Entries in escort quests (1)
Taking It Like A Clothie
iTZKooPA on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - 13 Comments Tags: Rogue, clothies, escort quests, grinding, helper quests, nass, qq, questing, stealthing problems, wrath |
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If you do a quick Google search of Escort Quests and filter through all the links to guides, the next group of articles you are sure to find is people complaining. Gamers have been QQing about escort quests since they were introduced into the video game industry so many years ago. There is not a single factor that makes them annoying, rather it is a cavalcade. Pointless backstory and ridiculous requests for the escort, random mob spawns, atrocious pathing (scripted or unscripted), and let us not forget, how incredibly slow they can be. This is all compounded a few times if you happen to be on a PvP server, as getting ganked at any point in time will cause you to fail the quest. But PvP does come with the territory.
As I have progressed through Wrath's various quests, I have not come across too many escorts. Not nearly as many as vanilla WoW and less than The Burning Crusade. So I decided to give them another try. To be completely honest, they weren't annoying on the usual scale. There was a reason for the escort - lost, stranded in Scourge infested areas, dieing, tagged along with you to help – and most pathing issues were resolved by having the NPC use the /follow command. Most importantly, they moved at your pace, and waited for you if you stopped to gather something.
I found a new annoyance though, NPCs that follow you that possess little to no health. Generally speaking, only Rogues and Druids are likely to come across this with much frequency. Initially I just thought it was the one NPC, but I later ran into another and another. Nass the deaf, blind and dumb NPC, was the latest NPC inflicted with the inability to take a hit. He is sent with you to collect Hair samples from Trolls in the colorfully named Kickin' Nass and Takin' Manes quest.
Being a Rogue, I stealth around as I wait for the opportune moment to attack, often opening with a Pick Pocket before I Garrote, if I can. The problem I have with Wrath's new fangled helper/escort quests is that these mobs pull aggro and then die in a few hits. If I fail to open my assault quickly then back to Stefan Vadu I go because I “lost” Nass.
Sorry for the additional QQ, but I am here to point out the good quests along with the annoying ones. Despite Nass' frail nature, the quest text is more than hilarious, referencing a few different cultural lines. Seriously Nass, everyone knows that Stamina is the most important stat to stack!