Ask a Beta Tester: A closer look at the starting zones and other things

There's only about a week left of Ask a Beta Tester, so get your questions in while you still can! You can be special like Radiophonic and get your name all bold-like up here! I guess we could actually answer the questions, too...
So I'm hearing that there are tons of quests in all areas, has the allowable number of quests in your quest log expanded or should we all start getting those last 10 or so completed?
The number of quests you can have in your log is still limited to 25. If you stick to one zone at a time, it's very highly unlikely you'll ever have more than 15-20 quests in your log at once. If you're anything like I am though, curiosity will probably get the best of you and you'll end up questing in 2-3 different places at once and you'll need that space in your quest log.
You might want to finish up the quests you have now, or when Wrath comes around you can scribble down where you got them, abandon them and go back later.
JonRowley asked...
If you are exalted with Argent Expedition and in a dungeon that typically gives their faction, but wearing a DEHTA tabard will you still get rep with DEHTA?
Well, DEHTA isn't a faction you can gain reputation with, but you can do that with championing, yes. After a bit of testing and checking, it looks like most of the dungeons don't give any specific rep beyond the main Horde/Alliance factions. The neutral factions, you'll only gain rep with those if you put on their tabard. Argent Crusade, Kirin Tor, Knights of the Ebon Blade, and the Wyrmrest Accord. You can pretty much go to whatever level 80 dungeon you want and gain rep.
Mouton asked...
For the dungeons in the starter zones, how "buried" are the quests? In HFP, you'd have to do a reasonably long quest chain to get the Ramparts quests, which meant I had run the place twice before actually getting the quest for it. Will this happen again in Northrend?
Both of them require a little bit of questing. The Utgarde Keep quest appears near Utgarde Keep itself after you've done the "Welcome to Northrend, now go kill those jerks over here" quest.
Over in the Borean Tundra, there's a questline from the Kirin Tor that you need to finish first. You need to do a few quests at Amber Ledge, and then they'll fly you over to Coldarra where you'll get a new flightpath there. You do some quests there, and then they send you into The Nexus. It's quite a bit longer and more complicated than Utgarde Keep, but worth it.
Schtix asked...
I've been looking everywhere, but I've yet to find much information on changes to Naxxramas. So I'm wondering, did you have an opportunity to see any ten-man content? Do you know if the bosses are very different from how they were before?
As dcwdvl said in the comments yesterday, the biggest differences are simply that it's scaled down for 10 people. Fights that required specific class abilities (like Mind Control) have been altered so anybody can do it. Those things still exist in the 25-man, just not the 10-man. Those are really the only differences It's scaled down. The fights mostly use the same strategies at 80 as they did at 60. Just smaller.
Jodi asked...
Could you possibly tell us more about the starter areas? Everyone says to quest where you like it the best, but I cant find enough on each starter area to really know which one I will like best. What kind of story does each bring, what kind of quests, what kind of playstyle? I'm really interested to know because I want to start leveling as soon as I can so my mage can start porting people to Dalaran.
Before Wrath's launch, we plan on having a much more informative breakdown of the two zones, but I'll try to sum it up:
The Borean Tundra is a very varied zone. Moving from one questing area to the next, each part will look a little different from the previous part. Sandy beaches into hotsprings into snowy tundra into fiery caves and then you fly over to Coldarra which is all frozen over and laced with magic.
If you play Horde, this region is full of Orc and Tauren lore primarily. You get introduced to the dynamic between Garrosh Hellscream (doofus) and Saurfang (anti-doofus). You meet the Taunka. All that good stuff. If you play Alliance, there's not much direct plot advancement (in my opinion) but they go to great lengths to make you feel special. You step onto Northrend shores and you're immediately regarded as a hero. You walk up to quest givers and they recognize that the Alliance just pulled out the big guns. Outland's saviors just showed up and are about to rock the house down. If you want to feel like a hero, this is the place that'll do it.
The Howling Fjord is, for better or for worse, more consistent as far as terrain. Rather than being big splotches of random landscape swirled together, it's more of a big sprawling forest with oddities. There's the eternally burning forest, the snowy areas with the nymphs, and the western coastline is a bit frozen over. It's much prettier, in my opinion. Some people find it more boring though, since it's a big zone that doesn't change up its appearance too much.
For the Horde, the focus is largely on the Forsaken. Vengeance Landing is here, the staging point for their offensive against the Scourge. You'll be doing a lot of questing developing and testing their new plague and things such as that. For the Alliance, there are some origin stories here. You learn where Humanity came from, you get more information on the Dwarves, that whole spiel. For both factions, your Titan lore in the expansion starts here.
That's just a really simplistic breakdown of the two zones. Like I said, we're going to try to have something more comprehensive for all of you before Wrath of the Lich King's launch. If you want to get a feel for each zone's mood and appearance, we do have an image gallery for each you may want to look through.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Expansions, Wrath of the Lich King
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
SaintStryfe Nov 5th 2008 4:40PM
No. Not at this time, at least.
Fooliecoolie Nov 5th 2008 4:36PM
It is in the troll zone Zul'Drak.
Ice Nov 5th 2008 4:40PM
"You'll be doing a lot of questing developing and testing their new plague and things such as that."
