didn’t quite feel up to farming Firelands for it… Now, though, was definitely the time.

Reading through the Dragonwrath questline guide on Wowhead, it quickly became apparent that the “Delegation” quest would be the most difficult stage of the whole adventure. The hard part, at Dragonflight level 70, would be not killing the bosses before I could pick up all the little ground clickies and do the things at specific points in the encounters.
The solution was fairly obvious. After clearing the trash in my regular gear, I switched to this outfit to do the boss fights:

I’d hit the boss with my fists to get the fight going, then after I’d completed the quest requirements, a few raw stats level 70 Frost Lances would finish off the boss.


With the Branch of Nordrassil in hand, I could put back on my regular gear and one-shot my way through the Firelands for the second long grind stage of the questline. When I got to the third long grind stage, I went BNL again and hit each boss with the Runestaff of Nordrassil to start the fight, then Ice Lanced it down. The first time I tried it, I was worried that I’d still killed the boss too fast, because I didn’t see the Smouldering debuff appear on the boss — the debuff only showed up after the boss was dead.
It probably took me about three months to complete the whole questline; from the dates on my screenshots, it was two months from when I finished the first long grind stage to when I obtained Dragonwrath.

After that, I was finally ready to do the Patch 10.1 Blue Dragonflight questline. It took me two play sessions to get through the regular part of the questline, then a third play session to do the special Tarecgosa’s Rest epilogue. It was every bit as much “the best dragonflight story in Dragonflight!” as I’d been told that it was!

Farewell, dear Tarecgosa — and Sindragosa — and Senegos. May Arbiter Pelagos direct your souls to an afterlife that is different from, and better than, any of the realms of the Shadowlands that we visited during Shadowlands.

~*~*~
I got myself the new Dragonflight Codex lore book as a birthday present. I am puzzled and disappointed that Tarecgosa isn’t mentioned in it at all — she’s not one of the significant Blues given individual profiles, and she’s not mentioned in the profiles of Kalecgos or Arygos and the description of their conflict over who would become the Blue Aspect after Malygos, either.
~*~*~
And now I have completed all of the major Dragonflight storylines so far, and I’m ready for new story on the horizon in Patches 10.2.6 and 10.2.7!

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Lunar Festival Flights of Fancy

Valdrakken wasn’t decorated for Lunar Festival. I flew over to Bel’Ameth and was greatly disappointed to find that it was not decorated for Lunar Festival, either. I dropped a note in the Suggestion Box: “Why aren’t there Lunar Festival decorations in Bel’Ameth? Wouldn’t the Night Elves want to celebrate Lunar Festival in their new home?”

The new Lunar Festival Armor for the Winding Slitherdrake convinced me to put that Dragonriding mount back on my bars; I don’t think it will ever wear anything else! I was kinda glad that the holiday armor just cost gold — though if it had cost holiday tokens, I would have sent either my Warrior or my Evoker around the map to collect XP along with the tokens to get it.

The last time I really played around with the Lunar Festival apparel was in 2022 (see Blood Elf Mage #125 and Void Elf Mage #57), so I looked to see if Dragonflight Mogging had given me any new things to do with the Lunar Festival gear. Sure enough, it had — using the “pants with split skirt” style that has been the Mogging fashion for this expansion with one of the Festival Suits (but not the Dresses) wraps the skirt around the back of the outfit while still displaying the leg-covering pants of the Festival Suit.

That’s so fun!


Dreambound Crown, Spiked Crimson Spaulders, Festival Suit, Dreambound Pants, Harvester’s Court Slippers, Staff of the Windsage

Festive Black Pant Suit with Endowed Breeches; Festive Blue Pant Suit and Festive Teal Pant Suit with Bronze Drakonid Shoulderplates, Anachronistic Breeches, and Renathal’s Battlefield Slippers

Although the split skirt style doesn’t display over the skirt of the Festival Dresses, the Patch 10.1 shoulders do look nice with them.

Nightvale Cowl, Endowed Mantle, Festival Dress, Harvester’s Court Slippers, Whizblast Walking Stick

This set of accessories works equally well for any of the other colors of the Lunar Festival dress.

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I wanna pink dragon!

…and apparently this pink dragon isn’t quite “it”.

During Legion, I got very discouraged with Paragoning for the Nightfallen trying to get the Leywoven Flying Carpet. Although I did eventually get it, I was too burned out to grind for any of the Paragon chest mounts from the other factions.

