Questing: Zul'Drak For The Win
iTZKooPA on Monday, December 22, 2008 - 13 Comments Tags: arthas, betrayal, drakuru, firefly, grinding, icecrown, lick king, questing, zul'drak  What, no meal with this flight? |
Before Wrath hit, I admitted that I was awaiting its release far more than its predecessor, The Burning Crusade. Blizzard Entertainment planned to do things with The Burning Crusade that I just did not agree with. And if you ever state a fact along those lines in General Chat, you'll know that one of the first responses you will receive is “Quit if you don't like it.” The thing is, I actually did.
I was only gone a few months, but I tried to show my disdain for some of their choices by slightly lowering their income. I highly doubt they noticed. Shortly after my return, solid details of Wrath started pouring onto the Internet, but I only needed one detail, that the Lich King would be in the expansion. Once the storyline was revealed to include and extend Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne's theme, I was as good as signed up. The other stuff was just icing.
The quest designers really, I mean REALLY wanted players to understand what is going on in Northrend. One would have to be incredibly feeble-minded (or adverse to questing) not to see that Arthas, aka The Lich King, has his talons in everything and sees all.
While putzing around Zul'Drak I picked up the Unliving Choker from a random mob. During my routine vendoring of my junk, I realized that it was actually a quest item that begins the Betrayal quest line. The chance at spying on the Scourge, by disguising myself as one, was enough of a motivator to send me off on my way. The Achievement hungry will be happy to know that it is one part of a two quest chain Achievement for Zul'Drak.
/me spams Vanish |
The chain is much longer than that of the Storm Giant's, but to be honest, the gameplay isn't as cool. The chain lacks the destructive qualities of Gymer, but makes up for it in story, which Gymer severely lacked. If only the designers could have merged the strengths of both. Zul'Drak has already hit me with two chains that I have loved enough to highlight here. Safe to say that it is a pretty solid zone, and from what I am told, Icecrown only gets better. Can't wait.
Towards the middle of the chain it becomes abundantly clear why the chain is called what it is. The twist – if you can really call it that – reminded me of something a great man once said “Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”
I miss that show.
Reader Comments (13)
Ahhhhh... The Choker quests have been some of my favorite in WotLK so far! Ragemane's Flipper for the win though when it come to quest rewards.
I loved ZD, really can't understand why half of my guild seemed to hate it so much!
Two words "Alchemist Finklestein" :(
Other than that ZD is pretty fun
Ah thoughs quests took forever for me to accomplish bbut sure was worth it seeing good old Arthas again. I don't love his armor I just love it how he talks :P
I loved doing that quest partly cos some alliance dudes were doing the final battle just as i teleported up there (after wiping a few times) and i got to loot the body without doing any of the work.
I love the way that the lich king just suddenly turns up at stuff, especially when you aren't expecting it.
After getting the achievements for completing all the quests in Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, and Dragonblight, I decided to move on to Zul'Drak. I did some quests -- such as the one with Gymer, which really could've used some backstory -- until I got to do the Betrayal quest chain. So I got to the end of it and tried to off Drakuru like the quest text said. Yeah...
I died at least six times before I decided that I needed to open a ticket about it. (I also saw other players -- both Horde and Alliance -- having the same problem, so it wasn't just me.)
I was so frustrated that I abandoned all of the Zul'Drak quests I had and went to Grizzly Hills instead. That was a few weeks ago, and I've overheard some chat recently that the quest was fixed. I think I might revisit that place...
I was very pleased with this quest line and the sister quest line in Grizzly Hills. I was lucky to have picked Grizzly Hills to quest through before moving on to Zul'Drak. Having finished Cleaning Drak'Tharon makes 'The Betrayal' much more satisfying.
Poor Wash.... anyway, I would have to agree that Zul'drak has some solid questing. The last Drakuru quest is a bit difficult if you don't have friends on that part though.
I hate ZD so much that I rushed thru the zone. I didn't even bother reading the quests. As soon as I got the achievement I dropped whatever quests I had and left. And that damn Gymer quest, you can't even see what is happening and he moans so much you thing you are being attacked even when you are not.
This chain had the potential to be a lot of fun but I had a bad string of luck.
When I arrived at the top of the tower another player was already up there. He proceeded to die, my disguise faded, and the troll you're supposed to take control of aggroed along with several adds. When I finally killed all the adds I looked over and realized that I could loot the quest item regardless of the fact that I hadn't killed him. Made my way over, went to click and...quest item despawned. Waited around for a while thinking Dakaru would spawn again but the event is triggered when you teleport up. Had to jump off and corpse run.
This stuff happens to me rather frequently for some reason.
Worst part about that chain tho, Drakuru is probably the nicest questgiver in the game. You do something for him, he praises you. You first meet him, he sends you on a tour that will complete a sizeable chunk of your Zul'Drak map. He compliments you, helps you rise to what amounts to a position of power within the scourge... and seems like he's actually hurt by your betrayal. Yeah, he's with the scourge and wants to do horrible things to the world as a result, but the fact that he still treats you decently, whereas people with far more noble goals are dismissive of your efforts... I actually felt bad when he died, in an odd, "why-am-I-rooting-for-the-bad-guy?" sort of way.
I like the fact this quest is soloable. :P
I did it on my warrior. xD
I don't really remember what level I did it on though, I didn't do betrayal yet because I'm onto greater things. :P
Just so you all know if some one comes up and loots the body you will not get credit for the death of Drakuru. I had this happen after the Lich King killed him another play ran in an looted I checked his body and sorry to say no head. Kinda suck really but I was still really fun and a little challenging