Cataclysm Daily Quests, Part 4: Tol Barad proper

Welcome back to the fourth installment of this comprehensive guide to Cataclysm daily quests! In the first article, we discussed the basics of dailies and the profession dailies in capital cities. In part 2, we covered the Therazane dailies in Deepholm. Then in part 3, we went over the permanently available dailies in Tol Barad Peninsula. Today, we'll pick up where we left off and talk about the dailies obtained when your faction is victorious in the battle for Tol Barad, as well as the rewards available.
The Battle for Tol Barad: Gaining access to Tol Barad dailies
As we touched on last time, the dailies in Tol Barad proper are available only to the faction that wins the battle for Tol Barad and only for two hours after the battle is complete. In fact, the NPCs involved in these quests -- both the quest givers and the associated mobs -- will despawn 15 minutes before the next battle begins, at exactly the time when you can queue for battle. This is a great time to gather herbs or go mining in the zone, but you will no longer be able to complete the quests if you haven't finished.
The mechanics of the battleground aren't the subject of this article, but briefly, the object for the attacking team is to control all three bases at once while the defending team tries to keep control of at least one base until time runs out. At the moment, attacking is much more difficult than defending, and on servers with a faction imbalance, it is extremely difficult to actually get into the battle for Tol Barad if you are part of the overpopulated faction.
As soon as the battle is over, NPCs will spawn in the center of the zone and offer daily quests to the winners.
Tol Barad daily quests (the spoils of victory!)
There are a total of 12 daily quests available in Tol Barad for the winning team, but only six are offered during any given win period. Each time your faction is victorious, two quest givers will spawn. One of these quest givers doesn't change; the other can be one of three individuals. Each quest giver offers three daily quests. Therefore, even if your faction wins Tol Barad once and completes all the quests within the two-hour time slot, there's an incentive to defend and win again for a shot at three more dailies and once more for a third set of three, bringing the total to 12 daily quests. For the sake of brevity, the Horde versions of the quests are linked below. The Alliance version is exactly the same except for the name of the quest giver.
Fixed dailies (always available when your faction is in control)
- A Huge Problem (group) Kill Problim, an ettin who patrols the circular path around the zone. He can be soloed by some classes, but most players will prefer to group.
- Swamp Bait Collect 8 Crocolisk Hides. These are a 100% drop and are lootable by all party members.
- The Leftovers Kill 12 Alliance or Horde infantry, depending on your faction. These are NPC mobs located in the three control nodes at the north, southwest, and southeast.
In addition to the fixed dailies, one of three quest givers will spawn with a set of three dailies for D-Block, Cursed Depths, and The Hole. The mechanics of the three quests are identical, but their locations and the names of mobs and items are different. In each set, there will be one quest to kill a number of mobs, one quest to loot items from the ground, and one quest to kill a named mob and loot an item. The three locations are underground areas that are locked off if the proper quest giver is not present. In other words, if you accept quests for D-Block but don't finish them before the Tol Barad battle, and the next set of dailies is for the Cursed Depths, you will be unable to complete the D-Block quests until the next time they spawn. The mobs and items you need simply won't be available. Due to very fast respawn rates and cramped quarters, it is highly recommended to group for these quests.
Rotating dailies (one set of three available for any given victory period)
- D-Block Cursed Shackles, D-Block, Svarnos
- Cursed Depths Learning From the Past, Clearing the Depths, The Imprisoned Archmage
- The Hole Food From Below, Prison Revolt, The Warden
Each quest awards gold, one Tol Barad Commendation, and 250 reputation with Baradin's Wardens or Hellscream's Reach. If your faction wins Tol Barad at least three times in a given day, it is possible to complete all 12 of these dailies, depending on which quest givers spawn when. By winning once, you are able to complete six quests.
Rewards
What do you get for all that work? Plenty. Baradin's Wardens and Hellscream's Reach have some very nice equipment and vanity items available for purchase. Each item requires not only a certain reputation level with the proper faction, but an expenditure of Tol Barad commendations as well.
Quartermaster Brazie sells items to the Alliance, and Pogg sells to the Horde. Both of these NPCs are in Tol Barad Peninsula at their respective camps, so they can be accessed at any time regardless of who controls Tol Barad. The items are the same for both factions and include a pet and teleporting tabard at honored, a set of blue weapons at revered, and some very attractive epic trinkets and mounts at eExalted. Pretty much everyone will be able to find something they want at these quartermasters, making the Tol Barad dailies among the most lucrative in game right now.