After getting the Felstorm Dragon from Dragonflight Time Rifts, however, I decided to give Paragoning for the Valarjar to get the Valarjar Stormwing another go.

I have six characters who’d gotten Exalted with the Valarjar during Legion: Warrior, Paladin, Priest, Demon Hunter, Shaman, and Blood Elf Mage. I sent the first four, who are all under level 70, back to Valdisdall to do Valarjar and Kirin Tor Emissaries; the level 70s return to the Broken Isles just when the Emissary is Kirin Tor.

I’ve been glad that I stuck with Paragoning for the Nightfallen until I obtained the Leywoven Flying Carpet. It’s made me happy whenever it gets selected by the “flying carpets” random cast macro my characters who are Tailors have — and it’s fun to have a flying carpet that my non-Tailor characters can use, too (Patch 10.2.5 added a pastel “Noble Flying Carpet” recolor of the Leywoven Flying Carpet that will likely be obtained from a Noblegarden holiday update; I’ll definitely have to get that.)

So the question is, will I be happy enough with having the Valarjar Stormwing showing up from my “drakes” random cast mount macro every now and then to validate the nights that I’ll stay up longer than I really ought to because I’m pushing multiple alts through old content WQs?

Well, until/unless a not-too-difficult-to-obtain Pink Scales manuscript for Dragonriding mounts other than the Flourishing Whimseydrake gets added to the game, probably Yes.

But if what I want, what I really, really want is just a pink dragon, maybe I should also be farming Dragon Soul up to Ultraxion to try to get Experiment 12-B — which has, like, a 1% drop rate, so I might very well get the Valarjar Stormwing from Paragon chests before I get that to drop…

Wish me luck!

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so, I did some stuff in Patch 10.2.5 last night

Kaelinda was honored by the Aspects.

(even though in real time, she hasn’t yet done the Blue Dragonflight storyline because I decided I needed to go back to the Firelands and get Dragonwrath first…)
Kaelinda felt rather uncomfortable being in Bel’Ameth as a member of the Horde, but since she’s the only one who’s done the Forbidden Reach, Zaralek Cavern, and Emerald Dream Campaigns, she’s the only one who even had the epilogue quests available. Iridikron’s conversation with Vyranoth hinted that we may not see him again until The Last Titan. In Valdrakken, I found some “stay awhile and listen” dialogs that foreshadow War Within.
~*~*~
My Eversong Elf Mages helped Tess Greymane liberate her City from the squatting Scarlet Crusade.

It was a rather tired plot, but not quite as silly as the cleansing of Lordaeron questline — perhaps because it stayed in Gilneas instead of taking a side-trip to anywhere else in the known WoW cosmos. I liked how it used the Legion Rogue Order Hall connection between Tess Greymane and Lillian Voss to hook in the Horde participation. Although the boss fight was not a big silly kaiju, it did provide another entry for the “the Light is not synonymous with Goodness” clue/tinfoil hat list for speculating about future expansions. My favorite thing, though, was seeing the Gilnean citizens in the city afterward carrying around green umbrellas. It’s about time they got something to keep the rain off!
~*~*~
I was SO disappointed that my level 14 Worgen Mage can’t wear the Gilnean Noble’s Suit — it requires level 58.

Ah well, perhaps when Dragonflight gets the Chromie Time treatment later this year, she’ll be able to don it.
~*~*~
I haven’t done much of anything with the Azerothian Archives yet. I don’t intend to grind for All The Things from it, just a few select items, so there’ll be plenty of time to get what I want before the War Within pre-patch.
~*~*~
I haven’t tried Follower Dungeons yet, either. When I have finished most of the other stuff I still want to do in the Dragon Isles, though, they’ll let me run Nokhud Offensive and drop group without feeling guilty after the second boss if said boss doesn’t give me the Thunderous Downburst Ring. I’ve had the Unstable Arcane Loop and Platinum Star Band sitting in my bags for months since I got better rings…

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Who will help Genn in Gilneas?

When the questline to clean up the mess Sylvanas made of Undercity at the beginning of the Fourth War first became available in late Shadowlands, I did it with Kamalia because I’d been missing having her be my Main. I only needed to do it once to get the customization unlock, so I didn’t bother doing it again with anyone else.

