Breakfast Topic: Do Cataclysm's explosive quests light your fire?
by Stephanie Drury 
Feb 28th 2011 at 8:00AM
I'm a fire mage, and the explosion-riddled Mythbusters show is on my DVR, so it shouldn't be any surprise that the two quests that top my nonexistent Favorite Cataclysm Quest chart are explosive and fiery. I have no idea if this is some subconscious RP coming to the surface or if I just like big booms. I'll ponder more on that later.
In Uldum, there's a quest where you turn into a fabulous, fiery gnome-killer ball
My second favorite fiery quest is in the goblin starting zone. You put on a pair of rocket boots and fly over goblin zombies, roasting them into oblivion. Hey, they're evil, okay? It's all right to giggle maniacally as you fly over 50 of them ... or more ... for hours.
What are some other fiery and explosive quests you've come across? Do you enjoy the mass slaughter of evil pixels, or do you or your character feel remorse? Do your favorite quests tend to complement your character's motif?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
JT Feb 28th 2011 8:07AM
Yeah, WTB this one as a daily.
Brasson Feb 28th 2011 11:36AM
Wholeheartedly agreed. We need more burning katamari in Uldum.
Kurash Feb 28th 2011 12:04PM
Hell, WTB that quest as an hourly! :P
MusedMoose Feb 28th 2011 8:08AM
I, too, play a fire mage, and while that character's not high-level enough yet for Uldum, I'm sure there will be all kinds of wicked glee when it comes time for Gnomebliteration. Just like there was with my other mage. And like there will be when my hunter does that quest. And any other character I play, for that matter. ^_^
Said fire mage is an engineer and therefore will also do pretty much any quest that involves engineering. Just got her the plans for the Mechanical Yeti last night. Bwa ha ha.
Speaking of my hunter, I always do quests that involve hunting down a specific person with him - usually ones you find on boards that say "Wanted!". I've even gone back and done group quests at higher levels, just because of that.
talkaboom Feb 28th 2011 8:08AM
I just wish Gnomebliteration was a daily!
Kylenne Feb 28th 2011 8:35AM
You and the entire player population. Even the ones that play gnomes, I think.
I made sure not to turn this quest in on the first alt that I brought up behind my main. If I'm bored or feeling crappy, I head over to Uldum to do it again, with the Katamari theme song playing.
MattKrotzer Feb 28th 2011 8:59AM
I find the quest to be heavy with graphical issues, and normally I have no graphic problems at all. Last character I ran through it, the ball disengaged from my character, and stayed in place while I rolled around as an invisible ball of fire. Frequently, the gnomes don't appear until I'm in the midst of them...
Could've been more enjoyable without these issues, but at least they're leper gnomes, and not healthy ones. This makes me able to support it more.
Kylenne Feb 28th 2011 9:22AM
@MattKrozer: When I first did the quest, it was on my geriatric nearly 6 year old iMac Core Duo with a dying video card so fried that when I raided (10s, obviously 25s were out of the question) I would literally have to tape a bag of frozen peas to the back to keep it from blacking out due to overheating. I constantly had screen tears even with the fans cranked all the way up, sometimes so bad I'd have to log out and shut down for a few minutes before playing again. And I had no graphical issues at all with this quest on that machine.
Squirr3llywrath9 Feb 28th 2011 10:14AM
@Kylenne. I don't think Matt was implying it was heavy on his machine, but rather that the quest simply glitched out.
I have done the quest on four different characters. The first went fine, but the second time I did it I had all the issues Matt described. I went back a few weeks later with my other two characters and it went smoothly.
Almoderate Feb 28th 2011 10:37AM
Done this on three different toons. My husband plays in a room downstairs while I play upstairs. This is kind of how it's gone:
First time: "Honey, what they hell?! Why are you up here cackling like a mad woman?!"
Second time: "Honey, what the... Oh, the kill-the-gnomes-with-fire thing? Carry on."
Third time (child comes upstairs): "Mommy, I wanna do it!"
Darky Feb 28th 2011 8:09AM
Uldum..... All of it.
Torgall Feb 28th 2011 8:10AM
Ever since doing that Gnomebliteration (?) quest the first time, I've been telling my buddies that I wish that thing was a daily. That quest was too fun! And no, I feel no remorse doing that quest. I would suggest anyone that's ever had the urge to punt a gnome to try that quest if you haven't done so already.
perderedeus Feb 28th 2011 8:11AM
I enjoyed Gann's quest in the revamped Barrens. The cutscene is explod-o-rific. ;)
vocenoctum Feb 28th 2011 9:39AM
I play alliance, but the southern barrens quests had more of a "we're at war" feel to them that I liked. Some of it was disjointed ("we need to hurry these supplies, we're at war! but on your way, stop and kill 5 flowers for the druid please"), but overall fun.
The explosion was quite nice from a look/feel angle as well as fitting the story.
jealouspirate Feb 28th 2011 8:13AM
Blowing up a huge chunk of Redridge and taking out a ton of Blackrock Orcs with it was pretty fun. Even followed up by plowing the rest down with a tank.
I know the whole series was a cheap Rambo ripoff, but I'd be lying if I said part of me didn't enjoy it.
poggg Feb 28th 2011 8:17AM
"Gnome killer ball"? I think you mean "flaming Katamari".
Sleutel Feb 28th 2011 8:55AM
That description is actually what made the quest slightly disappointing to me. :( I was looking forward to having all the gnomes actually *stick* to the flaming ball of death, growing it larger and larger. But only a handful ever did, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I was doing "wrong" that I couldn't pick up most of them gnomes.
Nina Katarina Feb 28th 2011 8:18AM
You know, once you set Gnomebliteration as the bar, it's tough to think of anything that rates higher. That is the best quest in the game, in my opinion.
I do still do the Thieving Little Pluckers daily quest each day, though both my 85s are exalted with Ramkahen, just because I love swinging the hammer and hearing the noise they make. My daughter hates that noise and will scream, "Mommy's killing pygmies again" when she hears it. Which, truth be told, is another fun reason to do it.
MusedMoose Feb 28th 2011 8:23AM
Seconded. I did "Thieving Little Pluckers" once, and I was sitting here thinking, "This is never going to get old."
Ice Feb 28th 2011 9:04AM
Dont tell blizzard but if you dont return the quest you can keep the hammer and it works on any zone and without any pygmies near.
But shhh, they will fix the fun away from it if they find out.