In the fifth and final part of our epic series on dailies, we'll wrap up with the daily quests in Uldum and Twilight Highlands and give some tips for daily priorities and the interaction of daily quests and guild rep/experience. Stay tuned!
Read the entire WoW Insider Cataclysm Daily Quest Guide series!
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.Filed under: Cataclysm, Guest Posts






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Necromann Jan 12th 2011 8:06PM
I like these guides.
Eurenton55 Jan 12th 2011 8:39PM
Can you give any advice on how or where to find good gear for death knight tanks? I find it hard to find fast ways to get honor or gold to buy them.
Cyrus Jan 13th 2011 9:49AM
Just so you know, your comment got rated down because it's completely off-topic. But to answer your question, check out other columns, particularly the Lichborne column.
Dan Jan 12th 2011 8:40PM
The crocolisks hides are no longer lootable by all party members.
Stza Jan 12th 2011 8:59PM
wonder what the thought process was on that change....
Darkdust Jan 12th 2011 10:50PM
And as an unabashed skinner, this is good with me. Means more corpses == more hides.
Darkdust Jan 12th 2011 10:51PM
Erm. More leather, that is. WTB edit button.
Empire Jan 12th 2011 8:55PM
Any word on Blizzard has made the D-block, Cursed Depths and The Hole explorable yet?
Cephas Jan 12th 2011 11:13PM
I thought this was a good question, so I hopped on the PTR to check, and no, they're still not explorable.
bcraig Jan 12th 2011 9:26PM
I think it's 350 rep before bonus's. The ones in the northern area are 250 rep.
Darkdust Jan 12th 2011 10:50PM
I believe this to be accurate.
atomicstrawberry Jan 12th 2011 10:48PM
Does entering Tol Barad proper outside of the battle flag you for PvP on PvE servers? I know the penninsula doesn't, but what about the island itself where these dalies are?
SomnambulistArygos Jan 12th 2011 11:03PM
Only if the battle's going on, and then, you wouldn't be able to do the quests anyways.
atomicstrawberry Jan 12th 2011 11:09PM
Thank you. That changes things for me quite a bit. The TB trinket rewards are nice, but if PvP was involved I was pretty happy to skip them. Looks like a trip to the island is in order tonight!
KJP Jan 12th 2011 11:11PM
I'm still confirming this, but it appears that the Problim, Svarnos, Galus and Silva kill quests do not require literal grouping. I know I have gotten the kill credit on Problim even though I only started attacking him at 50% health. I'm also fairly certain I did not have the tag on Galus when I did his quest, but I was nevertheless allowed to loot his quest-item staff after the kill.
Cephas Jan 12th 2011 11:16PM
This was the case for me a few days ago, but today I got on Problim's threat list during three other groups' kills and I never got credit. It seems like they reversed the hotfix.
Aaron Jan 13th 2011 1:01AM
I honestly did not see the loot available at the quartermaster all that appealing. I was hoping for PVP related items, enchants, or BOA geat like Wintergrasp. Maybe its too early to complain, but so far the rewards make doing tol barad far less appealing to me. Wintergrasp got updated quartermaster loot over time, so maybe Tol barad will too....
...and maybe by then the battle will be more fun to play!
K G Jan 13th 2011 4:05AM
The trinket that gives 400 resist in each school of magic is clearly designed with PvP in mind, and is accessible to any class due to the mastery stat (which you can reforge as well).
There are also very nice potions and a Battle Standard that works in Tol Barad battles that is very helpful.
You should check them out! :)
Rajinnu Jan 13th 2011 6:41AM
I have a feeling they will expand the vendor or add more stuff with each major content patch.. kinda like WG.
I liked Mat's idea in his Tol Barad rant about adding a 'faction controlled only" vendor with pvp heirlooms and some other jazz. I am quite surprised there isn't any pvp heirlooms in Cata.. pretty sure there was at the beginning of Wrath right? I forget now.
Charron Jan 13th 2011 2:30PM
I didn't know you could go back for a chance at more dailies after completing the initial 6 offered. Thanks for the tip'