And this is why im going to Fjord. I can imagine these quests being lot more funnier or "undeadish/evilish". Are they?
In horde, can you feel that Tundra questing more of "we must fight for freedom of aezorth" and Fjord is for "we must test plague and kill all of the scourge" feeling to it? Or is orcs too bit devilish on questing? Or forsaken more "for good cause..really"
SaintStryfe Nov 5th 2008 4:40PM
Personal Note, The Coldera quests into the Nexus gave me blue gear that replaced my T4 Epics and kept me right up until level 80. That's one reason why I'd go into Borean Tundra first, even if it is much less enjoyable then Howling Fjord quest-wise.
Do both, though. Obscenely fantastic zones.
Cleer Nov 6th 2008 2:56AM
Does the starting zones give diffrent reputation? and if so, which one would help me more for end game raiding?
Rhudaur Nov 5th 2008 4:50PM
There are several quite fun quests in the Howling Fjord area and I wonder if that is also a reason why it seems a lot of people are going to start in that area. In my brief time in the Tundra I didn't come across the same degree of fun quests, but I was there only briefly and may have missed them.
Vesheth Nov 5th 2008 4:59PM
isn't it about time they let us pick up 50 quests? really what would it hurt?
jhaman Nov 5th 2008 5:08PM
Server lag? Tracking all those quets like tracking achievements takes up alot of server processing. Imagine holding 50 quests at near completion. Some of those quest items are in yur bank for some reason. If u did this then you and the rest of the people on yur server would lag it to death trying to track all these items.
Nick S Nov 5th 2008 5:14PM
Is there any lore for the Trolls? I've seen very, very little that's not negative (i.e. evil Trolls to be killed, a certain item known as the Troll Butcherer. That's hate speech, right there. :-P)
Where's the Troll lovin'?!?
NordrassilAmyr Nov 5th 2008 5:20PM
Among the various Tuskarr camps, are there any references to buckets? It would seem that they'd provide an excellent opportunity to make reference to the "Stolen Bukkit" craze.
Radiophonic Nov 5th 2008 5:27PM
I lol'ed for real :P Thanks Alex
obc Nov 6th 2008 6:33AM
as a mage, should i start in BT and as soon as i hit 71 go over to south east of dragonblight to the attune to dalaran quest, (which is nearer from BT than HF) so that i can get to dalaran as soon as possible? weird question, but i want to get to dalaran as fast as it can get.
ven Nov 5th 2008 6:14PM
imo, as horde, i broke down each starting zone like this...
1) the tundra has much, much more to look at. and more wtf? moments. And u get the feeling that its huge since its largely flat (there's still hills, but u'll see what i mean).
2)howling fjord felt more like questing through a dungeons and dragons zone to me. following paths through a forest, encountering oddities along the way, etc.
borean tundra felt like u knew without a doubt it was an expansion... much like walking through the dark portal for the first time. in the howling fjord, it felt more like an azerothean landscape. Looking much better then anything on azeroth of course, but there is no "good lord". to sum it up, the tundra is like a supreme pizza with all kinds of flavors and looks, while the fjord would be like an extra cheese pizza. not as much to look at, not as much variety and still just as amazing in its own way
Ella Nov 5th 2008 6:07PM
Can you give us a short list on what instances there are in northrend, and at what approximately level you should attend to these? I don't want to miss any. :)
ithobbit Nov 5th 2008 6:12PM
Taking a cue, from the starting zone quests questions, I am a lore freak, would it be possible (or feasible) to do the quests on BOTH starting Areas at some point?
Ikarus Nov 6th 2008 12:00PM
On beta I rolled a DK and went to Northrend at 68. I hit both starting areas before moving on and it worked out fine. Starting from 70...meh? don't know why you couldn't. Mobs and quests aren't going to turn gray on you. should be fine.
jam Nov 5th 2008 6:12PM
How easy/fast it is to get gold while questing/leveling up in Northrend? My alts are still missing riding 300, and I'm wondering if I can earn 5-6k gold by the time I reach lvl 78-80 simply by doing normal quests + some instance runs.
Renil Nov 5th 2008 6:42PM
Question: If you roll a Death Knight, do you have any reputation pre-gained. For example, if I roll a Human Death Knight, do I start out with any reputation with other factions, both Alliance or otherwise?
RogueJedi86 Nov 5th 2008 8:36PM
Nope. You start out Unfriendly. Gotta do a quest eventually to get to Friendly or so. Beyond that, I'm not sure on the racial bias. I doubt any race has an advantage though.
Camaris Nov 5th 2008 7:03PM
This is my main concern about the split starting zones. I don't like 'spoiling' my first levelling run by skipping content or jumping ahead (like I never visited Shattrath until quests and the story sent me there). So here's the dilemma:
I'll likely be questing in HF, and involved in whatever questlines are there. I've never set foot in BT, and unless quests actually let you travel between zones (unlikely given the intent of the split zone design), I probably won't 'need' to visit BT story-wise.
So now my guilides want me to run a Nexus instance. I'll be missing out on gold/rewards relating to the instance if I don't have the relevant quests.
So.. do you actually want to spread your attention between zones to allow you to maximize both instance rewards? I really don't like that sort of 'powerplaying' so early in the new game, where you really just want to enjoy the levelling and the story.