With Patch 10.2.5 bringing a questline to reclaim Gilneas, I’ve been dithering about which alt I should do it with. Kamalia, because I did the Lordaeron questline with her and having her do Gilneas, too, would be a pleasing symmetry? Kaelinda, because she’s really my Main now? Kaelyla, because she’s Alliance and reclaiming Gilneas is an Alliance story? Well, even though experiencing it once has been enough for a lot of WoW lore lately, maybe I want to do this thing with all three of them for exactly those reasons.

So last night, in preparation for doing the reclaiming Gilneas questline next week, I ran both Kaelinda and Kaelyla through the reclaiming Lordaeron questline. It was just as silly as I remembered it having been… actually, even more silly. I don’t expect the reclaiming Gilneas questline to be any less silly.

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Come Together, Right Now, Over Me

In the past week, I’ve pushed through the 10.2 MSQ and as many of the side-quests as interested me, so that I could get them done before changing my clothes for Winter Veil* 😉 I was a bit surprised, but glad, that the starter quest for the final chapter became available as soon as I’d accepted the quest to KO Fyrakk in the raid, instead of not becoming available until I’d completed the raid quest.

Although there are those among my blogroll who dislike the current WoW story (to put it mildly) — although there are certainly things the player is asked to do that are quite silly, and goofy plot holes, and occasionally nonsensical character development — overall, I have enjoyed it well enough.
* I appreciated how the Primalists and Qalashi remained relevant antagonists throughout the entirety of the Dragonflight main story — that they weren’t just discarded and forgotten after the leveling content and first raid, but were part of each patch and later raid, as well. I appreciated the follow-up of the Suffusion Camps in the use of suffused weaponry against the dragons in the Emerald Dream storyline. I liked how hearing Qalashi mooks in the first Qualashi stronghold we assault in the Waking Shores leveling questline calling “Igira, see me!” as they die was paid off by Igira awakening, being the yelling head for the Suffusion Camps, then becoming a boss in the Amirdrassil raid.
* I was glad to see that the Netherwing and Thorignir were not forgotten, and I enjoyed the questline in which Wrathion convinces Vyranoth to help him bring those smaller dragonflights to the Dragon Isles. Getting to punch Odyn in the face — seeing that nod by the story team to the community’s openly-expressed dislike of Odyn — and watching Vyranoth literally freeze him in his tracks was great! This is usually the point in the expansion where Kaelinda, who is Fire by default, goes Arcane just to do something different for awhile, but after interacting with Vyranoth, she’s thinking that this time, she will go Frost instead.
* I thought it was awesome to see all of Azeroth come together to defend Amirdrassil. All the faction leaders. All the friends — dracthyr, dragonspawn, centaur, tuskarr, niffen — that we’d made throughout the Dragon Isles.

*After all the silly quests of needing to solo things where I really ought to have gotten at least a squad of NPCs to help me, it was awesome to be more or less part of a raid group of Azeroth’s elites to take down the Prophet of the Flame.

* I loved seeing representatives of everyone who has been a part of this expansion’s story at the party after Amirdrassil blooms — including Big Kinook and Eragosa and Rumiastrasza doing the cooking, the Windtotem Tauren who settled in the Ohn’ahran Plains, the Ancients, the Wild Gods, all the different groups of Tuskarr, the Niffen — and old friends from all over Azeroth both geographically and historically — even a group from Ardenweald.
* I was relieved that Tyrande has found enough peace to let go of treating Kaelinda, a Blood Elf, with scorn and distrust because she is Horde, and instead treated her with respect and appreciation throughout the 10.2 storyline.

So for me, at least, the storytelling in this expansion has been better than Shadowlands, and more comfortable than Battle for Azeroth, and I am looking forward to the “epilogue” stories to come in Patch 10.2.5 and Patch 10.2.7.

~*~*~
* Kaelinda still needs to do the Azure Span leveling questline and the Blue Dragonflight Campaign questline at the Veiled Ossuary, but that will have to wait until January, I think

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Lady Moonberry’s Entourage at Amirdrassil

When I first saw Lady Moonberry in the Central Encampment at Amirdrassil, I was quite surprised. Flying down around the base of Amirdrassil, I found a place called “Winter’s Landing”. There I found folk from Ardenweald, most significantly, the trio of Night Fae Soulbinds.

