Project Lore

It has been nearly a week since the Argent Tournament launched alongside patch 3.1 and there remains much confusion about the new addition to solo gameplay.  Solidsamm started the festivities late last week, but Blizzard created the contest in such a way that progression through the various stages moves at a smooth pace.  You never feel that the next step is out of reach, just a few days away.  Damn them knowing how to dangle that carrot so perfectly! You're a bit behind if you haven't started your dailies by now, as the first Champions will be crowned today, but don't let that stop you.  To help you on your journey we have compiled all you need to know about the Argent Tournament's daily quests in a neat little post, rather than spread across the great reaches of WoWHead.  Since many of the new NPCs are still unknown to WoWHead, we will also present you with their locations where needed. Before we dive into the daily quests we need to get you situated and out to the tournament grounds.  The grounds are located in the northeastern part of Icecrown, directly above Sindragosa's Fall.  As you fly into the area you'll be greeted by the first two dailies that are sheerly for monetary gain, A Chip Off the Ulduar Block and Jack Me Some Lumber.  They have nothing to do with the tournament, outside the illusion that you will be helping the crusaders build the actual Coliseum.  At this point you should familiarize yourself with the new camp, as it is quite large.  Fly around and pick up all the quests you see, you should find the following four quests in addition to the previous pair: 1.  The Black Knight of Westfall/Silverpine - This begins the Black Knight quest chain that progresses throughout you tournament ambitions.  Just do the damn quest chain, it's a pop culture reference that shouldn't be missed. 2.  Mastery of Melee/The Charge/The Shield-Breaker - These three quests are designed to teach you the basics of horse combat.  Grab your steed and head to the dummy location noted on the above map.  They are a cakewalk.<br> 3. Up To The Challenge - Now that you've mastered the basic moves of jousting, you can begin your run to Champion.  This quest forces you to collect Aspirant's Seals, which are rewarded from the following quests.  You can complete this in three days time if you do all the dailies offered to you.  *NOTE* One of the last three quests will be assigned, not all of them. 4.  Aspirant's Challenge - When you turn in your 15 Aspirant's Seals for Up To The Challenge you will be given that challenge, defeating your first jouster.  Head over to Squire David by the training dummies to begin you battle.  Your first battle will be an easy one, use Shield-Breaker and then Melee for the easy win. 5.  A Valiant of Capital City - Yay, you won!  Now you can head to the next level of jousting, the Valiant rank.  Fly to your faction's tent, locate your race's tournament rep and begin your ascent as a Valiant.  The rest of your dailies will be given by this representative or the buddies surrounding him/her. 6.  The Valiant's Charge - Time to collect some newfangled Valiant's Seals. At a maximum of 5 seals per day, you'll need a full business week to finish off this rank.  Don't worry, there aren't many new quests to participate in, so it should mostly be on cruise control.  The three random dailies from the Up To The Challenge section return with no changes.  Training in the field is repeated, but bumped up to ten kills instead of just eight.

• The Grand Melee - I hope your original jousting match was incredibly easy, because if it wasn't than this may be difficult for you.  You're tasked with taking down three Valiants in this feat of strength.  Be aware that you Shield (hotkey 4) can stack up to three times.  Before you go into combat get it stacked and allow the cooldown to pass, then start the battle.  Shield Break your opponent until they come into melee range and then melee.  While in melee keep your shield active, as the attack and buff are on separate CDs.  If you can keep a shield up while you opponent's is down during the melee skirmish, then it'll be an easy victory.
• At the Enemy's Gates - Here's another easy traveling quest.  Head down to Corp'rethar in southern Icecrown - clearly marked on the map - and smash some Scourge skulls.  The combat is exceptionally easy, just make sure you are attacking the Lieutenants and not the Commanders.  The Commanders are far more difficult and not part of the quest criteria.

7.  The Valiant's Challenge - The same as step four, but a bit more difficult.  Chalk it up as another Grand Melee battle. 8.  A Champion Rises - At this juncture you as essentially done with the quest line.  From here on out it is just about grinding additional reputation, seals and coin to use for those delicious rewards.  Oh, and of course those achievements and titles, how could I forget those.  In association with that, the Valiant's Charge quest will re-open for all of the other races.  If you so chose, you can re-run them for added Achievements. 9.  Eadric the Pure/The Scourgebane - I haven't gotten to this point yet, so I don't know exactly why you do one and not the other of these.  Perhaps it is a simple choice or it has something to do with your reputation for Ebon Hold vs Argent Crusade?  They don't appear to be faction related at all.  Either way, both NPCs are on the tournament grounds themselves.

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Via Wikipedia

Some of you may have noticed a lack of a blog from me on Friday. No, I wasn't “Indisposed,” at least not in that sense. I decided to take a mini-vacation before the holidays for some early-season skiing in Westminster, MA. It was a wonderful time filled with friends, food, drink, falls and bruises. However, I went without a computer from Thursday evening until this morning, only checking my e-mail when I got home late last night. I am still recovering.

The freshly made and natural snow could not keep me from thinking about my favorite MMORPG. Some may call that addiction, but I call it “letting one's mind wander while on the chairlift.” Top on my mind was my lack of leveling, causing me to fall behind my guildmates a little further. Now that we have started doing Naxxramas, it actually means something to be behind. Lucky for me, I know those encounters from my Naxxramas 40-man days, so I am not completely clueless. Also, the instance is very easy.

After getting over my lack of dinging, I focused on more productive objectives, like faction grinding. I still haven't decided if I am gonna begin my faction grinds and Championing sessions right after I hit 80, or if I should switch off and focus on leveling my Priest. To continue contributing to my little guild I will probably begin Heroics, with raiding as they need me, and only play my healer during off hours or when needed by other members.

As I sat in the cold, I tried remember which factions I would need to work on the most. I came up with a rough idea of which factions I should do. The Alliance Vanguard will be my initial focus for the sexy dagger.  Although they don't have the best collection of items to offer, the design of Northrend has led me to quest for them substantially, thus it should not require much grinding. Due to my incessant need to prove my worth to factions, I already have gained enough reputation for the Kalu'ak's chest piece (just not the level requirement), but I will definitely come back to them for the epic fishing pole, and the vanity pet modeled after my favorite animal IRL.

While fighting off the blistering winds I couldn't recall who I should Champion for after I complete AV rep, Kirin Tor or the Frenzyheart Tribe. While the Frenzyheart Tribe have three pieces for a rogue, none of them are offered before revered, and the pants are not as beneficial as the item from the Kirin Tor. To top it off, the dagger from the wizard sect is acquired at honored, and is a great main hand for a Mutilate Rogue, making the decision easy once I looked into the specifics a second time.

It is hard to guess past that though. I expect to be doing Naxxramas before the holidays, and much of the Tier 7 gear will not be replaced by faction items. In the end, the stuff offered by the Argent Crusade, Wyrmrest Accord, Knights of Ebon Hold and Sons of Hodir will be used to fill in a few slots, or only for their enchantments.  Hopefully my Priest will get more use out of these other factions.

Anyone else have their Championing schedule mapped out?  Did you do it out of sheer boredom as well?

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