Netherwing dailies nerfed
by Adam Holisky 
Jan 25th 2009 at 11:00PM
MMO-Champion found small, yet important, undocumented change. The Drop rates for Netherwing Relics and Fel Glands have been increased to 100%. This will significantly shorten the time it takes to do the two daily quests The Not-So-Friendly Skies... and A Slow Death.For those that need their memory jogged, The Not-So-Friendly Skies daily is the one where you have to go around and kill Dragonmaw Transporters. It was, for me, one of the most annoying quests to do in the whole chain. The spawn points always seemed camped, and the previous drop rate was about 50%, give or take.
In A Slow Death, you have to poison 12 Dragonmaw Peon Camps. The Fel Glands dropped from any tainted wildlife in Shadowmoon Valley at a previous drop rate of about 25%.
Hopefully this will do two things. First, it'll help everyone working their way towards the 100 mount achievement, Mountain-O-Mounts. And secondly, it should help people get their alts a Nether Drake all the faster.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Mounts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Evangelin Jan 26th 2009 2:37AM
Having the soulbound tag removed from Netherwing Eggs, Obsidian Warbeads, and Zaxxis Insignias would be nice for those working on their Kurenai and Consortium reps as well.
There is precedent: the removal of the soulbound tag from Relics of Ulduar is a promising start.
Reinard Jan 25th 2009 11:14PM
Except Relics of Ulduar are still soulbound.
Etcee Jan 25th 2009 11:19PM
@ reinard
No, they're really not. I know this because i have 80 of them selling on the AH right now.
Reinard Jan 25th 2009 11:25PM
Shit, really? I thought they changed that back.
Well that's a damn shame.
dpoyesac Jan 25th 2009 11:43PM
Screw Kurenai rep and everyone grinding it.
It would help those grinding Maghar rep, though.
Decrusher Jan 25th 2009 11:14PM
Or help them get their mains one lol
Punjab Jan 26th 2009 5:36AM
Exactly what I was thinking. If only I could convince someone to help me with Zuluhed the Whacked to start the chain, seeing as how my weak-ass mage can't solo it.
Blake Jan 26th 2009 12:02PM
All of these nerfs are getting quite lame. For those of us that put in the time to grind Frostsaber before rep increases, those of us who put in the time for Netherwing when it was new, those of us who killed hundreds of ghouls for Argent Dawn at the appropriate level, it's just saying, sorry, you get hosed.
These rep grinds should be just that - grinds. Available to those that want to put the time and effort into it. Instead of just giving everything away on a silver platter, there should have to be some time invested for the rewards. It's starting to get REALLY annoying seeing all these grinds that I've worked on become simple and common place...
vexis58 Jan 26th 2009 12:56PM
Sure the drop rate is higher, but the quests were previously tuned to give you extra compensation in the form of gold. Now that we're doing the dailies at 80, we're not getting much gold from them, and are basically ONLY doing them for the rep.
I think making the dailies less annoying is good compensation for getting less gold. You're still going to have to do the dailies for the same number of days.
Beatphreek Jan 26th 2009 2:58PM
@ Blake
Did you ever stop to think that having your increased speed mount for more than a year longer than people just now getting it might be the reward for doing that when you did it... Same for the other factions. There was actually something to be gained by doing them at level besides just a mount (except for maybe the Wintersabers).
placebo Jan 26th 2009 6:35PM
@ Blake:
Get off your self-righteous high horse. Those 2 Netherwing quests were trash and you know it.
I never bothered with those because they were a pain in my ass. I still did the "GRIND" at the appropriate level I just got mine a few days later.
Aubrecia Jan 25th 2009 11:18PM
Of course this happens only a week after I finish the Netherwing grind. Augh! Good for people who haven't done it yet, though. Far be it from me to complain, since I'm going to be killing mounds of ogres for Mag'har soon enough and the patch also buffed rep gains.
