The Empire of Zul'drak issue resolved with a new quest
by Alex Ziebart 
Jan 21st 2009 at 8:00PM
A lot of players aiming for the Loremaster achievement were hitting a snag in Zul'Drak. Because of one or two quests that were only able to be done while on a single questline, a lot of players that missed it initially were blocked from going back to it and were stuck at 99/100 quests. Patch 3.0.8 brings some great news for those people: A new quest has been added to the zone so you can finish your achievement.Chronicler To'kini in the quest hub Zim'Torga now offers the quest Tails Up, which as of this posting doesn't appear on either Wowhead or WoWDB yet. It's another of Blizzard's awkward humor quests, though luckily it's not poop related. Genitalia is the name of the game this time around. The Chronicler wants to bring some Zul'Drak wildlife back to Zandalar to study, but he specifically wants females from you. So you pump the beasts full of tranquilizers, do what you see in the picture to the right there, and you pray it's a female.
If it's a male, I assume the beast is supposed to stand up and attack you. Instead, it goes back to aggressive, stays motionless on the ground, and keeps you in combat until you kill it. Yes, it just lays there and waits to die. Euthanasia via giant hammer. Minor bug, nothing terribly problematic since you can still kill them. I suppose you could call it one of those rare beneficial bugs. You have to kill it either way, it just doesn't fight back right now. Less downtime for the win.
Pretty amusing quest overall, and a pretty good way of fixing the Empire of Zul'Drak issue, I think.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Bugs, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Ragnarokkr Jan 21st 2009 8:05PM
This is an awesome quest. Just done it. Dooooo Ittt!
Mcdreamy Jan 22nd 2009 8:39AM
Something else has changed, also. I missed at least 1 breadcrumb quest (the Dalaran->Amp one) and was stuck at 99/100. After reading this article I logged onto my priest and did that quest. When I turned it in, I didn't get the achievement, so I went into my achievement menu and it showed that "The Empire of Zul'Drak" was completed on patch day.
So Blizz obviously made some other quests count toward the achievement (maybe the instance quests do now).
Reinard Jan 21st 2009 8:05PM
I'm still pretty puzzled how anybody is having any problems getting any of the zone's quest achievements >_> I got every zone my first time through without even going out of the way or anything.
Serious question: Are some of these quests really that easy to miss? :( /shrug
Zul Jan 21st 2009 8:07PM
TBH Yes. I can't believe I picked up all the rep and epic chain quests on accident (well not intentionally) while leveling...
Alex Ziebart Jan 21st 2009 8:08PM
http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=12652 is the culprit. You can only get it while you're on the Drakuru quests, so if you didn't see it right away, you can't go back and get it. Zul'Drak had exactly 100 quests and the achievement required all of them, so missing that one meant you were out of luck. Now there are 101 quests.
kabshiel Jan 21st 2009 8:55PM
That's weird that you say that there were exactly 100 quests, because I finished Zul'Drak's achievement before I finished everything. Maybe I just did more bread crumb quests or something?
Muse Jan 21st 2009 9:16PM
I usually had a pair of quests to spare, if including the arena group quests, and fell short if not. Did the Goolz feeding one, so it had to be a different one.
Janaa Jan 22nd 2009 12:28AM
I'm guessing people missed some bread-crumbs - for instance the quest you pick up in Dalaran to see the guy at the Ampitheatre is a ZD zone quest. If you just pick up the questline @ the Ampitheatre, you miss out on one right there.
I for one, finished the achievement with several quests still to do, including all the Gun'Drak dungeon quests.
Danel Jan 22nd 2009 5:36AM
Dungeon quests don't count towards this, I'm fairly sure.
I think there were 101 quests in Zul'Drak - 102 now - but 2 of them are missable - the Arena of Anguish breadcrumb from Dalaran and the ghouls quest. I got the achievement with one quest left to go, so that makes sense.
I'm guessing that they do the achievements after they've done all the quests, and try to get a nice round number while still providing a chance to miss a few. In this case, they just couldn't resist the lovely 1-0-0, even if it might have been better to have 95 as the target.
Gazza Jan 21st 2009 8:08PM
I've done the ZD achievement on 6 characters now, how are people failing it? From what I've seen, I have done 101 quests on each char there and you only need 100.
Tekkub Jan 22nd 2009 12:57AM
Seems they didn't set the ZD requirement lower than the total quests in the zone. Every other zone I've been through I've completed *most* of the quests and gotten the achievement. I've skipped a few group quests, and haven't done dungeon quests yet, but I still got them.
That in not the case, however, in ZD. I skipped the amphitheater quests for the time being, and the group quest at the end in Zim'torga, and I'm 8 quests off from the achievement.
Ogeristrasz Jan 21st 2009 8:15PM
I'm at 90-something after doing the Bowels and Brains quest and before doing the Tails Up one... Can't find any others x.=.x
Starburst Jan 21st 2009 8:18PM
I would venture to guess that being "pumped full of tranquilizers" would make a beasty less inclined to fight.
Reinard Jan 21st 2009 8:22PM
Alex, I don't see how http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=12652 is an issue, considering you have to...like, talk to the NPC that gives that quest to finish another one that's part of an overall much longer chain >_>
Then again, I can't see what else it could be either. I see what you're saying, but but but... D:
Wyred Jan 22nd 2009 3:09AM
True, but some people might see it as unimportant, or think they'll go back to it later. Easy enough to do. Still not sure about the Zul' Drak achievement being as tight as 100 out of 101 q's, didn't seem like that for my main.
lethality Jan 21st 2009 8:29PM
Why would they cater to people who didn't want to do all the quest lines but still feel they deserve the achievement?
romiress Jan 21st 2009 9:12PM
Sorry, did you READ the story? There is a quest that can only be done while on another quest - meaning you can miss it. What if someone was hurrying through to level and wanted to come back and do it later?
lethality Jan 21st 2009 9:28PM
But... If you are doing the questlines properly, you CANT miss it. I didn't miss it, I didn't even know it. I had no problems.
If you are "rushing leveling" then you get what you deserve.
Magus Jan 21st 2009 9:56PM
For the completionists, they should let you keep the choker and let Stefan replace it if you lose it. The limitations on it don't make it overpowered.
Still, I don't see what difference one quest makes when there are 112 available in the zone. (126 Total Quests - 14 Dailies)
http://www.wowhead.com/?quests=10.66&filter=si=1
p.s. For future reference, next time you see an abomination with an exclamation over his head, take the quest.
Danel Jan 22nd 2009 5:46AM
I'm pretty sure that can't be right - I certainly didn't have that many quests left when I got the achievement. How strange.