Project Lore

I had been putting off starting on the Hodir quests for several weeks in favor of working toward becoming an exalted champion with all my Horde factions, but soon realized that was a mistake. To up my raiding game, I really need those shoulder enchants that come with exalted status with the Sons of Hodir! So, I've switched up my daily routine mid-tournament and opted to follow what I've found to be a somewhat... dirtier path.

In the past I've lamented over the goopy, gooey, poopy (literally) quests that seem to plague Azeroth. On the surface, the Sons of Hodir quests are nothing like that. The initial quest chain actually is a ton of fun, all the way up to jumping from dragon to dragon, killing riders along the way as you fly the long way up to Thorim, atop the Temple of Storms.

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Snow, what a wonderful way for water to return to the earth.  Snow, in all its forms, makes everything more beautiful.  Formerly gnarled and bare trees take on a new luster when they are covered in a few inches of snow.  Better yet, when the trees are encased in slowly melting ice, giving them an eye-closing glow.  How I miss the Northeast sometimes...so I go to Northrend. Perhaps now you may understand why the frozen tundra of Storm Peaks is home to my favorite area in the game.  I can actually narrow it down far further than that though.  I do enjoy Storm Peaks as a whole, but the area surrounding the destruction caused by Thorim "misplacing" his hammer, and now Blowing Hodir's Horn, struck me more than anything.  I distinctly remember saying "Wow, this is awesome" into Ventrilo when I ventured into the area during my opening Sons of Hodir quests.  It took me close to 30 minutes to finish what should have been a 5 minute quest.  That is how entranced I was by the frozen war scene. I can get even more granular though.  The shot you see below is currently my favorite bit of art presented in World of Warcraft.  While the overall mayhem that was caught in time by Thorim's butterfingers is incredibly awesome, the moment captured here encapsulates the battle perfectly. The Forefather lays waste to the Dwarves directly in front of him.  Little does he know that a pair of their brothers in arms take the opportunity to flank him from his left.  In the flanking party we can see one dwarf in mid-leap, dagger at the ready.  The second is crouched as he prepares his footing for his jump from his bear's haunches to the unsuspecting forefather.  We will never know if the collection of ants managed to topple the massive spider. The frozen struggle, its surrounding lore and the overall presentation of Thunderfall just does it for me.  Since Wrath of the Lich King launched I have been unable to find an area that captivates me so much, from a broad spectrum and then at a microscopic level.  Also, the amount of clouds, honor and mining I get in Thunderfall doesn't hurt. What is your favorite area and why?

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It certainly didn't take me long before I found some noteworthy quests in Storm Peaks. I went about doing the first round of SP quests after heading into K3 to initiate my Sons of Hodir questline. At first I was just trying to get a feel for the land with the opening quests, but as it turned out, one of them is the first tasks for the Sons. Only 24 more quests to go...before I am neutral.

If there is one thing the Goblin race is known for it is their love of technology. Often the more dangerous the technological “advances” the better. With that I strolled, no, actually, I flew over a minefield without realizing it before being blasted out of the sky by a pair of AA guns. I then turned into a gnomish pinball as I was blasted from land mine to land mine before finally landing in a relative safe zone. I guess stacking that stamina a few levels ago was a smart move. Once landed, Disarm Trap made the quest trivial for me.

As I watched myself being launched from location to explosive location I couldn't help but laugh at Solidsamm's misfortune. He didn't get the worst of it though, turns out Jeer Sparksocket left his buddy in the middle of the field with no intentions of saving him! Perhaps he should go for the aptly named Mine Sweeper achievement.

That one was all fun and games, then next quest I participated in had me a little emo. If you haven't figured it out by now I am an animal lover. I have four fluffy ferrets, nearly a dozen finned friends, a pinchy crayfish, a trove of snails and a girlfriend (until she reads that). So when I was tasked with collecting some animal meat from the local mammoths by way of explosion, I balked.

I know it's just a game, but I have a soft spot for the wooly beasts for some reason. The catch is that like any self-respecting action junkie I love explosions. My soft spot for things that go boom lead me to toss a U.D.E.D. (ideas on the acronym?) at the first modified elephant I saw.  I regretted it as soon as the animation started. With that I quietly picked up the pieces – already did the damage might as well make his death worth something! - and logged off for the evening. With a tear in my eye.

Despite my tyrantical treatment of the mammoth, I would argue that it is more humane than previous methods. Mr. Mammoth had a quick demise by way of goblin engineering.  Had I done it my way he would have suffered multiple stables wounds from my rusty daggers, not to mention a belly full of poison during a 10-20 second struggle for his life. To top it off, he would have only dropped one piece of meet, forcing me to hunt down his family members! How is that for a justification D.E.H.T.A?

How many of you fancy the wildlife of Azeroth enough to say no to these types of quests? I am sure many of you have picked up the achievement, but I bet it was just for the points. Or do you have more of a soft spot for the evil humanoid types?

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