Bloodangels Jan 25th 2009 11:20PM
Yes i agree that this will make those 2 quests slightly easier to finish. It will take the average player just shy of a month to get their drake. By making either the netherdrake eggs Non-soulbound or throwing in a repeatable quest say like the harvesting quests (ore, pollen,hides), you could drastically make the grind faster
Verit Jan 26th 2009 1:04PM
Took me two weeks on each toon I did it on pre-nerf and I did it on 4 characters (felacia, verit, avelandea, and momopi on staghelm if you're curious).
Once you know the quests it took me maybe an hour to finish every one of them - sans the gland/relic quest.
Bob Dewane Jan 25th 2009 11:19PM
Had to see this one coming a mile away. After the super nerf that the Winterspring Frostsaber got I figued it was only a matter of time until this grind got a good whack with the nerf bat. Funny thing is, out of all the mounts I've done the grind for, this one certainly seemed to go the fastest just because there were so many quests to do for it.
And to think people still complain about how "hard" it is to grind mounts. Jeepers people...THEY'RE NOT FREE YA KNOW!
SaintStryfe Jan 25th 2009 11:35PM
QQ a bit more.
This isn't "Nerf", it's just removing a frustrating drop mechanic. It won't shorten how long it takes to get your drake, just how long it takes to do individual quests, something I personally appreciate.
There won't now be a sudden rush of people trying to do these quests who havent' done them all ready.
Bob Dewane Jan 26th 2009 12:08AM
Saint you miss my point entirely. I'm not crying about the nerfing of the grind...hell, I'm one of the people who got the Winterspring tiger post nerf (and boy do the old-timers complain about that!). I was (at least I thought I was) very simply stating that I figured this would happen given that Blizz had done something similar in the past.
My bitch is with the people who, despite nerfs like this and the one done to the Wintersring tiger, still complain that the grind takes so long. They are the ones to whom the last line of my original post is directed.
And since it's something you brought up...shortening the time it takes to do the quest does, in fact, shorten the time it takes you to finish the grind. Considerably. Grinding mobs for the relics and glands used to take FOREVER. Each time you did the quest. The extra 7-10 minutes you save now PER QUEST will, in fact, shorten the time it takes to get the mount. You're right in the sense that it doesn't decrease the rep you need. Wrong in the sense that it does decrease the time spent on the grind.
Tumleren Jan 26th 2009 4:34AM
You save 7-10 minutes per quest? Really?
I just finished my Netherwing rep two weeks ago, and was surprised at how easy it was. I started as neutral friday, and was exalted by wednesday afternoon.
Relics were more of a pain for me than Fel Glands, but still nothing severe. Because I'm a paladin, there are only two, three spots maximum where I can attack the mobs without falling to my death, due to our very limited range (10yd Judge, yay).
This meant that the amount of mobs coming past me was lower than for most other (ranged) classes, and thus took longer time because of the droprate.
If you're level 80, which I'd guess most people who begin the dailies are (why begin if you're on your way to 80?), the amount of time it takes to get the Fel Glands is really not something that needed a nerf in my opinion. Every class has some sort of AoE now, and getting together 5-6-7-8 mobs and burning them down doesn't take that long.
I can see why Blizzard did this, I'm just not sure that it's such a good idea. It was already very easy as level 80, and making it easier (not much, but some) just takes a bit of the 'special' feeling you get with the mount - Something I'm seeing all too much of these days
(I'm not elitist, I hate people who complain that everything is too easy and that Blizzard is catering to casuals - I just think that rare items should stay rare)
Verit Jan 26th 2009 1:00PM
@bob
I actually ground the rep out on 4 toons without the relic/fel gland quest - why? Because they slowed me down and were buggy as hell.
Relics were like 1 in 20 droprate (not making this up) same with the glands and very frequently the drake riders would glitch out and not even let me kill them. Very often you'd drop the glands and the ogres would glitch out and you'd have to kill another 20-30 mobs to get another gland or two.
*and blizzard never did jack to fix any of this...* - they should have changed it to 100% drop rate ages ago.
I suspect those "race" quests are still as buggy as hell - so you should be glad for that.
Jigawik Jan 26th 2009 12:08AM
This is gonna be incredibly helpful in getting my lock his netherdrake, if only they would increase the drop rate on Nethermine Flayer Hides