Speaking to them with Kaelinda, who is still affiliated with the Venthyr —
Lady Moonberry (at Central Encampment) says: “This place is just like Ysera described. Beautiful, but strange. It’s magnificent!”
Niya says, “Oh, hello! It is good to see so many people working together to protect Amirdrassil.”
Dreamweaver says, “Greetings, mage. My people are here to help.”
Hunt-Captain Korayn says, “Greetings from the Hunt, mage. My queen has sent me to protect this tree.”

Speaking to them with Kaelyla, who is still affiliated with the Night Fae —
Lady Moonberry (at Central Encampment) says: “Kaelyla! It is so good to see you again! This place is just like Ysera described. Beautiful, but strange. It’s magnificent! But it could use perhaps an itty-bitty bit more fae influence, don’t you think?” Moonberry grins
Niya says, “It is so good to see you again, Kaelyla. I hope we can protect Amirdrassil. It is such a wonderful world tree already. I would hate to see any harm come to it before it has a chance to bloom.”
Dreamweaver says, “Hello Kaelyla! Your world is fascinating. And so green! I can see why Lady Ysera is so fond of this place. My people and I are here to help this tree bloom!”
Hunt-Captain Koryan says, “Kaelyla. My Queen’s influence can only extend so far here, but by her grace, we will defend this world tree.”

And then I remembered that the seed of Amirdrassil is the Sisters’ Tear, the combined work of Elune and the Winter Queen, the Sisters who personify the poles of the Great Cycle of Life and Death. So of course the Winter Queen would have a vested interest in making sure that Amirdrassil survives, and would send her people here to accomplish that task. And, of course, to bring Ysera back home to Ardenweald when it is done. Apparently there’s a cutscene about that that unlocks after one has defeated Fyrakk in the Amirdrassil raid? But I am trying not to spoil myself about these sorts of things too much.

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a peek into the Emerald Dream and a goal for the rest of Dragonflight

Alas, despite having put a polite reminder of the existence of the Grove Warden and recommendation that it be present in the 10.2 Emerald Dream zone into the Suggestion Box, when I took Kaelinda there last night, no magnificent magical moose were to be seen. :`(

I played through the second chapter of the Emerald Dream Campaign, explored the place to unlock regular flying in the Dragon Isles, collected all the 10.2 Dragonriding Glyphs, and grew a bouquet of Emerald Blooms. I was quite surprised — a bit startled, even — to see Lady Moonberry there. Perhaps she feels like she needs to be there to make sure that Ysera does come back to Ardenweald when her purpose for having returned to Azeroth and the Dream is fulfilled? Or is she there for some secret purpose of the Winter Queen — something going on behind the scenes with the Winter Queen and Elune and/or Eonar that we will eventually find out about in The Last Titan?

On the one hand, during the last couple of patches, it’s felt good to be doing the new things while they were new (and lots of other people were doing them, too). I’m excited to continue the Emerald Dream story and collect the Emerald Dream gear. I’m also excited for the conclusion of the Reforging Keeper Tyr story — and its reward of white scales for Dragonriding Drakes! — and for the story about Wrathion and Vyranoth teaming up to reach out to the Netherwing and Stormwing dragonflights.

On the other hand, I’m still behind on stories from earlier in the expansion. After having originally done all the leveling zone stories with Kamalia and having leveled Kaelinda primarily through World and Profession Quests, I found that I wanted to replay just the MSQ (to borrow FFXIV parlance) of the leveling Campaign storylines with Kaelinda. Kaelinda has finished the leveling Campaign storylines in Thaldrazsus and Ohn’ahran Plains, but she still needs to complete the leveling Campaign storylines in Waking Shores and Azure Span. After she’s done that, she’ll be ready to do the 10.1 Blue Dragonflight storyline at the Veiled Ossuary.

Although going back to the Shadowlands to do Korthia and Zereth Mortis at level 70 certainly made doing those zones much easier — and therefore more enjoyable — than they would have been at level 60, it was also a drag and a delay on my ability to get into the Dragonflight story progression. I had a long tail in Legion before I could properly get into Battle for Azeroth as I finished up leveling and doing Order Hall storylines for all the Classes. Although I don’t recall having a significant tailing of trying to finish up Battle for Azeroth content before I got into Shadowlands, I could have simply forgotten it because that time interval was also filled with IRL stresses.

So I’d like to try to take a step back from vigorously pursuing the Dream for a week or two (or few) to finish getting caught up on the 10.0 and 10.1 stories.

When the War Within arrives, I don’t want to have lingering unfinished business in the Dragon Isles holding me back.

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